Cookery school
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Boys Toys - April 2010
LEARN TO COOK LIKE A MAN!
Training the world’s top cooks since 1954, Tante Marie Culinary Academy 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 2009
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 2011
Food News - Tasty Investment

‘It’s hard to think of a more useful qualification than the gap-year courses at the Tante Marie Culinary Academy. 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.’

The Independent - May 2008
The Ten Best Cookery Courses
Tante Marie creates Master Chefs at its Surrey HQ. Whether you want to study Cordon Bleu or start from scratch, this impressive institute is the place to do it.

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 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 Tante Marie Culinary Academy 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 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.'