Cooking classes London - a few things to watch out

Cooking classes in London today are a world away from the boring home-economics lessons you had to sit through when you were a teenager in school. The recent explosion of passion for good and healthy food to be prepared at home and the awareness that you cannot watch a TV program just to become the new celebrity chef in your kitchen or among your friends have generated a proliferation of cooking classes in London.

But you need to watch out.

You want to learn the right dishes. Nothing too complicated or that that might require an awful lot of time to prepare (can you imagine coming back from the office at 8pm and starting with the preparation of a gruyere souffle'?), something healthy and tasteful, that you can easily customize according to what you might expect to find in your fridge in the future (I am thinking here about the difference of a tasty risotto or a 12 pieces of nigiri sushi). Of course, you want something new and intriguing, and not the usual beans or a lazy omelette. Therefore, carefully select your cooking class on the basis of the flexibility of the teachers and the variety of dishes they offer for you to learn.

Many cookery classes in London offer a "cheap and cheerful" 1 hour communal cooking lesson with other people you don't (or you don't want to) know, and offer a very limited menu and quite a boring offer. Think twice before heading in this direction.

You want to choose reputable cookery courses and ensure that you learn from someone who knows what they are taking about. Many cookery classes have come into existence after the crisis, thanks to a few unemployed entrepreneur-like individuals who matched people's desire of learning how to cook with their desire of making money (or keep them busy). I am sure you can learn something from them, but probably not the perfect Semiramis.

You want to spend the right amount of money for your lesson. In general, cookery classes in London cover all parts of the culinary spectrum and cater to all budgets. Check carefully what is included and what is not included in the cooking lesson costs. Sometimes, if ingredients are not included, you might receive a nasty surprise with your bill at the end of the lesson.

As everywhere on the web, do your homework when choosing the right cookery classes in London or abroad. And you will get a very nice experience and acquire lots of great skills you can pass on to your family and friends.

Italian cooking classes london

Everything marked as "private" has always had an elitarian flavour and in the past has been frequently associated with the idea that it was too expensive to be affordable by most. However, since 2005, a new kid on the block in the area of "private services" has entered the London scene. And so far, has grown steadely and succesfully. Reason might be that it touches heart and stomach, affect the reason why we are alive, and is obviously common to everybody. We are talking about food, of course, and a very popular one. Italian food. Private Italian cooking classes in London was born almost 8 years ago in London with Invite me to Dinner ( www.invitemetodinner.co.uk ) , a small team of Italian chefs moved by the desire to teach people about healthy food rather than making money (yes, it sounds strange in London, but sometimes it does happen). As a consequence, their Italian cooking classes in London are affordable, effective, and for sure a great fun. Who could have thought think that having a private chef at home would be possible even if you are not a millionnaire?

Cookery Courses London

I think I always wanted to learn how to cook the proper pasta al pesto.  The first one I had in my life was obviously in Italy, in one of my frequent hunts for good food in that marvellous country. It was during a mini escapade in Liguria, during my early 20s, when I could afford to wander around by car, without any pre-defined itinerary, with my boyfriend at the time. We would stop at the most inviting restaurant in the area, sometimes asking locals for suggestions, sometimes just checking the menu, the decor and obviously the number of patrons and the colour of their cheacks (the pinker, the better...). That place in Liguria had a fantastic view on the sea, and the pesto was served in its proper light-green colour, with pieces of green beans and potatoes peeking through perfectly cooked spaghetti. I have kept the divine taste in the back of my memory, up to the day when, with my current husband, had my dish of trofie al pesto served at one of the most reknown Italian restaurants in London. After the first spoonful, I realised they were hundreds of miles away. How could they not realise that they were competely different from the simple but fulfilling original dish? What was the guy doing over there in the kitchen? Where did he learn how to cook it that way?

I went home mortified. Was it really so difficult to cook such a popular dish? I bet I could do better, recalling the flavours and the colour even after so many years. Who could help me?

I checked on the web. "Cookery courses london", "Italian cooking lessons london", "cooking classes". Nothing really appealing.

Chinese food taught by thai chefs, Indian food taught by british, home cooking taught by someone who had been probably raised with take aways.... I was getting depressed, but then something caught my eye. A humble website, offering Italian chefs coming to your place and teaching you how to cook. I checked their website and quickly decided to give them a try.

It was great. Exaclty what you need from a cooking course. You can ask a zillion questions of someone who was actually raised on Italian food, has experimented with moms and grandmoms, travelled the entire country tasting regional specialties and studied every single recipe. We started from scratch, and it is amazing to see how many tips and secrets are important but cannot be really written down in a recipe book. Cooking well covers so many aspects, from recognising fresh ingredients from less fresh ones, touching to recognise the right consistency, tasting to check spiceness and so on. You can learn this only when shadowed by someone more experienced than you.

The lesson was not only fulfilling but also enjoyable.

My trofie al pesto were divine, exactly as the ones I always remembered from Liguria. But I am afraid, instead of sea view I could see the Tower Bridge in the background and instead of my young teenager super-fit boyfriend I had my husband with a slighly prominent belly asking for another serving. Nothing is perfect in life. But my cooking lesson was.