Manchester’s first flexible hire kitchen space is opening its doors to the general public for the first time for a series of unique cooking lessons run in collaboration with chefs and food producers from around the Manchester area.
The Cook:Manchester Masterclass sessions are the first of their kind in Manchester, offering intensive six hour courses focusing on mastery of particular skills or ingredients. Lessons range from learning how to butcher, prepare and cook lamb and pork to sausage making from scratch and even the intricate art of running the perfect barbecue. Currently involved are celebrated chef Robert Owen Brown, the renowned Lee Frost of W.H. Frost Butchers, artisan Chadderton sausage makers Bobby’s Bangers and Manchester’s own authentic barbecue company Fire & Salt BBQ with more to be announced in the near future. Tickets can be found on their website www.cookmanchester.com/masterclass.
“Over our first year of business we’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing people”, says Company Director Sean Fisher. “The chefs and artisan producers that have worked with us over the last 12 months have so much knowledge, passion and inspiration in their food that we feel like the public at large are genuinely missing some of the most exciting cooking experiences in the North. Our aim is to bring small classes in to learn from these chefs to pass on some of that knowledge”.
The classes promise to be some of the most demanding in the UK, with each session crossing a wide range of culinary skills and involving six hours of hard work. “I think there’s a niche that a lot of cooking lessons miss out on”, says Sean. “What I like to look for in a cooking lesson is to come out of the session feeling like a chef, and that’s exactly what you’re going to get with these classes. We want Cook:Manchester Masterclass students to go home exhausted with a lot of new skills under their belts and a lot of food in their fridges”. The classes also take place during normal kitchen hours, so students can expect to be working in a busy shared kitchen alongside other food businesses as they prepare their food.
Award-Winning Chef Robert Owen Brown, formerly of the Mark Addy and writer of the successful ‘Crispy Squirrel and Vimto Trifle’ is already planned for three of the sessions teaching skills in butchering and cooking lamb and seafood, as well as working with Lee Frost of W.H. Frost butchers in Chorlton for a course on pork. “I’m very much looking forward to running these classes”, says Rob. “I think these students are going to get a valuable insight into the real life of a chef as well as gaining some useful skills and most importantly gain a lot of confidence in the kitchen”.
Places for each session are limited to 10 people and each ticket is set at £150. “We think the price actually gives some amazing value for money”, says Sean. “We’re offering the chance to learn basic butchery as a skill as well as some amazing recipes with meat that you’ll actually take off the animal. Best of all, our students will be taking all the leftover meat home with them to practice with!”
The first of the sessions starts March 8th with Robert Owen Brown’s Lamb Masterclass, followed by a joint course on butchering and preparing pork by Lee Frost and Robert Owen Brown on March 29th. Sessions in April and beyond bring sausage-making by Bobby’s Bangers, the art of barbecue from Fire & Salt BBQ with more to be announced in the coming months. Cook:Manchester is the first commercial kitchen for flexible hire in the North-West and currently works with over 20 small food businesses from Michelin experienced caterers to award-winning street food traders, market producers and more.
