Saddleworth: I visited a cheap cooking class in Oldham

A decade ago, if you took your partner for a night behind the hob they would probably snarl at you, but not anymore - they are all the rage.

I visited Saddleworth Cookery School in Diggle for a "rough puff pastry" class with my girlfriend - a Mother's Day treat.

Located in Warth Mill, the school is run by Pam Jones, a culinary maestro who runs classes for near enough anything food-related from pasta making to creating gingerbread houses.

Pam Jones prepping the meat (Image: Newsquest)

While the price of a couples class can leave a sour taste in your mouth, Saddleworth's modest £70 certainly did not.

The difference between cooking at home and in a social setting is light and day, it's more humorous, interactive and light-hearted - even if you don't take everything in.

Walking through the doors was a bit daunting at first, but we were greeted by Pam whose bubbly personality settled our nerves immediately.

The kitchen boasts of six cooking stations, which can accommodate up to 12 students but Monday night saw just the eight.

The class transfixed on Pam (Image: Newsquest)

Sat behind us was a young woman with coeliac disease, a condition where your immune system attacks your own tissues when you eat gluten, and her partner.

The pair joked how her boyfriend couldn't cook and that's why it was the perfect present.

Beside us, a teenager - I'd say learning the ropes but he seemed fine-tuned, an older woman in-front of him who attends classes frequently, while a mum and her daughter were on the station in front of us.

We washed our hands, threw on our aprons and prepared to cook. Pam explained what we were going to be making - sausage rolls and pork pies.

We start by making the pastry, rolling it and folding it, rolling, folding, rolling, folding - six times and then a few more for good measure. While repetition usually frustrates me, it was rather therapeutic.

Megan Egan glazing her sausage rolls (Image: Newsquest)

We put plates over the dough for our sausage rolls to avoid using clingfilm, to "save the environment", Pam explained, before putting them in the "chiller".

Next up we created the pastry for our pork pies, heating butter and lard in the oven before rolling once more and placing them in trays.

Being the only cooking class in Oldham, Pam could easily get away with marking the prices up but that wouldn't fit her ethos of catering for everyone.

Although it isn't just Oldhamers who enjoy her kitchen, with two having come from as far as Crewe that day.

Thirty-one beautifully homemade pork pies! (Image: Newsquest)

We're called to the corner of the room, where Pam has seasoned and mixed our pork, and she begins to show us how to fill our pies and rolls. Patiently, we do just that.

Nine pies are created between myself and my girlfriend, before being loaded into the oven with 22 other pies - a baker's delight.

While we waited for them to cook we moved on to filling our sausage roll, which doesn't need any description - it is as easy as it sounds.

For the next 15 minutes as we waited for our pastries, Pam spoke passionately about the children she teaches during the day and not making enough time for adult classes - doing just one a week.

Reporter Joe Yates enjoying his sausage roll (Image: Newsquest)

It's clear that she and her team work flat-out, not for money but for the riches that come from teaching.

We enjoyed our pastries in the car before driving home, and we're eager to return soon.

Have you got a story to share? Email joe.yates@newsquest.co.uk