Chef James Knight-Paccheco starts Saturday cooking classes in Dubai, from Dh450
His Cookery School by Chef JKP opens on Saturday 31 October with two-hour, hands-on classes for home cooks. The first three are a dinner party, a chef's breakfast and surf and turf.
James Knight-Paccheco, the British chef known in the UAE as Chef JKP, is opening a cookery school for home cooks in Dubai. Classes start on Saturday 31 October and run on Saturdays, with a morning session from 10am to noon and an afternoon one from 2pm to 4pm. The series is called Chef Teach Me, and bookings are taken on the school's website, chefteachme.com.
Each class lasts two hours and covers three dishes, and the people taking part do the cooking themselves rather than watching a demonstration; no experience is needed. The school says the dishes are eaten together at one table at the end, and the trade magazine The Pro Chef Middle East reports that guests can also take their food home and leave with a recipe pack.
The first three classes are set. The Effortless Host on 31 October (Dh495 a person) is about planning and cooking a three-course dinner party: working backwards from serving time, preparing ahead, cooking chicken safely, making a pan sauce and plating neatly. Breakfast Like a Chef on 7 November (Dh450) covers poached eggs, hollandaise and how to rescue it, rösti, French toast and basic knife skills. Surf and Turf on 14 November (Dh550) is about choosing and storing meat and fish, avoiding cross-contamination, controlling the heat of the pan, judging when meat is done and making a quick sauce.
Knight-Paccheco has more than 20 years in kitchens in the UK and the Middle East. According to The Pro Chef Middle East, he has worked alongside Gordon Ramsay, Raymond Blanc and Michael Caines, and his work at Ryba in Abu Dhabi helped the restaurant earn a Michelin Bib Gourmand. He also hosts the Chef JKP Podcast. The cookware brand HexClad is the school's partner and supplies the pans used in class, and the school plans guest-chef sessions, family cooking, themed classes, private sessions and corporate events later on.
To book, choose the date and the morning or afternoon slot on chefteachme.com and pay online. The website does not publish the kitchen's address or the number of places per class, and it lists terms covering allergies, food safety, cancellations and transfers, which are worth reading before you pay if anyone in your group has an allergy. Questions go to connect@groupjkp.com or to the school on WhatsApp through the link on its website.