Brush up your culinary skills with these cooking classes

Funny that it took two breads — banana and sour dough — for novices to discover the joy of cooking and baking during hard lockdown and just how therapeutic preparing food can be.

And there’s nothing like a cooking course to inspire one to venture into uncharted territory and try out new ideas — the very best way to achieve success. 

THREE UPCOMING CLASSES IN GAUTENG

LEARN FROM AN EXPERT

Chef and cookbook author Liziwe Matloha offers popular hands-on cooking and baking classes at her school in Dawn Park, Boksburg.  Matloha’s bubbly personality and passion for cooking and sharing her skills will inspire anyone hungry to learn more.   

The classes are casual and lots of fun and you come away having learnt how to prepare a variety of basic and advanced dishes. In the line-up of courses, Matloha offers different themes from seafood, Sunday 'kos', seven colours, salads and cookies and biscuits. 

The popular classes vary from one-day to a four-day course and the cost between R850 and R4,500, depending on the duration and theme of the course. Look out for a copy of Matloha’s best-selling cookbook Dinner at Matloha’s to buy for another helping of inspiration plus the recipes she supplies for the course. 

The next class on offer is a four-day cooking workshop taking place in August and September.

The menu:

• August 20: Cakes and cookies
• August 27: Seafood
• September 10: Sides and salads
• September 17: Seven colours

Cost: R3,800. A R1,000 non-refundable deposit secures your place. The price includes all recipes and ingredients.

To book call 076 306 8085

BRINGING HOME THE BACON

Mike Crewe-Brown, owner of Wickedfood Earth Country Cooking School, has a passion for food — from growing it to sharing his skills in preparing it, which is never more apparent than in his cookery classes. The school is situated on a sustainable working farm in Hekpoort, about an hour’s drive from Johannesburg, and if you prefer, they have limited accommodation on offer. As the chill sets in — the best time to cure meats — Mike offers his popular charcuterie workshops. 

I recently attended an introductory charcuterie workshop where you get to learn the basics of curing pork, including bacon, and some of the popular Italian cured meats. Mike kicks off by explaining the basic science and techniques of curing — you do get a set of extensive notes to take home with you. 

We watched as he broke down a pig carcass, carefully removing all the different muscles for cuts such as bacon, coppa, pancetta and hams. He showed us how to cure the meats — the foundation lies in the salting, the preparation. The best part of the course was tasting meats he’d previously cured. You get to taste a selection of seven different meats accompanied by homemade salads, pickles and freshly baked bread.

Follow Mike on #wickedfoodearth. Beyond courses on the farm he is offering a course in Cradock and Clarens. For more information call Cilla on 076 236 2345 or mail cilla@wickedfood.co.za

CARB-FREE COOKING

Well known SA foodie Vickie de Beer is a chef, brilliant food stylist and award-winning author of a collection of cookbooks. She is renowned for her excellent recipes and her creative input makes no- or low-carb cooking a real feast. Vickie is offering a hands-on, low-carb cooking workshop at the Prue Leith Culinary Institute.

This fun-filled morning will be informative and educational and Vickie will cover the fundamentals of following a low-carb lifestyle while cooking and baking delicious recipes. Her Low-Carb Express cookbook is included in the price of a ticket as is a lovely sit-down lunch of what you have prepared during the class to be enjoyed with a glass of wine.

Date: May 28, 9am — 2pm

Where: Prue Leith Culinary Institute, 262 Rhino St, Hennopspark Ext 2, Centurion, Pretoria

Cost: R850pp.

Bookings: info@prueleith.co.za

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