What a great
two days we had at the Malton Valentine’s Weekend event!
Saturday
afternoon saw us trying our hand at amateur kitchen fitting. Well in truth we
had a bit of help from the professionals, in the form of a portable sink unit
supplied by Hovingham Interiors. The
kitchen formed part of the props for the James Martin cookery demonstration we
were sponsoring.
As part of the
sponsorship deal, we were proud to supply a Falcon Deluxe 1000 cooker for James
to cook on.
The event took
place in Milton Rooms in the centre of Malton. For those of you not familiar with
Malton, the Milton Rooms is a vibrant arts and music venue, check it out at www.theMiltonrooms.co.uk
Music was swapped
for food as centre stage on Sunday when two cookery demonstrations took place.
Playing to around 200 people per sitting James wove some of his culinary magic.
Starting with
slow cooking a fillet of beef in a cling film blanket (the sort of way an AGA cooks
brilliantly) James’s top tip here was not to season the beef at this stage, as salting
it would promote shrinkage.
Whilst the beef was basking in a simmering oven
James moved his attention to a spectacularly green pea soup served with a soft-boiled
egg in the middle. We know for sure that this is delicious, as we’ve eaten it
ourselves at the Talbot Hotel.
Being a true
Yorkshire man James then went on to praise the town of Whitby for its excellent
fish and chips. He demonstrated a way to get fish, chips and a 'drink' all at
the same time with his fish in vodka and tonic batter. More tricks of the trade
tumbled forth, including a plea to let the batter rest a while. Home made
sauces abounded, tartar and mustard was created under our noses along with a special secret
sauce (we’ll give the man a break he has to keep some of his secrets!)
Another
secret must be how his able helper Chris stays so slim, despite munching
homemade donuts by the dozen. These were part of an amazing pudding using local
grown rhubarb and more vodka pana cotta.
Everybody
thoroughly enjoyed the event and we all went away inspired to try our hand at
some of James’s recipes. Also feeling we had been given permission to enjoy
generous portions of butter, sugar and cream to flavour our cooking.
There was a
draw for two people to win a meal cooked by James at the Talbot Hotel.
Customers eagerly clutched their raffle tickets in hope of drawing the winning
ticket, or for a lovely second prize of private use of the new screen 3 at the
Place Cinema.
A big thank you
to the following folks who helped make the event such a success.
Denis Johnson
of Hovingham Interiors for portable sink unit
Jeremy Powell
(and daughter) from The Palace Cinema for doing the sound
Gary and Nick
from The Milton Rooms for helping with setting up
