RISING CHEFS

Dip into Campania’s star-studded gastronomic traditions on this hands-on cooking class. Food lovers will perfect their culinary skills, pick up precious tips and learn how to turn raw ingredients into delicious meals.

Meet your private driver outside your accommodation in Sorrento and relax on the ride to a renowned historical estate. First established as a farmhouse in 1890, today the premises have evolved into a gorgeous boutique hotel and a Michelin-rated restaurant. Herbs and vegetables are lovingly home-grown on the 7-hectare organic farm and used to concoct the dishes served to a discerning and faithful clientele. Prime quality extra virgin olive oil and lemon liqueur are also among the locally produced sources of pride. Indeed, as the owners say, “great cooking happens in the fields, like great wines in the vineyard”.

Join your chef in the cooking laboratory and let your culinary revelation begin. This group cooking class will teach you how to prepare three different dishes with top-class Campanian ingredients. Depending on the day of the week, recipes might centre on locally grown seasonal vegetables, freshly caught rockfish or shellfish, superfine wheat pasta made in the nearby towns of Gragnano or Torre Annunziata, meat from the mountains of Irpinia or traditional and modern Neapolitan confectionary. Under the chef’s guidance, gourmands will unveil the secrets of the finest Mediterranean cuisine and start to master the divine art of creating stellar meals. You will discover regional recipes, try out infallible cooking techniques, learn the characteristics of first-rate ingredients and become adept at combining different flavours. You will also hear about the estate’s cooking philosophy, based on a curated mix of innovation and respect for culinary heritage, history, local produce and, above all, for the land. Here gastronomy is highly regarded as a human achievement. It is considered to be part of a region’s culture, expression of certain values, tastes, beliefs and skills, just as much as its monuments and artistic treasures. A dish is, therefore, a true work of art.

After the lesson return to your hotel with your newly acquired skills and the lingering taste of your very own masterpiece.