an Offally good and Cheesy night

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Inaugural 'first Tuesday of the Month Offal Dinner'.

Alain Kerambrun and Richard Thomas have alerted me to a wonderful event next week for lovers of the “fifth quarter” and fine cheeses.

Alain Kerambrun is a Breton, so he knows his offal. He has been out of the spotlight for a while but many will remember this ex Troisgros 3 star Michelin chef from Miettas, executive chef at Stephanies Restaurant, Gowings and also of course his own restaurant Alain K in Hawthorn.
There will be a four course menu emphasising offal followed by a selection of fine cheeses chosen by Richard Thomas.

Any event that Richard organises invariably unleashes a rare level of conviviality that is not to be missed.

Grandview Hotel, cnr. Pearson & Hunter Streets, Brunswick West 3055.

7 pm Tuesday 2nd September 08

$65 per head + wine.

Bookings: 93 808 606 Enquiries: 0411 551 951

A New Direction for the Cooking School

A Day in the Kitchen

The Cooking School at Sunnybrae is taking a new direction.
In the past our classes have been on a single subject like pasta, antipasto, seafood, bread, desserts and the like.
The new series is be based around the hands on preparation, and of course enjoyment of a balanced 4 course meal highlighting the best seasonal, but perhaps less commonly used ingredients. They will be on Mondays only.
You can have an input on what is covered in the class by indicating your preferences when booking. So if you have an interest in cooking say? young goat, squab, oysters, terrines, any unusual or traditional dishes we will incorporate them into the class provided the ingredients are in season and available fresh.
If there is a special technique you would like to see such as fine pastry, sabayon based ice-cream, clear stocks or perhaps wood fired cooking or indeed anything else, we will endeavour to put your request into the class. There will always be at least one bread covered in each class and as much from the garden as possible.
Most people who come to our classes are looking for inspiration, conviviality and also to polish their culinary skills. So that’s what we will be doing, giving you a chance to use the best ingredients in season to create a balanced multi-course menu that incorporates unusual but achievable techniques in a cheerful and hopefully inspirational setting.
So rather than sitting down to 6 pasta dishes or six Cassoulet after class we can enjoy a balanced, diverse meal together with some well chosen wines.
Achieving balance both in a menu and within each dish is one of the most important challenges that all cooks face.
There will also be a few specialised single subject classes and a number of guest presenters.
So if you feel like spending a day in the Sunnybrae kitchen followed by a spectacular lunch, with a small group [12 maximum] of like-minded cooks led by George Biron, just let us know your preferences and indicate a Monday that suits so we can book you in.

Keep checking the cooking school site for more updates and also let us know what you would like us to present.
Bookings by telephone only on 03 52362276.

Classes begin at 9.30 for 10 am and finish at about 3.30 pm

What to bring.
A sharp knife, an apron, sensible shoes and an enthusiasm for good food and wine.

Costs

$110 pp including all wines and GST.

$100 including all wines and GST pp for groups of 4 or more.

Partners or mates who would like to join us for lunch $55 from 1.30 pm

Last minute discount. Ring ONE day before to see if there is space $100.p.p including all wines and GST.

Two Menus, One Exhibition No Degrees of Separation

Diane and I ducked into the National Gallery to see current exhibition Art Deco.
We have for many years both been keen Decophiles and in fact it was an interest in Art Deco that originally brought us together nearly thirty years ago.
The exhibition shows footage of one of the most decadent examples of this extraordinary period; the super liner Normandie.
This was the epitome of modernist French extravagance.
When we got home I started to look through an old box of menus remembering that many years ago I found an original menu from the Normandie in a junk shop in Geelong.
I decided to dig it out to see what was being served upon those Limoges plates and Lalique glasses in the magnificent dining room.
The said menu, pictured, is from 18 September 1937 the cover is strangely conservative with just a restrained hint of stylisation in the inside typography. Not very deco at all. It must have seemed quite conservative in the modernist interiors of that floating palace.
Caviar, Consommé, Turbotine Dieppoise, Caneton a l’Orange, Terrine de Foie Perigourdine the usual suspects of the time.

