Wednesday 20 February 2013

Cooking with James Martin

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


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