15/06/2011

Gap Year Cooking Courses in the UK

BASIC TO BRILLIANT TWO WEEK COOKERY COURSE: This two week cookery course has been carefully designed to be taken either as two one week courses or, as is more often done, as a well structured two week course.

The first week assumes that the students have done little if no cooking and so the most basic techniques are carefully worked through and, when necessary, covered several times. As well as explaining basic recipes the students are also taught knife skills, food hygiene and menu planning. By the end of the first week a wide range of useful recipes will have been cooked and each student will have been given every opportunity to grow in kitchen confidence, knowing that they can tackle each and every dish that has been covered.
 
Each day starts with a demonstration and explanation of the recipes for the day. A cake and some bread is cooked every morning by different students so that by 11 o'clock there is always something to restore the energy levels! After the break the hands-on cooking starts with students cooking in pairs and working from the excellent Avenue cook book. The book is easy to follow and proves an invaluable reference source long after the course has finished.
 
The recipes followed are all useful everyday fare which provides the building blocks for future more imaginative dishes. A strong emphasis is put on vegetable preparation and cooking, sensible attitudes towards nutrition and not forgetting an eye to the presentation. For a more detailed list of the week’s menu please see the attached sheet.
 
The second week assumes that the basic skills of cookery have been learnt, either on the previous week's course or otherwise through past experience. The teaching is very flexible so if there are any gaps in knowledge they can easily be filled. No student is ever made to feel inadequate and generally, when there are areas to go over, the whole class is relieved to have the opportunity to brush up on forgotten techniques!

The flexibility of the teaching provides an excellent opportunity for students to cook food that they are particularly interested in as well as following a well proved structure of ideas and recipes. In order to give a rough idea of the sort of cooking that is done in the second week some of the recipes are listed below.

Some of the recipes...

PRAWN AND FENNEL SALAD
SPICED DUCK BREASTS
RASPBERRY PARFAIT IN A WHITE CHOCOLATE CASE
 
WARM SCALLOP SALAD
MOROCCAN CHICKEN PIE
ALMOND TORTE WITH LEMON SYRUP
 
SPICY GREEN SOUP
THAI SALMON PARCELS WITH SWEET CHILLI SAUCE
DRESSED PINEAPPLE
 
ITALIAN AUBERGINE
BUTTERFLY LEG OF LAMB WITH OLIVE AND GARLIC CRUST
SOFT CENTRED CHOCOLATE POTS

More Information

E-mail: info@theavenuecookeryschool.com
Website: www.theavenuecookeryschool.com