In what has become an annual extravaganza, Goldy and Paul Kuipers from Courtney’s Brasserie presented a meal to some 65 of us today. Goldy had commissioned a caricaturist, Paul Biddle, to draw him and Paul for our amusement. Paul must have been well paid as Goldy had lost a few years!

Canapés. Paul provided two canapés for us today. The first was venison sausage sliced and topped with pan fried and caramelised eschalot. Extraordinarily tasty. Next came a chicken pate on a toast with field mushrooms topping. The toast had been kept crisp on its trip from Parramatta to the restaurant and the field mushrooms had that natural just picked and cooked look about them. Both canapés were enjoyable.

Aperitif wine. The main aperitif wine today was the Richmond Grove Riesling 2008, under screwcap. It was in excellent shape with some toast and honey overtones. A very good if not great Australian style Riesling.

Main Course. As can be seen from the photographs above, Goldy is parading the piece de resistance, a salmon coulibiac. Coulibiac is the French adaptation of a traditional Russian dish, kulebiaka, wherein a flavourful mixture of salmon, rice, mushrooms, shallots, hard-boiled eggs and dill are baked inside a pastry crust. It looked stunning and the detail and the work involved must have be substantial.

The slices of the pie were served on Paris mash peas with a fennel marmalade on the side. The rice surrounding the salmon is used to soften the dish, prevent overheating and absorb moisture. The salmon had been cured before cooking.

A wonderful main from a true professional.

The Wines.

• Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay 2010
• Burton Cabernet 2008
• Elderton Shiraz 2004
• Rutherglen Estates Sparkling Shiraz 2012

The matches to the main today took a safe course between a richer style Chardonnay and an aged Coonawarra Cabernet. The Craggy Range 2010 Chardonnay was in the rich southern hemisphere style and many preferred it with the salmon. I’m not so sure of that, preferring the Burton 2004, which was a soft medium bodied Cabernet drinking beautifully.

An interesting comparison of two reds with the excellent cheese today. The Elderton Barossa Valley 2004 Shiraz was rich but not inelegant. 2004 was a good vintage in the Barossa and this was an unexpected (for me) success. Goldy was keen on having a Durif style sparkling with the cheese and thanks to the generosity of James Hill who donated the sparkling Shiraz Durif blend, we had that.

Thanks to member Charles “Chilly” Hargrave for presenting the wines on the day.

Cheese and coffee. Cheese today was the blue d’Affinois and it was in beautiful condition. The cheese was accompanied by raisin and walnut bread with truffle butter and the match worked extraordinarily well.

We also enjoyed a Muscat donated by David Gregory, who noted that it had a base material age of some 90 years.

Spencer Ferrier provided us with (in his words) ‘the best commercial coffee in the world’, Illy espresso. A richer and fuller style, it is always enjoyable.

After Paul had spoken about his lunch. Goldy thanked Paul for 15 years of friendship and once again going out of his way to cook for us in the city. Goldy is well known at Courtney’s Brasserie and is likely that a Society lunch or dinner will be organised soon at the Parramatta location.

A memorable lunch and one that we hope can be repeated by this duo in 2019.

PS: a note re Spencer's picture above. No there was no accident, no drama and definately no alcohol. Spencer was simply scouring the wine refigerator for a tea for Walter Edwards.