Burch & Purchese Dishes 5 -Violet Crumble v1.1

For those of you not here in Australia, we have a confectionary bar sold in retail stores called Violet Crumble. It is basically a honeycomb bar covered with milk chocolate, a bit like the U.K's crunchie bar. This was the inspiration behind this dish of ours. We have created a silky violet ice-cream flavoured with all of the dried violet flowers we have collected throughout the year. The ice-cream is coloured with a corn called Morado found in Peru. In its native country it is used for all sorts of dishes and sweet beverages but here we are using it for its remarkable violet colour. This plant provides one of the only natural violet colourings and is far preferable to using artificial colours. The ice-cream adorns a fresh and light Burch & Purchese version of honeycomb. To start at the beginning of assembly, we first painted the plate with melted cocoa butter and sprinkled over Burch & Purchese spice mix which we feel really compliments the flavours of violet, chocolate and honey. Next we added the theatrical honeycomb and sprinkled around the base crystallised violets, chocolate charcoal and then finished with the ice-cream. The subtle and smooth violet lends itself magnificently to the textures and spices found in this dish. This is really an initial version of a dish we feel has potential to evolve and grow. We will continue to research, test and update you with results.

Burch & Purchese Love Books For Cooks, Fitzroy

As you know, Burch and Purchese are serious about our cookbooks. Our extensive collection is invaluable to us and we are always on the the lookout for the latest titles or old and rare, out of print editions. This is why we spend a lot of our spare time in Books For Cooks in Gertrude Street. This shop is our idea of heaven and has too may titles to mention. Tim & Amanda who own and operate the store are friendly and helpful and work tirelessly to acquire books to expand the collection. There is always something of interest when you enter the store and a lot of the titles are signed by the author. This delightful shop is a haven for chefs in this area and frequent bumping in to people occurs here. Tim and Amanda have been great supporters of Burch and Purchese and we would like to recommend their store to you. One word of warning, once you start shopping here you may not be able to stop.

Darren Purchese Pastry Demonstration

In August this year, Darren Purchese will be presenting a cooking class at the fantastic produce store and cookery school, The Green Grocer in Fitzroy. Fresh from a trip to Barcelona in July, Darren will showcase plated desserts using flavours and techniques from the Catalan capital. Whilst in Spain Darren will visit some of the finest restaurants including elBulli and Celler de Can Roca, so expect to see some interesting and unique creations. Darren will also be meeting up with Spanish chocolate legend Ramon Morato and we will update you further on progress in later weeks.

Burch & Purchese Recommended Books 2 - The Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal

It is no secret that Burch & Purchese admire Chef Blumenthal's work immensely. His ethos and meticulous approach to cooking has been an inspiration to us and this hefty tome encapsulates the essence of The Fat Duck. We were lucky enough to have eaten at Chef Blumenthal's fantastic restaurant last year and we met up with him again for this years Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. This book is a fascinating insight into his cooking and beliefs on food. It features all of the recipes from his current tasting menu as well as an amazing photographic archive, this is coupled with delightful artwork which is prominent throughout. The illustrations really highlight the thoughts of this great chef and makes this book really unique. Not all of the recipes are achievable at home or even in a commercial kitchen but some are really worth the time and effort as the results are spectacular. Burch & Purchese have attempted quite a few of the recipes and have certainly incorporated a number of techniques offered. This book is a joy to own and has so much depth, for the scientist in you there are essays, researches and findings on food, senses and technologies. At nearly 7 kilos The Fat Duck Cookbook is worth its weight, we cannot recommend this book highly enough. Well done Chef Blumenthal and we eagerly await your new book on Umami later on this year.

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.

Burch & Purchese Chocolate Pieces 1 - Rusty Tools

We try to create unique pieces for our records. These 'tools' were made by filling homemade moulds with chocolate, we then set about creating the 'rusty' effect. This was achieved by rubbing the set tools with gold lustre and cocoa powder. We think it is a striking effect and perhaps these would be the perfect Fathers Day Gift? Tell us what you think........