Gill Meller

Next Level Wood-Fired Cooking

£45
Level: Peer






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The difference between Peer & Expert levels

Both Peer and Expert levels provide:

  • Video lessons led by an expert tutor
  • Downloadable lesson notes
  • Practice assignments
  • Group learning in a 20-student online classroom
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes, and classroom

The Expert level additionally includes:

  • Personalized feedback and coaching from your tutor
  • Private messaging with your tutor
  • Certificate of completion
Level: Peer

Course overview

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.

Watch course trailer

Lesson summary

Cooking fish on the beach
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.
Open fire veg cookery
In this lesson, Gill celebrates veg and its amazing ability to lap up flavours when cooked over an open fire. He’ll whip up one of his favourite brunch dishes, a simple yet stunning Mushrooms with Sage and Fried Eggs. He then turns to brassicas which transform in flavour when cooked over a fire, caramelising all of their natural sugars. He’ll share his Grilled Cabbage with Caraway and Garlic Butter before diving into cooking roots and fruits over the fire, showing you how to Grilled Jerusalem Artichokes with Tahini Yogurt and Grilled Pears in Honey with cinnamon and vanilla mascarpone.
Setting up your own spit for roasting
The final lessons will teach you how to go the whole hog. Gill will show you how to create your own spit, guiding you through the entire process. He’ll show you what you need, how it works, everything you need to get set up, what wood to use and how to light the fire.
Cooking over the spit
Spit-roasting differs from other forms of open-fire cooking in that, as the food is turned on the spit, it is exposed to a burst of intense heat from the fire, followed by a much cooler interval as it is turned away again. In addition, as the meat revolves on the spit, fat and juices are directed back inside it, rather than dripping out, so the meat is effectively self-basting. This lesson dives into the actual cooking and celebratory potential. You’ll be sold on spit-roasting once you’ve seen this lesson.

Choose how you want to learn

Expert-level

Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition:

  • Start the course whenever you like
  • Tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
  • Certificate of completion and CPD learning hours
  • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
  • Lessons with expert videos & notes
  • Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom

Peer-level

Get the most from shared knowledge and community study:

  • Start course whenever you like
  • Practise what you learn with your peers
  • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
  • Lessons with videos & notes
  • Course assignments
  • Group chat & direct message classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom

meet the expert

Gill Meller

River Cottage chef, advocate for simple, seasonal cooking, award-winning author and columnist.

Read more

Why choose Learning with Experts?

Start whenever it suits you, and immerse yourself in motivational lesson tutorials with expert guidance.
Enhance your learning and personal growth with lesson assignments. Each course includes an optional assignment at the end of every lesson.
Drop a friendly message or respond to your assignment feedback. Our world-class experts are just a click away, ready to help you!
Stay informed about your own progress and those of your peers, and take joy in celebrating achievements along the way.
Chat and share ideas with passionate communities of learners from around the world.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between PEER and EXPERT levels?

At Peer and Expert level, you get access to the same core content and features:

  • Video lesson tutorials led by your expert tutor
  • Downloadable lesson notes
  • Option to practise what you learn with lesson assignments
  • Group learning within an online interactive classroom of up to 20 classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes and classroom

If you choose Expert level, you get all of the above plus the following:

  • Personalised assignment feedback and coaching from your expert tutor
  • Opportunity to interact with your expert tutor through a private messaging system
  • Certificate of completion.
What is an online classroom?

Our online classroom has been developed to allow you to learn from our experts in a sociable environment alongside up to 20 other students. After each video tutorial led by your expert, you will be encouraged to practice what you have learned with optional assignments - these can be seen by the other students in your class, who are free to share their own thoughts and questions with you.

You will be encouraged to take part in an ongoing class discussion where you can discuss ideas, post images or work, and comment on each other’s assignments. It’s a great way to learn from other like-minded people who share your passion from all over the world.

This means not only do you benefit from people who are outstanding in their field, but also from a close-knit group of like-minded people whom you can learn alongside. Group learning has shown to greatly improve not just the experience of studying, but also how well you retain the knowledge, and we have built our classroom experience around this fact.
When can I start my course and how long will it take?

You can start your course any time within 12 months after receipt of your purchase confirmation email. Once you start, you’ll have lifetime access — meaning you can revisit the lesson videos and notes whenever you want.

Our courses are designed so that you can study at your own pace, some prefer to binge learn while others like to spread their studying over a longer period of time - it’s completely up to you. To give you a rough time frame, each lesson video is approximately 30-40 minutes long, and we recommend that you spend around an hour on each assignment.
How often can I speak with the Expert?

If you opt for the Expert version of your course, the time you have to interact with your tutor is limited to course length. You will have one week per lesson to chat to your tutor and to have your assignments marked, and during this period you can ask them as many questions as you would like.

To find out the length of each course, head to the product page and look at the Course outline to see how many lessons it contains. e.g. a four lesson course assumes that you will have completed the assignments within four weeks.

Your tutor interaction period will start as soon as you enter the classroom. If you find that you are struggling to complete the assignments in the allocated time or you wish to put this function on hold, just get in contact with one of the team via the support button and we will help you out.
Support and full FAQs

If you need any help with a course, be it one you’ve started already, or one you are looking to purchase, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support email address, or view the full FAQ’s here.

You can also use the orange speech bubble on your page to start a conversation with us.

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Awards and accreditations

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