Yesterday saw three of our four team entrants head off to the Hastings in Lytham for a cookery masterclass by head chef Warwick Dodds in preparation for the first round of the Great Northern Cook Off Competition. For the amateur cooking competition, attracting teams from all business sectors, our intrepid team of Tim, Justina, Sally and Katie donned their aprons and headed into their first professional kitchen.
What followed was a fascinating display of chopping, frying, stirring and culinary genius – well, in our opinion! Guiding the team through the basics of knife skills as they chopped and sliced onions and vegetables I was ecstatic that no-one lost a finger! Whilst covering the basics of good sauce making – butter/flour/milk or stock/seasoning – Justina audibly gasped at the amount of salt used but conceded the dish tasted perfect.
Then came the masterclass in risotto making. As Warwick demonstrated the cooking techniques required our eyes grew as big as saucers in anticipation of the taste test coming up – truly we were not disappointed. I’m quite sure that mushroom risotto will be appearing on a few dinner menus at home this week.
With more tips about blanching, refreshing, butter to shine(very clever), using hot plates and presentation of dishes the team left brimming with confidence for their heat next Tuesday.
Our thanks must go to Warwick and the team for their help and you can see how the team gets on by following us on Twitter next Tuesday and reading our follow up posts.
Fingers crossed!
Diane
Very nice indeed, would love to have been there!
Posted by: NWBUS | 10 January 2011 at 08:23 PM
Can't wait to see what the team comes up with! Would've loved to have taken part, it sounds brill. Good luck guys!! I'll be avidly following on Tuesday...
Posted by: Kate | 15 September 2010 at 10:39 AM