Once our instructor introduced himself, I realized that the class wasn’t going to be anything like I thought. He was basically wearing a three-piece suit without the jacket — definitely not the stereotypical stoner. Nope — it turns out Michael Cirino is an expert in molecular gastronomy and high-end cuisine. And he wants to turn weed into a dining experience like a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.That all sounds well and good, but the process is actually sort of complicated. Because weed is still illegal, it’s much harder to know exactly what you're getting with each strain or batch. So there needs to be a lot of experimenting with exactly how much you're putting into your butter or fat before you start cooking. Plus, you only need a very small amount to do the trick. Cirino might put an eyedropper’s worth of a weed extraction into a rye cocktail, or top a steak with a dropper’s worth of canna butter — not the entire stick of butter, or a cup of oil infused with a giant handful of weed.Another thing Cirino taught us is that you're not supposed to cook with raw weed at all. Instead, you need to heat it, in a process called decarboxylation. The dried plant is placed in the oven (apparently lower temperatures and longer cooking times are best ), allowing you to later extract the THC into a fat that can be used to flavor and add a psychedelic aspect to the meal. Instead of directly cooking with that oil, which could result in uneven THC dispersal (a slightly terrifying thought) or wasting a lot of expensive product, Cirino suggests using the outcome as topping or addition. (Thus the suggestion of putting it over steak or in a cocktail.)Two hours later, we all chowed down on our oregano-infused cocktails and steaks topped with oregano butter, and I had officially attended my first-ever weed cooking class. My eyes were definitely opened to the potential future of marijuana consumption. But, for now, I think I'll be waiting until the law catches up — and letting experts like Cirino do the tincturing. Who knows? In a few years, we might all be enjoying pairing menus with cannabis instead of wine.If you're feeling brave (and you live in a state where weed is legal) you can try the below recipe. Or if you're a New York City resident and want to experience the class for yourself, you can sign up for Cooking With Cannabis here