A day at a Cookschool!

I had the most fun, if tiring, day yesterday at Nick Nairn's cookschool at the Lake of Menteith (www.nicknairncookschool.com). I can well recommend a day like this! It was a birthday/xmas present.
We arrived at 9.45 for coffee and the most delicious short bread and just after 10.00 we started our day. It was called "Kitchen essentials-- a mini masterclass". Not taken by Nick Nairn himself but by his head chef...........great teacher and communicator John Webber master chef!
The description of the day was
"A class for those who'd like to improve their cooking skills by mastering some key techniques and picking up a good few trade secrets! White chicken stock becomes Thai Broth with coconut milk and lime. Fish preparation and roasting techniques in halibut wrapped in parma ham with a red and yellow pepper stew with capers and garlic, classic creme brulee covers custard and we'll demonstrate making pastry for a lemon and lime tart."

We started off by having a talk on how the day would work then a demo on basic white chicken stock and just how to use kitchen knives properly and how to look after them, then a demo on basic custard making with eggs and cream. Then on to our first practical in chopping the vegs for the stock and getting it under way, then on to make the custard for the creme brulee with lots of tips on how not to end up with scrambled eggs in stead of velvety smooth custard. A short break then for coffee and scone..delicious. Next a demo and talk on how we would use the stock for making our Thai Soup. A demo on making Green Thai curry paste from scratch and then onto the Broth and how to get all the flavours to mix and meld...............wonderful! Then on to preparation of the peppers and getting them on to cook slowly with garlic and rosemary and then finishing off the Broth and through to the dining room to have our soup and the first of several glasses of wine!!
Back to the kitchen for demo on the pastry and prep for the lemon and lime tart we would be having for dessert and how to finish off the creme brulee ( we did not have this for dessert as it really needs a night in the fridge before adding the brulee bit, but we did get the one we made home with us!) then how to cook the fish and finish off the pepper . We then ate our main dish with glass or two and then they served the lemon and lime tart.........by this time it was 5.00pm!!! It was a tiring and intense day's work but such fun and we learnt such a lot. We did have someone to come and drive us back to Glasgow!! I was there with a friend.

Would say to anyone contemplating a day like this.....go for it you will have a ball!!!