A tasty dessert lesson

THE kitchen at the Drysdale TAFE campus is once more open to the cooking public – and it’s a treat.

David Hobba from Drysdale Tafe with Creme Brulee dessert. For Elaine Reeves.

Usually, I turn the page when a dessert recipe contains several components and ends with instructions for assembly. But after a Divine Desserts class at Drysdale I came home with the know-how to make three desserts, a clutch of 14 recipes, and undeterred.

There absolutely was no recipe for high anxiety or patisserie panics.

Teacher David Hobba said all the components could be made ahead; some could be frozen. Only the plating up was last minute.

It was all designed to avoid the sort of dinner party “where you are running around like an idiot and everyone else is chilling out”, he said.

And of course, one did not have to go with the entire presentation plate-up. The rosewater crème brulee did not have to be served with rhubarb three ways. Nor did the rhubarb poached in grenadine sugar syrup (or you could use pomegranate syrup) have to go with a brulee. And any left over from last night’s dessert would sit happily with your breakfast porridge.

Here “biscuits” cut from a hazelnut dacquoise (a meringue crisp on the outside but squidgy inside) were used with a white chocolate mousse, but could also be used between layers of mousse to create a torte or in an ice cream sandwich. The offcuts make a great crumb.

Hobba said he learned his patisserie skills “from a very angry Swiss patissier”, but he himself was a paragon of amiability in passing them on in a four-hour class that was a well-judged combination of demonstration and hands-on.

We got the feel for making an anglaise base for salted caramel ice cream, but Hobba had made the salted caramel toffee to stir through it.

We made white chocolate mousse from scratch, but Hobba had already made the poached pears that went with it (because the pears have to cool in the white wine syrup). We had a go at honey tuiles and white chocolate filigree and watched Hobba make hazelnut dacquoise.

I was thankful we did not eat everything we made. In fact we ate only the rosewater crème brulee with its rhubarb three ways and pine nut wafers, all of which Hobba had prepared earlier. But we took home containers of poached pears, mousse, ice cream, six banana puddings ...

For many years I enjoyed attending classes at Drysdale for cookery students, professionals and the public. These were demo classes held in the theatrette. We watched the action in the overhead mirror and at the end enjoyed sampling everything made.

In 2009 there was a huge shake-up in vocational training and classes for the public were dropped because they were outside the new establishment’s “core business”.

Now classes are back for enthusiastic amateurs not bent on a culinary career. They also suit professionals wanting to brush up on particular skills. And this time they are held in kitchen classroom and you wear sensible closed shoes and bring an apron.

Hobba’s CV includes working in European hotels, high-end restaurants and supervising volunteers to cook 2500 free meals a day at FareShare in Melbourne — our class of eight would have been a piece of cake after that.

On October 10, Diane Rae of Grandvewe conducts a cheesemaking class, and on October 19 Will Priestly of Pilgrim teaches a coffee class for non-commercial machines.

There are classes, too, on sausage-making, fish cookery, pasta, chocolate, wine and more. They are held in Launceston and Devonport as well as Hobart.

To see the entire program go to tastafe.tas.edu.au and scroll down to the whisk and click the “discover more” tab under Introducing Masterclass

Dining out

Meanwhile, don’t forget Drysdale’s other public faces.

The Drysdale restaurant is open for lunch Wednesday to Friday from noon (last orders 1.30pm) until December 11. If you get in this week David Hobba is head chef and you will be able to taste what I have been talking about on the dessert menu.

At the Friday Night Bar from 3.30pm to 7pm, the cocktails cost only $7 at the Drysdale Bar and an antipasto platter only $5.