Egyptian Cuisine Masterclass at Sofitel

The Egyptian Cuisine Masterclass at Sofitel is a three-hour professional cooking session hosted at Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah, a five-star hotel occupying the southern tip of Gezira Island with panoramic views over the Nile. The class is led by the hotel's executive chef and covers three pillars of Egyptian cuisine: cold mezze preparation, tagine-style slow cooking, and traditional Egyptian pastry making. The session takes place in the hotel's professional demonstration kitchen, equipped to restaurant standard with individual workstations for each participant. The mezze module covers the preparation of baba ghanoush made from charcoal-roasted aubergine, Egyptian hummus with tahini and local spices, and ful naabet — a creamy white bean dip less commonly encountered outside Egyptian home kitchens. The tagine module focuses on an Egyptian-style chicken tagine with preserved lemon, olives, and saffron, reflecting the overlap between Egyptian and North African Maghrebi culinary traditions. The guide discusses how this dish evolved differently from Moroccan tagines despite sharing a common culinary ancestry. The pastry module covers the production of basbousa — a semolina cake sweetened with sugar syrup and topped with almonds — and the fundamental technique behind konafa pastry, including how to handle the shredded-wheat strands, fill a portion with cream cheese, and bake it to the correct golden crispness. The masterclass concludes with participants eating the full meal in the hotel dining area, where the Nile views provide an atmospheric setting for the shared table. The class price of approximately 2,800 EGP (US $90) covers all ingredients, professional kitchen instruction, the three-course meal, and non-alcoholic beverages. The professional kitchen setting and hotel-standard equipment make this masterclass particularly suited to participants with a genuine interest in culinary technique rather than a casual tasting experience.