Does this cooking course exist?

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DH and I have had a change in circumstances where it's now his responsibility to do a lot more cooking for the family.

I absolutely love cooking so he's never really got anywhere near the kitchen. His mum has also confessed to me that she wished she'd taught him when he was young. It's been very easy for him to avoid learning up to now.

So essentially we have a man in the kitchen who is used to being the expert in the room. Only now he's clueless and he's a bit touchy about it. He is enthusiastic to learn but I think he's a bit embarrassed. ATM I haven't got time to teach him patiently (that's about me)

So we are looking for a kitchen skills course he can do, either London area or online (YouTube?). I'm thinking how to chop an onion, brown things properly etc etc.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I’ve not personally tried them, but I know a family member was looking at this - don’t know if they went ahead with it or not.

cookable.co.uk

Not a course, but Good Housekeeping used to do a step-by-step cookbook that had pictures of each stage of the recipe. Amazon have some second-hand, this is the exact copy that I have, but there are also more recent versions. www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Housekeeping-Step-step-Cookery/dp/0091777798/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=good+housekeeping+step+by+step+cookery+book&qid=1662124792&sprefix=%2Caps%2C43&sr=8-2

Not sure where you live but check your local adult education services as they often have introductory cooking classes.

What really helped my partner gain some confidence when cooking are food recipe boxes like Gousto or Hello Fresh as all the ingredients and step by step instructions are provided.

Prue Leitrim Cookery School I’m London. They do a part time day or evening course and it is key skills for adults. Hope this helps.

What about using gusto easy to follow recipes that he can then start putting his own twists on

Gousto and Hello Fresh definitely helped my partner with recipes and timing so a good idea but it won't help him with basic skills of he's completely clueless so might still benefit from a class.

I bought this for my husband (then boyfriend) when we moved in together. He was a total cooking novice, but had a vague idea of what he enjoyed eating and would like to cook. The recipes are set out like cartoon strips - it's quite fun and got my other half into cooking creatively.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Len-Deighton-Action-Cook-Book/dp/B00I61CG52/ref=mpssa112?crid=24XB6NEJV31S4&keywords=action+cook+book+len+deighton&qid=1662125972&sprefix=avtion+cook%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-2

I bought DH (never ever cooks but happy to go out or p/u a take away!) a day at the place below in W1 as a gift a few years ago. He loved it, they teach how to chop and why you chop things the way you do, you then go on to make a meal which you all sit down and eat together at the end of the day. His was minestrone soup, with bread, followed by a main and pudding.

www.cookeryschool.co.uk/classes/knife-skills-slice-and-dice/

I've found Hello Fresh great for teaching me new skills, and giving me ideas, I've made loads of things I'd never have thought I could in the past. And it's so easy having everything ready to cook.

If you want to give it a go, click the link below for a £42 discount.

Hi, you’ve been invited to experience cooking with HelloFresh. To get started, claim this £42 discount. Start your cooking adventure today and use the following promo code: HS-F4Q0042YZ. Happy Cooking! https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/pages/raflp11?c=HS-F4Q0042YZ&utmmcampaign=native-share-panel&utmcouponvalue=42&utmminvitername=Helen&utmmedium=iOSReferral&utmm_source=raf-share

If he actually wants to learn, he should just find some recipes and google/Youtube for the tips (how to brown an onion etc) as he does it. Its how most people learn, if he's someone who's used to being an an expert before following instructions and googling bits he's stuck on should be easy.
YouTube is awash with videos that can help with every bit of the cooking process if you're not sure of something when following a recipe.

You can pick up Delia Smith's How to Cook books in most charity shops, definitely start with the basics such as how to boil an egg!

Divertimenti used to do a knife skills class but I'm not sure they ever reopened post covid.

I was looking for something incredibly similar for mine, in the end I set up "lessons" with my uncle who's a brilliant cook. At his house, not ours 😅

Did he not do food technology at school? Odd to think of a grown man being completely clueless in this day and age.

😂 food technology

Luckily I got taught to cook at home because in food tech all I learnt was to assemble a flan from pre made ingredients (eg flan base), roast potatoes in lard and I think possibly make a tuna pasta dish. Certainly never fried or baked anything, the rest of the time was all about nutrition or food production in factories.

it was actually only at infants school I learnt half useful things like how to make buns or jelly

Second/third ing Hello Fresh. To my shame my son left home without decent cooking skills. He came back during lockdown, and did Hello Fresh, sometimes with me and sometimes alone for the rest of us. He’s now quite the foodie, and has been invited along on weekends specially for his kitchen skills.

I was the same as your husband. I Googled it/found recipes/worked it out for myself.

The late great Gary Rhodes book Keeping It Simple is a good place to start, better than Delia IMHO.

I think this is a great idea. I'm a seasoned cook, but I've picked up tips and methods from using Hello Fresh and referred back to them at times.

I would suggest using HelloFresh or Gousto a bit to get his confidence. Also Jamie Oliver's ministry of food is a great starter cook book (economical too)

Thanks for all the fantastic responses - much appreciated!

The local courses seem exclusively for people with learning disabilities so that was a non-starter, although if I ever have any time off ever again I think that would be a great place to volunteer.

The Prue Leith courses look like just the thing though.

I have the Delia Smith book somewhere. Must dig that out.

Agree that YouTube is the obvious choice but there's so much choice I'm not sure where to start.

I don't think they did food tech courses at his seventies boys school. I think they just taught them to get married

What about the James May Oh Cook! series on Amazon and accompanying book?

He was pretty much a complete beginner, the recipes are nice and easy and there were tips about how to work out when things are ready and how a lot of the time it really doesn't matter if its not perfect and what ingredients subs can and can't be used.

So get over a common hurdle of cooking being too difficult so a reason not to bother.

I don't think he needs to go on a course to learn basic cooking skills! I moved overseas and have had to learn to prepare and cook foods that I've not come across before - the best way is just to google it. I'd say he should approach it by first choosing something he wants to cook (maybe something he's familiar with that you've made regularly in the past), find a recipe online or use your recipe and then search on Google or YouTube for help with steps he's not sure of eg. best way to chop an onion, how to brown an onion etc. He'll figure it out quickly.