The Analytical Kitchen » Dessert

Christmas Menu 2013

ben — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 04:50:00 +0000

Crab salad, cucumber jelly

Sour cream and cold crab.

Chicken liver paté, raspberries, caramelised onion, toast

Barramundi, asparagus, lemon butter, candied lemon and lime zest

Grilled chicken, glutinous rice, kale, Indonesian-style jus

Lamb fillet, pumpkin mash, candied eggplant/aubergine, grilled pepper/capsicum, griddled spring onion, Kalamata olives, balsamic jus

Perfect with Pierre Gaillard Saint Joseph 2011.

Crottin de Chavignol, Comté, croutons, cinnamon sugared almonds, Christmas relish

Lavender and orange blossom honey icecream, pomegranate seeds, toffee pistachios, pomegranate molasses

The concept was to have this with fresh figs (and rosemary and honey icecream), but it was the week or two between regional fig seasons.

Spring GM Menu

ben — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 23:15:24 +0000

Amuse for Sparkler

(Photo ©Cam Wheeler)

Plain and Vegemite gougère

Vegemite and cheese just works as a combo, although I think most diners believed the plain gougère were superior.

Surf, Turf ‘n’ Garden

(Photo ©Cam Wheeler)

Barramundi, bacon, peas, asparagus, lemon butter

Barramundi and bacon sandwiched together with transglutaminase (“meat glue”) and baked (slightly over-baked in this case). The lemon butter includes ultra-fine shavings of lemon zest to give freshness and lift.

“Steak”

(Photo ©Cam Wheeler)

Watermelon steak, feta, mint

Slow baked watermelon in Sherry and butter, akin to this rendition. The mint can be overpowering, but otherwise an interesting interlude. There was much discussion on a potential wine matching here, and we concluded that a rosé or a rosé Champagne might be a suitable match.

Braised pork belly, galangal-scented salad, Szechuan pepper toffee

(Photo ©Cam Wheeler)

Braised pork belly, galangal-scented salad, Szechuan pepper toffee

Voted the favourite dish of the menu by the diners. The pork belly is braised slowly with Chinese flavours (soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, ginger, spring onion, brown sugar). The concept behind the salad was that the diner would experience the ethereal aromatic lift of galangal. Unfortunately, IMO, galangal is too hot-spicy to achieve this aromatically without burning and overpowering the diner’s palate. In the end, the galangal was simmered with mirin, and sugar added, to take the edge off the heat. Flavour-wise, this worked successfully, although the resulting salad dressing was perhaps a little too sweet.
Nevertheless, this is a dish I am happy with: the Szechuan pepper adds spice aromatics, the salad of shaved capsicum (bell peppers), carrot and fennel add colour and crunch, and both compliment the tender sweet-savoury pork belly and (braising liquid) reduction-sauce. This style of dish harks back to the days when I focused heavily on flavour impact.

Lamb fillet, eggplant purée, mint salad, rosemary lamb jus

(Photo ©Cam Wheeler)

Lamb fillet, eggplant purée, mint salad, rosemary lamb jus

I prefer fillet to backstrap (eye of loin) for this dish, and it is ideally BBQed. The eggplant is baked then flame-charred for a smoky flavour before it is puréed. A little yoghurt is then added and it is reduced and seasoned. I prefer baby garden mint (Mentha sachalinensis) leaves, but when caterpillars decimate…

Manchego, Comté/St Agur, poached pear, croutons, spiced walnut

(Photo ©Cam Wheeler)

Manchego, Comté/St Agur, poached pear, croutons, spiced walnuts

My standard kind of cheese course – you might call it a signature dish.

Lavender icecream, Manuka honey, scorched almonds

(Photo ©Cam Wheeler)

Lavender icecream, Manuka honey, scorched almonds

Salted Caramel and Peanut Truffles

A modification of David Everitt-Matthias’ Salted Caramel and Peanut Truffles (see Beyond Essence, 2013) – I simply omit the layer of chopped peanuts that surrounds the salted peanut caramel core, instead rolling the salted peanut caramel core in milk chocolate before a final cocoa powder dusting. But I still wonder, do we ever truly appreciate the truffle after so many preceding dishes?

