Having worked with The Bothy previously, it was great to reconnect with them and arrange a new set of classes. Previously we ran a number of general cooking classes for anyone who uses their services. This time, we had a few meetings with the women’s club that use this service as a weekly get-together.
We decided we would run a 5-week program of cookery classes, culminating with the members helping us cook the menu for Craigmillar Community Campfire on the 5th of November. From the meeting, we understood they wanted a focus on improving the way they cook at home for themselves and their family and friends.
The first week we looked at vegetarian food. It’s important for us as chefs to find creative ways to make vegetarian cooking fun, tasty and accessible for people. Too often people avoid cooking vegetarian meals – often because they don’t have the knowledge of how to create a meat-free dish. Lots of delicious ingredients featured in our vegetarian stew: cannellini beans, fennel, tomatoes, and of course, aubergines. This made for an encouraging start as the feedback from the participants was positive, and more than our “5 a day” was included in the dish.
When we know we are going to be working with the same group in consecutive weeks, we like to speak to them about the specifics that they want to learn and take requests of things to do in the following weeks. This helps build a level of anticipation and excitement for the weeks ahead as they have had some input into what the following class will be. The ladies requested to learn how to make a stir fry, how to make pasta and some simple sauces, and how to make rice dishes. This was a great set of ideas for us to work off.
Next came stir fry day. This is a fun lesson as there are so many different ingredients that can be used in a stir fry. Before long, we had onions being sliced, ginger being chopped, clove after clove after clove of garlic being minced, fennel, apple and carrot being grated… all sorts. Showing the participants how to marinade meat was a great skill to learn. We marinated some pork in delicious southeast Asian flavours and then fried it off quickly in pans.
Given that Bothy is a cosy, intimate space, the smells filled the room. We opened the door to let some steam out, and passers-by were popping their heads in just to get a closer whiff of the wonderful smells. A truly successful day. One of the participants said, “this was one of the nicest things I’ve eaten for a long time”. Another stated “i’ll never order stir fry again”. This was great feedback and exactly why we like teaching these types of skills. If we can encourage behaviour patterns to switch to home cooking over buying takeaways, then we know we are on the right path.
The next week was pasta making. Messy, but very fun. Dry pasta from shops is very accessible these days, and affordable – but there is something inherently fun and rewarding about making your own pasta from scratch. The ladies had never done this before and were thrilled to see how by taking eggs and flour and using a bit of technique you can end up with such a wonderful product. It must be said that they weren’t fans of the kneading process, and were suspicious that it was a wind-up after being told the kneading process needs to last 10 minutes! However, they powered through and after a good bit of elbow grease, the pasta was ready to be rolled through the machine and cut into lovely long bits of tagliatelle. Some of the other participants helped prepare a simple Bolognese sauce and a cheese sauce, and before long, the eating commenced.
The rice cooking day was equally full of enthusiasm and also resulted in a delicious meal. The levels of enthusiasm grew, the knife skills were sharpening, and the participants knowledge of food was improving.
After five fantastic weeks at The Bothy, the final week was to be held at the EFS Kitchen. It’s always fun to finish a programme of classes at the EFS kitchen so people get a chance to work in a professional kitchen for a day.
