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.

Burch & Purchese Dishes 1 - Rose Crumble v.1.1

We created this dish as a homage to Heston Blumenthal. In his book he describes his rose bush, rose petals are delicately crystallised and topped with freeze-dried raspberries, freeze-dried apple and toasted coriander seed. We have taken this and replicated the petals and used them as a component for this plated dessert. The explosion of flavours from the roses is sensational and we have tried to balance a this dish with some other interesting elements. First a freshly baked almond cake is cut artfully and placed onto the plate. Next a 'swipe' of rose fluid gel is added and topped with freeze-dried raspberry pieces. Toasted coriander seed is put onto the plate in a neat mound and a black olive caramel is applied to add a savoury/salty contrast. The almond cake is topped with an apple sour sorbet and the rose petals top this. We believe this dish contrasts salty, sweet and sour flavours to tremendous effect and the fragrant roses are a delightful component.

East, West Chocolate's Best Dishes - Darren Purchese

ULURU - SCORCHED EARTH : Burnt Orange Cream, Chocolate Clay

East, West Chocolate's Best Dishes - Ramon Morato

SPRINGTIME : White Chocolate Ice-Cream, Essence of Ylang Ylang, Orange, Rose & Mint

East, West Chocolate's Best Dishes - Ian Burch & Darren Purchese

FLAVOURS OF THE EAST : Ginger Ice-Cream, Lychee & White Chocolate Jelly, Szechaun Foam, Frozen Chocolate Powder & Sushi Energy Bar

East, West Chocolate's Best Dishes - Ian Burch

CHOCOLATE WALNUT: Tarakan Chocolate Mousse, Walnut Cake, Mastic Jelly & Lemon Cream

East, West Chocolate's Best 22nd March 2009

Burch & Purchese in association with The Press Club and Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, hosted a dessert degustation dinner in Melbourne.

Guest chef for the night was Ramon Morato, and the three combined to produce a wonderful night. The evening was hosted by Press Club chef George Calombaris and involved four desserts, all incorporating chocolate. The desserts were preceded by each chef taking to the stage to introduce and inform the capacity audience of the inspirations behind the creations. First dessert of the evening was a creation by Ian Burch, the influences and flavours of Greece were the theme and it was well received and enjoyed by all. Next up for the evening was a talk by Christina Tantsis of Sisko Chocolate, Christina created a spectacular chocolate centre piece and explained her inspiration behind it. We would like now to thank Christina for her contribution and wish her and Sisko continued success.

The second dessert for the evening was a collaboration between Darren and Ian and featured the flavours of the east. Chocolate was paired with wasabi, szechaun and lychee for a unique flavour combination which had the audience raving. An interesting sake completed this course and it was on to Ramon to present his dish. There was much excitement at Ramon's dessert, designed exclusively for his trip to Australia. 'Springtime' included a delicious white chocolate ice-cream as well as a ylang ylang crush. Other components celebrated the freshness and fragrance of Spring and included, mint, orange and rose. This truly was a beautiful dessert and Ramon seemed very happy with the response.

For the final dessert of the night the diners were treated to a unique dessert from Darren Purchese, 'scorched earth' was an interpretation of the climate and terrain of Australia. Flavours included burnt orange, bitter chocolate and was a real highlight. The dessert looked like Uluru and provided an interesting end to a fantastic night. Burch & Purchese would like to thank George Calombaris and The Press Club, Sisko Chocolate, The Cocoa Alliance, Adriano Zumbo and Ramon Morato and his team.