Fancy yourself a Masterchef in the making? Do you live in Melbourne? Are you hungry and/or cold right now? If you answered yes to any of these questions you should crawl out from your doona cave, detach yourself from the heater and have a looky at this list of winter cooking classes we’ve compiled.
While the weather is making us seriously question the coming of an Ice Age, these classes will not only warm your bellies, but also provide you with an extra layer of winter blubber to make it through hibernation. Sign us up now.
Electrolux Cooking Classes (Queen Victoria Market):
You know those days when you decide that you’ll only eat organic vegetables and home cooked meals? And then you find yourself wandering cluelessly around the produce market like a lost toddler? Good news!
The Electrolux Cooking School at the Queen Victoria Market is taking you by the hand and helping you with the hard stuff.
Using fresh market produce, Electrolux offers a wide range of different classes. Get in touch with your inner Italian at Dine & Learn - Italy in a Risotto Pan (August 3), where the menu includes a four-cheese dish, a prawn, pea and prosciutto risotto and a sweet orange, almond and cardamom rice Conde, nomjkdfsd. Or maybe seafood’s more your jam (no actual jam involved), in which case you should book ahead for Winter Seafood on August 4 and you’ll never again have to lie about knowing what a bouillabaisse is.
All classes are limited to 16 people (10 for a master class), and include tips on where to locate ingredients at the market, generous food samples and a complimentary glass of wine. Thank god somebody finally gets us.
Blanco Kitchen Cooking Demonstrations- Prahran Market:
Every Thursday at 10am
Blanco Kitchen at the Prahran Market will hold a variety of different cooking demonstrations, across a range of courses and cuisines.
Make like Matt Preston and get your rumbling belly down to the markets on August 3 for home made gnocchi, warming you from the inside out with a variety of tasty potato treats. And for all the penny pinchers out there (we’ve seen you at the meetings), all demonstrations are free!
Bella Cosi:
Learn how to makea-the-pizza at Bella Cosi in Port Melbourne, where classes are run from 6:30pm on Monday evenings. Suitable for everyone from beginner to confident cook, the 2.5-hour hands-on classes cover a range of Italian-themed dishes, so you can totally apply for Jersey Shore next season.
William Angliss:
William Angliss actually teaches peeps how to cook as their day job, so it’s probably a good idea to take a class here. Learn how to DIY cosy with the Pie Extravaganza class on August 23, which runs from 9:30am – 3:30pm and teaches you how to produce the perfect pastry, along with an enticing array of fillings.
With everything from restaurant-style desserts to Asian Chef at Home classes, you’ll come away from any of theses courses with a full brain and belly, and 70% more likely to get lucky if you recreate these dishes for a date (approx figures only).
CAE:
The Centre for Adult Education (aka school for grown ups) offers an intimidatingly large selection of cooking classes across all cuisines. Prepare for your popularity to skyrocket after you’ve taken Essential Dumplings (September 6), which is a hands on class teaching students the basics of dumpling making. Stop sobbing in the fetal position over your friends’ overseas photos and fake it till you make it at Winter in Morocco (July 28), where you’ll learn how to cook a wholesome harira soup, skewered lamb and mint keftas, chicken and sweet potato tagine and almond and cinnamon couscous with fresh dukkah.
With an exciting and vast array of classes, if you can’t find something you want to do at the CAE, cooking is probably not for you. Go work on an Excel spreadsheet or something.
Relish Mama:
If your friends are too busy cracking open goon sacks to appreciate the finer things in life, leave those plebs behind and take a class at Relish Mama. Not only will you be taught the skillz to pay the billz, the classes also include a full dinner and glass of vino (not from a cask, what a treat) with your like-minded peers at the end of it all.
Up your street cred at Mexican Fiesta (August 7), where chef and food writer Michele Curtis will teach you how to DIY Trippy Taco, like the grown up you are. Vietnamese Home Cookery (August 8) encourages you to release your Asian persuasion, where the menu includes homemade fried spring rolls, green papaya salad with prawn and pork fillet, and tiger prawns braised in coconut juice. If you do take one of these classes, consider this an official invitation to dinner at our place. You cook, we’ll bring the (cask) wine.
South Melbourne Market:
The LG Kitchen at the South Melbourne Market is open for bizness, and they’ve secured a whole bunch of fancy peeps that will probably make you feel ashamed for eating lukewarm baked beans from a can all the time.
With a plethora of big names on the docket including Taxi Dining Room’s Tony Twitchett and The Smith’s Brad Simpson, you have multiple opportunities to freak out (lotsa tears and squealing, Masterchef styles) at being taught by some of Melbourne’s most esteemed chefs.
WORDS: Sally Tabart