Life with Bees

We were in Sydney this weekend for a concert - and you can't go to Sydney without eating out. Sunday afternoon we spent at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe, having deep dark hot chocolate and opulent cakes at a table looking out over Darling Harbour. TK had a Lindt waffle, a perfect little creature with a scoop of rich vanilla and a pot of melted chocolate on the side. If you look closely you can see him in the glossy reflection of the chocolate. Luckily we'd managed to miss the lurid red dust storm or this photo might have been less appetising.

We also went to our favourite Brazilian churrasco, Braza, and ate some of the most tender, caramelised barbeque you'll get at a restaurant. They bring it round on swords and carve it for you at the table and there's no limit on how much you can have. We had four guys in the party - so lunch took a leisurely three hours. One of our friends, who hadn't eaten red meat for months beforehand due to a blood condition, established his manly credentials by relentlessly eating everything in sight for the entire meal.

I survived the three hours by cannily eating only one piece of everything and avoiding the various cuts of lamb and beef altogether. But it was an endless caravan of meat and it was all good. Highlights included pork ribs that were caramelised and pleasingly charred all round but slid tenderly off the bone; crisp bright orange prawns; and firm chicken hearts cooked over an open flame. Worth the drive to Sydney alone.

For a really good Big Green Egg brisket, get a proper butcher to cut you the meat so you get the full size. We got ours from Barry Hawkes at Fyshwick Markets - it was nearly 3kg for about $17. Rub it down the day before your barbeque with a simple dry rub of salt, paprika, pepper, brown sugar and spices. Opinion is generally divided on the use of brown sugar - some say it offers a perfect, caramelised glaze while others say it does nothing. We hedged our bets and used very little. Also be sparing with the salt, which draws moisture out of the meat. Seal the brisket up in your biggest freezer bag and leave in the fridge overnight.

The next day, soak a few planks of mesquite wood in water for about an hour before you begin cooking. Take the meat out of the fridge - it will be moist because of the salt. Get the Big Green Egg going, keeping the coals between 200-250 C. TK put the brisket on the top tier of the Egg grill plate for indirect heat. He put a ceramic plate on the bottom tier of the plate with a pan to catch brisket drippings. On the middle tier we had a rack of American ribs which were cooking for lunch.



Cooking time is usually estimated at anywhere between 1 and 1.5 hours for each pound (450g) of meat. But it can vary. We put the brisket in the grill at about 10am, using that formula, and expecting it to cook for about 6 to 7 hours, just in time for dinner. But the meat surprised us - when TK took the ribs off the grill for lunch, he found the brisket sitting ready to be served. It had reached 87 C, the optimum cooking temperature.

So check regularly.

If your brisket is done too early, wrap it in a couple of layers of aluminium foil and place it back in the Egg. Shut off both air vents - this kills the fire slowly, allowing the meat to stay warm as long as possible.

Or keep the brisket warm in the oven while making some barbequed side dishes. Arrange handfuls of potato wedges across the top tier of the grill plate - they become crisp and smoky without any need for fat. Cook corn in their sheaths alongside the wedges.

The brisket made a beautiful early dinner with corn on the cob, crisp wedges and a pile of Turkish rolls. TK deglazed the drippings pan with a shot of Scotch and added the juice to a homemade hot barbeque sauce. The slices of meat were completely tender, melting down your throat with a warm, slightly smoky-sweet flavour. The brisket fed four hungry people with plenty of slices for TK to wrap in fresh rolls for lunches the rest of the week.

The flu - it gives you a special appetite. You want nurturing, slightly lambent soft food. In my case, I ate red- and orange-flavoured jelly cups like thirsty man at an oasis, in wobbling gulps. I even enjoyed wielding the little plastic spoon that came embedded in the jelly.

TK generously made me a whole fridge shelf full of raspberry Aeroplane jelly, somewhat incongruously set in fancy-pants Le Creuset crockery. As the flu appetite departed, the jelly became less a soothing panacea to my ills and more a boring batch of wobbly red.

Enter Maggie Beer. A scoopful of her burnt fig, caramel and honeycomb ice cream tipped onto the smooth face of the red jelly and you have a luscious, wobbly faux trifle. The ribbons of figgy caramel running through the ice cream are offset by the unpretentious tartness of the Aeroplane raspberry. Let the ice cream melt a little and it clings sweetly to the blobs of light jelly.

The Maggie Aeroplane Trifle is bizarre but it works for me. More bizarre is the fact that TK's favourite Aeroplane flavour is quandong - but they don't make it anymore! If you know where to find some, he is very keen.

We saw this on Nigella Feasts or Nigella Summer (or perhaps Nigella Eats, Shoots and Leaves). The cake is very dark but the sticky honey gives it a strong, earthy sweetness. I'd cut down on the honey next time. The bees are made from yellow-coloured marzipan with almond flakes for wings. The stripes are drawn on with the point of a skewer dipped in the chocolate glaze. TK even gave them little almond stingers in their tiny marzipan butts. It just looked far too cute to eat - but we managed, somehow.

I can't quite be bothered altering Nigella's recipe for the joy of being able to post it here. Besides, credit where credit's due.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/honey-bee-cake-recipe/index.html

The origin of this Saturday's dinner came earlier this week when TK wandered down to his local Subway for a chipotle cheese steak wrap. As he walked away satisfied, in a haze of spiciness, he realised how much he loved the smoky blends of chipotle. He vowed to incorporate it into this week's dinner menu. And since he felt like having burgers tonight, he came up with this delicious concoction.

The star of this little burger is the hot sauce, which starts with jalapeno chillies - which give the distinctive flavour. Seed them and gently cook in a little oil. Add two ground chipotles (which are just dried smoked jalapenos). Deglaze with some apple cider vinegar and add a splash of water while it cooks for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it poach and thicken slightly on its own. Throw it into the blender and blitz with a bit more water until it forms a good sauce. Cook it a bit longer in the pan and sprinkle on some salt to bring out the flavour of the chillies rather than just pure heat.

TK stirs this into a home-made mayonnaise to give a thick, spicy chipotle sauce with a beautiful pure Dutch orange colour and a smokescreen of heat.

The rest of the burger comes together easily enough. Crumb some chicken thigh fillets before pan-frying in butter - they almost make tender miniature schnitzels. Add some juicy pieces of cos lettuce, some Spanish onion rings and a slice of dark-orange vintage Cheddar. Slather with chipotle hot sauce and ensconce the lot in a fresh kaiser roll.