Visit To I.C.C. - International Cooking Concepts Spain

During my time in Barcelona, a trip was planned to the head offices of International Cooking Concepts (I.C.C.). A nondescript building on Gran Via Corts Catalanes houses this specialist cookware supplier/developer and I.C.C. is the world leader in cutting edge kitchen technology. Owner Marc Calabuig was kind enough to spend some of his valuable time showing me all of the new technologies up close. Rotoval, Clarimax, Pac-O-Jet and Roner were on display alongside smaller pieces of equipment such as Superbag, atomizers, ThermoXPresswhips and Ezi-Dri. Marc explained in detail the ethos of the company and his elite customer base which includes most of the worlds leading chefs. It seemed like every imaginable device was on show and the sight of all of these machines and their capabilities were mind blowing. What Escoffier or Careme would have thought, we don't know but I am sure that they like the guys at I.C.C. would see the value in all of these machines, which don't provide shortcuts but allow the chef to concentrate on creativity and productivity. We will be working closely with Rely Services and I.C.C. in the future as ambassadors of MyCook which we mentioned earlier this month and of which we will keep you updated. Thanks to Marc for his time and to Linda & Robert Erskine from Rely Services Australia (official supplier of I.C.C. Australia) for the hook up. http://www.cookingconcepts.com/ENG/index.html

ElBulli Menu 2009 - Click On Menu To Enlarge

Just back from an amazing food tour of Spain. Lots to write about in the coming days and weeks but here is a sneak peak of this seasons menu at ElBulli - amazing experience. We will post more on this and other interesting subjects later.

Burch & Purchese Dishes 10 - Carrot, Coriander & Curry

This dish has massive flavour impact and combines new methods and techniques. Here at Burch & Purchese we are always trying to push the boundaries in presentation and flavour and we have been working on variations of this dish for a while now. A carrot puree made with organic carrot trim cooked under vacuum is prepared and is the first to dress the plate. Next toasted coriander and dextrose are combined to dust and sprinkled inside the edge of the dish. Next for the 'carrot vichy which is present in three components, all designed to play with the traditional carrot vichy dish. First carrot is cut 1/2 cm thick and cut out with a cutter to form small rounds. The trim is reserved for the puree and the rounds are placed into a sous vide bag along with sucrose and orange juice. The bag is sealed and cooked at 82 C for around three hours or until soft. Once chilled the carrots are reserved ready for use. Next we make carrot jelly using agar, gelatine and 85% freshly squeezed carrot juice and 15% stock syrup. Once set the same sized round cutter is used to cut rounds which resemble the previously cooked carrot rounds. Lastly a carrot croquant mix is spread onto a sil-pat using a fluted chablon and baked til dry in an oven pre heated to 70 C as a nod to traditional carrot vichy shape. So we have three types of 'vichy' and we use two carrot rounds, two jelly rounds and three carrot crisps to garnish the plate. Tubes of carrot cake are warmed and arranged onto the plate with crumbs of dehydrated carrot cake. A curry flavoured ice-cream is served and this flavour really compliments the other components. Baby coriander shoots complete with coriander seed finish the dish to stunning effect.

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.

Burch & Purchese Dishes 9 - Chocolate Turron With Salted Caramel & Almond Cream

Some flavours just work so well together, here Chocovic's Tarakan chocolate is paired with salted caramel and almond to stunning effect. Burch & Purchese have developed this dish for the restaurant No.35 at the Sofitel here in Melbourne and it has been well received. Luscious chocolate cream infused with vanilla has been set in the shape of a turron and sprayed with a mixture of Tarakan, Kendari and cocoa butter. Salted caramel fills an indent in the mousse and is topped with 'gold' salt. The turron is finished with coarsely chopped cocoa nibs and plated, more salted caramel is piped along with almond milk thickened with kuzu and lightly salted. The dish is simple in presentation and speaks for itself. Sometimes less is more and we feel the clean finish let's the dish really speak for itself.

Burch & Purchese Dishes 8 - Wasabi, Grapefruit & Green Tea

A work in progress this dish but WOW the flavours are fantastic together. Burch & Purchese were lucky to receive this fresh wasabi root, flowers and leaves this week. We went to work producing a sublime wasabi & mascarpone cream and paired it with fresh and candied grapefruit, matcha green tea 'surf' a and yuzu jelly. The freshness of the perfectly ripe and in season ruby grapefruits are a perfect temperate to the addictive and unique heat and flavour profile of the wasabi. Spun isomalt adds a crunch and the dextrose powders of grapefruit & wasabi really are welcome additions. The green tea finishes off the dish in a well rounded way, Burch & Purchese love working with premium product and unusual flavours and this is a perfect example of that. We will be reworking and improving this dish as we receive more wasabi from Tasmania. A version of this dish is on the dessert menu at No.35 restaurant at the Sofitel hotel in Melbourne.

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.