Leiths cooking school

[origamicrane]

hi all

lucky ole me has got a break between jobs and thinking of doing a short cooking course at Leiths cooking school.

I'm considering doing the two week intermediate course or the one week advanced course.

Just looking for anyone that has been on either course to give me a rundown of what you did on it and what you thought of the course.

Anyone have any recommendations for cooking schools in london apart from, cordon bleu and leiths ?

Also does anyone know if the butlers wharf chef school is still open?? as i can't seem to find its website.

ta :)

[Bapi]

I too would like to know. By pure coincidence - the missus met her best friend for lunch today. She revealed that she just happens to be starting at Leith's on Monday, so I will keep you posted.

Me? Jealous? Hell no

[origamicrane]

well had my first day at Leith's cooking school and have to say i'm pretty satisfied with what i learnt.

Ok first the break down,

5 day advanced cooking course

cost: £550

prerequistes: none

additional costs: none

requirements: bring an apron and tuperware to take food home.

class size: max 16

its starts at 9.45am-1pm breaks for lunch and then 2pm-5pm

is alternates from half day demo to half day cooking

todays demo consisted off

1. Roast duckling, singe fine featjhers off using a flame, cut off parsons nose and trim some of the fat around the cavity. prick the duck all over with a fork, season with salt, and roast on a wire rack, 20 mins breast side down and 15 min turn in a 200C oven.

2. lamb jus, brown lamb bones and add, onion, tomato, thyme , garlic, brown chicken stock, red wine. simmer for 4 hours and finish with butter.

3. ballotine of chicken, this was technically the hardest as you had to debone a chicken without chopping it into piece, the desired result is a chicken carcas minus bones. then the carcus was stuffed with minced pork, pancetta, porcini, breadcrumbs, tarragon, shallots.

4.roasted noisette of lamb pretty simple really butcher a neck end removing the eye fillet and brown sides in butter and olive oil and finish in an oven. serve with the lamb jus, french beans rolled in pancetta, pan fried potatos, chilli onion chutney and basil oil.

picture below ;)

would have taken more but i was at the back of the class and the vultures had descend before i could take pics of the other dishes, will sit at the front tomorrow.

the demo is a little hectic jumping back and forth from dish to dish but it all makes sense and you can ask questions as you go alone. When the dishes are completed the class gets to try the results which are pretty good although i did find the duck a little salty

after lunch is the practical part and we are learning to make pancetta wrapped lamb served with lamb jus and turned vegetables.

here a photo of the class.

so we get to try our hand at cutting out the eye fillet. browning the lamb bones and making the jus and truning a few veggies which i personally think is a waste of good veg but thats just me.

and that was the end of the first day. is it worth it? well if it carries on like this every day then yeah i think its worth. But is it really advanced?? not sure as in the demo its advance but the actually practical topic seem quite simple. If they had got us to do the ballotine of chicken then yes i would consider that to be an advance dish but pancetta wrapped lamb???

anyway stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow.

[origamicrane]

oh i know how to bone a chicken now

hohoohoh!!

[Conor]

I was having coffee with Anton Mosimann the other day and he was telling me that they are putting a lot of effort into his chef's school. Apparently they have courses for all levels and it has recieved a lot of positive feedback.

I'm afraid i do not know much about the course price and contents, but there is more info on his website: Mosimann.com.

[Andy Lynes]

I was having coffee with Anton Mosimann the other day

CLANG!!!! (Was that a name I heard being dropped...)

I hope you told him all about eGullet

[origamicrane]

I considered the Cookery School, Mosimann, Cordon Bleu and Leiths.

Leiths seemed to have the most variety of short courses and the price I think is about right for a 5 day 10am - 5pm course.

[Conor]

he talked in glowing terms about you Andy!!!

[Andy Lynes]

Ah, good old Anton, of course we go way back. I've always admired his books and TV appearances whilst he has always... been completely oblivious to my existance.

[Conor]

he told me that you often compare bow ties!!!

[Matthew Grant]

Conor as you seem to know Mr Mossiman, have you ever eaten at his club? I've always been interested in eating there.

[Conor]

I visited the club last week for the first time and had the "grand tour." We just had coffee, my host had further meetings that day. The private rooms are truly impressive, and the restaurant itself very nice, if a little old school, but then again I guess that is exactly what you would expect for a members club of this kind.

In all honesty I have heard mixed reports about the food at the club, but it is certainly busy. The day I went, they would be full for dinner with all the private rooms in use too.

[MobyP]

O -

thanks for this - and I hope you keep us posted.

Tell me, was the total time for the duck 35 mins, or did you give it 2 X 15 min turns? And then how did the leg meat come out?

[origamicrane]

it was 20 mins breast down turn and 15 mins breast up and then he rested it for a good 15-20 minutes.

At this point he cut it into thirds length wise

as in 2 lon piece with the leg and wing attached and the middle breast and body,

he seperated the leg from the wing with a diagonal cut.

