Meat Cookery & Sous Vide

Westminster Kingsway College Victoria Centre Vincent Square London SW1P 2PD 22nd June, 6.30pm, duration: approx. 2h

tickets:

There can be no denying that sous vide cookery is fashionable. Chefs from Alain Ducasse to Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal are keen proponents of cooking at low temperatures with the ingredients vacuum-packed in plastic bags. Yet sous vide technique is not an instant mark of culinary modernism. Since the French chef Georges Pralus first perfected the procedure in 1974, it has had an abiding attraction for the savvy restaurateur and event caterer, with perfect portion-control and the opportunity to prepare everything well ahead of time.

And at its most basic level, the idea behind sous vide cookery is nothing new. There is a long tradition of enclosing ingredients in an air and water-tight vessel to allow them to cook in their own vapours and preserve delicate aromas and flavours; the container might be a pig’s bladder in the case of cookery en vessie, greaseproof paper (‘en papillote’) or even a salt crust.

The novelty of the sous vide approach is in the emphasis placed upon extremely precise temperature control. Rather than briefly shocking a piece of beef at 250°C for fifteen minutes, the same cut of meat might be kept at exactly 54°C for twenty four hours or more, producing an impeccably medium-rare result with no loss of precious juices. These exactingly meticulous cooking temperatures open up an entirely new set of textural possibilities, allowing the chef absolute control.

But at what price? Are we sacrificing crispy textures at the altar of tenderness? Does it push the industrialisation of gastronomy too far? And does it remove us from an intuitive relationship with our ingredients?

Until now, the precision of properly-executed sous vide cookery has always required equipment beyond the reach of the home cook; even professional chefs have largely relied upon second-hand laboratory equipment. We are delighted to present one of the very first UK public demonstrations of a thoroughly-domesticated version of this equipment, followed by a panel discussion on the merits (or otherwise) of sous vide technique.

About the speakers:

Morten Aas, European Business Director of Sous Vide supreme, and Heiko Antoniewicz, a German chef, will be demonstrating a number of different applications of sous-vide cooking and the benefits that this cooking style can offer, with a special focus on meat cookery.  The SousVide Supreme™ is the world's first water oven designed specifically for use in the home kitchen— providing the everyday cook with easy access to the beneficial culinary style of sous vide.

Tom Coultate, food scientist, started his scientific career as a lab technician and then research assistant at Unilever’s Colworth laboratories. In 1972, he graduated from Leicester University with a PhD, and then moved to London to work as a lecturer in Food Science at London Southbank University, from where he recently retired as Principal Lecturer in Food Biochemistry. In the early 1980s the Royal Society of Chemistry asked Tom to write a textbook on Food Chemistry for use by School Teachers of both Chemistry and Home Economics. The success of this book means it is now in its 5th edition and is a leading undergraduate textbook for food science courses around the world, and has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Chinese. Tom writes occasional articles for food industry magazines and recently contributed to Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck Cookbook.

Rowley Leigh, chef proprietor of Le Café Anglais ( HYPERLINK "http://www.lecafeanglais.co.uk/index.asp" http://www.lecafeanglais.co.uk/index.asp) is one of the founding fathers of modern British cooking. After Cambridge University he tried his hand at farming and novel writing before falling into cooking 'almost by accident' in 1977. After a couple of years at the Joe Allen restaurant, he went to work with the Roux brothers at Le Gavroche in 1979. After stints at Le Gavroche, the brothers' pastry laboratory and becoming buyer for the group, he took over their prestigious Le Poulbot restaurant as head chef in 1984, receiving many accolades including the Times restaurant of the year award in 1986. He opened Kensington Place Restaurant with Nick Smallwood and Simon Slater in 1987. Quickly hailed by he Times as restaurant of the year, Kensington Place and its blend of brilliant food and an informal and buzzy atmosphere set the pattern for London restaurants in the 1990's. In the same decade, Rowley started a career as a cookery writer, winning the prestigious Glenfiddich award three times with the Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph and the Financial Times. He remains cookery correspondent of the Financial Times. His much accoladed book, No Place Like Home, was published in 2001. He left Kensington Place in December 2006 in order to open Le Café Anglais in 2007.

Previous meetings

In many ways, the modern cheesemaker has a less sophisticated understanding of his product than his great-grandmother did.

