CLICK LINK FOR PHOTOS!! - A Closer Look At Some Of Our Work

Guns For Show, Knives For A Pro!!

We just wanted to show you our new ceramic knives, which we just can't put down at the moment. These are quality and don't need sharpening. Made by Japanese company Kyocera Advanced Ceramics, these tools slice through fruits so effortlessly. The blades have been designed with such precision that we have noticed the cell membrane of fruits and vegetables have much less stress and damage to them after slicing with one of these. This is evident in apples, which don't seem to go brown once cut now! The knives are super light due to the lack of metal and they are our favoured tools for sashimi or fruit slicing (see above)! If a bad workman blames his tools, then we have no excuse now!!

Thanks To Jasmine & Jess

Ian with Jess Edgar

We just wanted to say thanks to two very talented people who have helped us with photography this last year. We say this because the images taken have been used extensively in programs, brochures and press without credits to these two girls.

So stand up Jasmine Thom for her cool graffiti shots of us and thanks so much to Jess Edgar who took some great shots and is a talented artist.

Check out Jess Edgars work at her website here http://www.jessicaedgarphoto.com/or watch this cool video of kitchen life by clicking this link http//www.youtube.com/watch?T_miAIZx4ZM watch carefully and you may spot Mr Burch lurking in the background.

Really Useful Food Pairing Blog

When we have a spare minute or so we love, (like you we suspect) to surf the web for interesting food sites. Here is one we have found and have spent quite a lot of time using lately. Foodpairing is absolutely quality and so much effort has been put in to give the reader as much information as possible on this vast subject. Check out the database on the right hand side which allows you to choose an ingredient and find out possible food pairing combinations. We have no connection with this site but we thought we would share with you what we have found. Click on the text for the link and happy surfing!!

Burch & Purchese Raw Ingredients 1 - What Is Sugar? THE FOLLOW UP!!

Earlier on this year we touched on the subject of sugar, one of the most common ingredients found in the pastry kitchen. Here in the images below we elaborate further as promised as we believe that the more we know and understand of our ingredients then the better results we can achieve. We hope you find the following information informative and useful. Good luck in your work.

Latest Cool Food Shots

We always have our camera handy in the kitchen, often cool photo's are all around you in unexpected places, here are our latest (very) amateur shots. At the top are our chocolate logs after the second round of chocolate spraying, next is frozen kumquat. Our attempt at Albert Adria's isomalt 'bombs' is then seen followed by Ian playing with the nitrogen. Our strawberry shortcakes are next and finally beautifully fragrant wasabi flowers.

Adam Melonas Friend Of Burch & Purchese CLICK HERE FOR http://madridlab.net

Adam Melonas is an Australian chef living and working in Spain. He is a talented man and currently holds the position of lab chef for Paco Roncero in Madrid. Adam was introduced to us by Ryan Clift of The Tippling Club in Singapore, we have checked out Adam's blog and we are very impressed with his work. Adam has arranged a tour of the kitchens of elBulli for Darren in July and arranged possible introductions to Oriol Balaguer and Quico Sosa. For that we are indebted to him and all we can say is thanks Adam and keep producing quality dishes and techniques the way you have been doing. We fully support any Brit or Aussie making a name for themselves in our chosen profession and we look forward to meeting up with Adam at Madrid Fusion next year. Thanks again mate.

Ambassadors For MyCook Pro

Burch & Purchese have had the honour of being asked to be ambassadors for the Mycook Pro heat assisted kitchen blender. Robert & Lynda Erskine of Rely Services here in Australia have just returned from a trip to Barcelona where the head of International Cooking Concepts Marc Calabuig introduced them to this exciting piece of machinery. Upon their return to Australia Robert contacted us and asked us to promote MyCook, we are happy to try any new technology which can assist us in our work. Darren Purchese is in the process of arranging a visit to I.C.C. headquarters on his trip to Spain to see MyCook up close and upon his return Burch & Purchese will test and review MyCook for Rely Service & I.C.C. We will keep you updated on other technological developments and the potential of MyCook. In the meantime MyCook can be purchased through Rely Services here in Australia.

Burch & Purchese Latest News

The next couple of months are pretty hectic for Burch & Purchese, there will be many exciting highlights which we will bring to you here.

First we will be taking over the pastry kitchen at a top restaurant in Melbourne, Burch & Purchese will be installed as the new pastry team next week with Ian spending most of his time there. Ian will work with the executive chef, developing new desserts and dishes and helping to mentor staff while Darren will provide support from the Burch & Purchese research kitchen plus days onsite. We will also be producing an exclusive range of products to be sold through an outlet in the restaurant, these products have been designed by us and will feature our signature preserves as well as a few new treats. We will reveal the new restaurant name as soon as we can, but it promises to be an exciting new phase in the development of Burch & Purchese.

