A scrumptious night out at the Sydney Seafood School

April 24th, 2012

Cooktops Kitchen Ovens & Cooking Small Appliances

Looking over last night’s recipe booklet from the Sydney Seafood School there is a sharp sensory reminder of the eve’s fare. No, not because of a cut finger, or words or pictures, but smell.

The paper is pungent with cooking oil infused with Sichuan pepper, lime, coriander, deep fried squid and prawns.

Our task was to prepare salt and pepper prawns with a prickly ash (that’s a Sichuan peppercorn and salt mix), alongside chilli salt squid with a side of lime and coriander noodle salad.

In groups of six – ah, too many cooks in the kitchen, not enough… – we set to work at custom-built Fisher & Paykel cooking stations after having watched our guiding chef, one Ms Coralie Riordan, prepare the seafood feast in the school’s auditorium.

Meticulously peeling two kilos of raw prawns is no mean feat, friends.

We six struggled to perfect the art of pulling apart the prawn’s head complete with digestive tract, until Coralie’s happily buxom and boisterous assistant Fiona, taught us the tricks of her trade.

Prawns peeled, it was time to prepare the squid. Again, not a job for those too easy to be queasy.

Chop below the eyes, fiddle around ’till you find the squid’s inedible beak (mouth) and discard, wriggle fingers into the tube to move apart sinews holding the guts in place, pull the guts out, mind the ink, retract the plastic-like spine, cut off a wing, peel the skin off, wash, rub dry, cut and score.

Prawns, check; squid, check; salads…salads?!!

As with cooking any meal, success is in the timing. It was essential that the prawns and squid not be dipped in egg white and tapioca starch until both salads were made, and the peanut oil is at least 180 degrees for quick fast frying.

Mmm, deep fried seafood.

An hour later our party of six sat down to a beautifully prepared dinner table, with a bottle of crisp Tatachilla Sauvignon Blanc Semillon to boot.

Toasts all ’round we shamelessly delved into the prawns and squid, licking fingers, adding salt, swilling wine. Eyes lit up: the prawns were out of this world!

The dinner conversation inevitably turned to our respective occupations and thanks to yours truly the subject of appliances came up.

The group had honestly admired F&P’s gas cooktops, black, elegant, refined. Breville’s electric wok, used to deep fry the seafood, was a hit for those with a big family, but not for those with small apartments.

Kitchen renovations, appliance brands, induction versus gas, best deals online or in-store were all tossed about as the bottle was drained.

Finally, the night at the Sydney Seafood School ended with invitations to try the ‘best squid in the world’ at our favourite eateries.

A night out like none other, beating the movies or the pub hands down.