Easter/Autumn Menu

ben — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:09:34 +0000

Autumn. There’s a chill in the air. One might imagine animals brought into the barnyard, the hot breath of Robins (Erithacus rubecula) in the crisp morning, hedgerow fruits, composting oak and birch leaves, undergrowth, game, red Burgundy…

But Easter is at completely the wrong time of year in the southern hemisphere… In Sydney, Australia, autumn fits almost none of the above descriptions.

Despite recent tumultous temperatures, there is a chill in the air, and Burgundian wines are available (even if they come at a significant price)…

Salad of quail breast, aspargus, butter beans, Parmigiano Reggiano, baby lettuce

Salad of quail breast, aspargus, butter beans, Parmigiano Reggiano, baby lettuce

Butter and tarragon white wine vinegar dressing.

Christian Moreau‘s Chablis Les Clos 2008 paired well with this dish, showing lemon butter, freshly cut meadow flowers, and perhaps some quince. It possessed lovely and great length.

“Steak”

Baked watermelon, feta, mint

This was baked en papillote with a little butter and Sherry in a moderate oven for about two hours. The texture is very interesting, almost like lychee flesh, and it doesn’t really taste like watermelon at all. Hong and Kim pair it with feta, balsamic reduction and mint. Even just with feta and mint (here) it works well.

Autumn: Game, smoke and chestnuts

Quail legs, Eucalyptus-smoked baked potato, roast chestnuts, quail jus

Quail legs: pan fried

Potato: boiled, smoked in Eucalyptus leaves, then baked in olive oil with rosemary. The smokiness worked quite well, even if the texture of the mise-en-place-reheated potato wasn’t up to scratch. I was quite worried about them until the final roasting: having eaten too many mildly smoked (i.e., “is it actually smoked?”) components in restaurants in the past, and finding the intensity of my own smoking experiments insufficient in the past, I smoked the sh*t out of these potatoes. The result was that everything that came into contact with them became smoke tainted (the tupperware container that held the smoked potatoes over night still has a little taint after soaking for over a week). Smokiness is one thing, smelling like a bushfire torched everything in sight is another. Fortunately, after the roasting, they presented a smoky note that was distinct yet not overpowering.

Chestnuts: roasted, then marinated in Sherry and stock.

The Domaine des Croix Beaune Cents Vignes 2009 was far too young. The fruit was vibrant and has was some sweetness to it (2009, no doubt). The tannins were quite velvety, but the acid stood out a little, as did the pleasant lick of slightly vanillary oak in the finish. I do find Domaine des Croix wines a little sweet-fruited for what I look for in red Burgundy, but this probably just needs time to integrate and become more savoury and… autumnal.

Shin of beef and unadorned veg

Pressed braised shin of beef, blanched radish and griddled spring onion, beef jus, thyme

I have been leafing through the Noma cookbook recently, and the idea of unadorned root/leafy vegetables caught my interest.
Pressing (finely blended) slow braised shin of beef provides a good form; although I admit that the phallic presentation requires further work, and one mustn’t forget it does require some braising juices to keep the meat moist (no pun intended!).

Cheese and nuts

Poached pear-encased Stilton, spiced walnuts

Easter = Chocolate

Early grey cream, dark chocolate mousse, white chocolate mousse, chocolate brownie

(1) Perhaps hair driers are too warm to de-mould cold desserts.
(2) Is Dutch processed cocoa really worth it?
(3) Make sure white chocolate content is high when paired with dark chocolate, lest it’s presence be lost.

Australia Day Menu

ben — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:06:52 +0000

Australia Day means lamb, not so much because Sam Kekovich tells (Anglo?) Aussies it does. More because, of all the readily available meats available in Australia, lamb is possibly the best.

