MASTER CHEFS

A new way to sharpen up your cooking skills

IF YOUR CHRISTMAS stocking bore a voucher for a culinary class this year, lucky you. From the Cookery School at Little Portland Street to the School of Artisan Food in Nottinghamshire, there are places all round the country that serve up excellent demos and masterclasses in everything from knife skills and gin distilling to sausage seasoning.

But they can come at a hefty price (for what’s often a full day’s undertaking with meals and booze included, you can see why), and it is with this in mind that a new food festival has been launched. The Chef ’s Table Event, debuting in London this spring, plans to offer a tasting menu, if you will, of courses run by top chefs and cookery schools. All under one roof, tutors from L’atelier des Chefs, School of Wok and The Seafood School at Billingsgate (among others) will run hour-long, hands-on sessions in butchery, boulangerie, bao bun-making and more – with one class included in the ticket price of £40, and further sessions available to book from £10 (Telegraph readers can get a 10 per cent discount using the code TGH10).

In time-honoured festival tradition, there will be a chef ’s theatre, where names including Gill Meller and Vivek Singh will whip up dishes in front of a crowd, but those bookable workshops are often only available on full-blown courses for budding professional chefs; to that end, much of the equipment on show will be restaurant-quality, aimed at home cooks with an eye for gadgetry (think sous vide machines and dehydrators). Watch this space for more details. thechefstableevent.com

Look and learn with Vivek Singh (below) and School of Wok