126 replies to this topic

[Shelby]

Your step-by-step instruction may finally get me over being scared to try sous vide cooking. It looks beautiful.

[lesliec]

Catdaddy: That bit of beef was good enough to get me to forgive myself. And I haven't even done anything.

Shelby: Definitely dive into sous vide (not literally, unless you have a really really big rice cooker). Above all, don't be daunted by all the scary stories about how you must be totally obsessive about time/temperature. Sure, for some things it can be critical - I have a recipe for prawns which must be in the bath for 12 minutes, no more, or they go mushy - but it's hard to go wrong with, say, a lamb rump or, at the other end of the scale, a piece of brisket which won't care if it's cooked for 34 or 36 or 38 hours. And duck confit is much easier (or at least much less messy) cooked SV than in a gallon of duck fat in the oven. The best source of tips (at least until Moderist Cuisine gets here) are the eG SV threads. And of course we expect reports on how you're doing.

[catdaddy]

How about a peek at your pantry and the kitchen where you cook everyday?

[Pam R]

How about a peek at your pantry and the kitchen where you cook everyday?

I second that request. Your dinner looked beautiful, I'd like to see where you prepared it.

And what did you eat today?

[lesliec]

Well, it's funny you should say that. As the week draws to a close I've been thinking about what I still had to tell you about, and a kitchen tour is pretty much at the top of the list.

What's slowed me down is not that I'm ashamed of my kitchen (hell no - you'll see) but that I've found it remarkably difficult to get decent photos - lots of reflective surfaces, odd distances. But yes, you'll certainly get a look before I hang up my blogger's ... whatever it is bloggers wear.

Pam, today was pretty dull - diet shakes again! And I'm still suffering from shock at how good that Beef Welly was last night. Tonight Jane's out and I have lots of leftovers. I'm thinking I'll stay simple; a cold roast lamb sandwich, probably.

[lesliec]

Something we're very fortunate to have in Wellington is some very long-established, family-owned food businesses. Here's one of them no self-respecting Wellington food lover could be without:



Frederick Moore came out from Liverpool in the 1890s and in 1918 formed Moore Wilson's (there was a Wilson back then, but he was only in the business two years. But they've kept the name. Traditions can be good). In due course he was succeeded by his son Stan, then Stan's son Graeme took over and is still Managing Director. But keeping a close eye on the day-to-day running of things is Frederick's great-granddaughter Julie:



(Apologies for the fuzziness - incompetent camera operator.)

The company was originally based in Mount Cook - not the big snowy one; it's a suburb of Wellington - but in the mid 80s moved to their current site on Tory Street, nearer the centre of town. This was near the start of the major growth of Wellington's current food culture. The company traditionally concentrated on its wholesale clients, with a range of dry and frozen goods and variety products, but ten years ago, seeing a demand for better, fresher, more traceable food they opened Moore Wilson's Fresh. It's still referred to in the company as 'the new business' - you can do that when you've been around 90 years. The key concept with Fresh was managing the supply chain - making sure suppliers were able to get their fresh products properly chilled as soon as they came out of the ground, or the sea, or the field, and getting them into the shop as quickly as possible. Fresh has turned around the 70%/30% wholesale/retail split of the rest of Moore Wilson's business; fully 80% of sales from Fresh are to customers like you and me.

We weren't living here when Fresh opened, but I'd certainly heard about it and it was one of the first places we visited when we came 'home' six or so years ago. It's now one of our regular Saturday calls. The vegetables are spectacular:



In the background you can see an artwork by Hawke's Bay artist Dick Frizzell ('watercress', 'large avos', etc.). It's very reminiscent of the fruit stalls which once lined our roads. Dick paints in a variety of styles, but this particular one is one of his trademarks. We met him at Moore Wilson's last year shortly after the release of his book Dick Frizzell - The Painter; he's also released a range of rather nice wines under his own label, with boxes in this same style. As I hope you'll be able to see when I show you my kitchen, we've broken down one of the boxes (which he signed for us) and have bits of it framed on the walls.

The Moore family has an interest in art and the natural spring outside, source of water for the old lemonade factory which once stood here, has been tapped for public use and surrounded by scuplture.

