Boys Toys -
April 2007
LEARN TO COOK LIKE A MAN!
Training the world’s top cooks since 1954, Tante Marie School of Cookery has a long established reputation as the best independent cookery school in the UK. Based in Woking, Surrey, its international renown means that students come to it from the UK and all over the world to gain a first class training in the culinary arts. Tante Marie offers a wide range of cookery courses suitable for beginners right up to professionals. Two day courses are aimed at ‘Lifestyle Cooks’ and those who wish to improve their skills. More relevant to the Boys Toys massive, they have introduced a one day ‘Men Only’ course this year, which includes dishes such as Eggs Benedict, Stir Fried Prawns and Triple Chocolate Brownies. Run throughout the year from Tante Marie’s gracious setting – a Victorian mansion in secluded grounds in Surrey, these short courses are a great gift that imparts long lasting cookery knowledge, and an opportunity to build a portfolio of culinary skills.
BBC Good Food - July 2006
DO YOU FANCY COOKING AS A CAREER?
If you've always wanted to try your hand at cooking for a living, then Tante Marie is a good place to start. The school has trained cooks for over 50 years and offers courses that give you plenty of practical experience in the kitchen. Set in a fantastic house, with friendly teachers, this is a great place to learn - but don't be fooled, they take their role seriously and expect you to put in the hard work. They will do their best to help you find a job at the end of your course.
Saturday Telegraph Magazine - 10th June 2006
Food News - Tasty Investment
‘It’s hard to think of a more useful qualification than the gap-year courses at the Tante Marie School of Cookery. A Tante Marie certificate means you can cook your way around the world, make enough money during university holidays to pay back tuition fees and provide essential sustenance for those tough years in university digs.’
SATURDAY GUARDIAN - 03.06.06
RISE - Thinking Outside The Box
These days, more and more students claim their choice of career was inspired by a TV show.
Zoe Morley decided to pursue a career in food after watching Jamie's kitchen; Cookery programmes featuring ordinary people, rather than celebrity chefs, attracted Zoe Morley, 25, to do a hospitality and management degree and an intensive cordon bleu diploma at Tante Marie School of Cookery Woking... 'Once I've got my teaching qualification I want to set up my own chalet because I love to ski, and spend six months there and six months teaching.'
Square Meal - The Magazine - Autumn 2005
Ready Steady Cook
Tante Marie School of Cookery makes panic-stricken dinner party syndrome a thing of the past, as Eleanor Maidment discovered on a two-day course.
iIt felt like I was experiencing smellovision. As onions were fried, lamb was roasted and bread was baked, and I watched chef Nicky's nimble hands whipping, folding and searing. I could have been at home on my sofa watching UKTV Food - except that the air positively swam with glorious aromas.
The course on which I enrolled was called Easy Entertaining, the idea being to learn how to prepare a three course meal for a dinner party with real 'wow' factor.
At first sight, the menu looked anything but easy. Perhaps I should have expected this given that since opening just over 50 years ago, Tante Marie has built a reputation for training chefs to the highest standards, specialising in classic French cuisine...
Day two, with confidence high, we began stage two of the menu at a leisurely pace, the kitchen taking on a jovial atmosphere. There was much chitter-chatter about our respective dinner guests later that night, as we prepared courgettes and goat's cheese timbales and accompanying walnut and Parmesan crisps. All of this proved such a doddle that I imagine all the participants are now regularly serving up the dish to Sunday lunch visitors.
.... having left Tante Marie laden with numerous cool bags. It was only a matter of laying out the best crockery, uncorking the wine, throwing on a frock and hosting one of the most impressive and stress free dinner parties of all time.
The Independent on Sunday - 14 August 2005
Go Higher
Tanya Hurst-Brown, who is 19 and lives in Hampshire, has a busy gap year ahead of her before she begins a course in history of art and film at Newcastle University next year.
“I’ve just completed Tante Marie’s 4-week cookery course, and I am starting a job in the UK in a few weeks,” Tanya explains. “After that, I’m hoping to spend a season on the slopes as a chalet girl at Meribel in France. I was hopeless in the kitchen before I cam here, but yesterday I cooked a three-course lunch including beef stroganoff with wild rice and honey sauce.”
“I wanted to learn how to cook because it’s a life skill, and the course has been amazing in helping to build my confidence,” she adds.
Tanya thinks it’s a good investment. “Its expensive, but the training will pay dividends. All I’ve learnt will be useful, not just when I work in France but also when I start at university next year.”
