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Published: November 16th 2021
Food is for me an important part of travelling and living in other cultures. So I generally tend to look for cookery classes and food tours to participate in. In a large city like Beijing there are plenty of options. I attended a few sessions at the Beijing Cooking School, which was formerly known as the Hutong Cuisine Cooking School. It's located in Dengcao Hutong in eastern part of central Beijing. I really like wandering the hutongs and I was happy the cookery school was in a traditional neighbourhood. The building the school is in is nice and it's nice to get a peek around the inside of a house in the hutong. I loved the courtyard and it was a great place to sit and relax and eat all the deliciousness we had created.
5th April: It was the Qingming Festival known in English as Tomb Sweeping Day. Since I can't really participate in this festival it was nice to do something traditionally Chinese and making dumplings is as good as it gets. I was quite surprised that there was only one other person learning to make dumplings as I thought the class would be more popular. We learnt
to make three types of dumplings which worked out well as myself and the other student got to make one each and Chef Cao made the other one. We got to pick which dumplings we would make and I chose the egg and chive ones as I love eggs. Generally, I don't eat dumplings filled with egg so this would make a nice change for me.
I was surprised to find out that the different cooking methods of dumplings require different dumpling doughs. I thought it was a one size fits all job. The boiled dumplings require a higher gluten wheat flour compared to the potstickers and steamed dumplings. Making the dumplings was pretty straightforward. I am not the best at making dumplings and my dumplings are not the prettiest. I hope that what they lack in looks, they make up for in taste. Also because the dumpling skin is thinner for steamed dumplings a few of mine had some holes in them. I also got to watch the dumplings being made. These were potstickers filled with beef and onion and boiled dumplings filled with pork and fennel. It was interesting to find out that a water and starch
solution was added to the potstickers to make the crispy crust. That's a game changer for me.
Once all the dumplings were made, we headed out to the courtyard to take some photos of the finished dishes and then, more importantly, to dig in. I really enjoyed my egg and chive ones. They were yummy and I definitely started to eat them on a regular basis after the class. I do cheat though and either buy them premade or buy premade pastry. I am normally a big fan of boiled dumplings and pork dumplings are a firm favourite of mine, but I didn't enjoy these ones that much. I think I found the fennel a bit too overpowering. The beef and onion potstickers were delicious. I'm glad I learnt the trick of adding the starch water as all my previous attempts to make potstickers have always been a bit disastrous, so hopefully this knowledge will improve my potstickers. Also the potato salad was yum. It wasn't really what I would call a salad, but it did remind me of one of my favourite street food dishes; tofu and potatoes.
30th May: It may seem a bit strange to
be learning how to cook Cantonese style dishes in Beijing as the two places are pretty much at opposite ends of the country. However, the chef in charge of the cooking school is originally from Guangdong province in southern China. Also, all the different regional cuisines can be found all over China. Cantonese cuisine is well known and popular all over as it was the first Chinese food exported around the world as most of the people that left China first were from this region. There were four dishes on the menu today. Three of them, we would get to prepare ourselves, while one would be demonstration only. There were eight of us in attendance, so the group wasn't too big. First, we watched Chef Chao prepare the dish that would be the demonstration only dish. This was braised pork rib with soy sauce and sugar (酱油和糖焖排骨 jiangyou he tang men pai gu). I never cook ribs and it was nice to see them being prepared. Maybe it will spur me on to start cooking them as it didn't look too complex.
Then it was time to watch him do the preparation for one of the dishes we would
cook later. This was the Stir Fried Broccoli with Garlic Sauce. We watched him chop the broccoli and garlic, and learnt a neat little trick to stop the little broccoli flowers going everywhere when you chop it. We also watched him make the sauce, which was surprisingly simple. Then it was our turn. I managed not to cut myself with the cleaver while chopping the broccoli and garlic, always a blessing. When I made the sauce, I was surprised to see that after stirring all the ingredients together, it looked like a cup of tea, not that I wanted to take a sip of it. Once we'd done the prep for that and placed it by our cooking stations, it was time to prep the veggies for the next dish. This dish was the Stir Fried Noodles with Beef and Beansprouts (干炒牛河 gan chao niu he). The veggies were really quick and easy to prepare, all we had to do was chop the garlic chives and spring onions into 3cm long strips and take the ends off the beansprouts, as the green ends can give the dish a bitter taste. The last dish to prepare was the Black Pepper Beef
(黑椒牛柳, hei jiao niu liu). We made the marinade and let the beef marinate while chopping the veggies and preparing the sauce. Then it was time to cook everything. This was pretty straightforward, making sure that the woks were well heated before adding the ingredients. I still always am in awe of how quickly everything cooks. It was nice to smell the different flavours too as the food was cooking.
