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I HAVEN'T made toffee for decades - not since my mother and I slaved over a hot stove, pouring gooey liquid into paper patties for the school fete.
I worried about burning it then, and now I'm just as anxious as I stir the sugar and water mixture in the slick commercial kitchen at the Chapel Hill Winery & Retreat in McLaren Vale.
"Don't worry if it burns," the executive chef and his assistant say. "We'll just start all over again. No big deal."
Cooking can be a bonding experience and that's what my colleagues and I are attempting to achieve. Hands-on cooking classes are the new corporate group therapy. They take people out of their comfort zone and put them in a stainless steel world where everyone can witness the stresses and later taste the successes.
There are 10 of us at the retreat (a stylish two-storey stone, timber and glass building with seven guest rooms and a huge dining and lounge area) and we divide into entree, main course and dessert groups.
The three men choose the main course of Cajun-spiced lamb cutlets, with a salad of orange, olive and mint. Entree is a warm salad of rainbow trout, potato and rocket.
There are intricate dressings for each salad and our dessert team has to make almond wafers to accompany each brulee. Despite the toffee trauma it is lots of fun, especially when we tuck into our delicious lunch matched with Chapel Hill wines.
The retreat opened in 2004 in the expansive grounds of Chapel Hill Winery and can accommodate 14 guests in stylish rooms, all with great views of the vineyards.
A group can rent the retreat and whip up their own meals, unaided by the experts, in the dream kitchen. Breakfast supplies are provided but all other food is brought in by guests. Groups can also choose from the gourmet experiences on offer.
A popular package is the Cooking Weekend, which includes a casual (chef-prepared) dinner on Friday night, a visit to Willunga Farmers Market on Saturday morning and three hands-on cooking classes, in which two lunches and a gourmet dinner are created.
Those who don't want to cook are free to wander through the vineyards and visit the cellar door, which is housed in a 19th-century stone church and is the inspiration for the vineyard's name.
The writer travelled courtesy of Chapel Hill Winery and Retreat.
Chapel Hill Road, McLaren Vale, (08) 8323 9182, see chapelhillwine.com.au.
