Her recently launched Culinary School in Alexandra Park offers cookery courses of many kinds, aimed at different types of cook, from professionals to housewives to “foodies” wanting to produce their own exquisite dishes, to household cooks and housekeepers wanting to learn some basics.
I went to visit Chef Susan and the Culinary School to find out more and found her bustling around the teaching area, apron on, very much in control of preparations for a morning class in Asian Cooking.
In the main kitchen were bowls of lovely fresh produce, already prepared for the students, and little glass bowls with pinches and teaspoons of the necessary spices and pastes that the dishes of the morning would require.
The teaching area has been exceptionally well-planned and accommodates six bespoke workstations designed to Chef Susan’s exacting standards, making the best use of available space and providing students with everything they could possibly need.
A clever innovation is the use of the Thermomix Kitchen multi-tasker device, which saves space and rolls a number of popular and very necessary kitchen gadgets into one machine.
Chef Susan is quick to stress, however, that although The Culinary School uses these very practical machines, there is no requirement for students to own one as all the dishes can be prepared using conventional kitchen equipment.
The Culinary School does however act as a training and distribution centre for Themomix, so anyone taken with the idea can always purchase one. In addition to the six workstations, there is a bank of gas plates on the patio, an electric oven for baking and a recently acquired, very beautiful industrial gas oven that takes pride of place in Chef Susan’s teaching space.
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The Culinary School offers Hands-on Cooking Classes. Chef Susan is firm in her belief that the only way to learn is to get your hands dirty, “understand your ingredients, get to know their feel, texture and taste”.
Classes at The Culinary School are designed to work as enjoyable, informative once-off sessions; there is no requirement for classes to be attended in any given order. All that is required is a basic knowledge of cooking.
“If you can fry an egg and bacon, then I’ll be able to teach you something” she says. She does, however, also offer courses for children during school holidays, who may not yet have acquired that skill!
A number of classes take place in the mornings and are perfect for ladies and gentlemen who are not office bound. These classes are designed to be fun, while giving students a chance to learn new skills and increase their knowledge and appreciation of the ingredients.
Popular classes are Asian, Spanish, Mexican and Seafood cookery, with each class focusing on several dishes under its theme. Recipes and ingredients are provided and with Chef Susan’s guidance, you can guarantee the end result will be well received when you take it home after class!
Also on offer are evening classes, which tend to include a liquid content, and cover everything from how to mix a perfect cocktail and match your wine to your food.
Housekeepers’ courses are run on an on-going basis and each class addresses a specific area of cooking, from meat through to pastries, soups and desserts, turning domestic staff into Domestic Angels who can cater for all occasions and fill the kids’ lunch boxes with home-baked, healthy treats.
