Cooking Classes in Lovedale

Smoke from a Traeger, a courtyard with fountains and music, and a pitmaster who has cooked in the Hunter for three decades: that's the setting at Majors Lane Cooking School. It's the teaching side of Lovedale Smokehouse, a café and deli on a 100-acre property among the Lovedale vineyards, at 64 Majors Lane.

Owner Ben Sales, a qualified chef, has taught every class the school has run, and he fills the gaps between steps with stories from his travels and the reasons behind each technique.

Pick one of four menus for your group:

• Brisket and wings, low and slow on the smoker, with slaw and mac and cheese
• Pork ribs in a Louisiana-style red sauce, with smoked potato salad and smoked corn
• Thai: red curry from a scratch-made paste, an omelette, jasmine rice, warm beef noodle salad and pork laab
• Greek: pita, tzatziki, village salad, souvlaki, lamb keftedes and prawn saganaki
• Each finishing with lunch made from what the group cooked, plus a drink

Private classes start from $170 per person. Everyone goes home with an apron and the recipes, and leftovers can be packed up to take away.