The Cookery School is dead…long live the Cookery School!

After that suitably dramatic title I’d better begin with something captivating.  Except that wasn’t particularly captivating, was it?  I am reminded of the brilliant scene in Blackadder III when the Hugh Laurie’s Prince Regent is tutored in the arts of oratory by two hammy thesps who insist that every address begin with a ROAR!  The Prince commences: “WWWooooAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR! Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking…”  Priceless.

Anyway, the cookery school is dead, is it?

Well, yes, frankly.  I am closing up shop and The Fine Food School will be no more.

E-gads! Shock!  Are things that bad? I hear you cry.

Actually no.  Things are not bad at all, as it happens.  Things, in fact, are good.   Just as with an unbroken succession of monarchy – as one cookery school “ker-flaps” its last oven cloth another fires up its hobs.

It all began back in July…

I was doing a bit of al-fresco cookery demonstrating the wonders of Napoleon Grills’ new range of barbecues at a great event called Field to Fork at Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire.  Incorporating the British BBQ Championships, Field to Fork is a showcase for Laverstoke’s own organic meat and dairy products.  If you haven’t come across them in your local Waitrose or Sainsbury then hunt them down.  The buffalo mozzarella is world class and the ice cream is probably the best that is commercially available in the UK.  They have won awards for their meat too and the buffalo fillet steak is stunning. 

It was a great fun event for me, I got to publicly unveil my now infamous BBQ sponge cake, the weather was terrific and I found time to hob-nob with some of my cheffy heroes.

But more than that; as a complete Formula 1 geek of many years the fact that Laverstoke Park Farm is owned and run, very much hands-on, by world champion Jody Scheckter added a certain frisson to the experience.

What I had not anticipated was to spend time discussing barbecues, sponge cakes, ice cream and the relative merits of gas versus charcoal with the man himself.  Not only a Formula 1 world champion but the only man to have ever won a Grand Prix in a car with six wheels!  It was because of this chap that I grew up thinking that one day all cars will have two pairs of little wheels at the front and two great big’uns at the back; and here was I discussing vanilla versus coffee for the perfect gelato with the man who drove the Tyrrell P34 to victory at the Scandinavian Raceway!  

Surreal, but definitely in a nice way.

Mr S is a man with a vision, that much is clear.  From the ginormous mounds of steaming organic compost, via the constant monitoring of a state-of-the-art soil analysis laboratory to the fully-equipped production kitchens, Laverstoke really does produce food from field to fork.  By engaging Temple Grandin to design the on-site abattoir Jody Scheckter has ensured that not only are his animals well cared-for and fed on pasture that grows on the richest, most bio-diverse soil but when it comes to the point of dispatch the beasts are calm, unstressed and happy right to the very last.  Jody’s vision for how good food should be produced for his family has mushroomed into an astonishing business.

The Laverstoke Education Centre reaches thousands of kids and puts them in touch with the idea that food comes from nature and that ultimately a burger starts its life as mud.  Restaurants all over the country are using Laverstoke meat and there are Laverstoke ice cream bars in top London department stores.

But one thing Jody doesn’t have is a cookery school.  When I told him about mine, his response : “You should come and run one for us” could have been taken as a throwaway comment.  But in my experience Jody Scheckter rarely makes throwaway comments and we’ve been discussing it off and on ever since.

Well, the discussions are over and it’s time to get to work.  I’ll be decommissioning and relocating lock, stock and barrel over the next few weeks and with a following wind the Laverstoke Park Cookery School will be up and running in no time.

This is a very exciting time, it really is.  I absolutely love what I do; it’s not like work at all.  The prospect of doing it in the heart of an operation which is the model for how food should be produced is thrilling, to say the least.

So, yes, the cookery school is dead but long live the cookery school! 

See you in a class!