News and Features
Vanilla and Spice Cookery School
As owner of this website many assume I am a skilled cook and a 20 year career in food adds to this expectation. Sadly this is not true and whilst I am undoubtedly passionate about food, and can get by in the kitchen I am by no means an expert, so when my husband, Neil, and I were given the opportunity to go to a cookery school we jumped at the chance. Jan Maggs has always had a great passion for cooking and set up Vanilla and Spice to indulge that passion and help inspire others to cook great food at home. All courses take place in her own kitchen, with its fantastic view from the Mendip Hills to the City of Bristol. 'Jan's most popular course is a Taste of Italy filled with fresh pasta making and other lovely Italian dishes. New to the range offered is Warm Spices and Fresh herbs where particpants learn to cook both an Indian and Thai curry as well as using spices and herbs from a number of different cuisines. However if you can't find exactly what you’re looking for Jan is happy to create an a la carte course for you. Playing safe and opting for the ‘Introduction to cooking’, we arrived to a warm welcome and a hot coffee and sat down in Jan’s lounge to enjoy the view and talk over the plans for the day. Leafing through the folder of recipes we were to make, I couldn’t help thinking she’d booked us in for a week rather than a day! We soon got stuck into preparing soups, Neil chopped and diced and sliced for minestrone, while I opted for carrot and coriander. As we worked, Jan gave us tips on everything from techniques with the knives to variations in the ingredients. Once the pans were simmering we were ready to start the next dish – our special request, a good old-fashioned steak and ale pie. Again the information flowed freely, and was led by our own questions. Which cuts of meat to use? The best stocks? When to stew and when to casserole? With the meat safely in the oven and the kitchen full of wonderful aromas we took a break to enjoy our soups. I asked Jan if we were typical customers. “All sorts of people have come” she says, “individuals on their own, parents and teenagers, couples and groups of friends. Some people have a specific food issue, a mother came recently with her two daughters who were very faddy about their food. After the course she said that cooking together, seeing what goes into things and handling the ingredients really made a difference for them. We get about equal numbers of men and women, there’s a maximum of 4 people on any open course and this attracts people that could be put off by larger, more formal schools.” Next on our menu was egg fried rice and sweet and sour chicken. Neil and I both love Chinese food so this was perfect for us, but it wasn’t just a happy coincidence, Jan had carefully planned the dishes to demonstrate the difference between the basic techniques of Oriental cooking and those of European cooking that we had just practised. Take vegetables – for the soups, softened gently in olive oil over a low heat, for the stir fry, cooked through quickly in a hotter pan with a more heat-stable oil. For me it was a revelation that you shouldn’t stir as soon as you add something to a pan, as this dissipates the heat before it has a chance to start cooking the food. We felt surprisingly proud of our efforts as we sat down to lunch. After making pastry for our pie, we went on to cook Quiche Lorraine, banana whip, Victoria sandwich and chocolate cake, each chosen to demonstrate the different techniques that are the building blocks of everyday cooking. We talked so much that we ran out of time before we had iced the Victoria Sandwich, so we took it home and decorated it with the children, a fantastic success, not the neatest cake you’ve ever seen, but certainly iced and eaten with love! We had a most enjoyable, relaxed and informative day, but the real success of the course for me was that all the recipes resulted in delicious, additive free food that I’d be happy to feed my children, made using fresh and store-cupboard ingredients, with standard kitchen equipment. The useful take home folder has each recipe printed on card, with little tips and reminders about the techniques and variations from the basic recipe. Jan asked me in advance what I would like to get out of the course, “to reduce the number of jars and packets of sauces in my cupboard and increase my repertoire of dishes I can confidently cook from scratch” I said. I have certainly done that and have already successfully produced beef and ale casserole with dumplings, an adaptation of the steak pie recipe. But what did Neil think? As 17st, rugby playing beer-drinker, he suffered severe ribbing from his mates in the pub both before and after the course, but said “In the past, I have tried to follow recipes, but not understood terms like ‘fold’ or ‘cream’, let alone the reasons for them. I’d recommend this course to anyone. It’s great to understand more about the processes, and the cakes will make me even more popular with the girls at work!” From the starched cotton aprons to the folder of recipe cards, everything at Vanilla and Spice bears the words ‘enjoy learn experience’, a perfect description.
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