Tom Angelsea, Head Chef of The Laughing Heart, visited Le Cordon Bleu for a culinary demonstration on February 28th 2019. Tom is known for creating simple yet accomplished dishes from unusual and unlikely food combinations that work surprisingly well together. Tom focuses on good produce and sites “Half of good cookery is good produce.” Since the age of 16, Tom has worked in various acclaimed restaurants around the world including Gordon Ramsay’s Boxwood Café, Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York, Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck and Neil Perry's Spice Temple in Sydney. He also spent two years consulting for the internationally acclaimed Soho House Group.

Tom demonstrated three Asian-inspired dishes to guests at Le Cordon Bleu. To start the demonstration, he delivered his Hot and Numbing Chicken Wings, a highly popular choice in Asian cuisine. The wings were poached with a Chinese master stock and seasoned with Asian inspired ingredients. The ‘numbing’ effect is caused by the Sichuan peppercorn ingredient, which is extracted from the Zanthoxylum tree known as a ‘prickly bush’ and when eaten can cause a numbing effect on the tongue. For the second demonstration, Tom made a Sichuan Chicken Salad using chicken breast strands and vegetables, ground Sichuan peppercorns, Asian pieces, toasted sesame seeds and chilli oil and garnished with a delicious sesame dressing. Lastly, Tom made a simple chicken katsu and to complement it, he made an Asian slaw from fried julienned vegetables, spring onion and mayonnaise.

All of Tom’s dishes were created in quite a simple, yet elegant way, without compromising on the quality and taste. Guests were able to sample tasters of each dish prepared before the end of the demonstration, tasting first hand the flavour combinations perfectly executed.

See our upcoming guest chef events like this on our culinary conferences and cooking demonstrations page.