We were treated to a talk on the history of Tea by Jane Pettigrew. Who knew that servants were paid in tea as part of their wages as it was so expensive originally?! I’ll write up a few of these interesting facts of tea in a separate post for you soon.
Next came an exciting introduction to seasonings and flavourings in a masterclass by Marco Pierre White. We were treated to two tastes of fillet steak; one with only salt used as the seasoning, the other with a Knorr Chicken Stock Pot rubbed on as the flavouring. The taste is more rounded with the stock pot as it contains a blend of herbs as well as the meat seasoning. We were then shown how to cook the perfect fillet steak with a wonderful, rich and creamy 3 Peppercorn Knorr Flavour Pot sauce (not for those dieting as it did contain a fair bit of double cream and a whole bottle of Worcester Sauce, but nevertheless, it did taste fantastic!)
Oh, and guess who got caught taking a sneaky photo of Chef? Yep, me!
We were then split into pairs to prepare lunch under the guidance and critique of Marco. Teams cooked Risotto al Funghi, Curried Parsnip Soup, Bruschetta with Tomatoes and Herbs, whilst my team-mate Layla and I cooked a simple bolognese sauce.
Our afternoon was completed with a talk and demonstration by Sue Batty, the Stork expert. We were then invited to choose our flavourings and make our own batch of cupcakes to take home with us. the 7 of us on the train back to London had a bit of a cake swap!
My fellow bloggers were Kirsty (Hijacked by Twins), Lucy (Supergolden Bakes), Amy (She Cooks She Eats), Leyla (Motherhood Diaries), Dominic (Belleau Kitchen), Agata (Barktime), Fiona (London Unattached), @GlutieBaker, Jack (koukouvaya), Manjiri (Slice Of Me) and Heidi (Heidi Roberts Kitchen Talk).
Thank you to the Unilever Kitchen, Jane Pettigrew, Marco Pierre White, Sue Batty and to Clarion Communications and all my fellow bloggers for a fantastic event. A very long day for me with 6 hours spent travelling but a lovely day too. Thank goodness for the trains so I could sit and chill out on my journey home with Monkey to keep me company!
