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Cuisine in Brief

3-day Cookery Break £695

2 night/3 day Cuisine in Brief offers an intensive and action-packed hands-on programme, cooking with an inspirational French Chef and tasting local wines.

Our Friday to Sunday Cuisine in Brief includes market visit, lunch at a restaurant in the medieval city, either a trip to a vineyard or a creative session with a chocolatier and additional cooking sessions with both a traditional French chef and a French champion patisserie chef.

10 9 £60 FRI SUN 1
Weekend
Maximum class size Hours of Tuition Single Room Supplement Start Day End Day

Dates (Friday to Sunday)
April 26 – April 28, 2024
Sept 20 – Sept 22, 2024

Our Monday to Wednesday Cuisine in Brief includes an afternoon visit to food or Cremante producer, dinner at a fine regional restaurant and 8 hours of cooking with Michelin-starred Chef Jean Marc Boyer.

10 7-8 £60 MON WED 3
Weekdays
Maximum class size Hours of Tuition Single Room Supplement Start Day End Day

Dates (Monday to Wednesday)
April 29 – May 1, 2024
Sept 23 – Sept 25, 2024

Cuisine in Brief Schedules

Schedule Sample 1 – Friday to Sunday

Day Time Activity
Day One: Friday Arrival

You will be collected by your chauffeur at either Toulouse or Carcassonne Airport or railway station and a light lunch provided.

(Please note: While we make no charge for Carcassonne collections, Toulouse  is 75km away and therefore a modest charge for transfers of £50 per person will apply, to be paid in advance.)

15:30

Either: There will be a private wine-tasting visit to one of the vineyards of the region.

Or: We will visit a chocolatier where you will be able to create your own box of chocs to take home with you.

19:00

Over fizz and canapés, you’ll be informed about the weekend’s programme and receive your recipe-book containing the know-how behind the creation of classic French dishes.

If you would like to see a list of some ingredients needed for the next two days’ recipes, which – if you’re keen to practise your French – can be bought at the market in the morning – we can hand it over … but that’s not compulsory!

19:30 You will be served a four-course dinner with a selection of wines, made by one of our Chefs.
Day Two: Saturday 08:30 Early breakfast and then off to Carcassonne market to take in the stunning array of the best fresh and organic seasonal products: fruit, vegetables, cheeses, olives and much more.
11:30 Leave the market to visit La Cite, Carcassonne’s medieval fortress which attracts millions of visitors every year.  Lunch is arranged for you at a lovely restaurant in La Cite. There will be time for you to look around this spectacular place.
15:00 Leave Carcassonne to drive home. It will take 30 minutes.
16:00

On arrival prepare for a hands-on ‘Classic French Cooking’ session with our first chef Laurent Jeannin. You will prepare the evening’s dinner.

This session will last about three hours – culminating with our Chef’s demonstration of ‘dressage’ – the display and presentation of each dish.

19:00 After a short break for an aperitif and to enable you to change for dinner (optional), you will return to the kitchen to carry out your own ‘dressage’ of the evening meal.
19:45 – 20:00 Dinner with a selection of wines.
Day Three: Sunday 08:00 An early breakfast then to the kitchen for your final cooking session, preparing lunch under tutelage of our Champion Patisserie Chef, Remi Touja, winner of Frances’s top French patisserie award, the Sucre d’Or.
12:30 Lunch – as you have prepared it.
Afternoon Our chauffeur will take you to the airport for your return home.

Schedule Sample 2 – Monday to Wednesday

Day Time Activity
Day One: Monday Arrival: mid-morning

You will be collected at either Toulouse or Carcassonne Airport by your chauffeur and brought home for lunch.

(Please note: Toulouse Airport is 75km away and a moderate charge for transfers of £50 per person will apply, to be paid in advance.)

We will discuss the plan for the following days and then you’ll be off to the kitchen where our Michelin-star Chef Jean-Marc Boyer will begin the afternoon cookery session.

