14 minute read
Chefs&Foodies
The Rolls Royce of Rice
How Sweet it is
MYBA Chefs’ Competition Theme: Sustainable Cheffing
Chef’s Corner
Who is your food hero (dead or alive) and why?
• My Father (alive) as he was one of the best bakers in my country. I have joined him in the bakery since I was 7. • Thomas Keller: an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author.
He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in
Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard
Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in
America in 1997. • Bjorn Frantzen because he is the best!
Frantzén runs Frantzén and Zén, restaurants that holds three stars in the
Michelin Guide each and owns several other restaurants in Stockholm and Asia.
What three ingredients could you not live without?
Herbs, seafood, oil
What are your three favorite cookbooks and why?
Actually I like to read a lot of cookbooks and I have up to 70 at home! Currently I am enjoying: 1. Very Serious Cookbook: The first cookbook by the wunderkind New
York chef duo Jeremiah Stone and
Fabián von Hauske of Contra and
Wildair.This is the story of two places beloved by chefs and foodies worldwide - Lower East Side tasting-menu restaurant Contra, and its more casual sister,
Wildair. 2. Bread is Gold: Massimo Bottura, one of the world’s best chef, prepares extraordinary meals from ordinary and sometimes
‘wasted’ ingredients inspiring home chefs to eat well while living well.’These dishes could change the way we feed the world, because they can be cooked by anyone, anywhere, on any budget. 3. The Whole Fish: seafood chef Josh Niland reveals a completely new way to think about all aspects of fish cookery.
From sourcing and butchering to dry aging and curing, it challenges everything we thought we knew about the subject and invites you to see fish for what it really is - an amazing, complex source of protein that can and should be treated with exactly the same nose-to-tail reverence as meat.
Name Experience Nationality Current Position
Julian Rishmawi 11 years Palestinian Just finished my season on a 51m M/Y, enjoying a break and looking for new opportunities.
What ingredients are overrated according to you?
Wagyu burger. You can literally create as much marbling as you want by adding fat to the ground beef mixture.
Which ingredients do you consider underrated?
Smoked paprika, giant couscous, livers and duck fat.
What is the hardest part of being a yacht chef?
You have to be tough, work long hours, take care of production, the entire kitchen, brigade of kitchen staff, plus the executive and admin roles etc. It is a high pressure environment. The chef role is demanding but if you love what you do, and you are strong, you can handle everything.
What would you say to people who stereotype chefs as being prima donnas with big egos?
Most of the time they are right! There are exceptions but most of the chefs are Primadonnas. Sometimes I tend to behave like that, but when I’m aware of it I try to go back to normal ASAP!
What is your attitude toward crew with dietary requirements?
I don’t have a problem with that. But, when they change from one day to another, I don’t tolerate it. For example, there was one crew member who was vegetarian until burgers were served. That put an end to my special treatment for that crew member.
What is the most bizarre thing you have ever been asked to cook?
Lambs brain comes to mind! And also a request for chocolate mousse without chocolate was a challenge!!!
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The Rolls Royce of Rice
by Marc Fosh
Marc Fosh
Marc Fosh (born 14 August 1963) is a British chef who has lived and worked in Spain for over twenty years and is now based in Palma de Mallorca. His eponymous restaurant, Marc Fosh, gained a Michelin star in 2002
As a chef, I’m more than a little obsessive about finding the best ingredients for my kitchen; I also believe that we as cooks have a duty to really get to know and understand where those ingredients come from, how they are made and why they are so special.
One of the ingredients that I’m obsessing about right now is Acquerello rice. It’s organic, aged Italian carnaroli rice. That’s right, aged! It is grown using a crop rotation system and is the only rice variety sown on the farm, to avoid the possibility of inadvertent hybridisation with other varieties. After the harvest, the grains of Acquerello carnaroli are aged from one to three years, a process which, by allowing the rice to “breathe”, optimising its qualities and characteristics. Aging renders starch, proteins and vitamins less water-soluble, improving the consistency of the grains and enabling them to absorb more cooking liquid. When cooked, the grains become bigger, firmer, do not stick together – and taste even better. Acquerello produces 500 tons of Carnaroli rice a year, and while the rice sells for about double the price of other risotto rice’s, it has become the go-to choice for many of the world’s top chefs including Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller and Alain Ducasse who named it, “The rolls Royce of Rice”.
