Espetada & Bolo do Caco Hands-On Cooking Class

This hands-on cooking class, held at a kitchen on Rua da Carreira in central Funchal, runs about three and a half hours and teaches two of Madeira's signature dishes: espetada and bolo do caco. Participants learn the traditional marinade for espetada, built around garlic, bay laurel and coarse salt, then skewer chunks of beef onto laurel-wood sticks and grill them over an open fire, the same method used in the island's traditional dining halls. In parallel, the class covers hand-shaping and griddling bolo do caco, Madeira's dense wheat-and-sweet-potato flatbread, cooked on a hot stone or griddle and traditionally split and filled with garlic butter. The class finishes with a shared meal of what participants have cooked, accompanied by a glass of Madeira wine. Instruction runs in English with hands-on stations for each participant rather than a demonstration-only format, and groups are kept small, generally under 10 people, to allow individual attention at the grill and griddle. Vegetarian substitutions for the espetada portion can typically be arranged with advance notice, using grilled vegetables or a plant-based protein instead of beef, though the bolo do caco component remains as taught. Not included is transport to the venue, which sits within walking distance of central Funchal hotels. The class runs year-round with no strong seasonal variation.