Food review by Mark Bradford and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Banging the pans today was first-time Chef of the Day Rob Guthrie, with Paul Mitchell doing the canapes. A very cold winter’s day but ideal for Rob’s rack of lamb. As is usual for this time of year, numbers were down a little because of northern hemisphere travel and a few local cases of flu.

Canapes

Paul gave us three canapes today. We started off with pea and mint fritters topped with crème fraiche and chilli jam. Good colours and taste, these fritters were served at room temperature.

Next up were parmesan cheese and paprika pastry tartlets filled with red pepper, tomato paste, harissa, cheddar cheese, double cream and chives, topped with sliced cherry tomatoes. Again, lots of colour and flavour and they were served warmed.

Paul’s final offering was somewhat unusual. Inspired by his wife Louise, these were haloumi, mint and pistachio nut baklavas, drizzled with honey syrup.

Well done Paul with much effort being put into preparing these vegetarian starters to get the lunch underway.

Main

The main course was a crusted lamb rack, inspired by the late Bill Grainger. The crust was made from oven toasted sourdough bread broken into crumbs and mixed with Italian parsley, garlic, olive oil and lots of lemon zest and seasoning.

The lamb which had been French trimmed was prepared by searing the fat side, then coating with Dijon mustard and pressing the crumbs in.  It was cooked on high heat to crust and crunch the crumbs and allow the lamb to come to the table pink.  It was served with cherry tomatoes on the vine that were roasted in olive oil with garlic pieces.

The jus was made from roasted veal bones and vegetables reduced over 18 hours then strained to form the demi-glace.  This is later combined with chicken stock and further reduced then seasoned.

The side dish of French beans and mangetout is an Ottolenghi recipe, the beans and mangetout were blanched, dried then combined with roasted hazelnuts, orange zest, chives and flaky sea salt.  The dressing was a mixture of hazelnut oil, olive oil and orange juice.  It was served at or close to room temperature.

The mash was made by running cooked potatoes through a potato ricer, then blending with butter and sour cream.

All was accompanied by wholemeal sour dough from the Organic Bread Bar in Surry Hills.

Comments from the floor were absolutely full of praise for an excellent high-quality meal that required a large and lengthy effort in its preparation and presentation. Well done Rob.

Cheese

The Society Cheesemaster presented an Aphrodite barrel-aged feta, selected by Will Studd. This is an authentic hand-made Greek feta, well-known to the Society, made with sheep and goat milk, that is carefully ripened in small, old beech wood barrels using traditional techniques that date back to the time when nomadic shepherds roamed the hills of northern Greece.

The barrels enable small amounts of oxygen to reach the salted curds as they ferment under whey, and the natural flora in the wooden staves helps to encourage a unique yeasty aroma. Each barrel is filled with curds by hand and after the cheese has been removed, it must be broken down stave by stave, washed and rebuilt by a skilled cooper. After three months maturation in the barrel, the feta develops a soft milky texture and a seriously creamy peppery finish that is well suited to lamb dishes.

Wine

A smallish group (25?) gathered to sample the Board of Fare prepared by our most recent new Chef Rob Guthrie, ably assisted by his Sous Chef Paul Mitchell. I think it is fair to say that we all went away with very favourable opinions about this team’s abilities with the pans. Some enjoyable pass arounds, followed by perfectly cooked lamb racks arriving on the table in ideal condition. Delicious. See the food report for more details. With regard to the wines, our Cellarmaster was conducting another clear out and as a result, there were only a few bottles of the same wine drunk by everybody. My report is accordingly briefer than usual. The aperitif wines were two sparkling wines, a Champagne from Jacquart NV and a Seppelt Salinger Sparkling 2010 12.5%.  As a matter of interest and pride in one of our members, the Salinger was in fact made by our own resident winemaker Chilly Hargraves! Both wines were enjoyable drinking, and trying to be as objective as one could be, I found the Salinger to be a much superior glass of bubbles. More flavour, persistent beads of tiny bubbles lasting right to the end, of a delightful crisp acid finish. Congratulations Chilly, a fine wine, drinking incredibly freshly for a 14 yo. Sadly, these bottles were the last in our cellar.

Moving onto the lunch wines we all consumed the first which was a Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet 2013 14%. Those members who read my report of last week will be in no doubt about my views on this Australian classic. Ever reliable, it never fails to impress. This particular bottle had that predictable huge berry fruit blackcurrant initial flavour, followed thru by firm tannins and a sweet oak finish with pleasing acidity. Now 11 yo the wine is just about hitting its straps in terms of maximum maturity. A sheer delight.

The second wine we all shared was the Orlando St Hugo Coonawarra Cab 2006. I'm not quite sure what went wrong here, but the wine seemed flat and disappointing. By no means undrinkable, but just not up to the usual standard of this renowned label. Perhaps getting a little tired as an 18 yo, with acid falling away leading to a flabby aftertaste. Sad really, I was hoping for something better from this usually fine producer.

That is all members, as from here on we were all drinking different wines.