Artisan
Cuisine
Bread
Learn how to create an artisan loaf of bread at home. From traditional Italian bread to easy slapdash loaves made from scratch.
Pasta
Learn to make fresh pasta, gnocchi, and risotto at home! From making hand-rolled pasta shapes to using a pasta maker.
Desserts
Learn to make mouth-watering desserts. From easy-to-make sweet treats to showstopping desserts for special occasions.
Booze
Learn to make handcrafted beer, wine and liqueur. From South-African favourites, like Pineapple Beer, to more exotic beverages.
About Louis
Hailing from Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate from Tygerberg College, holding a City & Guilds Advanced Diploma in Culinary Arts. Louis has worked in various restaurants and private catering companies in Cape Town. He believes, when it comes to food, that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
I cook for enjoyment, not recognition. This is my therapy, this is my pleasure.
I cook for enjoyment, not recognition. This is my therapy, this is my pleasure.
~ Louis Nel
Coming Soon!
Cooking Techniques
Chef Louis dishes the deets on the fundamentals of cooking through easy recipes, how-to-guides and videos. Learn about basic knife skill, food preparation, and cooking methods, like sautéing, roasting and braising. Suitable for novices and professionals that want expand their culinary skills.
Coming Soon
A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.
~ Thomas Keller
On the Coals
On the Coals
Gather the family, grab a beer, and get fired up for a lekker potjie!
“Potjiekos” is a traditional Afrikaner dish with a multitude of variants. Traditionally cooked outdoors over hot coals in a cast iron pan, this dish requires little fussing and plenty of patience. Learn more about this special craft.
Good food is very often, even most often, simple food.
~ Anthony Bourdain
Herbs & Spices
Whether fresh or dried, adding herbs or spices is one of the easiest ways to enhance the flavour a dish! Learn about the culinary uses and characteristics of popular kitchen herbs and spices from around the world.
Chef's Blog
Get the inside scoop what it’s like to cook for a living. Louis shares his thoughts on the industry, offers cooking tips, gives brutally honest product reviews, and tells us about his experiences as a professional chef in South Africa.
Kitchen Jargon
Restaurants have a culture of their own, and it’s most apparent in their language. “Kitchen jargon” is an efficient shorthand with common terms used throughout the industry and terms unique to the specific restaurant.
Featured Recipe
Sweet and sticky Cape Malay Koesisters
This Cape Town favourite brings back memories of working at the Castle of Good Hope. I would sneak away whenever I had a chance to buy a half dozen of these delectable treats. The various stalls on the Parade would showcase their koesisters and people would line up to buy them. The smell of the spices resonating from the stalls was enough to drive you crazy.
Not to be confused with the Afrikaner plaited koeksister, which I love just as much. The Cape Malay koeksisters are infused with festive spices, coated with sugar syrup and desiccated coconut. It’s like taking a bite of Christmas all year long.
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