Food review by James Hill and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

Nigel Burton was our Chef of The Day for the second “cook off” for Chef of The Year 2024 assisted by George Winyard and Greg Brunner.

Canapés

George started us off with some puff pastry topped with Parmesan, olives, prosciutto and rosemary.

Greg up next with Brandade de Morue on baked toasts. One topped with tomato and parsley olive tapenade.

Plentiful, great flavours and textured in both canapés.

Main

Nigel reprised his Marseilles Bouillabaisse. The name for this dish is derived from two actions bouillir (to boil) and abaisser (to reduce or simmer).

The stock was made up using the bones of fish blue eyed cod, barramundi and fennel to impart an anise flavour. To these fish, prawns, pipis and mussels were added to make up the Bouillabaisse.

The Rouille was made using traditional ingredients of saffron, chilli, egg yolks and white vinegar, served on a slice of baguette.

It’s no easy feat to serve different types of seafood and have them come to the table with the integrity of the flesh preserved. The stock had a great depth of flavour. Nigel advising that it was reduced from 15 to 12.5 litres. It was poured at the table to ensure a perfect temperature

A lot of effort evident in today’s lunch and Nigel brought it together with success. The number of different ingredients in today’s dish and salad totalled 38!

Our meal was made complete with a serve of fries for each table.

Thanks Nigel.

Steve Sparkes assisted with prep today with our head chef away.

Nigel sourced the ingredients of today’s lunch from ‘Get Fish’ at the fish market. A good reminder that society members get a discount when buying restaurant quantities.

Cheese

Our Cheesemaster Mark Bradford selected a Marcel Petite Comté for our enjoyment today, an unpasteurised hard cow’s milk cheese from France.

Marcel Petite was an affineur who specialised in the cool, slow maturation of Comté. Petite wanted his Comtés to be aged in their natural environment, near the mountain cheese dairies where they were made. In 1966 he discovered a defunct military fort in a forest of Haut Doubt, known as Fort Saint Antoine. The fort’s structure of cut and vaulted stone, covered with a thick layer of soil, provided the ideal conditions for “Affinage Lent” (Slow Maturing). Today, over 100,000 wheels are ripened for 10 to 20 months, in the Cathedral of Marcel Petite Comté.

Today, the practices of Maison Petite remain true to its founder’s innovative philosophy of simplicity above all things. The aim is to always offer a simply authentic product, deserving of the name Marcel Petite. When selecting Comté, the Marcel Petite cellar Master considers four key criteria: Delicacy, subtlety, intensity and depth of flavour. The ripening age is an indicator, but not the main criterion of selection.

Comte AOC Regulations

• Delimited area of production: Doubs, Jura, Ain, elevation 1500-4500 ft.
• Milk must be produced by local cows of the Montbéliarde (95%) and Simmental (5%) breeds. There are approximately 112,000 Comté cows.
• Minimum of 2.5 acres of natural pasture for each animal.
• Cattle feed must be natural and free of fermented products and GMOs.
• Each fruitière must collect milk from dairy farms within a 17-mile diameter maximum.
• Milk must be made into cheese within 24 hours maximum of the earliest milking.
• Only natural ferments must be used to transform the milk into curds.
• Wheels must be aged on spruce boards. Minimum ageing is 4 months, generally 6-18 months and sometimes even longer.

Green V Brown

Each wheel of Comte is graded before sale. Grading is based on appearance, rind quality, internal appearance, texture and taste. The best wheels are awarded a green label with the iconic green bell featured. The next tier is awarded a brown label. Any wheels that do not make the cut are not allowed to be sold as Comte.

A dressed butter lettuce salad with pickled shallots and herbs accompanied the cheese, loved it.

Bread rings from Raffael Bakery at Haberfield.

During lunch we marked the passing of former President Ray Kidd, an icon of the wine industry, well remembered by many members. Hilton Chapman and Phil Laffer shared memories of Ray’s long term membership of our  Society and his many achievements and innovation in the wine industry. We then had our traditional toast of Chartreuse to Ray.

Wine

The theme for today's gathering was a Bouillabaisse prepared by Nigel Burton. An excellent meal thank you Nigel. See full Food Report. 

In so far as wines were concerned we kicked off with a first-rate Hugel riesling from the Alsace region, 2022 12.5%. This was a perfect example of a quality riesling by Hugel, always consistent, you know what you're getting. Great fruit/acid balance with a crisp finish. A taste of residual sugar on the back palate, but not in any way cloying. A great wine with the pass arounds.  Next on the list was a Ch d'Aqueria Tavel Rose 2022 14%. A grenache blend from Southern Rhone. 

This was in my view a much more austere wine than the French rose from the Provence district we are used to drinking.  Very dry, and somewhat tense in its make up, this was a restrained wine showing hints of raspberry and cherry. Finish was crisp. A much sterner style of Rose, but yet enjoyable. 

Hot on the heels of the rose was another serious wine, the Bouland Morgon 2023 14% from the much acclaimed Corcelette vineyard in the Beaujolais region. This old vine Gamay vineyard produces one of the most popular Beaujolais in the Morgon which we are drinking today. A very different wine from the light bodied, fruity, flirtatious Beaujolais that is intended to be consumed within a year or two of release. The Morgon is much heavier, more intense and a more powerful wine, reflecting spicy, deep flavoured red fruits and a hint of meaty, earthy undertones. Powerful, yet elegant the wine demands attention. A most enjoyable drink. My pick for the wine of the day. 

The second last wine was the 2016 Yves Cuilleron St Joseph Lyseras Blanc at 12.5%.  A blend of Marsanne and Roussanne from the Northern Rhone district.  I did not enjoy this wine at all! Perhaps it was my long held antipathy towards Rhone white wines which had coloured my assessment, or was it the fact that this wine was simply poor. It took only a few sips to lead me to think that the wine was flabby, lacking in acid and as a result, listless and tired. No joy here. Perhaps 9 years in the bottle was just a bridge too far for this wine.

The final wine was the Guigal Cote Du Rhone GSM 2010 at 14% from the Southern Rhone district. I have long been a fan of this wine, consistent, predictable, well made and good value. The Coca Cola of French red wines in my view. You always know what you will get. This wine was in my view a standard Guigal, but was being drunk way past its use by date. Still holding up reasonably well for a 15 year old wine, still drinkable but should have been drunk 6/8 years ago.