The Avenue Cookery School - The Really Useful Course

Lots of useful tips

The Avenue's "Really Useful Course", run by Mary Forde and Diana Horsford, specialises in teaching Gap Year and University students a unique mix of cooking and useful everyday skills.

By the end of 5 intensive days everyone has progressed from a tentative white sauce maker on Monday to a confident soufflé chef on Friday. Emphasis is on healthy, affordable eating with plenty of tips on vegetables and fruit. The course provides a wonderful start to an independent life.

What we offer

Huge fun together with warm professional teaching.
Hands on cooking with a maximum of 14 students working in pairs in a light modern purpose built kitchen.
Now famous dinner party for students and their friends on Thursday evening. This popular dinner is organised, cooked and hosted by the students. Fantastic introduction to cooking for numbers.
Well respected ‘really useful skills’.

Skills acquired

Excellent healthy cooking for life.
First aid course.
Gap year survival skills and travel tips.
Basic car maintenance, including changing a wheel and jump starting an engine. Understanding insurance.
Wine lecture followed by wine tasting.
Basic student finance.
All manner of useful stuff! Sewing on a button, changing a plug and ironing.
And anything that anyone wants to know - the list grows!

Our cookery course has been designed to guide the inexperienced through a week of well planned, traditional recipes. Each day covers new techniques and recipes. We are a "hands on" course offering plenty of help and support, but at the same time explaining that there is no better route to success than practice.

The week is devoted to cooking with two afternoons spent out of the kitchen. On one afternoon there is a Life Saving/First Aid course (certificated) which includes practical resuscitation techniques, coping with serious injury and reacting confidently in emergencies. Flat tyres, flat batteries, accidents and insurance are covered in a second action- packed afternoon together with many more practical skills. On Thursday evening there is a wine lecture followed by a supper party for students' invited guests.

Price
£590 - To include an excellent bound cookery book. Accommodation if required - £120 to include full board.

Hours
9.30am - 4.30pm Monday to Friday. Early finish on Friday afternoon.

The Really Useful Pack

At the end of the course each participant is given the option to buy a Really Useful Pack which costs an additional £40. This pack is designed to take you anywhere: university, cooking jobs, badly equipped flats.

Electric whisk	Wooden spoon
Potato masher	Large metal spoon
Knife	Scales
Chopping board	Recipe book
Hand whisk	Spatula
Roasting / baking pan	Screwdriver

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A 5 day course (can follow on from "The Really Useful Course") entirely devoted to teaching advanced cookery skills. By the end of a week each student will have the ability to cook for small parties, work in chalets, on yachts or cook for families in the holidays.

The course offers good links with future employers within the cooking world.