Cooking classes in Yangshuo

One really fun thing to do when in Yangshuo is to take a cooking class. I found one online that a few people had recommended and booked a class with them. http://www.yangshuocookingschool.com/courses.html I took the Course 1 as I was curious about making the so-called famous local dish of beer fish. It was a fun and educational day for sure.

First place to go was the market to pick up the fresh and local foods.

Chickens, rabbits, geese and more.

A deer hanging and the entrails below.

Dogs. as you can see, the lady was not happy with me taking this picture. Seeing the dogs hanging didn't bother me too much. however, in a different stall I saw the live dogs in cages waiting to be killed. that really shook me up pretty bad.

Fresh fruit.

This was a pigs skin, all piled up on the ground. pretty cool and pretty nasty.

Our classes were taught at the school owners house. she had a back area where there was a little room for cooking and a patio area for dining. very beautiful.

Leading to the cooking area.

Alright, shall we see some cooking lessons, and more importantly food pics?
Great, here we go!

Pre cooking, our setup for the class.

for steaming we made stuffed mushrooms, stuffed tomatos, a stuffed eggplant sandwich and a tofu ball opened up and stuffed with meat.

prepping the wok for steaming the stuffed items.

layering the steamed bamboo trays.

all the items chopped and we're ready to start cooking!

first dish was eggplant sichuan style. I really don't like eggplant in the US, but asian eggplant dishes are so delightful.

cooking up the fish in the beer fish style.

like a true master.... right? :)

Beer fish. I actually had this dish a few times and didn't like it too much, but this style was really tasty. maybe because I used less beer so it wasn't as soupy or maybe just because I made it myself.

Water sautéing the veggies

cashew chicken cooking...

cashew chicken, cooked!

The final course! (minus the eggplant which was eaten as more of an appetizer as it would have gotten cold since we were only cooking with one wok and learning as we went.)