Spend an inspirational 3 days developing culinary skills in our kitchen. This course provides a thorough grounding in the foundations of great baking and cooking alongside passing on a wealth of hints, tips, and secrets. All 3 days are taught exclusively by Richard Bertinet and his team and are fully hands on.
On day one you will start with essential baking skills. You will be making a Pain de Mie which is the ideal every day loaf with a thin crust and soft crumb. It is perfect for sandwiches and toasting and freezes brilliantly so that you can make a batch and have some handy in the freezer. Richard will give you plenty of tips on how to make your bread last longer and how to make sure you use every last crumb.
You will also be making a seasonal quiche with a savoury pastry. You will learn about different fillings for the quiche as well as making a seasonal one today. You will also have a sweet pastry recipe. Richard will show you how adaptable bought puff pastry is and you will make a classic French tarte tartin with caramel sauce that is a perfect dinner party dessert.
Finally today you will make Richard’s salted caramel brownies. Rich and perfectly gooey inside, just like a good brownie should be, these will teach you the tricky techniques you need to perfect at home. This is definitely a recipe that you will return to often in your own kitchen.
All these baking skills are brilliantly adaptable. Once you have mastered a Pain de Mie you will be able to use the dough for other breads, once your pastry skills are honed your world will be opened to a host of tarts and pies, sweet and savoury and the brownie can have many other flavours introduced so that you are never short on ideas.
On day two, you will hone your knife skills, working on building confidence using them. Richard will take you through a variety of different food preparation. Learn how to skin and fillet fish and how to joint and bone poultry so making the most of your meat. Plus learn how to dice, julienne, chop and turn vegetables. You will be given advice for effectively and efficiently using knives. You will be taught about the correct uses of each individual kind of knife and how to properly care for them.
However, this is only the beginning of the day. Once you have learnt all about using knives, these skills will be put to culinary use. You will be making a chicken casserole, mackerel vin blanc, and tarte aux pommes. You will be using your chopped herbs for some sauces, to make bouquet garni and make a tomato concassé before using all the vegetables that you have been practicing on for a stir fry
These recipes will utilise the range of skills built over the day, allowing you essential practice while expanding your culinary repertoire.
On the final day, you will expand on your knowledge with a detailed masterclass on saucing and seasoning. Master essential stocks and sauces alongside their accompaniments, learning how to properly match a dish and a sauce. On top of this, learn the secrets of seasoning, how it can pair with a sauce, highlight flavours, and provide a whole different food experience. There are a range of sauces to be learnt for a variety of dishes, from port velouté to salsa verde, from hollandaise to béchamel, alongside many others. You will be making a vegetable stock that you will also build into a chicken stock. There is also the inclusion of sweet sauces, such as crème pâtissière and crème anglaise that will also be turned into ice cream. Once all the sauces have been mastered you’ll sit to watch Richard cook more of the perfect pairings, such as onglet steak, mackerel and many more for you to enjoy dish by dish for lunch, with their accompanying sauces, plus wine of course!
This class will give you an intricate understanding of saucing and seasoning, as well as elevating your cooking to another level, making your dishes go from good to spectacular. You will be able to impress your friends and family with new understanding and skills, having built up your cooking repertoire and confidence.
This 3 day course is suitable for beginners, experienced home cooks or those looking to pick up some insider chef skills that are usually kept for those in professional kitchens. By the end of this 3 day course you will leave us feeling confident in your kitchen skills with knowledge, expertise and experience to continue your baking and cooking journey at home. You will leave us with full recipes from every day of the course and a certificate to show that you have been taught culinary skills by Richard Bertinet.
Each day is fully hands on and includes lunch with wine.
The day starts at 10am and will finish around 3.30 to 4pm.
This course runs from Wednesday 2nd to Friday 4th April 2025.
