Jonathan

Dan Murphy's had online orders but only for cases and I don't use it often enough to justify a case. It was their last truffle! They get some good treats in from time to time, not consistently but it's always fun to see what they have

It’s truffle season and I managed to nab a small perigold truffle from the deli! Decided to make lamb since I hadn’t had it in a while with mashed potato (mostly butter) and a zucchini flower stuffed with ricotta, smoked fetta and a hint of honey. On another note, why on earth is it so hard to find Madeira in Australia? I ended up subbing in Tawny Port for the jus but I’m convinced it just doesn’t exist here

This took most of the day… I’m a big fan of Art Nouveau, especially the work of Alphonse Mucha, so I thought I’d try my hand at it. This was cast with Valrhona Opalys and freeze dried strawberries and hand painted with coloured cocoa butter. I forgot how difficult line work was with cocoa butter… If someone ever invents a cocoa butter fineliner I’ll pay you anything you want for it. This turned out a lot messier than I’d have liked but I was still happy with it overall

I think with most of the subtle flavours I've leaned towards white chocolate which I typically don't like but tends to be neutral enough with a backdrop as well as increasing the quantity of cocoa butter in the ganache to lower the sweetness. I've had some success with elderflower using a combination of a flavour extract and Saint Germain liqueur but I personally am not the biggest white chocolate fan either so it's a bit of a downer to have to use it

The tricky bit with egg based fillings is heating it enough to pasteurise it and increase the “yolkiness” without it curdling, I played around with a french toast filling not long after I started a year ago and while it tasted nice the “egg” wasn’t really discernable, just felt like a really rich ganache

Always nice to have a pot of this finished, a bunch extra for future nights as well (given how time consuming it is to make I may as well make extra). Beef shortrib ragu with fresh pappardelle. Takes a few hours for the sauce but always worth it

I’m still not sure if I’m sold on fish tacos but these weren’t half bad. What I wouldn’t give to get fresh cod here in Australia though… Made a purple cabbage slaw, some quick pickled onions and a crema on top

Thanks for that! I think he has a few different “Apple” Recipes, I haven’t found the Tatin one in any of the books yet, hopefully soon

It’s been a while but turns out he WAS using toffee: Here. You can see the steam/crack afterwards, sorcery!

I think it may have been the onion that triggered the response I had when tasting it. It made the ganache taste like one of those pre-made french onion dips you see at parties but sweet as well. I may cut the sage and just rely on the rosemary caramel and cranberry jelly to evoke "turkey" and then go with a relatively neutral ganache for texture?

Mainly the textural component of the ganache, I could probably just go with something more mild? I'll admit the whole thing did taste like roast turkey so it fit the brief in that aspect. Maybe just go with a sage ganache instead

So the roast turkey bonbons were absolutely ungodly. I don't think I've ever made something that tasted quite this... well see it wasn't even BAD but it was just so disconcerting. There were some elements that worked really well and tasted quite good on their own. The rosemary caramel, the cranberry jelly and even the crispy chicken skin in the base were all quite pleasant but the sage and onion ganache. Just something about it was SO offputting. I'm back at the drawing board, anyone got any ideas?

I actually made a "breakfast" bonbon (maple french toast with bacon). I made a custard for the ganache the traditional way and they tasted good but they had to be consumed super quickly so not great for storage and I'm after 3-4 weeks ideally

That may work then, I might make a "cookie" butter out of toast and brown butter. Thanks!

Perhaps? If I made some toast and dehydrated it would it adversely affect shelf life all that much? I've done a "croissant" flavour before where I baked some croissants, infused them in the cream for the ganache and then added some brown butter but the ganache just tasted a bit like salted butter caramel in the end. Perhaps some barley malt would give it more of a "bready" note?