Dip, Drizzle and Dress

About this workshop

Dips and dressings are where flavour lives. In two hours you will make a silky hummus, a smoky aubergine dip, a labneh, and two dressings — then learn how to rescue, thin, thicken and rebalance each one.

This is the workshop for anyone who has ever tasted a dressing and thought “it needs something” without knowing what. We work through the grammar of sauces — acid, fat, salt, sweetness, heat and aroma — tasting each element on its own before combining them.

You will make a proper silky hummus (including why peeled chickpeas and iced water matter), char aubergines directly over flame for a smoky dip, strain yoghurt into labneh and fold it with roasted beetroot, and whisk two contrasting dressings: a punchy miso-lime-sesame and a mellow burnt-orange vinaigrette.

Everything is made in generous quantities and shared at a long table with flatbreads and raw vegetables, so you taste how the dips behave with different textures. You take home your own jars of whatever you choose, plus a troubleshooting sheet for splitting, bitterness and blandness.

On the menu

1. Brown-butter cumin hummus
2. Smoky aubergine dip
3. Beetroot labneh with dill and walnuts
4. Miso, lime and sesame dressing
5. Burnt-orange and mustard vinaigrette

Techniques you’ll learn

• Emulsifying by hand, by whisk and by jar
• Charring aubergine over an open flame
• Straining yoghurt for labneh
• Balancing a dressing with the “taste, adjust, taste” loop
• Fixing splits, bitterness and blandness

How the session runs

1. 0:00Welcome and a blind tasting of single flavour elements
2. 0:15Hummus and the smoky aubergine station
3. 0:50Labneh and beetroot, then a break for tea
4. 1:15Two dressings, whisked and adjusted by taste
5. 1:40Shared table with flatbreads, raw vegetables and take-home jars

Timings are a guide and flex with the group.