The Belle Isle School of Cookery

Diploma Cookery Course

4 Week Intensive Cookery Course

This is an essential cookery course for anyone with strong culinary ambitions and who wishes to go on to cook professionally. The course offers more than 4 weeks of menus using recipes that are easily adaptable. The students start each morning in pairs, making bread, followed by preparation for lunch and dinner. Each week the skills that have been learned will be broadened and built upon.

Every Thursday evening, the students will dine together in the dining room, taking turns in groups of three to cook for the others in a different environment under the watchful eye of their tutor. There will be tasks assigned at the end of every week in order to monitor the progress of the students.

Students are given accommodation in the courtyard of the estate, just 100 yards from the cookery school. The apartments are self-catering and a welcome package will be provided. Each day, bread baked in the school will be taken back to the apartments by the students (who are residential) along with a dish that they have made for supper. Lunch will be provided at the school.

The course runs from Monday to Friday, 9.30-4pm. On the second last day of the course, spouses/parents of the students are invited to join everyone for dinner in the castle.

The course will explore many styles of food, with the emphasis on fresh and simple ingredients. The students will be guided in European and Asian food, drawing on these styles to make them flexible as well as knowledgeable. The food will generally reflect the trend for healthier, lighter food with real taste.

Each week an afternoon will be devoted to wine tasting and matching certain foods to certain wines.

Objective:

To gain a good knowledge of cookery using master recipes, applicable in all situations.
To learn to be organised and efficient in the kitchen.
To become familiar with safety in the kitchen.
To budget successfully.

The course is broken up into 4 modules:

Week one:
Starts with basic techniques, hygiene, bread making and knife work. Each day will consist of preparation for lunch and dinner (Dinner will be taken back with the students at the end of each day to the apartments).
Bases for master recipes will be covered and then enhanced over the next three weeks, such as emulsion sauces, roux bases and oil infusions. Sample recipes for this week may include Tomato & fennel bread, Roast tomato & charred pepper soup, Grilled butterflied leg of lamb with saffron potatoes, Autumn fruit jelly with lemon syrup. The first part of the wine course will take place during the week.

Week two:
Adding more master recipes and building on the existing ones from the previous week, during this second week we turn our attention to sourcing ingredients and storage. New techniques such as pastry and sugar work are introduced and incorporated into the menus for the week. Recipes for this week may include, Traditional soda bread, Home-made ravioli with squash and sage butter, Chicken and black pudding terrine en croute, crepe suzette. There will be an outing to our Butcher one evening and a hands on sausage making session.

Week three:
Continues to broaden techniques including basic cheese making and preserving fruits and vegetables. Nutrition will be covered and the importance of balanced diets even whilst entertaining. Low fat menus will be covered this week as well as versatile vegetarian options. Sample menus may include, Yeast bread with seaweed, Pear & winter root soup, Roast pheasant with parsnip crisps, Mixed berries with yoghurt cheese.

Week four:
During this last week, students are encouraged as far as possible to be creative and to budget accordingly. We will focus on menu planning and budgeting for different events, Recipes may include, Bread with caramelised leeks and pepper, Game terrine with juniper berries, Pan fried fillets of Turbot with vanilla, valrhona chocolate mousse with whiskey infused amaretti biscuits. The final part of the wine course will take place this week, culminating in a “family banquet” in the castle, where certificates will be presented.

More details
Each day will consist of demonstrations followed by a “hands on” practical session for the recipe previously demonstrated. It is important for the students to cook as much as possible in order to understand the techniques involved. There will also be some short lectures to attend given by our butchers, cheese makers, tea importers etc.

Students will also be taught to clean as they go! Cleanliness in any kitchen is very important and is second only to being well organised!

Each week, students will learn the skills necessary for the preparation of meat, fish and vegetable dishes. As every dish is started from scratch, stocks, infusions, sauces and the use of gelatine and yeast will also be covered. All ingredients will be presented to the students before each recipe but no previous preparations will have taken place by the staff members except for the demonstrations.

The four week Diploma course is not only about learning the art of good food preparation but it will also cover the sourcing of food, recycling both food packaging and food waste as well as the issues of animal rights and responsible consumerism.

William from Ireland commenting on the 4 week diploma course:

"Always having had an interest in food but not having done a lot of cooking, I decided to look for a suitable cookery course before I set off on a gap year. I had heard about Belle Isle from a few people and thought a four week course would be perfect to get me started. I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy myself. We were a very varied group of students, different ages and from all walks of life. Our teacher Liz Moore was an absolute inspiration and completely changed the way I look at food. We did lots of practical work, visited various businesses associated with the food industry and had weekly wine tasting classes. It was fascinating. When I finished I went straight into a job working in a delicatessen which also did outside catering. I found that I was able to pick up everything fairly quickly thanks to the ground work we had done with Liz. I now have the confidence to give everything a go as I set off around the world."

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