But before the lamb, a seafood starter. Every time I eat mussels, I think I should eat them more often, and at Christmas that was exactly how I felt… which prompted some mussels, cooked the classic French way (shallot, butter, garlic, white wine; parsley garnish), with some tagliatelle.

Mussels

French-style mussels with tagliatelle

Lamb Two Ways

Lamb Two Ways: Rack loin, fennel, anchovy-butter sauce; Middle loin, cannellini bean purée, rosemary lamb jus

Lamb: BBQed.
Fennel: baked with butter and white wine.
Sauce: anchovy melted into butter.
Cannellini bean purée: rehydrated; shelled; boiled with bay, thyme and garlic; puréed, reduced.
Jus: lamb stock, reduced with a hint of rosemary.

The rack loin is simply the loin meat from the lamb rack. The middle loin is the eye meat further down the back of the lamb. The middle loin was rather tough and I would not choose to serve it again.

I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that baked fennel is a bad idea – so much better fresh. It was the only problem with the flavours on the plate.

Lamb-Stuffed Aubergine/Eggplant

Lamb-stuffed aubergine/eggplant with Moorish spices and melted Manchego

The lamb dishes were served with four different Passionvale Cabernet Sauvignon wines: an unoaked 2009, an unoaked 2010, an oaked 2011, and a 2011 oaked Cabernet Shiraz blend.
They are wines which, it might be said, are definitively of their Hunter Valley roots, yet show a kind of Italian (or perhaps even French) sensibility, in that they have that Hunter Valley fruit profile that (for me) shows both black and red fruits (think inky blackcurrant, along with cherries of varying shades, and plum), yet aren’t just about fruit because they have a kind of blackcurrant bush or dried grass-like element that is both herbal and herbaceous, and a kind of lift that can run from Parma violets to polish. And on the palate, they are fresh (sometimes too fresh), aren’t afraid to show their tannins (though never in an aggresive way), and are unashamedly of the medium bodied (rather than the full bodied) mould.
The 2009 was actually preferred by the diners, surprisingly being the fuller and somewhat riper of the four. It’s acid-balance was better (even though it was the only wine of the four whose must had been acidified!) and perhaps as a result, it matched the food better, particularly the stuffed eggplant dish.

Cheese

Manchego, Beaufort, Amontillado and vanilla-poached apricot, English crackers

I wanted to poach (somewhat too-firm apricots) – but in what? Think Manchego, think Spain, think Sherry, and a little vanilla to lift it all. The Sherry imparted a slightly too woodsy character to the apricots (perhaps I used too much?), but otherwise this was a pleasant combination.

Fruit and sorbet

Mango, lychee, passionfruit, lime sorbet

Christmas Menu 2012

ben — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:30:40 +0000

White truffle custard, mushroom ragu

White truffle custard, mushroom ragu

From the first time I made Thomas Keller’s white truffle custards I served them with a mushroom “ragu” rather than Keller’s black truffle “ragu” of veal stock base. I feel mushroom and truffle is a good combo, and never looked back: porcini, chicken stock, perhaps a little vinegar, but no truffle (afterall, the custard is already truffled). I must try Keller’s version one day, but these aren’t bad nevertheless.

Vanilla-star anise buttered lobster, white wine mussels, lime oysters

Vanilla-star anise buttered lobster, white wine mussels, lime oysters

Lobster: warmed in a clarified butter that has been infused with vanilla and star anise.
Mussels: it’s hard to beat the classic French version, so I didn’t try – mussels steamed in a sauce of white wine, shallots and butter.
Oysters: just lime zest and a little lime juice.

Duck Salad

Duck Salad: duck confit, roast kumra, butter bean purée, crispy bacon, mâche, raspberry vinegar

Using only extra virgin olive oil to confit the duck at 90-95°C (195-203°F) yielded a soft texture. The bean purée was prepared by rehydrating dry beans, boiling the beans in herbs (rosemary, bay and thyme), purée-ing, and reducing the purée.
The combination was interesting, but I’d drop the kumra/sweet potato in future.