This way he could check how done the meat was.

at this point he said the leg and wings needed anpther 10-15 minutes and the breast was about right

It came out surprisingly well. The flesh was moist and tasty although i think it was slightly over salted but the flesh came out crispy like crackling with a beautiful golden colour.

anyway off to school now will bring more photos and course details this evening.

ciao

[marlena spieler]

I've been to Mosiman's for a dessert event, perhaps it was a tea? anyhow, while i don't remember too many particulars, as it was a plate of different desserts and i just closed my eyes and went into a deep revery of tasting, pretty much. the lasting impression i had was divine desserts, and i'm not a sweet-hound. i just remember a certain exquisite quality and a lotta lotta flavour.

this was a few years back so he could have a new pastry chef, etc, i have no idea what is going on now, but i always wanted to go back and see what they would do with the rest of the meal. oh, yeah, and more dessert too!

marlena

[origamicrane]

Day 2 (morning session)

9.30am start

So arrive in the kitchen and immediately after the register

we get told how to make a bittersweet orange cake.

Now i dislike nearly all fruit based cakes as i find them heavy over sweet and usually have a too bitter or sour aftertaste. so i was not particularly inspired by the choice of cake but was more then happy to go though the motions of cooking it.

So we boil a whole orange in water for one hour until its soft. Cut this in half and remove the pips, then chuck in a blender and turn it into a puree.

Toast a cup of blanched almonds until they are golden and then blend into a rough powder.

Then 5 eggs and 225g ( can't rememebr will check and correct tomorrow) of sugar in a bowl and whisk until its fluffy and pale and the ribbons of batter coming off the spoon holds there shape for a second or more.

Then we mix i think a tablespoon of baking powder into the almond and fold it into the sugar and egg mixture we dod this in two parts. Then fold in the orange puree again in two parts.

we oil a baking tin and line the bottom with grease proof paper.

pour in the cake mixture and in the oven for 30 mins on gas mark 4.

we check it with a skewer and if the skewer comes out clean its done.

Meanwhile we make a orange syrup to serve with the cake.

juice of 4 whole oranges

zest of 3 oranges

juice of 1 lemon

225g of sugar

150 ml water

bring this little lot slowly to the boil and let it reduce down by half and its ready, its actually looks surprisingly watery but has a oil feel to the touch.

so that was dessert out of the way.

pretty simple stuff really but now everyone started about cooking their lunch

and a few of us including me had invited guests to come to the school to be our willing guinea pigs

Lunch was to be the pancetta wrapped lamb we prepared yesterday and a side of puy lentils and pancetta. At this point things go a little crazy as everyone in the class has 2 saute pans, 2 sauce pans and a cake cooking at the same time so obviously with a class of 16 there wasn't enough oven eyes to go round

But it was a nice kind of chaos.

not going to go into the puy lentil recipe as i didn't really rate it.

Anyway managed to cook the lamb for lunch with turning courgettes and carrots and the puy lentils and the dark lamb jus (which was amazing!)

and finish the cake by 12.30pm

now usually i hate fruit based cakes but this one was light not too sweet and the orange syrup that came with it was sharp enough to deflect even more of the sweetness. First out of the oven it was golden brown on the outside and golden yellow and orange on the inside with a almost chewy texture and just a little bite of almond but once cooled the textured change to a moist crumbly almost sponge like texture. so was i happy? damn right!! its was excellent.

so 1pm exactly i sit down to lunch with my invited guest/ guinea pig

and by 1.40pm we had finished lunch and a slice of cake and also managed to clean up all the tables and do all our washing up!!! thanks rita.

[MobyP]

Any pictures to torment us with?

[origamicrane]

Day 2 (evening session)

2pm start

So the evening session consisted of a demonstartion on how to make puff pastry, crossants, brioche, beef en croute and gateau pilthiver.

We will be making the puff pastry in the practical tomorrow as such i will skip the making of that until tomorrow.

The most amazing thing was learning how much butter was actually in a single crossiant!!! and its not good!!

i think everyone in the room probably decided at that point not to eat a croissant ever again.

The next most interesting thing was making the beef encroute in that they baked out a rectangle of puff pastry spread a mushroom pate on it to form a base for the beef fillet before wrapping it up in puff pastry.

Anyway pictures below of todays demo

well want to write some more on this session but i left my notes at the school today so will write more about this tomorrow.

[origamicrane]

Hi mobyp

yeah i wanted to take photos during the practical session but got too carried away getting everything ready in time for my guest to arrive to take photos,

will try taking some of the practical session tomorrow.

[CheGuevara]

origami,

is it my eyesight, or is the dough undercooked in the boeuf encroute? keep posting...all very interesting. we should have a "egullet cooking course reviews"!

-che

[origamicrane]

che if you are talking about the base of the beef encroute no its not under cooked.

What they did was bake off a rectangular piece of puff pastry but they didn't want it too rise too much so they poked some holes into it and baked it on a damp baking sheet this gave then a foundation for the beef to sit on before they covered the beef in a wrap of puff pastry.