Daily Mail ‘LIFEstyle’ - 11/04/05
Now that Modern-day hero Jamie Oliver has banned Turkey Twizzlers from the nations table, it’s the perfect time for budding cooks to improve their culinary skills. Tante Marie offers Essential Skills, a four week course designed to give practical tips to build confidence in the kitchen. Participants will gain experience in everything from the basics to a cordon bleu taster, following classic and contemporary recipes.
Good Housekeeping - November 2004
The ULTIMATE Stressbuster...It’s not what you think... Expertise can be yours!
Who'd have thought that going on a course could be so inspiring and energising? Especially if that course involves cooking - and lots of it. But, as our cookery-school investigators found, an everyday chore can be viewed in a new light when you are learning from people with passion..........doing something completely different forces you to switch off, and the pressures of everyday life recede...
'It was invaluable. I've always been impressed and a bit jealous of anyone who can transform a whole chicken into eight neat portions - it looks good and is much cheaper than buying ready cut pieces. I’m a confident cook but I couldn't joint a chicken with a few flicks of the wrist, so this was my chance to learn a new skill. We cooked so many fabulous dishes, from duck confit and chicken salad to poussin, which we stuffed and twisted into perfect little pyramids. The result? I can now joint a chicken as quickly as the best of them.'
Caterer & Hotelkeeper
30 September - 6 October 2004
The Private Path
'Private cookery schools aren't just for the well-heeled. They're turning out some to-class chefs and the industry desperately needs them.
Dan Levy - currently in the enviable position of progressing his career at Michel roux's three-Michelin-starred Waterside Inn at Bray, Berkshire - credits The Tante Marie School of Cookery in Woking, Surrey, for the self-assurance and skills that got him in to one of the country's most celebrated kitchens.
"I'd already started a hotel and catering course at Manchester Metropolitan University, but quickly realised that I was more interested in cooking than management, and so left. At Tante Marie I learnt a lot very quickly."
The college, which is celebrating it 50th birthday this year, also has graduates carving out careers at le gavroche, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saison and Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant.
Its clear that students like Levy benefited from the intensive fast-track culinary training that cookery schools such as Tante Marie specialise in. And it is unfortunate that training at a private catering school offers benefits that state-funded colleges find it hard to compete with. As well as providing comprehensive training in a relatively short time, usually six to nine months, they also offer extensive practical tuition - Tante Marie's diploma for instance, devotes 70% of time to actual cooking - a pupil-to- teacher ratio sometimes as low as one to eight, and unlimited use of ingredients.'
LEARN TO COOK LIKE A MAN!
Training the world’s top cooks since 1954, Tante Marie School of Cookery has a long established reputation as the best independent cookery school in the UK. Based in Woking, Surrey, its international renown means that students come to it from the UK and all over the world to gain a first class training in the culinary arts. Tante Marie offers a wide range of cookery courses suitable for beginners right up to professionals. Two day courses are aimed at ‘Lifestyle Cooks’ and those who wish to improve their skills. More relevant to the Boys Toys massive, they have introduced a one day ‘Men Only’ course this year, which includes dishes such as Eggs Benedict, Stir Fried Prawns and Triple Chocolate Brownies. Run throughout the year from Tante Marie’s gracious setting – a Victorian mansion in secluded grounds in Surrey, these short courses are a great gift that imparts long lasting cookery knowledge, and an opportunity to build a portfolio of culinary skills.
BBC Good Food - July 2006
DO YOU FANCY COOKING AS A CAREER?
If you've always wanted to try your hand at cooking for a living, then Tante Marie is a good place to start. The school has trained cooks for over 50 years and offers courses that give you plenty of practical experience in the kitchen. Set in a fantastic house, with friendly teachers, this is a great place to learn - but don't be fooled, they take their role seriously and expect you to put in the hard work. They will do their best to help you find a job at the end of your course.
Saturday Telegraph Magazine - 10th June 2006
Food News - Tasty Investment
‘It’s hard to think of a more useful qualification than the gap-year courses at the Tante Marie School of Cookery. A Tante Marie certificate means you can cook your way around the world, make enough money during university holidays to pay back tuition fees and provide essential sustenance for those tough years in university digs.’
SATURDAY GUARDIAN - 03.06.06
RISE - Thinking Outside The Box
These days, more and more students claim their choice of career was inspired by a TV show.
Zoe Morley decided to pursue a career in food after watching Jamie's kitchen; Cookery programmes featuring ordinary people, rather than celebrity chefs, attracted Zoe Morley, 25, to do a hospitality and management degree and an intensive cordon bleu diploma at Tante Marie School of Cookery Woking... 'Once I've got my teaching qualification I want to set up my own chalet because I love to ski, and spend six months there and six months teaching.'
