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Match the cooker and the fridge
Aga,
which has stood for stylish cooking since 1922, now produces refrigerators and
freezers with the same indestructable build and colours to match their
stoves.
Culinary Holidays
Rub elbows with world-class executive chefs, Cook in a cliff-top kitchen 300
metres above the ocean and Explore the Italian Riviera by private yacht.
Check out www.privateluxurytravel.com/food
for foodie trips in Ireland Italy and France.
Luxury Sweeties to your order
Banish
the Bournville - The world of fine chocolate is one full of glorious
beans such as criollo, trinitario, cacao nacional & carenero superior, all
grown in exotic equatorial countries, each creating chocolate with very
different, complex flavour notes which are also influenced by how it is grown,
harvested & processed…similar to wine & quite fascinating.
Venezuelan carenero superior has wonderful earthy notes.
Tanzanian Trinitario is a fruity chocolate with a clean smooth finish. ..
Cocoa
Bean Chocolate Co Ballinskelligs www.cocoabeanchocolates.com
amazing taste combinations
Chococo
Swanage Dorset - order on line at www.chococo.co.uk.
They will hand-pipe your message onto the giant bar or heart
of your choice
Charbonnel
& Walker have been the masters of luxury chocolate since 1875. www.charbonnel.co.uk
Matsusaka
or
Truffles,
underground lumpy smelly fungi found in oak and beech woods,
are an aphrodisiac with a supreme flavour and an ability to
stimulate appetite. They will cost up to €3,500 a kilo and are usually kept
locked in special safes.
Seek
out White Truffles in Alba in
Black
Winter Perigord truffles are the most refined and are harvested between December
and February, so if you miss
Abalone
are marine gastrapods – massive snails. Their
shells become mother of pearl inlay, and the trimmed Abalone steaks will cost
about €120 a kilo. There are
farmed in Galway and Donegal, but almost all end up in
Foie
Gras
It is now fashionable to use Spanish Foie Gras - Patería
de Sousa prides itself on not fattening the bird’s liver by force-feeding, but
instead the foie gras is made by “free-range” feeding of the birds, and won
the top foie gras prize in France this year.
A 90g can of Patería de Sousa foie gras sells for €23 in
Oysters, fresh or cooked, these molluscs of the shallow inspired Seamus Heaney - his tongue was a filling estuary and his palate hung with starlight. There are dozens of varieties of these hermaphrodite bivalves, but Atlantic ones should only be eaten when there is an r in the month – September to April, when the chilly waters keep them male.
Lobster
(sea water) or Crayfish (fresh water)
Get
them fresh from a lobster pot fisherman in a
Beluga
Caviar
So
much of the caviar that is availabale is from
Real
Vanilla
Real
vanilla is produced from a bean which is the fruit of an orchid, vanilla
planifolia, and is the only edible part of any one of the thousands of orchid
varieties. Of the many varieties of vanilla orchid, only three produce this
luscious bean.
The
pure extract is, at minimum, 35% alcohol and has a rich honey color. It is very
expensive, but you do get what you pay for – or better still use fresh pods
and store them in your sugar jar – the sugar willl taste delicious.
About €4 per pod.
Krug,
Clos du Mesnil €669 a bottle from Greenacres, Selskar, Wexford,
(0)53 9122975 http://www.greenacres.ie
It comes from a 4.5 acres
vineyard which grows the chardonnay grapes that end up as the Clos du Mesnil Blanc de Blancs vintage.
Chateau
Petrus
Petrus, 2001 about €1,500 a bottle from Tankersley Wine Brokers, Preban, Tinahely, Co. Wicklow claret@eircom.net (0) 402 36589
The grapes are picked only in
the afternoon, when the morning dew has evaporated, so as not to risk even the
slightest dilution of quality. The vines are unusually old and are only
replanted after they reach 70 years of age. Replanting takes place plot by plot,
instead of vine by vine, in order to guarantee that the average age of vines is
maintained at a high level. It is
The Merchant in Belfast owns one
of only six bottles in existence of 17-year-old Wray and Nephew Rum, which was
used by trader Vic Bergeron to create the original Mai Tai over 60 years ago.
