• HOME
• | ROOMS & TARIFF
• | FOOD & WINE
• | THINGS TO DO
• | SPECIAL BREAKS
• | WEDDINGS
• | CONFERENCES
• | COOKERY SCHOOL
• | SPA
• | CONTACT US

Rosemary Shrager Courses

The two day cookery course is designed and run by Rosemary Shrager and concentrates on the classical preparation of food, and mastering the essential techniques. These would include patisserie, baking, sauces and soufflés, boning and filleting, amongst many others. Rosemary's courses comprise of working in groups of up to three, you will receive both group and individual tuition. Each guest will learn, practise and perfect the techniques required for every recipe - skills that can be adapted at home to create a never ending array of delicious dishes.The kitchen is always busy and you will be amazed by the scope of each course – Rosemary's underlying philosophy is that the only way to learn is by hands on experience and she ensures that every guest cooks to the best of their ability.

Rosemary knows from experience that her courses, though intensive - comprising four three-hour sessions over three days - leave her students feeling excited by the depth and breadth of what they have learned. For the participants, Rosemary's courses change culinary life forever.

The programme for each course is extremely versatile and suits all interests and levels of experience and ability. Guests of all ages are welcome, but please bear in mind that much of the day is spent standing and comfortable footwear and clothing are strongly recommended.

 

We are often asked what is involved on each course, which can be very hard to illustrate as so much is involved! During the course of a day, each dish for the day's meals will be prepared and each cooking session is also interspersed by a master class - concentrating on a particular ingredient and various ways of cooking with it or on one dish and all its variations - or a demonstration. Lunch will be a fairly light two course meal, whilst dinner is a more formal three course meal.

The courses start either on a Sunday or a Wednesday afternoon at 4.00pm and the first cookery session ends that evening with dinner served in the Cookery School. On the second day the class will cook morning and afternoon, with lunch and dinner served in the Cookery School, and free time in the afternoon to relax and enjoy the hotel's facilities (such as a treatment in the spa) or take a stroll in the grounds. The course ends on the third day after a morning's cooking and lunch served in the Cookery School.

Please note that all suggested menus given below are sample only and are likely to change with seasonal variations and availability of ingredients.

---

The Courses

Italian and French

If you've ever been come home from a delicious meal at a French or Italian restaurant, or returned from holiday over the Channel and wanted to recreate those delicious memories, this is the perfect course for you. Using fresh seasonal produce, you will learn the essential skills you need, and prepare several exquisite three course meals.

The three course menus you will prepare will include, for example:
King prawns with chilli and cream cheese bavarois accompanied by olive oil bread
Corn-red chicken with peas and onion confit
Coffee crème brûlée with madeleines and sesame seed tuiles
Salentine tomato bread, potato gnocchi with taleggio sauce, walnuts and sage
Fillets of sea bass with pesto, cabbage and lentils, smoked haddock risotto croquettes and french beans
Pistachio and almond biscotti, chocolate and hazelnut ice-cream and hazelnut cake
Escabeche of red mullet and french bread with flavourings
Rabbit rillettes, rabbit boudins with béarnaise sauce cannon of lamb with fondant potatoes, flageolet beans, spinach and garlic confit
Orange passion fruit bavarois with orange tuiles
Carpaccio of tuna with olives and orange, cannellini beans with tomatoes and garlic and duck salad with truffle oil dressing with focaccia
Oosso buco alla milanese with risotto all milanese
Ciambella and bonet with mascarpone

 

Modern British Classic

Rosemary loves classic cooking and believes the skills could be lost unless protected and passed at home. As you can probably tell, Rosemary is passionate about this subject. In this course you learn traditional cooking techniques with a contemporary flavour and presentation.

