★★★★★ 5.0 rated on Tripadvisor for culinary holidays • Trusted by guests worldwide
Hands-on cooking, thoughtful demonstration, & shared exploration of the Loire Valley’s food & wine - shaped around each group
Loire Kitchen is a small-group culinary holiday in the southern Loire Valley — rooted in French tradition and shaped by the people at the table. You’ll cook hands-on, explore local markets and vineyards, and build technique in a relaxed but focused atmosphere.
“The best spice of all is time. Since Loire Kitchen, the food we cook at home has reached a new level.”
— Carl, Sweden
“The informality, without losing a focus on learning, was a highlight.”
— Sharon, Australia
Culinary Holidays at Loire Kitchen Rooted in French tradition. Informed by the wider Mediterranean At Loire Kitchen, you don’t simply taste French cuisine — you learn to cook with clarity and confidence. Our small-group culinary holidays are based in the southern Loire Valley…
Gastronomic Delight The Complete Loire Kitchen Experience – Cooking, Wine-Tasting & Fine Dining This is the week that brings everything together. This French cooking course and culinary holiday in the Loire Valley is designed for people who want to cook seriously, eat well, and understand…
Focused cooking, local markets, and the cultural life of the Loire Valley This 4-night (5-day) culinary holiday offers a concentrated exploration of French regional cooking — balancing hands-on technique with the food, wine and cultural life of the Loire Valley. It’s designed for those who…
An opportunity to see some of the dishes that we have been preparing and sharing at Loire Kitchen in Missé over the past year.
There is a moment that happens in my kitchen, usually about ten to twelve minutes into making mayonnaise, when something shifts.
Not in the bowl. In the room. Someone in the group will notice the mixture beginning to look a little loose, a little oily around the edges. They’ll glance up…
The best tip I ever received about mayonnaise came from Fanny and Johnnie Cradock. In their book A Cook’s Essential Alphabet, Johnnie describes an occasion when Fanny left the mixer beating egg yolks and went to answer the phone — only to return much later to find a thick, almost white batter waiting…
There is a particular memory that comes back to me whenever I make a vinaigrette. It’s late 2009, I am sitting in a diner in the American Midwest — can’t remember which state or town — and my salad order arrives. The leaves are buried. Not dressed. Buried. A lake of thick, pale, pre-made Ranch dressing…
I love a good vinaigrette — one that barely coats the salad leaves and has enough acidity to cleanse the palate. I abhor salads where the leaves are drowning in a sappy mayonnaise soup, something that is all too common in the UK, USA and my mate Yann’s…
A rainy day in the Loire Valley turns into a sparkling adventure of wine, wit, and wonderfully questionable tasting expertise. The Scottish chef put his nose deep into the wine glass, inhaled with great seriousness, took a sip, gargled the golden liquid with theatrical…
Wine, growers, and unexpected discoveries in the Loire Valley The Thouars Wine Festival – Le Salon des Vins de Thouars – takes place each year on the last weekend of March. The next will be held on 27, 28 and 29 March 2026 in the…
For context on choosing fish with confidence at market, see Fearless with Fish →A defining dish of western France — precise technique, patient heat and clarity of flavour.In Poitou-Charentes and along the Loire, beurre blanc is not an embellishment; it is identity. Traditionally paired…
For a number of years I watched visitors arrive at our local market in the Loire, dazzled by the array of fish and seafood on display. Whole gleaming bass. Silver-skinned mackerel. Pike, sandre, perch. Oysters shifting gently in their shells. It is a beautiful…
Introduction Rated ★★★★★ on Tripadvisor and consistently recommended by our guests from the UK, Australia, the USA and beyond. Here are a selection of reflections from people who have joined us at Loire Kitchen. Many of these reviews can also be read in full on…
Introduction In the autumn and winter I like to use whatever meat is plentiful in my ragu. Wild rabbit and wild boar (with bitter chocolate) are particular favourites, lamb shanks can be fantastic, goose too. I made this version with duck legs mostly drumsticks, but…
