art of cuisine

Coming up 29 November is a class on Christmas Treats and Summer Entertaining with inspired salads and the art of poaching to create lovely cooling foods. Contact Us To Make a Booking
We shall also prepare wonderful gifts such as perfect Panforte, real Florentines, yummy fig and hazelnut log. Only 2 places left!

From Art of Cuisine Kitchens: In the spirit of things Indian, some of the students donned pretty salwar kameez to attend our recent cooking class in the King Valley. This was my second visit this year to a glorious property set on a bend in the King River, with its extensive orchards, nut trees and vast concrete hoops sporting lush seasonal organic produce. India is still many countries in one, each state offering gloriously diverse cuisines that are never represented in our restaurants, which tend to a generic heavy Mughal repertoire. Over fifteen years of leading tours to the subcontinent, I have had the good fortune to spend time and cook with chefs who have been kept in forts and palaces as royal retainers for decades, with outstanding home cooks from rich Hindi, Muslim, Syrian Christian or Arabic traditions, with Mumbai and Delhi-trained chefs in swank properties and with families who guard family secrets. This has allowed me to glean a vast repertoire of dishes to share with students. In our western servant-less kitchens, tackling an Indian banquet is not for the fainthearted yet certainly appealing to those with adventurous palates. But do not embark on the mission without at least a blender or coffee mill for grinding. Continue reading Indian cuisine: variety The intricacy, variety and subtle nuances of Indian cooking have nothing to do with curry.

The artful blending of spices create masalas that are the heart of Indian cooking. A masala is a dry roasted spice combination, or spices mixed into pastes with ginger, garlic and other ingredients.
Cooking over fire is the norm for rural folk, but wealthy kitchens include an outdoor kitchen that is fire based alongside a more modern setup.
Despite Hindu taboos, meat is beloved by Rajputs and Chettiars alike and almost never browned first.
Food from Gujarat almost always carries a sweetened undertone even when it is savoury. Rarely is the food very hot – chilli-based chutneys and pickles are served only as accompaniments.
The finest cooking is light in oil and prepared à la minute to maintain maximum freshness and delicacy. To this day, even in metro apartments, fridges are bare as servants are sent at least twice daily to local markets and passing barrows to shop for each meal.

In the south, much of the cuisine incorporates a medicinal understanding based on Ayurvedic principals so people eat according to the season, according to their “dosha” type and for the effect the food will have on their current state of body and mind. This is what we created for the class. It was enjoyed outside under a vast canopy of stars, with a massive fire to alleviate the chill and the gurgling river to provide the music.

• Quail Curry from Bangala
• Fish in Banana Leaf from Bengal
• Millet Kedgeree from Nimaj
• Eggplant with Tamarind Tomato sauce
• Cabbage with mustard seeds and curry leaves
• Cauliflower and masala sauce
• Carrot Halwa with drained Cardamom Organic Yoghurt
  

Other classes that have been well received this year have been the De-mystified Duck sessions, and those celebrating the abundance of Autumn and Winter.