Hi, my name is Jonny Ross. In pre-Coronavirus times I ran a successful music agency, supplying live acts for weddings and parties all over the UK. When the pandemic struck and the lockdowns happened, all my work came to a sudden halt! Pretty stressful, as I’m sure you can imagine.
I’d always enjoyed cooking and over the lockdowns I really got into it. After all, apart from exercise walks, cooking and eating the meals we made was one of the few things any of us could do. I was really keen to up my cooking game and it struck me that there was a gap in the market for great, accessible online cookery classes that would allow home cooks to up their game. And so, My Chef Skills was born!
It’s a simple but great idea! Home cooks get to follow online cookery courses taught by professional chefs. The idea is that you get to learn the techniques and skills they’ve spent years acquiring and elevate your own home cooking. If you enjoy cooking dinner parties and want to impress your guests with some wonderful food, then My Chef Skills is for you. If you’ve wanted to learn how to master making a souffle, make a professional standard jus, open oysters, make a beef wellington, then we have courses that will help you acquire these chef skills.
One of the interesting things about the lockdowns as that Zoom got us all familiar with communicating via screens. When it comes to teaching cookery, it is really great being able to watch a chef cook the dish from start to finish and take you through all the stages and the little touches that will make it succeed.
I’m thrilled to have lined up a really great line up of chefs to teach you their skills through a series of accessible, on-line cookery courses. The briillant Nathan Outlaw – who has held numerous Michelin stars for his seafood restaurants – will show you how to master seafood cookery. Each course offers you a chance to learn techniques as well as recipes, which you can then apply across your own cooking. So Nathan teaches you how to fillet fish – such a useful skill to have – and how to make roasted fish stock, as well as showing you sensational dishes such as Red Mullet with Asparagus, Chilli and Orange Salad.
Chef Matt Healy – whose restaurant won the Best Sunday Roast Dinner Award – shares his tricks of the trade with you, including how to make a sensational Beef Wellington and the best ever roast potatoes. Chef Rob Clark, who champions using local produce, shows you how to make a really stylish take on fish and chips: Butter Roasted Cod, Parsley Emulsion, Curried Tempura, Fried Samphire, Tartare Sauce & Triple Cooked Chips in Seaweed Seasoning. If that doesn’t impress your friends, then I don’t know what will!
All the chefs on My Chef Skills are not only great cooks, but great communicators. Their love of food and interest in it is infectious. Andrew Dixon, who is now Head Chef Tutor at the Cookery School at the Grand, York is a fine example of this. He spent years working in Britain’s finest county hotels as well as running his own award-winning restaurant. He now thoroughly enjoys sharing his cookery knowledge and gives so many excellent, practical tips throughout his lessons. Among the lessons he teaches are how to cook a Chocolate Souffle, make a very elegant Fish Pie and how to make your own delicious Tomato and Rosemary Focaccia. The engaging Chef Philli – a finalist on Masterchef: The Professionals 2020 – shows you the delights of Pan-Asian cuisine from Scallop Sashimi with a luxurious truffle-flavoured dressing to tasty Chinese Potsticker Dumplings.
There is a globe-trotting aspect to My Chef Skills, too. At the moment – given all the restrictions and quarantines travelling abroad is sadly not easy – so enjoy being transported via food instead! The wonderful Anjula Devi – who started cooking with her father when she was only 8 years old – is on a mission to demystify Indian cooking and make it accessible to home cooks. Her course teaches you a number of popular Indian dishes – among them Butter Chicken, irresistible Onion Pakoras and Peshwari Naan. If you enjoy Thai food, then Marni Xuto’s courses are well worth a look at. Marni shows you how to make all the Thai restaurant classics, from classic Thai Green Chicken Curry to Tom Yum Goong.
This is just a taster of the chefs and classes on offer at My Chef Skills. We are adding new courses and new presenters every month. Just £12.50 a month allows you to subscribe. So, if you’re interested in food and want to learn some new cookery skills have a look here.
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