Seaweed Experimental Kitchen Masterclass with Melanie McIntosh

On the first day of November, we opened the doors of our brand-new Experimental Kitchen in Stratford, welcoming members into the world of seaweed at an immersive masterclass with Chef Melanie McIntosh. 

The Experimental Kitchen has long been a dream for the Institute of Making; for years we've been planning and laying the groundwork to create a space filled to the brim with the most exciting and innovative culinary kit. 

We worked hard to create a space that would be home to the wildest, most innovative food-based fantasies and edible experimentations, combining our ethos of making and research with the pure joy of food and cooking. But this dream was a hard one to implement - how could we create a space that allowed for creativity, play and experimentation, whilst also being safe and usable? 

After many years of planning, deliberating, testing and learning, we're thrilled that the Experimental Kitchen in Stratford is now being used for specialist masterclasses: starting with seaweed. 

During the masterclass we explored seaweed through the senses, starting by watching how different varieties transformed in water; expanding, unravelling and growing from their dehydrated state with the addition of H₂O. 

We touched, smelt and tasted distinct versions of this amazing algae; from sea spaghetti from Scotland, to wakame harvested in China and Chilean cochayuyo. Each seaweed was enormously different from the last; some bright green and leafy, others tougher, or orange, or consisting entirely of stringy popping pearls. Members marvelled at the vast varieties, discussing their favourite flavours, smells and textures, with each person having a different preference.                                                                                                                    

Melanie also showed us how to make kombu dashi, a famous soup stock which forms a cornerstone of Japanese cooking. We tasted the different kombu's diverse umami flavours, and learnt about the history and common usage of each variety - from fine-dining to everyday soup making. She then taught us how to make the perfect seaweed salad with wakame, sesame, tamari, sushi vinegar, orange, ginger and spring onion - a lesson which many members were itching to recreate at home!

We finished the masterclass by crafting our own furikake; a dried Japanese condiment with a foundation of seaweed and sesame seeds. Each member experimented with their own mixture, adding additional special ingredients like dried moromi (shoyu), fermented beetroot, korean chilli flakes, sour Persian orange or foraged hogweed to make their perfect personal blend.