Across cultures, food plays an important part in bringing a family or friends together as not only is it a necessity for survival but a way of bonding. Cooking is a skill that cannot be learnt overnight and mastering it takes practice and knowledge of taste and science.
Pankaj Bhadouria who shot to fame after winning an amateur television cooking show MasterChef is in the city to conduct a two-day cooking workshop that helps beginners as well as experienced chefs add to their pool of dishes.
Young girls, as well as experienced cooks attended the first day on Monday that was held in two sessions.
In the first Pankaj taught participants how to make a variety of starters. A skill that all those who entertain a lot were very enthusiastic about and were eager to go home and lay out at their next party.
The second session took participants on a culinary journey across the Mediterranean, Mexico and America. She explained the nuances of cooking with olive oil and how each variety has a different smoking point.
The use of herbs, the intricacies of baking bread as well as simple soups and dips were explained and demonstrated.
The participants who were salivating sniffing the aromas of the cooking food kept asking questions and were eager to know how certain ingredients that are not available in the market could be substituted.
She stressed on the importance of seasoning, resting and cooking temperature to bring out best results.
The sessions were very informative and Pankaj put 17 years of experience as an English teacher to good used by dotting her class with interesting anecdotes.
