Walter Trupp hails from Austria, has worked in three Michelin star restaurants across the globe with world renowned chefs Marco Pierre White and Raymond Blanc to name a few. So why has he set up shop across from the Prahran market so far from home?
Walter and wife, Dorota, have established a rather niche cooking school across the road from what is undoubtedly the gastronomic temple of Melbourne cuisine, the Prahran market. I recently joined a group of avid foodies for four hour snapshot of what Walter does. I’ll be honest – I was a bit hesitant at first as I’ve always ended up going along to cooking classes where they teach you how to make a lasagne or other mundane Wednesday night home meals. That preconception was whipped from my mind as we walked into the enormous kitchen/classroom. A fully kitted out homage to everything that is great about preparing food; Le Creuset as far as the eye could see, pimped out Kitchenaids, copper pots, Electrolux induction and gas cook tops, oversized canisters of ingredients. I didn’t want to leave.
After we sat down around the enormous kitchen bench/table set for dinner it was clear this was no ordinary cooking class. Walter explained his heritage, the amazing restaurants he has worked and his recent appreciation of organic produce. Our first, I would call amuse bouche tied into Walters philosophy of understanding produce and using it appropriately. We were served tomatoes in a number of configurations, simply to illustrate that each part of the fruit delivers a different textural and flavour component (it also helped they were the best quality organic tomatoes and tasted amazing).
This idea flowed through to the appetiser which was the same dish served with Sydney Rock Oysters and then Tasmanian Oysters; garnished with diced cucumber, beetroot jelly and a seafood velouté with a nice hit of fresh horseradish. The subtle differences between the two oysters were intriguing and were matched well with Piper NV Brut.
We went on to enjoy three more courses carefully matched with a range of Shawdowfax wines each more perfect than the last, whilst still learning about how to best use ingredients (even in a home kitchen).
Trupp Cooking School has been open since August and offers a range of classes, with many including a visit to the Prahran market to learn how to pick great produce. This session ran for about four hours and with prices starting at $129 and a huge range of courses available, it’s a great way to spend an evening, enjoying amazing food and learning the tricks of the trade. My tip, this beats an awkward first date at a very good restaurant.
The Menu
Entrée
Amuse Bouche
Textures and flavours of Tomato
Apetiser
Sydney Rock/Tasmanian Oysters w/ diced Cucumber, Beetroot Jelly, Horseradish velouté
Entrée
Salmon Ballotine with Cauliflower, endive salad with blanched school prawns and spelt.
Main
Roasted Beef Fillet w/ a herb crust, sautéed vegetables, pomme fondant, vegetables stuff with crushed peas.
Dessert
Goat milk/yoghurt vanilla panna cotta with seasonal fruits, saffron syrup, saffron jelly and wildflowers.
For more information, head to the Trupp Cooking School website.
Laneway food writer, Charlie Cunningham, is a social media and digital marketing whiz by day and blogger, booze aficionado and Modern Warfare 3 expert by night. Catch him via Twitter, Facebook or his food blog, Lusciousness.
