Cooking with a star

Part three of my belated birthday treat was a trip to Corrigan's restaurant on Upper Grosvenor Street in London's Mayfair for a masterclass with the man himself, Mr Richard Corrigan.

I have attended one other cooking masterclass in my life, a day with Jean-Christophe Novelli, which was a gift from my colleagues when I left advertising some four years ago. That day was much more of a cookery demonstration - lots of techniques, lots of tasting but no real hands on time and it took place at his home in Hertfordshire, not in his restaurant.

Saturday's class took place in the kitchens of the restaurant - fifteen of us split into groups working with the restaurant chefs and Corrigan flitting between to make sure we all got a piece of him. It was very much a hands-on experience in a professional kitchen, which is what made it all the better. We were also cooking our own lunch - well up to a point obviously.

My group started with the first course, which appropriately enough for someone with a holiday business in the Languedoc, was a chicken liver and foie gras terrine with caramelised mustard fruits - and yes I will be replicating it when I get back there. We moved onto the fish course - dover sole on a curried pumpkin broth - where I got the chance to do some fish filleting although there was nothing they could teach me about cooking with pumpkin and we finished on the bakery section where we completed the christmas pudding souffle mix for dessert and put together the petit fours.

Despite my flippant comment about the pumpkin - I learned an enormous amount. Just watching the chefs operate was an education - the head chef was on top of at least fifteen different things that were going on whilst simultaneously giving his time to the group of four 'tourists' in his care.

Everything was also done on a scale that I had never witnessed or contemplated before. My largest pan at home was small compared to anything in that kitchen. The ovens and fridges and machines were all awesome to behold and there was very little space to operate in, even allowing for the people that wouldn't normally have been there.

Sadly, we only managed three rotations and didn't get onto the meat course, which was a pity and with such a large group it was inevitable that we couldn't all get to do everything - but that is exactly what I wanted to do. I would happily have stayed in the kitchen all day and helped to produce every aspect of every dish if I could.

As it was we were ushered out to the private dining room where a six course lunch with wines was lavished upon us. What a shame that Debrah hadn't booked to join me for the lunch because lots of other partners did come along.

It was what I would call a proper lunch which didn't wind up until about five o'clock, by which time the front of house staff were in full flow in the restaurant and all the chefs had retreated to the kitchen to prepare for the 160 covers they were expecting that evening.

It was a great experience but actually it so very nearly didn't happen. I had called to confirm at the start of last week only to be told that they hadn't received the booking form and that the course was full. You can imagine my disappointment and Debrah's anger. Then out of the blue on Friday, they called to say that I could go because another participant had dropped out due to illness - hurrah.

Sat talking to my fellow food enthusiasts over lunch it became clear that the event management company employed by Corrigans was less than organised and that we weren't the only ones that suffered, including the restaurant themselves - there were after all 17 attendees when the maximum should have been 15.

Thankfully, I got there by the skin of my teeth and am very very glad that I did.

This is what we helped to make and ate for lunch afterwards

Chicken Liver Parfait & Mustard Fruits
2007 Etna Bianco di Casale, Sicily

Clare Island Smoked Salmon, Mozzarella, capers & golden raisins
2007 Assyntiko cuvée 15, Santorini, Greece

Steamed fillet of Dover Sole, Pumpkin & Ginger Velouté
2005 Riesling Wein Von Steirm, Neumayer, Austria

Butter Poached Bronze Turkey & Roast Leg with bread sauce
2006 Savigney-les-Beaune, Jean Feiny

Christmas Pudding Soufflé
2005 Riesling Auslese, Hans Lang, Germany

Stilton soaked in Banyuls with Irish Soda Bread
2001 Chateau Filhot, Sauternes