Play at being a chef !
Tasting a dish is a pleasure that’s hard to beat. When the person doing the tasting is also the one who prepared it, its success becomes a personal achievement. So follow these chefs who transform themselves into teachers and initiate you in the culinary art with real enthusiasm.
Marie Coffigneau does not wear a “toque” and has never won a star. But one day, she had a bright idea : to create a concept called “La Recette Magique” and convince a whole bunch of chefs to share their know-how with motivated students. Here, each cookery class focuses on a specific theme : one works on “foie gras” with Frédéric Galland, asparagus and morel mushrooms with Yannick Faure, truffles (“the jewel of gourmets”) with Benjamin Bruno... It all starts with breakfast followed by the class, with the tasting of recipes concocted on the day as the highlight. Another concept, just as enticing, is “Cuisine sur Cours”, dreamt up by Aude Bertaux. Everything happens in an apartment kitchen and the meal is built around a particular product, theme or menu. Apprentices go shopping at the Marché de la Libération, then tie on an apron, keep a tea-towel handy and listen attentively to Aude’s advice. They can even invite a guest (for an extra 20 to 30 €) to share the homemade feast. A major French firm, Lenôtre, has also decided to open its doors to non-professionals, thus giving the “Ecole Lenôtre”. It appeared in Cannes in 2004 and, over the past six years, cooks and pastry-chefs have manned the ovens with passionate neophytes. Then there is the nec-plus-ultra, a chef basking in all his glory, who deigns to welcome students to his lair and lifts a tiny corner of the veil that hides his wealth of experience. At the Moulin de Mougins, it is Sébastian Chambru (“Meilleur Ouvrier de France” 2007) who gives the classes (private or in a group). In 2-hour sessions, he demonstrates, advises, helps his students to make two recipes, one to take home, the other to sample on the spot. For Stéphane Raimbault, awarded 2 stars and recently crowned “Chef of the Decade” for the PACA region, a cookery school should introduce students to the secrets of French gastronomy. This Epicurean is assisted by his pastry-chef brother, François, and his head “sommelier”, Pascal Paulze. The three are inseparable ! Whatever the formula chosen, “Dégustation” or “Prestige”, the session invariably ends with a moment of real congeniality, around the preparations (salty and sweet) with a corresponding wine. Here, the association between dishes and wines is looked upon as an art-form. Coming this spring, a workshop dedicated to Easter lamb, sweet and savory soufflés, “foie gras”, “sushi” and the traditional “mille-feuille” with vanilla and rum.
Carnet
Cuisine sur Cours, 75 avenue Borriglione, Nice (04 93 96 17 29). Market and Dating Cuisine : 80 €. Mini-class (12.30 to 1.30 p.m.) : 20 €. Le Moulin de Mougins, L’Ecole de Cuisine (06 63 01 83 09). Class + lunch at the Moulin : 125 €. Class + dinner : 175 €. Ecole Lenôtre (04 97 06 67 62). Class from 6 to 8 p.m. : 70 €. Based on a specific ingredient : 135 €. Pastry-making : 95 €. La Recette Magique, 14 avenue Thiers, Grasse (09 61 01 58 85). 150 €/day. Les Ateliers de L’Oasis (04 92 97 31 83). "Dégustation" formula : cookery class on a theme or "à la carte", 85 €. "Prestige" formula: 150 €. Pastry-making class : 65 €.
By Cécile Olivero.
