Albert Roux

“I’m French only in passport” Albert Roux says in his French accented English when someone asks him why he chooses to live and work in England. “It’s no secret I’m a royalist, not a republican” he tells a somewhat surprised crowd. Albert Roux, 75 years old leans on his cane and stands in the heart of the open kitchen at the Garden Court restaurant at the Sofitel Wentworth. He is cooking royalty himself (no wonder he is a royalist) and received England’s first Michelin star for his restaurant La Gavroche which he opened with his brother Michel Roux.

There are certain things that you assume would come from the mouth of a French born 3 star Michelin chef. And the talk of eschewing France for England is not one of them. Albert Roux, is refreshingly blunt. And when asked what he thinks of the culinary scene in Australia he gives a frank answer “There’s a bit of confusion” but tempers it with the reasoning that as a country we’re “a baby” and considers it full of promise.

Roux was originally supposed to come over last year but that pesky volcano trouble meant that the trip had to be postponed. He brings with him his own cuisine team and we watch as he holds up a finger and speaks intently to his chef partner Bruno Valette who nods and explains the instructions to others in order to fulfil the request.

Albert Roux and his chef partner Bruno Valette

I’m dining as a guest of Relais & Chateaux which is a hotel association with an emphasis on excellence much like the the Michelin guide is for food. Relais & Chateaux have a range of famous chefs as part of “Grand Chefs Relais” program including Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud and Australia’s Tetsuya Wakuda . And the night itself is full of surprises. The wines are not French, they’re all Australian wines from South Australia and Victoria. And the food? Many of us were expecting heavy French traditional food but it’s quite modern French indeed with some beautifully skilful sauces so glossy that they cast a reflection.

Oeuf Froid Carème: Artichoke hearts filled with smoked salmon and poached egg, sauce Marie Rose served with Knappstein Three, Clare Valley, 2009

The artichoke heart is a perfect disc of artichoke heart topped with slices of a heavily smoked salmon and a petal of it on top. On top of the salmon is a poached egg with a runny centre and the sauce Marie Rose on the side is a British sauce similar to a mayonnaise and tomato sauce. It’s a nice start, lovely and light with silky, creamy textures from the salmon, egg yolk and sauce Marie Rose.

Dos de Barramundi Poêlée à la crème de Topinambour, Endive et vinaigrette de truffe: fillet of barramundi with Jerusalem artichoke puree, endive and truffle vinaigrette served with Innocent Bystander Pinot Gris, Yarra Valley, 2010

Read More

Dear Readers. while I am writing to you I am vibrating. I should clarify I suppose and no I haven’t stumbled upon some untoward establishment in Brisbane’s Granite Belt. I am writing to you from the comfort of my vibrating chair at my accommodation at Olive Grove Rstates. and whilst I admit I haven’t been out there in the mines or doing hard labour, it is a welcome way to relax after a busy day.

So what exactly have I done in labour to deserve this treat? Well nothing too taxing mind you, more fun if anything. We started the day off at Mason’s winery where Jim and Brandy Salmon (how’s that for a rock star name?) operate a vineyard, cellar door and accommodation. They starting growing grapes about six years ago and the winery itself is just three years old with some 10 year old vines.

Brandy Salmon

“Would you like a coffee or tea or would you like to start with the mimosa?” Jim asks. Well orange and champagne pretty much trumps it for most (although I do have to slip in an order for Earl Grey tea).

Mimosa cocktail

The Mimosa cocktail is made with Mason Wines Davadi sparkling chardonnay and a lovely freshly squeezed orange juice.

Creamy scrambled eggs served on brown toast with smoked salmon and oven roasted roma tomato and fresh basil

The eggs are generously portioned (and I have to pace myself-after all there is a third course!) and come with two pieces of smoked salmon and gorgeous sweet semi dried roma tomatoes (we’re in roma tomato country apparently) on a thick, high wedge of lightly toasted bread. The eggs are lovely and creamy and of course pairing it with smoked salmon is a classic combination.

Late summer berry cobbler served warm with a jar of heavy cream on the side

“A jug of heavy cream on the side”. Yep that them there are happy words albeit not very diet conscious! I used to make cobbler for a living and here they do a fabulous mixed berry cobbler. The star is the cobbler topping which is like a pie topping but here they sprinkled demerara sugar on top to give it an added crunch. I’m stealing that tip for when I make cobbler again

Lavender Cheesecake

Brandy has had a former career in restaurateur in Sequim near Seattle Washington which is only about 75 miles from where the book Twilight was set and she used a lot of lavender in her cooking. We asked if it was possible to squeeze in a bit of her famous lavender and lemon cheesecake and she obliges. She brings out a slice as well as the recipe for us! The cheesecake is smooth and scented with lemon-the lavender appears more in the cream topping although in the recipe it is in the cake. She decorates the edge of the cake with a pretty whipped cream collar too-ok I’m pinching that decorating tip!

We must depart as we’re off to our next stop, observing some winemakers for a weekend. This is a class that is held every weekend at the Queensland College of Wine tourism. Now wine buffs you might be scratching your head at the idea of Queensland wines. I must admit that I knew nothing about Queensland wines as the industry is quite young and most of the product never makes it across the border. Still they’re passionate about their wines here in the Granite Belt as it is the coolest area temperature wise in Queensland.

The QCWT started four years ago as a joint venture between the Queensland Department of Education and Training and the University of Southern Queensland. High school students from the neighbouring high schools can also do course work here. Cann you imagine how much fun this would be in high School? except of course they can’t technically taste anything that they make… This was the first college that combined wine, tourism and food and they realised that they needed to address wine as a tourism concept. 80% of the wine in Queensland is sold through cellar doors.

They’re mid class at the moment and about to pick some grapes to crush. Peter Orr from Felsberg winery who is himself from the Hunter Valley shows us the correct way to cut the bunches of grapes. The snips are very sharp and can cut through to the bones on fingers so you find the bunch you want and find where the stem is and snip-and if you can’t see the point end of the snips, then don’t snip as you never know where your fingers are in a grapevine!

Kerry and I pair up and we call our team the “Bloggers”. We are to crush the grapes with our hands and sadly not our feet which I was actually hoping to do this one day. But first things first. how do you tell if a grape is ripe enough to harvest for wine? Before they start, winemakers have a style of wine and an alcohol level that they want to make. They then test the grapes to see whether they are right for this wine. This can be done several ways. First you can press down on a whole grape gently and if it springs up to its original shape then it needs more time on the vine. If the skin is crunchy then it needs more time and if the seeds inside are green instead of brown they need more time on the vine too.

Also removing on grape from the bunch and seeing how much pulp remains on the stem is a good indicator. Here we are testing out chardonnay grapes to see if they are ready. They use a beaumais scale and one point on the BM scale equals 1% of alcohol. For a chardonnay we would want it to be a 12 beaumais.

Kerry and I drain the mushed up grapes and extract the juice. We pour it into a pipette and add the beaumais reader swirling it around to get rid of any air bubbles. Peter then tells us that the team that measures the correct beaumais reading to his gets a bottle of wine each. Kerry and I go last as we were too busy taking photos (oops!) and we clock in our measurement of 10.6. The answers range from 10 to 13 and Peter reveals the correct beaumais to be 10.7 which is closest to ours. Hooray! Wine!

Read More