MASTERY IN THE KITCHEN – THE FOUNDATIONS OF COOKERY – STOCKS, SAUCES & SOUPS

There are four or five of these Masterclasses programmed each year, so book early to secure your place in the class date of your choice.

To learn to cook well you need to master the fundamentals of cookery. You need a solid knowledge of basic cooking principles, methods and techniques. It is from this mastery you are able to develop and produce wondrous dishes from your kitchen.

Knowing how to make the best stock is fundamental to good cooking and will enhance your cookery. With this knowledge, you are enabled to cook the best sauces and make the best soups, stews, braises, and court bouillon. Good stock is the foundation ingredient.

This masterclass teaches you how to make good stock with flavour, colour, body and aroma; with this knowledge, you are well on your way to being a good cook.

Delicious sauces enliven your dishes and good stock is the key.

Escoffier used the phrase ‘fonds de cuisine’, for stock; it literarily means the fundamental basis and essential elements without which nothing serious can be undertaken in the kitchen.

And Julia Child said ‘sauces are the splendor and glory of French food…’

By the way,
there is now a Partners and Friends Class Luncheon available, without the cooking class. This is available for guests of people attending the Cooking on the Bay cooking classes, and who do not want to cook!

Guest arrival time is around 12.30pm; we are usually finished then or nearly finished anyway. Your guest can relax with a glass of wine if we are still finishing off a dish or 2.

The cost for the lunch with wine is $145 per person. Email me to book and pay this Luncheon option.

BOOK CLASSES

To book your classes please select from the dates below:

CLASS DETAILS

All classes are small, relaxed, friendly, and completely hands-on, giving you the opportunity of maximum learning opportunities. You are welcomed with a tea, coffee, or cool drink plus a cake or biscuit baked in-house in the Cooking on the Bay kitchen.

The cooking class starts at 8.45am with a tea, coffee or cool drink, an ‘in-house’ made cake or biscuit, and introductions.

The class begins at 9am when we look at the plan for the morning and learn about the cooking methods and techniques we will be using.

After the morning’s cooking class, you then dine at the table ‘à la française’ and enjoy the delicious ‘fruits of your labour’ in the Cooking on the Bay dining room. An hors d’oeuvre, is followed by a multi-course lunch at the table, accompanied by wine; there may be a bite of cheese, and always a dessert,  coffee or tea.

Now that you have cooked your way through the stocks, sauces and soups, I carefully selected for you, you will be a transformed cook!

The menus change with the seasons and include the best local, seasonal, ‘nutri-rich’, healthy, real food in keeping with my Cook Real Food philosophy.

Everything needed for the day is provided. Please wear covered-in shoes and hair tied back neatly.

The class concludes at 3.30pm.

Participants find out how to:

  • Select the best ingredients
  • Prepare them most effectively
  • Cook them successfully in a multitude of ways
  • Present them with mouthwatering finesse

Participants take home:

  • Comprehensive recipe booklet
  • a few samples of the stocks made

Cost of classes

Classes includes morning refreshments, a 3-course lunch, and wine: $275 per person.

Class numbers minimum 6 – maximum 9

To discover more about this class, read on…

In this class we learn how to make:

Stocks:

  • Brown beef stock
  • Chicken stock
  • Fish stock
  • Ham stock
  • Vegetable stock

Sauces: the “grand French sauces’

  • Espagnole and demi-glace
  • Velouté
  • Hollandaise
  • Tomato
  • Béchamel

From these ‘grand sauces’, we derive most of our other sauces. Included in the class also are various other coulis, vinaigrettes and sweet, dessert syrup sauces.

Soups:

  • Cream soup such as vichyssoise, mushroom
  • Light soups such as vegetable – sorrel, spinach, carrot, pea and ham
  • Chilled soups – gazpachos – garlic, green, tomato and watermelon, tomato, red capsicum; cucumber
  • Provencal fish soups – la bourride, mussel
  • Chowder – corn and scallops, chicken, seafood

MASTERY IN THE KITCHEN TESTIMONIALS

‘Dear Tonya, herewith a testimony to your skills….My wife has always been disappointed with restaurants serving up duck a l’orange. But at Tonya’s cooking school ( on a day for teaching how to make a variety of stocks), lunch featured after the lesson. That is when Rachelle finally realized her dream of eating duck a l’orange cooked to perfection. At Tonya’s.’ George Levy, Masterclass Stocks, sauce and Soups. Sunday 215th February, 202

Christopher Walter • Reviewed on 22 Jul 2023 • Cooking Fundamentals Class: Stocks, Sauces, Soups

‘Tonya provided an excellent experience, she was very friendly and generous with her time, and a font of useful cooking knowledge. The cooking location is wonderful and the class was fantastic value for money. I learnt so much about cooking stocks and soups, and can now keep learning at home with the very helpful guide book provided. Can recommend this course to anybody looking to level up in their cooking abilities.

‘

‘It was comfortable and informative. Tonya was great. The food was delicious with leftovers taken home.’ Diane Vickery • July 2022.  Cooking Fundamentals: Stocks, Sauces, Soups

‘The four-course meal we cooked was delicious; I had never made anything like these dishes before.  The roasted tomato soup was my favourite as it was full of flavour and nourishment. The best thing I learnt in the class was that a good stock takes time to make. If you don’t spend the time on making a good stock, then your soups and sauces will be missing their foundation…a wonderful experience. Tonya is just so lovely and welcoming.  The kitchen was easy to work in and the time just flew.  To share the meal we had prepared over a glass of wine was a perfect way to finish an amazing day’. Sue Hamblin, Port Melbourne, 20th October 2019

A class where you will learn invaluable cooking tips. This class wasn’t just about making sauces, soup and stock, there was a delicious 3 course meal that we sat down to eat Tonya’s dishes are always exquisitely served up like you are dining at a fine restaurant with water sceneries. Good company including some international visitors made the class a very sociable encounter.  Jenny Chan 20th May 2023

Anna Xia – Cooking Fundamentals Class: Stocks, Sauces, Soups – `We made some beautiful stocks today from chicken to beef to fish and crab which we used to create the sauces for a hearty three course meal. French onion soup with cheesy sourdough croutons, pork cutlet with mushroom sauce and apple sauce and a poached pear in puff pastry dessert with salted caramel and creme anglaise which you can churn to make ice cream. A real delight to the tastebuds. Bring containers to take your stocks home.’ Anna Xia, Saturday 28th October, 2023.

‘Hi Tonya, Thank you very much for such a fantastic cooking class yesterday. My beef stock is now in the oven and smells delicious. The class was fun, informative and really worthwhile. I am hoping I will be a much better cook now. Thanks for welcoming us into your home and teaching us so well. Kind regards, Jacinda’. Sunday 3rd April, 2016