15:00 Demo and hands-on cookery tuition session with Jean-Marc Boyer (3-4 hours). You will be preparing three courses of the evening meal.
19:00 After a short break to enable you to change for dinner (and grab a glass of fizz!) you will return to the kitchen to carry out the presentation of the meal under Jean-Marc’s direction.
19.30-19:45 Dinner with a selection of wines.
Day Two: Tuesday 08:30 Breakfast then to the kitchen for cookery session. You will spend the morning with Jean Marc Boyer, preparing lunch.
12.30 Lunch, as made by you.
13:30-15.00 Short “extra skills” cookery session with Jean-Marc.
14:00-14:30 Vehicle leaves for outing: this option will vary according to your particular course. Examples of a guided visit are below:

  • A cheese-making goat farm.
  • An olive oil factory to sample some varieties.
  • A honey farm.
  • A visit to Limoux to learn from the makers about the ancient creation and method behind the famous sparkling wine Cremante de Limoux – a technique later duplicated by wine-growers in Champagne. Fizz-sampling included.
  • A hazelnut farm to learn about their journey from the trees to their processing by food manufacturers (eg. the pulp is used in Nutella).
  • A private wine-tasting visit to one of the vineyards of the region.
  • A visit to a chocolatier where you will be able to create your own box of chocs to take home with you.
  • A truffle-hunt in the Black Mountains with a visit to a Truffle Museum. *NB this option only applies to courses between February and March).
  • If dinner is planned in Carcassonne’s La Cité this evening, we will aim to arrive there with an hour to spare, offering everyone the chance to look around the medieval walled city, before dinner at a superb Carcassonne restaurant.
19:30 Dinner at a local restaurant, wine included.
21.30-22:00 Driver arrives to take you home.
Day Three: Wednesday 09:00 Breakfast
From 10:00 Our chauffeur drives you to Toulouse or Carcassonne airport or railway station.

Cuisine in Brief – Spring Example Menus

  • Terrine de Chèvre Frais et salade de fèves au cumin (Goat’s cheese salad with cumin)
  • Rouget grillé au thym et poêlée d’asperges vertes (Red mullet with Spring asparagus)
  • Démonstration et tour de main: le pain blanc (Bread-making demonstration)
  • Velouté de Broccoli au Moules (Velouté of Broccoli with Mussels in Breadcrumbs.
  • Vol au Vent de Légumes Printemps (Vol au Vent of early spring vegetables)
  • St Jacques Dorées, chutney de mangue et pomme verte (Golden scallops, mango, apples)
  • Chocolat Souffle
  • Tartelettes chocolat caramel (Chocolate caramel tartlets)
  • Filet de sole roulée aux olives noires, beignets de courgettes (Fillet of sole roulée with black olives, courgettes)
  • St Honore gateau
  • Les Religieuses et les Eclairs – gateaux

Cuisine in Brief – Summer Example Menus

  • Ravioli au homard, et sauce (Lobster ravioli in hot lobster sauce)
  • Pièce de cabillaud Languedoc avec l’Ail (Cod with garlic)
  • Gambas au Whiskey, Creme et Estragon (Large prawns with Whiskey Cream sauce)
  • Velouté de laitue à la menthe (Velouté of Lettuce with mint)
  • Soupe d’Oignon (French Onion Soup)
  • Filet de porc au Girolles (Fillet of Pork with Girolles mushrooms)
  • Fraisier aux Fraises, Classic Strawberry gateau
  • Asperges vertes et fraises au vinaigre balsamique (Green Asparagus and strawberries in balsamic vinegar)
  • Hazelnut Dacquoise with apricots in syrup
  • Souffle avec Grand Marnier

Cuisine in Brief – Autumn Example Menus

  • Magret de Canard au Miel et Cepes (Honeyed duck breast with Cepes Mushrooms)
  • Macarons (Macaroons)
  • Tajine de Canard aux Abricots et aux Figues (Duck Tagine with Apricots and Figs)
  • Tarte Meringue au citron  (Lemon Meringue Tart )
  • Crème brûlée.
  • Velouté de Butternut et Cepes (Veloute of Butternut Squash and sliced Cepes)
  • Steak de Lotte au Chorizo  (Monkfish with Chorizo).
  • La tarte Tatin (Caramelised apple tart).
  • Tarte au chocolat et Tarte aux figues (Chocolate Tart and Figs Tart)
  • Boeuf Bourgignone
  • Bavarois de Poivrons Doux sur Coulis de Tomates (Bavoirois of Sweet Peppers on Tomato Coulis)
  • Milles feuilles – gateaux