Hands-on Class Calendar: January March 2012

January 14 Saturday Around the World: Italy

Join Liam as he takes you into the rich Italian history by creating inspiring dishes with his own take on Italian cuisine. Price:R650 p.p. Time: 09:30 13:30 January 21 Saturday Gourmet Fast Food

When talking about Fast Food one immediately thinks burgers, fries, pizza, hotdogs, onion rings and milkshakes the ordinary. Why not make these meals extraordinary? Join us as we explore ways to create these dishes but in such a way that you wont be shy to serve them at a table with fine china and linen. Fast Food the gourmet way. Price: R450 p.p. Time: 09:30 13:30 January 28 Saturday Chinese New Year

Come join us in celebrating the Year of the Dragon in a traditional Chinese way. The chef will help you create a range of festive dishes after which the you will be able to enjoy them and share this important celebration with your loved ones. The Year of the Dragon is a special year on the Chinese almanac as it is the only animal which is legendary, so come along and feast with us.
Price:R650 p.p. Time: 09:30 13:30 February 8 Wednesday Valrhona Chocolate Valentines Day Dessert with Vanessa Quellec

This class will cover a comprehensive understanding of a special Chocolate Valentines Day dessert. Vanessa will open by discussing the importance of the textures and balance of plated desserts. The dessert will be comprised of 4 different textures of chocolate, including a sauce, and an ice-cream. Vanessa will demonstrate and explain plating and design as well as teach the basics of method including how to temper chocolate, the emulsion method, pastry dough, and icecream making & churning.
Price:R700 p.p. Time: 09:30 13:00

February 14 Tuesday

Valentines Couples Evening

Come and spend Valentines evening with your loved one, cooking up a feast for each other with the guidance of Liam and his team. Think of a feast of culinary and romantic delights paired with wine and bubbly. Space for 12 couples. Price: R650 p.p. Time: 18:30 21:30 February 25 Saturday Feasting on a budget

Budget the word that strikes fear into many a heart or just irritates the rest. We will be taking core ingredients and stretching them to their full potential where you will be left with a feast and handy tips to use the rest as a base for future use. Price: R400 p.p. Time: 09:30 13:30 Back to Basics 5 Part Course Five demonstration classes hosted by Liam where hell cover some of the essentials from his more extensive course. Taking participants through a wide variety of foods, giving insight into ingredients, methods and clever tips to ensure you can recreate the same quality. The course is set to include content on stocks, consomms, a variety of innovative sauces and dressings. It will also go through selecting and preparing fish & shellfish, as well as butchering techniques and making confit, balontine and more using meat, poultry and game. A selection of desserts including ice cream, sorbet and sweet sauces. The benefit of this course to participants whether they are cooks wanting to improve their knowledge, or enthusiastic foodies wanting to improve their cooking ability to impress family and friends, will be to gain the confidence to implement their newly acquired knowledge and skills with flair and dexterity. Classes includes wine pairings to go with Liams culinary creations. Participants will also receive comprehensive notes and recipes to take home. Participants must attend all five classes. Course cost: R3000 February 29 Wednesday Back to Basics 1: Stocks, Savoury Sauces and Compound Butters

This class will cover the fundamentals of French cooking-stocks, an essential and important step in learning to cook. Liam will demonstrate how to make a selection of stocks derived from vegetables, fish, poultry, meat and game and how they form an integral part of many dishes such as soups, sauces, ragouts and braises all of which will be covered in the next 19 classes. During this class, Liam will take you step-by-step through the making of 9 different stocks and share tips on how to store and freeze stock so that you will always have them on hand, ready to use. Time: 09:30 13:30

March 3 Saturday

Knife Skills

Whenever we open a cookbook, one of the first instructions is to either, cut, chop, slice, dice, carve, fillet or bone. Knife skills is an aspect of cooking that is often neglected and Liam will show you the basics with all manner of knives. Chefs knife, paring knife, fillet knife, mandoline, slicing machine and even food processor. He will make it look incredibly easy, but the fundamental aspect in all skills is practise, practise, practise. This course will show you how easy it is to bone a duck, fillet a salmon or a piece of beef and you will want to try this as soon as you can and show off your new skills. You will learn which is the best knife to use for what purpose and how to protect your knife and yourself when cutting, no more sliced fingers and hands. Slicing, dicing and chopping will become a pleasure, not a chore. Price: R400 p.p. Time: 09:30 13:30

