The After-Mads
Posted by Matt Wilkinson on April 15th, 2010
Before I start this little story about hosting Mads Refslund I have something to get off my chest. We English aren’t the biggest whingers around, that title now goes to the Danes. Sorry Mads.
What an amazing 12 days we all had with Mads, Kare and Asbjorn (aka Frank, we couldn’t pronounce his name) and many thanks and congratulations to all involved at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival for another fantastic event. I was a little nervous, I had no real menu and certainly no recipes so my preparation was a little, lets say erratic.
The boys all arrived on the Monday night prior to the event and the ride home from Tullamarine was a lively chat about Australian produce and discussion about what the hell are we going to put on the menu?
Tuesday morning, after very little sleep, I picked up the Nordic three wise men and headed to Circa. I unpacked the fridge and dry stores showing them every bit of amazing produce we had on offer, then went to the drawing board. After three hours of deliberation we had finally organised the menu, produce, plates, wine, masterclass dishes and recipes.
The mis-en-place list was, well, long and dinner was less than 48 hours away.It was at this point that I told Mads that over the next 30 hours, we needed to prep for 170 people, but to be on the safe side lets just prep for 185 so we can test the dishes, get the sommelier to test the wines against them and to educate the staff. Mads’ exact response was something that I didn’t quite understand, but having a small out there guess I would say that it was a swear word. But then he laughed and went on to tell me that his restaurant only seats 30 people!
Wednesday and Thursday all blended into one and there we were, 6.30 and the first guests ready to arrive. I have included below the menu with my tasting notes next to them, it is easier this way…
On arrival – Salt baked oyster with sake
Jedd’s oysters from Coffin bay baked into rock salt mixed with whipped egg white, with sake in the shell. You bake them on the stove and when the sake is steaming you scoop the whole salt mixture with shells, oysters and sake in tow onto a wooden slab and off they go.
Raw mackerel, young coconut, forest mushrooms, almonds & nasturtiums
Amazing dish, it gave my fish supplier James from Clamms a near heart attack getting the mackerel to me so fresh and perfect. It was a simple and elegant dish, ¼ of raw mackerel, some pickled and some fresh pine mushrooms picked that morning from the Peninsula, grated raw almond, almond dressing, cep powder, nasturtiums from our garden and fresh coconut meat. The texture of the mackerel and mushrooms with the unique coconut flavour, heat from the nasturtiums, nuttiness and silkiness of the oil and almond left the palate, I’ll say excited and yearning for the next course.
Heirloom tomatoes & watermelon, Moreton Bay bug & fresh pistachio
The simplest of dishes yet all about the produce, execution and marriage of flavours. It defines the movement in Denmark at the moment and I love it. This dish reconfirmed my love of seafood in it’s purity. Just and I mean just cooked at low temperature to enjoy the best of it’s flavour and texture. All we did was make a tomato consomme from all the trim of the tomatoes used to garnish the dish, gently heated the Moreton Bay bugs in it until they where just cooked, garnished with new season pistachios, watermelon that was grilled and a little finishing touch of about 6 different tiny herbs. Actually not that simple!
W.A. Marron, Parmesan, rapeseed oil & acidulated salad onion
Mads was amazed by the quality of seafood, well actually all the produce we have here in Australia but especially the marrons from W.A. This dish comprised of three slices of marron, some acidulated slow cooked onion petals, samphire, purslane, a Parmesan froth and a soup made from a pure and refreshing vegetable stock and oil. This is where we had a bit of a bumpy road. Rapeseed oil in Denmark is like a national emblem but the quality of it here comes nowhere near. So, we tried and tested around 24 oils until we found an oil made from corn germ that was as close to the colour, taste and consistency of the Danish rapeseed. In a couple of weeks I’m thinking about doing a garage sale to try to sell the other 23 oils, I’ll keep you posted on the date.
Burnt field: textures & perfumes of late summer scorched fields
This is Mads’ signature dish and is simply one of the best I have ever tasted. So many tastes, textures and very arousing to the eye. It was hell of a lot of work but the story behind it is one of a true artist. Mads has a holiday house by the coast and every year around late summer they have burn offs just as we do here to rejuvenate the soil. Mads thought about all the vegetables from under the earth and came up with this dish. The vegetables included baby potatoes, carrots, radishes, beetroots, celeriac and turnip, we par cooked them, burnt them with a blow torch (you should have seen Mads face when we turned up with an industrial blow torch that I borrowed from the maintenance department). He was expecting the burning of the veg to take about a day but after minutes it was all done. We then lightly smoked them. There was a puree of truffle and cep mushroom, some fresh peanuts, a peanut oil dressing and a ‘soil’ made from shiitake mushroom, sugar and dried potato skin. Mads wanted to smoke the entire restaurant out before the dish came out but I finely managed to persuade him that the sprinklers might go off, he understood.
Barramundi, horseradish, parsley & burnt baby cucumber
The last of the savoury dishes and what a cracker! The barramundi filleted and skinned, lightly brined then steamed at low temperature to perfection, parsley puree, horseradish sauce, a burnt baby cucumber that is going straight to the pool room and a salad of warrigal greens, sea lettuce and watercress.
Öllebröd – rye bread, Scotch ale, chocolate & caramel
Dish of the year. Mads’ first dessert unfortunately or actually, no fortunately didn’t eventuate due to unavailability of produce but it’s replacement was a cracker. This was the highlight of the discussion on the way back from the airport, firstly me trying to pronounce the damn thing, u le broo. But most importantly that it is a classic breakfast dish from Scandinavia consisting of beer and rye bread made into a porridge. Ka pow. Jokingly I told Mads that I would have St Johns ambulance at the ready to wheelchair everybody out after seven courses and the last being a porridge of bread and beer but it was quite the opposite. What was served was a light and moreish dish that left most wanting a second helping. The basics of the dish was rye bread soaked over night in Red Hill’s Scotch ale, then blitzed the next day. We then added warmed, grated dark 74% chocolate and prune juice. At the bottom of a bowl was some warm white chocolate mousee which the rye bread sat on top of, a caramel ice cream next, some salt then a sweet rye bread tuille. The bomb.
Dinner and lunch had come and gone, I’d made three great new friends and learnt some dirty words in Danish. I was very proud of my team for all their hard work and dedication over the event. We had consumed a few beverages of the alcoholic variety with some late nights notched under our belts, had done two masterclass demonstrations at the Langham where Mads had educated and wowed the crowd with seven dishes in 1 ¼ hours ( he was only supposed to do three dishes) but reflecting on it all now, the word inspired is all I can say. Thank you Mads Refslund, you are an absolute gem.
Artwork for our menus by Studio Racket
