CLEAN AND GREEN Is the industry commitment to see businesses continue to prosper with sustainable fishing in some of the world’s most pristine waters. Clean Green Program Update — Certified Sustainable Wild Caught The generational nature of our member Rocklobster fishers has been a great driving factor in the early adoption of the Southern Rocklobster Limited member fishers CLEAN GREEN program. In our CHEF NEWS TWO in March 2008 we featured member fisher Mark Denton. Mark fishes out of the South Australian port of Robe in the South Eastern part of the state. Mark is typical of our member fishers, a third generation Rocklobster fisher who has been fishing for 27 years. A father of four, Mark is confident that at least one of his children will continue their family business. It is not hard to convince fishers like Mark of the benefits of CLEAN GREEN and sustainable fishing because good management represents the future for his kids and eventually, he hopes, their children. Our fishers are proud of their family history and protective of fly–by–nights entering the Rocklobster industry who may not share their ethical and moral values. All of this augers well for the long–term health of Southern Rocklobster Limited member fishers and the CLEAN GREEN program.

Our land. Our Plan. Our Future

We reviewed the excellent SOUS–VIDE CUISINE, written by Joan Roca and Salvador Brugués, in CHEF NEWS three in July 2008 and despite the fact that we have been working with sous–vide and vaccing since 1983 we had never really taken on board the shrinking mentioned in this book, or for that matter, seen it done in any of the kitchens we have worked in.
Recently we decided to do some experiments and have found the shelf–life results are slightly improved, the quick blanche does no damage to the portion, and there is no detectable difference in the outside cooked texture.
This is a book found in most commercial kitchens and yet, although I work in a number of kitchens each year, I have never seen the shrinking applied pre–cooking. We have started applying this technique to almost everything we do sous–vide.

both images are pre shrunk, cick on the images to go to the recipes and see the portions after shrinking

Spice Notes and Recipes
Ian Hemphill, with recipes by Kate Hemphill
H/B $59.95 AUD, published by MacMillan

My copy of this second edition has a gift of much more than words. It must have sat in the spice grinding room at Herbie’s because at the turn of each page wafts a mysterious fragrant spicy scent. The perfume is a combination of many spices that makes it impossible to identify each and everyone but there are overriding hints of pimento and allspice.
The turn of each page brings memories of far–flung lands, the smell of spice grinders at work, of food cooking on the streets, the pounding of the mortar and pestle in the restaurants of the Middle East. Spice Notes is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the erudite carefully crafted words have not been written by a ghost writer with little or no passion or knowledge of or for the topic, nor has it been carelessly spat out in minutes like many recent publications. This book is a life’s work, an ocean of knowledge written by an expert in the field. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Whilst Western culture and modern medicine has mainly lost the importance of the herbalist, it is still possible to see how this time honoured profession continues in the East. We have spent days in Shanghai and Singapore investigating these amazing shops, with their floor to ceiling wooden drawers, old brass scales and weird smells. All manner of strange ingredients are weighed out, from dried mushrooms, to dried unidentifiable twigs, leaves and berries, to powdered dried sea horses, crushed in front of you and neatly wrapped in a paper parcel. It is a respected occupation in the east, but one where the knowledge has been almost lost to the west.
This aspect is not lost to Ian Hemphill and even if your interest is agricultural and historical, there is a wealth of information that is satisfying on all levels. Information is split into description, origin and history, processing, buying and storage, use and in many instances, recipes. Added to this is a list of possible uses, listed as ’complements’, used in and combines with. Common and botanical names are listed, but especially useful if you shop with grocers and spice merchants of multiple racial origins, there is often a list of names in many languages.
Whilst recipes are mainly written for the domestic market, there is of course always something to learn. Having just completed a large bracket of recipes for smoking foods, the smokey clove scented beef (p168) is of particular interest because it doesn’t start with the usual brown sugar, citrus rind and a mix of dried spices, but with two cups of raw rice. Recipes are not given to complication but they have interesting threads that will lead to other dishes like the crème of smoked Rocklobster soup we are working on.
This striking book was designed by Marylouise Brammer, who has perfectly caught the tone of the intelligence and passion of the text. Printed on dark cream paper with dark violet embellishments, especially sweet is the stenciled flowered edge on each and every page that changes with the start of the art of combining spices. These two significant sections are announced with dark violet facing pages patterned with a lighter violet tone. The final elegant touch is a secured satin ribbon bookmark in the palest shade of violet.
In the days of frugal book publications that lamentably sees the shocking pink Thai silk cover disappear from David Thompson’s Thai Food, Spice Notes is a lavish production that is not indicated by the small price of $59.95 AUD. This is a book that sits on the shelves with Larousse, Thai Food, Mastering the Art of French Pastry and the Joy of Cooking.
Chefs looking for indigenous Australian spices and herbs should know that Ian Hemphill has the crown of ’king of spice’ for a reason and has an excellent spice shop with the capability to dispatch world–wide – www.herbies.com.au or email Ian Hempill

