The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan is universally acknowledged as the most influential Italian cookbook in English ever published. This is the ultimate book for those wanting to discover genuine Italian cooking. Although there are no glossy photos, the passionately written text leaves the reader almost tasting the food. Where nessery excellent diagrams demonstrate various techniques.

This comprehensive book gives directions for making dishes the traditional, Italian way – and includes an introductory section on cooking fundamentals for ingredients and tools, recipes for Antipasti, Sauces, Soups, Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi, Polenta, Frittata, Fish and Shellfish, Chicken, Rabbit, Veal, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Vegetables, Salads, and Desserts. Most recipes are complemented with short passages on its origins. At Wickedfood Cooking School this book, is suitable for beginners and experts, has become an important referance sorce for our Italian cooking classes. Each recipe is amazingly simple and the lists of ingredients surprisingly short. The author demonstrates over and over again that good cooking is all about simplicity, patience and, most of all, about using fresh, seasonal, ingredients. Try the Bolognese sauce, it has no competition and is perfection itself.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

If you have a passion for Asian cooking, or are looking for a really special birthday present for someone who loves Asian food, then Neil Perry’s latest offering, Balance & Harmony, Asian Food has to be a serious contender. It is nearly 600 pages jam packed with scrumptious recipes of dishes inspired from all over Asia, with a strong leaning towards Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese food. Neil Perry is one of Australia’s most successful chefs, owner of the famous Rockpool restaurant in Sydney, food consultant to Qantas, and a television celebrity chef. His recipes really work, and are accompanied by some stunning photography, the book is a real work of art, beautifully packaged and presented. And if this book seems a bit daunting, then consider his first book, Simply Asian (click here for a recipe from the book). The Wickedfood cooking school cookbook-of-the-month cooking class for May is based around this book. In this class we explore some of his favourite dishes including fried sweet corn cakes, steamed fish, tangerine beef and stir-fried vegetables with noodles.

Great Asian recipes – Click here:

Chicken feet

Biryani

Kaeng kari ka – yellow curried chicken

Phanaeng Beef Curry in sweet peanut sauce

Phat Thai

Tom yum kung

Green pawpaw salad

Fish head curry

Warm squid salad in a pineapple

Spiced pork spare ribs

Deep-fried silken tofu

Thai beef salad

3 Cup Chicken

Cooking schools in South East Asia

Thai House cooking school • Bangkok • Thailand

Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School • Thailand

Red Bridge Cooking School • Hoi An • Vietnam

Books reviewed by Wickedfood on Asian food:

Secrets of the Red Lantern

Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories

A Passion for Thai Cooking

Balance & Harmony, Asian Food

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood cooking school runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Most TV viewers know Gordon Ramsey as part high octane super professional and part kitchen bully-boy. Love him or hate him, he certainly knows his food.  In Cooking for Friends, his latest book, we see a very different side of him, more relaxed cooking for family and friends, using seasonal fresh ingredients at their peak and doing as little as possible to them to create a scrumptious meal. The book is full of Gordon’s best-loved versions of classic British dishes, and contains more than 100 of his favourite recipes. At Wickedfood Cooking School we will be incorporating some of these recipes for our cookbook-of-the-month cooking class, when we will be reinterpreting them with lots of additional tips for our students.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood® Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Bills food, by Australian TV chef Bill Granger, although published in 2002, remains fresh and topical, and is the basis around the television series presently being broadcast on BBC Lifestyle. Following the huge success of his first book, Sydney Food, he returns with a very personal recipe collection to cater for all occasions, from lazy breakfasts to a relaxed family brunch and dinner with friends. Bill’s trademark is simple, stylish market-fresh food that appeals to the eye and the palate, and this collection really captures the tastes and flavours of contemporary Sydney food.

This book also forms the basis for Wickedfood’s cookbook-of-the-month cooking class. Dishes covered in the class will include potato cakes with smoked salmon, mushroom soup, cannelloni, glazed honey and soy chicken, and chocolate pudding.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Jamie Oliver manages to bring out a cookbook of fresh ideas every year. Jamie’s Ministry of Food is certainly one of his best – a book that should be given to every person leaving home, it has everything there and what’s more it is written in a funky new style that makes it exciting and refreshing. Even people who don’t usually like cooking will find it inspiring. – definitely our book of the year for 2009.

At Wickedfood cooking school in Gauteng, we consider this book his best. Each month we take six recipes from the book and re-interpret them, with plenty of tips along the way. In May our aspiring hobby cooks will learn the secrets to successful easy cooking, with class theme being quick meals and pastas (click here for more information on the class). Dishes covered during the class will include spicy Moroccan stewed fish with couscous, chicken and leek stroganoff, broccoli and pesto tagliatelle, classic tomato spaghetti, macaroni cauliflower cheese bake and banana tarte tatin, with a wicked twist.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.