Recipe Balkenbrij with Brabants crayfish

The Brabant stew was presented during the European Young Chef Award 2017, a competition organized by IGCAT (International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Art and Tourism) which sees Young Chefs coming from European Regions of Gastronomy compete inside the kitchens of a Culinary Arts School focusing on the theme: Innovation on Tradition.

This recipe was developed by Bon Sawatdeee from North Brabant in the Netherlands and was inspired by a desire to refine the traditional Dutch dish Balkenbrij, which is made with the rests from the pork  using Brabants crayfish and his influence of Eastern cuisine.

Recipe

Meat preparation

• Cut the pork cheek en pork meat in dices of 30 cm approximately and add it everything in a pan with 700 ml water.
• Add the fat from the pork with all the flavourings and let them cook for 20 minutes.
• Take the fat out and let them cool down.
• Add to the pan the liver and let them cook for 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, cut some cilantro very thin and the fat in small dices, and make sure that your strainer and shredder are ready.
• Strain everything with the strainer but make sure to keep the liquid and put it back in the pan.
• Grind all the meat, but make sure that the liver is the last one to grind.
• Put all the tartaar meat back in the pan with the liquid and add the pork fat with the cilantro.
• Finally, add the buckwheat until a thick good consistence, roll the balkenbrij with foil and put aside in a cold place.

Pumpkin chutney

• Cut the pumpkin in small dieces and splash some olive oil with a little bit of salt.
• Put the pumpkin in the over for 5 minutes in the oven.
• Cut the kohlrabi as thin as possible and cross it with a round cutter and add water, sugar, vinegar and lemongrass and heat it a little so that you get a sweet and sour brown water.
• When the pumpkin is almost ready, you start to snipe the shallot and lightly fruit it in the pan. Add the pumpkin. Cut the chili pepper and chives very fine and add. Grate some ginger on it.
• Add extra flavour with cane sugar and vinegar. Get your kohlrabi from the brine, do your chutney on the kohlrabi add some macadamia nut. And fold it close like a ravioli.

Coconut and lobster foam

• Chop the onion and garlic and sauté it in the pan.
• Add some ginger, lemongrass and a chili pepper and add 0.5 L of water.
• Peel the crayfish and put the carcasses in the pan too. Let it cook for 10 minutes, add 0.3 l of coconut milk and half a forest of coriander. Let it reduce to half. After boiling, you can pass the sauce.
• Add butter and lather it with the bar mixer.

Kaffir mayo

• Degrease your pan with lime juice. Then add 100 gr egg yolk in your pan, add some chardonnay vinegar, lime grater and juice to it. Start by beating and slowly add Kaffir oil to get a sturdy emulsion.
• Bring it to flavour by adding pepper and salt. And do it in a pastry bag.

Crayfish

• Clean the crayfish by extracting the intestinal tract. Grab a large bucket (gastronome) and put your lobsters in it.
• Grab a spoon and heat the spoon with your gas burner and put smoke mok on it.
• Then, put the spoon in the bucket too. Close the bucket with shrink wrap and let it smoke for an hour.
• After smoking, you paint the lobsters with olive oil and burn the lobsters very slightly.

Crispy belly bacon

• Heat the sunflower oil in the saucepan. Put a strain on another saucepan. If the oil is hot enough you can add the dried belly bacon in the pan oil. The belly bacon will popped.
• Pour everything into the strainer, the rest of the oil will be catch to the other saucepan under the strainer.
• Put the crunchy belly bacon in a bowl, sprinkle bronze powder and put the lid on the tray. Shake with the bucket. After shaking check that there is enough bronze powder.

Source: IGCAT – European Young Chef Awards 2017, Region of Gastronomy