Starting a real life cooking club

CookingWexford

I was thinking of setting up a real life cooking club, something simple like a once a week meet up in a school or community hall and trying to cook something new.
Has anybody tried this before and what are the challanges? Are there any examples already up and running in Ireland?
I have never tried anything like this before so would love get some advice.

livinsane

I think it's a nice idea. I've never seen one in real life, only classes. To separate it from a class type format and make it more social, it would be nice to have everyone cook one big three course meal together so you have a few people doing the starter, few on the main and then a few taking care of desert. They everyone sits down and eats together. That would be a good time then to chat about what ye'd do the following week. You'd need less facilities too than if everyone was cooking their own separate dish. And it would be easier to split up responsibility for the ingredients too. I suppose you should contact a local secondary school to see if you can use the kitchen.

CookingWexford

livinsane wrote: »

I think it's a nice idea. I've never seen one in real life, only classes. To separate it from a class type format and make it more social, it would be nice to have everyone cook one big three course meal together so you have a few people doing the starter, few on the main and then a few taking care of desert. They everyone sits down and eats together. That would be a good time then to chat about what ye'd do the following week. You'd need less facilities too than if everyone was cooking their own separate dish. And it would be easier to split up responsibility for the ingredients too. I suppose you should contact a local secondary school to see if you can use the kitchen.

Definitely not going for a class vibe! More some where people can share ideas with one/two people cooking. Ideally the cooks would be different each time as everybody can cook at least one dish, even if it's just poached eggs on toast.
I'm thinking now that a monthly meet up would be better. Easier to get a kitch once a month and not such a time commitment for people attending.
Do you think a resturant would ever let us in? We could pay a small fee to use the kitch and I'm sure they could get some business when we don't want to cook!

The Hill Billy

I doubt very much if a restaurant would give you time in their kitchen unless the were going to be closed for an entire day. Even then they would probably be very reticent to allow amateur cooks use professional equipment.

Your best bet may be to contact local organisations that may have a kitchen set-up, such as a local football/GAA/rugby club.

Minder

Have you looked for supper clubs in your area? Supper club is a restaurant in your own home. Guests are limited to the number of seats you can provide and usually the host is the only one doing the cooking. A charge is agreed upfront, say 25e for three courses with a cocktail and nibbles on arrival.

rosedream

Yep, like the sound of this cooking club alright!

CookingWexford

Thanks for the feed back.
I'm going down the the club/school route. There is a VEC in town so they are first on the list. (I'm not even sure they have a kitchen)
Depending on how many people turn up and what ovens/cookers etc we could cook a few of different dishes and give everybody a taste?
If we could get 5/6 people together before christmas that would be great.

The Hill Billy

Here is a link that you may find useful.

To Elland Back

CookingWexford wrote: »

Thanks for the feed back.
I'm going down the the club/school route. There is a VEC in town so they are first on the list. (I'm not even sure they have a kitchen)
Depending on how many people turn up and what ovens/cookers etc we could cook a few of different dishes and give everybody a taste?
If we could get 5/6 people together before christmas that would be great.

There is a fully equipped professional kitchen in Ferrycarrig Park that is only used for players meals after matches and training. There are days free when it is not used. Give them a shout if it suits

CookingWexford

To Elland Back wrote: »

There is a fully equipped professional kitchen in Ferrycarrig Park that is only used for players meals after matches and training. There are days free when it is not used. Give them a shout if it suits

Hi To Elland Back, thanks for the info I'll definitely check it out.

CookingWexford

Wexford Cooking Club now has it's own email address wexfordcookingclub(at)gmail.com and twitter account Wexford_Cooking.
So all you non-boardies are welcome to join in!