Recently rediscovered, Dora Saker’s Practical Cheddar Cheese-making (1917) has acquired cult status amongst cheesemakers.  Through a series of ad-hoc workshops, they have gone back to re-examine the tenets of Cheddar cheese making, experimenting with pre-ripening raw milk to encourage the development of non-starter lactic acid bacteria, cutting the curd at different times to change its structure and ability to lose moisture, and slowing the make to encourage the development of different flavours and texture.  Continued experimentation has given the participants a more sophisticated understanding of—and level of control over—the complex factors at play in raw milk cheese making.   

Their experiments have also revealed the extent to which the ‘traditional’ recipe for Cheddar cheese has changed in the past century.  Factors that have been taken for granted—like the best breed of cow for Cheddar cheese making, or the appropriate texture of the curd at milling—are suddenly being reexamined at every turn. 

Ultimately, this work serves to challenge our very understanding of what Cheddar cheese is.  This presentation will give a chance to experience cheeses at the centre of the British cheese revolution.

Speakers:

Randolph Hodgson is the owner and Chairman of Neal’s Yard Dairy. He was born in 1956, and after an upbringing in Hong Kong, read Food Science and Chemistry at King’s College, University of London.  He has only ever had one job; Neal’s Yard Dairy was founded in 1979. A cheesemaking business, Neal’s Yard Creamery, was spun off in 1985. 

In 1990, Randolph founded the Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association, which represents over 150 British farmhouse cheesemakers.  His impact on London’s food scene extends beyond the confines of the cheese industry: in the late 1990s, he was instrumental in the development of Borough Market as London’s leading gastronomic retail destination.  Faced by the demise of raw milk Stilton, in 2005 Randolph established Stichelton Dairy with Joe Schneider on the Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire, with the aim to revive Stilton cheese made with unpasteurised milk.

Randolph was awarded an OBE in 2007 for his contribution to the British cheese industry.

Bronwen Percival was educated at Wellesley College and Oxford University.  After two years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, she returned to make cheese at a dairy in New Jersey.  Further study at Oxford brought her into contact with Randolph Hodgson and Neal’s Yard Dairy; she left academe to assume a role within the company.  Bronwen is now the cheese buyer, working with Randolph on new cheese development, quality assurance, and selection.

From plant to cup: flavour in coffee and wine
21 January 2010, 7pm
Senate House, University of London (directions are here)
(Hosted by the Centre for the Study of the Senses, Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study)

Speakers:
James Hoffmann, Square Mile Coffee Roasters and World Barista Champion 2007
James Hoffmann and his partner Anette Moldvaer own Square Mile Coffee Roasters.  He provides training, education and consultancy to a broad spectrum of the coffee industry, including barista training, course development, general coffee education, cupping and tasting training and more café-specific advice and consulting. He publishes a coffee blog, jimseven.com. James was the World Barista Champion in 2007.

Jamie Goode, author, Wine Science
Jamie Goode is a London-based wine writer who came to the field via a PhD in plant biology and several years of working as a book editor. He publishes wineanorak.com, which is now one of the leading wine websites. He won the 2007 Glenfiddich Wine Writer of the year award, writes the weekly wine column for The Sunday Express, and contributes regularly to a range of publications including World of Fine Wine, Wine Business International and Wines and Vines. His first book, Wine Science, won the Glenfiddich Award for Drinks Book in 2006. He's currently working on a book on Natural Wine.

Flavour extraction
Monday 30th November 2009                        
6:30 pm                         
Senate House, University of London
(Hosted by the Centre for the Study of the Senses, Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study)

Keynote speaker:   

Hervé This is a physical chemist at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in Paris.  He has achieved international renown for his part (along with the late Nicholas Kurti) in developing molecular gastronomy as an academic discipline.

He is scientific director of the French Academy of Sciences’ “Food Science & Culture” foundation, which runs seminars and scientific courses. Hervé has also collaborated extensively with chefs from around the world, developing new tools and innovative approaches in the professional kitchen.  Three-Michelin-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire works closely with Hervé to develop recipes based on themes from his molecular gastronomy research.

Other speakers:

Tony Conigliaro owns the bar at 69 Colebrooke Row and is one of the UK’s pioneering drinks creators. He has spearheaded the area of the industry that has embraced the science of chemistry and utilizes equipment more commonly seen in pharmaceutical laboratories and industrial kitchens such as centrifuges, rotovapour, sous vides, pot stills, cold smokers and water baths. Tony has helped open and run bars for almost 12 years, during which time he has won numerous awards, including International Bartender of the Year 2009.

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