One of the kitchen skills that has eluded me for years was how to make fresh pasta. Despite purchasing the right ingredients — hello, semolina flour! — and following instructions, my dough never became smooth and elastic enough to roll into long sheets. My noodles always ended up dense and chewy instead having that perfect toothiness that fresh pasta should.

As someone who prides herself on mastering new kitchen skills through research and practice, I was irritated by the fact that pasta-making remained elusive. “It’s so simple,” I would tell myself. “Why can’t I get it right?”

Well, sometimes you have to admit that you need help. Fresh pasta was plainly not something I was going to master on my own.  So, I signed up for a three-hour Pasta Workshop at The Chopping Block, Chicago’s premier recreational cooking school. This hands-on class promised to teach me how to make fresh pasta dough, use a pasta roller, prepare pasta fillings and make tomato, meat and cheese sauces for my fresh pasta. I couldn’t wait to unlock the mystery.

The first thing you have to realize about classes at The Chopping Block is that they are intended to be fun. Sure, you learn a lot and everyone there is pretty serious about what they are doing. But it’s also supposed to be a good time, so most people were there with someone: a friend, a spouse, a parent or a sibling. I came by myself — with a laser-like focus on taming the elusive noodle — and if it were not for the friendliness of my table-mates, Caroline and Kristie, I might have felt a little left out. So, in short, take a class at The Chopping Block with someone.

The class itself was terrific. The incredible staff at The Chopping Block makes everything pleasant and easy. When we arrived, our stations were all set up with professional equipment. There was a chef leading the class and two class assistants, so any time you needed help or had a question, someone was available. The chef, Trevor, demonstrated everything first and then turned us loose to try it for ourselves, so it was really hands-on.

Because pasta dough has to rest before you work with it, Chef Trevor had arranged the class so that we made a batch of dough, then prepared a sauce, then rolled out some pasta dough that had been prepared in advance, and then, when enough time had passed, rolled out our own dough.

Over the course of the class, each table of three to five people prepared a meat sauce, a fresh tomato sauce and a cheese sauce, as well as a cheese filling, and made three kinds of pasta: tagliatelle, manicotti and fettuccine. That’s a lot to pack into three hours. And then, at the end, we ate what we made. My table of three made enough food for all of us to eat lunch and still have plenty of leftovers to bring home.

So, have I figured out all the secrets of fresh pasta yet? Not quite. But I think with more practice, I will get there. One thing I definitely learned is that having the right equipment matters. Before the class, I owned a tiny, cheap pasta roller that never stayed in place and was impossible to adjust. The pasta rollers we used in class were so superior that I bought one at The Chopping Block’s retail store before I went home that day — happily using the 15% discount given to class attendees.

But the really valuable part of the class was being able to put my questions about making pasta — should I add more flour? Is this dough thin enough? — to an experienced chef while I was doing it. You can learn a lot of things, in the kitchen and everywhere else, by reading and practicing on your own. But sometimes you can save yourself a lot of time and heartache by just taking a damn class already. I learned that lesson very well when I was doing a lot of knitting. An hour spent with a knowledgeable teacher could save me ten hours of stress and frustration trying to figure out something on my own.

While I fancy myself a pretty knowledgeable and experienced home cook, there will continue to be some skills and some techniques that I can’t learn on my own. And when that happens, I will know exactly where to go. Next up: knife skills. Or maybe Artisanal Bread Baking. What about Meat Butchery? Have kitchen skill or technique that you are dying to master? Find out more about The Chopping Block’s cooking classes here.

Full disclosure time: The Chopping Block offered me the opportunity to take one of its classes at no charge. I was not asked to write about the experience and have not received any compensation. All opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.