Winter Courses

Here is the Italy that only insiders and locals really know. When the weather drops and the nights start earlier, more time is dedicated to food and wine and time spent around olive wood fires. This time of year is Italy’s best kept secret

You’ll:
* Use your own hands to prepare 10 meals, most with 5-courses and served family-style in a private home in the historic centre of Lecce
* Cook and dine using antique cooper, heirloom ceramics, inherited tableware and antique furniture
* Dive into the Mediterranean culture of slow cooking in claypots: How to buy, temper and cook with these cherished vessels
* Enjoy the smell and atmosphere of having the entire school heated with local olive wood for the week
* Gain intimate knowledge of the famous winter vegetables of Italy: artichokes, broccoli raab, spontaneous onions, poppy greens, clementines, chest nuts and walnuts
* Cooking each evening with candle light in our owner’s collection of brass candle sticks, along classmates and local friends
* Taste 15 different local wines, starting each meal a guided tasting of each and that turns into free pour (the bottles are on the table to help yourself)
* Get to know our local vendors during daily visits to Lecce’s oldest fruit and vegetable market
* Quadruple your knowledge of the world’s best food, extra virgin olive oil. Taste at least 5. Take a guided blind tasting of 3 extra virgin olives oils, lesson taught and oils select by a sommelier of extra virgin olive oil
* Take a field trip to a nearby seaside town to see the largest mosaic in all of Europe, 900 years old and its generation internet
* Take a guided tour of Lecce at night to begin to see Italian painting, architecture, sculpture, theatre, all as the response to the Northern European protestant reformation

In this class you’ll learn

  • How to master the water-based pasta of Southern Puglia. You’ll learn at least 6 local shapes and the dressings for each
  • How to prepare and cook more than 40 local dishes. Most are remarkable simple and all are deeply satisfying.
  • How to cook fish: shellfish, cephalopods and round fish, regardless of origins of water: lake, river, sea, ocean or farmed
  • How to blind taste wine
  • The technical methods of wine production of 6 different styles : white, pink, orange, red, charmat and methodo classico
  • Learn how to care for claypots, but also knives, copper pots and how to effectively buy the best kitchen gear/kit/equipment for the least amount of money
  • The history of coffee and Italy’s contribution to it. How to order coffee in Italy, and how
  • How to critically taste extra virgin olive oil, to recognise both attributes (fruit, bitterness and black pepper burn) and defects (black fly, black mould, fermentation and rancidity). To understand why so much of the world’s oil is fraudulent
  • The history of carbohydrates in Italy, who eats what, historically. Your understanding of Italy will be different before and after this chalkboard talk
  • To grasp the history of amari (Italy’s after dinner drinks). You’ll taste as many as you like at what most surely be Southern Italy’s largest private amaro bar

Taken from TripAdvisor

  • ‘We were incredibly impressed with Silvestro’s knowledge of authentic Italian cuisine, and how to organize novices like us into a well-oiled (literally) Cooking Machine! It was a beautiful, historic setting…very relaxing, scenic and peaceful’.
  • ‘The passion and knowledge of the owner was inspiring, making the experience not just educational but also deeply enjoyable. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to dive into the culinary delights southern Italy —it’s a true celebration of Italian food and culture’!
  • ‘The hands-on guidance was exceptional, especially in making a healthy pasta from scratch, which highlighted the beauty of simple, high-quality ingredients’.

Logistic at a Glance:

When: From Mid-November to the end of March.

Length of course: From Monday morning 10:00 to Friday at roughly midnight (24:00)

Taught in: English

Perquisite: No prior training needed

Where to stay: Once booked we’ll give you access to Student Services

Cost: 2495 Euro. (2295 Euro per person if eligible discount code: see below)

Meeting point: Monday morning 10:00. Under the column in Piazza Sant Oronzo. See map below. DO NOT COME DIRECTLY TO THE SCHOOL

The Awaiting Table Cooking School Map

Walking: You’ll need to walk about 4,000 steps a day. We have stools for those that don’t want to stand while making pasta

Diet restrictions: We can offer gluten free pasta and/or vegetarian options. Alert us when booking
Discount code: (See FAQ below)

Q: What’s so special about Italy in winter time?
A: Winter is real Italy, Italy without tourists and the overwhelming sensation that comes with serving a lot of people in a short amount of time. In the winter people linger over conversations. Restaurants are noisy with laughter. If you want to get to know a place, visit it in the winter when a place is most itself
Further, so much of the best food happens in the colder months. All of the deep green vegetables are winter vegetables (broccoli, broccolini, rape, raab, spunsali., artichokes, etc.) The fish is better, the flesh tighter. The citrus is all local and in season. The extra virgin just comes out. It’s the best time of year for food, wine and people.

