The Stirring Stuff Experience

By Alison Stodolnic

The kitchen is an intimate place – the hot, bustling heart of any home where we share our food and our feelings. There is no place to hide in a kitchen, so as I put on my apron at Henley’s Stirring Stuff Cookery School I was a tiny bit nervous about revealing my culinary incompetence to a room full of strangers. But I needn’t have worried. The half day I spent in this big bright kitchen learning about Thai food was a fun, friendly and fragrant experience, and I left knowing that I could safely bin the jar of curry paste in my fridge and cook a proper Thai meal from scratch.

There were twelve of us on the course altogether: a pair of fun-loving sisters, three workmates bonding, a forty-something man whose hopeful, hungry wife had sent him on the course as a ‘present’, a sweet couple of newly-weds, a sprinkling of other women, and me. To begin with we sat on stools around a square table, sipping limejuice and watching Stirring Stuff’s owner and professional cook, Belinda Hill, demonstrate the first four dishes. The key to Thai food, apparently, is getting the right blend of spicy, salty, sweet, bitter and sour flavours, and using fresh, authentic ingredients.

As Belinda chopped and ground her way through the recipes – Red Thai Curry Paste, Chicken Satay with Almond Sauce, Fish Cakes with Cucumber Relish and Tom Yam Soup – she passed the ingredients round so we could all have a turn and a sniff. We diced the chillies, sliced the shallots and hammered the life out of the lemongrass with a rolling pin. The demo was fast-paced and well managed and I was already looking forward to lunch. We picked up lots of food tips along the way and told our cooking disaster stories like seasoned kitchen sages. The Tom Yam soup-tasting experiment got us up and onto our feet, we peered inquisitively at the fresh tamarind like it had fallen down from outer space, and some vigorous grating of fresh turmeric turned my fingers orange.

By now I was starving. After a quick Pork Toast demo, we paused for tea and biscuits before it was our turn to cook. Our turn to cook! With four seriously high performance hobs available, umpteen shiny utensils and acres of counter top, we split into groups and got to work in a loosely organised fashion. It was all very relaxed, and between us we managed to conjure up: Aromatic Pumpkin Curry, Green Thai Chicken Curry and Papaya Salad, made from what looked like a gigantic cucumber. The kitchen came alive once we all got going – Belinda buzzed about stirring this and tasting that, showing us the best way to hold a knife or crush tiny dried shrimps into powder.

Eventually we re-grouped to watch a Pad Thai Noodles demonstration. Being under strict instructions from my family to come home a Pad Thai expert, I abandoned my job of deep fat frying Pork Toasts, ignored my rumbling stomach and watched intently. It was inspiring to see the quick transformation from a big pile of raw ingredients into one of the most popular street foods in the world. I couldn’t wait to eat some!

Lunch was served at last. By now we were cooking less and chatting more, while Belinda and her helpers pulled together the eight different dishes and put them onto serving plates. Buffet-style, we helped ourselves to the starters and sat at tables outside, coming back later for the curries and fluffy rice. The food was excellent – made a splash tastier by my sense of achievement – and washed down with a nice cold glass of white wine.

By mid afternoon it was time to leave, although many of my fellow cooks lingered for longer in the autumn sunshine. Feeling comfortably full and pleased with myself, I clutched my sauce-splattered recipe folder to my chest and whispered a little promise as I went on my way: From now on, I will spend more time in the kitchen.

Stirring Stuff Cookery School is in an idyllic rural setting near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. www.stirringstuff.co.uk