Page 46 - foodservice magazine September 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY: SIMON SHIFF
46
TRADE TALK
Clockwise from top left: Eldridge’s ‘The Bombe’ at Stokehouse St Kilda; her ‘Neopolitan’ creation; and one Langudas’ desserts at ICC Sydney.
with, Langudas also enjoys working with flavours that both compliment and contrast with each other, like basil and strawberry, lime and basil, and lemon and yoghurt. They have all featured in the most technical pieces of his career – original cake designs and centrepieces. “These creations can be large in size and the sheer volume of ingredients that goes into these pieces require fine craftsmanship and refined technical skills.”
Similarly, Polyviou cites her chocolate cake ‘Anna’s Tower of Terror’ as her most technical. Detailed in her recently released book, Sweet Street, she describes
it as being “so big, with lots of steps and individual elements. It can take two to three days to make.
It was the last one we shot for the book because it took so long to make and then shoot. It looks beautiful and I love it, but be prepared for a challenge.”
She also takes pleasure in
versatile recipes, like her panna cotta, and using it in different ways. Like “building on a base recipe to make something completely new. It’s also a great way to use up any leftovers you have.”
At Stokehouse St Kilda, the most popular desserts are typically light and fresh. Being a beachside restaurant, people often connect that style of dish with their experiences of summer. However, during the winter months, warm dishes are often favoured.
It may come as a somewhat of a surprise, but Eldridge doesn’t have big a sweet tooth. As such, her preferences lean towards incorporating traditionally savoury ingredients into her desserts.
She says, “I find sweetness can become very dominating in desserts so using things like vegetables can counteract that.”
In addition, she is fond of bitter, salty and sour flavours, and looks at inventive ways of combining those characteristics,
like the recent Stokehouse creation of radicchio, coffee and burnt, salted meringue, which together “provide the bitter, toasty and salty edge” that Eldridge enjoys.
Her favourite dessert at Stokehouse is also her most technical. Named the ‘Neapolitan’, it’s a layered dessert of chocolate mousse, native hibiscus sorbet and a vanilla semifreddo.
“Each of these are cut into perfect squares before being sprayed in chocolate of a corresponding colour,” says Eldridge. “To serve, each layer needs to be at the correct temperature before being stacked onto each other. Individually, all the elements need to be made perfectly to balance its simple appearance.” Yet perhaps the most important ingredient is that the dish “also carries a sense of nostalgia for many people and I think that is an important element in desserts.”