Red Cabbage Rocklobster Parcel
Sautéed Red Cabbage, Buttered Carrot, Splendor Prunes and Carrot Beurre Blanc
Serves 1

75g Rocklobster leg and knuckle meat, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper
6 x 8 cm disks of red cabbage
sea salt
EV olive oil
ice bath

other
25g smoked speck, very finely shredded
10g shallot, peeled weight, very finely sliced
40g red cabbage, very finely shredded
black pepper, freshly ground
sea salt
5g quality white wine vinegar
4 dried prune halves, softened with a little cold water (we use our house–made dried heritage prune from the Splendor prune)
6 x 12 cm fine slices of carrot
5g melted butter
parsley, finely chopped

for the carrot beurre blanc
125g fresh carrot juice
125g cold unsalted butter cut into cubes

Method
Blanche the cabbage disks in boiling salted water with a good splash of EV olive oil. Put another splash of EV olive oil into the ice bath. Cook cabbage disks until they are tender but not mushy and drop them into the ice bath to arrest the cooking.
Oil a mould, line with the cabbage and fill with the seasoned Rocklobster leg and knuckle meat. Vac and date, then shrink the vac pack by dropping it into boiling water for 3–4 seconds and then immediately dropping the pack into an ice bath.

Shelf life — clean spoons, tongs and food service gloves must be use to achieve this shelf life.
Live and just killed — shelf life at a consistent 2°C/35°F 5 days. Commercially frozen and thawed at 2°C /35°F for 24 hours — shelf life at a consistent 2°C/35°F 4 days.

to cook
Preheat sous–vide bath to 80°C/176°F
If packed in china cook for 25 minutes, stainless steel for 20 minutes, and allow to rest under heat lamps for 10 minutes.

other
Render the speck and remove the crisp speck onto paper towel and keep warm under heat lamps. Add the shallot and season with pepper and continue cooking until the shallot is lightly coloured, then add the cabbage, stir through the rendered pork fat and heat through. Add about 50ml cold water and the prunes and cook gently until the water has evaporated and the cabbage is cooked. Add salt if necessary, then add the vinegar and stir through – keep warm under the heat lamps.
Quickly blanche the carrot and run through melted butter with the parsley and keep warm.

for the carrot beurre blanc
Put the carrot juice into a sauteuse and bring it to the boil, then knock in the butter until you have a silken orange butter sauce. The sauce generally does not need additional seasoning but it is a good idea to taste and check.
In a service situation if it is a popular dish we thermos the sauce. Prolonged reheating dulls the sauce colour, so if we are using small amounts we vac in individual portions and re–warm them in the water bath. It also splits easily in the pan.

to plate
We have these marvelous purple soup plates but this dish looks equally as striking on a plain white plate. Drape the carrot in three rows going up the sides of the plate and arranging the prunes on the edge, put the cabbage in the centre. Take the lobster portion out of the bag and drain any seepage before sitting it on top of the cabbage. Pour the carrot beurre blanc around the edge, garnish with the speck and serve.