Lamb medallion, eggplant purée, mint salad, lamb jus

Lamb medallion, eggplant purée, mint salad, lamb jus

Essentially the same dish concept as this or this, which has become a standard for me. It perfectly suits the use of quality Australian lamb and eggplant/aubergine.
Eggplant: roasted to soft, then finished on the BBQ to add a smokiness before being being puréed, having a little yoghurt added, and reduced to the appropriate consistency.
Mint salad: young mint leaves, dressed in a little rice wine vinegar.
Lamb jus: a standard lamb stock, reduced.
Lamb: BBQed loin meat (only) from the rib – I feel it’s the perfect cut for this.

Cheese

Manchego, Comté, English crackers, fresh walnuts, quince paste

Like any quality ingredient, good cheese (and at over A$100/kg it better be!) needs little doing to it/accompanying it.

Carpaccio of summer fruits

Carpaccio of summer fruits

Thinly sliced white peaches and white nectarines, dusted in vanilla sugar ground to a powder, splashed with lime juice, and chilled, with a few cherry pieces for contrast. Stone fruit paradise. (Essentially, this is just a refinement of this previous execution, wherein the tangelo didn’t work.)

Strawberry and Rhubarb Trifle

Strawberry and Rhubarb Trifle: fresh strawberries, crème anglaise, stewed rhubarb, rhubarb jelly, ginger 'crumbles'

The height of British summer translated to a rainy Australian summer’s day.

Strawberries and cream

ben — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 09:42:54 +0000

Vanilla crème, roasted strawberries, strawberry coulis

I’ve always preferred the flavour of fresh strawberry to cooked strawberry, but these strawberries tossed in butter, sugar and cracked black pepper, before being roasted to soft, were a delight. A particularly good use of firmer winter (Queensland) strawberries. Some brûlée would have complimented well, but the torch was out of gas.

Szechuan and Sauternes

ben — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:31:03 +0000

GrapeRadio have some interesting videos on YouTube, including some pretty nice cinematography in the The Scent of Black, a short film about Cahors. I found the video on Château Suduiraut (Part II) discussing the pairing of Sauternes with Szechuan cuisine of particular interest.

I completely agree with Christian Seely’s comments regarding food-wine matching (“if there’s something in the dish that can wake up something in the wine… that, for me, is what food and wine matching is all about”). Pierre Montégut remarks on the success of subtly complex spicy dishes bringing out the fruit in Sauternes.

I love Szechuan cuisine, so I thought it worth combining some stirfry and a comparative tasting of Château Guiraud 2007 and Château Suduiraut 2007.

Stirfry pork with carrot, Chinese cabbage (sui choy), ginger and lemongrass

Not so very Chinese, given that the sauce comprised lemongrass and fishsauce – perhaps a Vietnamese-Chinese fusion(?), but this worked particularly well with the Sauternes.

Stirfry Szechuan-style chicken with bell pepper/capsicum

Chicken marinated in soy sauce and rice wine. Stir fried with onion and bell pepper/capsicum. Sauce of black bean, chilli and garlic. Generously garnished with Szechuan peppercorns.

Château Guiraud 2007 was darker in colour, had a more complex nose showing caramel, underripe nectarine(?), quince, a touch of canned pineapple, nut shell and honey. The palate is pleasantly light, with the fruit showing (particularly with the pork dish) on a long finish. This was a better balanced, more aromatically complex, longer wine than the Suduiraut (and I say that being a Suduiraut fan).

Château Suduiraut 2007 had significantly less aromatic/flavour intensity, was fatter, heavier, and I would say of inferior balance – but some may prefer their Sauternes that way. It had flavours of rather floral honey and apricot syrup. Perhaps slightly underperforming for the producer I thought (which may well be an issue of bottle provenance).

The combination with stirfry was excellent, with the viscous texture of Sauternes working well with the oil in the stirfry, and the aromatic spices bringing out different characters in the wine.

Dessert comprised a vanilla crème brûlée, a classic accompaniment to Sauternes. I felt the wines were too acidic for the crème, and it did not bring out interesting flavours in the wine like the stirfry had.

