Cragganmore House, Ballindalloch, Banffshire, Scotland

Address: Cragganmore House, Ballindalloch, Banffshire, AB37 9AB

WWW: http://www.cragganmore-house.com/

Summary: You can also cook like the pros!

From http://www.cragganmore-house.com/

We went to Cragganmore House as a treat from Steve's students and friends in Germany, who arranged a cooking class and a visit to the Cragganmore Distillery right across the house for us. This was by far the best gift we've ever got in our lives. Thanks again guys!

The house is run by the wonderful Tony and Helen (Alcott). Tony cooks delightful dishes every morning, afternoon, and evening! And with the cooking class we were able to peer into the daily life of a professional chef. And a difficult life it is, we were bound to learn - one that can be mastered only with passion, as we saw Tony cooking with heart and soul.

Mind you, this cooking class was serious business, our dishes were to be served if any customer showed that night to the restaurant part... That made us a bit nervous. We looked at the menu, which included stuff we have never tried, increasing the nervousness.  Without further ado,  we prepared the following menu: 

Starter

Hot Smoked Salmon with Malt Whisky 

and Heather Honey

Main Course

Baked  Loin of Glenlivet Venison

Wrapped in Flaky Pastry

With a Mushroom and Hazelnut Duxelle

Dessert

Dark Chocolate and Cragganmore Malt Ice Souffle

With Poached Pears in Red Wine Syrup

And Brandy Snap

Now, you know what I mean :D Steve took care of the hot smoking the salmon, while I started preparing the souffle for the dessert, all with the help of Tony. For the careful observer, all the recipes include an essential ingredient: Whisky, which was used with the following rule: "Leave always some to the cook!" :) So, it does not require much imagination to see that our cooking went very merry! 

Smoking the salmon requires careful cutting a large piece of filet, and using the smoking wood that Tony also gave us to bring back home. This needs to be done definitely outside on a barbecue, as we do not have proper cooking ranges as Tony does. 

The souffle is not particularly challenging, as the seperated yolks are creamed by the machine, and the only care that must be taken is when mixing in the ingredients and folding the cream in. Not as difficult as I feared - though I was not sure till I tasted it if I did it right. The other part of the dessert was familiar, as I bake poached pears but not as artistic as Tony, who cuts the pears at the bottom, puts the deseeded pears sitting upright in the baking dish.  The final part, the brandy snap is the most enjoyable thing to prepare - as we have given them bowl shapes placing cut and baked circular snaps - fast moving is the key - over oranges. It looks like this:

From cookalmostanything.blogspot.com

You can also roll them, and fill them with creme:

From kimbaskitchen.com

Compared to starter and the dessert, the main dish gave less excitement, especially for a Turkish girl used to wrapping things in dough or grape leaves (here choking with humility :D) but it was all good fun.

During the class, Steve and I learned a lot about preparing, cooking dishes (also a small lesson on how to cut an onion properly to cry less) and also combining and serving them on a plate for visual impact. Tony was very patient, and understanding - always helpful. At the end of the day, we were amazed how delicious everything we cooked was and how professional it looked!  We hope to come again.