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The national obsession with all things kitchen has never been more intense. Add new skills to your repertoire – whatever your appetite
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Healthy eating
Cooking Courses in London
Skill: Knife Work
Where: The Cookery School, central London
Next 2017 date: January 4
Cost: £130 for 3.5 hours
Getting there: Nearest tube Oxford Circus
“Learning knife skills makes one more efficient, speedier and probably safer,” says Rosalind Rathouse, principal of the Cookery School in the West End. In one morning, learn how and what to slice, dice, chop, fillet and segment before cooking and eating the results, which include caramelized focaccia, minestrone, hand-chopped burgers and apple cake. You can buy the knives, and pick up endless practical tips too such as: always rock the knife front to back (never up and down), and never put knives into soapy water. cookeryschool.co.uk
Skill: Gut And Fillet Fish
Where: The Billingsgate Seafood Training School, London
Next 2017 dates: January 20 – February 3
Cost: £89 per evening
Getting there: Nearest tube Canary Wharf or Blackwall (DLR)
A new, men only, three-evening course teaches the basics of fishmongering, and how to safely wield a knife with an expert blockman. Located above Billingsgate, each evening will focus on different species; round (such as mackerel), flat (plaice), and shellfish (oysters). Pick up essential skills such as how to successfully remove the gills and blood line from a fish, and dressing a crab. “We want our guests to become more engaged with the food we eat. Starting at the bottom and working up is key,” says principal CJ Jackson. seafoodtraining.org
Skill: Being A Food Presenter
Where: Leiths School of Food and Wine, London
Next 2017 date: February 22 – March 21, with a location shoot on March 25
Cost: £900
Getting there: Nearest tube Stamford Brook
“When you’re passionate about food you want to share that knowledge, but it can be daunting to cook for an audience,” says Leiths managing director Camilla Schneideman. The school has drawn on its 40 years’ experience to create the UK’s first and only course that will, over five weekly evenings, teach you how to simultaneously cook stylishly and talk clearly on camera, and how to strategically market and style yourself. The final day is spent on location, producing a professionally edited show reel. leiths.com
Skill: French Cooking With Michel Roux Jr
Where: London
Next 2017 date: January 11
Cost: £995
Getting there: Nearest tube Clapham Common
The Roux brothers changed British cuisine when they set up Le Gavroche 50 years ago. “It was the first UK restaurant to be awarded Michelin stars,” says Anna Ratcliffe, director of London’s Cactus Kitchens. Spend the day with Michel Roux Jr, in a group of no more than 12, and you’ll make and eat dishes like quail with grapes and ceps, and pain perdu with roast pineapple, rum and chilli, while Michel answers all your questions and passes on simple tips (such as removing the wishbone when preparing poultry so you don’t waste any meat). cactuskitchens.co.uk
Skill: Food Photography And Styling
Where: Cordon Bleu, London
Next 2017 dates: March 2 – 4, 2017
Cost: £600 for three days
Getting there: Nearest tube Holborn
This three-day course, introduced in 2015, from this 120-year-old culinary institution, is taught by a professional photographer and master chef in a group of 10, in response to burgeoning social media needs. Learn the difference in preparing food for pictures, rather than for eating, plate and lighting design, and the use of props and top tips (“Always ensure the food is the hero, don’t overcomplicate it with too many props,” says Melissa Cuffy from Cordon Bleu). The final task is carried out in pairs and within strict time limits. cordonbleu.edu
NEXT: Cooking Courses in the UK
Cooking Courses in the UK
Skill: Bread Making
Where: The Bertinet Kitchen, Bath
Next 2017 dates: January 9 Three-day course: £580. Accommodation options available on the website
Getting there: Train (GWR from Paddington) to Bath Spa
Richard Bertinet started his baking career aged 14, and set up his eponymous Bath kitchen in 2005. Here you’ll benefit from his 35 years of experience as you learn to mould and ferment everything from tin loaves to French fougasse to Italian ciabatta. The three-day course includes lunch with wine every day, all materials and ingredients plus a signed copy of Richard’s cookery book Crust. “Plenty of people write to us and say that since they’ve taken this course, they haven’t purchased a single loaf,” says Jo, Richard’s wife. thebertinetkitchen.com
