Mark Best, from Marque, gave a Masterclass as part of the Gourmet Traveller Institute, on cooking seafood. Marque was recently selected by the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide as being the best restaurant for 2011.

The Masterclass was held at Harvey Norman in Alexandria.

On arrival we we were served our choice of wines, including sparkling wine, which kept on being topped up. I was glad I was not driving. 😉

First, Mark cooked a clam chowder. Not just any clam chowder. The clams were huge, and whole. The soup was light and full of flavour. I’d be happy just to have that. Nestling in the soup were tiny cucumber balls, which added a surprising texture to the soup. On top was sprinkled fried curry leaves.

The serves were generous. We found out later that canapes had been served at the beginning, which we missed, with going to Din Tai Fung and the traffic from there to Alexandria. I loved the dumplings there, so I don’t think we missed anything,

Then Mark cooked blue-eyed cod with a scampi anglaise.

On top were the finest of potato crisps (sliced paper thin, and cooked between two trays in the oven), and crispy button mushrooms.

The fish was cooked sous vide, and the anglaise prepared in a Thermomix, all technical procedures, and out of the range of the average home cook, but still interesting to see being done.

That, too, was very tasty.

As we were leaving the Masterclass we were give a Gourmet Traveller goodie bag, with the latest magazine, some chocolate truffles, and a small ice-cream tub for dessert.

The evening was interesting, almost more entertainment than a cooking class. I still enjoyed being there, watching the cooking, hearing Mark Best talk, and tasting the two dishes.

I thought we could get the recipes on the Gourmet Traveller site, but it’s hard enough to find any information about the Gourmet Traveller Institute, let alone the recipes. Certainly nothing on the Gourmet Traveller site, even after extensive searching. That’s a wasted opportunity. Still I guess they’re getting their promotion here!

Details

Here are the details about Marque and the Gourmet Traveler Institute at Harvey Norman. There are more details in the latest issue of the magazine.

Have you been to another Masterclass like this? What did you think of it?