Recipes For Mass Degustation

Sun Herald

Sunday August 27, 2006

Erin O'Dwyer

Forget the books, you can sharpen your culinary skills the authentic way, Erin O'Dwyer writes.

IT WAS going to be the perfect holiday. All we needed was the perfect cooking school. Imagining a small Thai village, rooms in a traditional teak house, and daily lessons in the ancient art of Thai cooking, I began trawling the internet. Several hours later, I emailed my travel buddy this progress report:

"Dream on."

Cookery travel is so popular that authentic residential cooking schools are rare gems. In Thailand, every hotel worth its fish sauce has a culinary school. Classes are held in large sanitised kitchens, with rows of individual burners and woks. They charge like wounded elephants, too.

In France and Italy, the story is similar. Finding an original farmhouse that offers charming accommodation and cooking classes conducted by the family matriarch is a tall order. And that's not to mention the tour operators and two-bit chefs who cash in on the craze, leading group tours to these exquisite locations.

But fear not. Authentic cooking schools offering real cultural experiences do exist, and they are dotted around the globe. It's just a matter of sorting the rice from the husks. Here we give you the good oil.

Thailand

The Thai House fit our bill. The family's traditional teak house, built in Ayutthaya style, is 20 kilometres from Bangkok, alongside a quiet klong, or canal. Mother-of-two Pip uses recipes passed down from her own mother, teaching students how to prepare herbs and vegetables. Two- and three-day courses for small groups are conducted in the ground-floor kitchen. Upstairs, simple rooms open on to verandas. Two-day courses are from $313 per person, three-day courses are from $583. www.savoirfaire.com.au/tth.

Indonesia

Learn to prepare famous Balinese spicy chicken in the fishing village of Pemuteran, on the north-west coast of Bali. Six-day courses include trips to local markets and restaurants. Students visit traditional village kitchens to see daily meals prepared by locals. Example menus include tomato and papaya gazpacho, prawns in banana leaf and stir-fried Balinese greens. Beachfront accommodation is in two-storey, thatched villas. Six-day courses are about $5970 per couple. www.puriganeshabali.com.

Singapore

For a more up-market Asian gourmet, book into the Raffles Culinary Academy in Singapore. Resident chefs from around the globe demonstrate traditional Chinese, Indian and Malaysian dishes. Different half-day courses are available almost every day of the month, and include soups and spies, seafood casseroles and Indian coastal cuisine. Visitors can stay in the beautifully restored 1887 colonial hotel, finishing the day with a Singapore sling in the Long Bar. Half-day courses are from $62. Grand Hotel suites start at $2516 per night. www.raffleshotel.com.

Australia

At Chapel Hill Winery - in South Australia's scenic McLaren Vale - weekend courses are led by local chef Pip Forrester, of Salopian Inn fame. The focus is on fresh local seasonal produce, and a highlight is the food and wine matching. Sample sessions include preparation of stock, wood-fired bread and hand-rolled chocolate truffles. A trip to the Willunga Farmers Market is included. Accommodation is in 10 four-star suites, overlooking the vineyard. Weekend courses cost from $720 per person. www.chapelhillwine.com.au.

New Zealand

Exclusive lodge Clifftops - on Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf, off Auckland - has lured noted chef Sarah La Touche to conduct Wednesday and Saturday cooking courses. La Touche previously ran the French cooking school Les Mimosas in Provence, and teaches in the French country style. Menus are based on the slow cooking theory, and include terrains, ragouts and oven-poached fruits through winter. Accommodation is in three luxury suites, each opening onto to private terraces with panoramic ocean views. Weekend packages are $1256 per couple. www.clifftops.co.nz.

Mexico

Rancho Aurora is located in the hills in the picturesque Oaxaca valley. Experience the traditional Mexican cooking style with chef Susana Trilling, who learned to cook tortillas, pinto beans and hot tamales in her grandmother's kitchen. Sample menus include yellow mole with chicken rice, sweet shrimp soup and Oaxacan chocolate pudding. Accommodation is in the traditional three-room adobe, which opens onto a large patio with views of the valley. Long weekend courses (five nights/four days) are from $1392. www.seasonsofmyheart.com.

