Monthly Archives: May 2010

suckling pig feast, French-style

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bread rolls that stretch to heaven

The mission was simple: find ten foodie friends and convince them to part with $75 each for a suckling pig three-course dinner. A year ago, this would have proved difficult, but thanks to the wonder that is the social networking, and the food bloggers community, this proved to be remarkably easy and better yet, all participants were extremely excited. I’ve had the pleasure of dining at Libertine in North Melbourne before for a very special degustation so I was in no doubt that all diners would be in for a very lavish meal with wonderful, attentive service.

A few good friends came, and (hopefully) some new ones – food blogger-wise there was Agnes of Off the Spork and partner, @eatnik and a few of her posse, and Alex, Jess and Jillian from MSG. Billy of Half-Eaten also came but due to his dining partner needing to go to hospital due to a physical injury, he left early, and both of them were missed. For the benefit of those of us on Twitter, I assigned the occasion’s hashtag as #pigdestroying in honour of the death metal band Pig Destroyer. Let’s face it, we were all here to pretty much ‘destroy’ a pig.

Somehow managing to arrive early (okay, I admit it, I made an effort), I had an apéritif. There were some really lovely sounding ones but I decided upon le Père Jules de Pommeau de Normandy which was a mix of Calvados and cider. It’s similar to brandy – sweet but very, very smooth. Upon further reflection, I think I’d prefer it as a digestif. I could also probably drink three times that amount with no trouble too…

le pere jules pommeau de normandy

Thanks to Billy, I also got to taste some of the gentian-based aperitif. It really does taste of the flower and is very refreshing! It could become popular in summer if it were readily available. Twitter Melbourne stalwart @coliwilso braved absinthe, served in positively scientific apparatus which piqued everyone’s interest. The way the dinner worked was that we were all going to have the same main, but had the choice of one entrée and dessert from a choice of three for both – all items were on the menu available to the non #pigdestroying ilk.

Very few people chose the chèvre and potato paupiette with sweet corn basil soup and went with either the terrine du jour, or the Hervey bay scallops.

The terrine was venison with pistachio, served with mustard and pear chutney. I went with this because I can’t really resist venison when it’s offered. I was probably supposed to put some sliced terrine on the toasted bread and spread some of the mustard and chutney, but I didn’t really have enough patience to do so.

terrine du jour, toasted sour dough & pear chutney

The Hervey bay scallops come with a forest mushroom ragoût.

hervey bay scallops & forest mushroom ragout

There was a judicious amount of time between courses, which is always welcome. I’m sure many a diner’s heart set about racing once the suckling pig was presented, brought around to all of us so we could get a good gawk. It’s a little confronting, given that the pig is about 15 weeks old at the time of slaughter.

the guest of honour

The serves looked more like this, with dreamy mashed potatoes and with what tasted like mustard leaves. The skin was served too, and it was quite hard to cut into as the hide of the pig is very tender, it being so young. I left mine and concentrated on the tender meat and mash. It caused us a bit of amusement that they gave the lads larger servings than the ladies. I wasn’t going to complain – the servings were rich and filling and I think even a few of the lads struggled.

suckling pig

Not to forget the generous serving of baby vegetables – beans, squash and carrots. Delectable! We were all given extra mash, but don’t think anyone really needed it.

baby vegetables

At some stage, I think perhaps just after mains were finished, the chef came out to say hello and tell us a bit about the suckling pig and how it was prepared. It was quite nice of him to do so. I told him that being served a whole pig reminded me of the Filipino lechón (also litson) usually reserved for special occasions, where you get a whole roast pig (of adult size) cooked on a spit and then served with an apple in its mouth. A little macabre…

Back to sweet, fluffy things – dessert. I chose a crème caramel with Calvados, accompanied by herbal tea sorbet. Couldn’t quite tell what sort of tea was used – it reminded me a bit of Earl Grey, and it definitely wasn’t peppermint. Whatever it was, it was refreshing and very palate cleansing, as you can probably imagine. The crème caramel was not at all too rich. Sort of wish I could detect more of the alcoholic nature of the calvados, mmm!

calvados creme, herbel tea sorbet & burnt bread praline

The other gorgeous desserts on offer were the chocolate pavé with warm plum mousse and almond crumbs and the passionfruit marshmallow with autumn fruit and seeded shard. I didn’t really get to hear any anecdotal reports about either as most of the people around me ordered the same dessert as me.

