I thought I would make a post in my long quiet subforum 
It's not that I haven't been cooking, I have. For a couple of years, the passion sort of died and it was rekindled when I decided to throw a Christmas party this year. It was a bit of a risk attempting this menu by myself. Five courses, four of them new. Between the five courses, there were 3 elements in the first course, 3 in the second, 2 in the third, 5 for the mains, and 4 for the dessert - meaning a total of 17 elements had to be individually prepared and brought together. The recipes were written by myself and had to be developed "on the fly".
Down here in Australia, it is blisteringly hot in Christmas. Most Christmas parties either try to serve a Northern style Christmas which is heavy with rich meats, cheeses, and warm food. That doesn't work in our Australian summer, so some Christmas parties go the other way - cold meats, salads, and lots of beer. I wanted to capture the flavours of a Northern Christmas, but make them light enough for our hot Australian summer.
So here we go.
First course: "Modern Bloody Mary"
Elements: Clarified tomato water, smoked tomato granita, injected peeled cherry tomato encased in gelatin, Vodka, seasonings and garnish
Method: 2kg tomato was minced in the food processor and filtered to produce the tomato water. A portion was used to make the smoked tomato granita (just add liquid smoke). The cherry tomato was peeled and injected with Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.
Flavour: Captures all the elements of a classic Bloody Mary but much cleaner and more intense. The peeled tomato at the bottom had a surprising burst of flavour when it was bitten into. It worked.
Second course: "Pea and Ham Consomme"
Elements: Sous-vide peas, smoked ham, encased in an aspic. Ham stock clarified to a consomme via ice-gelatin filtering.
Method: Make a ham stock from 4 ham hocks, carrot, onion, celery, and bouquet garni. Freeze in containers, then chop into 1cm cubes. Allow to thaw in a muslin lined chinois to produce the consomme. Reduce to the volume needed then season. Use a portion of the consomme to make the aspic for the ham and peas. Serve the aspic and pour the consomme - the heat of the consomme melts the aspic and produces a wonderful, clear and clean tasting broth.
Flavour: This one really worked. You owe it to yourself to taste a good consomme - it has all the intensity and flavour of a soup, but it tastes so much cleaner, clearer, and brighter. And it looks sexier too.
Third course: "Mushrooms with Mushroom Sauce".
Elements: Grilled King mushroom, Heston Blumenthal's mushroom ketchup.
Method: Make the mushroom ketchup (Google the recipe). Grill the King mushrooms. Serve together.
Flavour: This dish was made entirely from mushrooms, but it is surprising how much flavour you can get once you reduce a large quantity of mushrooms down to a cup worth of stock. It is like mushrooms on steroids. The dish looks simple, but it has surprising depth of flavour.
Main course: "Roast chicken in a roast chicken with sauce ravigote"
Elements: roast chicken stock, roast chicken, sauce ravigote.
Method: Make a roast chicken stock from one roast chicken, then inject it into another chicken and roast it. With the spare chicken stock, make a sauce ravigote.
Flavour: As you can expect from two chickens in one (recipe previously published on WBF), the chicken was intensely chicken-y and essentially self-saucing. But I prepared a sauce in case some people wanted a sauce.
Main course: "Heston Blumenthal's triple cooked potatoes"
Method: The potatoes are parboiled in brine, then fried at 120C, and fried again at 190C in duck fat.
Main course: "Flame grilled asparagus"
Method: Most people overcook their asparagus, so it goes limp. Not here. After peeling the asparagus, I reserved it in the fridge. 20 min before cooking, it goes into the freezer. This ensures the center of the asparagus is very cold. It then goes into a searing hot charcoal BBQ and is lightly charred.
Flavour: The outside of the asparagus is cooked and a little smoky, whilst the inside is still crispy. It was a real hit.
Main course: "Sous-vide carrots with lavender"
Method: Peel the carrots and seal in a bag with dried lavender, honey, butter, and salt. Sous-vide at 85C for 50 minutes. Serve.
Flavour: The carrots were infused with lavender and tasted really fragrant.
Dessert: "Cassata in Christmas Pudding Flavours"
Elements: Christmas pudding ice cream, biscuit base, sponge, glaze
Method: Make a creme anglais and flavour it with the traditional elements of a Christmas pudding: fruit peel, sultana, cherry, rum. Churn it in an ice-cream maker. I was too lazy to make my own sponge, so I bought it. Assemble the whole thing and freeze. Once frozen, apply the glaze.
Outcome: As you can see, my pastry skills leave much to be desired. The cake was a bit ugly, but it tasted OK.