The science behind the perfect risotto
I love the texture of Acquerello in creamy rice dishes and off course, Risotto. For some strange reason, risotto has a reputation for being difficult and time-consuming to make when in fact the reverse is true. Making a good risotto is rather like riding a bicycle: It takes a little bit of practice to begin with, and a certain amount of concentration thereafter, but in essence it’s such a simple dish and always a joy to make. A basic risotto is just rice, stock and Parmesan cheese. I always start my risotto with finely chopped onion, crushed garlic and fresh thyme sweated off in a little olive oil or butter. But before you attempt this simple, Italian classic, it’s worth understanding just a little science behind the perfect, silky smooth risotto. Two very basic rules apply when making risotto; it needs continual stirring with a wooden spoon and the liquid or stock should be hot, full flavoured and added slowly to help dissolve the starch. Basically, your job is to extract as much starch as possible from every single grain of rice to achieve a delicious, creamy risotto and you need to create a little friction and steam in the saucepan to achieve that. If you add too much liquid at once, the grains are just floating and swimming around in the stock when they need to be in constant contact and rubbing against each other to release all that wonderful starch hidden in the centre of each grain. Without getting too technical, the most nutritious part of the grain is the seed and its endosperm containing the starch. If you add cold liquid to a risotto the endosperm closes up and the finished dish will never be right as the more starch released, the creamier the final risotto will be.
The flavour combinations for risotto are endless so you can be adventurous and add all the ingredients you like. Try anything from pumpkin, beetroot to saffron, wild mushrooms and asparagus. One of my new favourites is pollen & capers.
Risotto’s are also very sensitive to timing, and have to be served immediately to display their rich, creamy texture that a good homemade risotto will exude. Happy cooking!
White risotto
with pollen & capers
Ingredients: Serves 4
1l
vegetable or chicken stock 1 sprig fresh thyme 100g finely grated parmesan 300g risotto rice (preferably Acquerello) 1tbsp mascarpone 1tbsp olive oil 50g unsalted butter 2 shallots chopped finely 1 crushed clove of garlic 1 tbsp pollen 1 tbsp capers Seasoning
Add enough oil to cover the bottom of a thick-bottomed pan, heat and add shallots, garlic and thyme. Sweat gently until the shallots start to break down. Add the rice and stir. Add a little hot stock until the rice is just covered; continue to stir until all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Over a medium heat, continue to add the stock gradually and stir until all the stock has been absorbed and the rice has softened. Make sure the risotto is loose and not too thick. Add the butter, mascarpone, grated Parmesan, pollen, capers and season to taste. The risotto should be light and creamy. Serve immediately.
How Sweet it is
By Wine Industry Photography by Barmalini
Often under-appreciated and considered the underdogs in the world of wine, sweet wines tend to be relegated to the top shelf and are rarely requested. These are wines that have had a glorious past but sadly, their future remains uncertain. When we had our wine bar in Santa Catalina, it was very rare that a client would specifically ask for a sweet wine. So, I came up with a plan. I took a selection of 6 to 8 different sweet wines to the table and ‘sold’ the various delicacies by the glass. Nine times out of ten a client would be curious enough to try a glass and the response was often approving surprise.
Some sweet wines still have some acidity and can be refreshing on the palate. At the other end of the spectrum are sweet wines with cocoa and plum flavours. And in between, with their soothing textures, there is a whole range of fruits and spices to seduce you. Flavours such as apricot, raspberry, blackberry, banana, melon, dried figs, raisins, honey, sweet grape –obviously-, and even chocolate, are waiting to be discovered inside these wonderful bottles.
Normally sweet wines are presented in the smaller format of 50cl or even 37,5cl bottles. This is because you need a larger percentage of grapes per bottle when making a sweet wine, which makes it more expensive. In addition, some sweet wines can have more sugar than a can of soft drink, though you only need to drink a very small glass. In fact, to be considered a sweet wine there must be a residual sugar content of more than 45 grams per litre.
Unlike regular wine, sweet wine will keep for a longer period as the level of sugar in it preserves it very well. This is exactly why sweet wines were widely made in the past. They were prized for their sublime flavours and longevity. In the days before refrigeration and technology, increasing the sugar content in the grapemust was the easiest way to stabilize the wine before transportation.
Sweet wine went out of fashion when new winemaking techniques were introduced, when the use of sulphites to stabilize wine became more widely used, and when methods of transport improved in the 20th century.
But how is a sweet wine made?
