The Cookery School At The Grand York

Last month, Jordan and I were invited to try The York Cookery School at The Grand. As I mentioned in this post, York holds a special place in our relationship so we couldn’t wait to say yes and see what was on offer.

I have never done a cooking class before, so I was intrigued to see whether I would enjoy it, as I have to admit, I don’t do a lot of it at home, and when I do cook, it’s very basic and I don’t enjoy it a lot… Eating on the other hand I am an absolute pro at!

We decided to make the most of the lovely spring weather and spent the afternoon in York, before heading back to the hotel and to the cookery school. The decor itself is stunning as soon as you walk in, and you can tell they haven’t been there long as it is all pristine and sparkly.

There were around 8 benches with 4 cooking stations on each, a room at the side with a big dining table on and a separate room at the bottom for more taught lessons. We started with a drinks reception in the dining room where we met the others and then headed into the kitchen.

The tiles and benches were gorgeous, and the mixture of marble, wood and copper definitely gave me the need to rip our kitchen out and replicate this one because it was ultimate goals. They had induction hobs which were amazing, and an extractor fan down the middle – I’m a bit of a kitchen geek!

On the menu for the night was how to cook the perfect steak with triple cooked chips and garnish. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know I’ve tried to reduce my meat intake over the past year, which has worked for the most part, but when I am out, I do like to indulge here and there, and steak is something I haven’t had in a while so I was excited to try it.

We started by sitting around the front bench where Andrew Dixon, the head chef, introduced himself and what we could expect from the rest of the night. All of the staff were really friendly and kept our glasses topped up and helped us throughout the whole experience of cooking, the part of cooking I can get on board with!

He went through how to perfectly cut the chips, season the garnish and put it all on to cook. We then went back to our own stations and gave it a go ourselves. Because there were two of us, it was actually quite a quick process to get all the potatoes peeled and chopped and the mushroom and tomatoes on the griddle.

We had to put the chips in boiling water for their first of the three ‘cooks’ and left them for around 6 minutes. The induction hobs they had in the kitchen had a timer on too, which meant there was no excuse for error. They also had a fan built in, which was handy as the Cookery School is underneath some of the bedrooms in the hotel.

After the time was up, we put the chips to the side to cook, as well as the tomatoes and mushrooms. We headed back to the bench where Andrew went through the next steps with us. He seasoned the steaks with salt and pepper and advised us to be generous with both, which is something not a lot of people do when they cook this meat. Andrew advised making sure the steaks come out of the fridge at least 30 minutes in advance as they need to hit room temperature.

The next ‘cook’ of the chips was in boiling oil of around 150 degrees. We were using a deep wok to get the desired effect, but it worked perfectly. Once the chips went in, the temperature dropped, so one of us kept an eye on it with the thermometer they gave us and tried to get it back up for the desired effect. They were left for around 8 minutes until they looked like they were just cooked, and left to the side.

After a few minutes, we put the steaks on the hot griddle pan which started to sizzle away nicely. Again we kept an eye on the temperature by using the meat thermometer and aimed for medium rare which was around 45 degrees. Once the steaks hit the temperature, we took them off the pan and left them to the side – this is a really important step as it lets the meat settle and the heat from the inside ensures that it stays perfectly warm.

We then added the tomatoes and mushrooms to the griddle pan to warm them through and added the chips back to the oil for a final ‘cook’. The amount of time you left them was to your personal preference, as you could see how crispy they were getting. Once they were done, we started to plate up the meal and headed into the dining room with the whole group to enjoy our creations.

Not to toot our own horns, but the meal was fantastic: The amount of help we got from The Cookery School team was amazing and they kept checking back with us to make sure everything was ok and if there was anything they could help with. They also provided unlimited wine which went down a treat.

We all toasted to the class and went our separate ways at the end of the evening, but it was such a fun experience and I would highly recommend it. It would be perfect for a couple, a group of friends or to do with family, and they do a number of different courses at The Cookery School, but also private lessons too.

Thank you to The Cookery School for inviting Jordan and I down for an incredible meal and experience – we will definitely be back!

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Our experience at The Cookery School was gifted to us with no obligation to post. All views are my own.