March 7 Wednesday

Back to Basics 2: Soups & Consomm

Soups offer limitless opportunities to create flavour and texture with a combination of everyday vegetables, grains, pulses, fish, meat and stock or water. The simplest and most sophisticated soups all require the same approach to achieve the desired consistency and flavour; less is definitely more when it comes to creating a balanced and flavoured soup. In this class, Liam will demonstrate a selection of both hot and cold soups, broths and consomms. Time: 09:30 13:30 March 10 Saturday Vegetarian

Vegetarian cooking has become increasingly exciting and innovative. Whether you are a vegetarian, or simply want to be able to cook for vegetarian friends and family, after four hours you will come away with a host of ideas and recipes. Liam will teach you how to make vegetarian dishes that even carnivores wont be able to resist. He will also discuss using ingredients like tofu, pulses and beans and spices as well as the importance of taste, variety and texture in a vegetarian diet.

Price:R650 p.p. Time: 09:30 13:30

March 14 Wednesday

Back to Basics 3: Fish and Shellfish

Everybody loves fish but often they are not sure what to do with it or, most importantly not sure what to look for when buying it. I believe this is the reason that there is such a small selection of fish retailers available to us in South Africa despite being surrounded by prime fishing grounds. So, although it is often hard to obtain fresh fish, the first lesson about fish is to find a fishmonger or outlet that sells fresh, whole fish.Support and encourage them and hopefully one day there will be a bigger variety and better quality fish that are more widely available here in South Africa rather than having our best fish exported to overseas markets. Ask most chefs what their favourite ingredient is to work with - or favourite section to work in - and most will say fish. It is one of the most versatile products and ultimate in diversity, with each species being so individual in texture and flavour. Liam will demonstrate how to identify fresh fish plus scaling, filleting, trimming and portioning it and will show you a variety of simple ways to prepare, cook and serve this wonderful source of food. Liam will also guide you through selecting and storing crustacea and molluscs and will demonstrate how to prepare and cook them in several different ways.

Time: 09:30 13:30 March 17 Saturday Little Chefs: Learn to Bake

Bring your little chefs and Janine will show them how baking is fun. They will make all kinds of baked goodies including their own pizzas for lunch time! Safe use of an oven will also be shown. This class is for 8 12 year olds only Price: R200 p.p. Time: 10:00 13:00 March 21 Wednesday Back to Basics 4: Meat & Poultry

Liam will demonstrate butchery and carving techniques as well as the different cooking methods including curing, marinating, confit, terrines, poaching, shallow frying, grilling, roasting, braising, glazing, pot roasting and stewing. He will also advise and give tips on choosing and buying different qualities of meat and the storing of meat, game and poultry. Time: 09:30 13:30

March 28 Wednesday

Back to Basics 5: Desserts

For many, this is the most important and anticipated course of a meal. In ancient times meals ended with fresh or dried fruit, depending on the season, and cheese or milk-based dishes. In the 17th century dessert was a very elaborate event with tables of desserts laid out in magnificent style and intricate centre pieces created out of sugar or pastry. In the 20th century, cheese and fruit was served before the dessert course which was served from a trolley that would be laden with tarts, cakes, fruit salads and mousses. Today, individual desserts is the preferred way to serve the dessert course in restaurants and many chefs will send a complimentary predessert to tickle guests taste buds before the main event. During this class Liam will make a selection of desserts, puddings and jellies and will demonstrate and give tips on plating styles and techniques. He will also make the predessert he served in his restaurant, Banc, for six years as guests objected strongly if he tried changing it; it consisted of three layers of apple flavours and textures: jelly, Granny Smith sorbet and a Calvados sabayon Time: 09:30 13:30 March 31 Saturday Around the World: Spain

Paella, salsa, Macarena these Spanish words bring forth images of fun and hearty times. We will transport you through an array of traditional Spanish fun meals where after you will probably need to take a few hours siesta time. Price:R650 p.p. Time: 09:30 13:30

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