“I don’t know if people realise it, but your palate gets bored if all the food at the table is the same temperature,” says Almay Jordaan, co-owner of Melbourne’s northside destinations Neighbourhood Wine and Old Palm Liquor. “So one way the chef can create excitement or interest for the palate is if some of the food is hot. It’s another texture or element we can add to make the meal interesting.”
At Old Palm Liquor, Jordaan’s kitchen relies heavily on cooking over open fire. The heat it imparts is then often tempered by the simple contrast of cold plates like raw fish or a crisp salad. Jordaan says this approach translates to entertaining at home. “Is everything coming out of the oven or is one thing from the hob?” says the chef. “Is one thing from the stove and one from the fridge? Even in a commercial kitchen, our absolute cornerstone is doing 90 per cent of the food ahead of time.”
Questions of temperature are as important to the wine at Jordaan’s venues as the food. “There are some fundamentals you need to remember,” says Jordaan. “If you’re serving [wine] too warm – definitely nothing over 20 degrees – you’re not seeing the full spectrum of what the nose or palate can give you. With most of our temperature control facilities, the maximum is 16 degrees. In particular, the white wines and some of the orange wines are at 3-5 degrees.”
While tracking the precise temperature of wine is part and parcel of running a commercial venue dedicated to storing and serving top-notch wine, the all-in-one fridge most of us have at home is a little less reliable. That’s seen the introduction of high-tech home products like the Asko Wine Climate Cabinet. Replicating a wine cellar, it has different temperature zones that can be controlled from an app, monitors for light conditions, humidity controls and is virtually free from vibrations.
It also gives recommended serving temperatures, like 8-12 degrees for full-bodied sweet wines, 10-15 degrees for light red wines and 5-10 degrees for sparkling and champagne.
That dedicated focus on temperature control is also key to Jordaan’s wintry brussels sprouts dish. “Brassicas deal very well with high heat,” says Jordaan. “You can go two separate routes: the braised red cabbage thing, or lots of fat and very high heat – get them really dark all over.” The latter is the key to Jordaan’s approach here. “The sulphurous thing the cabbage has going on is tempered by slightly charred, caramelised flavours they develop on the outside.”
Jordaan pairs it with bright orange mimolette cheese. “It’s one of my favourites and I think pretty underused,” says Jordaan. “It’s super aged, so it’s developed that real umami taste we’re after – fantastic for adding on top of an umami-led dish like garlic, anchovies, butter and mushrooms.”
Tip: before frying, slice your sprouts and squeeze to gently separate the layers. “It just gives it more surface area to fry better,” says Jordaan. “Get your oil extremely hot, and fry them until they’re extremely brown but not burnt.” Don’t skimp on this: the heart of the dish is the deep caramelisation that develops when the brussels sprouts are fried.
Jordaan recommends matching the dish with a chardonnay (the 2020 Latta Jurassique chardonnay or Jessica Litaud Saint-Véran Les Pommards chardonnay 2020 would be Jordaan’s choice), served optimally at 5-10 degrees. “Brussels sprouts are actually one of those vegetables that can be quite hard to pair a wine [with],” says Jordaan. “So you want a white wine to at least stand up to it and have a bit going on.”
Almay Jordaan’s fried brussels sprouts, oyster mushrooms, mimolette and piment d’espelette
Serves 4
Prep time: 15 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Ingredients:
500g brussels sprouts
50ml light olive oil
Pinch of sea salt flakes
4 tbsp butter
Olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, sliced in thin wafers
4x premium anchovy fillets (Ortiz, Nardin, Olasagasti etc), torn in half
300g oyster mushrooms, sliced in wide strips
1 juicy lemon
70g mimolette cheese
Piment d’espelette to taste
Method:
Slice brussels sprouts in half and squeeze gently to separate layers a bit.
Heat light olive oil in a medium saucepan until smoking. Tip in the sprouts. Fry until browned all over, turning every now and then. They should be crispy. Season with a generous pinch of salt and spoon out of the saucepan. Discard oil.
Drop the butter and a quick drizzle of extra olive oil into the pan, add the garlic and anchovies, and leave to melt together on a medium heat. When fragrant, add mushrooms and cook gently. If the mushrooms seem like they are drying out, add a splash of water to get things going, and cook mushrooms through – about 4 minutes.
Turn off heat. Tip sprouts back in and squeeze the whole lemon’s juice over the vegetables and mix everything. Turn onto a warm plate, finely grate (preferably with a microplane) mimolette all over the vegetables until it looks like an orange cloud.
Sprinkle piment d’espelette liberally over the cheese.
Pour a chilled glass of chardonnay and serve.
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Asko. Inspired by Scandinavia, the Asko Wine Climate Cabinet is the world’s first smart wine fridge that uses cutting-edge design and technology to take care of your wine at home. Find out more.
