We are planning to work our way through all of Yuppie Chef’s Cooking Classes for school this year… it has been a lot of fun so far… For the last couple of weeks we have been working our way through Yuppie Chef’s Mastering Meat Course #2.
Previous Courses We Have Put to the Test
- Se7en + 1 Discover their Baking Skills with Yuppie Chef…
- Se7en + 1 Conquer Yuppie Chef’s Cooking Course: Mastering Meat #1
Each Course works in the same way… a fabulous local foodie, takes their online students through a series of video lectures. each lecture is accompanied by printable lecture notes and a quiz to help you retain what you have learnt. And then each video comes with a handful of relevant recipes to try. New and interesting courses are launching all the time and they have heaps of specials available too… so keep an eye on the Yuppie Chef Cooking School Page.
About This Course
So this course is the second course in the Mastering Meat Series… and to be honest we took a little while to get started. We should have dived in straight away, because it turns out that the class teacher, Peter Goffe-Wood, is really, really good at sharing his knowledge. Once we got going this course was so fabulous, the side dishes were amazing and the proof was in the taste. Our experience shows that you shouldn’t be alarmed by types of recipes that you will be conquering the course looked so much more “higher grade” compared to the previous meat course, but the video classes and the step by step instructions meant we could make really impressive looking feasts, with out too much effort.
The first meat course definitely covered the basics and the second… well the second looked significantly more advanced. The course looked a bit like you feel when you watch the first week or two of MasterChef and they test the contestants to see if they know the basics and then you blink and a couple of weeks into the competition and the contestants are producing meals that literally look like works of art. Anyway one rainy weekend lead to another and eventually we just dived in… watched the video’s read the notes and picked a couple of recipes…
Once we got going we were pretty unstoppable… fab, fab feasts followed and I am so glad that we did this. I have never really got much further than roasting dinner and this course does indeed take you to new heights. I would never have dreamt of cooking a huge piece of pork any other way than roasting… and while we never got around to making our own bacon… we now know how too. I have to say that this course gave us a lot of confidence in our abilities. And definitely we have stepped beyond just another roast dinner every time we have meat to serve for dinner. What I really like about trying new dishes and vastly different flavours to our usual ones, is that since the kids are doing most of the cooking they are really eager to try the results… fear of new flavours be-gone. These guys are game to try almost anything.
One thing that really inspired us about this course was the side dishes… they were really great and something everyone wanted to help with… who does’t want to master their mash potato, we might have to invest in a proper masher though, our one is definitely sub-standard and might have been somewhat over extended during the “mastering the art of mashing” process. Also, we haven’t made pasta forever, but Chinese noodles have become a way of life around here – so easy, so quick and so fun. And honestly why have we not had couscous salad for the longest time it is one of our favourites.
And the Joy of it all is that we have an ever growing cookbook that is filling up with recipes we have tried and tested and notes packed with tips that we can refer back to in the future.
Recipes We Tried and Tested
- Coq Au Vin Rouge with Mashed Potato…
- Chinese Pork Belly With Egg Noodles and Pak Choi
- Moroccan Shoulder of Lamb with ChickPeas, Orange and Green Olives
- Couscous Salad
- The Art of Baking With Sarah Graham
- Mastering Meat #1 with Peter Goffe-Wood
- Mastering Meat #2 with Peter Goffe-Wood
- French Classics with Franck Dangereux
- Quick and Easy Dinners #1 with Kamini Pather
- Quick and Easy Dinners #2 with Kamini Pather
- Sweet Treats with Sarah Graham
- Easy Entertaining with Franck Dengereux
Loved the tips for making the best mashed potatoes and we have had just the right weather for huge bowls of mash… comfort food at it’s very best…
I am not sure why we never cook meals like this, because everyone dived in and loved it and really so easy to create… cut up your veg, pop it in the oven and leave it while you get on with a couple of other things…
We could have stopped here and my gang would have been happy with yummy roast onions and a heap of crispy add ins… I must in fact remember this for roast dinners, this would make a fabulous side…
But in went the chicken and wine and stock and a couple of trimmings…
This may have been in the oven a little long… but then a little person did break an arm during the creating of this meal – family life and dinner must be served…
And there you have a Coq a Vin Rouge… and several happy customers.
