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

Food

Chef of the Year 2022 recipient, Bernard Leung, was in the kitchen today in our third “cook off” for 2025.  He was assisted by former President and two-times Chef of the Year Steve Liebeskind, so along with Team REX, quite some talent behind the bench.  Bernie was reprising his salmon presented in April last year.

Canapés

Crafted by Steve, our first canapé was chicken liver pate with thyme and Grand Marnier on toast rounds topped with a cornichon.

Following this, Bernie gave us Vietnamese spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce.  Given that they were factory made; surprisingly good.

Lastly, Steve presented the salmon ceviche he gave us at Bernie’s April lunch last year. Served on a spoon with Asian flavour, they had small cuts of salmon, coriander, onion and jalapeno, the sauce consisting of lime, fish and soy with a little sugar. Lots of flavours.

These were highly applauded by the members, and a good build up to the salmon main.

Main

Wonderfully presented, Bernie served us Tasmanian salmon and pea broth, based on a recipe by Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck fame.  Bernie used boiling water to remove the salmon skin.  He then brined the salmon (5% salt, 5% sugar) for an hour to firm up the fish, then sous vide at 52^o, the skin being crisped in the oven for 180^o for half an hour. The ham and pea broth was made from a stock of smoked ham hock, leek, onions and carrot, slowly simmered for over five hours.  The stock was then blitzed with the peas and put through a strainer, the process retaining the fluorescent green colour to contrast with the pink salmon.  The salmon and stock were accompanied by a tarragon and mint oil, orange and fennel salad, some leftover shredded ham from the stock, peas, and some smoked salmon roe.

Only praise from those taking the floor to comment, and little wonder Bernie recently won Chef of the Year.

Cheese

Today’s cheese was Challerhocker, an artisan Swiss cheese from St Gallen in the north-east.  Malty and sweet with a spicy finish, Challerhocker is a 21st-century Swiss cheese and was first introduced to the Society at Bernard’s salmon and broth lunch last year.

With a change in regulations during the 90s, the Master Appenzeller Cheesemaker, Walter Rass, created a new cheese using rich pure Jersey milk, and a secret blend of wines, herbs and spices.  He aged it for 8 months and named it ‘Challerhocker’, meaning ‘sitting in a cellar’.  The washed rind produces a robust, tacky rind and contributes to the nutty aroma of the dense white paste.

The cheese was served with bread and a dressed salad.

Wine

Today we were spoilt by Bernie Leung who produced a superb salmon dish with green pea broth. Truly excellent. I will allow the food reporter to describe this dish in full along with the excellent pass arounds. The Wine list consisted of one red and four whites, details for which are set out below. 

First wine of the day was a very drinkable Brian Croser Tapanappa vineyard Riesling 2015, from the Eden valley at 12%. I was very pleased to be able to report that the wine was in pristine condition and drinking beautifully.  Clare and Eden Valleys are my two favourite districts for Riesling in Australia. My research tells me that 2015 was rated as a top year in the Eden. Bright and clear, the wine showed still considerable acid for a 10 yo, but this was balanced by terrific fruit showing lemon and lime zest flavours with some floral flintiness. Dry, with firm acidic finish. A really enjoyable wine. 

First wine for the main was a Domane Wachau Gruner Veltliner 2022 from Austria at 12.5%. I really liked this wine, so do a great number of Australians, for good reason.  A medium bodied wine, with apple and pear flavour overtones. Quite acidic, but in good balance. An excellent partner with the salmon main, that dash of high acidity just cutting thru the slight natural oiliness of the fish and broth. Most enjoyable. 

Second main course wine was a 2012 Baron de Ladoucette Pouilly Fume at12.5 %, from the Loire. This wine was a straight Sav Blanc, now close to a 13 yo regard being had to the French time of harvest. The wine was a deep yellow colour, indicative of age, but still showed some delicate citrus flavours, a rich mouth filling texture and sufficient residual acid to enable it to finish well. Worlds apart from the Sav Blanc made here and in NZ. This wine seemed to be the crowd favourite amongst the whites, although from my perspective, I could not help thinking that we were seeing this wine 6/7 years past it's prime. Then it would have been a stunner. It was a great example of how French SB can gracefully age.

We then moved onto my traditional foe in the WFS Cellar, Rhone white wines, namely, Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier in whatever combination. We seem to have a bottomless stock of these wines, which make far too frequent appearances at our lunches. Today's agent of evil was a Guigal Cote du Rhone Blanc 2022 at 14 %. The wine was made from all three of these grapes in unspecified proportions. I am a fan of Guigal red wines, always consistent and predictably good value. I wish they would stick to making reds and ditch these whites. Readers of my wine reports over the years will be aware of my long-held antipathy to the wines. The reason, in my view they are oily, unctuous, excessively mouth filling, and lack sufficient acid to finish in any enjoyable crisp fashion. In sum, fat and flabby. Tasting these wines today did not cause me to change my expressed views in any way, however some other members may of course hold a contrary view, which is fine, please feel free to drink my share. 

The final wine of the day was the Stella Bella Cabernet from Margaret River 2019 at14.3 %.  A really nice wine that went perfectly with the terrific cheese sourced by Cheesemaster Mark Bradford.  From the outset the wine showed outstanding Cabernet flavour, blackcurrant, plum, leather and a hint of cherry. Rich and chewy with a silky finish. If you are looking for an example of what a quality Cabernet should taste like, this is your wine. My pick of the wines for today.