Former Eleven Madison Park Executive Sous Launches Practical Home Cooking

Angela Hwang, former Executive Sous Chef at Eleven Madison Park and Soho House New York, has launched a service that teaches people how to save money by cooking practical, delicious meals at home, minimizing their reliance on takeout. Practical Home Cooking offers in-home lessons in basic kitchen skills, helping people use the limited spaces of New York City kitchens to create their own meals and reduce their food bills.

Hwang got the idea when her sister was laid off in January. Looking to cut costs, her sister knew the first thing to go was the takeout she and her family ate six days a week. Hwang told her to throw out the Manhattan Cookbook (a file folder of take-out menus), and started showing her how to use her tiny Upper West Side kitchen to make three meals a day for her family.

Hwang and her sister started scouring circulars from local markets, making meals from the weekly specials. After seeing her sister's food bill go from around $60 a day to $10 a day for a family of three, she knew she was on to something. She put together some recipes and lesson plans, and launched her website, PracticalHomeCooking.com, in early February.

Using the skills she learned in New York City restaurants, Hwang instructs her clients in the basics of kitchen maintenance: knife skills, produce shopping, space utilization, and of course, food preparation. For those clients who already know the basics and want to boost their skills, she offers advanced courses and can create custom packages to include specific dishes or types of cuisine.

Hwang's background gives her clients the opportunity to learn from someone who earned her chops in some of the best kitchens in the city. After graduating from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Hwang began working as a line cook at a few small restaurants in the Bay Area, and, in 1998, moved to New York to continue her career. She started as a line cook at The River Cafe, and then worked her way up from line cook to Executive Sous Chef at Danny Meyer's Eleven Madison Park. She went on to assist in the opening of one of Meyer's new endeavors, serving as Sous Chef of Hudson Yards Catering. She then moved on to become Executive Sous Chef at Soho House New York. Hwang has taught cooking for eight years, conducting classes at Eleven Madison Park, Hudson Yards Catering, Soho House New York, Degustibus at Macy's, and the Institute of Culinary Education.