In my second time at Libertine, they’ve still managed to impress me so much. The staff are wonderful and always extremely helpful – I’m utterly useless with wine matching and was recommended the 2008 Leabrook pinot gris, Adelaide Hills from South Australia to accompany starters and the 2007 Pommier Bourgogne Rouge pinot noir from Burgundy, France with the main. It’s also excellent that they don’t make me feel like a wine idiot though I am most apologetic that their wine list is lost on me.

In any case, if you don’t believe my glutton ravings about Libertine, you can read John Lethlean’s review for The Age though do note it’s quite an old one. I’m sure I’ll be back to dine at Libertine before the year is out – it’s become a fond friend to me. Thanks very much to all the foodies and food bloggers who came and presented superlative company, as well as existing friends Tris, Colin, Suz and Lindsey who indulged my excitement by attending. Special mention must be made to Alex of MSG who was kind enough to drop off a very special doggy (piggy?) bag to Billy and Debbie while they waited in hospital to ensure that they didn’t miss out on the main attraction!

Libertine on Urbanspoon

ghetto sous-vide

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Why walk when you can run? Or to put it in a more cooking-centric manner, if it’s good enough for Heston Blumenthal et al, then it’s good enough for me.

After watching many an hour of Heston’s Feasts (or Great British Menu or Hell’s Kitchen or…, yeah, you get the picture), I’d noticed that a particular cooking method was particularly en vogue at the moment – sous-vide. You know the method, that one where they take an incredibly good looking piece of meat and vacuum seal it and then pop it into a temperature controlled water-bath. An hour (or three) passes and they retrieve the bag of meaty goodness and plate it up. The piece of meat that looks so incredible you (briefly) consider crash tackling your television with an animal-like desire (or perhaps trade a sibling / partner / parent) so that you might possess and consume the delicious morsel. Yeah, that method.

After seeing sous-vide used by the best and brightest chefs on multiple occasions my interest was piqued, but unless I happened to find myself trapped in a commercial kitchen overnight (you remember! those childhood fantasies where you get trapped in the toy store at night and run amok) I’d have little chance of getting to ascend to cooking nirvana that the sous-vide method would grant me. That was until I stumbled upon Cook Your Meat in a Beer Cooler: The World’s Best (and Cheapest) Sous-Vide Hack.

To say I was excited about the hack would be a massive understatement; I may have ranted to my partner about the wondrousness of sous-vide le coól boxe (French for sous-vide in an Esky) on more than one occasion. Incessantly. Relentlessly.

Thus I was forbidden to talk about it, on pain of death.

Now, given my proclivity to talk (especially about things that interest me), for my own safety I felt it was best to dip my toes (terrible pun intended) into the sous-vide water as soon as possible.

So on a particularly lazy Sunday, with the blessing of the ‘missus’, I set out to pick up my apparatus.

For the ‘hack’ you require very few things:

  • Esky (or any suitable insulated vessel)
  • thermometer
  • zip-lock bags
  • measuring jug
  • meat!

ghetto sous-vide apparatus

So after scuttling about trying to locate the required equipment (every store had sold out of cooking thermometers, apparently), I was down to the important decision – the cut of meat! I had already picked beef as the animal, wanting to cook an ‘epic’ steak, but I was less decided on the cut; a tough cut that could be made better through the long cooking, or a good cut that could be sous-vided to excellence.

I chose the latter, getting a nice looking t-bone.

So with all the required pieces I sourced, I returned home to prepare my experiment. Now the procedure is straightforward enough – place your cuts of meat into the zip-lock bags, remove all air from the bag, and seal. This is quite an important step for two reasons – firstly, the bag of meaty goodness won’t sink and settle with air in it. Secondly, and more importantly, air is a poor conductor of heat, meaning your meat will take longer to cook and will cook less evenly.

So with the meat sealed, I set about getting the ‘oven’ prepared.>

Now in the recipe I was following it called for the steak to be cooked at 54C for one hour. So after scratching my head to recall Year 12 physics I came out with a handy rule of thumb: equal parts boiling water and cold tap water will result in combined temperature just south of 60C. Being a punctilious soul that I am that was close enough for me!

