 |
|
Food of Course
|
| Great British Food Magazine |
 |
 |
|
www.greatbritishfoodmagazine.com
Developing new skills needn't cost blood, sweat and tears; Great British Food Magazine investigate the cookery schools which make learning a luxury.
Learning to cook can be a life-changing experience, so why not dive in and do it properly? That's the premise of Food Of Course, a residential cookery school based in rural Somerset and run by chef Louise and her husband Roger Hutton. |
We're all about life skills,” explains Roger. “If you eat two meals a day, that's about 50,000 in your lifetime – a huge amount of playing around with food! Whether it's something really sophisticated or just beans on toast, the bottom line is you'll spend a lot of your life preparing and eating your meals.”
The school's signature class is a four-week programme designed to turn bewildered beginners into competent cooks. So what kind of people enroll? Well, primarily gap-year students looking for the skills to get paid work in pubs and restaurants, ski chalets, hunting lodges and on yachts. The 16th-century farmhouse which houses the school has welcomed a wide variety of people through its doors. “We get mums who are stuck with the same old dinner party dishes, food-lovers whose children have flown the nest leaving them with the opportunity to set up a B&B...basically just people interested in food.”
To ensure that students get the best from their culinary endeavors, tutor Louise has created pretty comprehensive programmes. “The course is in-depth and motivational enough to open people's eyes to where they can take their passion,” she explains. “We start off the four weeks with fundamental methods and techniques – making sauces, vinaigrettes, learning about what sauce to serve with a food, how to match flavours. It's wonderful to see the seasonal ingredients that our students start bringing into the food – right now that might be walnuts, apples or winter veg.
“Sourcing the right ingredients is crucial so we teach students how to recognise quality meat, fish and produce,” continues Louise. “Yesterday we went to Wells market which had the most wonderful variety of Cornish fish. I showed the students how to spot freshness and when we got home everyone cooked their purchases – the results were absolutely delicious. Learning to cook can be about taking people outside their comfort zone.” Students also learn to make bread, jams and soups, hone their knife skills, and discover the importance of a good store cupboard.”
“Those on a four-week residential course effectively live with us for a month,” points out Roger. “We only take four at a time and two will cook a full three-course dinner every night. they need a lot of help to begin with but are gradually given control of the budget and the freedom to choose their own menu. It's a delight to see how they blossom and evolve a passion for getting it right.”
|
|
|
|
