Paper Chef #18 Going Slowly
Paper Chef #18: Veal scallopine, rocket, simple syrup and strawberry
While John's "winning" saltimbocca leaps from frypan to dinner table in 2 minutes (ok, 20 minutes for a tough cut), Noodle Cook's veal girello sits curing in the coldest part of the fridge for 72 hrs awaiting transformation into tender juicy melt in the mouth steaks. At 75 degrees Celsius, it takes a couple of hours (4-6 hours) to cook the girello to rare (60 degrees Celsius on the meat thermometer) before smoking to finish off. What happens when Noodle Cook falls asleep while the delicate cooking process takes place?
While Noodle Cook snoozes away, the girello cooks to well done some 11 hours later! The good thing about low temperature cooking is that there is no charred mess or spattering to clean up. Sadly, the veal did not take on the juicy gelatinous texture or the deep pink as intended.
The dish created for Paper Chef #18, which balances saltiness, sourness and sweetness with contrasting textures:
Salt cured veal, duck egg noodle (with rocket) and caramelised daikon slices, served with gingered berry sauce
Recipes follow. To serve, arrange thinly sliced veal over a bed of noodles. Place daikon slices to the side and serve the berry sauce in a side dish.
Salt Cured Veal
1-2 teaspoon salt (add equal amount of sugar as an alternative)
2-3 teaspoon Aussie Five Spice
500-600 g very fresh veal girello (whole)
Rub the salt and Aussie Five Spice into the veal. Marinate for 72 hours in the coldest part of the fridge without freezing. Bring to room temperature before baking at 75 degrees Celsius. Please note that this low temperature cooking must be performed using an oven thermometer to confirm that at all times the oven stays above 65 degrees Celsius for food safety.
At 4 hours, check for doneness using a clean meat thermometer: 60 degrees Celsius for rare, 71 for medium. When cooked to your liking, smoke the girello in a wok at 120 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. The girello is best eaten rare, a bit like raw Japanese tataki or carpaccio.
Aussie Five Spice
1 teaspoon peppercorn (or mountain pepper berry)
1 teaspoon mountain pepper leaf
1 teaspoon aniseed myrtle leaf
2 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon aniseed
Mill all the herbs and spices. Store in a jar in the fridge until needed.
Duck Egg Noodles
1 salted duck egg, mashed
2 teaspoon roasted Japanese green tea, milled
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon finely chopped rocket (or spinach)
Mix the ingredients and knead together until soft and pliable. Cut with a pasta maker.
Caramelised Turnip Slices
1 small turnip/daikon
2 tablespoon anise syrup
Thinly slice the turnip using a mandolin. Brush with anise syrup. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius until golden brown. Brush with extra syrup before serving. The slices did not crisp up as hoped. Perhaps apple works better. The slices pictured above result from low temperature (75 degrees Celsius) cooking took over 10 hours in a fan-forced oven.
Anise Syrup
1/2 water
1 cup raw sugar
8 aniseed myrtle leaves, milled
2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon aniseed, crushed
Dissolve sugar in the water and bring to boil. Add the herbs and remove from heat. Let stand for 15 minutes. Strain the syrup. This syrup may be used for drinks, ice-cream, merringues and glazes.
Berry Sauce
4 tablespoon berries in syrup (in place of out of season strawberries)
2 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon pickled ginger (the pink variety from Japanese section)
2 teaspoon lemon juice, to taste
Mix together and let stand for 15 minutes for the flavours to blend. Adjust to a sour-salt taste to your liking.
Taste Test
The flavours of aniseed in the veal, berries and daikon work well together. Although the noodles and veal could be a lot saltier. The roasted green tea adds little to the noodles. The daikon slices taste rather exquisite, almost like candy, which contrast really well with the sourness of the sauce. Overall the dish turns out really well despite the veal cooking to well done.
...and the winning dish is?
Fortunately, Noodle Cook's dishes always "look" better on the computer screen than John's! The official Paper Chef #18 winner can be found here.
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