Food review by James Hill and wine review by Nick Reynolds

Hal Epstein was in the kitchen today for the last ‘cook-off’ in our Chef of The Year schedule for 2021. He was assisted by his son Piers. Hal advised that Piers is the third generation Epstein to attend our Wine And Food Society lunches. Sign him up Hal!

Canapés

Hal challenged us to identify the vegetable in the first of his canapés presented today. Many tried but unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the mystery component and Hal revealed it as Jerusalem artichoke, it was simply served on a biscuit with a cornichon. Our cause wasn’t helped by the addition of dried chilli flakes in the artichoke purée, it certainly added some heat to the lovely nutty flavour. the artichoke was sliced then baked with olive oil and chilli then blended.

Our second canapé was a homemade ocean trout gravadlax served with dill on a slice of baguette. A lot of flavour in the gravlax. It was cured for four days on salt and dill with a touch of vodka.

The canapes went well with our aperitif wines.

Main

Hal’s dish today was based on an Ottolengi dish, Aubergine tricolore.

They say we eat with our eyes and this was certainly the case today. It looked spectacular on the plate accompanied by a perfectly cooked slice of sirloin steak. Our table initially thought we may need horseradish or mustard to go with the steak, but it didn’t, as it was well seasoned with a Moroccan spice rub.

This colourful dish had contrasting flavours sweet, salty and sour.

The salsa and buffalo mozzarella sat on discs of silky oven-baked eggplant.

The salsa that Hal had prepared for us today marinated for three days it was a mix of tomatoes, mini roma, mini roma yellow, kumato, mini heritage yellow and green capsicum and capers. It was finished with handfuls of coriander strewn across the top of the dish.

So much flavour ..we saw why it was COTY nominated dish.

Well done Hal.

Big bread love from Iggys today.

Cheese

Gary Linanne presented a Maffra cloth aged cheddar 24 months.

It was a perfect example of the cheese we saw today, it crumbled as we cut the slice and had a long lingering finish with good bite.

The cheese was accompanied by some homemade quince paste, a perfect match.

Maffra Cheese Company produces an award-winning range of Australian farmhouse cheeses in the style of well-known British territorials.

To create their flagship Cloth-Ashed Cheddar, the traditional process of ‘cheddaring’ is used to remove excess moisture from the curds before they are scooped into large hoop moulds and wrapped in ash-dusted cloth. Instead of being rubbed with animal lard like their British counterparts, these wheels of cheddar rely on the vegetable ash to suppress undesirable mould development and lock in moisture as they age at the farm in temperature-controlled maturation rooms, ensuring they remain vegetarian-friendly.

The cheese maker grades her cheeses throughout their maturation, which is usually up to 24 months. We were fortunate to secure a special release of 3kg wheels that have been slowly matured for significantly longer.

Under the hand-stencilled clothbound rind, you will find a traditional, crumbly textured cheddar. Tyrosine crystals fleck the dense paste and provide a satisfying crunch. The flavour is fruity up front, with a long, savoury finish and bright milky tones – a result that only be achieved with premium farmhouse milk and long, slow maturation.

Wine

Today with the appetisers we sampled three different Rieslings, all of which evidenced different characteristics. The first two wines were Peglidis Riesling by KT. Today we tried both the 2015 and 2017 vintages. Both showed lime acidity and mineral-like texture. The room was divided on these wines, which are a favourite of some wine critics, with some liking the clean flavours and texture while others stated that they deviated too much from what they considered to be the Clare Valley style of Riesling. With the same winemaker, it was interesting to see variability in the wine that could be due to vintage or ageing. The 2015 was more favoured today. Perhaps the 2017 was in one of the dumb phases that can occur with wines and may pick up with some further ageing. The next Riesling was a 2012 Yalumba Pewsey Vale Riesling, which understandably was showing some more aged Riesling characteristics, including a slight hint of petroleum, but still retaining great fruit weight and acid structure. This perennial favourite was universally enjoyed. We then moved on to another Society favourite in the 2017 Tyrrell’s Belford Semillon which is just starting to develop the toasty aromas and complexity that emerge in aged Semillon.

Hal’s delightful beef and chargrilled vegetable dish was served with two Cabernet Sauvignons from the 2008 vintage. The first was a black label from Wynn’s Coonawarra, the 53rd vintage of what must be one of the most consistently good Cabernets in Australia. A wonderfully balanced Cabernet that is now starting to show delicious aged Cabernet characteristics that complement the still evident fruit from a warm, dry year in the Coonawarra. The Yalumba Cigar from 2008 was unfortunately under cork and today we saw bottle variation as a result. Despite being labelled as 13.5% abv, the wine was very full-bodied and, in the bottles where the cork did not fail the wine, retained cassis fruit characters as well as showing some decent development. The Wynn’s under screwcap still has a decent time ahead of it while the Cigar is turning into a gambling proposition for ongoing quality.

We had two Shiraz to accompany today’s fine vintage Australian Cheddar. The first was a 2013 Hewitson Mad Hatter Shiraz. Hewitson is a Barossa Valley based winery that has a reputation for making big wines. Today’s wine was from grapes grown in McLaren Vale and despite coming in at 14.5% abv was well balanced and showing the chocolate undertone that emerges in aged McLaren Vale Shiraz. It was interesting to see that despite the winemaker using a consistent style as for their other wines, the vineyard location in McLaren Vale produced quite a different style of wine. For the second wine, each table had a different wine, either an Andrew Thomas Kiss Shiraz 2010, a Best's Great Western Bin No. 1 Shiraz 2012, or the By Farr Shiraz 2014. Each table reported that they preferred their second wine over the Hewitson.