Rossy’s apartment in the Gascue neighborhood of Santo Domingo sits about ten minutes from the Zona Colonial, filled with family art, traditional Dominican plates, and tropical orchids. She works as a business administrator at a Montessori school; her husband manages their organic cacao farm. On the counter, green plantains wait beside a mortar and pestle, and the smell of garlic and oregano hangs in the air. This is where the cooking happens — not in a sterile studio, but in a home kitchen where every pot and spoon carries a story.
Rossy shares family history and love behind each dish, turning cooking into a connection to Dominican heritage — one sancocho at a time.
This isn’t a polished cooking demo with spotless counters and pre-portioned ingredients. It’s a real home kitchen — you’ll chop, stir, and mash alongside Rossy, and the meal that follows is the same one her own family sits down to. If you want to understand Dominican food beyond restaurant menus, this is the place to start. Just be ready to talk — Rossy is talkative, and the stories flow as freely as the rum.
Food travelers
Families with kids 5+
Solo travelers
You don’t need prior cooking experience. The class adapts to your pace, and dietary restrictions — vegetarian, gluten-free, allergies — can be accommodated if you mention them when booking. The experience runs about two hours for cooking plus another hour to eat, and you’ll leave with recipes you can recreate at home.
Rossy’s Kitchen in Gascue
Rossy’s apartment reflects her personality — warm, layered, and deeply connected to Dominican culture. The walls display works by famous Dominican artists alongside traditional plates. Orchids grow on the windowsill. The kitchen is compact but functional, and when the group grows past six, guests rotate through in smaller teams. Everyone still gets hands-on time with the knife and the stovetop.
The experience starts in the living room with a drink and an appetizer of casabe — yuca bread paired with a garlic, cilantro, and cream cheese sauce. Rossy explains the significance of casabe, a pre-Columbian staple made from cassava, and how it’s still produced in rural areas of the Dominican Republic today. Then you move to the kitchen to begin cooking.
Rossy speaks English and Spanish, switching between them depending on the group. She’s worked as a business administrator for years, but cooking is clearly her passion. She learned these recipes from her own mother and grandmother, and she treats guests like extended family — expect a running commentary on each ingredient, a few jokes, and possibly a suggestion to visit her husband’s cacao farm if you have extra time.
Casabe and Sancocho: The Classic Pairing
The sample menu typically starts with casabe and moves to sancocho, the hearty stew that anchors Dominican celebrations. Sancocho combines chicken, pork, and root vegetables — yucca, green plantains, potatoes, carrots, corn — simmered with garlic, oregano, and cumin until the broth is rich and the vegetables are tender. Rossy’s version uses a mix of meats and adjusts based on what’s seasonal at the market.
You’ll help prep the vegetables, season the meat, and monitor the simmer. The key technique Rossy emphasizes is patience — sancocho improves when cooked slowly, and she often prepares it a day ahead for deeper flavor. One trick she shows guests: mash a few cooked plantains or potatoes against the side of the pot to thicken the broth naturally.
Rossy recommends marinating the meat overnight for richer flavor. If you’re taking the morning class (11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.), the meat is usually already marinated when you arrive — ask about it and she’ll walk you through the process.
The meal is served at the dining table, family-style. Sancocho comes with rice and avocado on the side, and you’re encouraged to squeeze lime over the stew before eating. Rossy’s hot chocolate, made from cacao grown on her husband’s farm, is available on request and worth asking for — it’s thick, barely sweet, and nothing like the powdered version.
Beyond the stew, Rossy teaches other dishes that define Dominican home cooking.
Mangu: From Breakfast to Any Meal
Mangu is the Dominican breakfast standard — boiled green plantains mashed with butter and cold water until smooth, then topped with sautéed red onions caramelized in vinegar. It’s simple but easy to get wrong. Rossy shows you how to pick the right plantains: they must be green and firm. Ripe plantains turn too sweet and soft for mangu; they’re reserved for pastelón, the sweet plantain casserole.
The trick, Rossy explains, is the water. Adding cold water while mashing creates a creamier texture than warm water or milk. She also demonstrates the traditional way to peel plantains — cut the ends, score a shallow slit along the ridges, and lift the peel in one piece. It takes practice, but she lets everyone try.
Mangu is served with fried cheese, fried eggs, and Dominican salami, making it a complete meal. Rossy’s version includes a garlic powder option for extra flavor, and the onions can be prepped in advance and reheated — a time-saving tip she’s picked up from years of feeding her family before work.
If you’re taking the evening class (6:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.), Rossy sometimes serves mangu as a starter or side rather than the main event — it’s versatile enough to work at any meal, and the onions add a tangy contrast to the stews.
La Bandera: The Flag on Your Plate
La Bandera — “The Flag” — is the daily lunch of most Dominican households: white rice, stewed red beans, and stewed chicken, arranged on the plate to mimic the colors of the Dominican flag. Each component is cooked separately and combined at serving. Rice stands for purity, beans for the earth, meat for strength and courage. Rossy teaches all three components in the cooking class, and the chicken is her most requested recipe.
