Nigel Burton was in the kitchen this week for the second cookoff for the Chef of the Year from those outstanding dishes from 2017. Nigel was assisted on the canapés by his usual cooking partner, Hilton Chapman.

We also had a guest today in the form of Ian Mackie and owner of a coffee plantation in northern Queensland who was donating the coffee but more of that later.

Canapés. Hilton provided us with two canapés to start the lunch. I no particular order we’ll start with hummus topped with scotch bonnet chilli slices. This was followed by baba ghanoush topped with with lemon thyme. I believe that Hilton hand made every ingredient and that the toppings were all from his home garden. So many positive comments were made about these two canapés that for a moment you could be forgiven into thinking that Hilton was cooking for Chef of the Year! The images are above, and the presentation excelled.

Aperitif wine. The chef of the day requested a Semillon and that was what he received. In this case it was a Keith Tulloch Semillon 2010 under screwcap. This wine at 8 years of age had a becoming balance of fruit and acid. There was a touch of residual sugar, but quite low, and the wine was probably drinking at its peak. It is a wine to enjoy now and in the short term, not of the style to go another 10 years.

Main course. Most dishes can be divided into components so let’s start with the duck breast. These had been sous vide and then rendered. The duck meat was just cooked, with a touch of pink near the skin and juicy and tender as duck should be. The accompanying vegetable mix included, shiitake mushrooms, snow peas and bok choy. This vegetable mix caused consternation for some and there were comments about to salty or too sweet. The oyster sauce may have been responsible for either/or those characteristics. Mango was served as a side piece, the sweetness working well. The pièce de résistance were the duck fat potatoes (skilfully cut by Hilton we were told) which were cooked in the produce of the rendering. To die for, was heard a few times.

The Wines.

• Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2007 (screwcap, 14%)
• Clerget Bourgogne 2014 (cork, 12.5%)
• Soumah Chardonnay (Yarra) 2013 (screwcap, 12.7%)
• Burton Reserve McLaren Shiraz 2002 (cork, 14%)
• Burton McLaren Shiraz 2002 (cork, 14%)

Being duck, there was Pinot Noir. Contrast is good and that is what our Winemaster managed to do today. Seven years apart and certainly a contrast in style. The New Zealand wine was well made in the larger New World style and comments were made about the sweetness and higher alcohol. The Burgundy (1.5% less then the NZ wine) was, as expected, lighter but had a certain elegance and dryness that stamped its origin. Despite its relative low level on the food chain it needed time to settle down and will improve over the short term.

Once again, we had a white wine and red wine with the cheese. The Yarra Chardonnay was a real hit with many in matching the cheese. Some could argue that it was a bit overpowering with its use of oak but on warming up and some oxygen exposure it became more balanced. The Burton wines were of course liked as it is a style that members know and like. At 16 years of age both the reserve and the standard version were holding up well and there was not much between them. Both in excellent condition

Cheese and coffee. The cheese presented by James Healey today was Marquis Brie de Rambouillet from Île-de-France, a region that includes Paris. This pasteurised cows’ milk cheese is soft with a surface mould and breaks down to become quite gooey with a wonderful fungal aroma and barnyard tastes. Stunning fromage.

Spencer Ferrier introduced Ian Mackie the owner of the Dimbulah brand coffee grown in northern Queensland. The coffee is designed for espresso and is sold only in Singapore through a chain of outlets owned by the company. Ian is a friend of Matthew Holmes and James Hill and hence his presence at the lunch. Ian gave an interesting commentary on the company which through 11 shops in Singapore sells approximately 5000 cups a day. The company is 100% vertically integrated and the fruit comes from 33 ha of trees.

Whilst we enjoyed the coffee that day via plunger, Spencer was darting around the room letting us try the coffee made by the REX espresso machine to give us an idea of the difference. An interesting lesson on coffee and thank you Ian for the donation.

The VP, Peter Kelso, in the chair today closed the lunch and thanked Nigel and Hilton for a great lunch.