You can always rely on Fresh to have something a little different, something you would have to search to find anywhere else. Here's an example:



On Saturdays there's always in-store tastings. The man from Proper Crisps was there a few months ago, and I have to tell you - these things are as good as a potato crisp can get. The message on their packaging is straightforward: 'Ingredients: Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Salt. That's all!'. The spuds are grown in Nelson, the salt comes from Marlborough and the packet I have in front of me says these particular crisps were made by Larry. Those in a different packet might have been made by Stuart. Very straightforward, these Proper Crisps guys, and man what a product!

For something a little more exotic, how about some oils:



I can't promise they all are, but a good number of the different oils on this shelf - olive, avocado - are made in New Zealand. Moore Wilson's also has imported products - we got a rather good truffle oil here a while ago, and their big cheese cooler in the middle of the shop is impressive. Along the back wall are the packaged meats - not only the standard beef or lamb; this is where you come for wild pork or hare or rabbit. In the corner, fresh fish. Along the south wall, dairy - cultured butter, buttermilk, a huge range of yoghurts, butters, milks, creams. And of course, this:



Yep, that there's the Kapiti and Kohu Road ice creams we were talking about earlier in the week.

And since one can't live by ice cream alone (yeah right), Fresh has a huge fresh bread counter, with products from most of Welington's artisan bakers (and we're lucky to have several - Bordeaux, Arobake, Pandoro, ...).



In just a few weeks this part of the store will be filled with hot cross buns, all competing for spiciness. Heaven. And speaking of smells, that's one of the most charming things about Fresh - it has its own smell, a blend of fresh oranges and coffee. It's quite distinctive and on a good day hits you as soon as you come into the car park.

Fresh isn't all there is to Moore Wilson's. Their wine and spirit department is amazing (that's where I get my exotic alcohols, like Saint Germaine and Domaine de Canton. And indeed, Lighthouse gin) as is the enthusiasm and knowledge of Courtenay, who manages that area. Next door is the bulk grocery department, also with a range of catering and chefs' supplies, while upstairs the Variety department has a big range of kitchen and other household tools, bed linen and homewares. Good pricing, too, I've found.

This is somewhere you have to visit if you come to Wellington. I think Frederick would be pretty happy to see how the third and fourth generations of the Moores are looking after the place.

[lesliec]

It’s every meat-eating food lover’s dream – you go into a shop, tell the man behind the counter what you’re going to cook and he comes back with a piece he’s decided is best and cuts it to exactly the size you need. Even to the extent of trimming off a few stray bits of silverskin.

In Wellington, you don’t need to dream it – I did exactly that, last Saturday. You’ve seen my Beef Wellington post; this is where the meat came from. The second of the long-established family businesses I want to highlight for you is A.E. Preston Ltd, butchers since 1904. Founder Arthur Preston, it turns out, came out to New Zealand on the same boat from Liverpool as Frederick Moore of Moore Wilson’s. What are the chances – the founders of two of Wellington’s oldest family-owned food businesses, both arriving here at the same time? And let me just highlight what a young country New Zealand is; a company like Preston's has been here for a very significant percentage of our history.

Like Moore Wilson’s, Preston’s is still in the family. Scot Preston, current Managing Director, is Arthur’s grandson. He was very hospitable when I visited him and branch manager Frankie, if a little puzzled when I phoned out of the blue earlier in the morning and said something like ‘I’mdoingafoodblogonegulletandcanIpleasecomeandseeyouplease?’. Such is enthusiasm.

Scot, left, and Frankie contemplate another potential Beef Wellington:



Incidentally, before I forget: back here Peter asked about the relative popularity of beef, lamb, pork, etc. My reply was entirely off the top of my head, where there is little hair, and I’ve now solicited an expert opinion. Frankie says the most popular meat is still beef (in all its forms); maybe 30% of sales. Next comes chicken; maybe 25%. Lamb and pork sell about the same as each other but less than the other two. It seems lamb has dropped over the past few years as prices have risen. The ranking can vary with season and export price levels, but that’s more precise than what I gave you a few days ago.

Scot spoke about how the business has changed since Arthur started it. In the early years the shops would have whole hanging carcasses on display and pieces would be cut according to what the customer asked for. A fleet of horses and carts cruised the suburbs with meat for sale. Now, the picture is very much more one of pre-packaged cuts, with the emphasis on convenience for the customer (although, as I said above, they can still do it the old way if you ask them).

