Covid lockdown was a game-changer because I had to learn how to give cooking lessons online instead of in a classroom setting.

In the last couple of years I have been honing my online cooking skills, that is to say, giving cooking lessons online requires planning, recipes, equipment and juggling.

Since my online cooking lessons are a one man band, I need to control my cameras as well as instruct clearly as I demonstrate the various cooking and preparation skills.

All of the recipes are my own, some just dreamt up in that chef brain of mine the day before class, but what is life without a challenge? And I have to say that I’m loving it!

With a lengthy background working in professional kitchens and then performing in live cookery theatres for the BBC Good Food show and others, these were vital building blocks in my quest to make my online lessons useful, practical, and achievable. 

Having done quite a lot of teaching in the last few years in both formal culinary colleges and community settings, I decided that my “classroom” should be friendly and recipes should be student driven – what do they want to learn? There is no point in trying to teach them something they are never going to cook. One lesson I might cook French or Italian, another day it might be Japanese, Korean or Indian.  I end my lesson asking students what they would like to learn to make, and the suggestions they put forward is what inspires me to create the recipes.

Here are some of my recent online recipes

Egg Custard with Warm Plum compote ©Kevin Ashton 2024

 

My current setup
My current online kitchen setup consists of 4 cameras: one over the cutting board area; one that covers my ingredients table; an Insta 360 link on a gantry over the stove top which can zoom in on any of the 4 burners;  plus a camera built into my laptop for ‘face time’ with the students.

I have 2 additional led camera lights attached the the gantry over my cutting board and an ingredient area, and use my Rode wireless microphone rather than any of the built-in mics on the cameras for better sound quality.  

Future setup
I want to continue improving my production values, so if anyone technical out there wants to suggest improvements I’d be happy to listen. My future setup may include using the open source program OBS and an Elgato streaming deck to give me more camera options.

Class Times
At the moment my scheduled weekly online class is 10am-12pm GMT on Tuesdays, but I will also have a 4pm-6pm GMT (which is 11am EST) on Thursdays to try and accomodate my American friends if a demand is there.  

To Sign UP
Follow this link on my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/c/chefkevinashton/membership

I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.