Q: What is so special about cooking in claypots?
A: Humans have been cooking in claypots for at least 70,000 years but few places still cherish claypot cooking quite like the Mediterranean. Tangines from Northern Africa. Glouvetsi and Kleftiko from Greece. Cazuela from Spain. Testi Kebabi from Turkey. Cassoulet from Provence. And of course pignate from Puglia.

These are slow, puttering winter dishes, all cooked lovingly in claypots, and they remain some of the most beloved in each of these cultures. Even today. Perhaps even more so today, because in an era of microwaves and take out, these dishes are coddled into existence. In a fast-paced world, these dishes are the new premiums

Q: Can we replicate the Lecce school’s wood fired oven in our home fireplaces?
A: Absolutely. And we’ll send you home with your own clay pot (or you can mail it to yourself if you don’t want to carry it). If you have a fire already going, you’d be crazy not to cook something delectable each time as a byproduct

Q: It’s surprising how many of the world’s blue zones feature beans in the diet. Are they really that impressive as an ingredient?
A: They are remarkable, especially when smaller and colourful. Like a lot of the world we are experiencing a resurgence of interest in legumes (pulses). You’ll have several cultivars that have been brought back from the edge of being lost forever. Expect to cook at least 8

Q: Do we still make pasta and cook in metal pans?
A: Of course. The fire and claypots are something that we maintain while cooking other dishes. We still make pasta everyday, etc. The claypot foods are additions to our normal menù rather than substitutions.

Q: What is the discount code?
A: The discount code is, ‘I throughly read the course description on your website’. Mention it in your first contact email to be eligible. We’ll still answer all of your questions in email form if you insist on making us type it out but you will no longer be eligible for the discount

Q: Could we make some of the claypot dishes if we visit in other seasons?
A: No. We can justify running the air conditioning and a wood-fired oven at the time. In Italy, you live with the seasons

Winter Courses

Here is the Italy that only insiders and locals really know. When the weather drops and the nights start earlier, more time is dedicated to food and wine and time spent around olive wood fires. This time of year is Italy’s best kept secret

You’ll:
* Use your own hands to prepare 10 meals, most with 5-courses and served family-style in a private home in the historic centre of Lecce
* Cook and dine using antique cooper, heirloom ceramics, inherited tableware and antique furniture
* Dive into the Mediterranean culture of slow cooking in claypots: How to buy, temper and cook with these cherished vessels
* Enjoy the smell and atmosphere of having the entire school heated with local olive wood for the week
* Gain intimate knowledge of the famous winter vegetables of Italy: artichokes, broccoli raab, spontaneous onions, poppy greens, clementines, chest nuts and walnuts
* Cooking each evening with candle light in our owner’s collection of brass candle sticks, along classmates and local friends
* Taste 15 different local wines, starting each meal a guided tasting of each and that turns into free pour (the bottles are on the table to help yourself)
* Get to know our local vendors during daily visits to Lecce’s oldest fruit and vegetable market
* Quadruple your knowledge of the world’s best food, extra virgin olive oil. Taste at least 5. Take a guided blind tasting of 3 extra virgin olives oils, lesson taught and oils select by a sommelier of extra virgin olive oil
* Take a field trip to a nearby seaside town to see the largest mosaic in all of Europe, 900 years old and its generation internet
* Take a guided tour of Lecce at night to begin to see Italian painting, architecture, sculpture, theatre, all as the response to the Northern European protestant reformation

In this class you’ll learn

  • How to master the water-based pasta of Southern Puglia. You’ll learn at least 6 local shapes and the dressings for each
  • How to prepare and cook more than 40 local dishes. Most are remarkable simple and all are deeply satisfying.
  • How to cook fish: shellfish, cephalopods and round fish, regardless of origins of water: lake, river, sea, ocean or farmed
  • How to blind taste wine
  • The technical methods of wine production of 6 different styles : white, pink, orange, red, charmat and methodo classico
  • Learn how to care for claypots, but also knives, copper pots and how to effectively buy the best kitchen gear/kit/equipment for the least amount of money
  • The history of coffee and Italy’s contribution to it. How to order coffee in Italy, and how
  • How to critically taste extra virgin olive oil, to recognise both attributes (fruit, bitterness and black pepper burn) and defects (black fly, black mould, fermentation and rancidity). To understand why so much of the world’s oil is fraudulent
  • The history of carbohydrates in Italy, who eats what, historically. Your understanding of Italy will be different before and after this chalkboard talk
  • To grasp the history of amari (Italy’s after dinner drinks). You’ll taste as many as you like at what most surely be Southern Italy’s largest private amaro bar

Logistic at a Glance:

When: From Mid-November to the end of March.