In the 20s Preston’s had seven shops selling bacon, ham and smallgoods in addition to their fresh meats (they also had a pickle factory in Wellington and a bacon factory in Blenheim, at the top of the South Island. Where I was born, as it happens). The Depression of the 30s had a major impact, though. Now they have three retail shops in the lower North Island; the Porirua shop has an associated factory which makes their bacon and ham, and the Wellington and Palmerston North shops also handle wholesale customers. The wholesale/retail split is close to 50/50; possibly slightly more on the retail side. An separate company, Taylor Preston, is the processing/exporting arm of the business, drawing its stock from the lower North and Upper South Islands. (At last year’s Wellington on a Plate food festival, one of the themed dinners was held in their killing room. I was too slow to get tickets, unfortunately.)

Prestons’ premium label is Ted’s Choice, named for Scot’s father. ‘Gate to plate’ is a horribly-abused expression, I fear, but that’s what Ted’s Choice is about – selected special cuts where Preston’s can trace the product from the farm, through processing and into their shops. Preston’s is where I go when I want some really special meat, but you don’t have to be looking for premium steak to get a great product. Their bacon has won awards, and there was an absolutely beautiful leg of ham – all from New Zealand pork, by the way – in the shop when I visited. Interesting side note about ham – Scot pointed out it’s often regarded as a ‘Christmas only’ thing, but in fact they sell it all year round and it’s one of the better-value meats you can get.

My favourite part of the shop: the non-prepackaged meats. The ‘oven prepared ribs’ are superb; my choice for Blumenthal’s 24-hour steak:



I think we Wellington food lovers do appreciate the history we have in Preston's and Moore Wilson's - I certainly hope so. It's up to us to make sure they're both still around in another 100 years.

Edited by lesliec, 17 February 2011 - 01:11 AM.

[helenjp]

Thank you very much for the tour of suppliers...you are right to emphasise where your food comes from, though your Beef Wellington must be a project your butcher is happy to be associated with! It looked gorgeous, and wow, NO SHRINKAGE!

Is there a NZ style of food? I've often thought about the same thing...maybe not in the sense of "here, and only here", but there is a certain NZ idea of what's good. When I read (and cooked from) Peter Gordon's Salads book, it not only impressed me as good, it was an instantly recognizable approach to food.

P.S. After Peter asked about meat prices/popularity, I also checked out the supermarket that is my local when I'm in NZ - Clendon Foodtown, which serves one of NZ's poorest urban areas. Flicking through the specials, I noticed that only beef and chicken made it even into the first 5 pages of specials, though when I'm actually there, often mutton neck chops are about the cheapest buy. Interesting that the preference for beef and chicken holds true even at the top end!

Leslie, when I was a kid, chicken was an expensive meat and not eaten that frequently. Lamb and hogget were affordable, but starting to lose out to beef...I think my family was on the old-fashioned side and that maybe beef was already king in most homes. When I got back to NZ after years in Japan and couldn't remember how to do the dinner thing NZ-style, my friends were saying "You know, beef casserole!". How does that compare to your experience?

What about seafood? When I was in Wellington I was surprised at how different the local fish were from the regulars in Auckland fish shops. How often do you cook fish or other seafood, and what types?

P.P.S. Was that a purple carrot or black salsify with your Beef Wellington?

Edited by helenjp, 17 February 2011 - 07:48 AM.

[lesliec]

Hi Helen. Clendon, huh? We used to live down the road in Manurewa.

I suspect the 'no shrinkage' thing with the Beef Wellington is due to the sous vide step. Because it's such a gentle way of cooking (you could put your hand in 53° water) the meat doesn't get the same shock it does when tossed into scary hot oil. Which is not to say I don't also do scary hot at other times.

Nick and I had a brief discussion a few posts upthread about what New Zealand food is. I'm not sure there's a good answer, and I'm also not sure a dedicated eGulleter necessarily represents the typical New Zealand cook, but certainly from my point of view places like Moore Wilson's support the style of cooking I'm now doing - but that might be based, depending on how I'm feeling, on Blumenthal, Adria, Keller ... or Bosley. I have invented the odd thing myself; there's a high-temp roast chicken slathered in a rustic form of pesto I've pretty well perfected. My parents would never have been exposed to the sort of ingredients I can now get. That's not to say they wouldn't have liked the results. Dad is no longer with us but Mum, although perhaps not sure why I spend so much time doing things in the kitchen, is very happy to eat what comes out. And none of that really answers your question either.

