Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong - Alvinology

Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel’s Chef Wendy Ong

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) recently partnered Asian Food Channel (AFC) to produce an original reality television series, “The Big Break”. The original production by AFC features 12 underprivileged youths from across Asia, competing to realise their dreams of becoming a chef.

Rachel and I were invited to catch the media preview of Episode 9 of The Big Break where the youths enter the Italian round. They were required to knead, assemble and bake their own pizzas.

Before we watch the episode, we attended a cooking class with AFC’s Chef Wendy Ong to prepare two italian dishes – pizza and cannoli.

At AFC Studio in Orchard Central
At AFC Studio in Orchard Central
Meet AFC's Chef Wendy Ong!
Meet AFC’s Chef Wendy Ong!

The last time Rachel and I attended a cooking class together was in Bangkok at the Helping Hands Thai Cooking School. We had a great time then and found the class with Chef Wendy Ong just as fun and interesting.

The chef was very patient as a teacher and went through each step slowly in details. You know the class is a success when even a cooking novice like me was able to follow her instructions and make some great tasting italian food!

Ingredient for the first dish we are preparing - a personalised pizza each
Ingredient for the first dish we are preparing – a personalised pizza each
Chef Wendy teaching us how to stretch the dough and how to tell if it's ready
Chef Wendy teaching us how to stretch the dough and how to tell if it’s ready
The attentive class
The attentive class
Rachel examining the texture of the finished dough
Rachel examining the texture of the finished dough
The ball of dough is to be left overnight to raise - here is the before and after on the left and right respectively
The ball of dough is to be left overnight to raise – here is the before and after on the left and right respectively
Chef Wendy trimming the dough into individual servings
Chef Wendy trimming the dough into individual servings
Rachel decorating her pizza
Rachel decorating her pizza

While Rachel is adapt at cooking, I seldom enter the kitchen back home. You can tell the difference in our skills level by the pizzas we created:

My deformed and ugly (but delicious) pizza creation
My deformed and ugly (but delicious) pizza creation
Rachel's beautiful pizza creation
Rachel’s beautiful pizza creation

Making cannoli:

Rolling the dough
Rolling the dough
Cutting out the desired circles
Cutting out the desired circles
Wrapping the dough around a metal tube for frying
Wrapping the dough around a metal tube for frying
Using a tong to transfer the cannoli into a pot of boiling oil
Using a tong to transfer the cannoli into a pot of boiling oil
Frying!
Frying!
Extracting the completed cannoli
Extracting the completed cannoli
Empty cannoli for us to fill up
Empty cannoli for us to fill up
Chef Wendy preparing the filling for the cannoli
Chef Wendy preparing the filling for the cannoli
Rachel filling a cannoli
Rachel filling a cannoli
Close-up of the filled up cannoli
Close-up of the filled up cannoli
Tada! Two cannoli each for Rachel and I
Tada! Two cannoli each for Rachel and I

Once we are done preparing our own italian dishes, we sat down together with a group of other bloggers to enjoy episode 9 of The Big Break. The experience was priceless – watching the contestants fumble over their pizza creations just as we had went through a similar process, but at a leisurely pace!

Self-made lunch is served!
Self-made lunch is served!
Me with my creation and another blogger, Melissa crying in the background
Me with my creation and another blogger, Melissa crying in the background because her pizza sucks
Corn tarts prepared with Del Monte corns
Corn tarts prepared with Del Monte corns
Scones to share
Scones to share

For more information on The Big Break, visit their official website. The site will provide the latest information about the contestants as well as summaries and highlights from each episode. The Big Break, the series airs exclusively on Starhub Channel 435. 🙂

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