Jennifer Clair is the founder of Home Cooking New York, a recreational cooking school for home cooks in New York City. Before launching the school in 2002, she was a Recipe Editor for The Wall Street Journal and a Food Editor at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO), where she developed cookbooks and managed the Cooking & Entertaining department of marthastewart.com.
Prior to MSLO, she worked as a cookbook editor at William Morrow and research editor at Saveur. She graduated from Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School (now Institute of Culinary Education) in 1998 after receiving a full James Beard Foundation scholarship. Jennifer is the author of Six Basic Cooking Techniques: Culinary Essentials for the Home Cook and the host of the (former) cooking podcast, Kitchen Radio. She is also a board member of Fareground, a food-access nonprofit that provides free groceries and community meals to Hudson Valley residents.
Susan Streit Sherman joined Home Cooking New York in 2010. Originally from Michigan, Susan moved to New York to attend the French Culinary Institute. She began her career working as a private chef in both Manhattan and the Hamptons. For five years she managed the School of Recreational Cooking at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), and previously worked in the test kitchens at Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart Living, and Real Simple magazines.
John Scoff joined Home Cooking New York in 2006. After 15 years of restaurant work, culminating most recently as Executive Chef of a low country bistro in South Carolina, John continues to believe strongly in working with local, fresh ingredients. John’s apprenticeships under several highly-regarded, award-winning chefs gave him the culinary expertise and the sense of professionalism he needed to become a well-respected restaurant chef.
In 2004, John truly found his calling when he accepted a position as Executive Chef-Instructor at a recreational cooking school in historic downtown Charleston. As a teacher there, he discovered how much he enjoys sharing his passion for and knowledge of really good cooking.
Erica Wides joined HCNY in 2013. She is a chef, teacher, food media host and writer and commercial actor. Prior to joining our team was a senior instructor at ICE for fifteen years and spent a decade cooking in the NYC restaurant world.
She’s the creator and host of @Thechefsmartypants on Instagram and TikTok (1M followers!).
Albert Nguyen joined Home Cooking New York in 2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he graduated from the culinary program at Johnson & Wales University in 2010. He has worked in the kitchens of some of NYC’s most famous kitchens: Momofuku, Ma Peche, Del Posto, Flora Bar, and most recently as the Executive Chef at Hanoi House, before pivoting to teaching.
Al also teaches culinary at the Lower East Side Girls Club. He is deeply passionate and knowledgeable about food and cooking, and values teaching his students how to cook smart, efficiently, and confidently in the kitchen. Al’s other hobbies include gardening and composting, which are obvious extensions of his passion for food.
Sooninah (Sue) Gonsalves joined Home Cooking in 2015. Originally from Guyana, she moved to the US to attend the Institute of Culinary Education’s Culinary Arts Program in 2000. In addition to leading HCNY’s summer culinary programming for kids and teens, she also teaches recreational cooking classes at HCNY and the Institute of Culinary Education. In her spare time, she is tends an impressive culinary garden in her Queen’s backyard.
Netanya Rommel joined Home Cooking in 2021. Originally from Seattle, she spent all of her spare time working as a volunteer at The Pantry, a local cooking studio, while curating a community supper club called Common Table. In 2019, she moved to New York City to attend culinary school at Hudson County, specializing in pastry. She is passionate about helping people have more confidence in the kitchen, sharing culinary history tidbits, and building community through food.
Annie Sherrick joined Home Cooking New York in 2023. Annie grew up in central Illinois, where her mom’s incredible cooking sparked her love of being in the kitchen. After graduating from Boston College, she moved to New York to attend the Institute of Culinary Education, where she graduated with a nutrition-focused culinary degree.
Since then, Annie has worked in restaurants, test kitchens, and at Heritage Food Radio. When she isn’t teaching, she works as a private chef and creates digital content for food-related brands. She’s especially fond of sticky toffee pudding, a good pear, and anything cheesy.