Food review by Mark Bradford and wine review by Stephen O'Halloran

Food

When Steve Sparkes is advertised as Chef of the Day, online bookings are traditionally high and today was no exception.  Good to see him back in the kitchen for his first stint of the year.

Canapés

Steve served us three canapes, all excellent, and a wonderful match with the Italian starter white, which needed a food accompaniment.

We had mushrooms sautéed in oil, garlic, thyme and balsamic vinegar, then tuna pâté with parsley, and finally beef tartare, marinated in what today’s Chef described as “Steve’s Secret Stuff”, served on a crouton with diced cornichons.

Main

Hard to know where to start with this decadent delight.  Tournedos Rossini, named after the nineteenth century genius of operetta and other polyphonic works.  A bon vivant, Sig. Rossini retired in his thirties to devote himself to the pleasures of the table.  This is evident from sequential etchings of him prepared during his lifetime.

Steve’s recipe was taken from Augustine Escoffier’s “A Guide to Modern Cookery”, first published in 1907.  It is one of 65 Tournedos recipes in the book!  Reliable sources report that M. Escoffier named the dish in honour of his friend, who moved from Italy to France.

The original dish consists of a piece of fillet steak (the Tournedos) served on a baguette crust topped with a slice of Foie Gras, a Madeira sauce and decorated with fresh truffle.  Steve mentioned that the dish presented needed to be modified for the Society, because of budgetary restrictions and the availability of fresh truffle.  A Foie Gras mousse with a Port Wine Gel replaced the slices of fresh Foie Gras and the truffle element was introduced via the Madeira sauce, a derivative of Sauce Espagnole, one of Escoffier’s five mother sauces.

To add a more modern, lighter touch, Steve accompanied the Tournedos with green beans dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar on the side, whilst a small portion of sauteed spinach was included in the “stack”.

Nothing but praise in the room today for this wonderful dish, prepared to the standards of a top restaurant.

Cheese

In theme, the Cheese Master presented a Woombye Truffle Triple Cream Brie, an artisan white mould cow’s milk cheese from the Sunshine Coast.  Cheese from the Woombye stable is well-liked at the Society.

To make this Flagship decadent cheese, carefully selected wheels of Triple Cream Brie are cut in half and just the right amount of Italian black summer truffle is added to create a thin straight layer of truffle in the middle.  The wheels are returned to the maturation room where they are carefully turned by hand every day.  The white mould rind grows to cover the entire surface of the cheese concealing the truffle layer inside.  During this maturation, the truffle layer concealed inside perfumes the cheese layers above and below.

This is a truly luxurious combination of a rich Australian triple cream and earthy truffle.  When cut, the cheese displays its beautiful straight line of truffle and releases a sublime truffle aroma.  The flavour is creamy and “mushroomy” with a delicious, lingering truffle taste on the palate.

To accompany this, Steve served a wonderful simple mixed salad with nuts, and an olive oil and Balsamic dressing along with truffled notes.

Today’s bread was a sourdough from Bourke Street Bakery.

Wine

A very healthy gathering, circa 40, assembled to welcome back Steve Sparkes, one of our most talented Chefs, after a period of RandR from his WFS duties in the kitchen and in other important roles in the Society. Welcome back Steve, and it is great to see you have not forgotten any of your culinary skills. Steve served up today a superb lunch of Tournedos Rossini, immaculately presented in a manner that would not have been out of place on the menu of any of our top Sydney restaurants. Well done Steve, great to have you back.

With regard to wines, we commenced with a delightful 2022 Cincinnato Bellone @13%. This Italian white has been a favourite of Italian white wine drinkers for centuries. A perfect canape wine, clean and fresh, with good acidity backed up by an abundance of citrus-like flavours. A medium-weight white, in excellent condition with a refreshing aftertaste, and a pleasing balance. Those Italians sure know how to make a perfect white to go with some melon and prosciutto on a warm day, seated outside under a shady tree. Bellissimo! 

We then moved on to two Italian reds to accompany our main course, the roast fillet with all the trimmings and an alluring sauce. The reds were both of the Nebbiolo grape, the first a 2015 Langhe Massolino @14% and the second, a Massolino Barolo d'Alba 2013 @13.5 %. 

The Langhe name refers to the hilly area where the wine is grown in the Piedmont region. The Langhe Nebbiolo is generally less intense and less confrontational than its brother, the Barolo. Langhe is usually a softer wine, maturing earlier than the Barolo, with much less acid and tannin. I found this wine somewhat of a disappointment. Thin structure, light to medium colour, more pinkish than red. There were some hints of red fruit, cherry, raspberry and the like, by no means unpleasant, but lacking in sufficient depth of flavour to make it a good match with the strong flavours of the beef and its sauce. Perhaps a chicken or pork dish with less powerful flavours would have been a better match. 

The second Nebbiolo, the Barolo, was, as expected, a much bigger wine, with plenty of the trademark high acidity and grippy tannin, although, being fair, these features were not as aggressive as found in younger Barolos.  Overall, I liked the wine; it had some hint of the "tar and roses" mouthfeel Barolo is famous for, and I did detect some red/black fruit and spice on the back palate. A firm and pleasing finish. A much better match for the roast fillet.  As an exercise in comparing the two branches of the Nebbiolo grape family from the same producer, both roughly the same age, and being drunk side by side, it was educational. 

The cheese wine was a bit of a surprise, a Pewsey Vale Contours Riesling 2018. I have been drinking this wine for longer than I dare to remember, and it would be a fair comment to make that in all that time, I have never had a dud Contours Riesling. I would rate this wine as being consistently one of our top Rieslings along with the Florita, Leonay and Drumborg. The winemaker, Louisa Rose, has been making this wine for many years, and in my opinion, she would have to rank with the legendary John Vickery as our greatest Riesling producers. Insofar as this wine is concerned, the usual comments apply to any Contours: crisp, clean,  well balanced, acid and fruit of lemon, lime, and grapefruit hints all working together to produce a delicious wine with a lingering toasty finish with great aftertaste.  Not sure that it makes a proper partner for cheese, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, worth a trial. 

The final wine of the day was a David Gregory, Rutherglen "Sticky" blend NV. As the name indicates, this was a dessert wine, thick, luscious, and mouth-filling. A great example of how this region can produce sweet wines of distinction. Huge sweet fruit but not cloying, with a clean finish. It is a pity that this wine style seems to have fallen out of public favour, as it is with a wine of this style, a unique and rewarding experience to try something quite different.