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SCMP Reporter

WHAT comes to mind at the mention of Towngas and Hong Kong Electric? Fire, electricity, slick TV ads, and astronomical bills? Well, add home cooking to your list.

  By enrolling in two cooking courses last semester - at the Home Management Centre in North Point and Towngas Cooking Centre in Causeway Bay - home cooking came under a new light. And my cooking skills improved; I now know how to peel a tomato properly, how to cook pasta al dente and my slicing skills are better.

  I have always enjoyed cooking, in both Chinese and Western styles. But since I cook at an amateur level, I decided to enroll in classes to improve my knowledge and test how good these classes are.

  In order to compare and contrast fairly, I chose two separate evening demonstration courses (i.e. students do not cook) in Italian cuisine.

  The Towngas course, given in Cantonese, took place in three 11/2-hour evening sessions over three weeks.

  I was one of only two men in a class of 15. The course was held in a somewhat gloomy classroom at the Towngas Cooking Centre in the basement of the Leighton Centre, Causeway Bay.

  The teacher, Wong Kin-Chung, is a full-time chef at Skettis in the Hong Kong Hilton hotel, and his menu looked like this:   First Monday: Prawn and asparagus salad with Italian dressing; Mama's lasagne; French pears poached in white wine.

  Second Monday: Fire roasted pepperoni salad; salmon fillet in potato jacket with lemon butter sauce; zabaglione with strawberries.

  Final Monday: cappuccino of roasted mushroom soup; charcoal grilled prime chop steak; bed of mushroom risotto.

  Ambitious? Not at all - it was not beyond my ability.

  Take Mama's Lasagne for instance. Like other dishes, the instructor took us through the recipe methodically, explaining the whys, hows, whats and wheres.

  This popular entree took more time to make and bake than the other recipes, but it was worth the effort. The lasagne was light on the stomach, with just a little cheese and a sprinkle of herbs to bring out the flavours.

  Over at North Point, the cooking theatre in the Home Management Centre on Electric Road is modern, well-equipped and spacious. Watching the beautiful sunset through the windows overlooking Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Central was a bonus.

  The menu of the Italian Cooking III course included - day one: Italian Neopolitan soup and chicken Florence; day two: fish fillet with caper sauce and calzone; day three: mango cheese salad and shell noodles with herbs and cream; day four: cannelloni alla sicilliana and Milanese veal rolls.

  The instructor Alex Wong, a hotel chef, was not put off by the small size of his class - 13 - of which I was the only male student.

  The Italian Neopolitan soup tasted weak - no hints of herbs or seafood, though prawns and mussels were the major ingredient. My guess is that the soup wasn't boiled long enough. The calzone was good - it reminded me of kok chai, a fried dumpling eaten at Chinese New Year.

  As might be expected from hotel chefs, both instructors were very professional, and both encouraged students to ask questions. But the best part of each course was tasting the freshly made food.

  Unfortunately, both were scheduled at around 6pm - inconvenient for most office workers, particularly those located in Kowloon. However, the majority of the classes offered at both centres are scheduled during the day, perfect for housewives and maids. But all in all, I felt the course was a good investment. My chopping skills improved, I learned how to skin a tomato properly and useful techniques for cooking pasta.

  For those who believe that cooking classes are only for the fairer sex, breaking with tradition can be an experience in itself.

  After completing the two courses I decided that I prefer cooking with gas because it cooks rapidly, though electricity, which is perhaps used more in Western countries, offers greater safety and ease.

  I have yet to try out the recipes I learned through lack of time and an oven, but I would suggest to the schools that they include photos with their recipes, so we know what the dish looks like.



Taste of life as a trainee cook