Foie gras and Alaskan Crab with Graham Beck Brut 1994
Published: 07 Nov 07
The bubble in sparkling wine enhances flavours but these need to be delicate. Auberge Michel's talented chef Frederic Leloup brought out the best in the
Graham Beck Brut 1994 as Anna Trapido reports. Food and sparkling wine pairings are always a pleasure to be a part of. Gastronomic
innovation seems to flow at its most wild and free when there are bubbles on
the table. When the chef matching the food to the wine comes from Epernay in
the Champagne region of France, culinary creativity is at its sparkling height.
To bring bottles of bubbly to Frederic Leloup, executive chef of Johannesburg's multiple award-winning restaurant Auberge Michel, is the epicurean equivalent of carrying coals to Newcastle - but more so because there is still a highly viable Champagne industry in Champagne and Newcastle no longer makes much money in coal.
The chef says that he grew up surrounded by Champagne. "I can't remember a time in my life before Champagne. I have been tasting and appreciating it since I was first born - my mother would put Champagne onto her finger and let me suck it. So I was formed in the chalky soils of Champagne, as much as the wine was."
Leloup believes his childhood has given him a Champagne taste memory bank. "My family were country people. We grew our own vegetables, raised our own chickens and as children we learnt how to smell and appreciate the soil for what it adds to flavour. We understood its ancient, enduring contribution. We knew that Champagne wine was simply part of a continuous whole that made up the terroir - a terroir of which both the people and their wine were a part. Champagne is part of me and I am part of it."
When presented with the Graham Beck Brut Pinot Noir Chardonnay 1994 sparkling wine, the winner of the WINE magazine Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge 2007, Leloup sensibly chose to put aside his childhood bonding with Champagne and to "regard the South African product as a distinct wine type in its own right. The soil is so different in the Cape that it is not sensible to compare the two".
Of the Graham Beck Brut he argued, "It has a very delicate flavour and its palate length is transient so that one has to be extremely careful with food pairings. It's a quiet wine that needs gentle flavours and tentative care from the chef. I felt it required tastes that would reassure and support its fragile finesse not overwhelm and bully it."
His food pairing suggestion was created because "to put such a wine with strong classic Champagne food matches would have been a disaster. Smoked salmon would have overpowered it and its mild manner would have been totally destroyed by sweet foods".
The combination of Alaskan crab, foie gras, brioche and an orange paste charmingly mimicked and accentuated the core tastes of the wine - and was remarkably successful. In the presence of Leloup's flavours the wine grew into its own potential. The crab enhanced the nascent nut-like richness of the liquid while the orange paste imitated and drew out the shy citrus elements that were immediately present on the nose but initially reticent in the mouth. Brioche toasts encouraged yeasty components while Leloup argued that "foie gras is a very friendly flavour that absorbs and brings out the best in whatever it is paired with".
The plate was superb. The elegant, gentle bitterness of the orange juliennes combined with the buttery perfection of the foie gras and the yeasty opulence of the brioche. The timid flavours of the wine were encouraged and tempted out of their shyness and shone in the presence of chef Leloup's flavour combinations.
A food and wine pairing tells a food critic a lot about the technical skills of a chef but it can also reveal personality traits of the man beneath the white hat. At Auberge Michel I witnessed an act of culinary subtlety and gentle kindness. Many chefs would have frightened and diminished the tentative flavours of the delicate wine. Chef Leloup's inherent flavour memory bank allowed him to see the potential of his shy new friend and to support its strengths while bolstering potential weaknesses.
250g semi-cooked foie gras
200g Alaska crab meat
100g extra virgin olive oil
2 oranges
150g orange juice
30g sesame oil
6 slices brioche
To bring bottles of bubbly to Frederic Leloup, executive chef of Johannesburg's multiple award-winning restaurant Auberge Michel, is the epicurean equivalent of carrying coals to Newcastle - but more so because there is still a highly viable Champagne industry in Champagne and Newcastle no longer makes much money in coal.
The chef says that he grew up surrounded by Champagne. "I can't remember a time in my life before Champagne. I have been tasting and appreciating it since I was first born - my mother would put Champagne onto her finger and let me suck it. So I was formed in the chalky soils of Champagne, as much as the wine was."
Leloup believes his childhood has given him a Champagne taste memory bank. "My family were country people. We grew our own vegetables, raised our own chickens and as children we learnt how to smell and appreciate the soil for what it adds to flavour. We understood its ancient, enduring contribution. We knew that Champagne wine was simply part of a continuous whole that made up the terroir - a terroir of which both the people and their wine were a part. Champagne is part of me and I am part of it."
When presented with the Graham Beck Brut Pinot Noir Chardonnay 1994 sparkling wine, the winner of the WINE magazine Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge 2007, Leloup sensibly chose to put aside his childhood bonding with Champagne and to "regard the South African product as a distinct wine type in its own right. The soil is so different in the Cape that it is not sensible to compare the two".
Of the Graham Beck Brut he argued, "It has a very delicate flavour and its palate length is transient so that one has to be extremely careful with food pairings. It's a quiet wine that needs gentle flavours and tentative care from the chef. I felt it required tastes that would reassure and support its fragile finesse not overwhelm and bully it."
His food pairing suggestion was created because "to put such a wine with strong classic Champagne food matches would have been a disaster. Smoked salmon would have overpowered it and its mild manner would have been totally destroyed by sweet foods".
The combination of Alaskan crab, foie gras, brioche and an orange paste charmingly mimicked and accentuated the core tastes of the wine - and was remarkably successful. In the presence of Leloup's flavours the wine grew into its own potential. The crab enhanced the nascent nut-like richness of the liquid while the orange paste imitated and drew out the shy citrus elements that were immediately present on the nose but initially reticent in the mouth. Brioche toasts encouraged yeasty components while Leloup argued that "foie gras is a very friendly flavour that absorbs and brings out the best in whatever it is paired with".
The plate was superb. The elegant, gentle bitterness of the orange juliennes combined with the buttery perfection of the foie gras and the yeasty opulence of the brioche. The timid flavours of the wine were encouraged and tempted out of their shyness and shone in the presence of chef Leloup's flavour combinations.
A food and wine pairing tells a food critic a lot about the technical skills of a chef but it can also reveal personality traits of the man beneath the white hat. At Auberge Michel I witnessed an act of culinary subtlety and gentle kindness. Many chefs would have frightened and diminished the tentative flavours of the delicate wine. Chef Leloup's inherent flavour memory bank allowed him to see the potential of his shy new friend and to support its strengths while bolstering potential weaknesses.
250g semi-cooked foie gras
200g Alaska crab meat
100g extra virgin olive oil
2 oranges
150g orange juice
30g sesame oil
6 slices brioche
Slice the foie gras into 2cm diameter disks and set aside in the fridge.
Mix the crab meat with the olive oil and season to taste.
Cut the orange in quarters and blanch each quarter in boiling water for 3 minutes.
Remove the orange segments from the hot water, cool and then reserve in the
freezer for half an hour.
Blend the orange segments with the orange juice and sesame oil to form a thick
buttery paste.
Slice the brioche to the same size of the foie gras and toast the brioche slices
until they are a pale golden colour.
Build alternating layers of foie gras, then crab, then foie gras again and finish
with the toasted brioche.
Serve with orange paste.
