Advanced Vegan Cookery May & June 2027

Our Advanced Vegan Cookery course is for people who already cook regularly from scratch and want to take their plant-based cooking further. You don’t need professional training or years of specialist experience: if you’re comfortable in the kitchen, enjoy cooking and are ready to experiment with new techniques, you’ll be absolutely fine.

The word advanced describes what we explore rather than an intimidating entry requirement. We’ll work with more complex flavours, textures and techniques, look at how dishes are constructed and balanced, and spend more time on the details that turn good food into something really memorable.

This is a broad, creative course rather than one tied to a particular cuisine. We’ll explore everything from sauces, foams and gels to fermentation, vegan cheeses, patisserie techniques and ways of getting the best from ingredients such as tofu, seitan and tempeh. There’s also plenty of emphasis on presentation, because how a dish looks is part of the pleasure of cooking it.

Professional chefs are very welcome too, particularly if you want to develop stronger plant-based dishes or expand a vegan menu. But the course is equally designed for enthusiastic home cooks who simply want to become more confident, inventive and ambitious in the kitchen.

Group sizes are small — typically six students, with a maximum of eight — so there’s plenty of time for individual guidance, questions and hands-on support throughout the day. You’ll cook in my own kitchen, using techniques and equipment that translate easily to your own kitchen at home. The social side matters too: we cook together, then sit down to share the food we’ve made.

By the End of the Course

This is an intensive course, but it is also a fun and sociable one. Rather than simply giving you another collection of recipes, the aim is to give you a toolkit of techniques, ideas and theory that you can continue using long after you go home. By the end of the course you will:

• know how to create balanced, satisfying vegan dishes packed with flavour
• be more confident using specialist vegan ingredients such as aquafaba and umeboshi
• understand the principles and science behind flavour and flavour combinations
• understand how eggs and dairy can be replaced in more technically demanding recipes, including elements of vegan patisserie
• be able to create sauces, foams, creams and gels
• understand how fermentation, pickling and other techniques can add complexity and depth
• understand the particular challenges of making vegan food filling and satisfying
• be able to develop and adapt your own dishes rather than simply following recipes
• present your food with greater confidence and creativity

The detail of what we cover changes slightly according to what is at its best and available that week, but you can expect to explore areas such as:

• Meringues, mousses and cakes
• Sauces, foams, creams and gels
• Homemade vegan cheeses
• Fermenting and pickling
• Raw and lightly prepared dishes
• Building flavour and texture with tofu, seitan and tempeh
• Creative plating and presentation

Included

• 4 days of small-group workshops in our air-conditioned kitchen
• Breakfast each day
• Lunch each day, which we’ll eat together
• Dinner each evening, using the food you’ve cooked during the day, which you’ll organise yourselves
• A simple welcome meal on Monday evening, including wine
• Station transfers to and from Caussade or Lexos stations on the course start and finish dates
• Workbook and recipes
• All ingredients
• An apron, which is yours to keep

Optional

• Accommodation: You can book this course with or without accommodation. If you want a room, you can book it as an extra. Accommodation is for five nights, from Monday evening until Saturday morning.
• Accompanying person sharing your room: Someone who is not taking part in the course is welcome to share your room. There is an additional charge to cover their food, which can be paid when you book.
• Airport transfers: We don’t provide airport transfers ourselves, but we can put you in touch with a reliable, English-speaking taxi service.

Not Included

• Alcohol, other than the wine served with the Monday welcome dinner

This course can be booked with or without accommodation. Often we don’t have enough rooms to accommodate everyone, so we’ve teamed up with an excellent local b&b a very short walk away, which means that everyone who wants a room can have one. All our rooms are single occupancy with en suite bathrooms unless you book with someone you want to share with. You are welcome to share your room with someone who isn’t doing the course, and they are welcome to join us each day for a light breakfast. However, if they want other meals, there’s a supplement to pay at the time of booking of €250. There is no supplement for people doing the course. There’s more detail on our accommodation page.

Questions? Let’s talk.

Please note that this holiday is normally non refundable, so we strongly suggest you take out holiday insurance at the time of booking. However we are happy to transfer your booking to someone else at no charge. Full terms and conditions are here.