Perfect Poultry

Now it’s getting colder, perfect your poultry skills in time for the Sunday roast season!

There are a few spaces available on our Perfect Poultry butchery course on the Thursday 1st November, 6.30pm-9.30pm. Have a butchers (sorry – I couldn’t resist) at the course description below to find out what’s in store. This course is also effectively a meal out with a difference, so it would be great for a couple of friends coming together.

This course brings you an exciting collaboration between Loaf Cookery School and local master butcher Steve Rossiter, who runs Birmingham’s only certified organic butchers in Bournville.

Starting the evening with a whole chicken, Steve teaches us how to respectfully bone it out, and demonstrates the versatility of the different joints, whilst Loaf director Tom Baker will lead you in creating some wonderful chicken dishes. We sit down to feast on the fruits of our labour and enjoy a nice glass of wine towards the end of the evening, so save plenty of room!

We’ll be making:

  • chorizo-stuffed chicken breast wrapped in streaky bacon
  • spatchcocked poussin with lemon and garlic
  • Raz al Hanout tagine chicken
  • chicken liver salad

and learning the simple secrets to the perfect chicken stock.

This is a very hands-on course and you’ll be practicing your new found skills in: jointing, spatchcocking, and butterflying your own chicken and poussin.

You’ll feel right at home at Loaf, and everything you learn will set you up for impressing your friends and family with your new found skills at home. The course costs £60 (inclusive of VAT) and all refreshments, equipment, recipes and aprons are provided, but please bring a food container to take home raw leftovers and bones for stock.

Book your place on the Perfect Poultry course through our online shop.

The course takes place on 1st November, from 6.30pm-9.30pm at Loaf HQ in Stirchley, South Birmingham.

Butchery Course a Roaring Success

IMG_5290Wednesday evening saw Loaf Cookery School’s first butchery course, and an exciting collaboration with local master butcher Steve Rossiter. Steve proved himself to be a natural teacher, and the enthusiastic students warmed to him immediately, and took eagerly to applying the techniques they had learned to produce some stunning dishes. Trying to lead the evening and take decent photographs proved a bit too much for me, however you can see a few shots showing what we did below. We jointed, spatchcocked and butterflied our way through the evening, and ended up with a veritable feast at the end, all washed down with a nice glass of red wine. On the menu was Raz el Hanout tagine chicken legs with minted cous cous, chorizo-stuffed chicken breast wrapped in streaky bacon, spatchcocked poussin with lemon and wild garlic, and chicken liver and wild leaf salad. Sadly I didn’t get any shots of the finished dishes, but I have included a ‘one-I-made-earlier’ photo of the wrapped chicken breast below. One of the most exciting things for me was having a 15-year old lad on the course who is an aspiring young chef looking to study catering at UCB. He was eager to learn, and I was secretly jealous that I wasn’t as in to food at his age as he is – not many 15 year olds know how to butcher a chicken and turn it into fancy, delicious dishes like he does now. Steve and I are keen to do more courses together in the future, so stay peeled to the cookery school page for upcoming dates.

IMG_5263IMG_5267IMG_5281chorizo-stuffed chickenIMG_5283

Course Spotlight: Butchery

I’m really excited about some of our upcoming new courses, not least the Butchery workshop that we’re running in collaboration with master butcher Steve Rossiter on the 14th April. Steve is a bit of a local legend around these parts, founding Birmingham’s first organic registered butchers in Mary Vale Rd, Bournville. Steve has agreed to help me run an evening workshop where we explore beak-to-tail butchery of poultry birds, along with some tasty and impressive ways of cooking them.

butchery poultry logo

We’ll start the evening with a whole chicken (one between two). Steve will then teach us how to respectfully joint it, and show us what else we can do with the various joints. Then I’ll take over, and lead us in some fantastic chicken recipes that show off your new found butchery skills and taste amazing too! We’ll be making butterflied chicken breast stuffed with homemade chorizo, chicken Raz al Hanout with minted cous cous, and pan fried chicken livers with a wild green salad. Anything we don’t cook, you get to take home and show off your new skills with!

The first course is on Wednesday 14th April from 6.30pm-9.30pm, and is a snip at just £50, which includes all the ingredients and equipment, course notes, and a full stomach! There’s still a few places available, so email tom@loafonline.co.uk to book your place!

Fingers crossed, we’re going to be able to offer a lamb-in-a-day type butchery experience in the Summer too!