“An excellent one-to-one cookery class, thank you Tara”
Lee, Bristol
Cookery Lessons
Do you ever wonder how those chefs do it? This is the perfect opportunity to learn from a pro. Are you bored with cooking the same old thing and want to widen your repertoire? All those cookery books are alright but can you really be bothered to wade through them all? Not sure what’s in season? Why is that even relevant anyway?
Get stuck into a hands-on cookery lesson. Tara has headed up kitchens in some of the best restaurants and she teaches one-to one or small groups to cook simply and seasonally in her purpose-built kitchen. There will be lots of opportunities to taste, ask questions and learn heaps of useful tips in an open & friendly environment. At the end of the class, you will take your creations home with you, along with a folder of the recipes you have cooked during the class.
Gift Vouchers
If you would like to treat someone else, cookery lessons make the perfect gift so please contact us to order a voucher.
The Lessons
Lesson 1: The Basics
Learn a few basics that will make your life easy, how to get the best flavours out of your food; tools that you should never be without, how to have sharp knives; dicing, slicing; making mayonnaise, hollandaise; how to make a good stock – the basis for soups, brilliant sauces, risottos… the list is endless. Delve into the tricks of the trade to help you be a better cook.
Lesson 2: Italian Cooking
Get to grips with what comes naturally to all those Italian mamas: making pasta dough from scratch, rolling, cutting, filling: cannelloni, ravioli, pappardelle, classic sauces – what goes with what and why is it so good? Risotto: a blank page that you can adapt to every season: risotto primavera, pumpkin risotto, risotto nero, risotto pomodoro…
Lesson 3: Fish & Shellfish
Brain food. Learn scaling, gutting, filleting; find out where to buy the freshest fish and how to be a discerning customer; learn the secret of cooking fish and shellfish to perfection; make fish stock which is the basis for classic fish soup and bouillabaisse from Provence with its delicious accompaniments; fish Fridays will never be the same again!
Lesson 4: Meat & Poultry
Get stuck in to butchery, learn how to bone out a whole bird and use every bit; make your own stock- once you do, you’ll never be without it again; see how to cook meat and rest it to achieve real flavour and succulence; which marinade for which meat? From the art of fast cooking and resting to slow braising the cheaper cuts.
Lesson 5: Desserts & Pastry
Does that perfect tart elude you? Overcome your pastry fears, learn about resting, rolling and baking blind. Round off your meals with classic desserts: make caramel, real custard, crème brûlée, éclairs, jellies and even soufflés. Dish up desserts that will melt hearts.
Lesson 6: Indian vegetarian cookery
If your local takeaway is just not delivering, learn to produce your own Indian banquet at home. Know your paneers from your puris, cook perfect rice every time and get your spicing spot on – you don’t need complicated equipment, just some simple, good ingredients – you’ll be amazed what’s possible.
Lesson 7: Spanish tapas
If you’re not off to sunny Spain any time soon but you wish you were, no pasa nada, you can recreate authentic Spanish tapas with Tara: not just fluent in the lingo but in the food too, she’s spent a lot of time crawling the tapas bars of Madrid & Barcelona, she’s not known as La Reina de tapas or Tapas Queen for nothing: ¡Apúntate! That means ‘sign up!’.