Various methods can be used to create this nectar of the wine world:
• Air drying the grapes after harvest. This technique dates back to the 8th Century and is often referred to as the ‘raisinate’ method (the French call this passerillage and the Italians call it passito). Examples:
Passito in Italy and Pedro Ximenez in
Spain. • Adding alcohol (such as brandy) during the fermentation process to create fortified wines. Examples: Port in Portugal,
Marsala in Sicily and Sherry in Spain. • Using overripe grapes often referred to as
‘late harvest grapes’. The most extreme example of this is Eiswein. The grapes need to be frozen during harvest and when pressed so it is produced in very small quantities. Examples: Eiswein can be found in Austria, Canada, Germany and
Switzerland. • Using mature grapes that have been affected by ‘botrytis cinerea’, or the much easier name ‘noble rot’. This is a fungus that shrivels the grapes into raisins. Examples:
Sauternes from Bordeaux and Tokaji Aszú from Hungary.
To end this article on a more positive note, there are still many vineyards creating sweet wine today (in Mallorca too) so it is worth exploring what there is to offer and the story behind them. Only recently, 7103 Petit Celler announced that they have created a sweet wine made with the indigenous variety Mantonegro. If you would like to delve into some sweet delights from Spain and Mallorca, here are a few of our recommendations:
Gutiérrez de la Vega Casta Diva Cosecha Miel
Casta Diva Cosecha Miel 2018 is the flagship wine of Bodegas Gutiérrez de la Vega. Cosecha Miel is made from Moscatel de Alexandria grapes that have been harvested from 40-year-old vines. The wine is fermented gradually in barrels for 6 months, with grape distillate added slowly to stop fermentation and retain residual sugars. It is then aged for just over a year, in French, American, and Hungarian oak barrels. This wine was served at the Spanish Royal Wedding!
Selva Vins Malvasía Dulce Natural
Can Vidalet's Port de Cecili Blanc Dolç is a white fortified wine that is a blend of three different vintages, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The natural fermentation process was stopped by the addition of wine alcohol, and it has been distilled in small batches. Oxidative ageing occurred in French oak barrels. The wine is left unfiltered and bottled, sealed and labelled by hand. The careful combination of vintages gives complexity and character to the wine.
Bodegas Cándido Hernández Pio Punta del Sol
Punta del Sol is a blend of the local white grape varieties: Marmajuelo, Gual, Verdello and Malvasía, and it has been aged in French and American oak barrels and then later on, in stainless steel tanks. The name of this wine refers to the place of origin of its grapes; the area of Punta del Sol, in La Matanza, Tenerife, where Bodegas Cándido Hernández Pio has some plots at an altitude of 200 metres above sea level. The grapes were harvested late, and the Malvasía and Marmajuelo varieties were sun-dried, giving the wine a natural, characteristic sweet touch.
Gutiérrez de la Vega Recóndita Armonía
Recóndita Armonía is a sweet wine with red tones from the Monastrell grape variety. According to Gutiérrez de la Vega, 'it is the playful, cheerful, lively and fresh cousin of Fondillón'. The grapes are harvested late from 60-year-old vines, and then they are de-stemmed, crushed, and fermented in open barrels. The wine is pressed in barrels and left to age for 3 years.
Selva Vins is the personal project of veteran Mallorcan winemaker Carlos Rodriguez Furthmann. His small winery is located in the Sierra Norte region of Mallorca. His artisan wines are created using minimum manipulation and he prioritises using indigenous grape varieties. A native Mallorcan variety, Malvasía, is used to create this naturally sweet white wine. This sweet wine spends three months in a used 400-litre chestnut barrel (from the forests of Montseny, California).
MYBA Chefs’ Competition Theme:
Sustainable Cheffing
The MYBA Charter show which will take place in Barcelona from 24 till 27 April of the coming year will, as always, include a Chefs’ competition. Taking into consideration the evolving culinary landscape, the theme for the 2023 MYBA Superyacht Chefs’ Competition will be “sustainability”! The competition is going to revolve around foraged fare!
The challenge for the superyacht chefs will be to create a guest dinner party using as many foraged items as they can in 3 courses (starter, main and dessert). A minimum of two (2) foraged food items must be included in each dish.
The chief steward/esses will need to prepare a rustic dinner party table setting also using elements of foraged and upcycled items in their decor.
Details concerning both competitions have already been uploaded to the “Competition” section of the Show’s official website and can be downloaded. It is certainly a challenging theme and one that requires careful planning and preparation. The foraged food items can be gathered over time (dried, frozen, fermented or preserved in any way). They can also be gathered at the time of the competition. So advance notice ensures that our superyacht chefs won’t find themselves in a pickle! More info on: www.mybashow.com
