Late Autumn Early Winter Menu

Our latest menu photos are finally back from development after having been tweaked by the eagle-eye of Travis.

These dishes are the next evolution at Piccalilly after we have refined and tweaked things that we like, diners like and just things we wanted to try on the unsuspecting! We have kept a few old favourites on the menu too.

Oysters.

These, as they always do, come from Shellfish On Bruny and the delightful Hedley. The oyster farm is located on the northern shore of Great Bay on Bruny Island. Hedley is a very small producer and has an amazing attention to detail. We think his oysters are the best in Tasmania, and at this time of year they are at their best. The water is very cold at the moment (so Hedley tells us when a wave washes over the top of his waders) and cold water is capable of holding a lot more dissolved oxygen. The more oxygen in the water the more micro-organisms are able to flourish, thereby creating more food for the oysters and causing them to put on fat and condition. We know you know what oysters look like, but we thought Hedley might like to see them on the web and professionally photographed. One oyster is topped with the old favourite – shallot and red wine vinaigrette. We use South Australian Pendleton merlot vinegar; it’s an agro-dulce style and has the most intense deep colour.

The other oyster topping is a honey emulsion. Hedley sources a spikey box honey that the Bruny bees make from flowers that skirt Great Bay overlooking the oysters. We think it’s a nice synergy and the honey tastes beautiful. We emulsify it with lots of black pepper, Ashbolt olive oil and lemon juice.

Kingfish.

This has been a staple on the Piccalilly menu for a couple of years. This incarnation, a ceviche, uses some flavours we have paired with kingfish before - yuzu and pickled white radish. This time however we have replaced the soy sauce with white miso. We’ve filtered it to make it clear and gelled it to form a skin. The fish and radish are tangled together, and (here’s the ceviche part) we added a pipette filled with yuzu, chardonnay vinegar and olive oil. The pipette is aimed at the center of the kingfish tangle and when it is squeezed, the acid begins curing the fish. Green chilli oil rounds out the dish.

Fish & Onions.

Local white fish in this case flathead with onions and red onion essence.

The onions:

Brown onions - caramelized and pureed

Spring onions - glazed

Red onions – raw

Shallots – sous vide, raw and crispy

Chives

White onions – pickled

Garlic – confit.

The red onion essence is simple but effective. Red onions are roasted in their skins at 250 degrees for 40 minutes, peeled and frozen into a Pacojet canister, frozen and ‘pacotized’. The essence is then simply allowed to defrost in a fine paper filter. The syrupy and sweet liquid that drips through, away from the solids is what we use.

It sounds complicated because there are so many bits, but it’s simply fish with an onion salad and onion sauce.

Beef Tongue.

The tongue is first brined and sous vide for 24 hours at 70 degrees. It’s then cooled and sliced by hand. It is then garnished with lemon panagrata; mustard seed vinaigrette; dry sherry jelly; English mustard butter; parsley emulsion; roast carrot oil; shallot; and currant chutney.

Tongue is a very fatty and rich meat so it needs something to cut it. The flavours all match tongue well and we have just played with textures. Crunchy, soft, oily, meaty etc.

Goat.

The goat is the evolution of our last Mediterranean-inspired dish. We have kept the chickpea and garlic puree and cucumber, but have added a kind of tabbouleh. Black rice, pearl barley, burghul, faro, and black, red and white quinoa are combined and mixed with parsley oil. Also labneh, mint and a little brown chicken reduction. (Labneh is a Middle-Eastern yoghurt cheese)

The cucumber is a simple foam of juiced cucumber and salt. Cucumber contains a lot of natural lectin, a natural emulsifier that holds a frothy foam - in fact all melons do (yes, cucumber is a melon). Watermelon works very well like this. Egg yolks also have high levels of lectin hence they hold a foam – for example in a  sabayon for the start of a sponge cake.

The goat shoulder is cooked sous vide on the bone for around 30 hours (depending on size) at 68 degrees. It’s then torn up by hand and flashed in a very hot pan to crisp it slightly.

Goat and tebbouleh, simple!

Daube.

Daube of beef isn’t an evolution from the last menu, as such. More a devolution. The last version was comprised of the same items minus the potatoes but we gelled the horseradish custard. This time its back to its bare form. The beef is Nicholls Rivulet Organic spare rib and cooked sous vide for around 40 hours. The red wine and shallot sauce is probably the richest we have ever served at Piccalilly  and it is paired with confit potatoes and baked shallots.

Banana Smoothie.

Kind of a combination of a smoothie and a banana split - we have malt powder, toasted walnuts and banana milk froth; and banana mousse made from whipped cream and confit bananas and caramalised milk ice cream. The lactose in the milk, along with a little bit of sugar caramalises over a long period of time (12-14 hours) on a very low heat. The sweetness is balanced by naturally occurring fatty acid and lactic acid that reduce during cooking and add a slight tartness.

Thai-spiced Sago with Rhubarb.

To start this one we infuse milk with chilli, lemongrass, star anise, clove, ginger and kaffir lime leaves for a couple of hours. We then soak and cook the sago in the infused milk once the aromatics are sieved out.

Nicholls Rivulet Organic Rhubarb (yes they produce beef and rhubarb) is poached very gently at 85 degrees for about 5 minutes with some ginger and vanilla.

The dish is finished with vanilla crème anglaise.

Yoghurt Pannacotta with Various Textures of Yoghurt.

We use both cow and sheep milk yoghurt in this dish. The star of the show, the pannacotta is made from sheep’s milk. We use the Meredith’s pot-set variety, which comes in very thick - reminiscent of good buffalo mozzarella. It is very fatty and much sweeter than cow’s milk yoghurt, but still sour enough. We infuse it with tonka bean and vanilla and add a tiny amount of gelatin. It barely requires gelatin because it’s so thick to start with.

Very thick sheep's milk yoghurt. They usually stock this at Salamanca Fruit Market

Textures: 

Yoghurt and honey sorbet - sheep 

labneh - cow

marshmallows - cow 

granita - sheep 

There is also a drop of elderberry syrup for colour.

And a little extra one. 
This dish isn't on the menu but it was one of the specials on the day the photos were taken so we thought we should get a record of it.

Wagyu beef brisket with chlorophyll vinaigrette and jerusalem artichoke puree.

The wagyu, 9+ marble score, was sous vide for around 50 hours at 62 degrees so it is still a little bit pink but soft. Chlorophyll is extracted from spinach (it takes about a kilo of spinach to produce 20 grams of chlorophyll) and emulsified with red wine vinegar and a little bit of olive oil. It is brilliant green and provides acid to cut through the richness of the beef.

Jerusalem artichokes grown by Elysia's father were perfect and so fresh that they were still white on the skin, they are simply sous vide to protect their white colour and pureed with a little bit of salt.

Finally ribbons of soy sauce, yuzu and ginger set with agar-agar so they won't melt.

These photographs were taken by Travis Hutchins. Travis is a graphic designer and is currently working at Saunders Signs http://www.saunderssigns.com.au/  in Margate specialising in large scale signage. They also handle other branding including logo production. If you need signage we highly recommend speaking to Travis at Saunders however if you would like to speak to him in a freelance capacity for photography and design, feel free to contact us for his details.