'Tis the season to indulge in treats, and now you can learn to prepare them yourself.

The Otesaga is offering three cooking classes, two of which still have slots available. Executive Chef Jeff Hollen, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, will be giving culinary demonstrations at Cooking School 2000.

The class will meet on Tuesdays, Jan. 8, Jan. 22, Feb. 5 and Feb. 19 for a cost of $150 per person. Each instructional session runs from 5:30 to 8:30, with a dinner service at the end during which students can enjoy a sampling of all items prepared in class that evening.

The menu is varied and kicks off with a Cooking of Italy segment including calamari filled with sausage in white wine tomato sauce, tossed salad, veal scaloppine with sage and prosciutto, cannelloni with ricotta and spinach, herb risotto with pancetta and wild mushrooms, stuffed tomatoes, tiramisu and florentine cookies.

The winter barbecue on Jan. 22 will include grilled artichokes with garlic, sweet and sour coleslaw, baby back ribs with bourbon barbecue sauce, swordfish kebobs with peppers and lemon butter, balsamic marinated flank steak with bearnaise sauce, grilled fresh vegetables and deep dish apple pie with hard sauce.

It's probably a good thing the classes are spaced out by a week, because the menu doesn't get any less decadent. On Feb. 5, students will take a culinary trip to Germany for Bavarian mushroom soup, potato pancakes with homemade applesauce and sour cream, marinated beet and onion salad, sauerbraten with ginger snap sauce, weiner schnitzel, bacon and chive spaetzles and Black Forest cake.

The class will end in the true spirit of the season, with an instructional session on pulling off the perfect cocktail party. Beginning with baked brie en croute, finger sandwiches and cold canapes, hot hors d'oeuvres, cheese tasting with local farmers, wine tasting table set ups and garnishing, and dessert.

Hollen said the classes were skipped last winter because of extensive kitchen renovations that have yielded a much more extensive work space for the staff. He said the secret to great cooking is to avoid sticking too closely to written recipes.

"Common sense has to come into play while you're cooking," Hollen said. "If a recipe calls for forty five minutes in the oven but you see that it's brown after thirty, take it out."

Another trick of the trade is learning what methods can be applied to different foods.

"Once you understand what braising is and you learn which foods to braise," Hollen said, the battle is half won.

When it comes to spices, experience flavors and experiment, he said.

"It isn't easy to make a perfect sauce," he said. "Take brown sauce. You have to roast veal bones for a good brown sauce, but who's going to do that?"

Hollen, that's who, and he's spilling the beans.

Pastry chef Peter Calhoun will be teaching the Baking School, which meets on Wednesday nights; Jan. 9, Jan. 23, Feb. 6 and Feb. 10 for a fee of $150 per person. He'll be teaching students to make the "Mother Sauce of the Pastry Shop," but first he'll start out small with lean and rich dough, croissants, Danish and puff pastry, eclairs, swans, cream puffs and garnishes.

The next session will include oatmeal raisin cookies, spritz and 1-2-3 dough, an explanation of the uses for pastry cream, an assortment of cakes including genoise, hi-ratio and roulade, and the basic decorating techniques for butter cream.

The third session is when students will be introduced to the Mother Sauce - vanilla, chocolate and fruit mousse, molding techniques, classical cakes and tortes like sacher torte, cheesecake and lindser torte. The class will sweetly conclude with hard and soft ganache.

In the last session, students will experience the history of and uses for chocolate, and will learn about garnishes and the "Mystery Plate" that Calhoun first discovered while studying at the Culinary Institute of America.

"We had to prepare five portions of dessert on a plate without knowing what ingredients we would be given," said Calhoun. "But cooking isn't just about following a recipe. I like to open the refrigerator and see what's in there."

Calhoun said his trick is to always use the best ingredients available, like the freshest fruit and highest quality chocolate.

"If something looks good but it doesn't taste good, then I haven't accomplished my goal," he said.

Calhoun benefited from time in Japan, where he introduced a variety of American desserts to the Japanese market.

"They tend to have different sorts of desserts," he said. "Less sweet, like red bean paste and chestnut puree."

He said it was surprising to see Pringles and Pepsi available in Japanese supermarkets, and stranger still to spot a Kentucky Fried Chicken or Denny's. He sampled a dish called bah sashi and later found out it was raw horsemeat served with soy ginger dipping sauce. It was a beautiful country, he said, but for now he'll be sticking to American treats. He just completed his first season at The Otesaga.

A third class, Hands On Cooking, is already booked.

For more information, or to enroll, call 547-9931 ext. 7522.