Last Updated on February 17, 2022
Teaching you to become a more creative chef
For those looking for a deeper level of engagement than the cook-a-long format that has become very popular during the long months of lockdowns, Rassa offers something new. A digital cookery school with three choices of cuisine for its first season, participants sign up for a course that runs over a three month period. Each month a different chef teaches a new skill and deepens participants’ knowledge of and appreciation for the cuisine they are studying. This will not be passive learning as participants will be encouraged to read, learn, cook and develop their own recipes.
Rassa kicks off on 28 February with a terrific set of choices and teachers. The Filipino Kitchen: East Meets West will be led by renowned chefs Gene Gonzalez and Budgie Montoya. Participants will learn to ferment shrimp paste, cook over an open fire and master the adobo, a Filipino stew. Israeli Dining: Sunrise to Sunset will be led by Eyal Jagermann, previously co-founder and head chef of The Barbary in Covent Garden which is a hugely popular North African restaurant. The course will take participants to the markets of Tel Aviv and teach cheesemaking, spice mixing, bread-baking and butchery.
I am excited to have the opportunity to join up to the course entitled Irish Cookery: Sea and Soil which will be led by Ireland’s popular TV chef, Kevin Dundon. I look forward to learning how to butcher game meats, cure and smoke my own salmon and to create recipes inspired by foraged ingredients. The first lesson will be Irish bread and I have already received a box of ingredients including beef dripping, Guinness and treacle. This suggests that my Irish soda bread baking is set to step up quite a number of levels.
The curricula for all three courses is composed of live creative workshops, recipe development sessions, Q&As with the chefs and pre-recorded content to learn from. There will additionally be virtual tours of the countries to deepen understanding of cultural heritage and influence, and further reading will be encouraged. There is lifelong access to the Rassa course and community where participants can share with each other, post questions and further develop ideas and skills. Participants will be learning to cook 15 dishes and given the opportunity to develop three recipes of their own inspired by the cuisine of the course they are on. The list of dishes to be cooked is wide-ranging and very creative.
Rassa offers courses that require a 4 – 6 hours per week commitment from participants who need an intermediate level of skill – confidence in the kitchen – to benefit most from all the opportunities on offer. I look forward to being pushed out of my comfort zone and coming away with cooking skills I can go on to use on an ongoing basis. I am looking forward to learning to cook turf smoked hake with Jerusalem artichoke, braised pork cheeks with elderflower pickled fennel and being let loose in my kitchen to develop my own ideas. This is going to be a lot of challenging fun.
You can join up to a Rassa course for £150 per month here. The courses begin on 28 February.
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