By Amy Oates
The global pandemic has clearly turned the world we know on its head!
So when our Hospitality department was faced with the reality of having to cancel all of its cookery learning tours - ‘excursions’ - they knew there had to be a better way.
Currently, local community restaurants and cafes have had to close their doors to dine-in patrons and convert to takeaway only service. This has put a significant pressure on businesses with staff losing work and reduced incomes.
Being in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, TAFE Gippsland students could no longer participate in the annual excursion to Hogget Kitchen, an outstanding local restaurant located in Warragul.
Program Manager, Paul Clerks, and Cookery Trainer, Anthony Patterson, put their heads together and got to work.
“In past years, this learning tour previously involved the students watching Chef Trevor Perkins prepare several of his own Charcuterie recipes. They were fortunate enough to get involved in all stages from butchery, to smoking in Trevor’s wood fired smoker,” Anthony said.
“As trainers to apprentices and trainees, we know that there is no better time than now to support our local industry and give back where we can. With this in mind, we reached out to one of our local talents, Chef Trevor Perkins, and asked if he would be keen to get involved with a ‘virtual masterclass’.
“We were delighted that Trevor and his team were excited to get behind this idea and provide a genuine learning experience for our young apprentices and trainees,” Paul added.
Hogget Kitchen owner and head chef, Trevor Perkins, was also delighted to be involved.
“At Hogget Kitchen, charcuterie is pivotal to our menu; all local meat comes in whole carcasses with the butchery being done in-house with a nose to tail approach, meats like mortadella, salami, pastrami, smoked black ham all feature on the menu,” Trevor said.
“Sharing these skills with the next generation of chefs and home cooks is important to me!”
Prior to the virtual masterclass, Trevor and Anthony organised some tasting packs of charcuterie and pickles to be created and packaged in airtight bags and students collected the bags the day before. On the day, students were able to watch along as Trevor prepared his recipes, and could actually taste the final product once he had finished his demonstration.
“The lesson was live streamed to the learners’ private page, and allowed them to interact with chats, ask questions and post emoji’s on the things they loved the most. The student engagement was next level,” Anthony said.
Paul described the event was “a great success” with the learners very thankful that their teachers and Chef Trevor Perkins went above and beyond to ensure they have the best learning experience possible.
“The current environment has proved challenging for us all and has presented us with many new challenges,” Paul said.
“This event really highlights that together we are strong and by supporting each other where we can, we will get through these tough times.”
Charcuterie packs for students to taste at home, not the wurst idea
These pickle our fancy - pickle packs for students to taste at home
For all media-related enquiries, call;
Neil Lawson - Communications Coordinator, TAFE Gippsland
Phone - 0419 425 804
Email - nlawson@tafegippsland.edu.au or news@tafegippsland.edu.au