The
5 1/2 Day Kitchen Miracle Programme
The 'registration' will take place
over a dinner in the Café on the Sunday evening so that we can get a proper
start on the Monday morning. We may swap some of the days and activities around
subject to weather, availability of ingredients, how we all feel and so forth.
If there is something that you specifically want to learn to cook please let me
know beforehand so that I can find time to get the ingredients and teach you.
Sunday We will be in the Café from four o'clock
( times will vary depending on the time of year) waiting to give you a cup of
tea or coffee and a bit of homemade cake. At five o'clock I'll show you where
everything is, hand over your personalised chef's whites (to give you that professional
look), whip you through the basics of kitchen hygiene, impart some secret chef
stuff that only real chefs know. Around six we will sit down to a light supper
and a glass wine. Monday We get straight into it Monday morning
at 10 sharp! This is 'basics' day: stocks, dressings, basic sauces, soups( I think
it is very important for everybody to know how to make a good soup, -if you can
make a good soup you too could impress the Michelin man?? ) and a few flash things
like homemade mayonnaise and so forth. During the morning we're going to
make bread and pizza, roast a couple of free range, organic chickens for our lunch
(using a technique that guarantees a moiste, more succulent, more flavoursome
chicken) along with some roast vegetables, roast potatoes and of course proper
gravy. In the afternoon we will visit Gubbeen farm in Schull. We will firstly
meet Clovisse and visit her garden , where most of my salads and vegetables are
grown. Next we will pop into Fingal in the smokehouse and he will talk us through
the curing and smoking process and you will see how proper bacon is made. Then
it is up to Tom's farm to visit the very well fed pigs, along the way we will
meet Giana's chickens and geese and on our last visit we got to see the start
of Rosie's rare breed collection, also 13 one day old piglets. And, finally
if they are not too busy making cheese Giana or Eileen will give us a tour of
the dairy. You will be amazed by the work and time it takes to make this great
cheese. Tuesday Meat today.The whole day we will cook, eat
and talk meat. I will cover most types of meat cookery. Daubes, stews, pan frying,
searing, braising, pot roasting and grilling. We will cover some potato dishes,
salads and vegetables to go with the various dishes and finally we will cover
some very simple but impressive puddings to finish off the day. If you are not
too tried I will get you to start making some pastry for the next day!!!! Wednesday Wednesday
is baking. This is the day that most seem to fear, something I never seem to understand
as everybody can bake and If not before this day you will by five o clock. You
do not need to be in a good mood or be light handed you just need a little confidence
and encouragement, which I am full of for anybody who wants to learn to cook.
We will cover a selection of tarts, crab,sorrel, tomato, onion etc - Breads -
soda bread, corn bread and brioche. Cakes. Thursday Fish day
- First thing this morning we will visit my brilliant fishmonger at the fish market
in Bantry and he will teach you everything you need to know about buying, filleting,
and otherwise preparing fish but if he is out (fishing) one of his assistants
will. A bit of a chat about over fishing and which fish you can eat without feeling
guilty. Then it is a day of one glorious fish recipe after another including
Monkfish with gubbeen chorizo, hake with roasted vegetables and Aiolli, a Provencal
fish soup, chowder, and tons of other things all using the day's catch. Fish is
the best fast food and so after today you will be able to cook that piece of fish
perfectly. As fish, fish, fish can be a bit - well - fishy all by itself
we'll also tackle maybe a salad and some veg. We'll want something for pudding,
too. Well, we can decide on the day. Maybe a nice chocoate tart or mousse if we
have the time . Tonight we will have dinner in the Café. Please do invite
a guest, as we will have lots of dishes to try. Friday Just
because it is the last day doesn't mean there's any slowing down - although we
will end at around 3 o'clock in order that those travelling can get away home.
Friday is market day in Bantry so we will head there first thing and visit the
food stalls and you will have a chance to purchase some lovely West Cork produce.
We will then call into see Rory Conor (who makes the most amazing hand
crafted knives in Ballylickey). He will give us a talk on the making, purchasing,
care and the need for knives in the kitchen, he will also sharpen your knives
for you, so do remember to bring them with you. Back to the café
for much needed coffee and our first dish of the day which might be Scallops depending
on the season. Then before you leave we will cover dishes that you have requested
which usually seem to be Risottos, grilling lobster and something amazing with
fillet of beef.
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