Your course would include preparation of:
Twice-baked gruyere soufflés and rye bread with walnut and raisins
Duck breasts with artichoke and potato au gratin, asparagus and cherry tomatoes with confit of lime
Rhubarb parfait with rhubarb sorbet and rhubarb jelly
Modern prawn cocktail with thyme bread
Seared loin of pork with jervaulx blue cheese and tagliatelle with jervaulx blue sauce
Steamed marmalade pudding with brown bread ice-cream
Mussel saffron soup with soda bread
Roast rabbit legs wrapped in bacon, with pearl barley, beetroot and herb butter
Trio of bakewell, yorkshire curd and lemon tarts

 

Fish and Seafood

With so much wonderful fish and seafood available to us, Rosemary firmly believes everyone should know how to fillet, prepare and cook the varieties coming from our seas and our rivers. Having been on this course, cooking fish and seafood at home will no long hold any fears for you - you will leave with more confidence and knowledge than you ever thought possible.

Included on this course you will prepare some of the following menus:
Grilled charentais melon soup with crab salad, crab tartlets and rich bread plait
Braised sea-bream on pea puree with anna potatoes, onion rings and crispy parma ham
Meringue nests with red seasonal fruits
Seafood risotto and focaccia
Pollock with crispy beetroot, ribbon courgettes, mashed potatoes and lemon caper sauce
Chocolate and orange cake with orange ice cream
Red mullet with summer vegetables and sauce vierge with old peculier bread
Thai haddock, halibut and tiger prawn curry with fragrant rice and pak choi
Raspberry curd tart

 

Modern British Game

If you do not already include game in your diet, prepare to be introduced to a healthy and delicious addition - once you know how to cook it. Rosemary often remarks on the range of game on offer to us and is thrilled at having an opportunity to pass her knowledge onto others.

Covering boning, filleting and preparing different seasonal game, your course will include:
Pheasant breasts with rocket and cloverleaf rolls
Wild duck with roasted chicory and parsnips, potato puree and port and blackcurrant sauce
Fig, honey and walnut tart with walnut ice cream
Venison carpaccio, goat cheese and beetroot tartlets, onion marmalade and soda bread
Pheasant with red grapes, hazelnut dauphinoise and celeriac puree
Chocolate and whisky prune cake
Prawn, celery and fennel salad with crab croutes, rye bread with walnuts and raisins
Roast partridge with orange and armagnac sauce, fennel and potato mash, cabbage and sweet shallots
Chocolate and passion fruit tart with passion fruit
Crème brûlée and raspberry sorbet
Game terrine and thyme bread, steamed quail with saffron risotto
Venison casserole with venison breast, glazed carrots and potatoes anna
Wine cake with pears in spiced syrup

 

Mediterranean

Come on a culinary cruise around the Med, taking in Southern France, Spain, Italy and North Africa. From numerous trips to these wonderful locations, abundant in a delicious range of local seasonal produce and flavours, Rosemary has developed a real enthusiasm for the cooking of the Med. On this course you will cook with very strong local flavours, showing how influences have both been adapted from one country to another, and remained wholly local to individual cuisines.

Your course will include:
Summer minestrone with pesto and fougasse
Scallops and langoustines with saffron risotto lamb with haricot beans, fondant potatoes with braised fennel
Zabaglione with strawberries and cherry biscotti
Carta di musica
Cheese boreks and spinach and cheese boreks
Carponata with grilled marinated tuna, daube provencale, swiss chard and broad beans
Sfoof with honey ice-cream and peach sorbet
Asparagus with tarragon and french bread gazpacho
Roast poussin with ratatouille, chicken confit parcels and tapenade, croutons and catalan spinach
Orange flower and rose water panna cotta italian honey cake

 

---

Guests attending a Rosemary Shrager course are welcome to book accommodation in the hotel, and a special bed and breakfast rate from £105 (per night/room) is available for accommodation bookings made at the time of booking a cookery course. Please enquire on booking as to availability, we cannot guarantee accommodation if it is not booked at the time of booking a place on the cookery course.

Swinton Park Ltd., Swinton Park, Masham, Ripon, North Yorks HG4 4JH | Registered in England No.: 3696380
Email: enquiries@swintonpark.com | Tel: 01765 680900 | Toll Free from the USA: 1866 8103039

• Site Map
• Français
• Deutsch
• Chinese