The Cook School Scotland

This was my 2^nd time at a Cook School Dine and Demo evening the first time being more years ago than I care to remember! The Dine and Demo evenings are like taster courses – you don’t actually do any cooking but you learn how to make food, come away with recipes and do a LOT of eating (and drinking!)
You’re welcomed with a cocktail (or wine/​beer if you prefer) and then taken through to the kitchen where the chefs talk you through the evening’s menu – in our case it was «American Diner.» As the chef talked us through we were given a riff on potato skins — baked sliced of potato topped with crème fraiche, bacon and chives, something I will definitely be attempting at home as they were AMAZING.
All the while the chefs are cooking away your glasses of wine or soft drinks get topped up so you can relax and enjoy. We had two more starters of mac and cheese and chowder. The mac and cheese was okay, nothing to write home about but the chowder was really lovely with loads of smoked fish and mussels for those who ate them. I should say at this point they cater to food allergies (they even have a whole gluten-​free night) and left coriander out for me in the recipe it appeared.
After the chefs have walked you through making everything you go back to the dining room while they finish up and you are served your main (which you watched prepared) – we had pulled pork cheeks on a sweet corn cake with courgette slaw and cheddar/​chive rolls. It was really tasty and was then followed up by an overly indulgent pecan pie. Again you’re getting wine this whole time!
It is a really fun evening to have with friends or as a couple. The American Diner wasn’t authentic American food but a more Scottish, posher take on it. I’d definitely recommend going to anyone.
It is worth noting that public transportation isn’t really an option. The Cook School is in Crosshouse in pretty much what is sort of an industrial estate. The Kilmarnock train station is 2.5 miles away so you could get the train and then a taxi or there is a Premier Inn within walking distance so you could make a night of it. Luckily of us my mother-​in-​law lives 10 minutes away so we get a lift and a place to stay!
Definitely well worth it and I can’t wait to plan our next night!

Absolutely fantastic day out here — my sister and I had booked a Thai Street Food cookery day as our Christmas present to each other. It’s just on the outskirts of Kilmarnock, near Crosshouse Hospital. As soon as you turn off the A77 onto the A71 it’s really well signposted so it’s relatively easy to find even if you don’t know the area.
There were 18 people on the course but everything is so spacious that you don’t feel at all crowded. The day starts at 9.45 am when you are greeted and taken in to a dining area where you get coffee, tea and freshly-​baked scones before you start. There’s a 10 minute chat from the chef outlining what you’ll be doing and going over some basic knife safety rules and stuff like that. Then it’s into the lovely big kitchen to start cooking. The format is divided into demonstrations from the chef where he talks you through what he wants you to do, then you go back to your workspace and do your chopping and cooking. For some of the things, like the Thai curry paste, he had us all chopping ingredients for a communal curry paste which he then blended up and divided between us all. For other things, you work on your own, although everybody is really friendly and chatty so there’s lots of help available if you need a hand or you’ve forgotten what the chef just said!
Our chef was Australian (I’ve forgotten his name already, that’s awful) and he was great — really relaxed, really funny, explained things very clearly and obviously knew a lot about Thai food. He talked about the differences between Thai food in Thailand and the UK and gave lots of options for sourcing ingredients (eg how to use dried chillis instead of fresh, that kind of thing). There are also a couple of kitchen assistants helping out — you’d go up to the top table for a demo from the chef and when you got back to your own table, everything you need for that bit had been set up!
You get a break after a couple of hours for more coffee and scones, then back to do more cooking, finishing around 1.30pm. We made red curry with duck, spicy beef salad and quail with garlic and white peppercorns in a chilli and vinegar sauce. You stop for lunch and you can eat as much or as little of what you’ve cooked (you can box anything you don’t eat up to take home). There was no way I could finish it all — I ate my duck curry with some lovely jasmine rice and I tried the other two but I ended up bringing most of the beef and the quail home.
After lunch there’s a short demo of a pudding course — today it was coconut and banana pancakes with ice cream. After you’ve eaten your pudding, you’re done — just box up your food, pick up your recipe sheets and your free tote bag — I think we finished around 2.45pm.
When we booked this I had thought it was a little expensive — the full day class is £95. But you’re there for five hours, you get lots of tea, coffee and lovely homemade scones, you get wine with lunch, you get top ingredients (duck, steak and quail!), you get recipe sheets to take away, you get a free tote bag and you obviously learn a lot of stuff too. So I think it’s pretty good value for money. They also do half-​day courses for £45 if your budget doesn’t stretch. Most people were there with vouchers they’d got for Christmas and this would be a totally brilliant present to get somebody who liked cooking.