EUROPE

Croatia

Learn to cook traditional Croatian meals while staying at a 100-year-old farmhouse, in the hills overlooking Kvarner Bay, near Rijeka. Morning classes are followed by afternoon walking tours, wine tasting and fishing expeditions. Typical meals include fish stew with cornmeal polenta, stuffed veal and cheese-filled ravioli, and fig cake. The farmhouse offers accommodation in four beautifully decorated bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. A seven-day package from UK travel company My Croatia costs $3216 per person. See www.mycroatia.co.uk.

France

Provencal identities Olga and Henri Manguin have opened their home L'Anastasy to guests - transforming the 18th century farmhouse into a bed and breakfast offering courses in Mediterranean cooking. Olga was chef for 15 years at a popular Avignon restaurant. Their home is on the island of La Barthelasse in the Rhone river, 10 minutes from Avignon. Students can learn as many as 30 recipes over six days in Provencal, Italian and North African styles. Accommodation is in the farmhouse, where guests share breakfast and dinner with the Manguins. Cost is $323 per person per day, or $544 per couple. www.olga-manguin.com.

Others: Burgundy, Ecole des Trois Ponts: www.3ponts.edu

Loire Valley, Walnut Grove: www.walnutgrovecookery.com.

Turkey

Bezirgan is a small farming village in the mountains near Kalkan. The guesthouse Owlsland is a 150-year-old restored farmhouse set among fruit orchards and grape vines. Owner Erol Salvarli is a chef who tailor-makes his courses from groups, teaching traditional Turkish meals with an emphasis on village dishes. Accommodation is in the guesthouse's three rooms, each opening onto lush gardens. Afternoon trips include the nearby Elmali markets and a visit to a working flour mill. Four-day courses start at $1148 per person. www.owlsland.com.

Greece

Local foodie Aglaia Kremezi has teamed up with other chefs on her native Kea - the northernmost island of the Cyclades - to offer a week-long gourmet experience. Five hands-on cooking sessions are offered over eight days, with meals shared at Aglaia's home and other private villas. Sessions include working with grape leaves, marinating octopus, char-grilling meats, and bread baking. The small mountainous island is ringed with pristine beaches. Courses cost $2226 per person, with overnight stays starting at $42. www.keartisanal.com.

Portugal

Refugio da Vila is a small private hotel in Alentejo, perhaps Portugal's most authentic and picturesque region. Cooking classes are offered daily in a kitchen opening onto a courtyard. The menu is mostly Mediterranean, with lessons in cooking codfish, lamb, wild pork and desserts. Gather herbs and produce from hotel's gardens, and pair them with recipes. Guests stay in elegant rooms which look onto traditional patios. Suites from $240, classes $120 per person. www.refugiodavila.com.

Spain

Set amid 60 hectares of woodland, is Finca Buenvino , located outside the small town of Aracena in south-west Spain. Cooking courses for small groups focus on traditional southern Spanish recipes with North African Mahgrebi influences. Students learn to cook with spices, nuts and pulses. Menus include paella and black rice made with squid ink. Accommodation is in the family-run bed and breakfast, or self-contained cottages with wood-burning stoves for winter and swimming pool for summer. Seven-day courses are $2044. www.fincabuenvino.com.

Italy

In the heart of Chianti country is the 13th-century Tuscan farmhouse Podere Le Rose. The house has been lovingly restored with terracotta tiles and whitewashed walls by sisters Paola and Simonetta Bevilacqua de' Mari and their father Luigi. Students prepare a complete meal each day, including antipasta, pasta or a meat dish, and dessert. The five-day course encompasses afternoon excursions to artisans' workshops, vineyards and olive factories. Accommodation is in one of three bedrooms in the Tuscan farmhouse. Five-day courses are $2526 per person. www.savoirfaire.com.au.

Others: Tuscany, The Coselli School of Tuscan Cuisine: www.coselli.com.

Rome, Diane Seed's Roman Kitchen: www.italiangourmet.com.

© 2006 Sun Herald

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