So the meat was dropped in, timer set, and thumbs twiddled. Sixty minutes later I returned to this find this ‘beauty’.

cooked t-bone

Now while she may not have been stunning with a less-than-perfect appearance it did have a beautiful even cook throughout, just as sous-vide promises. The meat was juicy and perfectly medium rare.

nice and bloody

To ‘gussy’ her up and make her look as beautiful on the outside as in I decided to place it on a smoking griddle plate to brown off and give it grill lines. This is step is mostly cosmetic – the only comment against sous-vide being that the low temperature isn’t sufficiently high to melt the fat.

But, no matter – a minute on the griddle on each side made her beautiful!

ghetto sous-vide t-bone (with hand model)

Now to the important part, the taste! Knowing I wouldn’t be an impartial judge (c’mon, she’s my baby…err…girl), I enlisted my partner to be the taster. To put it delicately she inhaled it, which in my books is a big endorsement.

I found the experience entirely satisfying and I will definitely be sous-videing again, whether it be ghetto or otherwise and to honest the whole experience makes me feel just a little bit fancy – watch out Heston, here I come!

nuts about brown ales

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April’s Ale Stars at the Local Taphouse in St Kilda was devoted to nut brown ales. Not exactly one of the most exotic styles of beer, but for some reason it always conjures up images of colder weather. Probably because I think of conkers…the colour of them, and the weather. It’s actually a fond childhood memory.

Apparently, it’s not a particularly popular style. The Northern English style is lighter and hoppy, whereas the Southern English variation is rich and sweet. On this particular evening, we were only going to be having examples that adhered to the Northern English tradition.

As is usual pre-session, I tried some beer I’d never had. First up, the Bridge Road Bling IPA.

Bridge Road Bling IPA

Nice and bitter and hoppy. I liked a lot of the Bridge Road tipples tried when I last went to the microbrewery showcase. This was no different. Was a bit surprised that it got such a poor review in the beer zine Stubby Buddy vol. 1 because those folks are more knowledgeable about beer than me, and I really liked it – it’s rich, bitter and very characteristic of the IPA style. Though my photos of beer are generally taken with my mobile phone, this captured it well – rich, creamy, aromatic head, while the liquid itself was cloudy. I don’t think I can call hoppy beers ‘manly’ anymore, because I now love hoppy beer. One less gimmick up my sleeve, damn!

Afterwards, I had a glass of the Feral Smoked Porter. This is autumn in a glass. Beautiful and dark with a medium body and a less creamy head than the Bling above. The smokiness – wonderfully fragrant and savoury. I want to drink this and slug down smoked oysters. You can see by the lacing on my glass that I perhaps imbibe a little too quickly…

Feral Smoked Porter

The first brown ale for the evening was the Newcastle Brown Ale. I was quite surprised to see that it’s in a clear bottle – it having virtually no hops means this is okay? I found it quite watery, having a hint of bitterness and smelling of Horlicks! Not surprising, given brown ales are malty. Post-2001, this beer now has caramel colouring added to it. I didn’t particularly dig this beer, it was too…well, I think I’ve had better homebrew than this, honestly. I’ve been challenged by a lot of beers I’ve tried at Ale Stars, but up until now, this is the first one that has really failed to impress me.

Newcastle brown ale

The second beer on the list was the Samuel Smith nut brown ale. I’ve actually tried this before. It has seaweed as a coagulent! Is that why it smelt like socks to my nose? Thankfully, it doesn’t taste anything like socks – it’s heavier in body than the Newcastle Brown Ale and but was more bitter to taste.

Samuel Smith nut brown ale

The third beer is where things began to get and feel special. I think this was the special to the line-up? It’s from Colorado. I didn’t make many comments about the taste in my notes, except that I loved it, and it’s very roasty, with a little bit of bitterness. Also, who is the Surgeon General?

Avery Ellie's Brown Ale

The last one was from the American Rogue Ale Brewery – a hazelnut brown nectar. Doesn’t that sound mouthwatering? It was indeed delicious. I found it very caramel-laden and roasty in taste. I wouldn’t be able to choose a favourite between the Avery and this one.

Rogue hazelnut brown nectar

This Ale Star session was very much a good deal more…sober than last month’s affair. When in doubt, blame the this bock at 12% ABV. Good to see that they’re also serving us more pizza too!

Hot off the press! The Local Taphouse, both St Kilda and Darlinghurst, can now be found on ze twitterz! St Kilda is @localtaphouseSK and Darlinghurst is @localtaphouseDL. About blooming time lads, welcome! Teach them how to use hashtags and stuff, hehe.