So, next time you reach for a Sauternes, consider drinking it with an Asian main rather than with/as a dessert!

Easter Menu 2012

ben — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:48:29 +0000

Salad of greens, fresh beetroot, green beans, walnuts, goat cheese

Salad of greens, fresh beetroot, green beans, walnuts, goat cheese

Discussions with others following the prep for this dish led me to realise just how time consuming the preparation of a properly exectured salad can be. And how typically underrated the skill in preparing salad is. Get the dressing balance off, and it shows. Use anything less than absolutely fresh ingredients and the discerning diner notices. Combine ingredients that don’t compliment each other and it weakens the entire dish. You get away with a lot less when it comes to salads. Could it be that the reason salads remain so underappreciated is because they’re often not well conceived or executed? When I list some of the best dishes I’ve eaten in France, that list invariably includes a salad… they just do salads well in France.

The dressing here was a light extra virgin olive oil and raspberry vinegar with a little salt. Diners never seem to be able to pick out the fruit in fruit vinegars; they add an elusive quality to a salad, and often a touch of welcome sweetness.

The salad was served with Christian Moreau‘s Vaudesir Chablis from 2009. The floral-vanilla oak increasingly overpowered the wine’s minerality, fruit (lemon, pineapple and nectarine/white peach), and attrative edge of vegetation, but it remained delicious, with its suitably austere yet balanced palate and long finish. It complimented the salad quite well. Interesting to note too, that a mouthful of greens+walnut+cheese prior to a sip of that Chablis was a far superior experience than if it followed a mouthful of salad that didn’t include walnut+cheese.

Braised pork belly, cauliflower cream, PX prunes, orange zest

Braised pork belly, cauliflower cream, PX prunes, orange zest

Peter Gilmore (Quay restaurant, Sydney) vac-steams a suckling pig, picks it apart, and remoulds within a piece of crispy pig skin. It’s then served with the cauliflower cream and Pedro Ximénez prunes, and it’s a great dish.
The above dish departs in two significant ways:
(1) The pork here is a ribbed belly cut. For pork belly dishes, I actually prefer cut from the top of the shoulder (à la British belly) or from the hind portion of the belly (no ribs). But the ribbed belly cut (with a firmer texture and less fat) offers something different, and greater textural contrast to the soft cauliflower cream and prunes.
(2) Peter Gilmore doesn’t make the simple addition of orange zest, which is my most humble contribution, but I must say that the addition elevates this dish to a whole new level; providing an aromatic lift that cuts through the pork (in the same way that the acidity of a traditional fruit accompaniment like apple might, yet without the acidity – which isn’t needed here because there’s little fat in the pork) and compliments the cauliflower and prunes well. It’s not entirely surprising, since orange is a classic flavour combination with pork, but the fact that it’s the zest offers something different – I don’t know why citrus zests aren’t used more!

BBQed lamb loin with beans

BBQed lamb loin with beans

In the absence of haricot, cannellini… and broad beans with the shell on (the horror), with a bacon and rosemary-flavoured stock, and mint oil.
The smooth, sweet cherry-fruited E. Pira Barbera d’Alba Superiore 2009 wasn’t a bad match, though it might have been a better match had it not been canvassed in oak.

Chocolate semifreddo

White and dark chocolate semifreddo, PX raisins, hazelnut vanilla fudge

Easter must include chocolate so…
The presentation clearly still needs work, but this was another rendition of the chocolate semifreddo (1 and 2). Here, dark chocolate semifreddo sits on white chocolate semifreddo. Between them lies a hazelnut vanilla fudge. Inside the dark chocolate semifreddo hide PX soaked raisins.

Visual recipes for the adept?

I don’t use recipes, except “in the pastry section”. Even then, I suppose I don’t use recipes as such: I just want to be reminded of the quantities, and a general guide for execution sequence, that I can quickly jot down, take to the kitchen, and follow with visual ease (without reading reams of text). Thus was born the visual “recipe”. Of course, it doesn’t include much of the detail (for example, folding the chocolate and pseudo-pâte à bombe mixture into the cream wouldn’t be done until it was cold, to retain the air in the emulsion), but it contains the essential information. Above is a “visual recipe” for the dark chocolate semifreddo in isolation.

