Designed for both enthusiastic amateurs and those working in the catering industry who want to improve their skills in a specific area the one day fish and seafood skills workshop will show you the best ways to prepare, cook and serve seafood - scaling, gutting, skinning and filleting are all covered.

In Devon they are lucky enough to have great fish all year round from Brixham and Plymouth - you will be shown what to look for when you are buying fish and shellfish using the freshest produce available.

This fish cookery course is almost entirely hands-on and you will cover a variety of dishes both classic and contemporary over the course of the day and sit down to enjoy the food you have cooked at around 2.30pm.

The bakery and bread day one of the School's specialist skills master classes. During the day, you will be making Danish pastries, croissants, brioche and all kinds of breads from split tin loaf to plant pot bread. A light lunch is included as well as your own baked goods to take home with you.

Bakery is a particular passion of Chef Director Darrin Hosegrove who is your tutor for this course and who numbers among his mentors Michelin-starred Chef Shaun Hill.

The Gastro! cookery courses are among the most popular at the Ashburton Cookery School but many people ask what they are all about. The courses are called Gastro! because they are about the art and practice of choosing, preparing and eating good food.

In choosing the food the School puts a strong emphasis on local, seasonal and organic ingredients. They buy locally because Devon is blessed with some fantastic produce from Dartmoor lamb to fresh fish from Brixham - they also buy locally because it means the ingredients have incurred fewer food miles.

They choose organic ingredients because they are healthier, more sustainable, better for the environment and, they think, taste better. The Gastro! cookery course menus change every month to reflect what is in season - what is naturally available can change radically over the year which means it is not possible to predict what will be on the menu until the produce arrives on the day before the course.

In preparing those ingredients you will be shown how to create modern British classics like braised lamb shank, ham hock terrine, chocolate tart and sticky toffee pudding, as well as teaching you essential cookery skills and techniques that you can use to create your own culinary masterpieces or recreate gastro-pub favourites.

If you have had enough of pre-prepared sauces, the same old pasta fillings and over-priced ready meals, then it is time to get serious about the Italian in your kitchen. From antipasti to pasta making, to classics like risotto and gnocchi as well as Italian breads, authentic sauces and magnificent main dishes, the one day Italian cookery course is a gastronomically gladiatorial day for Italian food fanatics.

You will be producing fresh pasta, homemade breads, authentic Italian pizzas, and flavoursome sauces as well as a delicious dessert such as tiramisu or zabaglione. Local, seasonal and organic ingredients are used wherever possible, which means that course content can vary slightly depending on the produce available. The School also has a range of Italian olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars and specialist risotto rice both for use on the course and available for students to buy.

During the day your tutor will pass on the cookery techniques that underpin this vibrant, popular cuisine. At around 2.30pm everyone sits down to enjoy the food they have prepared along with a glass of wine.

Bonjour mes amis! Our Gallic neighbours have long regarded themselves as having the best cuisine in the world. Here is a chance to see why and pick up the culinary skills that have formed the foundation to modern cooking.

On the one day French cookery course you will be taught how to make the home-style dishes that have become culinary classics from beef bourguignon to a delicious glazed onion soup. Working on sauces and stocks to benchmark dishes like bouillabaisse and tarte tatin, you will learn how to bring an authentic "ooh la la" to your kitchen.

Local, seasonal and organic ingredients are used wherever possible, which means that course content can vary slightly depending on the produce available. During the day your tutor will pass on the cookery techniques that underpin this influential cuisine. At around 2.30pm everyone sits down to enjoy the food they have prepared along with a glass of wine.

Why spend hours chained to the cooker when you could be having fun? While lesser mortals spend valuable dinner party time slaving in the kitchen, after this course you will be the cool, calm and collected host on the receiving end of your guests gasps of admiration as you serve up a breathtaking meal.

On the one day Express Dinner Parties cookery course you will cover eight or nine dishes during the day, each one ready in the blink of an eye. Local, seasonal and organic ingredients are used wherever possible, which means that course content can vary slightly depending on the produce available. but you could expect starters like saffron risotto with petit pois and poached egg, mains like whole red mullet cooked in a bag with lemon grass, coconut milk, coriander and fresh mussels and desserts like chocolate and Cointreau mousse.

The course is almost entirely hands-on so you’ll be involved with preparing dishes throughout the day. During the Express Dinner Parties cookery course your tutor will pass on the cooking techniques that will enable you to create quick, effective entertaining. At around 2.30pm everyone sits down to enjoy the food they have prepared along with a glass of wine.

Some like hot but there is more to chillies than just feeling the burn. Cooking with chillies opens up a whole world of flavour - some of the most exciting cuisines use chillies in a variety of forms from Mexican and Thai cooking to Szechuan and South American. There are a huge variety of chillies each one with its own distinctive shape and flavour from the mild sweetness of the choricero to the searing fruitiness of the habanero.

