SERIOUS SNACKABILITY
Kelli Brett unpacks an obsession with finding that one perfect bite.
Over the last couple of years the term ‘snacking’ seems to have taken on an entirely new meaning. No longer just a quick bite to eat between ‘real’ meals, there seems to be a snack culture developing across the globe as clever chefs have returned to the old canapé concept giving it a bit of a nip and a tuck to replate in the form of the ‘Chef’s Snack’. It’s a brilliant way to start a restaurant meal that provides an intimate peek inside the mind of the chef and an explosion of flavour in just one or two bites.
Currently, a whip around Instagram and some major players reveals chef Ana Roš still celebrating her classic snack, a corn beignet filled with fermented cheese, smoked trout roe and wild chives at her restaurant Hiša Franko in Slovenia. Chef Daniel Humm is showcasing baby lettuce bites and a mini celtuce tostada at Eleven Madison Park, chef Julien Royer of Odette in Singapore points to flavours of the traditional Niçoise with perfect puff pastry wrapping its crispy-golden layers around olives, lemon and thyme, and chef Vicky Lau presents her ode to abalone (pāua) in a tiny tart of steamed abalone with green pepper Comte cheese sauce at Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong. Closer to home some of our Kiwi chefs are seriously upping the Aotearoa snack game with their bite-sized offerings as you will see a bit further into this snackcentric feature, and The Grove’s Cory Campbell is possibly snack master of all with his chips and dip homage to the Kiwi Sunday roast (salt and vinegar crisps with lamb sweetbread cream) or storm clams in a shell with clam jelly.
Now, the snack may be small but be under no illusion about the amount of slog that goes into creating these intriguing morsels. A good snack is a testament to the chef’s skill and knowledge, often offering a nod to food memories and cultural influences, and can take hours, sometimes days, to create before it is consumed – though hopefully not forgotten – within seconds.
For example, in Madrid Dabiz Muñoz, the World’s No 1 at The Best Chef Awards 2023, is reinterpreting his childhood flavours at Diverxo in a tiny crisp sandwich featuring Iberian suckling pig, pecorino cheese, cured goose yolk, homemade sriracha and suckling pig head cold cuts, infused with Jamaican pepper and forestinspired pesto. I’d hazard a guess that’s not something he whips up on a whim.
With the current stretch on restaurant budgets and resources, one might wonder whether such attention to detail and investment of time is worth it. However, developing a unique and inspiring snack allows a chef who is serious about forging a culinary career the chance to stray from the traditional elements needed in a more substantial entrée and main course and take an opportunity to think way outside the restraints of their standard menu.
And so, we bring you our investment into the development of the New Zealand snack game, with a series of snackified events that are fast, furious and terrific fun and that Cuisine will proudly continue to produce and present into 2025.
Let the games continue…
OPPOSITE Mussel & kawakawa fritter (see page 45); storm clam with storm clam jelly & storm clam butter; ‘Sunday roast’ salt and vinegar crisps with a lamb sweetbread cream
SNACK MASTER
Our recently crowned Cuisine Chef of the Year Cory Campbell has been using the concept of the chef’s snack to wow diners at The Grove in Saint Patricks Square, Auckland. For a fleeting moment back in 2022, owners Annette and Michael Dearth had considered closing their iconic restaurant until Cory arrived bringing with him a huge depth of knowledge crafted at the likes of Noma in Copenhagen and Vue de Monde in Melbourne, where he was instrumental in helping Shannon Bennett achieve three-hat status. With a fierce understanding of how important it is to honour the legacy of The Grove, while bringing his unique spin on our New Zealand flavour, he believes that our restaurants and cafés have a responsibility to not only support but challenge our growers and producers to produce unique, premium ingredients which will in turn encourage the hospitality industry to lift their creative game. The only way that will happen is by leading from the front to create a trickle-down effect that will encourage enough product demand to make it worthwhile for the producers to grow something a little bit special. This year Cory has taken The Grove back to its three-hat status by presenting, with his team, a menu that is world-class. His snack game is high and sets the standard for an evening of discovery by presenting just a tiny taste of the talent and skill behind this incredible chef. Our challenge to produce a snack for our cover with the look and feel of the traditional plate of oysters served in a restaurant setting – but using the endemic green-lipped mussel – was not an easy one, but has resulted in this super-clever bite in the form of a mussel and kawakawa fritter topped with luxurious Imperial Caviar from Caviar Mafia. Enjoy!
MUSSEL & KAWAKAWA FRITTER
MAKES 8 / PREPARATION 1 HOUR / COOKING 2-3 MINUTES
KOMBU STOCK
12g kombu seasoning 200g water
Mix the kombu seasoning with water and bring to a simmer. Divide into two portions and set aside.
CHILLI MISO
15g chilli paste
50g miso white soy sauce, to season
Mix the chilli paste and miso together. Loosen with a splash of water if needed. Adjust spiciness with more chilli paste and season with white soy sauce.
SEAWEED PASTE
2 nori sheets 20g shio kombu 40ml water
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend to a paste consistency – you may need to add a little more water.
12 green-lipped mussels white soy sauce, to season 8 kawakawa leaves kombu stock (see recipe above) 1 litre canola oil
50g rice flour
25g gluten-free self-raising flour 100ml sparkling water, cold togarashi, to season
Heat a pot over a high heat. Add the mussels and one half of the kombu stock. Cover with a lid and immediately remove from heat, allowing the mussels to cool in the stock. Strain the stock through a fine strainer. Remove mussels from their shells, retaining the shells, and wash in the strained stock. Cut the plump cheeks from the mussels, put onto a tray lined with parchment paper and refrigerate. Blend the remaining mussel trimmings with a little stock to form a paste. Season with white soy and refrigerate. Reduce the strained mussel and kombu stock to a glaze. Clean the mussel shells and set aside for serving.
Cut the kawakawa leaves down the middle, removing large veins. Divide into two containers. Bring the remaining kombu stock to a simmer, and blanch half of the cut leaves in the stock until soft but intact. Lay on a tray.
Heat canola oil to 170°C. Mix 25g rice flour with the self-raising flour and sparkling water to make a tempura batter. Spread some mussel paste on an unblanched half of kawakawa leaf and roll it up. Repeat for the remaining unblanched kawa leaves, reserving a little mussel paste for garnish. Dust the rolls in the remaining rice flour, dip in tempura batter and fry until crisp, about 1-1½ minutes. Drain on a rack and season with togarashi and salt.
TO SERVE
Kewpie mayonnaise Imperial Caviar (I used Caviar Mafia
brand) calendula flowers
Place the fried, rolled kawakawa leaf on top of a blanched leaf, near the tip. Roll tightly like a cigar to the size of a mussel. Pipe one dot each of mayonnaise, mussel paste, seaweed paste and chilli miso on top of the rolled leaf. Brush the mussel cheek with mussel glaze and place on top. Pipe three dots each of mayonnaise, seaweed paste, and chilli miso on top of the mussel cheek. Add four piles of caviar along the dots and garnish with calendula flower petals. Arrange on the cleaned mussel shells and serve.
NOTE: The mussel paste, seaweed paste and chilli miso make more than enough for this recipe. Leftovers could be used to flavour broths or even added to rice or noodle dishes.