The feedback below is from the cooking class that ran on Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th October 2011.
I have not edited any of it, as I thought it would be useful to read all of it, should you be interested in taking one of these 2 day courses:
Dear Sandy,
Would just like to start by saying that it was a really enjoyable couple of days and all the meals made went down a treat, (not a fan of bread and butter pudding but that’s just personal taste lol). Lol = laugh out loud in case your not familiar.
I’ll answer each Q in the order you’ve put them, in a Q/A format so its nice and easy for you to see whats a response to what.
What was the most useful thing you learnt and/or part of the course?
I think it was really important to have learnt how to correctly chop veg. I find it hard but I do try and curve my finger tips over every time i’m chopping now.
The curry has already been put into practice when i tried to make lamb passband last night, the taste was lovely but the texture of the almond was a bit odd. It’s something I want to keep trying, replacing lamb with chicken, until I get it perfect, however without having that curry you showed us to base it from i would not have tried it. And I think its brilliant how with that, I can make several different curry’s, with the confidence also gained from the experience to add things here and there.
The cutting of the whole chicken was very useful and once again great for confidence. I think this part is definitely important for everyone to learn and it allows you to get use of pretty much 100% of your purchase.
The inclusion of the recipes and H&S etc to take home is very handy and will make sure I keep in a safe place. It allows you to keep up with what was learnt in the two days and reduces the chance of forgetting any information. Again all the dishes are quite basic and so the recipes lend themselves to adaptation for other dishes.
What was the least useful part of the course?
Hmmmmmm, this was a thinker! I wouldn’t say it was the least useful, but perhaps the making of the bread in terms of its everyday use compared with the other dishes. For example, I would be more likely to want to make a curry or spag bog now I know I can, but when it comes to it I would probably just buy my bread still. Having said that it is nice to know i can make bread. And where I have time I would think about doing so. But perhaps from a students point of view there could be something else to make instead? (ill have a think as I continue as to what that might be).
What did you think of the dishes we cooked – did you think they were the correct type of dishes to cover, or would you liked to have looked at different ones – did they go down well with others who ate them?
I think the dishes were brilliant, i liked the fact you made each of us do something different with each to appreciate the value of individual ingredients and what they can add, take away from the taste. And whilst we made and ate our own lunch there was still something practical to gain from it. I think they were all good dishes because you can improvise with them a lot, and adapt and tweak for not just personal taste but to make a completely different meal with. Everyone that tried the food loved it which inspires me to want to cook more. As for looking at something different perhaps cover roasting in someway? Another might be different ways to cook veg, and make them tasty! I seemed to not think about veg a lot, is that just because its simple and why it might not be worth looking at or do I just not like veg? Anyway…. Oh, i’ve sort of answered the next question with that so its just various ways to cook veg, and roasting (what you might add to roasted meat to make it tasty, change the flavours etc.) which i might like to take a look at.
Would you have preferred to follow recipes while we were cooking and if so why?
No! I think you definitely made the right choice to just get us to watch you, and do the same. To have the confidence to cook is so much more important than essentially being able to read lol. Personally, i think anyone can make something tasty by following a recipe but at the same time its not very fun, and a little bit wimpy. As in you would like the taste but it never goes any further than that. Your method of teaching allows having a bit of fun, experimenting, gaining confidence, and creating dishes full of flavour which you can call your own. THATS WHAT COOKINGS ALL ABOUT!
Can you think of any points which would help future classes be better (thinking of methods of teaching / time of courses etc…)
I think the times of each day was perfect.
The hands on approach without recipes (but having them to refer to later on, if and when needed) is the best way to learn and helps develop all the things I said in the last point, whilst actually making you better when following recipes.
This could be a recipe for disaster but i’ve always struggled with multi-tasking so perhaps get them to create something which involves preparing one thing whilst keeping an eye on the other.
Perhaps replace bread making with something else? although the actual input didn’t take up that much time so maybe its not possible.
Something you said yourself so you might do anyway but more puddings?
Maybe more veggie based dishes but then anything we did could be easily supplemented with veg.
The salsa seemed to take quite a long time and not sure how much I would value that against the other dishes.
I think the shopping list and planning was very interesting and a good way of appreciating costs, importance of some ingredients when it comes to your own money. comparisons between premium and value range were good as well.
Ooo, as for dishes and stuff, maybe something like quiche, or ways to make tasty salads.
Other than that I cant really think of anything else, thoroughly enjoyed and feel I have learnt a lot and been inspired to cook more. Still not that keen on washing up though haha. I’ve still got a couple of bits to bring back and will give you your folder back as well.
Thanks again and hope this is helpful.
From Jamie.
The most useful thing for me was that the whole experience gave me general confidence towards cooking.
I think we had a good selection of dishes and the only one which i would have preferred to do differently was the bread and butter pudding, but i think that was just down to personal taste, not that its a bad dish.
maybe burgers, but we covered everything essential.
I preferred not following a recipe, because it gives you more of a feel for it, so you can improvise, rather than following rules
I honestly cant think of any negative points, it wasn’t rushed, we all got the chance to practice everything, it was an enjoyable experience which was planned very well and effectively, and I didn’t have to get up early! 🙂
Thank you for running an enjoyable course
Ashley