The School of Wok is a cooking school specializing in Oriental and Asian cuisine. The school, founded and led by Head Chef Jeremy Pang, offers a variety of hands-on classes and corporate events taught by a variety of chefs. It covers cuisines such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, and Japanese. Classes range from one-hour quick-fire wok lessons to multi-day intensive professional courses, with topics ranging from knife skills to wine tasting, street food to sushi making.
I was privileged to partake in their authentic Asian cuisine cooking classes. The instructor was fantastic and we were thoroughly engaged throughout the hands-on session in which we prepared a number of dishes including Jiaozi and Stir Fried Sichuan Chicken!
He started off by talking about seasoning woks. Woks that have been properly seasoned have a patina that is caramel in color. In addition to flavoring your food, seasoning a wok helps the interior of the pan develop a smooth, non-stick surface over time.
He recommended using a nonstick wok at all times, seasoning it with oil, and heating it on a gas stove until it has passed the smoking point. He also pointed out that on a hot wok, cold oil stops it from sticking thus you shouldn't heat the oil in the wok or it will get rancid, touching on stirring methods as well.
Next, he talked about arranging the ingredients on the plate in the order you are going to put them into the wok. Dubbed the Wok Clock, explained that it was a concept that allows you to take advantage of the ingredients' natural flavors, but also allows you to have a variety of flavors as you cook. The wok clock can be applied to any dish, and it is particularly useful for Chinese cuisine.
He also talked about a wok's size. He said the best wok is the one that fits in your hand. That way, you can pick up the wok easily and move it around. He recommended a wok that can be put over the heat with one hand and held in place with the other, adding that a wok that can be used with one hand and can withstand the heat is the best kind.
The cleaver was the only tool we used to chop all the ingredients. It's incredibly large and can be used to cut anything from cloves of garlic to chicken. We spent most of the time preparing the ingredients and it was completely worth it!
The instructor also demonstrated how to make the oil smoky before adding the ingredients and we made sure to fold everything in properly on a very high heat to ensure everything comes out perfectly cooked. He also showed the stirring method to avoid them sticking.
At the end, he reminded us to always make sure the wok is completely dry on the hob smoking until it is dry before putting it away by cleaning it with a bamboo brush, cleaning it with soap, and scraping it out as well.
All in all the School of Wok class was definitely a fun, educational way of spending an evening. I highly recommend the classes for anyone interested in learning how to prepare authentic and delectable Asian dishes.