On the Hot Stuff chilli cookery course you will be taught how to get more from this explosive little fruit. The course is almost entirely hands-on so you will be involved with preparing dishes throughout the day, from starters like hot chilli rellenos or the Thai classic Tom Yam Goong to delicious fresh salsas and an amazing chilli sorbet.

Seasonal and organic ingredients sourced in Devon are used wherever possible - the School even uses a local farm for their chillies - however this means that course content can vary slightly depending on the produce available. During the one day Hot Stuff chilli cookery course your tutor will pass on the cooking techniques that you can use at home, whether cooking with chillies or not.

The cooking of North Africa and Spain is becoming increasingly popular thanks to restaurants like Momo and Moro, and the brilliant cookery books of Sam and Sam Clark. The one-day Moorish cookery course brings you up close to this exciting cuisine that fuses flavours from Spanish and Moroccan cookery.

The course is almost entirely hands-on so you will be involved with preparing classic North African specialities like tagine and charmoula, a Moroccan mezze and much more besides. You will never look at couscous in quite the same way again.

During the day you will learn the skilled use of myriad herbs and spices and encounter fundamental cookery techniques that you can apply at home, whatever style of cuisine you a’re cooking. At around 2.30pm everyone sits down to enjoy the food they have prepared along with a glass of wine.

Thai food is one of the most popular cooking styles of recent years. The one day Thai cookery course is a chance to experience this hot, fragrant and wonderfully flavoured cuisine and learn about some of the unusual ingredients that are essential to creating your own Thai dishes.

The course is almost entirely hands-on - throughout the day you will be making your own curry paste (head and shoulders above anything shop bought), soups, Thai salads, noodles dishes, rice and fish cakes, and some delicious desserts like sticky rice in banana leaves.

Seasonal and organic ingredients sourced in Devon are used wherever possible - even a local farm is used for the chillies – however this means that course content can vary slightly depending on the produce available. Specialist Thai ingredients like pandan leaves, fresh turmeric or green papaya can also be difficult to get hold of.

Fancy yourself as the next Jamie Oliver but can't quite work out one end of a knife from the other? Do not worry, everyone has to start somewhere!

Ashburton Cookery School’s Beginners weekend course will take you from enthusiastic novice to a practical working level in two days. The course is almost entirely hands-on - over the course of the weekend you will cover essentials like baking, basic sauces, cooking meat and fish correctly and how to make puddings that create a stir. You will be making dishes like pan-fried loin of pork steak with caramelised Braeburn apples and mustard sauce, leek and bacon tartlet or classic crème brulee.

At the end of each day’s cookery you will sit down together and enjoy the fruits of your labour with a glass of wine in a relaxed, sociable environment - it is the perfect cookery holiday for those who can’t cook . . . yet!

Spend a weekend on Ashburton Cookery School’s Beginners weekend and you will be adding flair and excitement to your home cooking without breaking into a sweat.

The Gastro! cookery courses are among the most popular at the Ashburton Cookery School but many people ask what they are all about.
These courses are called Gastro! because they are about the art and practice of choosing, preparing and eating good food.

In choosing the food the School puts a strong emphasis on local, seasonal and organic ingredients. They buy locally because Devon is blessed with some fantastic produce from Dartmoor lamb to fresh fish from Brixham - they also buy locally because it means the ingredients have incurred fewer food miles.

The School chooses organic ingredients because they are healthier, more sustainable, better for the environment and, they think, taste better. The Gastro! cookery course menus change every month to reflect what’s in season - what is naturally available can change radically over the year which means it is not always possible to predict what will be on the menu until the produce arrives on the day before the course.

In preparing the ingredients you will be shown how to create modern British classics like braised lamb shank, ham hock terrine, chocolate tart and sticky toffee pudding whilst teaching you essential cookery skills and techniques that you can use to create your own culinary masterpieces or recreate gastro-pub favourites.

Ashburton Cookery School’s Gastro! Plus weekend gives you an opportunity not only to learn more recipes and techniques but to work on more complex dishes that require longer preparation time - it makes for a stimulating cookery holiday.

And as for the eating, at the end of each day’s cookery you will sit down together and enjoy the fruits of your labour with a glass of wine in a relaxed, sociable environment.

This two-day course focuses on the essential skills that professional chefs employ in a working kitchen.

It is aimed at both keen amateurs and existing catering professionals. It is not a beginner’s course - this is for experienced cooks who wish to expand their existing knowledge. It is an opportunity to sharpen up on cookery techniques like knife skills, filleting fish, basic butchery, pastry and baking and stocks and sauces.

