Given the frequency of me cooking at home and the glut of cooking schools in Bangkok (even Le Cordon Bleu has a campus here), one might think I am a serial attendee of cooking classes. In all honesty, I am just someone who loves reading recipe books and watches nothing online except for football and food-related videos. Attending classes isn't really my thing.
Doing something serious here.
Half a pig prepared for the butchering demonstration.
However, my obsession with obtaining the best ingredients is real, which led me to Sloane's a few years ago, not so much for their sausages, but for their fresh pork. Therefore, when the possibility of attending a Sloane's Masterclass at Jamie's Italian popped, I pounced. A combination of meeting Joe Sloane strutting his stuff himself, at Jamie's Italian (Jamie Oliver is the single most important person who convinced me that cooking can be very simple), felt like something tailor-made for me.
Oh, how wrong was I. My ineptitude in sausage stuffing and linking brought me back down to earth. After cooking for 7 years at home churning out more than a thousand meals for the family, I am clearly still at the very beginning of my learning curve.
Joe Sloane showing his finesse. I will always remember, saw for bone, knife for meat.
The ultimate master butcher in Thailand.
The hands-on experience, as demoralising as it was, was something I would not exchange anything for. Without it, the class will be reduced to a demonstration by the master. I might take home some perfect sausages and bacon, but they will not be the imperfect ones I made myself from scratch. I wouldn't have been able to tell my kids, "These sausages were made by Daddy at Jamie's Italian!"
My bacon, which needs another week before it's ready, can't wait to eat the final product.
I would hereby like to thank the folks from Sloane's and Jamie's Italian for organising a fantastic masterclass which I loved and hated to equal measure. Please push on and organise more classes to bless more foodies like me in the future. I am already looking forward to the next one.
