The 2018 Stone Food & Drink Festival will be taking place on 5th, 6th & 7th October and foodies who want to get hands-on and brush up their skills should check out the event’s Culinary Masterclass programme.
The 2018 programme has some great classes on topics ranging from fish filleting through to creating healthy chocolate bars.
If you’re looking for a “plaice” to hone your fish skills, then swim up river and sign up for a Fish Skills masterclass. Led by Stafford College Chef Lecturers Tom Harrison and Richard Finney, it will see students guided through the process of filleting both a fresh flat and a round fish, kindly provided by UK Fish Sales Ltd, before transforming them into two delicious oven-ready dishes.
At just £10 a head the hour-long session will take place on Friday at 5 pm and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday; seeing participants take the fruit of their labours home to cook and enjoy.
Those keen to adopt a healthy approach to cooking will be interested in the daily sessions being run by health food guru Gemma Bloor, founder of popular healthy eatery & bar RAWR, which boast branches in Trentham and Hanley. At 2.30pm on Friday the focus will be a delicious yet healthy seasonal salad using fresh ingredients that participants will take home in a re-useable glass jar (£8pp); Saturday’s 2.30pm session will focus on making quick and healthy breakfasts for the whole family – including Chia Porridge and Overnight Oats among others (£8pp) whilst on Sunday at 2.30 foodies can learn how to make their very own healthy chocolate bars from scratch (£10pp).
For baking fans you can get creative as Stone-based cake designer Beth Lauren runs through how to create two gorgeous cupcake designs – Unicorn cupcakes at 1 pm on Saturday and Cookie Monster cupcakes at 1 pm on Sunday. These sessions, at £6pp, are great for adults and also youngsters aged 4 and up accompanied by a grown-up helper.
Festival Chairman, Richard Stevens, says:
“Over the past three years our Masterclass programme has proven a real hit – it’s evident visitors are keen to get hands-on with food over the big weekend, so this year we’ve expanded the programme and made it more diverse.
“We’re delighted that Beth Lauren Cakes is back on board and it’s fantastic to see two new course leaders in the form of Stafford College and RAWR. All we can say is it’s strongly advised to book your session in advance online as these classes get very popular!”
The 2018 Stone Food & Drink Festival will take place on the town’s Westbridge Park on Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th October; with a Park & Ride service operating from Aston Marina on the A51. Entry is £7pp on the gate / £15 for a 3-day pass (accompanied under 16s free) with a special online discount for advance booking. For full details and to buy tickets/ book masterclass sessions head to www.stonefooddrink.org.uk
