Salt Water Farm Cooking School

Salt Water Farm is a cooking school in Lincolnville that overlooks Maine's Penobscot Bay and focuses on local, seasonal cooking. Its main draw is the five-day MasterClass. It costs $2,750 and is capped at 10 students. The week covers knife sharpening and knife skills, butchery, bread baking, pastry, harvesting seasonal ingredients, food storage, entertaining, flower arranging and cooking over fire. Some weeks also add sourdough, brioche, cake making, stock and egg cookery.

Several sessions take you out of the kitchen too. You sail the bay at sunset, have a picnic on a mountaintop, visit a working no-till farm and eat lobster rolls on Rockport Harbor. All seven 2027 sessions, from July through September, are already sold out, and each has a waiting list.

Single-day classes run from May through November. Past topics include Mediterranean cooking, gluten-free baking and cooking over fire, but none are on the schedule right now. Groups of eight or more can book a hands-on private class for $275 per student.