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Several Jakarta-based French chefs delighted audiences with their creamy concoctions, spicy curries and plenty more samples of fresh cuisine in Kemang last weekend. (JG Photos/Tunggul Wirajuda)
The colors of the concoction in the small plastic cup were vibrant. The freshness from the melange of flavors of fresh pineapple, yellow cantaloupe, watermelon and other tropical fruits made the mix a real storm. The Chantilly cream melded well with the fruits, not least because it was made on the spot.
The cream was relatively light to the syrup, which had time to settle as it was made the previous day. Used with a strain of star anise, the spice helped to highlight the fruits’ flavor and gave a subtle, spicy taste.
The masterful concoction was made by French chef Jerome Laurent, the head chef of Cassis Restaurant, a hip Jakarta establishment known for fine dining.
The Michelin-award-winning chef and his French counterparts last Saturday sought to give their audience at Lippo Mall Kemang a glance at the wonders made in their kitchens. The display capped off a week celebrating French cooking’s influence on kitchens around the world that was a culinary spectacle as much about the mind as the taste buds.
The tour, held by the Institut Francais d’Indonesie (IFI) and the Kuark educational children’s magazine, saw the chefs visit three vocational schools in the capital before finishing their Jakarta odyssey at the mall.
The finer culinary points brought up by the chefs still left their imprint, not least among the students watching the cooking demo. The students deftly pointed out the homegrown ingredients of the Indian chicken curry made by French chef Patrick Farjas, who is the corporate executive chef at Murphy’s and Molly’s Irish Pubs and Restaurants in Kemang and Senayan, South Jakarta.
The California Culinary Academy professor playfully bantered with the students when they got ahead of themselves, all the more so proving that good food is best savored with good company.
For Farjas, the best food is the most elemental.
“All good food in the world is simple. One just has to cook it the way it should be cooked” he said. “However, the growth of local and foreign fast foods, with their emphasis on fast delivery and cutting corners, has been a hindrance,” Farjas said as he whipped up a fresh curry.
The alumni of the French Maison de Cuisine highlighted the dish because of its relatively quick time to prepare at between 15 to 20 minutes. The ingredients are also a mix of surprises, as they include a melange of fruits like apple, mango and banana, as well as yogurt and sour cream.
Freshness is also the name of the game, as he used fresh turmeric and long black pepper to bring out the best of the dish, instead of powdered turmeric and other processed products which give the curry a generic flavor.
While the dish might be a far cry from French specialties such as foie gras and chicken cordon bleu, Farjas maintains that the thinking behind it is what makes French cuisine so versatile.
“Part of what [the Maison de la Cuisine] does is study the integrity, history and background of foods around the world. For instance, Italian foods are made of ingredients that aren’t native to the country, like tomatoes and potatoes. We also study various culinary customs, such as burning spices in Indian cuisine to bring their flavor out, so as to study the integrity of the food,” he said.
The head chef of the hotel Le Meridien’s Al Nafoura restaurant, Hussein Sleiman, took on a more homely element. “The dish I’m preparing is a fattet hummus with chicken. It’s a dish that’s usually a feature of family gatherings, due to its quick preparation,” Sleiman said.
“It’s always been renowned for its freshness and nutritional value, as the hummus, chickpeas and almond are rich in calcium, iron and other vitamins.”
It didn’t take long to see that the fattet hummus lived up to its billing.
Buried under the various ingredients, the hummus gave the well layered dish its depth.
The yogurt complimented and thickened the hummus, on the other hand, the chicken gave texture and went well with the almonds, while the chickpeas gave the dish its subtle undertone.
But the hummus’ Mediterranean character was highlighted by the lemon giving the dish its zest, while the olive oil gave it smoothness.
The popularity of the cuisine created by the city’s renowned chefs is a sure sign that the next IFI cooking demonstration will be hot on the agenda for many Jakartan foodies.
The post Jakarta’s French Chefs Go Back to Basics appeared first on The Jakarta Globe.