In the old days, if you wanted to learn to cook you’d have to travel to a cookery class, spend time learning in a strange kitchen, with strange people and spend a fair amount of money for the privilege. It’s not that there was anything wrong with this system, it’s just that a lot of people couldn’t spare the time or expense to go on this sort of Haute Cuisine course.

Now there’s another way to get your chef-ing skills. The new ChefHangout.com uses the cool webcam conferencing technology of Google+ hangouts to bring together up to 9 people and a top chef to learn culinary techniques and how to cook specific dishes. The beauty of the service is you can choose the time that suits you from the schedule, and you can even choose the people you want to learn with, which means you could invite friends and family, even if they’re on the other side of the country, to attend a cooking class with you.

Prices start at around $10 a session upwards depending on complexity, and there’s a great selection of things you can learn, from making healthy meals to knife or pasta skills. Apparently there are some users who invite their remote family for a masterclass lesson as a gift, after which they all sit down in their own homes and eat the resulting dinner virtually together. It’s kind of spooky and cool all at the same time.