In July Darren will travel to Barcelona with his wife Cath (another food professional), to embark on a food trip of some significance. The trip will provide us with invaluable experiences from some of the top food operators in the world. Darren will bring back ideas, flavours and techniques to showcase to the Australian public.

Highlights of this trip include:

• Meeting up with our friend Ramon Morato at Aula Chocovic and a tour of his premises. Ramon is an amazing pastry chef who Burch & Purchese worked with at this years Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and his book 'Chocolate' is a favourite of ours.
  
• Meeting pastry chef Jordi Puigvert who has his own pastry company Sweet 'n' Go and is a demonstrator for Sosa Products.
• We have arranged a tour of Espai Sucre through Jordi Puigvert. This renowned dessert restaurant in Barcelona is owned and operated by Xano Saguer & Jordi Butron and we will be lucky enough to meet these two true professionals and we are keen to gain an insight into this successful business.
• We will be meeting up with the Roca brothers from El Cellar de Can Roca for a tour of this legendary restaurant prior to a dinner reservation.
• A dinner reservation at elBulli has been obtained and we hope to meet with Ferran Adria. Dining here is an ambition and we are very excited about this.
• We will be visiting Albert Adria's tapas bar 'Inopia' and Oriol Balaguer's patisserie as well as other famous patisseries and food stores.
• We will de dining at Restaurant Sant Pau, the home of celebrated chef Carmen Ruscalleda. Her food is inspirational and we hope to meet this talented lady.

All of these exciting highlights will be reported on this blog for your enjoyment and education.

Food Cocktails - CLICK HERE FOR THE TIPPLING CLUB http://www.tipplingclub.com

Burch and Purchese love to experiment with different aspects of food and photography and it's not always limited to patisserie. Our good friend Ryan Clift of whom we have worked with in the past has opened his own restaurant in Singapore along with his partner Matt Bax. Ryan is a talented chef and Matt is the owner and master barman of the award winning cocktail bar Der Raum here in Melbourne. The Tippling Club is a product of Ryan and Matt's vision is to find a natural synergy between food and beverages. They pair interesting and often unconventional combinations and they are on the road to great success if they carry on what they have been doing. Above is a link to their website and we recommend you visit next time you are over there. These photos shows two variations on cocktail 'flights'. We especially are fond of the four variations of Bloody Mary, each with a different and complementing component. Burch & Purchese had great fun experimenting with this and we hope to do more soon.

New Food Shots By Jasmine Thom

Local photographer Jasmine Thom has been working with Burch & Purchese on some exciting food shots. As you know we are very interested in food photography and it was a joy to work with Jasmine who is very talented and professional. Here are just a couple of shots from a recent shoot, shown are our preserves, piggy banks and Gaudi inspired Easter pieces. Our work with Jasmine will continue and we will update you on what inspires and excites us.

William Angliss Patisserie Advisory Board

Both Ian Burch & Darren Purchese have been invited by William Angliss TAFE to form part of the first Patisserie Advisory Board. Aimed at helping to ensure the future pastry chefs graduating have the best possible grounding and education, the board was started by Ron Smith and Angela Tsimiklis, both Senior Educators at the institute. A panel of industry leaders including Darren and Ian has been established and the first meeting took place at the college today. The current syllabus was discussed and feedback from the industry experts was given to the educators. Burch & Purchese are committed to helping the industry and believe confidence, knowledge and enthusiasm should be passed on to the pastry chefs of the future to secure the future of individuals and the industry as a whole. Darren & Ian welcome the opportunity to help Ron & Angela in their work and look forward to future events as members of this important board.

Tubular Gels

We are also interested in photography, this has led to many days in the pastry studio taking shots of different dishes and components. Food is such an interesting subject to capture on film and is very difficult to master. Burch & Purchese employ professionals to do most of our food shots but we enjoy trying our hand as well. Here are a couple of shots we thought were interesting. It is of blood orange agar/gelatine solution which we have set in tubes. The acetate is removed and the gels are arranged next to each other and cut with a sharp knife. We thought they were fun shots!

Chef Heston Blumenthal's Mission Statement

We were fortunate enough to meet up again with Chef Heston Blumenthal at The Melbourne Food & Wine festival, his philosophy on cooking is inspirational, here is his mission statement outlining his desire to promote the industry and to encourage sharing ideas in the belief this will stimulate professionals. We believe he is a world leader in technique and philosophy and this mission statement in collaboration with Ferran Adria & Thomas Keller is a guideline for us all.

Great Feedback From Food Blogger - http://www.bellygood.net/2009/03/15/piggys-wicked-adventures/

Thanks to 'Piggy' for her valued feedback, we all enjoyed the day!

http://www.bellygood.net/2009/03/15/piggys-wicked-adventures/