A GASTRONOMICAL collaboration between the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) with the talented chefs from Champignons restaurant in Malaysia and Seek Your Choice restaurant in Macao recently took place at Taylor’s University School of Food Arts & Gastronomy.
The “Taste of Macao” cooking workshop was brought to action by Champignons’ Chef Gary Chang and Seek Your Choice’s Chef Laurence Tai, where they took to the kitchen to share with the culinary students the knowledge of how Macanese cuisine is being defined.
Widely regarded as the first ‘fusion’ food in the world, Macanese cuisine having originated in the mid-16th-century blends both Portuguese and Chinese cooking, with common cooking techniques such as baking, grilling and roasting.
It’s typically seasoned with various spices such as turmeric, coconut milk and cinnamon to give flavour-bending aromas and taste profiles.
During the workshop, MGTO representative in Malaysia Tunku Iskandar Tunku Abdullah shared: “Today’s cooking workshop is a part of the campaign we are doing throughout the month of July to promote Macanese cuisine in Kuala Lumpur.
“These chefs will be giving a cooking demonstration of an iconic Macanese dish, which has become a part of Macao’s heritage due to the legacy of Portuguese influence.”
Chef Tai demonstrated his craft by highlighting a cornerstone of Portuguese cuisine - Bacalhau a Bras - a classic dish made with shreds of salted cod, onions, thinly chopped fried potato matchsticks and bound together with scrambled egg.
The ubiquitous dish has a long history within the Portuguese unique culture and is perhaps one of the more famous cod recipes in the world with over 1,000 variations.
After the workshop, the students recreated and reinterpreted the dish with their own spin in a cooking competition. They were judged in terms of creativity and the original essence of the dish.
