Eat yesterday's jelly, make tomorrow's
Pass It On Kitchen is the Madam Man Cooking Class: a short walk to a local market, an evening in a resort kitchen about 500 metres away, and one small habit that gives the class its name. You start by eating the coconut jelly the previous class made for you, and you finish by leaving a tray of it for the class that comes tomorrow.
At a glance
- Duration
- About three to three and a half hours, 16:00 - 19:00 / 19:30
- Group
- Maximum 10
- Starts
- At the class kitchen; you make your own way there
- You eat
- Dinner, from what you cooked
- Level
- Very easy, 1.5 of 5 - about 1 km on foot
- From
- USD 55 per adult, USD 39 for a child 6 - 11
Why the class is called Pass It On
Coconut jelly has to set, which takes longer than the class lasts. So the jelly you make today is not the jelly you eat. You eat the tray the class before you made, labelled with that class's name, and you make a tray, labelled with yours, for the class that comes tomorrow.
It is a small thing and that is the appeal of it. Every class opens with a gift from people it will never meet and closes by leaving one. It is also, practically, the right way to teach a dish that needs hours to finish.
Because it is food being handed from one day to the next, the kitchen handles it carefully. The jelly is kept chilled, labelled with the date and time it was made, and thrown away after 24 hours. On a day when there was no class the evening before - the first class of a season, or after a quiet day - the kitchen serves a spare batch it made itself, so nobody starts without a tray.
What you cook
| Dish | What it is | When in the class |
|---|---|---|
| Coconut jelly | Set jelly made with coconut, poured into moulds and labelled for tomorrow | First, at 17:20, because it needs the time to set |
| Kho quet with boiled vegetables, or banh hoi | Kho quet is a thick, salty-sweet dipping sauce simmered slowly, eaten with boiled vegetables; banh hoi is fine woven rice vermicelli. You choose one of the two | Second, from about 17:45 |
| Pho cuon | Filling and fresh herbs rolled in soft, uncut pho noodle sheets | Third, from about 18:05 |
| Vegetable salad | A fresh salad from the vegetables bought at the market | Last, from about 18:30 |
The order is the lesson as much as the dishes. Jelly goes first because it needs time. Kho quet goes on next because it simmers gently while you do other things. The rolls and the salad come last because they are best fresh. Done in that order, four dishes fit comfortably into a little over two hours after the market.
Kho quet is a southern Vietnamese way of eating vegetables: you dip them in the reduced sauce. If you would rather not, banh hoi is the alternative, and the class lets you pick one.
The market, and an honest word about the time of day
The class starts at 16:00 with a short walk, about 500 metres each way, to a local market. The teacher leads it with a shopping list, and you choose the vegetables, the meat or prawns, and the coconut. Along the way you learn how to pick fresh greens and how bargaining works at a stall like this.
Local markets in Vietnam are at their busiest and freshest early in the morning. At four in the afternoon the market is quieter and there is less on the stalls. That is the trade-off for a class that ends in dinner: you see a working neighbourhood market rather than a morning rush. If the market itself is the main thing you want, a morning visit is better, and the family kitchen day starts in the Duong Dong market in the morning.
In heavy rain the market walk is dropped. The teacher prepares the ingredients in advance and the class starts in the kitchen, which makes it shorter but otherwise the same.
Day by day
A market walk, four dishes and dinner at the table
You arrive at the resort kitchen for 16:00. The first ten minutes are the menu and the shopping list, and the class is split into small groups, each with something to buy. From 16:10 to about 17:00 you walk to the market, about 500 metres away, shop and walk back.
At 17:00 the class sits down to the coconut jelly the previous class made, and the teacher runs through the dishes. From 17:20 you make tomorrow's jelly and label it, then kho quet with boiled vegetables or banh hoi from 17:45, pho cuon from about 18:05 and the salad from about 18:30.
From 18:45 the table is laid and you eat dinner from what you cooked, into the early evening. You take the recipes with you. The class finishes between 19:00 and 19:30 depending on how long dinner runs.
Prices
| Who | Price per person |
|---|---|
| Adult | USD 55 |
| Child aged 6 - 11, with an adult | USD 39 |
It costs USD 6 more than Roll & Brew because it adds the market walk and a full dinner. Every day we sell is listed side by side on the prices page.
What the price includes
- A chef leading the market walk and the whole class
- Ingredients bought at the market, within the class allowance
- The previous class's coconut jelly
- Dinner from the dishes you cook
- Drinking water
- The recipes
What it does not include
- Transfers to and from the class kitchen - on request, quoted when you book
- Other drinks
- Anything you buy for yourself at the market
- Travel insurance
- Tips
Food and allergies
Tell us about allergies when you book. The kitchen can plan around them only if it knows in advance, and the market shopping is done to a list.
There is a vegetarian version, with a mushroom kho quet in place of the usual one and no meat or prawn in the rolls.
Gallery
Who this class is not for
- Anyone who wants to see a market at its liveliest. This one is visited at four in the afternoon, when it is quieter and there is less on the stalls.
- People looking for a family home rather than a class. This is a resort kitchen with a teacher and a timetable; the family kitchen day is the other kind of day.
- Travellers who need the evening free. Dinner is part of the class and it runs until between 19:00 and 19:30.
- Children under six. The class lasts over three hours and includes a walk and hot stoves. From six, children take part alongside an adult.
- Anyone expecting a hotel pickup. You make your own way to the class kitchen; a transfer is available on request at an extra cost.
Questions travellers ask most
What happens to the jelly if there was no class yesterday?
The kitchen keeps a spare batch it makes itself for exactly that case, so every class opens with a tray. Jelly is kept chilled, labelled with the date and time and thrown away after 24 hours, whoever made it.
What if it rains?
Light rain does not change much. In heavy rain the market walk is dropped: the teacher buys the ingredients in advance and the class starts in the kitchen. Everything else, including dinner, runs as normal.
Can children take part?
From six, with an adult, at USD 39 for ages six to eleven. The walk to the market is about 500 metres each way, which most children manage easily. Say their ages when you book.
How is this different from Roll & Brew?
Roll & Brew is three hours in a class kitchen with no market, teaching three rolls and egg coffee, in a morning or an afternoon session. Pass It On starts with a market walk, ends with dinner, and has the coconut jelly at both ends.
The comparison page puts all three cooking days side by side.
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