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February 4, 2020

Founded by Fiona Burrell, formerly Principal of Leith’s School of Food and Wine, the School trains professional chefs as well as running courses and themed kitchen sessions for keen domestic cooks.

Since opening, the School has run over 2,500 courses, teaching more than 12,000 professionals, beginners and keen amateurs to cook.

For a more quirky sense of scale, their students have apparently cracked enough eggs to make enough mayo to paint the White House eight times over.

Your blogger interviewed Fiona at launch back in December 2009. The financial crash was beginning to bite hard by then and a good proportion of the School's new students were people who had been made redundant and fancied a change of career.

Professional chefs

We are no longer in the teeth of a recession but people looking for a new career path are still a big part of the School's intake alongside 'leisure' guests who come for a few hours in order to perfect, say, their curry-making technique or learn about food and wine pairing.

The professional cookery courses, which last from one month up to six months for a practical cookery diploma, have launched many a career.

Recent graduates have gone on to start their own catering businesses; work in the UK's top restaurants; compete on MasterChef; write best seller cookery books and become private chefs in ski chalets and on luxury yachts.

Amateur evenings

Not that you need to be set on a lifetime in the kitchen to benefit from a visit to Edinburgh New Town Cookery School.

The new tenth anniversary courses which are being launched include: a Middle East workshop; themed supper clubs; a Scottish baking festival and a series of Technique Tuesdays which will teach specific skills such as how to cook the perfect steak, pasta making or fermentation.

Principal, Fiona Burrell, comments: 'The last ten years have been hugely rewarding for us.  We have seen many successful chefs graduate from our three and six month courses, as well as helped many keen cooks find a love of the kitchen.

'To mark our birthday we are launching a series of ten events and new courses, many due to popular demand.  We hope to open the doors to our kitchen to many new cooks this year and for many more.'

Here's to the next ten years!