Basic to Brilliant Cooking Course, 2 weeks

This two-week Basic to Brilliant Cooking Course will transform your approach to cooking. Week one will provide the building blocks for week two’s more advanced and imaginative dishes.

The layout of each day will be the same, a morning demonstration and explanation of the day’s recipes is followed by a break (for elevenses) where you will eat the morning delights of ‘The Duty Team’. Each morning bread, cake and lemonade are made by the days chosen Duty Team, so that by 11 o’clock there is always something to restore the energy levels – don’t we treat you!
After the break, the students start cooking in pairs and begin to work from what they have learnt during the demonstration.
Having cooked up a storm for lunch you will get to sit down for lunch and get ready for an afternoon demonstration and more hands-on cooking in the afternoon. You will be given our easy-to-follow Avenue recipe book, but you will only need it as an invaluable reference source and inspiration as we will be teaching you to truly understand each step, so you can cook without instruction, long after the course has finished.

In week one of this course, we assume that all the students have done little, to no previous cooking or are wanting to get rid of bad home habits by starting from the beginning. The most basic techniques are carefully worked through and when necessary, covered several times in order to hone these skills. As well as explaining basic recipes, the students are also taught knife skills, food management, kitchen hygiene, menu planning and much more.
By the end of the first week, a wide range of useful basic 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 – without a recipe!

During the second week of this basically brilliant cooking course, you will be taught more advanced techniques, international cuisines and delicious dinner party food with the same structure as the first week. Alongside more advanced meat and fish preparation we will also teach you how to cater for those with dietary requirements.
The teaching is very flexible so if there are any gaps in knowledge they can easily be filled. We don’t believe that there is such a thing as a stupid question, so if you are unsure, just ask – that’s why we are here!

This Basic to Brilliant Cooking Course is perfect for those who are enthusiastic to cook but want to be introduced to cooking with a leg up from our trained chefs so their time in the kitchen is easier, organised and therefore more fun! You will leave with an interesting selection of delicious recipes, techniques and dinner party ideas as well as some good home grub.
If you have a nanny who is keen to learn to cook with ease and confidence – this is the course for them!

If you have already mastered the basics of cooking, you can join straight into week 2 for our 1 week Intermediate Cookery Course (see here) to just spruce up your already obtained skills. If you aren’t sure if you have enough experience get in touch and we can figure out which course is best for you.
If you want to take the full 2-week course but you can’t do 2 consecutive weeks, we can take split bookings for different weeks, again just get in touch.

To see more details about the course including the menu plan please click here.

What We Offer

• Deposit option – if booking more than 1 month in advance get in touch for more details
• A fun, sociable, flexible and informative 10-day course
• Intensive daily cooking programme
• All equipment and food provided
• Interesting demonstrations
• Fun, warm and professional teaching
• Useful tips and tricks of the trade
• Tips on organisation and prepping your dishes ahead of time
• Hands-on cooking
• Mind-blowingly delicious recipes
• Delicious lunches
• Well-structured course
• Tips for hosting, cooking and cleaning
• Wine tasting and origins of alcohol talk
• Ingredients, aprons and equipment provided
• The Avenue Cookbook
• The Avenue apron
• Basic to Brilliant Course Avenue certificate
• Accommodation as an extra for those that need (see details here)

Skills Acquired

• Advanced knife skills
• Variations of baking
• Boning meat and handling fish
• Preparing and cooking a variety of vegetables
• Learning to cook international foods and different techniques
• Canapé making
• Rectifying dishes
• Catering for dietary requirements
• Variety of intermediate cooking skills and techniques
• Food presentation
• Knowledge of new intermediate recipes
• Avoiding waste and cooking with leftovers
• Time management
• Having fun while cooking!
• Anything extra that anyone wants to know, the list grows!

Course Timings

Monday – Thursday 9am – 5pm (lunch included)
Friday 9am – 4pm (breakfast and lunch included)

Catered for Allergies: Vegetarian, LF and GF dietary requirements can be catered for on request, but time restraints mean meal alternatives will not be covered in the demonstrations

Accommodation: For students who are looking for accommodation please see here.

Insurance – Consider adding our Avenue Cancellation Cover, to read more please click here.

‘Avenue Amigos’ – Get a ‘stamp’ for each class you book, each review you leave and for each friend you recommend. 10 stamps = a free class!

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