March Menu 2012

ben — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:29:06 +0000

Oyster risotto

Oyster risotto

I was trying to think of a starter that was reasonably filling and could accompany Chablis… Arborio rice (naturally) stirred endlessly while vegetable and shellfish stocks and white wine are continually added and reduced. Then, for the last few tens of seconds, along with the traditional addition of butter, oysters are also added and semi-poached. The resulting texture was better than hoped for: creamy risotto rice with a central bite and appropriately rounded stock-base flavours, with occassion hits of creamy rock-pool oyster flavour.

The Chablis in question was the Seguinot-Bordet Vaudesir 2009. A rather ripe nosed (nectarine and next to no minerality) wine, though the palate combined a delicious tingling acidity on entry with a round (yet in no way fat) texture and a long river pebble-mineral finish. It worked well with the oyster risotto. Interestingly, the particular Arborio used here was quite aromatically “grainy” (smelling like raw wheat grain), which worked surprisingly well with the Chablis as a flavour contrast.

Salad of greens, young goat cheese, crutons and walnuts

Greens, goat cheese, crutons, walnuts

A simple, light and delicious salad with a very light dressing of about 20/80 grapeseed oil/sushi vinegar.

Mushrooms en papillote

Mushrooms en papillote

Surprises are a nice experience for the diner and are perhaps too often reserved for desserts. Here, the diner is presented with a warm paper package where, upon opening, they are greeted with a waft of earthy baked mushroom, herb and vinous aromas. A very simple yet immensely satisfying dish showcasing a variety of mushrooms, baked en papillote with butter, white wine, parsley, thyme, marjoram, and a touch of pepper.

Pierre Amiot‘s Morey St Denis is particularly good for village-level red Burgundy. The 2009 was showing wild raspberry and cherry aromas along with a floral aspect (like pink dog rose) without being volatile in any way. It was like the summer’s bounty of fruit in Northern Europe, with a touch of tree fungus/meat/and ultra-subtle wood. The palate was beautifully textured (damusc-velvet was mentioned), with a sweet-sour cherry flavour that sweetened a little in the finish. With the mushrooms en papillote, this was a complimentary match that was more about textural companionship than elevation or contrast of flavour. The wine also worked reasonably well with the following dish.

Roast quail and figs, jus

Roast quail and figs, jus

Figs and quail roasted en papillote to retain moisture, with a little red wine and dry Sherry. Red wine and quail stock jus.

Quail stock

And a quality (unusually meat-heavy flavoured) stock makes all the difference.

Strawberry and white chocolate mousse

Strawberry and white chocolate mousse

A layered mousse, with the white chocolate component being whipped cream folded into a (low temperature) pâte à bombe that has had white chocolate melted into it. The strawberry component is whipped cream folded into a mixture of whipped egg white and sugar, and gelatin-set fresh strawberry juice. The twist is that the cream used for the strawberry component has been infused with both rose water and (to add complexity) actual rose petals – but subtley so, such that the diner cannot quite detect the addition element and it adds a degree of intrigue. I was quite pleased with the concept.

The candles burned late into the night…

Classic chocolate

ben — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:08:21 +0000

It’s been five years since this rendition, but the theme remains the same because the classic combination of chocolate, nuts, caramel/fudge just works so well. I hold rich desserts (in moderation) under my belt (pun intended ).

A chocolate semifreddo (though it looks like just a mass of chocolate mousse): semi-frozen dark (70%) chocolate custard with whipped cream (and, here, meringue) . Inside hide* raisins plumped-up with Pedro Ximénez, and underneath sits a layer of hazelnuts (for me, the No. 1 nut with chocolate) set in a vanilla-(cream-)fudge.

Chocolate semifreddo, PX raisins, hazelnuts, vanilla fudge

*The best desserts have an element of surprise.