At £750, an original Trader
Vic's Mai makes this the most expensive cocktail in
the world.
Marine Room Restaurant at The La
Jolla Beach and Tennis,
Watch the sun set over the Pacific whilst indulging in spinach wrapped oysters with a lobster mousse and caviar quintet
www.marineroom.com
Spinach
Wrapped Pacific Oysters
Lobster Mousse, Caviar Quintet
Lemon Myrtle Oil
Serves six
Lemon
Myrtle Oil
20 leaves basil
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
5 drops lemon myrtle (essential) oil
Add oil to heavy skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, fry basil to crisp, keeping bright green color. Do not over fry or you will burn the chlorophyll and lose color. Remove basil to a paper-towel lined plate. Cool oil. Place oil and basil in blender. Blend at high speed for 1 minute. Add lemon myrtle oil. Place in squeeze bottle.
Lobster Scallop Mousse
8 oz. Sea Scallops, cleaned, tendon removed
1 Tbsp Lobster Tomale (roe)
¼ Cup Cream
to taste Sea Salt and White Pepper
Place sea scallops and lobster tamale in food processor. Pulse to puree. Transfer to mixing bowl. Fold in cream, sea salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Foaming Butter
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped shallots
2 tsp. Chopped thyme
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp. heavy cream
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut in cubes
to taste sea salt and ground white pepper
Combine white wine, vinegar, shallots, thyme and bay leaf in small saucepan. Reduce by 2/3. Add heavy cream. Lower heat. Gradually whisk in cubed butter. Strain through fine sieve. Season to taste with sea salt and ground white pepper. Set aside.
Oysters
30 fresh raw North Pacific oysters
30 Spinach leaves, palm-sized, washed, blanched, patted dry
Cover palm of your hand with folded kitchen towel. Place oyster in it. Using oyster knife thrust point into hinge of shell. Run knife around oyster forcing it open. Once oyster is open, remove shell fragments. Detach oyster from shell. Place on paper towel lined platter. Place spinach leaf on a clean flat surface, vein side up. Place one teaspoon lobster scallop mousse in center of leaf. Top with oyster. Roll spinach, folding sides in, to create a tight package. Repeat process using all ingredients.
Presentation
6 tsp. Osetra Caviar
6 tsp. Ginger Whitefish Caviar
6 tsp. Truffle Caviar
6 tsp. Paddlefish Caviar
6 tsp. Spanish Trout Roe
Steam spinach-wrapped oysters for 2 minutes. Serve 5 oysters per serving, topping each with a different caviar. Spoon sauce on plate. Drizzle with lemon myrtle oil.
Bon Appetit . . . Executive Chef Bernard Guillas
Domenico Crolla of Bella
Napoli in Glasgow created a €3,700 Pizza
The 12 inch pizza pie is densely packed with an assortment of some of the
world’s most expensive food ingredients, such as lobster marinated in cognac,
caviar soaked in champagne, sunblush tomato sauce, Scottish smoked salmon,
venison medallions, prosciutto, and vintage balsamic vinegar. In addition to all
these fine ingredients, it’s topped with a significant amount of edible
24-carat gold flakes.
A
diamond encrusted fruit cake was sold in
Foie
Gras,
.LONDON
Harrods
Food Hall
Fortnum
& Masons
Whole
Foods Market London The Barkers Building 63–97 Kensington High Street,
London W8 5SE Organic food market with Oysters, Pizzas, and pretty
much everything - 55 chefs!
Experience
the rare cheeses from Paxton & Whitfield,
Fresh
gateaux from Comptoir Gascon
Fairway Market 2127 Broadway,
Zabar's
245 W 80th St,
Citarella 2135 Broadway,
Fauchon
and Lenôtre
Hévinter
(16 avenue de la Motte-Picquet, 7th/01.45.51.77.48
Berthillon
Ice Cream (31 rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile, 4th/01.43.54.31.61),
Murphys
Ice Cream Dingle
Umerra
Smoked Salmon
Tamarind & Chilli Pavlova
Try it at Wagamama
Lemon myrtle oil from
Annatto seed
from
Sour plum
powder from
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