November Food Monthly, Evening Post, 2007.
A few hours attending a course at Hannah Hayes’ Chinafeast Cookery School will banish the need for you to ever step foot into the local takeaway again writes TONY KNOTT
CHINAFEAST COOKERY SCHOOL is an original relaxed and fun way to learn how to create authentic and delectable Chinese food at home. It also let you into the trade secrets of this culinary art.
Hannah orginates from Taiwan which she admits was a good epicurean place to live and grow up. It gave her a real insight into the huge variations of regional cooking styles that exists in China – a kind of melting pot for the cooking post! “Taiwan” explains Hannah, “was, and is, the sanctuary for the sanctuary for the millions of Chinese who fled Moa Zedong’s communist takeover of mainland China in 1948.
“They came to settle from all provinces of the vast Chinese continent bringing with them all their diverse culinary styles. It was a wonderful place to eat and, importantly, to learn how to cook the many regional Chinese dishes.” I was invited to join my fellow “students” Alistair from Caversham Heights and Paul from Bristol for tuition in Chinese culinary skill… but first we stopped off at the See Woo Chinese supermarket in Cradock Road in Reading. This is an Aladdin’s culinary cave where will find every imaginable ingredient and utensil for authentic Chinese cooking at a price that will underwhelm you. I bought a good-size steel work for under a tenner.
Back to the kitchen. Here Hannah firstly shows us how to put together her secret gastronomic weapon-seasoned soy sauce. Most UK supermarkets may offer a choice of a couple of soy sauces, light or dark! The Chinese supermarket will offer dozens, but Hannah’s own will be the best of the lot. A dark soy sauce with a subtle piquancy that wehn added to Chinese dishes will enhance those three crucial elements of all Chinese cooking – colour, aroma and flavour.
Apart from the Cold Noodles with Pork and Fried Shallots, the Spicy Chicken – Kung Pao Chicken – Beef with Spicy Black Bean Sauce, Chinese Broccoli on Oyster Sauce the ‘students’ start with making a simple Spring Onion Chinese Pancake.
This is hands-on instruction, not lecturing. Generally Hannah limits her course numbers to around eight per session so everyone has the real opportunity to have a go.
And what kind of ‘student’ is attracted to her cookery courses? “Women mostly but there are an increasing number of men – but it does vary from course to course,” explains Hannah.