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For the love of cooking

Hands-on how-to gifts for the foodie who has every pot, pan and utensil in the book.

Carli Ratcliff

How to do it: Cornersmith's sweet preserving class.
How to do it: Cornersmith's sweet preserving class.Supplied

From inoculating a log with mushroom spores, to sharpening knives on a traditional Japanese whetstone, or making your own labna, there is no shortage of food experiences on offer for hard- to-buy-for foodies this Christmas. Whether you like to grow your own, cook or cure your own, there is something here for you.


For kitchen ninjas

When it comes to learning to chop, slice and dice, the best place to start is with a Japanese knife, so says knife specialist Leigh Hudson. Hudson runs knife skills and knife- sharpening classes, for groups or individuals, where he teaches how to sharpen knives using a Japanese whetstone, how to julienne carrots, fine dice an onion, fillet fish and create fine, silk-like threads of leek for garnishing.

Chef Martin Teplitzky makes a mile-high pavlova.
Chef Martin Teplitzky makes a mile-high pavlova.James Brickwood
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Hudson recommends starting with a 21-centimetre chef's knife. "A budget of $160 to $280 would buy a knife that any chef will be proud to own," he says.

Chef's Armoury run Knife Skills 101 and Knife Sharpening classes. 747 Botany Road, Rosebery. chefsarmoury.com, 9699 2353. From $89 to $275.

Chef and cooking teacher Martin Teplitzky, of Take 2 Eggs Cooking Academy, is likewise a fan of Japanese knives, and teaches Knife Skills classes.

The long table lunch at Grown & Gathered's Sydney workshop.
The long table lunch at Grown & Gathered's Sydney workshop.Samantha Mackie

Teplitzky, the son of legendary cooking teacher Gretta Anna, has established Take 2 Eggs Cooking Academy in his mother's original teaching kitchen, in Wahroonga. ''When it comes to knife skills, most people really just want to learn how to hold a knife correctly, how to use them safely and how to sharpen them properly,'' Teplitzky says. You will learn how to dice and slice like a professional.

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He runs a host of other classes as well, including cooking for teens and pre-teens, and classes called Gretta Anna Revisited in which he teaches students his mother's classics such as her Mile High Pavlova.

Take 2 Eggs Cooking Academy, 67 Clissold Road, Wahroonga, take2eggs.net; $95.


For green thumbs

Will Borowski teaches people how to grow mushrooms. Across his two-day mushroom workshop, Borowski shows students how to cultivate a number of gourmet varietals of fungi, including shiitake, pioppino and king oyster mushrooms via various methods, including inoculating a log with shiitake spores. Borowski ensures that everyone leaves with the confidence to grow mushrooms in their own backyard.

Permaculture Sydney Institute, 1056 Upper Macdonald Road, St Albans; Phone: (02) 4568 2036; Weekend workshop $295 / one day $160 pp.

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Vegetable and flower farmers and foragers Matt and Lentil, from Grown & Gathered, supply like-minded cooks, chefs and florists (including Joost Bakker) with flowers, leaves and vegetables from their farm, and surrounds, in Tabilk, Victoria.

In their full-day Sydney workshop Growing Essentials with Grown & Gathered (held at Bayview near Pittwater) they teach the basics of organic planting and growing, from finding the right position for your patch, through to soil composition and seed germination.

After a long table lunch, discussions continue into the afternoon covering companion planting, sustainable gardening practices, foraging, composting and natural insect repellents to keep bugs away from your new burgeoning plot. thelostandfounddepartment.com.au; $175.


For old (and young) bottlers

Artisan bottler and cook Alex Elliott-Howery (co-owner of Cornersmith Cafe) teaches sweet preserving classes at her picklery in Marrickville. Elliott-Howery, and her picklery business partners, are renowned for their jam and preserve-making skills.

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In this half-day workshop Elliott-Howery shows students how to hone their jam-making skills and instructs on the (almost) lost art of bottling whole fruits.

Cornersmith Picklery, 441 Illawarra Road, Marrickville. workshops@cornersmith.com.au; $120. https://www.facebook.com/Cornersmith

Cook, writer and teacher Holly Davis brought macrobiotic food to Sydney when she established the Iku Wholefood stores. She teaches an Everyday Japanese Wholefoods workshop and how to make and bottle pickles in her Capturing Cultures class. Students learn to make naturally fermented vegetables including kim chi. foodbyhollydavis.com; holly@foodbyhollydavis.com; Workshops from $120 - $185.

For curd nerds

Cornersmith Picklery also hosts cheese-making days run by cheese maker Kristen Allan.

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In her basics of home cheese-making class, Allan begins the session with a chat about milk composition, before teaching students how to make yoghurt, ricotta and labna. In her follow-up fetta and haloumi class, Allan teaches her students how to make fetta, haloumi and marscapone at home.

Cornersmith Picklery, 441 Illawarra Road, Marrickville. workshops@cornersmith.com.au; $120-$240.

Cheesemonger and educator Claudia McIntosh Bowman has long run cheese education workshops across the country. In 2014, McIntosh Bowman will lead a group of cheese enthusiasts south, on her three-day Tasmanian Cheese Tour, which includes hands-on and tasting experiences with many of the island's best artisan producers, from lunch with cheese maker Nick Haddow on Bruny Island and dinner with brewer Ashley Huntington of 2m Tall Brewery, to a day at The Agrarian Kitchen.

McIntosh & Bowman Cheesemongers, Phone: 0422 728 505; mcintoshandbowman.com

For Italiophiles

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Small-goods specialist Tony Sgro from Quattro Stelle shares his secrets, instructing students how to make great salami in his salami cooking class. It covers the basics of texture and seasoning through to discussion of the all-important curing process.

Students make their own salami, which is then hung and aged at Signorelli Gastronomia for six weeks until it is ready to be eaten. Sgro also teaches a sausage- cooking class that takes students through the secrets of sausage making and ends with a sausage dinner.

Signorelli Gastronomia, ground floor of Accenture/Google Building, Trouton Place, Pyrmont. Phone: 02 8571 0616; signorelli.com.au; $109


Dough boys and girls

Learn to bake bread in a two-hour sourdough bread-baking class with Bourke Street Bakery's master baker.

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Under careful instruction, students will turn a pile of flour into a warm loaf of sourdough bread to take home, made with the help of Bourke Street's 12-year old starter.

A hands-on gift for kids and adults to enjoy together, junior bakers aged between 12-18 years are most welcome to attend with an accompanying (paying) adult.

info@bourkestreetbakery.com.au; Phone: 02 9569 3225. $130 per person.


Nadine Ingram is the passionate owner, and talented baker, behind Flour and Stone.

In her workshop, Baking Masterclass with Nadine Ingram, she will cover tarts, pastry casings and fillings, share the recipes for three of her most-loved sweet pastries and will impart baking tips and tricks to ensure success. thelostandfounddepartment.com.au; $200

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