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Learn with Gill Meller

Next Level Wood-Fired Cooking

River Cottage's Gill Meller elevates cooking in the great outdoors to the next level including cooking fish on the beach and cooking meat on a spit.

Course overview

In the first lesson, he goes the source, cooking freshly caught fish on the beach. He’ll show you how to prepare the fish on a wooden plank for smoking over an open fire. He’ll then show you how to cook scallops in their shell to keep all their glorious juices in place as they steam in butter and soak in subtle hints of wood smoke. He’ll also show you how to use clay for baking bream with lemon and dill.

Meet Gill Meller

Gill Meller has been involved with River Cottage from the early days and appears regularly on the celebrated Channel 4 series and still works closely with Hugh. A big advocate for simple, seasonal cookery, Gill makes the most of ingredients and the natural qualities they possess. Gill considers his cooking to be a reflection of his surroundings, taking inspiration from the landscape, his locality, and the amazing farmers, growers, and fishermen that produce the ingredients he uses. Gill teaches at River Cottage and internationally. He is a regular contributor to titles such as the Observer, Guardian, Waitrose Food, Telegraph and Country Living to name but a few, and his regular recipe column can be found in the award winning Delicious magazine every month. Gill's first book, Gather (2016), won the Fortnum & Mason Award for Best Debut Food Book, and Time (2018) was nominated for the Guild of Food Writers Cookbook of the Year. His latest book Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower was released earlier this year.

Course description

Expert outdoor chef, and River Cottage tutor Gill Meller show you how to cook over fire - this course goes far beyond a BBQ cooking course!

Gill will teach you how to cook fresh fish on the beach, how to create and cook meat using a spit and inspire you with new recipes for cooking wood-fired veg. You'll also learn how to build a wood fire, cook with fire safely and how to extinguish a fire once you've finished cooking.

Fish recipes include scallops cooked in their shells, smoked fish cooked using a wooden plank on the beach, clay baked trout with lemon and dill. Gill then demonstrates vegetable recipes including a favourite brunch dish - mushrooms with sage and fried eggs and how to char brassicas to make the most of their wood-fired flavours.

The final lessons will teach you how to go the whole hog (roast). Gill will show you how to create your own wood-fire spit, guiding you through the entire process, from cooking over fire, right through to carving and having a celebratory hog roast party.

You'll learn:

  • how to build a fire
  • how to cook vegetables, fish and meat over a fire
  • using a spit to cook meat
  • how to control your fire and cook safely

The course includes:

  • 4 on-demand video lessons - presented by Gill Meller and River Cottage
  • lifetime access to the videos, notes and interactive class
  • flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
  • downloadable lesson notes
  • practical cooking over fire assignments and recipes (with tutor feedback available)
  • access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
  • small interactive online classroom - chat online to students from around the world and share your creative ideas

Independent Cookery Schools Association approved

This course has been approved by the Independent Cookery Schools Association (ICSA), recognising the highest standards of training.

Time to complete the wood-fired cooking course:

Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 13 hours 40 minutes to complete including:

  • Video lessons: 1 hour 40 minutes in total
  • Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
  • Your cooking over a fire assignments: at least 2 hours per lesson
  • Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
  • Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson

You'll need:

Your lesson notes will include the full details of the ingredients you'll need, but you will be making a fire, and using a fire to cook fish, veg and meat, so you'll need standard kitchen equipment, a suitable location for your fire and wood to get your fire started.

Ready to get started?

Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Gill on your wood-fired assignments.

If you know someone who'd love this course then give it as a gift - just tick "This is a gift" at the checkout.

Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.