Languedoc Cooking Class, Montpellier

The Languedoc Cooking Class in Montpellier is a 3.5-hour hands-on course held in a professional teaching kitchen in the Écusson quarter — Montpellier's medieval walled centre — introducing participants to three dishes representative of the Mediterranean-Languedoc tradition of the Hérault department in Occitanie. The class is structured around three seasonal preparations. The first is brandade de morue, the classic Languedoc salt-cod emulsion familiar across the Hérault and Gard, here prepared with high-quality desalted morue, Hérault olive oil, and milk. Participants learn the emulsification technique that produces a smooth, light paste. The second dish is tian de légumes, the slow-roasted vegetable gratin of Provence and Languedoc assembled with courgette, tomato, aubergine, and onion arranged in overlapping slices and dressed with local olive oil, fresh thyme, and garlic. The third preparation is a wine-braised recipe — typically daube d'agneau or poulet aux olives — using a Languedoc AOC red wine as the braising liquid and featuring the olive, caper, and herb aromatics of the regional kitchen. The teaching kitchen is equipped with individual workstations or shared benches of two. The chef instructor focuses on technique that extends beyond these three recipes: olive oil flavour profiling, emulsification mechanics, the advantages of slow roasting over high heat for vegetables, and the role of wine acidity in braises. After cooking, participants eat the dishes together with Languedoc wines — typically a Picpoul de Pinet white with the brandade and a Faugères or Saint-Chinian red with the braise. Class sizes are limited to a maximum of ten participants. The class operates in English and French, and sometimes in Spanish for groups from Catalonia. Vegetarian participants can substitute a mushroom or vegetable filling for the braised dish with advance notice; brandade and tian are both vegetable-forward preparations. The €75 price covers all ingredients, the cooking session, the shared meal, and a glass of wine.