French Country Cooking in France

“What I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do, I understand”. Confucius (551-479 BCE)

Our French Country Cooking course is for people who enjoy the practicalities of cooking and want to know more about regional French food. You will cover all stages of the process; from raw materials to tempting presentation.

Your tutor Alexandra is keen for you to have as much ‘hands on’ experience in the kitchen as possible and there will be at least one kitchen session every day and more often two. With a maximum of four students there will ample time to make progress.

Kitchen sessions at L’Age Baston are focused on acquiring techniques, learning about ingredients and practising recipes. We will also be dealing with menu-planning, presentation and safe ways of working in the kitchen. You will probably also be laughing a lot.

You may well be preparing some of the dishes for your fellow guests. What you cook gets eaten! This sounds intimidating but it really isn’t. First because you are being taught by Alexandra which means that what you put on the table will be brilliant. Second, that’s why people cook – for food to be eaten and enjoyed. Finally, it would be a waste and that’s one thing the French Country Tradition avoided with a passion. “Taste without waste” it was, and is still.

You will not spend the whole time chained to the kitchen however. You will get out and about to visit local sources of the materials you will be using in the kitchen. Perhaps a trip to the Walnut Oil Mill for example, or to the Trout Farm at the ‘Sources of the Touvre; or perhaps a visit to the “Manlois” cheese-makers or any one of three Chocolatiers (including the “Trois Palais” where you can make and take away your own).

Not forgetting Cognac and Pineau producers, saffron farmers, the local Cave at St Sornin from whence comes your lunchtime rosé, and of course, the mighty markets of Piegut Pluviers and Rouillac.

By the end of the course we want you not just to have enjoyed making dishes and meals in a particular style but also to feel more confident about your own approach to creating good food. There’s even a folder of all the Château L’Age Baston recipes that you will have cooked during your stay for you to take home and enjoy all over again.

Learn by doing then take your understanding home.
L’Age Baston (2012 A.D.)