Poultry Essentials - Cooking with Poultry at Home

Simple yet endlessly versatile, poultry such as chicken and duck are the foundation of confident home cooking. Every cook should have a strong collection of reliable chicken and duck dishes—recipes that are flavourful, efficient, and adaptable for both everyday meals and special occasions. Poultry Essentials is designed to help you build these skills step by step, moving from core techniques to more refined applications.

The module begins with class 1 with chicken, focusing on practical, budget-conscious methods that allow you to turn one whole bird into multiple dishes. You’ll develop strong foundations in knife skills, whole-bird butchery, deboning, crumbing, roasting, and stock preparation—learning how professional cooks maximise flavour while minimising waste. As the next progress, techniques become more advanced, transitioning into class 2 duck cookery, where you’ll apply your foundational skills to richer flavours, refined methods, and classic sauce work inspired by global cuisines.

Who This Class Is For

• Home cooks who want to confidently cook a wider variety of chicken and duck dishes
• Food lovers beginning their home chef journey and building kitchen confidence
• Anyone looking for a unique and memorable gift experience for a food enthusiast

Why Choose Poultry Essentials

• Poultry is one of the most versatile and widely enjoyed proteins
• Learn whole-bird utilisation and essential knife skills
• Master classic cooking methods and build flavour from the ground up using stocks, fats, and proper seasoning

What You’ll Learn

By the end of Poultry Essentials, participants will be able to:

• Identify different poultry cuts and understand their best culinary uses
• Confidently butcher and debone a whole chicken with precision
• Apply essential cooking methods including roasting, braising, pan-searing, and sous-vide
• Prepare balanced poultry stocks, broths, and soups
• Create classic and modern sauces with correct consistency and flavour balance
• Season and pair poultry with complementary ingredients
• Present poultry dishes with professional quality and creativity

What to Expect

• Hands-On Cooking – Every participant cooks, with step-by-step guidance from expert chefs
• Small Class Sizes – Personalised instruction in a focused, supportive environment
• Cultural Storytelling – Learn the traditions and influences behind each dish
• Local Ingredients – Cook with premium Victorian produce and multicultural ingredients
• Group Dining – Share the dishes you’ve created over a communal meal
• Take-Home Resources – Recipe booklet, online access, and generous take-home food
• Professional Studio – Train in Otao Kitchen’s purpose-built modern kitchen

The Menu

Class 1 - Best of Chicken Essentials (Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov)

• Chicken butchery
• Chicken stock, then vegetable soup
• San Choi Bao lettuce cups
• Sous-vide chicken salad with chilli oil
• Chicken roulade with Herbes de Provence
• Southern comfort fried chicken

How This Works
Participants break down a whole chicken into fillets, thighs, and legs. Offcuts are used for stock and soup, fillets are used for salad and roulade, and legs are prepared for frying or wrapped for roulade. A shared crumbing and frying station reinforces professional kitchen workflow and teamwork.

Class 2 - Duck Demystify  (Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec)

• Duck butchery
• Duck rillettes with thyme & tarragon
• Duck breast with gastrique
• Duck confit cassoulet with garlic-parsley crumbs
• Duck ragù with pappardelle
• Duck fat roast potatoes

How This Class Works
Prior to class, the chef cures and prepares duck legs for confit. Each participant is given a whole duck to fillet, using the meat for ragù while learning proper breakdown techniques. Duck breasts are cooked as you need, and rendered duck fat is reused across dishes to reinforce whole-animal utilisation and professional efficiency.

This progressive approach ensures participants move from foundational poultry skills to confident, refined execution, gaining techniques and systems they can apply across all areas of home cooking.

Reviews

— Emily R., Food Lover
“I’ve done a lot of cooking classes, but Poultry Essentials was on another level. Learning how to break down a whole chicken and then actually use every part across multiple dishes completely changed how I cook at home. The duck session was a real confidence boost—I never thought I’d be able to cook duck this well.”
— Sarah L., Melbourne
“This class gave me real skills, not just recipes. The way the chefs explain technique and why you do things makes everything click. I now roast chicken properly, make my own stock, and even tackled duck confit at home. Worth every minute.”
— James K., Home Cook
“Hands down one of the best food experiences I’ve had. The kitchen is beautiful, the chefs are incredibly knowledgeable, and the class is fully hands-on. I loved the focus on whole-animal cooking and not wasting anything. Plus, the food was amazing.”