Looking for a gift idea that’s unusual, fun and practical at the same time? Cookery lessons get all three covered as they are most entertaining and you get to learn something useful at the same time. With the great spread of food types available in the UK there are some interesting themes too, from having a go at making your own sushi to baking your own Whoopie (it’s American!). Whether they are a bit of dab hand with the ingredients, or cause sheer chaos in the kitchen, there are cookery lessons for beginners right through to gourmet food lovers wanting ideas for their next dinner party.
Classes with personality chefs are always really popular and one chef who is cooking up a bit of a storm in his home kitchen is Nigel Brown. Born into catering, as his parents ran a very successful restaurant, Nigel trained alongside the likes of James Martin at South Humberside College and has gained experience in top hotel restaurants in London, as well as a stint at a prestigious French cuisine school.
Now dedicated to passing on his culinary knowledge, Nigel Brown’s cookery classes are renowned for being a friendly and relaxed affair as you gather round his home kitchen which, even though it’s at home is equipped to top notch standards, helps create a convivial and friendly atmosphere.
When it comes to a taste of the Mediterranean, you can’t beat the Italian food in London from Giancarlo and his wife Katie. The couple run Caldesi a superb café, bar and restaurant in London that serves the very best and the very freshest pasta to name just one of the items on their classic Italian menu. They also run a school where you can learn to make pasta just like Mama used to. But what really caught our eye was the fact that they regularly have guest chefs popping in, including a certain Gino D’Acampo of This Morning and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here fame. Oooh yes!
Of course, there’s not just Italian cookery in the world. We’ve found an excellent ‘one stop shop’ for booking cookery lessons and full day cookery courses at schools around the country and for a variety of cookery themes. Here you’ll find everything from bread making with an expert French baker and patissier, to cooking with a former Masterchef star whose love of cuisine is infectious. The site, from Into the Blue, boasts the fact that all classes are sold as vouchers valid for a full 12 months, so the lucky person you’re buying the gift for has plenty of time to get ready and steady to cook!
Last but by no means least there’s Rick Stein. We have been fans of Rick (and his little terrier Chalkie) since we saw a programme on the telly where he went deep sea fishing. He opened our eyes to the fact that when a food label on something like fish fingers says ‘other white fish’ it’s more than likely to be fish that are dragged up from the depths of the sea and are over 100 years old! Yuk!
Since we saw that we’ve always had a thing about sourcing good quality, responsibly caught fish. Fish is one of those foods that people are quite reticent about cooking from fresh as it can be quite difficult to clean, gut and prepare, but booking on to one of Stein’s seafood workshops will dispel the myths and uncover the mysteries of creating tasty fish dishes. And of course, where better to learn all this than his own school and restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall. If our boyfriend is reading this, this would be our ideal birthday gift idea…!