The School concentrates on the cooking skills that have been lost in an age of mass production - skills which can lift your food from the ordinary to the sublime. It is about real food not ready-made, about teaching you how to replace ‘bought in’ ingredients like stocks, pastry, bread or ice-cream with components you have created yourself.

You will be working towards tasting menus on Saturday and Sunday which will be an opportunity to test out what you have learned and work through the organisational skills involved in menu planning, recipe writing and food ordering / shopping.

• Knife skills
• Meat and poultry - boning, filleting & spatchcocking
• Fish and shellfish preparation & filleting
• Stocks and complex sauces
• Ice-creams, sorbets and parfaits
• Patés and terrines

Seafood and fish have grown enormously in popularity in recent years. It is no surprise - using the fruits of the sea you have almost unlimited possibilities in terms of the dishes you can make and it is also an extremely healthy option. However many people - even those working in the catering industry - are intimidated by the sheer variety on offer at the fishmongers.

Whether you are new to fish or in need of some new ideas, the two-day seafood course will show you the best ways to prepare, cook and serve seafood - scaling, gutting, skinning and filleting are all covered on the two-day Seafood course. In Devon they are lucky enough to have great fish all year round from Brixham and Plymouth - you will be shown what to look for when you are buying fish and shellfish. You will be using the freshest produce available and you will be told how to get more muscle from your mussels, fresh thrills from brill and make the most of your hake.

The course is almost entirely hands-on - over the course of the weekend you will cover classics like moules marinieres, dressed crab or fish cakes as well as more contemporary dishes like salad of scallops and squid with pickled cucumber and sesame dressing or Pan fried black bream fillets with creamed savoy cabbage and smoked bacon lardons.

Experience the flavours of the Italian countryside on this fantastic culinary weekend and return home with the confidence to create your own repertoire from this rich and vibrant cuisine.

The course is almost entirely hands-on so you will be involved with preparing dishes throughout the weekend. Over the course of two days you will be producing fresh pasta, homemade breads, authentic Italian pizzas and flavoursome sauces as well as a delicious desserts such as tiramisu or zabaglione.

Because there are two full days cooking, you will have the opportunity, not only to learn more recipes and techniques, but to work on more complex dishes that require longer preparation time like Beef and pancetta tortellini with pesto or Budino brulee with polenta biscuits.

The School uses local, seasonal and organic ingredients wherever possible, which means that course content can vary slightly depending on the produce available. The School also has a range of Italian olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars and specialist risotto rice both for use on the course and available for students to buy.

Gentleman’s Relish is a weekend cooking course for men who enjoy good food, who want to improve their kitchen skills or learn to fend for themselves and enjoy some great food into the bargain. It is a fantastic gift for that special man in your life.

All the courses at Ashburton Cookery School are almost entirely hands-on so you will be involved with preparing dishes throughout the weekend.

The course focuses on game, meat and freshwater fish, as well as fundamental techniques like making the best steak sandwich or the perfect omelette. Over the course of two days you will be tackling home-smoking; sausage making, Great British puddings and the ultimate roast!

The School uses local, seasonal and organic ingredients wherever possible, which means that course content can vary slightly depending on the produce available - this means a lot of game is used during the season and farmed venison, pigeon and duck at other times in the year.

Of course, one of the most satisfying parts of the weekend is sitting down at the end of each day in the cookery school dining room and enjoying the fruits of your labour along with a glass of wine or two!

A two-day version of the popular one-day course, the French weekend is an opportunity to get a more in-depth look at Gallic cuisine. From sauces and soups to seafood dishes like bouillabaisse, regional specialities from Provence across to Brittany and classic dishes like Tarte Tatin, this is your chance to delve into a style of cooking that conquered the world.

The course is almost entirely hands-on so you will be involved with preparing dishes throughout the weekend.

The School uses local, seasonal and organic ingredients wherever possible, which means that course content can vary slightly depending on the produce available but you could expect to be cooking dishes like salmon en papillotte, beef bourguignon, duck confit or tarte au citron.

Of course, one of the most satisfying parts of the weekend is sitting down at the end of each day in the cookery school dining room and enjoying the fruits of your labour along with a glass of wine or two!

The two-day game cookery course uses the best local game to be found - you can expect to be using seasonal game such as pheasant, partridge, grouse, snipe and woodcock as well as venison, rabbit, hare and wild duck, as well as a few hearty British puddings to finish things off.

Class sizes are a maximum of ten people and your time in the kitchen will be almost entirely practical either working individually, in pairs or as a group. The skill level is pitched at enthusiastic amateurs, with the emphasis on cookery skills and techniques that you can use at home. You will be working hands-on in the preparation and cooking of game as well as learning skills such as sauce-making, home-smoking, terrines, pates and puddings.

