This is not a holiday! This is hard work - but worth every second
Chef Jim Fisher takes raw recruits and blends them into tasty cooks in the Dordogne (photo: Daniel Barnes)
Monday, 04, Aug 2008 09:55
I set off for a week in France with images in my head of being taught to cook and returning a cordon bleu chef.
Maybe my next job won't be in a kitchen, but I discovered new confidence to try and succeed with ingredients and recipes I previously thought were the preserve of those with a Michelin star to spare.
In the hamlet of Bombel - not too deep into the Dordogne countryside but far enough to lose yourself amongst cows and peace - Jim and Lucy Fisher have set up their cooking school: CookinFrance.
The chef Jim may not have bitten our heads off a la Ramsay - with the cooking course more about discovering new ways of cooking - but cooking in his kitchen was hard work and great fun.
On opening night the guests (or victims) were treated to a feast. With each mouthful I was at a loss as to how I was going to cook anything nearly as good.
But competing with Jim was always going to be impossible- he being a Masterchef finalist and disciple of Rick Stein. However I found that working with him and learning rewarding and fun.
Trepidation grew as we were presented with a folder outlining the menu and recipes for the week.
Roast plum tomato feuillete tarts with basil mascarpone; grilled sea bass on spinach and griddled fennel; pasta ears with berry ice cream... and that was just Monday's menu.
Suddenly I was envious of those guests taking the photography and painting courses.
The general idea behind the course is to teach people how to cook a three-course meal each day. The lunch was a starter, or could double up as main course, while the evening meal could serve as a main course and the pudding.
Jim was insistent on teaching us both ways to make day-to-day cooking more interesting and how to have a perfect dinner party without having to slave away in the kitchen and not see the guests. Or in his words: "To make sure you can get a few sherbets in."
He also has tips on what nibbles to serve to keep unwanted guests out the kitchen and what simple jobs to give those determined to hang around.
Although the week of excellent cooking inevitably comes with a small weight gain warning - and levels of cream use are high - Jim is also sensible about healthy cooking. Salt may be tossed in the food in high doses but we were cooking for a dozen people.
The first day in the kitchen started with the basics of safety (using knives; what to do if burnt; which chopping boards to use; washing hands) and who does the washing up (everyone).
And so the hard work got under way.
In the kitchen we were a group of people with varying skill levels but the division of labour was such that we all seemed to have a go at everything, without feeling the less able (myself) were being left to do the chopping.
We found ourselves cooking dishes and ingredients I would have never dreamed of before embarking on the course. I found preparing fish really is not that difficult, nor is making couscous, or pasta from scratch.
And there was something very satisfying about sitting down for lunch or dinner with people from the other courses and describing what we had been up to in the kitchen.
Over the week the dishes ranged from local delicacies such as confit de canard, fougasse (a kind of French pizza) and ragout with Noilly Prat, to more surprising dishes such as crème brûlée served in empty egg shells (cooked with a blow torch, of course), gazpacho served on sweet wine jelly with guacamole, and garlic and orange-studded haybox-roasted leg of lamb.
We also got to make ice cream, and while Jim's demands that we triple sieve the mix to make it super smooth may have seemed a little excessive, the results were divine and led to much raiding of the freezer. Doughnuts added further fun.
Work in the kitchen was tough - but not too hard-going - and Jim's chef temperament was only tested if we didn't follow the recipe (such as my insistence on stirring the glucose/honey mix when heating it for honeycomb) or when someone put something in the fridge without labelling it (I promise it wasn't me!)
After a long day in the kitchen, a large glass of wine and the peace of the surrounding Dordogne countryside were the perfect tonic before retiring to one of the rooms in the converted barns and farm buildings of Bombel.
After the course, the proof of the pudding was certainly in the eating.
I had a great time, made friends in the kitchen and learnt new skills. Along with the fantastic food and a little too much wine, all this made my week in the Dordogne worth every penny.
Getting home did I carry on cooking? Well sort of. Do I make startling feasts every night? No. But I do now go into the kitchen and try something new and have fun playing with ingredients and making even simple poached eggs on toast look like it is from a restaurant.
And for my next dinner party, I'll be sure to have time for a few sherbets.
More details of the Fishers' cooking courses in the Dordogne are available at CookinFrance.com.
Daniel Barnes