Yes, when I was a kid, chicken was the treat you had for Christmas dinner and rarely otherwise. I still remember the weekend mutton roast - and the 'bone', the shank I suppose it's properly called, is still the bit I always score for myself. Mince - ground beef if you prefer - was (and is) cheap; Mum used to boil it up with carrots and onions as a sort of stew. We'd have 'proper' beef stews and casseroles quite regularly. Mutton chops - sometimes hogget, rarely if ever lamb - also frequently appeared on the table. Surely we must have had pork sometimes, but I have no memory of it.

I'm not much of a fan of seafood myself - I find it's often a bit light and watery; give me something I can chew! - but then I'll have something like the blue cod at Martin Bosley's on Monday night and realise what I'm missing. It's not my impression Auckland and Wellington differ much in what's available - the 'standards' would be snapper, tarakihi, warehou (GREAT for fish and chips!), grouper, cod, moki ... probably a few others, plus shellfish, of course; lots of mussels, oysters and scallops in season. Supply isn't a problem; we have Rachel's Yellow Brick Road at the City Market to supply superb quality fish on Sundays (that's one of the very few places you can sometimes get fresh sardines); Moore Wilson's has a good fishy area and there are a few other individual retailers with good reputations. A big fish market opened in Auckland a couple of years ago but I haven't visited it.

Yep, those were purple carrots. I'd like to say they were from our garden, but ours have finished - I got those ones at Moore Wilson's after I'd talked to Julie.

So here we are on Friday and another clear, sunny day threatens. I'm planning a few miscellaneous topics for you today, including, if I can get my photographic act sufficiently together, the Grand Kitchen Tour. Stay tuned; I'll be back after work.

[kayb]

Oh, that beef. Luscious.

Loving your blog.

[barolo]

Beautiful tour, thank you. I have fond memories of my 4 days in NZ in 1995 - lots of friendly people and good food.

[lesliec]

Thanks, kayb. It really was (and guess who's having the leftovers tonight?).

Barolo: glad I could bring back some memories. But you really need to come back; as I hope I've shown this week, there's some good things happening here.

Coming soon - within minutes, in fact, as soon as I've processed the photos: the much-anticipated Kitchen Tour. Don't go away.

[lesliec]

TGIF

I've avoided talking about my breakfast and lunch this week, because, frankly, they're extrememly uninteresting. Trust me on this.

Friday, however, is different. There is a long-established tradition among a selected few of my colleagues that Friday means ... lunch at the pub. And it's good healthy stuff, too:



At this table sit Men. Clearly.

Our choice of location is D4, upstairs in Featherston Street in the heart of the CBD. We used to go to another place down the road, then its manager, the marvellous Dermot Murphy, opened his own place and named it, I believe, for a Dublin postcode.

Another round? And more chips?

[lesliec]

In the 17th century young English gentlemen used to set out on a Grand Tour of Europe to complete their education (in several ways we needn't dwell on). But it's the 21st century and this is eGullet, so by popular request, I present ... a Grand Tour of my kitchen.

I share the house with a wife, Jane, and two cats, Bloopers and Stilton.

(This is Stilton. He's my baby.)



We’ve been here a little over six years and remodelled the kitchen – now the most ‘finished’ part of the house - three or four years ago. Before we dropped a bomb in it, the house had a fairly standard 70’s-style New Zealand kitchen. Most distinctive feature: no bench space.



Before moving back to Wellington we’d replaced the kitchen in our Auckland house, so we had some idea of what worked and what didn’t. One thing I’d recommend to anybody considering a new kitchen: get a professional designer to have a look. They’ll listen to your ideas, learn how you intend to use your new kitchen and come up with some ideas you might never have had. In our case, a casual remark that it would be nice to have somewhere out of the way for the cats to eat led to our designer giving us one set of cupboards with a higher-than-usual space below the doors!