At the end of each day everyone sits down for an early evening meal to sample the fruits of our labours and enjoy a well-earned glass of wine.

Love food but can't boil an egg? Want to be the next Gordon Ramsay but don't know your lemongrass from your elbow? Ashburton Cookery School knows there are thousands of food lovers out there who are desperate to get cooking for themselves but really do not know where to start.

The five-day beginners course takes you from complete novice to competent cook, starting with the absolute basics and moving on to more complex areas. By the end of the course you will be handling pastry with confidence, baking your own bread, making the perfect omelette, filleting fish and much more.

Each day runs from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm and includes lunch and regular tastings throughout the day. You will also receive a course folder with recipes and essential theory.

This course is suitable for age 16 and over.

Ever dreamed of running your own restaurant? Fancy working as a chalet host or as part of a boat crew? Or perhaps you have been inspired to take your cooking to a higher level but do not have time to embark on a full qualification?

Ashburton Cookery School has had a lot of demand from those who want to take their cooking that little bit further so they have created Pressure Cooks, an intensive five-day fix that covers all the fundamentals of cooking.

• Soups, sauces and stocks
• Breads and pastries
• Shellfish and fish
• Meat, poultry and game
• Vegetable dishes
• Chocolate, sugar, creams and custards
• and a whole lot more . . .

. . . all condensed into five days - it is hard work but immensely satisfying and provides a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of cooking and the kitchen.

Whether you want to become a better home cook or want to experience the life of a catering professional, if you are serious about cookery then this is the course for you.

This five-day cookery course starts where the Pressure Cooks course leaves off. You will visit many of the same subject areas but in greater depth, building on what you have learned on Pressure Cooks or on your existing knowledge base.

New subjects include game, shellfish, poultry, home-curing, soufflés, mousses, purées, consommés, patés and rillettes alongside more advanced techniques in areas such as sauce-making, knife skills, chocolate and sugar, vegetable dishes, pastry and bread.

As with Pressure Cooks, you will be working toward an early evening meal and developing a rolling menu that you can apply at home or in the workplace. Daily recipes and essential theory will build up over the week into a course folder covering all aspects of your tuition at the school. It is a demanding week with nearly fifty hours of hands-on tuition - hard work but immensely satisfying.

Pressure Cooks Advanced is suitable for keen amateurs who are looking to improve their skills for home use, cooks who want to discover new ideas and cooking techniques for an existing catering business or those who are looking for intensive professional chef training.

Please note: this course is not for beginners. The School expects all participants to have passed the Pressure Cooks course or to have a similar level of kitchen experience, although they do not require you to have had any formal chef training. Please call to discuss your suitability for the course.

Ashburton Cookery School’s Basic Cookery Diploma is an intensive four week cookery course that takes students through a broad syllabus of fundamental techniques covering all areas of cooking.

A high level of practical tuition is backed up by essential theory and weekly visits to local producers. At the end of the course, students will put their newfound skills to the test when they spend two days in the kitchens of one of the region’s top chefs.

The Basic Cookery Diploma course is designed for those with ambitions of entering the catering industry or for serious cooks who want to raise their cooking to a higher standard. The School covers all the skills that are required in a professional catering environment. Over a four week period, you will be trained to the standard of cooking expected at NVQ Level 3.

During the course you will encounter the cut and thrust of a professional kitchen - you will spend two days in the final week working in the restaurant kitchens of one of the region’s top chefs. Site visits to local producers and large-scale commercial kitchens aim to broaden the student’s horizons to the range of possibilities available in the catering industry.

All courses at Ashburton Cookery School have a maximum of ten people, which means that teaching can be kept as hands-on as possible. It also makes for a sociable working environment.

On the course you will work towards a full dinner every day with frequent tasting sessions along the way and time put aside for theory in all subject areas including health and safety, hygiene requirements, food storage, methods of cookery and modern trends.

Daily lesson sheets in subject areas such as stocks, sauces, meats, poultry, game, seafood, vegetables, baking, pastries and desserts build into a comprehensive cookery course folder, which will be an invaluable kitchen companion for the future.

Gift Voucher

You want to choose a course as a present for a friend, work colleague or partner but can't decide which one? Not a problem with an Ashburton Cookery School Gift Voucher. The cookery courses make fantastic presents. One, two and five day cookery course vouchers are available, Valid for a period of nine months from the date of purchase. Ashburton Cookery School will make sure your friend, work colleague or partner has the voucher and the brochure in time for their special day. For further details email us <click here>

Darrin began his career at Gidleigh Park Hotel, working under the guidance of Michelin-starred chef Shaun Hill. At twenty-five he gained two AA rosettes as head chef at Drakes Restaurant in Exeter before returning to Exeter College as a lecturer in Food Studies where he spent four years teaching catering skills to an advanced level.