It's not that I haven't been cooking, I have. For a couple of years, the passion sort of died and it was rekindled when I decided to throw a Christmas party this year. It was a bit of a risk attempting this menu by myself. Five courses, four of them new. Between the five courses, there were 3 elements in the first course, 3 in the second, 2 in the third, 5 for the mains, and 4 for the dessert - meaning a total of 17 elements had to be individually prepared and brought together. The recipes were written by myself and had to be developed "on the fly". Down here in Australia, it is blisteringly hot in Christmas. Most Christmas parties either try to serve a Northern style Christmas which is heavy with rich meats, cheeses, and warm food. That doesn't work in our Australian summer, so some Christmas parties go the other way - cold meats, salads, and lots of beer. I wanted to capture the flavours of a Northern Christmas, but make them light enough for our hot Australian summer.
So here we go.
First course: "Modern Bloody Mary"
Elements: Clarified tomato water, smoked tomato granita, injected peeled cherry tomato encased in gelatin, Vodka, seasonings and garnish
Method: 2kg tomato was minced in the food processor and filtered to produce the tomato water. A portion was used to make the smoked tomato granita (just add liquid smoke). The cherry tomato was peeled and injected with Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.
Flavour: Captures all the elements of a classic Bloody Mary but much cleaner and more intense. The peeled tomato at the bottom had a surprising burst of flavour when it was bitten into. It worked.
Second course: "Pea and Ham Consomme"
Elements: Sous-vide peas, smoked ham, encased in an aspic. Ham stock clarified to a consomme via ice-gelatin filtering.
Method: Make a ham stock from 4 ham hocks, carrot, onion, celery, and bouquet garni. Freeze in containers, then chop into 1cm cubes. Allow to thaw in a muslin lined chinois to produce the consomme. Reduce to the volume needed then season. Use a portion of the consomme to make the aspic for the ham and peas. Serve the aspic and pour the consomme - the heat of the consomme melts the aspic and produces a wonderful, clear and clean tasting broth.
Flavour: This one really worked. You owe it to yourself to taste a good consomme - it has all the intensity and flavour of a soup, but it tastes so much cleaner, clearer, and brighter. And it looks sexier too.
Third course: "Mushrooms with Mushroom Sauce".
Elements: Grilled King mushroom, Heston Blumenthal's mushroom ketchup.
Method: Make the mushroom ketchup (Google the recipe). Grill the King mushrooms. Serve together.
Flavour: This dish was made entirely from mushrooms, but it is surprising how much flavour you can get once you reduce a large quantity of mushrooms down to a cup worth of stock. It is like mushrooms on steroids. The dish looks simple, but it has surprising depth of flavour.
Main course: "Roast chicken in a roast chicken with sauce ravigote"
Elements: roast chicken stock, roast chicken, sauce ravigote.
Method: Make a roast chicken stock from one roast chicken, then inject it into another chicken and roast it. With the spare chicken stock, make a sauce ravigote.
Flavour: As you can expect from two chickens in one (recipe previously published on WBF), the chicken was intensely chicken-y and essentially self-saucing. But I prepared a sauce in case some people wanted a sauce.
Main course: "Heston Blumenthal's triple cooked potatoes"
Method: The potatoes are parboiled in brine, then fried at 120C, and fried again at 190C in duck fat.
Main course: "Flame grilled asparagus"
Method: Most people overcook their asparagus, so it goes limp. Not here. After peeling the asparagus, I reserved it in the fridge. 20 min before cooking, it goes into the freezer. This ensures the center of the asparagus is very cold. It then goes into a searing hot charcoal BBQ and is lightly charred.
Flavour: The outside of the asparagus is cooked and a little smoky, whilst the inside is still crispy. It was a real hit.
Main course: "Sous-vide carrots with lavender"
Method: Peel the carrots and seal in a bag with dried lavender, honey, butter, and salt. Sous-vide at 85C for 50 minutes. Serve.
Flavour: The carrots were infused with lavender and tasted really fragrant.
Dessert: "Cassata in Christmas Pudding Flavours"
Elements: Christmas pudding ice cream, biscuit base, sponge, glaze
Method: Make a creme anglais and flavour it with the traditional elements of a Christmas pudding: fruit peel, sultana, cherry, rum. Churn it in an ice-cream maker. I was too lazy to make my own sponge, so I bought it. Assemble the whole thing and freeze. Once frozen, apply the glaze.
Outcome: As you can see, my pastry skills leave much to be desired. The cake was a bit ugly, but it tasted OK.
