Wickedfood Cooking School, SUNNINGHILL

Information & bookings (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Hi all,

Looking at the figures over the past two months, it is gratifying to note that our cooking classes for individuals now accounts for half of all the classes offered on a monthly basis from Wickedfood. Some of the classes are so popular that we are running a second one for all those on the waiting list, this is the case with a 30 minute meals class, which ran on Monday.  A follow-up class will be run next Tuesday.  We still have a few spaces open, so contact the school soon should you wish to make a booking. Hope to see you at one of our cooking classes.

Find us on Facebook and Twitter – just search for Wickedfood and you will find us. We update the blog on a daily basis and publish it through Facebook and Twitter.

Wickedfood Cooking School news

Our February and March individual cooking class programmes are up on the internet – click the relevant month for the programme February/March.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs classes with a minimum of 8 participants and a maximum of 12 as this gives everyone hands-on experience  and keeps the class small enough for maximum learning.

  • Monday 22 February at 6pm – All you wanted to know about… beef (R390pp). Part of the master class series. In conjunction with our head instructor, one of Johannesburg’s leading butchers Caroline McCann from Braeside Butchery will give an in-depth hands-on demonstration in choosing and preparing beef for a variety of dishes. Students will learn the secrets of cooking a number of classic mouthwatering beef dishes.
  • Tuesday 23 February at 6pm – 30 minute meals (R380pp) How to prepare 6 nutritious quick and easy meals for two. Dishes include Thai vegetable curry, Chicken breast with feta and pasta, chilli steak wraps, penne with a rich tomato vodka cream sauce, fried fish with oven chips and homemade burgers.
  • Sunday 28 February at 4pm – North African feast (R370pp). How to prepare a delicious North African feast including a selection of salads, Moroccan frittata, chicken tagine, 7-vegetable couscous and roasted fig parcels.
  • Monday 1 March at 6pm – Jamie’s America – … on Tex-Mex food (R370pp). Jamie Oliver’s latest book is based on his recent travels through the USA. We reinterpret some of the dishes, and put them together into a themed menu including green chilli, tortilla soup, chicken mole, courgette salad, chilli cheese cornbread, and pecan pie.

Please contact the school should you wish to make a booking:

Looking for info on food?

If you have any  food-related question, or a dish that you just can’t get right or even a certain recipe that you are looking for, but just can’t seem to find, then contact us and we will do our best to answer it as soon as possible. Click Here for more information. Hope to hear from you soon.

Cookbook of the week

Heston Blumenthal can certainly be considered one of the most influential chefs of the modern era.  With no formal training, he has moved serious dining to a new level with his restaurant, The Fat Duck, been voted as the best restaurants in the world on numerous occasions.  Expect to pay in excess of R3 000 for a meal here, with wines to match. But how did he get to where he is. The Fat Duck Cookbook is one of the most inspiring books that I have read … Click Here for more.

Click Here to see Wickedfood Cooking School’s top 10 food-related books for 2009.

Did you know:

The English name ‘allspice’ was given to the dried, unripe berry of the Pimenta dioica (a tropical American tree) because of its complex mixture of flavours that hint at cloves, black pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon. Spanish explorers in the 16th century likened them to black pepper, and thus named them ‘pimento’ (as in ‘pimenta’, the Spanish word for peppercorn) as well as ‘Jamaica pepper’.

Food quote of the week:

“A mango cannot be eaten in one bite.” – Jamaican saying

Click Here to find some great mango recipes.

Food tip of the week:

Potatoes are one of the most versatile ingredients there are. But not all potatoes are right for all dishes. When I first started looking into which spud was best for mashing and chip-making, I discovered that the key was the amount of “dry matter” the potato contained — what would be left if you removed the skin and the water content. Less than 18% dry matter, and the potatoes won’t give you a decent chip. …. Click Here to find out more.

Recipe of the week:

Heston’s Pommes Puree

With Heston Blumenthal, cooking is a science and within his inquisitive mind, he’s able to coax the absolute best of flavours from every ingredient.  Even the simple art of making mashed potatoes becomes an exercise in scientific extraction.  In his restaurant, he parboils the potatoes first, and then cooks them in a stock made from the peels.  The recipe-of-the-week  is a simplified version of this dish. … Click Here for the recipe

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studio. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.