Cooking-at-Camont: Mastering the Art of Gascon Cooking!
Learning to cook in France is a life changing experience… Here at Camont, we are aware how a simple gesture, taught hand-to-hand as generations of French cooks have learned, might change the way you cook, eat and taste. When I came to Southwest France over 20 years ago, I fell into a fresh green sea of good food- local, simple, and served with a generous heaping of Gascon hospitality. Great food is grown in abundance here on small scale farms according to the even-handed seasons then shipped all over France. Of course, the very best never gets farther than our local farmer’s markets and into our kitchens. Our grass-fed beef and lamb, grain-fed pork and free run poultry are transformed by artisan butchers and skilled chefs who have been taught in an unbroken chain of hand to hand teaching: farm wife to chef, market butcher to family, artisan charcutier to apprentice. Come be a part of a thousand years of this civilized agriculture and learn the classic cuisine that was born here in the kitchens of Gascony.
Some of the recipes you’ll learn as we cook through the seasons in Gascony:
- Camp Cassoulet- my own master class to learn this classic dish.
- The Fat Duck- cooking & preserving fatted ducks the traditional way: confit du canard, magret seché & rillettes
- Patés, Terrines, Tourtes- & other savoury pies
- Southwest Sweets- goat’s cheese Tourteau, Gateau Basque, Gascon Pastis
- Farmhouse Food- Lapin aux Pruneaux, Coq au Vin & Civet de Canard
Want to change the way you cook? Reboot your own style? Or get inspired by an up close and personal relationship with the people who grow our food? Then come to Camont and see what people mean when they say:
- “Anyone interested in Southwestern French cuisine should go spend some time with Kate at Camont and soak up some of her expertise and joie de vivre. She will change the way you cook.” Peter Barrett
- “But the food of Gascony is about more than cured meats and sausages, although those are pretty special, it has to be said. The duck, the pork, the armagnac and crisp white wines, the foie gras for which they are rightly famous, and the beans and lentils, all flavoured with pepper and salt, bay and thyme and pimento, and the sunlight of the south.” Jeffalina
- “Kate, I can honestly say that my time in Camont did change my life and the way I live and the way I am in the world. All of those things are by extension helping to change and shape my community…
it is fun. it is exciting. it is rewarding. but most of all it is beginning to allow a sustainable and locally sourced food supply that is healthy and delicious. thanks !” Bill Law
Course details:
We start in the morning for the first of our intensive day-long classes. Working only with local farm fresh ingredients and classic French techniques, we create exemplary seasonal menus that reflect terroir in the cooking of Southwest France. We cook for 6 hours per day- breaking for a long French lunch from the best seasonal Gascon produce! And of course, cooking isn’t only about recipes and ingredients. On market days, we’ll take you to our favorite farmers’ market to meet some of our favorite artisan food producers.
A typical day:
9:30- 12:30 Meet at Camont for a morning of essential French techniques creating garden soups, tempting starters & classic main courses.
12:30-2:00 Our own French lunch on the terrace breaks the day as we celebrate the arts of the table.
2:00-5:00: This sweet afternoon we return to the kitchen to creating Kate’s fool-proof buttery pastry and other famous Gascon desserts which we indulge in the traditional afternoon gouter with coffee, tea or an apéritif!
Spring / summer dates in 2012
Summer School Basix is BACK! Morning cooking classes, great lunch, afternoon free, communal supper. 600€ for 5 days. limited.
One day course- by request for Wednesdays or Saturdays
Three-day courses: 27 – 29 April / 18 – 20 May / 15 – 17 June
Five-day courses: 28 May – 1 June / 2 – 6 July / 30 July – 3 August
Autumn / winter dates in 2012
One-day classes by request:
Three-day courses: 5 – 7 October / 2 – 4 November-Camp Cassoulet/ 21-23 November- A French Thanksgiving
Five-day courses: 3 – 7 September / 22 – 26 October
2012 Course Prices
1 day- 250€ per person
3 days including Market Tour- 950€ per person
5 days including Market Tour- 1750€ per person
This price includes daily classes from 9:30 am- 5:00 pm, market tour where applicable, all lunches with wine, and supplies.
Please note: meals, accommodation and local transportation aren’t included, so please see here for our pick of local places to stay. Rent a car or we’ll happily arrange transportation by local taxi for you to and from Camont for classes!
To book, email katehill (at) email (dot)com with the subject line Cooking at Camont.