But if you tlaking about the top and sides yeah from that photo it does look a little undercooked but it tasted fine to me

[CheGuevara]

...especially the sides - but if it tasted good, undercooked dough never hurt anyone

-che

[origamicrane]

Day 3

So today's demo was on advance shellfish the dishes to be prepared today were:

1.Roast Lobster, warm fennel salad and saffron sauce

2.Tian of crab with avocado and gazpacho

3.Pan fried langoustines with green bean salad and tomato salsa

4.Grilled scallops with mild parsley pesto and chilli oil.

so we had a quick talk about the different types of shellfish,crustacean, molluscs etc how to tell sex, freshness, generel storage, handling and humanely killing of crabs, lobsters

( this reminds me of a talk i had previously with a biology teacher about the lobster's nervous system and that they believe lobster don't really feel pain

ie: they ripped off one of its claws and then fed it and it was happily eating away with its remaining claw, not the behaviour of an animal in extreme pain)

something i learn today was that if you keep the crab or lobster too cold it will have a violent reaction and it will pop off some of its claws and legs!!??

So crab, after sticking a skewer into the base of the apron of the crab and straight in between its eyes we dropped it into a pot of heavily salted boiling water.

The crab was just under 1 kg and the lecturer said that it should be about 15 mins for every 450g of crab. so we cooked ours for about 25 minutes and then sent it to chill in the fridge.

While the crab was chilling we started on the langoustine we ripped the heads off and cracked the tails and peeled off the shell leaving just the tail. The heads were reserved for making shellfish stock and sauces.

Second thing i learned today was that if the langoustine is really fresh its really hard to peel the shell off without ripping of part of the flesh on the top, the part that covers the digestive tract.

The flesh was skewered with a cocktail stick and seasoned and pan fried in olive oil , butter garlic and a sprig of thyme. This was served with a green bean salad tied into neat bundles with a piece of blanched chive as a string and a simple salsa of tomato,chilli, shallots,parsley and olive oil and vinegar.

This was simple but very delicious this is much better then just boiled up and dipped in mayo.

Second dish was grilled scallops. He showed us how to open scallops and remove the meat with a pallet knife and how to clean them.

We made a chilli oil by heating 6T of walnut oil and 2T of dried chilli until it started to fizzle and then turned off the heat and let the oil infuse for 15 mins.

Next we had a mild parsley pesto, what was mild was that there was only one clove of garlic as he didn't want to over power the flavour of the scallops.

The pesto was 55g pecorino, large bunch of parsley, 55g pinenuts, clove garlic, 150-200ml olive oil and salt and pepper.

The scallops were simply grilled with a dollop of pesto on top and after grilling the chilli oil drizzled on top.

After a quick break the crab was ready to disassemble.

we were shown how to seperate the body from the shell by applying pressure at the back base of the crab. We ripped each claw and knuckle off and then removed the feathery lungs. Brown meat and white meat were removed and kept seperate.

the meat was mixed with just enough mayo to bind them.

Then we got a pastry cutter and put down a layer of slice avocado,

then a layer of brown crab meat,

then a layer of skinned and seeded plum tomatos,

then a layer of white crab meat.

the gazpacho sauce was made from tomato puree, tomato ketchup,tomato pulp,red wine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, a little garlic, anchovy extract, olive oil, tabasco and salt and pepper.

Finally was the lobster the claws and tails were pulled off and the head was choped up for the sauce. First we browned off a load of lobster shells with onions to make the sauce. When the shells have taken on a good colour we added. a clove of bruised garlic, 4T brandy and 150ml white wine this was cooked for 1 mintue and then 3 chopped tomatos, a star anise, bouquet garnie, tomato puree, 1litre of shellfish stock and saffron infused water went in. This little lot was simmered for 25mins strained and then reduced to 150 ml on a rapid boil. Finally 100ml of double cream was added and it was frothed up with a blender.

The fennel salad was literally finely sliced fennel that was warmed in an oven for a few minutes.

The lobster claws and tails were roasted for 3 minutes in a pan of 30g butter on medium heat with a clove of crushed garlic, sprig of thyme and 2 T of vermouth with the lid on. Then the lobster piece were turned over and cooked for a further 3 minutes. At this point the claws were taken out and the heat turned off leaving the tails to finish cooking from the residual heat in the pan.

The meat was then taken out and it was ready to serve.

the sauce is amazing ;) a very, very rich lobster bisque.

well going to have a break now before i write about teh evening practical session.

Edited July 28, 2004 by origamicrane (log)

[Suzi Edwards]

i'm really enjoying this. thanks for sharing!

[MobyP]

Origami - yer killin me.

I'm surprised about the puff on the croute - I would've thought they'd use a brioche sort of dough. Looks stunning though.

So... when's dinner at your house? We should run a competition - you cook for the winner (plus date, of course). Maybe Scott can be the sommelier. I'd like to be the coat-check girl.