Once everything was cooked, we headed out to the courtyard to tuck into our food. I was feeling really hungry, so I had to make a real effort not to scarf the lot too quickly. I was surprised at how Well my dishes had turned out. I had managed not to mess anything up. I really liked the broccoli and garlic dish, that was yummy. The beef and pepper dish was my favourite. I don't eat beef very often and the last time I'd had beef had been a dodgy, tough steak that left me with a mild dose of food poisoning. I think I need to add a bit more black pepper to the sauce next time to give it a bit more of a kick. The noodles
were nice, but I definitely prefer spicy noodles, and I also should have chopped the spring onion a bit thinner, but my knife skills suck. The pork dish was really good too, but tasted a little like Hong Shao Rou (Red Braised Pork Belly 红烧肉), but not as sweet and the meat on the bone was nicer than the fatty pork belly that that dish uses. It was really nice to chill in the courtyard while eating lunch.
25th June: The last class I took was Beijing style dishes. I was a bit surprised to find that I was the only person in the class. A private cookery class, hopefully it will let me improve. There were four dishes on the menu. Once again, I would get to make two and the other two would be demonstration only. We started with the demo dish which was Chairman Mao's Red Cooked Meat (Hong Shao Rou 红烧肉). This is one of my favourite Chinese dishes and I have tried to cook it before, but it hasn't turned out quite right so I was hoping to get some tips. Chef Chao cooked it with pork, which is the meat traditionally used, but
The Finished Dishes
Steamed egg and chive dumplings, boiled pork and fennel dumplings, beef and onion potstickers, and potato saladtold me that you could use tofu or chicken instead. I'd recently had some really, really tasty braised tofu, so I really should try to make this with tofu in the future. When making it myself, I had cheated and made it in the slow cooker, but I think I will have to make it in the pan as getting the sugar melted and the right colour really seems to be important. Once I'd seen the demonstration and the dish was left to simmer, for an hour plus it was my turn to crack on with the other dishes.
The first dish I prepared was Stir Fried Cabbage with Dark Vinegar and Chili (Cu Liu Bai Cai 醋溜白菜). I love the combination of chili and vinegar in Chinese cookery and I really love it in the dish with shredded potatoes so this dish would be a great addition to my recipe bank and is healthier than the shredded potatoes. I chopped the cabbage and learnt to cut it in a special way, the reason for which I have forgotten, and prepared the seasonings and thickening. Next, I prepared the Stir Fry Beef with Spring Onion (Cong Bao Niu Rou
葱爆牛肉). This was straightforward, chopping the beef and spring onions, making the marinade and then letting the beef soak up the marinade. Once all the prep was done, I headed to the cooking station and heated up the woks to cook the two dishes in. The cooking didn't take too long as with most Chinese dishes, everything is cooked on a high heat for a short amount of time. Chef Chao also showed me how to make Caramel Coated (Candied) Sweet Potato (Ba Si Hong Shu 拔丝红薯). The sweet potato had been cut into chunks and was then fried in very hot oil until cooked. In another wok, sugar was and water were melted to make caramel and then poured over the sweet potatoes. Also the pork was ready so that was plated up and I took everything outside to eat in the lovely courtyard.
It was nice and sunny and hot, but not too hot yet. The red braised pork was delicious. It wasn't the best one I've had, but it was definitely up there. I could have happily scoffed the whole plateful if it wasn't so fatty. The caramel coated sweet potatoes were nice. Sweet on the
Veggies All Prepped
For all three dishes outside, but not too much. I had been given a small bowl of water to dip the potatoes in before eating them. I think this was to stop the caramel from burning your mouth and also maybe to harden it. The beef and spring onion was really nice and it made me think that I need to cook with beef more often as I don't cook with it regularly. The cabbage was my favourite dish as I love all the flavours it contains. I was very happy and very full by the time I had finished. In retrospect, I should have really picked a different class as I felt the two beef dishes were quite similar. I really wish that I had been able to take more cookery classes in Beijing but due to schedule conflicts it wasn't possible. Chinese cookery encompasses so much that I have barely scratched the surface. I hope I can learn more in the future either through formal classes, friends or teaching myself using the internet and cookery books.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Marvelous!
We've taken cooking classes all over the world. It gives a better understanding of the culture. This class looks like a good one. I will have to remember it when we get to Beijing. You've made me hungry.