He attended two basic cookery classes at Denise's Kitchen after his divorce from an "excellent" cook.
Some of the videos on studentcooking.tv parody popular competitive cookery shows such as Masterchef and Come Dine With Me, others provide recipe ideas and basic cookery skills.
Although I'd like to think I have a good grasp of basic cookery, at this point I have to stop and look up the difference between these familiar ingredients.
During those student and bachelor years in Edinburgh, I learned the basics of cookery through trial and error.
But if, like me, you can fry a perfectly decent egg but wouldn't stake your life on your habitual method, then you are more than welcome to join this brave voyage back to the basics of cookery.
The technique is what is known in French kitchens as au vin blanc, with a white-wine sauce, one of the easiest and most elegant basic techniques for fish cookery.
Among members of the aristocracy by the early eighteenth century a girl's education was expected to include basic literacy and numeracy, needlework, cookery and household management, while polite accomplishments and piety were also emphasised.
For example, in a murder trial, the blood on a blood-stained knife may be considered data relevant to the trial, but in a cookery competition it simply shows that basic hygiene standards have not been observed.
I've started thinking I'd really like to go on a beginner's cookery course for a week, to learn the basics of pastries, pies, breads and sauces.
By the early eighteenth century their education was expected to include basic literacy and numeracy, musical instruments (including lute, viol and keyboard), needlework, cookery and household management, while polite accomplishments and piety were also emphasised.
I've chosen to make chocolate macarons, on the basis that this is one of the few flavours which allows a like-for-like comparison of recipes from some of the masters of the art, but once you've nailed the basic technique, macarons are one of those things that reward a little bit of creative cookery.
