Cooking Schools, Across Scotland
WHAT'S COOKING?
Pic: Turnberry
Scotland's larder is overflowing with the some of the finest natural
produce to be found the world over and as Vivien Devlin discovers
there are plenty of places where you can learn to cook with the
best chefs in the land too.
The list is endless - Nigella Lawson, Gary Rhodes, Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein, Sophie Grigson, Nick Nairn, Keith Floyd and Gordon Ramsay. Via their television shows or glossy cookbooks, celebrity chefs enthuse, entice and cajole us to bake and baste, grill and griddle, saute and stir - chop, chop!
Now it seems we all want to cook like the Naked Chef and impress our friends with a perfect dinner party. Imagine the feast - porcini mushroom risotto, pan-fried halibut on spinach, lime and ginger butter, dark chocolate tart with raspberry coulis...it makes your mouth water.
There are several cookery schools in Scotland where you can pick up a few trade secrets while enjoying a demonstration with personal tuition from the professionals and change your kitchen habits for the better and surprise your family and friends.
Here are just a few of the best schools to choose from.
The Ailsa Cooking School
Turnberry Resort
Ayrshire
01655 334175
Four day residential international course - 13-16 November 2001
More information about the resort can be found at www.turnberry.co.uk
The Cooking School at Turnberry has been running for three years welcoming up to 40 people of all ages and standards for a very relaxed series of masterchef demonstrations and hands-on workshops with top international chefs from the United States, Italy, England and Scotland.
Executive Chef at Turnberry Stewart Cameron is impressed with the current enthusiasm for cooking and eating good food saying that tastes are becoming more international and that is a good thing for trying out new recipes at home.
"TV celebrity chefs have been highly influential," he said. "They make it look easy and people want to try it too. Today people eat out more often and travel widely, experiencing international food and then experiment at home"
The Turnberry cooking school is combined with a recreational holiday and provides plenty of time to enjoy the facilities of the resort, which include the championship golf course and spa.
Earlshill Farm
Lochwinnoch
Renfrewshire
01505 843434
www.earlshill.co.uk
Festive entertaining courses will be held during November
Mo Scott followed a rigorous apprenticeship in many leading restaurants around the UK before she came to Glasgow to open Poacher's, the first really serious "foodie" restaurant. Within two years it won the coveted Michelin M award, a rare achievement in Scotland at the time.
Mo now passes on her professional knowledge and experience with demonstrations and masterclasses at Earlshill Farm, where she says the emphasis is on simplicity, quality ingredients and of course the very best tastes.
"I like to prepare elegant dishes for special occasions," she says, "but also dishes that are quick and simple to make. Most folk are too busy to spend more than an hour each day in the kitchen. The emphasis is always on quality ingredients and excellence of taste"
Classes run by Mo at Earlshill include dinner-in-a-dash, men's hands-on masterclass and a very successful children's cookery school encouraging children to change their eating habits and enjoy home-cooked meals.
Nairns
Cook School
Port of Menteith
By Stirling
01877 385603
www.nairnscookschool.com
Stress free modern and traditional Christmas courses are running
in November and December.
This purpose-built school on the shores of the Lake of Menteith features a state of the art kitchen and spacious facilities for hands-on tuition. Here on the Lochend estate are attractive self-catering cedar chalets available for residential course students or perhaps combining a cookery class with a family holiday.
TV chef and restaurateur Nick Nairn founded Nairns Cook School eighteen months ago with fellow chef John Webber, whose eminent background includes training under Anton Mossiman at the Savoy and the post of head chef at Kinnaird Country House, Perthshire, where he won his second Michelin star.
Recreational day classes, open to all, claim to "take the stress and mystery out of cooking". The focus is on enjoyment and with a limit of eight people per class you are assured of personal attention.
Learn how to make the perfect sushi, Thai cuisine, bread and baking, vegetarian dishes and plan a stress-free Christmas. Flexible one day and five day residential masterclasses at introductory, intermediate and advanced levels, provide a complete cookery programme.
John Webber believes anyone can be taught to cook well, given the interest, "It's becoming the new golf with many men cooking on Saturdays as a form of relaxation," he said.
Repeat business is big business at Nairns Cook School, which must the proof of the pudding. "Enjoyed the day very much - gone away stuffed and inspired," comments Sally in the guest book, while Steve enthuses - "Another fabulous day, we'll be back".
Kinloch Lodge
Sleat
Isle of Skye
01471 833214
www.kinloch-lodge.co.uk
Weekend courses are held throughout the winter including a Christmas
decorations course on the weekend of 30 November - 2 December.
Why not take a special three day weekend or midweek "cookery" break at Kinloch Lodge, with bed and breakfast, lunch and dinner included.
Each morning Lady Claire Macdonald will demonstrate a selection of recipes from her 14 books, covering seasonal cooking, lunches, suppers and puddings.
Over the winter selected courses feature special Guy Fawkes and Murder Mystery weekends. Claire admits that her life is dominated by food.
"I am passionate about food. I cook, I write about food and give demonstrations. I like to experiment and encourage others to do so. It is important to enjoy cooking, eat for pleasure and have fun with food, " she said.
Some other cookery courses that are available
The Edinburgh School of Food and
Wine
The Coach House
Newliston
Edinburgh
0131 333 5001
www.cookerycompany.com
Diplomas, Chalet Cook Survival, Dinner Party courses
Kinloch House Hotel
Blairgowrie
Perthshire
01250 884 237
www.kinlochhouse.com
Cookery courses under Chef Bill McNicoll
Burrastow House
Walls
Shetland Isles
01595 809307
www.users.zetnet.co.uk/burrastow-house-hotel
Demonstrations with Bo Simmons using local produce
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