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?

My dad did a cookery course via the hospice when my mum was terminally ill.

That's probably not what you want to hear as a recommendation though is it?

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

My brother's school did not teach any cookery / food tech / domestic science. My girls' school had 3 complete kitchens, compulsory domestic science for the first three years and also had a 'flat' you you could learn to clean a bath, make a bed and hand wash clothing.

<missing the point of the thread>

Cant he just follow a recipe?

Or internet film or something?

Feel free to use my SimplyCook freebie. Maybe this will help with his confidence

simplycook.com/invite/0M82VT?via=app

@rita12345

'Can't he just follow a recipe?'

Sort of, but he's got no confidence and the kitchen looks like it's exploded and it takes twice as long as it would me.

I'm a very confident cook and when I'm in the kitchen I just fall into the exact same mind set, which means I'm not very empathetic when I'm teaching him. I think people who can cook often underestimate the hurdles for people who don't know how. I know I certainly do.

This is why I think we need to get an expert involved. I'm as bad at teaching as he is at reading a recipe.

The James May show sounds perfect.

Look out for local community colleges. Our college advertises in the free local paper and have just published all their night courses...they've actually just announced a 'cooking for beginners' course. I would imagine lots of community colleges will be offering similar as with cost of living, more people are probably needing to cook from scratch.

Is he interested in food generally- eg does he have opinions about how it tastes, appreciate good restaurants, take an interest in local food on holiday?

Or is it just fuel to him?

If you think he'd feel a bit patronised by beginner cookbooks, I recommend you buy him the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat which is a cooking manual but with a good lot of science in it and from the starting point that the reader is interested in food.

Also just encourage him to watch things like Masterchef and other cookery programmes and really listen to what the judges/presenters are saying about things like rendering fat, over and under-cooking, flavour balances and combinations.

I do also agree that HF/Mindful Chef/Gousto are a good place to start.

Who's going to be doing the shopping?

It's really just practice. It will take him longer than you to begin with and he will be messier, a course isn't going to solve that problem.

I have to say my DH is slower and messier in the kitchen than me but I think a lot of that is because at the same time as cooking he is watching a YouTube video or reading something on his phone so when the recipe says "simmer for 10 minutes" or whatever he doesn't use that time to tidy up a little or prepare something he'll need later.

Do you have a book with all your usual recipes written out? If not then maybe that would be something you could do to help him.

Cant he just follow a recipe?

My son recently made a cake and the instructions said...mix butter and sugar

So he did, 'mixed' the cubed butter into the sugar then went onto the next stage

He didnt realise they have to be creamed together,

That’s why a book like Delia’s (the one where she is holding an egg on the front cover) is different. It tells you how to do some of the basic operations with each recipe.

This must be quite unusual - a recipe that doesn't even say "cream together" to clue him in that something other than simply mixing needs to happen plus never baking with parents or in food tech classes. Or else he's simply learning that irritating "hilarious" incompetence that many men like to display when it comes to things they deem too feminine for them to be doing ie cooking, cleaning, childcare.

Haven’t RTFT so it might have already been mentioned but I definitely recommend Stephane’s ‘French Cooking Academy’ on YouTube. Brilliant videos with clear instructions and explanations of everything. Lots of really delicious recipes, simple enough for a beginner IMO as long as they’re willing to watch, listen and learn.

Don't know if this has been mentioned but Leith's is doing an online course starting soon: www.leithsonline.com/courses/absolute-beginners-online-course

Second this. I bought this just before I got married - 30 years ago this month! I don't use it any more but it was brilliant with advice on which cuts of meat to use for what, what to do with spices, different vegetables and fruit, utensils you need. It's all tested in their kitchen so if you follow the recipe everything works. I used to work there but for a different part of the magazine company and the cookery writers would give us the food they'd made.

I'm sure it's been updated with more modern recipes. I say I don't use it but I still cook some of the things in it but don't have to follow the recipes any more.

My school had all that too apart from the flat for the girls. I raged against it at the time because the boys did woodwork and metalwork. Now I realise the girls got a much better deal. Who needs a metal ashtray?

In our area the Alzheimer's society ran a course called something like "Man with a Pan". A 5 week course for men who had never cooked and wanted to learn basic skills. I believe it was very well attended and those that went found it brilliant.

He needs to buy Delia Smiths Cookery Course. Someone recommend it to me when I couldn't cook and I'm bloody brilliant now ( and big headed !) 🤣

www.amazon.co.uk/Delias-Complete-Cookery-Course-Classic/dp/0563362499/ref=asc_df_0563362499/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310882654267&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5240397024786956741&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006868&hvtargid=pla-418222791358&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

I bought for a friend's son 'Nosh for students'

www.amazon.co.uk/Nosh-Students-Student-Cookbook-Recipe/dp/0956746470

It is designed for people heading off to uni who may have little experience but need something tasy and healthy. I have the 'Nosh for busy mums and dads' for myself and it is a really good series. I highly recommend. It assumes little cooking knowledge and uses real life measurements like 'a mug' - and 'this is a mug'. to help.

What sort of University accepts students who aren't capable of identifying a mug?!

I think they mean ‘this size mug is what we use as a measurement in this book’ as opposed to literally explaining what a mug is.

Marguerite Patten's Step by Step Cookery was my kitchen bible when I first got married, over thirty years ago. Delia Smith 's Complete Cookery Course is good too, and even her How to Cook series with how to boil an egg.

You can look up things like how to chop an onion on YouTube or TikTok.

We did some classes here (the fish and curry classes) which were fab, they do a basics class

www.thecookingacademy.co.uk/intro-to-cooking/beginners-cooking-classes/