Mamie's Food

Enrolling for the chef diploma at Leith’s School of Food and Wine is not for the faint-hearted. Founded by restauranteur Prue Leith in 1975, the school’s courses range from day classes to nine-month diplomas, with alumni from Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules to recipe writer Saskia Sidey.

Two months in I’ve learnt a lot, and it is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Split into three terms- Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced- the Foundation term gets back to basics. As a keen home cook I naively hoped that simple things like a white sauce or victoria sponge would be easy, but sadly, I was wrong! There is a vast jump from home cook to industry level and my way of chucking things in a pan and hoping for the best have been thrown out of the window. Even the way I cut lemon is wrong.

Days consist of cooking and demonstrations with occasional visits from inspiring guest chefs, who always have great things to say about the school. Ben Tish spoke to us about his collection of iconic London pubs- known as Cubitt House- and shared his Sicilian polpette dish with us, whilst pulses queen Jenny Chandler cooked a delicious Greek baked butter bean and feta dish and showed us her book, ‘Pulse’, about her love for these legumes.

Timetables are handed out weekly and dishes range from a lamb, prune and chilli stew, classic leek and gruyere tart and individual pavlova’s, with next week exploring the world of freshly made pasta. Yum.

Starting the course a week late put me on the back foot and I was completely overwhelmed by the speed you work in the kitchens. The pressure can send you one way or the other and I can safely I was thrown in at the deep end.

The first day was a blur of overcooking an omelette, under scrambling my eggs and being asked to move seats by a man 20 years older than me. My tutor even told me: “today is going to be hell”. I was asleep by 9pm that night.

That being said, there have been some very satisfying moments- like filleting a fish and jointing a chicken- and some absolute disasters- remaking pastry twice and my “unservable” tartare sauce.

After only eight weeks, I’m already looking at food in a different way and even though I still have a long way to go, I’m excited for the ride ahead.