If you love Chinese food and want to make it properly at home yourself then I've got the perfect course for you to try. Last night I joined 11 others in Covent Garden for a 3 hour class with Jeremy Pang at the School of Wok, where we learnt how to make veggie gyoza, black bean rib eye and braised aubergine.
Chef Jeremy Pang started teaching Chinese cookery (having studied French cookery himself) back in 2009 in people's homes. His classes were so popular that in May 2012 he opened the School of Wok in the middle of Covent Garden where anyone can take classes in Oriental and Asian cuisine. The classes, led by a variety of chefs including Jeremy, cover cuisines spanning all of Asia, as well as more technical classes including dim sum and noodle pulling lessons, and also tasting tours of Chinatown. As Jeremy says "the number one goal for School of Wok is to provide informative yet really fun classes for all our students.... and in our new environment, there is no doubt that everyone will really enjoy themselves". We definitely enjoyed our class, which was "Cooking with award winning chef Jeremy Pang".
On arrival we were given an apron, a chopping board and a knife, ready to learn how to make 3 of the recipes from Jeremy's new book, Chinese Unchopped. Jeremy talked us through what we'd be making, and then started on the basics of Chinese cooking, which is all about the prep. He said it's about 90% prep and 10% cooking. We started with mastering the slicing technique, so that we could prepare all the vegetables for filling our gyoza. We sliced and chopped Chinese vegetables, including pak choi, Chinese herbs and cabbage. I'll do a separate post soon with the recipe for these amazing gyoza and step by step instructions on how to make your own at home - now I know how to make them, I can see they'll be a regular feature for meals at home!
Once our gyoza were made and ready for deep frying later we moved on to the black bean rib eye steak. We added sugar, light soy sauce and sesame oil - 3 staples of Chinese cookery, and massaged these in to the beef, along with some cornflour which would later thicken the sauce in the wok. We added beer to oyster sauce to use later, and arranged our veg, meat and sauce in a wok clock, laid out on a plate ready for speedy cooking.
At this point we moved through to the kitchen and picked up some more tips on how to cook in the wok, including the importance of letting your wok get so hot that it's smoking before adding new ingredients. We whipped up our black bean beef and braised aubergine then moved back through to the teaching room to enjoy our creations with a glass of wine.
The food was absolutely delicious, and I had such a fun evening and it was so lovely to see Erica, Mike and Ann. I can't recommend the courses at School of Wok highly enough - I came away buzzing with excitement having mastered a cuisine that I love but rarely cook myself - I've already ordered some gyoza pastries/sheets so I can get started on making my own - as they freeze well I imagine they'll be lots going out to family and friends as edible presents too.
For information on all the classes available at School of Wok check out their site here. Courses start at £95 for evening classes, which run a few times a week, and go up to £750 for a full 5 day course.
Chef Jeremy Pang started teaching Chinese cookery (having studied French cookery himself) back in 2009 in people's homes. His classes were so popular that in May 2012 he opened the School of Wok in the middle of Covent Garden where anyone can take classes in Oriental and Asian cuisine. The classes, led by a variety of chefs including Jeremy, cover cuisines spanning all of Asia, as well as more technical classes including dim sum and noodle pulling lessons, and also tasting tours of Chinatown. As Jeremy says "the number one goal for School of Wok is to provide informative yet really fun classes for all our students.... and in our new environment, there is no doubt that everyone will really enjoy themselves". We definitely enjoyed our class, which was "Cooking with award winning chef Jeremy Pang".
On arrival we were given an apron, a chopping board and a knife, ready to learn how to make 3 of the recipes from Jeremy's new book, Chinese Unchopped. Jeremy talked us through what we'd be making, and then started on the basics of Chinese cooking, which is all about the prep. He said it's about 90% prep and 10% cooking. We started with mastering the slicing technique, so that we could prepare all the vegetables for filling our gyoza. We sliced and chopped Chinese vegetables, including pak choi, Chinese herbs and cabbage. I'll do a separate post soon with the recipe for these amazing gyoza and step by step instructions on how to make your own at home - now I know how to make them, I can see they'll be a regular feature for meals at home!
Once our gyoza were made and ready for deep frying later we moved on to the black bean rib eye steak. We added sugar, light soy sauce and sesame oil - 3 staples of Chinese cookery, and massaged these in to the beef, along with some cornflour which would later thicken the sauce in the wok. We added beer to oyster sauce to use later, and arranged our veg, meat and sauce in a wok clock, laid out on a plate ready for speedy cooking.
At this point we moved through to the kitchen and picked up some more tips on how to cook in the wok, including the importance of letting your wok get so hot that it's smoking before adding new ingredients. We whipped up our black bean beef and braised aubergine then moved back through to the teaching room to enjoy our creations with a glass of wine.
The food was absolutely delicious, and I had such a fun evening and it was so lovely to see Erica, Mike and Ann. I can't recommend the courses at School of Wok highly enough - I came away buzzing with excitement having mastered a cuisine that I love but rarely cook myself - I've already ordered some gyoza pastries/sheets so I can get started on making my own - as they freeze well I imagine they'll be lots going out to family and friends as edible presents too.
For information on all the classes available at School of Wok check out their site here. Courses start at £95 for evening classes, which run a few times a week, and go up to £750 for a full 5 day course.
Such a great class. And I LOVE the book, I'm going to work my way through it before the next one is out! Lovely to see you there (and great write-up). Til next time! A x
ReplyDeleteWas so good wasn't it, and lovely to see you, hopefully see you again soon.
DeleteRosie xx
I've made Gyoza before, it's definitely easier than you think it's be :)
ReplyDeleteLots of love,
Angie
SilverSpoon London
I know, helps so much to have someone show you how. Going to be doing gyoza puddings for my next pop up :)
DeleteRosie xx
I'm loving Jeremy's book too... After trying the Sichuan chicken, I've now bookmarked so many more recipes to try! Looks like you all had such a fun evening!
ReplyDeleteIt's great isn't it - will be reviewing the actual book on here soon too :)
DeleteRosie xx
I definitely want to try some of his recipes now! x
ReplyDeleteThey're great, can't wait to get started on the book. His recipes really are majority prep time and hardly any cooking, so all pretty straightforward.
DeleteRosie xx
This looks brilliant! I've always been tempted to try and make gyoza at home but slightly scared of it going wrong! x
ReplyDeleteThey're really easy Megan - there's great instructions in Jeremy's book, and I will be posting the recipe/method up here soon too
DeleteRosie xx
I have had some many disappointing Chinese meals recently that this really appeals. Why be reliant on someone else when you can have a go yourself. Sounds like good fun Lucy x
ReplyDeleteSuch a fun course, and as you said, so good to learn to make it yourself - really easy and tasty food.
DeleteRosie xx