Square Meal - The Magazine - Autumn 2005
Ready Steady Cook
Tante Marie School of Cookery makes panic-stricken dinner party syndrome a thing of the past, as Eleanor Maidment discovered on a two-day course.
iIt felt like I was experiencing smellovision. As onions were fried, lamb was roasted and bread was baked, and I watched chef Nicky's nimble hands whipping, folding and searing. I could have been at home on my sofa watching UKTV Food - except that the air positively swam with glorious aromas.
The course on which I enrolled was called Easy Entertaining, the idea being to learn how to prepare a three course meal for a dinner party with real 'wow' factor.
At first sight, the menu looked anything but easy. Perhaps I should have expected this given that since opening just over 50 years ago, Tante Marie has built a reputation for training chefs to the highest standards, specialising in classic French cuisine...
Day two, with confidence high, we began stage two of the menu at a leisurely pace, the kitchen taking on a jovial atmosphere. There was much chitter-chatter about our respective dinner guests later that night, as we prepared courgettes and goat's cheese timbales and accompanying walnut and Parmesan crisps. All of this proved such a doddle that I imagine all the participants are now regularly serving up the dish to Sunday lunch visitors.
.... having left Tante Marie laden with numerous cool bags. It was only a matter of laying out the best crockery, uncorking the wine, throwing on a frock and hosting one of the most impressive and stress free dinner parties of all time.
The Independent on Sunday - 14 August 2005
Go Higher
Tanya Hurst-Brown, who is 19 and lives in Hampshire, has a busy gap year ahead of her before she begins a course in history of art and film at Newcastle University next year.
“I’ve just completed Tante Marie’s 4-week cookery course, and I am starting a job in the UK in a few weeks,” Tanya explains. “After that, I’m hoping to spend a season on the slopes as a chalet girl at Meribel in France. I was hopeless in the kitchen before I cam here, but yesterday I cooked a three-course lunch including beef stroganoff with wild rice and honey sauce.”
“I wanted to learn how to cook because it’s a life skill, and the course has been amazing in helping to build my confidence,” she adds.
Tanya thinks it’s a good investment. “Its expensive, but the training will pay dividends. All I’ve learnt will be useful, not just when I work in France but also when I start at university next year.”
Daily Mail ‘LIFEstyle’ - 11/04/05
Now that Modern-day hero Jamie Oliver has banned Turkey Twizzlers from the nations table, it’s the perfect time for budding cooks to improve their culinary skills. Tante Marie offers Essential Skills, a four week course designed to give practical tips to build confidence in the kitchen. Participants will gain experience in everything from the basics to a cordon bleu taster, following classic and contemporary recipes.
Good Housekeeping - November 2004
The ULTIMATE Stressbuster...It’s not what you think... Expertise can be yours!
Who'd have thought that going on a course could be so inspiring and energising? Especially if that course involves cooking - and lots of it. But, as our cookery-school investigators found, an everyday chore can be viewed in a new light when you are learning from people with passion..........doing something completely different forces you to switch off, and the pressures of everyday life recede...
'It was invaluable. I've always been impressed and a bit jealous of anyone who can transform a whole chicken into eight neat portions - it looks good and is much cheaper than buying ready cut pieces. I’m a confident cook but I couldn't joint a chicken with a few flicks of the wrist, so this was my chance to learn a new skill. We cooked so many fabulous dishes, from duck confit and chicken salad to poussin, which we stuffed and twisted into perfect little pyramids. The result? I can now joint a chicken as quickly as the best of them.'
Caterer & Hotelkeeper
30 September - 6 October 2004
The Private Path
'Private cookery schools aren't just for the well-heeled. They're turning out some to-class chefs and the industry desperately needs them.
Dan Levy - currently in the enviable position of progressing his career at Michel roux's three-Michelin-starred Waterside Inn at Bray, Berkshire - credits The Tante Marie School of Cookery in Woking, Surrey, for the self-assurance and skills that got him in to one of the country's most celebrated kitchens.
"I'd already started a hotel and catering course at Manchester Metropolitan University, but quickly realised that I was more interested in cooking than management, and so left. At Tante Marie I learnt a lot very quickly."
The college, which is celebrating it 50th birthday this year, also has graduates carving out careers at le gavroche, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saison and Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant.
Its clear that students like Levy benefited from the intensive fast-track culinary training that cookery schools such as Tante Marie specialise in. And it is unfortunate that training at a private catering school offers benefits that state-funded colleges find it hard to compete with. As well as providing comprehensive training in a relatively short time, usually six to nine months, they also offer extensive practical tuition - Tante Marie's diploma for instance, devotes 70% of time to actual cooking - a pupil-to- teacher ratio sometimes as low as one to eight, and unlimited use of ingredients.'