Skill: Grilling Steaks The Argentinian Way
Where: Cornwall
Next 2017 date: July 14
Cost: £150
Getting there: Nearest train station Truro or St Austell (GWR from Paddington)
“It’s easy to light a fire, but there’s a secret art to controlling its temperature so that food isn’t burnt on the outside,” says Lindsey Thomas, operations manager of Cornwall’s Philleigh Way cookery school. David Deadman spent 10 years in Argentina learning everything there is to know about cooking over fire (“Asado”). On this one-day course he will share his techniques for cooking a range of unusual and traditional cuts on the parilla (grill), as well as how to make charcoal, and build, light and control a fire. philleighway.co.uk
Skill: Meat Curing And Smoking
Where: The River Cottage Axminster, Devon
Next 2017 date: January 22
Cost: £240
Getting there: Train to Axminster (Southwest Trains from Waterloo) or driving instructions on the website
“Smoking and curing isn’t about turning something unpalatable into something barely edible. It’s about preserving, not masking flavouring,” says Steven Lamb, who’s been with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage since the start. On this one-day course, which champions lowly cuts like pig’s head, learn butchery skills and traditional hot and cold smoking techniques for salami, salt beef or bresaola, and dry curing methods for bacon that, uniquely, don’t use nitrates. rivercottage.net
Skill: None – Just Doing Bake Off
Where: Brighton, Bristol, London, Manchester
Cost: From £95 per person
For fans of the Great British Bake Off who need to find an original way of celebrating a “major life event” (such as stag do) or something more enjoyable for your annual corporate team-building session than an afternoon in Conference Room B at the Gatwick Travelodge, this is for you. Bake With A Legend offers: “Your chance to bake with…some of the nation’s most-loved bakers” – no, not Greggs, but a number of former GBBO contestants – and learn new skills in a “high quality private venue.” bakewithalegend.com
NEXT: Cooking Holidays in Europe
Cooking Holidays in Europe
Skill: Greek Cuisine
Where: Ikaria, Greece
Next 2017 dates: April 17-23
Cost: £2,625, excluding flights
Getting there: BA, easyJet and Ryanair fly from London to Athens. Aegean Air flies from Athens to Ikaria
A week here will “give you a new understanding of how to live a long and happy life,” says Peg Kern of the International Kitchen. “Greece is where the Mediterranean Diet was born; indulgent, wholesome, fresh. The climate provides for delicious raw ingredients, the most basic aspect of cooking,” says Diana Kochilas, an authority on healthy Greek cuisine and your host. Staying in a traditional beach-front hotel in the fishing village of Armenistis, you’ll learn to cook “foods of longevity” from Kochilas’ organic garden. theinternationalkitchen.com
Skill: Traditional Swedish Culinary Heritage
Where: Stockholm
Next 2017 dates: September (dates tbc)
Cost: £1,100 excluding flights
Getting there: BA, Finnair, Norwegian, Ryanair and SAS fly direct from London to Stockholm
On this two-night tour, learn to bake traditional flatbreads at the open-air museum at Skansen, using a 150-year-old wood-fired oven. Cambridge Cookery School founder and guide Tine Roche will reveal the secrets of foraging for mushrooms (“it’s all about the hunting,” she says) and your boutique hotel chef will demonstrate how to cook them. Dinner is from Michelin-starred chef Niklas Ekstedt; his kitchen, inspired by 18th century Swedish cookbooks, produces moose heart, reindeer and hay-flamed sweetbreads. cambridgecookeryschool.com
Skill: Italian Cooking
Where: A palazzo outside Venice
Next 2017 dates: May 14 – 20
Cost: £2,695 for six nights, excluding flights
Getting there: BA, easyJet and Monarch fly direct to Venice
“We offer a high-end, experiential cookery week where you cook with top chefs, immerse yourself in local culture, and relax in sumptuous and historic surroundings,” says Patrick Obert, founder of Stirred Travel. You’ll learn to source and prepare unique versions of the classics, from the elaborate (squid cooked in its own ink with creamy white polenta), to the basic risi e bisi (rice and peas), all matched with wines from the area. You’ll visit Venice and its famous fish market, before taking a private boat to the island of Mazzorbo for a feast. stirredtravel.com
Adventure & Travel
Health
Nutrition
Kate Johnson
17 Nov 2016