Attended a cooking class on Saturday. Well, the programme said “class” though I think it’s more of a demonstration. And with twenty women in an enclosed space, with ample wine at our disposal, at some points it seemed more like the final mark down at a Jimmy Choo sale than a kitchen.
Fortunately, Mervyn — that’s our cooking instructor (he doesn’t call himself a chef, just someone who’s passionate about cooking) — was well prepared for situations like these.
He’ll ring his handbell loudly and sternly, a signal that us over-zealous Nigella wannabes should put our knives/wooden spoons/wine glasses down and listen to his tip of what spices to use on the 60 king prawns we’ve skewered.
(Tip: Soak your wooden skewers in water overnight; this way they are less likely to burn on the grill.)
Anyway, demonstration or class, it was still a great way to spend a sunny Saturday morning. Mervyn took us through 5 recipes, from a starter, a side through to main course and pasta, and dessert.
He described the steps, showed us briefly how it was done before passing the knife/wooden spoon/spatula to us. There was only one kitchen counter and stove, so we all took turns cooking. How hands on you wanted to be was up to you. Mervyn also had a barbecue grill out on the balcony.
(Tip: Press your forefinger to your thumb and touch the fleshy area of your palm under your thumb. That’s about how tender a rare steak could be if you pressed it. Press your middle finger to your thumb; that’s medium rare. Third finger is medium. Pinkie is well done.)
We ate what we helped to prepare.
The tuna carpaccio is the easiest yet looks most impressive. The gnocchi was the most fun (okay, so we had a little bit more of a Play Doh moment than necessary), and we did a bacon version as well as a Chinese sausage version, which means now we have learnt one fusion dish as well. Hah.
The tenderloin was amazing. The mustard he served hails from Pommery, France and is available in a local gourmet mart.
The warm chocolate lava cake the yummiest and the most sinful. One thing I discovered about baking and making desserts is: you never realise how much sugar and butter and cream goes into them. Makes you wonder why we bother to watch our calories on every other part of our meals if we’re only going to have dessert to ruin the best laid plans.
By the end of the session, we were so full we couldn’t move. Slipping into a food coma, for sure, but a happy and contented one.
Highly recommend everyone to try these cookyn parties with Mervyn. Pull some friends together for a session or make a couple thing out of it. The ingredients he uses are quality and the preparation is easy. If twenty of us can cook well enough and not poison ourselves to call in sick for work on Monday, so can you.
Tags: cookyn with mervyn
