Get cooking
Learn wok skills at Sweet Mandarin
IF you're one of those people whose cooking abilities extend to heating up a ready meal (not that we're judging), the lead-up to Christmas - the season of eating - is a handy time to learn more. Several Manchester venues are running lessons which could help.
As expected, the restaurant masterclasses on offer don't begin with school-home-economics-style sessions on boiling the perfect egg, but that doesn't mean they're not accessible.
Whether you're cooking for a dinner party or for the practical purpose of feeding yourself nutritious, interesting meals each evening, there are various approaches you could take.
Beginning with Asian food, The Northern Quarter's Sweet Mandarin runs a beginners course teaching "the ABC of traditional and modern Chinese cooking", featuring modules such as dim sum, stirfries and learning the simple rules of using a wok.
Workshops
For cooks with a professional interest, the restaurant has a partnership with Manchester College Of Arts And Technology (MANCAT), contributing to training for an NVQ 2 in Food Preparation And Cooking. This includes hygiene, health and safety, knife skills and approaches to presentation.
Nearby eaterie Ning has a Malay Cookery School, which hosts workshops for students to learn about the food of Malaysia, before cooking some examples with the head chef Norman Musa and enjoying a meal at the end.
The Vermillion Thai Cooking School is run in association with the Thai government and promotes healthy eating. Head chef Chumpol Jangprai unravels some of the mysteries of his cooking in the weekly lessons - and guests will even receive a certificate at the end.
Also getting in on the act is Juniper in Altrincham, as star chef Michael Riemenscheider commands a series of luxury teaching sessions, complete with champagne and a video link to his kitchen for guidance.
An enormous range of courses can be found at The Vegetarian Society's Cordon Vert cookery school in Cheshire, such as Italian, Mardis Gras Moments, New Indian, Matching Food And Wine - and the all-important Christmas Lunch.
For more details, see the summaries below and visit the links on the right.
Sweet Mandarin
Chinese Cookery
Last Saturday of each month
10am to 12pm
£75 (+vat - includes ingredients, recipe sheets and shared meal)
sweetmandarin@gmail.com
Ning
Malay Cookery School
November 22, December 6, January 24... and more (see website).
11am to 3:30pm
£69 (includes ingredients, handouts, tuition)
info@ningcatering.com / 0161 238 9088
Vermilion
Vermilion Thai Cooking School
Mondays
9am to 1pm
£60 (includes ingredients, tuition, meal)
events@vermilioncinnabar.com / 0161 202 0055
Juniper
Varied courses
For details contact reservations@juniper-restaurant.co.uk
Cordon Vert
Varied courses
For details contact jane@vegsoc.org / 0161 925 2014
Published: Fri, 14 November, 2008
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