By the time we came to do this one it was clear that cooking was a very important part of our lives, so we decided to move things around to make the kitchen centre stage. The old layout flowed from the kitchen by the windows, to a tiny dining room, to the lounge and deck. We put the dining area by the windows – still small, but at least there’s something to look out at – lost an internal doorway and took out a wall to give space for our Andrew Scott-designed magnificence:



That’s three metres of black granite there. Granite’s lovely stuff; nothing we’ve done has marked it, it polishes up beautifully and there’s nothing quite like working with pastry or bread dough directly on your benchtop. We asked for the bench height to be a little more than standard to accommodate a couple of tall people. My sous vide setup and small espresso machine live on the far end. Of course, when you have a space like that, an ordinary tap just won’t do it - we had to have a lovely sweeping curve. But wait; there’s more:



Ever told an electrician you need to connect your tap to mains power? Imagine his face! This worked out to be the most expensive light in the entire house, but it’s (almost) worth it.

Under the island on the ‘working’ side we have most of our plates, our knives and forks, dishwasher and rubbish bin. On the other side, behind glass, live our glasses and some of our special serving dishes.



The pantry is in perhaps an unusual spot, on the opposite side of the island to where we work. We did have some concerns about it, but it’s worked out fine – you go to the pantry, get out what you need and put it on the island, then come round the other side to continue your food prep. In our Auckland kitchen we’d had a pullout pantry and liked the idea, but couldn’t see the benefit of pulling the whole thing out to access one shelf. Here’s the answer:



It's a double pantry. Behind each door we have six pull-out shelves (with soft close - lovely), with three fixed ones above. The ceiling spots come on when a pantry door is opened.

Opposite the pantry the induction cooktop sits above more drawers holding pots, mixing bowls and most of the cooking tools. One small drawer is for spices; another for knives (the good ones safely held in wooden slots). Oven tower on the right, fridge on the left.



One regret is we didn’t get the double version of the oven, but behind one of the doors above the oven we now have a small microwave/convection oven, mostly used for warming plates. There’s a ‘normal’ microwave behind the other door. I used to have my cookbooks in one of these slots but they grew – eG members will understand, I’m sure. The books now live out in the hall while I try to work out a better, more accessible place for them – Modernist Cuisine’s going to have another impact on storage when it arrives! Gratuitous shot of selected books follows:



Confession time: I like toys! And arguably, toys take up even more space than books:



Let’s take stock here. On the top, from left, we have a commercial-quality mixer we picked up at an auction of catering equipment, a masticating juicer, the power unit of our food processor and a small slicer. Underneath is most of the rest of the food processor (there’s still some more bits of it in a cupboard!), a MyCook we lugged back from Spain a couple of years ago, an ice cream maker and a deep fryer. There are a few more bits and pieces elsewhere, but that’s most of it. The stainless restaurant-style bench came from the same catering auction as the mixer. I’m still struggling with where to put a chamber vacuum, and a Pacojet, and …

In another corner, by the dining table, we keep a modest selection of cocktail ingredients:



That’s my happy place. I spend a lot of time in here; it works really well and it’s a delight to have space to spread out (and I say that as someone who’s quite good at cleaning up as I go). I hope you've enjoyed your visit.

[ScottyBoy]

Oh wow...really really nice space!

[Shelby]

Lovely kitchen and I like your toys.

[Kent Wang]

Is the selection of imported spirits (and wines) in NZ pretty decent? I see you have Domaine de Canton and a tequila that Stilton seems to like (nice cat).

[lesliec]

Hi Scottyboy. Yep - requirement #1 was it had to be useable. There's usually just one of us in there, but the three metre island gives us plenty of room if we're both doing something (typically, at the end of the day: me cooking, Jane making a cocktail).

Hi Shelby. Me too!

Hi Kent. I can't really compare what we have to many other places, but I think we're pretty well served - although sometimes I read some of the cocktail threads here and wonder what they're talking about! Domaine de Canton was a new find last year - great in winter in hot cider (DdeC, for the uninitiated, is fabulously ginger flavoured), and equally so in summer in all manner of things. One of the recipes that came with our first bottle was for a White Orchid - DdeC, cranberry, citrus vodka. We didn't have any citrus vodka (there's plenty available; we just haven't bought it) so Jane substituted half plain vodka, half Angie O's limoncello. What a find! Can't ever seeing us buying citrus vodka now.