I love how they say, in the stewing section, that: “Pocket Friendly Cuts Work Best.” I can assure you that we very rarely, maybe once a year, buy pork belly… and it was really hard not to just roast it as usual… and go the extra mile and try something new. I am so glad we did… this meal was literally off the charts good… and well worth doing the course just to grab the recipe!!!
It is pretty criminal that we haven’t made pasta for ages…
Everybody loves making it and fresh is so delicious…
Once the noodles were made we got on with the business of cooking the pork…
All sorts of interesting tastes and flavours were added to our biggest pot…
And it bubbled away for a time until we were ready to plate up…
This was so delicious and we could eat it daily for weeks without any complaint from anyone!!!
We found ourselves in possession of a whole bag of stewing lamb and so we decided to dive in and try another stew from the course…
Pan preparation…
Adding the lamb…
And a heap of stunning flavours…
This was a little exotic for one or two little guests on the night, but my guys named it and claimed it… so another stew in our back pocket.
What good would a meat course be without the traditional braai… and wow.
What fabulous braai tips there were…
Our family loves couscous salad and we haven’t made on about forever so we decided it was time to master a new one…
Chopping and snipping…
And then the couscous, which is just so easy…anybody can make this…
Toss it together and you are done…
Who could resist…
Yuppie Chef Cooking School
You can pop over to Yuppie Chef Cooking School and see what’s new and which courses are on special… Each course has the best teacher available for the topic, video lessons, printable notes and tips, printable recipes and quiz questions throughout… we are loving them…
The next course we are tackling is French Classics, with Franck Dangereux. The gang are very excited about that… I am going to be the one to break it to them that there is more to French cuisine than piles of Crepes. Just can’t wait!!!
This is not a sponsored post. If you follow us on social media you will know that we love everything about Yuppie Chef. We were not paid to write anything about their courses, though they have given us free entry to them, for us to try and tell you about. The opinions expressed in this post are as usual totally our own.
How fun! My youngest desperately wants to learn to “really cook” – we will have to look into this!
oh gosh, now I’m craving mashed potatoes!!! YUM!
Wow this looks like a great great idea!
Mnjami…that couscous salad is something for me!
Oh Christi, We are loving these courses, it is a good idea to check them out. We have been learning real skills and it has been such fun. I always want to dive in and do it all in a week, but we have been quite intentional… slow and steady, a recipe/lesson a week and it appears to be sticking. he results are in the very obvious improvement in kitchen help and I am all for that!!! Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!!!
Yes Marcia… the mash potatoes were indeed fine… but is the home made noodles that really raise the game… we always totally forget just how good they are!!! Sending lots of love to all of you from Cape Town!!!
Ha Cat, It has been lovely… I thought at first that my gang wouldn’t go the distance, but they have made it and it has been a great “topic” to add to school this year. Lots of fun and always something new. Fantastic!!! Hope you have a great week!!!
Oh Katja yes… we totally love couscous salad… here is a link to our recipe for couscous salad, it is a feast all on it’s own!!! Hope you have a great day!!!
Mouth watering. We have done the baking and stir fries. Enjoyable.
Super Se7en+1 strikes again!
You guys are just amazing. Got to get our cooking on over here too.
Hay Wendy, we have really enjoyed these courses… some of my kids are quite convinced they are growing up into just to work in the food industry… this is their training ground!!! Hope you enjoy this beautiful day!!!
Hay Debbie… We may never make bacon, because we tripped over the Pork Belly with Chinese noodles first and everyone wants to eat that all the time now!!! This was a very fun course for us, lots of things we don’t normally feast on, so lots to learn!!! Hope you have a lovely day!!!