Cuisine

NEW ZEALAND'S WHISKY SPECIALISTS

Brood Fermwares / Lauren Yap

E: info@whiskygalore.co.nz | P: 0800 WHISKY (944 759) 834 Colombo Street, Christchurch

The annual list of The World’s 50 Best Bars, sponsored by Perrier, will be unveiled as part of a live awards ceremony on

7 December 2021 at London’s iconic Roundhouse. Returning to a physical event after a virtual awards event in 2020 – during which 50 Best devoted its resources to its 50 Best for Recovery fundraising project – The World’s 50 Best Bars 2021 programme will give bartenders, bar owners, brand partners and cocktail aficionados the opportunity to recognise and celebrate the resilience and achievements of the sector over the last 18 months, and provide motivation and positive storytelling in this crucial next stage of recovery. theworlds50best.com

CUISINE’S WINE TASTING – WHAT CAME OUT TOPS?

OUR CUISINE WINE PANEL had a monster task, with tastings of Champagne, méthode traditionelle and sparkling wine, prosecco, sweet wines, sherry and muscat and port. “A Champagne with power,” is how the panel described Henriot Blanc de

Blancs NV Champagne, which took top spot in the Champagne tasting. For méthode traditionelle and sparkling wine, that honour went to Hunter’s Mirumiru Reserve 2016 from Marlborough, while the winner of the prosecco category was Santa Margherita

Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG NV, described as “a very complete and poised prosecco.” Sauternes stormed to the top of the sweet wines with Castelnau

de Suduiraut 2012 named as the winner. In Cuisine’s inaugural tasting of sherry and muscat, Gonzalez Byass Néctar Pedro Ximénez Dulce NV came out favourite, praised for its “lip-smacking moreishness”, while Penfolds, true masters of Australia’s fortified wines, took the prize in the port category with its Penfolds Great Grandfather Raretawny NV. For full tasting notes see page 114. It does what it says on the packet – Good Farmers New

Zealand is a community of eight independent, like-minded farmers and artisan producers who believe in great food farmed on New Zealand land by people who care deeply about the way it was produced. Go online for their muesli, meat, coffee, honey, sauces and relishes, all produced while protecting the rural environment, honouring animal welfare and eliminating harmful packaging waste. goodfarmers.nz

The Gordon & Macphail

Generations 80 year old is the most significant release in the history of single malt Scotch whisky. The creation of this whisky took a staggering 80 years of maturation in a single barrel, under the watchful eyes of generations of the Urquhart family of Elgin, Scotland. Just one bottle of this liquid history is set to arrive at Whisky Galore in Christchurch at the end of October. whiskygalore.co.nz

THE FUTURE OF FOOD

Michelin-starred chef Matt Lambert will be the keynote speaker at this year’s food and hospitality hui hosted by the Restaurant Association of New Zealand and Eat New Zealand. Held on 1–2 November, the event will focus on the future of the hospitality industry. It will take a look inwards at our food systems, embracing who we are as a food nation, from our producers to those who celebrate our food and food experiences, and consider the development of food communities through local food networks and regenerative food tourism.

eatnewzealand.nz, restaurantnz.co.nz

Buy one of Lauren Yap’s handmade pottery fermenters, and tucked inside will be a handwritten recipe to get you started making kimchi, a dish Lauren describes as “the gateway to fermentation”. It’s Lauren’s own recipe, one she has been using for years, and she knows it works because as well as running Brood Fermwares, Lauren is a fermenter of long standing.

So, form and function: Lauren knows how fermenting works and what it needs, and knows how to create tablewares and fermentation vessels that fulfil those needs beautifully. A kombucha vessel will have a spout at the bottom and legs to lift it off the ground to keep the contents cool; her kimchi fermenters have the airlock crucial to keeping out oxygen that would cause the food to spoil. “It’s hard to be inspired and feel connected to a piece if I can’t use it myself,” she says, describing how a recent foray into cheesemaking has her creating cheese moulds exactly the size and shape she wants to use.

Lauren’s website and Instagram show mugs, jugs and vases, fermenters, butter dishes, bread bowls for sourdough and pasta plates. They represent the coming together of almost a decade of pottery work, beginning in Portland, Oregon, and leading to Nelson; work as a farmer and fermenter; a hands-on role in Brood Fermentation, a beer-brewing and natural winemaking enterprise run with her partner; and a fulltime job working in Nelson’s hop fields. That’s a lot to imbue into the form of a plate.