That's not tequila Stilton's interested in. I took this the day we got him (cheating - he's two years old now) and we celebrated his arrival with vintage Port - which is what one drinks with Stilton, as any Englishman will tell you.

[lesliec]

It's nothing to do with food, but you might be interested - the Queen Elizabeth came in this morning as part of her maiden voyage. The longest ship ever to berth in Wellington, I'm told.



She's coming to you next, Nick.

[lesliec]

I know Erin's been waiting patiently for this one - last night I finally got round to making a batch of the herb-infused oil we talked about earlier in the week.



I've been doing these for a couple of years now. The place where I work has occasional Craft Fairs, where suitably-inclined staff bring along things they've made to sell. It's partly a fundraiser for the social club; partly for the sellers. For the first of these I had the idea of infusing olive oil with the fresh herbs (piles of them) growing in our garden. It took a little while to find a suitable oil - it had to be extra-virgin, and local - but my man Steve at Ontrays came through with a good one.

When I started I used to have the oil in a large pot on the stove, but I'm now using the MyCook. The batches are smaller, but the control is much better, and I don't have to stand over it. The recipe couldn't be simpler: take oil; add herb; heat. I'm using bay leaves today; the suburb I live in has big bay trees everywhere, and the oil is my favourite of those I make (and later I'll tell you about bay ice cream. [Drools, delicately]).





After the mix has been going long enough and hot enough to both get good flavour and seriously inconvenience any bugs, I allow it to cool, then bottle it. I print the labels too. On my inkjet, so don't get them wet.





We're off for a picnic shortly, so I'll be back later to show you what we had.

[David Ross]

Really enjoying this delicious ride and your photos.

[lesliec]

Thanks David. I was going to say you ain't seen nuttin' yet, but I don't think I'm going to top the Beef Wellington in a hurry. But one can try ...

[Pam R]

Lovely kitchen, Leslie. Are the main cook or do you share the honors with Jane?

You sink tap is very cool. Is there a practical reason behind it or is it just cool?

[lesliec]

Picnic part 1

As I mentioned earlier, we had a picnic scheduled today with some of the people from work. This seemed like a good excuse to show some of the 'real New Zealand food' you may have been wondering about.

A favourite picnic food for me for many years (thanks Mum) is bacon and egg pie. Now, I feel this is an appropriate forum to lay down some rules. The main one is: IT'S NOT A PROPER ONE IF YOU RUIN IT BY PUTTING TEAS OR TOMATOES OR OTHER RUBBISH IN IT. I'm glad I got that off my chest. I feel so much better now. To continue ...

In accordance with the rule above, my pies consist of bacon. And eggs. I will stretch to allowing a bit of fresh thyme, but that's it. Well, OK, and pastry.



Some like to leave their eggs whole, but I like mine slightly beaten. There are five in this one, and the bacon is from a packet of smoky offcuts we get sometimes. It's what's left when the processor has sliced off all the 'presentation' slices for packaging and sale. It's not pretty - you get all sorts of funny lumps of meat in there - but it's very tasty and great to use for something like this. Costs less than the prettier stuff, too.

I don't usually go to the extreme of decorating the pastry lid, but since it's for you:



Hot oven, some 20-30 minutes later:



You'll see how the inside turned out when we get to the picnic in part 2 below.

You may have heard of the classic New Zealand dish, the pavlova. SInce I've been making lots of ice cream (I haven't showed you that yet, have I? I will, promise) I end up with lots of spare egg whites. I'm reluctant to throw them away, so a pav is the answer.

Idle thought: as I've been writing this I've been thinking about how we use its name in print. Although it was named for a Russian dancer and hence could be considered a proper name, I seem to think I've only ever seen it in print with a small 'p'. I have no idea why this should be - Peach Melba (and, indeed, Beef Wellington) always have capitals. Any theories welcome.

There are probably as many pavlova recipes as there are grandmothers (living or deceased), but the one I always use is from the foundation stone of every New Zealand kitchen, the Edmonds Cookery Book. Because of the number of egg whites I usually have, I always at least double the recipe in the book - sometimes triple. That makes a big pav, I can tell you.

