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Overview
For decades, matching wine and food has been a favourite pastime, and a skill set that any true modern foodie should have up their sleeve. Now, gin has made its way back onto the scene and, armed with a complex flavour profile and botanical characteristics, has opened our eyes to a whole new world of food pairing potential.
In addition to the main player, juniper, today’s gin varieties can comprise of any number of natural flavouring ingredients, also known as botanicals — from cinnamon and orange peel to nutmeg and cardamom. The newfound art of pairing food with gin – or ginstronomy, for those in the know - is all about picking out these specific botanical notes and highlighting or balancing them with the food on your plate.
Bombay Sapphire, the globally renowned gin brand largely credited with the spirit’s reinvigorated image, has taken up the ginstronomy charge with gusto. Infused with ten of these botanicals — orris root, almonds, cassia bark, liquorice, cubeb berries, angelica root, grains of paradise, lemon peel, coriander and juniper — the drink lends itself brilliantly to the food-pairing concept.
After the success of their Project Botanicals pop-up last year, Bombay is returning to Melbourne from June 24 to July 11, again teaming up with celebrated chef Gary Mehigan from MasterChef Australia and some of the city’s most savvy bartenders, for a flavour celebration, delivering a new batch of finely tuned food and gin pairings.
Each of the ten cocktails and tapas-style dishes have been carefully crafted not only to showcase a specific Bombay Sapphire botanical, but to enhance or play off each other for a well-balanced taste sensation in the mouth.
CASSIA BARK
For example, in celebration of cassia bark, which is cinnamon’s more delicate cousin, you’ll find coconut poached chicken laab teamed with a cassia Indian Milk Punch. Created by the team at 1806, the rice milk cocktail carries a sweet touch of condensed milk, plus warming infusions of autumn tea and star anise that marry perfectly to the cassia bark. Meanwhile, the punchy Asian flavours in that chicken laab are designed to cut through the drink’s sweetness and milky mouth feel, elevating the botanical’s presence.
ANGELICA ROOT
Angelica root’s time in the spotlight comes courtesy of a riff on the negroni, which has been teamed with a mushroom tartine and garlicky parmesan custard. While Angelica is considered the earthy botanical of the Bombay bunch, it’s also responsible for holding all of the others in balance, and this is perfectly mimicked in that bitter, sweet and sour equilibrium of a negroni. The pickled and exotic mushrooms in the tartine, the garlic and the parsnip crunch on top of the dish all mirror the Angelica root’s earthy tones, while that silky custard softens the drink’s strong flavour.
GRAINS OF PARADISE
One of the dessert combinations highlights West African grains of paradise, with a luscious warm cocktail of vermouth, ginger syrup and chocolate butter, beside a decadent hazelnut and brown butter friand. Created by the Gin Palace crew, the drink picks up on the botanical’s exotic flavours, particularly its dark chocolate notes. Foodwise, the buttery friand softens the dryness of the cocktail’s vermouth, while an Oloroso ice cream, raisins and black sherry syrup add dark fruit notes to complement the grains of paradise’s dark chocolate bitterness.
With tasty food and cocktail pairings like these, Project Botanicals 2015 looks set to push our love affair with gin even further. Head along for a botanically inspired flavour celebration and to get your own taste for this hot-ticket art of ginstronomy. The pop-up will be open from June 24 to July 11 (Wednesday to Saturday) at 64 Sutton St, North Melbourne. Tickets $45pp (plus booking fee) via Eventbrite.