Westminster Kingsway College hosts sous vide demo for students and chefs

The event, which follows the success of demos at this year's Restaurant Show where sous vide products were also extensively used for WKC's menu at the show, saw Culinary Innovations director Alan Wearring-Smith showing the distinctive features of vacuum packing machines from Orved and water baths from Julaba. Orved, based near Venice in Italy, specialises in vacuum packing and tray sealing machines, while Julaba is a global manufacturer of constant temperature circulators used for research, science and industry. Graham, an advocate of local, seasonal produce who spends much time developing his team in foraging and hunting game to be used on his menus, uses this equipment in his kitchen. He believes technology such as water baths and vacuum packing machines have helped him to preserve food as well as allowing him greater flexibility in menu planning, which has proved to be highly cost effective. It has also helped to motivate and train his young chefs, who have discovered ingenious ways of developing differing flavours and textures with the use of this technology, he added. During the demo, Graham showed how different food items can be cooked in the bath and the circulator. This included: shellfish, cuttlefish, salmon and Pollock; shin of beef, bavette and pigeon; poultry; offal including lamb's liver, plus fruit and vegetables such as salsify and quince. The audience were also given the chance to taste and compare the food cooked and ask technical questions. Students Marcello Giraldani and Ramon Ramos, who assisted James, impressed him so much that they were rewarded with a stage at Alium. WKC advanced practitioner in culinary arts, Simon Stocker, said: "I've attended Graham and Alan's training days in the past and would recommend them. I would also be happy to hear from other companies who would like to demonstrate their products to our students and to Guild members." • For further details, contact Simon Stocker at simon.stocker@westking.ac.uk or visit www.culinaryinnovations.co.uk