Length of course: From Monday morning 10:00 to Friday at roughly midnight (24:00)

Taught in: English

Perquisite: No prior training needed

Where to stay: Once booked we’ll give you access to Student Services

Cost: 2495 Euro. (2295 Euro per person if eligible discount code: see below)

Meeting point: Monday morning 10:00. Under the column in Piazza Sant Oronzo. See map below. DO NOT COME DIRECTLY TO THE SCHOOL

The Awaiting Table Cooking School Map

Walking: You’ll need to walk about 4,000 steps a day. We have stools for those that don’t want to stand while making pasta

Diet restrictions: We can offer gluten free pasta and/or vegetarian options. Alert us when booking
Discount code: (See FAQ below)

Taken from TripAdvisor

  • ‘We were incredibly impressed with Silvestro’s knowledge of authentic Italian cuisine, and how to organize novices like us into a well-oiled (literally) Cooking Machine! It was a beautiful, historic setting…very relaxing, scenic and peaceful’.
  • ‘The passion and knowledge of the owner was inspiring, making the experience not just educational but also deeply enjoyable. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to dive into the culinary delights southern Italy —it’s a true celebration of Italian food and culture’!
  • ‘The hands-on guidance was exceptional, especially in making a healthy pasta from scratch, which highlighted the beauty of simple, high-quality ingredients’.

Q: What’s so special about Italy in winter time?
A: Winter is real Italy, Italy without tourists and the overwhelming sensation that comes with serving a lot of people in a short amount of time. In the winter people linger over conversations. Restaurants are noisy with laughter. If you want to get to know a place, visit it in the winter when a place is most itself
Further, so much of the best food happens in the colder months. All of the deep green vegetables are winter vegetables (broccoli, broccolini, rape, raab, spunsali., artichokes, etc.) The fish is better, the flesh tighter. The citrus is all local and in season. The extra virgin just comes out. It’s the best time of year for food, wine and people.

Q: What is so special about cooking in claypots?
A: Humans have been cooking in claypots for at least 70,000 years but few places still cherish claypot cooking quite like the Mediterranean. Tangines from Northern Africa. Glouvetsi and Kleftiko from Greece. Cazuela from Spain. Testi Kebabi from Turkey. Cassoulet from Provence. And of course pignate from Puglia.

These are slow, puttering winter dishes, all cooked lovingly in claypots, and they remain some of the most beloved in each of these cultures. Even today. Perhaps even more so today, because in an era of microwaves and take out, these dishes are coddled into existence. In a fast-paced world, these dishes are the new premiums

Q: Can we replicate the Lecce school’s wood fired oven in our home fireplaces?
A: Absolutely. And we’ll send you home with your own clay pot (or you can mail it to yourself if you don’t want to carry it). If you have a fire already going, you’d be crazy not to cook something delectable each time as a byproduct

Q: It’s surprising how many of the world’s blue zones feature beans in the diet. Are they really that impressive as an ingredient?
A: They are remarkable, especially when smaller and colourful. Like a lot of the world we are experiencing a resurgence of interest in legumes (pulses). You’ll have several cultivars that have been brought back from the edge of being lost forever. Expect to cook at least 8

Q: Do we still make pasta and cook in metal pans?
A: Of course. The fire and claypots are something that we maintain while cooking other dishes. We still make pasta everyday, etc. The claypot foods are additions to our normal menù rather than substitutions.

Q: What is the discount code?
A: The discount code is, ‘I throughly read the course description on your website’. Mention it in your first contact email to be eligible. We’ll still answer all of your questions in email form if you insist on making us type it out but you will no longer be eligible for the discount

Q: Could we make some of the claypot dishes if we visit in other seasons?
A: No. We can justify running the air conditioning and a wood-fired oven at the time. In Italy, you live with the seasons