MAXINE GORDON takes her husband on a culinary challenge at York's new cookery school at The Grand hotel

ROCK-hard spuds and ready meals were the sum of my husband's culinary skills until our recent visit to York's new cookery school at The Grand hotel.

I was really looking forward to our day mastering Asian flavours in the shiny new kitchens of York's five-star hotel cookery school, not only because Thai food is my favourite cuisine, but because I hoped it might rekindle my husband Nick's interest in cooking.

There was a time, granted zillions of meals ago, when he fancied himself as a bit of a pro with the pots and pans. He bought some best-selling cook books, spent a fortune on new equipment and the most expensive ingredients and actually made some decent dinners. I'll never forget the time he decided to cook a dinner party and settled on Marco Pierre White's haddock and poached egg. Sounds simple enough, except it had to be topped by a beurre blanc – and he made it three times before getting it right.

So, I can't knock him for ambition – which was just as well, because the recipes for our cookery day at the Grand required a decent level of skill and attention to detail.

We'd plumped for the Around East Asia all-day course and were prepared to tackle the delicious-sounding menu of Tom Yum soup with salmon and prawns; beef massaman curry with lemon grass and coconut rice; char-grilled broccoli and cashews with chilli and garlic, and roasted pineapple with a spiced syrup laced with rum.

We arrived at 9.30am for coffee and biscuits before donning our aprons and gathering around the teaching station where head tutor and pro chef Andrew Dixon began by making the dessert first.

It was the simplest of ideas: a thick ring of pineapple, pan fried in butter and then soaked in a naughty sugar syrup flavoured with rum and spices.

Once made, that was put aside, while we set to work on our starters: a fresh and fragrant Tom Yum soup. Helpfully, Andrew demonstrated how to blend a mix of Asian sauces and spices together to make the base paste for the broth. Back at our work stations – each of us had our own kitchen area just like in Bake Off – we had to prepare the other ingredients for the soup: peel and de vein the raw prawns (removing the black strand of intestine housed in its back) and slice up the fleshy salmon. There were oyster mushrooms, spring onions and lots of fresh coriander to add in too. They key here, said Andrew, was to have everything prepped and ready to go, then the soup would be ready in moments. And he was right, we made the broth by adding the prawns shells, paste and seasoning to some water, them popped in the prawns, salmon pieces and mushrooms, finishing with the greens.

It tasted amazing; the broth was light and aromatic with a slight kick from the chilli. The star of the starter were the prawns which were big and meaty and perfectly cooked: about the best I'd ever had.

Nick was impressed too, and began talking about how he could make this at home.

A great start!

Next up was the Massaman curry – again, this turned out to be a delicious dish and one of the nicest plates of food I'd ever eaten. I am a sucker for the holy trinity of coconut, lime and coriander, so today, my palate was totally indulged.

The beef was slow cooked with potato in a rich gravy made from Andrew's pre-prepared Asian paste with added coconut milk, sugar and tamarind paste.

We also made a coconut rice – a new one for me – where we simmered the basmati in coconut milk and a stalk of bruised lemongrass (which lets the flavours infuse the dish).

There was a lot to do for this main course because we also had to blanch then chargrill our broccoli spears then toss them in a garlic and chilli dressing, topped with roasted nuts.

Andrew and his team kept a close eye on us, making sure we were on top of everything and passing on lots of handy tips throughout the day.

For example, did you know that you should cook food around the edge of the pan because that is where all the cooking fat gathers? Or if you want to add heat to a recipe, split open a chilli and stir it into dish, remove it when the desired spice level has been reached.

When our mains were ready, we all sat together in the spacious dining room next to the teaching kitchen to enjoy the fruits of our labours.

Wine was served and verdicts were passed. Everyone was impressed we'd all done well.

Even my Nick.

Find out more:

W: thegrandyork.co.uk/cookery-school/

T: 01904 380038