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Albanian Cooking Class Experience

Would rather eat than cook, with live music? See the Albanian Night dinner →

5.063 Google reviewsHalf day from Tirana, Durrës or Golem

The single most useful thing you can learn in an Albanian kitchen is how to stretch byrek pastry by hand, and it looks impossible until someone who has done it ten thousand times shows you. This class is at a family farm about forty minutes outside Tirana, and the person teaching is the grandmother of the house.

Itinerary

For reference only. Itineraries are subject to change.

  1. 09:30

    Pickup

    From your hotel in Tirana. Durrës and Golem pickups leave at 09:00.

  2. 10:15

    Welcome and the garden

    Coffee, then a walk through the vegetable garden and the orchard to pick what we will cook.

  3. 10:45

    Byrek

    Mixing, resting and stretching the pastry by hand over the big table. The hardest part and the best one.

  4. 11:45

    Fërgesë and tavë kosi

    Two baked dishes into the wood oven while the byrek cooks.

  5. 13:00

    Lunch under the vines

    Everything you made, with bread from the outdoor oven, salad from the garden, farm wine and raki.

  6. 14:30

    Back to your hotel

    Recipes in hand. Tirana around 15:15, the coast around 15:45.

Experience & Highlights

  • Hand-stretched byrek pastry, taught step by step
  • Fërgesë and tavë kosi, two national dishes
  • Garden walk to pick the ingredients
  • Lunch of everything you cooked, under the vines
  • Recipes to take home

Full Description

Before the cooking there is a walk round the garden to pick what goes in: peppers, tomatoes, herbs, whatever is ready that week. Then three dishes: a byrek with spinach or cheese, fërgesë, the Tirana dish of peppers, tomato and cottage cheese baked together, and tavë kosi, lamb baked under a thick yoghurt and egg crust, which is the one people ask for the recipe to.

Everything you make is lunch, served at a long table under the vines with bread from the outdoor oven, the farm's own wine and raki, and more food than anyone can finish. You leave with the recipes written down.

What's included

  • Hotel pickup and drop-off in Tirana, Durrës and Golem
  • Hands-on cooking class, three dishes
  • Lunch of everything cooked, with farm wine, raki and soft drinks
  • Written recipes
  • English-speaking host

Not included

  • Farm produce to take home (honey, cheese, raki)
  • Gratuities

Good to know

  • Vegetarian versions are easy: we swap the lamb for a vegetable tavë. Vegan needs 48 hours of notice.
  • Maximum ten people, so everyone gets their hands in the pastry.
  • Children from age 6 are welcome and are usually good at the stretching.
  • Runs Monday to Saturday year-round. In winter the class moves indoors to the farm kitchen.

Good questions, honest answers

What dishes do you learn in the Albanian cooking class?

Three: byrek with hand-stretched pastry, fërgesë, a baked dish of peppers, tomato and cottage cheese from Tirana, and tavë kosi, lamb baked under a yoghurt and egg crust. Vegetarian classes swap the lamb for a vegetable version.

Do I need cooking experience?

None at all. The pastry takes some practice to get right and the teacher expects the first few attempts to tear. You do it with your own hands rather than watching.

How far is the cooking class from Tirana?

About forty minutes to a family farm in the hills. From Durrës or Golem it is about an hour. Transport is included both ways, which matters given the wine at lunch.

Plan the rest of your trip

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