Lauren’s clay wine tumblers are the result of a classic ‘made it because I needed it’ situation and now are among her most popular pieces. When working in a brewery, it is best practice to keep glass away from the brewing process. But vessels are needed for sampling, tasting and mixing, so Lauren began making the little clay cups. Formed from 100% New Zealand clay, they fit snugly in your palm and work as well for tea as for a tipple. instagram.com/broodfermwares, broodfermentation.com TRACY WHITMEY

Catherine George talks to a pastry chef who has caught the attention of one of New Zealand’s most renowned chefs.

Petra’s philosophy is simple. “I think every morning, ‘What do I feel like eating today?’ Very selfish, I know, but that’s what I go on; what I like and what I think our customers will like.”

Nervous about going into a second interview at Homeland, the latest project by globally renowned chef Peter Gordon, pastry chef Petra Galler felt they needed to taste her food. So along to the interview she took a Basque cheesecake, a lemon polenta cake and a chocolate orange babka, and that’s what landed her the job. “I chose three cakes solely based on what I was loving to cook at that time. The burnt Basque cheesecake is something I had never seen in Auckland. It is up there with my absolute favourite cakes; it’s the best part of the cheesecake really – the gnarly, textural, rugged, burnishy bits – except that’s the whole cake. It’s pretty sublime. It also looks deeply sexy.” You can still find that Basque cheesecake on the menu at Homeland today.

Despite the kitchen being her calling, Petra came from an academic family, so when she was younger she never really saw food as a viable career choice. Feeling the pressure to take a traditional path, Petra attended Auckland University to study for a degree in psychology.

“My whole family is incredibly academic; my mother is a judge, Dad is a doctor and my brother is a lawyer. I mean, come on!” The pressure on kids to go to uni straight after school and to have a clear vision of what they want to do for the rest of their life is nothing new or uncommon. “I think my family doing what they do definitely added to that, but when I told them I wanted to drop out of uni they were over the moon that I was pursuing something I had a passion for. I remember being so nervous to have that conversation. I felt like I was the total black sheep of the family and they would just despair with my decision, but it was the complete opposite.”

Petra wasn’t sure what it was going to be like working with Peter Gordon, but after working with him for a while she has nothing but good things to say about her boss. “Peter Gordon is a big deal. I thought I’d be dictated to but he just told me to make whatever I want. Creative freedom is so good for the soul. He is the kind of boss that makes you want to work harder and go the extra mile – he's kind and supportive.”

Recently Petra has started doing her own baking classes at Homeland and is relishing the human interaction. She is hoping to use her platform to inspire those considering a career choice in hospitality, especially with the current shortage of hospitality workers. “Hospitality is hard, and it’s so hard to get staff right now. How do we fix this? What are we going to do to make this better? I wonder if it’s reframing what a career in hospitality looks like. It’s framed like it’s not a career and it doesn’t take you anywhere. If you love it, you love it. If it’s right for you, it feels so good. Hospitality needs a rebrand.”

Petra’s philosophy is simple. “I think every morning, ‘What do I feel like eating today?’ Very selfish, I know, but that’s what I go on; what I like and what I think our customers will like.” For inspiration, she turns to her Jewish/eastern European background and the flavour profiles found in that part of the world. “I think my culture plays a huge role in my cooking and appreciation of food. Cooking for people really is a way of showing love, which I learnt from my grandma and father especially. As far as my cooking goes, more is more, with punchy and big flavours. It’s always got to have a bit of naughtiness. You’ve got to be like, ‘Yes, I’m eating cake’. If you’re going to eat cake, make it worth it!”. homelandnz.com

Follow @petra_galler or @_butterbutterbutter_ on Instagram to keep up to date with Petra and see what she is baking.

Well done to Te Puna-based avocado oil producer

Grove, which has been granted the Superior Taste Award with two stars for its Extra Virgin

Avocado Oil by the prestigious International Taste Institute in Brussels, Belgium. The jury of the International Taste Institute, composed of more than 200 of the world’s best chefs and sommeliers, gathers every year to flavour-test, evaluate and certify the taste of food and drinks from around the world. groveavocadooil.co.nz

GREEN SLEEPS

Congratulations to the team at the Hotel Britomart, which was awarded runner-up in the Good Egg (Most Sustainable Hotel) category of the National Geographic Traveller Magazine’s Hotel

Awards. The annual awards spotlight what’s hot in the hotel business around the world, picking trends and highlighting the best. New Zealand’s first Five Green Star eco-certified hotel produces greenhouse gas emissions around 50% lower than the building code requires. But that’s not all: they’ve thought of everything, from eco-friendly paint and driftwood door handles to organic linen. The ocean-friendly seafood restaurant champions underrated but healthy and delicious local species. thehotelbritomart.com

CHANGING STYLES

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2021-11-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

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