She seasons the chicken with lime juice, soy sauce, vinegar, and adobo seasoning, then browns it in oil before adding onions, garlic, and bell peppers. The beans start with a sofrito — the traditional blend of peppers, onions, garlic, and herbs — and simmer with tomato paste and oregano until the sauce thickens. The rice is rinsed until the water runs clear, then cooked with salt and oil for separate, fluffy grains.
The assembly matters: a mound of rice, a portion of beans ladled beside it, a piece of chicken on the side. Optional garnishes include sliced avocado and fried plantains. Rossy’s tip for the beans: mash some against the side of the pot for a creamier texture without blending them completely. She also suggests adding a splash of vinegar at the end to brighten the flavor.
Rossy uses Dominican oregano, which has a stronger aroma than the Mediterranean variety. If you can’t find it at home, she recommends substituting a mix of regular oregano and a pinch of dried thyme — it approximates the same earthy punch.
The class wraps up with dessert — homemade dulce de leche or dulce de coco, plus Dominican coffee or that farm-grown cacao hot chocolate. Rossy sends guests home with printed recipe cards and a contact for her husband’s cacao products if anyone wants to buy some.
Booking, Pricing, and Logistics
The cooking experience with Rossy is booked through Traveling Spoon or Viator. Prices vary by group size and experience type. A standard in-home meal (you eat, don’t cook) runs roughly $39 for one person, $35 per person for 2–4 guests, and $30 per person for groups of five or more. The full cooking experience plus meal costs about $49 for one person, $45 per person for 2–4 guests, and around $7 per person for groups of five or more. A transportation add-on from Rossy is available for about $29 per car if you’d rather not arrange your own ride. Confirm current pricing at booking, as rates can shift.
Cancellation is free up to 48 hours before the experience. A 4% payment processing fee applies to refunds. Rossy typically confirms bookings within 72 hours, and your card isn’t charged until she does.
The kitchen is small — groups of seven or more work in rotating teams, so not everyone is cooking simultaneously at every step. If hands-on time is your priority, book a group of six or fewer. Also, parking near the Gascue apartment can be tight; Rossy recommends arriving by taxi or Uber.
Timings: lunch (12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.) and dinner (7:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.) for the meal-only option. The cooking experience runs 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. Children 5–11 receive 50% off; infants 0–4 are free. The experience is private — just you and your chosen companions.
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You can book the cooking class with Rossy on Viator or check availability through Traveling Spoon’s host page for Rossy. If you’re also interested in exploring more Dominican food experiences, Viator lists additional cooking classes in Santo Domingo that range from street food tours to full-day culinary immersions.
Before You Go — Cooking with Rossy in Santo Domingo
What should I wear to the cooking class?
Comfortable clothes you don’t mind getting a splash on — an old T-shirt and jeans work fine. Closed-toed shoes are safer in the kitchen. Rossy provides aprons, so you don’t need to bring your own.
Can I bring my kids?
Yes, the class welcomes families. Kids 5–11 get 50% off, and infants under 4 join free. The hands-on environment works well for children who are comfortable in a kitchen — mashing plantains and stirring broth are easy tasks for younger helpers.
What if I have dietary restrictions?
Rossy accommodates vegetarian, gluten-free, and most allergy needs if you tell her during booking. She can prepare a vegetarian sancocho using fresh local vegetables, and the casabe appetizer is naturally gluten-free (it’s made from yuca).
How do I get to Rossy’s apartment?
The apartment is in Gascue, about a ten-minute walk from the Zona Colonial. If you prefer not to walk, Rossy offers a pick-up service by car for about $29, and she can arrange an Uber for your return trip. Parking near the building is limited, so driving yourself is not recommended.
What language does Rossy speak?
Rossy speaks both English and Spanish fluently. She switches naturally based on the group’s preference, and she’s patient with beginners in either language. The recipe cards she provides are in English.
Bringing the Stories Home
Rossy’s cooking class is a meal, a lesson, and a conversation rolled into one afternoon or evening. You’ll leave with plantain-peeling skills, a working knowledge of Dominican oregano versus Greek, and probably her phone number in case you need a restaurant recommendation later in your trip. The recipes are the kind that improve with repetition — sancocho especially — and the stories behind them make each dish worth recreating long after you’ve left Santo Domingo. For more on the island’s food traditions, read about habichuelas con dulce, a creamy sweet bean dessert that’s a Lenten staple, or explore the spicy and savory sauces that define Dominican cooking.
References
Traveling Spoon. “Traditional Dominican Cuisine with a Charming Grandmother in Santo Domingo.” Traveling Spoon, 2025. ↗
Latin Spoonful. “Classic Traditional Dominican Recipes.” Latin Spoonful, 2024. ↗
Travel Buddies. “Cook Traditional Dominican Cuisine with a Charming Grandmother in Santo Domingo.” Travel Buddies, 2025. ↗
If you’re pairing your cooking experience with a broader food tour of the Dominican Republic, check out our guide to pairing Dominican rum with local dishes and the roundup of farm-to-table dining across the island. Both will give you more context for the flavors you’ll taste in Rossy’s kitchen.
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