GO COOK: MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBYgot blisters on a cookery course in Hong Kong but it was worth it yet there are some kinder classes worldwide for those who want gain without pain
Hong Kong
If, like me, you find yourself nursing several large and painful blisters on your fingers at the end of your first day at the Martha Sherpa Cookery School in Hong Kong, don’t expect sympathy from the diminutive powerhouse of energy who runs the classes. “You weren’t holding the knife right,” Sherpa scolded. For knife, read big, heavy, wood-handled cleaver, the implement with which myself and my sole class companion, a young Chinese woman learning to cook before going to study at Cambridge, had spent the previous nine hours chopping, slicing and dicing with.
“Because you were slow,” Sherpa said when we asked if our class, a 10.30am to 7.30pm marathon, had run longer than usual.
But don’t let her gruff demeanour put you off. Sherpa is a generous teacher, who makes sure her pupils get plenty of one-to-one time, even in a group lesson. But first you’ll have to find her, and her single room cookery “workshop” as she describes it, hidden away in a block of flats in Mongkok, a non-touristy area of Kowloon.
You are likely to be the only non-Asian person on the street in Mongkok, but getting there is an easy journey from anywhere on Hong Kong island on the MTR train.
When you find the rather shabby building, negotiate the stairs and find yourself outside the heavily locked and bolted door of Flat B, you’ll probably be wondering if this was such a good idea after all. But don’t worry, once inside Sherpa’s simply furnished but clean and efficient premises you won’t have time to think of anything but the task at hand.
A wall of mini ovens, used for her popular Chinese bread and desserts, lines one wall, and a row of terrifyingly large steel woks is on the other side of the central table at which you’ll watch Sherpa’s demonstrations before being put to work.
You can sign up for a variety of Chinese regional cooking courses, as well as learn how to make authentic Peking duck and Chinese barbecue, or spend a finger-paralysing day making dumplings on the dim sum course.
Sherpa incorporates tours of the Mongkok wet market in some of her courses. It is very interesting having someone to identify the strange and exotic fish, fruit and vegetables, and to explain what the dry-goods vendors are selling. But you may want to look away when it comes to the fish stalls. Live fish are decapitated to order, so you’ll see tables full of the much-prized fish heads, with the rest of the carcasses twitching involuntarily alongside.
Sherpa makes no secret of the hard-core nature of her classes. There are no comfy sofas to lounge on here, no glasses of chilled wine to sip while you watch the demonstrations, and no kitchen assistants to do the prep and lend a hand if you lag behind.
Oh and you’ll be doing your own washing-up. Not quite the holiday you had in mind? It’s maybe not for everyone, but my three days at the Martha Sherpa school were absolutely fantastic – come with an open mind, a big appetite (you’ll be eating or taking away the six dishes you cook each day) and plenty of plasters for the blisters.
- Martha Sherpa Cookery School, Flat B, 40-46 Argyle Street, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. See cookery.com.hk. Full day classes cost HK$1,600 (€143).
Paris
What could be smarter than doing a cookery class in the hallowed surroundings of the Ritz in Paris?
The Ecole Ritz Escoffier runs a Master of Gastronomy 19-week programme costing an eye-watering €27,800, but you can also book an hour-long lunchtime class for €55, with a glass of wine and a coffee to accompany the dish you’ve just cooked. See ritzparis.com.
L’Atelier des Chefs runs cooking classes in nine cities across France (as well as in central London, if your French isn’t up to scratch). In Paris you can do a class in one of six central venues, but surely the most fun is the glass-box kitchen in the basement of Galeries Lafayette Maison, where you can participate in a class in full view of the kitchenware shoppers. The box is sound-proofed. Prices are reasonable, from €15 for a lunchtime demonstration, but classes are in French.
- Atelierdeschefs.fr or atelierdeschefs.co.uk for the London listings.
Cornwall
The Cornwall village of Padstow has been re-christened Padstein due to the proliferation of food-related businesses owned by TV chef Rick Stein and his ex-wife Jill. Along with a restaurant, café, fish and chip shop and hotel, their business empire includes the Padstow Seafood School. You won't often catch Rick teaching there (he lives for part of the year in Australia) but if you can fly over next Thursday (August 4th), he is doing an evening demonstration of his favourite dishes from his latest TV show, Rick Stein's Spain.
There will be a further Spanish seafood class on September 15th but with a school tutor rather than Stein.
- rickstein.com
Verona
Marcella Hazan is one of the best known Italian food writers, cooks and teachers, and the classes she ran at her home in Venice are legendary. She no longer teaches but her son, Giuliano, and his wife Lael, run week-long courses in very swish surroundings at Villa Giona, a 15th century estate near Verona. The next one takes place from October 9th-15th. The course fee of $4,695 (€3,238) includes luxurious accommodation, all meals, wine, excursions and tuition.
- GiulianoHazan.com
Further afield
Tasting Places is a cookery holiday specialist that offers courses in Italy, Spain, France and Thailand. It can also arrange for you to spend a day in the kitchens of several big-name London restaurants including Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, Sam Clark at Moro, or, if you dare, Richard Corrigan at Bentley’s.
- tastingplaces.com.