There is some debate about what a good one should be like, but I think the weight of opinion is on the side of crisp outside, fluffy inside. And that's what you're going to get.

It's not a complicated thing to make, but I do recommend a stand mixer unless you have Conan's biceps. Start by beating the whites until they're stiff, add a bit of water and keep beating, then ungodly amounts of sugar (that's what will give it the crispy crust). Then a bit of cornflour, vinegar and vanilla, beat some more and that's it.



I used an oven tray lined with kitchen paper today, but a silicone mat also works very well. When the mix is well beaten the texture is amazing - pure white, beautifully smooth and shapeable. Basically, you now plonk it all on your try, tidy it up a bit and you're ready to go.



Warm oven (150°C) for about an hour (the book says 45 minutes, but I don't trust that for big versions), then leave it in to cool. At the end of the cooking time, the meringue is still just as you piled it on the tray; the colour is a little darker, of course.



But when you eventually take it out of the oven, almost invariably the top crust will have collapsed. Congratulations: it's a proper one! I've had them much more caved-in than this, and it's not a problem - it'll hold the cream and fruit much better.



OK - ready to go out to the picnic? Don't forget the bottle of wine from the fridge.

[nickrey]

It's nothing to do with food, but you might be interested - the Queen Elizabeth came in this morning as part of her maiden voyage. The longest ship ever to berth in Wellington, I'm told.



She's coming to you next, Nick.

The signs are already out to expect traffic delays. But hey we're rated the tenth most congested city in the world so it's actually business as usual.

[lesliec]

Hi Pam. It's shared, but mostly me. Jane is much better at throwing something together in a hurry; I usually follow a recipe and take much more time.

Being cool IS a practical reason, isn't it? We had much debate about that, right up to the time we walked in the door of the plumbing supplies shop. It does come in a lightless version as well, but I put on my most pathetic face and Jane agreed we'd ask if they had the one with the light in stock. If they did, OK; if not we'd have the other one. Guess what ...

[lesliec]

Nick, you might be able to ease the problem by keeping the ships in the harbour rather than letting them on the road. Just a thought.

[Pam R]

Being cool IS a practical reason, isn't it?

It's a good enough reason for me. Now I wish I hadn't already purchased a faucet for my new kitchen.

I've never seen a Pavlova recipe that calls for water - what does it do? And is a 'proper' pavlova crisp throughout or chewy in the center?

[lesliec]

I wish I hadn't already purchased a faucet for my new kitchen.

That's what eBay is for ...

Your question about the water made me work a bit! I even went so far as to consult McGee, but although he has a good section on meringues he's silent on the subject of adding water to them. But then, fortunately, I thought I remembered something from a few years ago, and yes! The water, according to Khymos according to Hervé This, increases the volume of the egg whites.

I wouldn't call the texture chewy. It's soft, and light, and foamy. The crisp bit only extends a few millimetres into the body. Improper ones (by definition, any that aren't like mine) are soft all the way through.

[lesliec]

Picnic part 2

It's not quite such a stunning day as it's been during the week (naturally!), but still warm, so the picnic in the Wellington Botanic Gardens went ahead as planned. Teddy bears were invited, but only one turned up (he came with us).

So ... you were wondering about the bacon and egg pie?



Teddy enjoyed his piece too:



This wasn't the only pie at the picnic. I'd been speaking to my friend Brenda about my plans to bring 'real' New Zealand food along, so on the way to the gardens she bought a 'real' meat pie for lunch.



Back in the 80s, the height of culinary sophistication was the 'hedgehog', consisting of toothpicks with cheese, cocktail onions and pineapple stuck into a grapefruit half. Brenda made a more up to date version for us:



Then there's my friend Bingo. I've been working on him to bake something - anything - but he refuses. He can handle meat, he says, but baking requires too much precision. Here's his lunch today - authentically New Zealand, certainly, but I despair:



And finally - the pavlova. It was still slightly warm when it was time to leave home, so I whipped some cream with vanilla and took it and some berries along separately. At the gardens I put it all together:



If you make one of these, don't try for 'elegant' - it probably won't work. But what's wrong with 'rustic'?



My piece. OK, my first piece ... you can see the crisp outside and the fluffy inside:



Hungry?

Edited by lesliec, 18 February 2011 - 09:38 PM.