..

While I had the box of menus out I got distracted by another deco menu, this time from the

Stork Club in New York [I can’t remember where I found this].
This menu has two sections. The first: an extraordinarily long full a la carte menu of about 14 courses with choices galore.
This menu dates from 1943 in the middle of the war a time of rationing and austerity yet there is Lobster, Green Turtle, Sweetbreads, Calves Liver, Guinea hen and the best of U.S. prime beef.
But the second half of the menu is what got my attention, it is a list of Chinese Suggestions with a list of rather Americanised Chinese dishes where chicken chow mein [sic] costs as much as Lobster Newburg: what gives? Simple the place had goodfella connections.
But where is the relationship between the two menus and the exhibition you ask?
Well; the footage straight after the stuff on the Normandie is of Josephine Baker and the name on the top of the Stork Club menu is Managing Director Sherman Billingsley.
Josephine Baker came to New York on the Normandie and later when she visited the Stork Club, Sherman in his wisdom decided to deny her service as she was black. Bad move: the resultant publicity was to destroy the club. Not even Walter Winchell who has a hamburger named after him on the main menu could save Sherman and the club.

Now back to the real world and what to put on this weeks menu.
Will it be Broiled Sweetbreads Virginia? Asperges Froid Sauce Argenteuille? or Hung Yan dai ding?
Excuse me I have to start to polish the Puiforcat.

First Quarter Summary

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Breaking in a new restaurant is always an anxious time for everyone involved;
re-opening after eight years has also been quite a ride. Is he past it? Can he remember how to cook? Has he lost his taste buds? I am sure that any cooks that have been a way from the front line for a while have felt the same.
The kitchen has been quietly sleeping for all those years with only the odd special public event to tax the equipment and its operators. A few repairs and adjustments [no chiropractor required yet] were always on the cards. Luckily most equipment breakdowns happened before we began in earnest.
The garden while looking quite green is still in need of heavy rainfall [as the whole state is] to provide back-up water if large plantings can be considered for spring and summer. The garden has a three year plan to bring it into full restaurant production. More new crops requiring less water are planned. All growers are facing the same conditions but I have to say that having a garden can take a lot of pressure off menu planning in the country. It’s also heartening to see so many more kitchen gardens developed in restaurants and schools in the last decade. All our irrigation system has been changed and new mulching medium is being trialled and employed. Most of the beds have been revitalised and a large crop of garlic is in, mulched and doing just fine. The artichoke beds have been replanted with new stock and the old asparagus beds have survived well and look like providing a bumper crop in the next few months. New berries are in and 40 new fruit trees are slowly starting to get established. The olives are thriving and may not need any further irrigation but the new truffiere will use the water usually allocated to them so it will be net neutral result there.
On the produce scene there are many new growers but sadly a few good producers have also disappeared. In particular Mt Emu Creek Cheeses, oh for that Pecorino! And the Freshwater Creek chickens are no longer available. Yabbies are not in abundance and even hares seem to be scarce.
Restaurants to me are places that make visitors comfortable, relaxed and hopefully restored in a way that reflects the environment in which they find themselves.
The biggest change has been the new menu format, a subtle evolution of what we did before.
I can’t fully express the joy of being back in the kitchen again. Not many cooks get the luxury of a long break and both Angela, [she has also had 7 years away from the stove] and I are revelling in being under the pump again. Madame is at the helm with all the behind the scenes systems in full swing. The new Sex Kitten Salon has raised a few eyebrows.
Bruce is back on the floor bringing his unique talent and joi de vivre to the dining room. Along with another old mate Jeremy, Bruce and I began together in the very first restaurant venture for the three of us; Boojum's in Carlton, way back in 1976 and our friendship goes back even further.

This photo is from the recent antipasto class. The new program for classes will be posted soon.
Learning about this new [to me] medium of the blogesphere is a steep learning curve.
I will keep it free of advertising and any product or place mentioned here has no commercial relationship with us.

Keep the email questions coming the Magic Robot is on a roll.
I hear the siren, pumped up for the second quarter…..