Currys in the Kitchen and Pear Soufflé

Photo credit to Green Light

I was invited to a blogger event hosted by Currys at the Underground Cookery School a few weeks ago. As a food fanatic and my first such event, it was all too exciting! I even left work on the dot to get to the event on time. 


We were greeted with canapés, fresh juice and Prosecco to start the evening while everyone get to know each other. As most people were armed with their very professional looking cameras, I thought I will join in the fun with my semi-pro micro four thirds. I was gutted that the air-headed me left the memory card at work. Oh well, disappointed but lucky there’s such thing as camera phone these days. It won’t be the sharpest of photos but at least it still captures some of the fun moments. 

Have you seen so many people queuing eagerly to wash their hands? We all were too keen to get our hands dirty again.


The evening consists of some curry and pear soufflé making, along with some knife skills and separating of egg whites. Since there were more than 20 of us, we were divided into two groups. My group started off with making pear soufflé which most of us were dreading. Soufflé is one of those light, sweet and fluffy dessert with a reputation for kitchen disaster. Luckily chef Anthony explained everything there is to know about soufflé and what could go wrong so we could avoid any deflating misfortune. 

Recipe of this souffle is at the end of this post. I have added a tip section below it to highlight what to lookout for.


Everyone had their own ways of separating egg yolks from the white

Folding the mixture very gently

Smooth off excess mixture from ramekin

Chef, happy with his student's work

We then moved along to our second session, curry making! We were shown how to de-bone a chicken thigh properly. Then cook the chicken and curry paste with vegetables and some coconut milk. It would have been great to be shown how to make the curry paste but I guess they prepared it ahead to save the little time we had. Our curry turned out well, so we were all happy.



Carlos showed us how to make Caipirinha and Pina Colada on the Kenwood kmix blender



After the learning and cooking sessions, our tummies were growling. It was so nice to finally be able to sit down for the curry dinner we made with some wine to relax. 

The soufflé that has beautifully risen

It was a very fun and enjoyable night cooking and getting to know fellow bloggers with similar interests. All more than 20 of us bloggers were busy taking shots from our cameras and phones the whole evening that there will never be lack of photos that night. Instead of being out of place, this was the first time I felt very comfortable taking pictures of food without being rude to my fellow diners. It was definitely a successful evening for Currys.


Before ending the night, Currys had some Kenwood kitchen appliances to giveaway to make some bloggers really happy. Congratulations to all the well deserved winners! Do checkout Currys writeup for the evening or search for #currysinthekitchen on Instagram or Twitter to learn more. 

Photo credit to Green Light

Pear Soufflé Recipe

as per Underground Cookery School (there's also a video via the link)

Ingredients:


  • 6 pears juiced
  • 125g sugar
  • 1 tsp cornflour
  • 4 egg whites
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • pinch of salt

Method:


1.  Butter the ramekins, and dust with 25g of sugar, put in the fridge.
2.  Make pear juice with 6 pears and 50g of sugar.
3.  Add water to 1tsp of cornflour and put mix into heated pear stock. Now add the juice of half a lemon. Reduce down over the hob. The mix should be the consistency of wallpaper paste.
4.  Whisk egg whites into a ribbon whilst mixing in 50g of caster sugar. Add a few drops of lemon juice and a pinch of salt as you go along.
5.  Put one spoonful per soufflé into a bowl and fold in 1/3 of the egg whites to the paste. Then fold in the balance. 
6.  Scoop mixture into ramekins, smooth over and run finger round the circumference of the ramekin.
·        Scoop the meringue mixture into a ramekin
·        Knock the ramekin on a flat surface to make sure mixture fills the whole ramekin
·        Smooth off excess with a palette knife
·        Turn the ramekin to run a finger around the circumference
·        Lick what is left off your finger for a taste test or just because you like it
7.  Put in the oven for 8 minutes in 160C.

Tips:


  • Make sure the puree is dried out like a paste. 
  • When mixing the puree with meringue, scoop out about a third of the meringue into the puree and mix until well combined. This step is needed to make sure the other 2/3 of the meringue keeps it lightness and air.
  • Fold the meringue gently until just combined, be careful not to over mix it. 


Hope these tips help.

**Am I now confident at making my own soufflé at home? I think I am definitely more convinced so, stay tuned for a post on my soufflé attempt soon!


Underground Cookery School

The school offers fun cookery classes for team building events, private parties and hen parties.

201/203 City Road
EC1V 1JN
London, UK.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7251 6298


Nearest station: Old Street (northern line)


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