One of the most inspiring restaurants in the world right now is Eleven Madison Park in New York, which last year became the No.1 restaurant on San Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. We love the ethos of chef Daniel Humm, who strives to balance modern techniques with classical flavours. One day we hope to travel to New York to dine there, but for now we have to settle for recreating some of the dishes from the cookbook at home. This week we set aside a day to create our first dish from the book, and chose one which doesn’t have too many unfamiliar ingredients or techniques. Although the number of elements in this dish is daunting, there was actually nothing very difficult about the recipes, and we had fun creating our own spin on the incredible plating in the book.

We have to be entirely honest, though – we did simplify a few things here. For instance, rather than spending 6 hours making a chicken jus (which we’re sure would taste amazing!) we cheated by using chicken stock and pimping it up with some tomato paste. We also changed a few ingredients we couldn’t source, such as particular varieties of cherries and cured pork. If you don’t feel like tackling the whole thing, just making the cherry pork sauce to go with your favourite cut of pork would be totally worthwhile. Similarly, the pickled mustard seeds and pickled cherries were delicious and could be used in so many dishes. Let us know if you give it a try!

We have adapted this recipe from Eleven Madison Park – The Cookbook by Daniel Humm and Will Guidara to serve 4 people. You’ll have some extra pickled mustard seeds, onion puree, cherry sauce and brown butter to use another day.

 

Pickled Yellow Mustard Seeds:

• ¼ cup yellow mustard seeds
• ½ cup white balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the mustard seeds and cook for 30 seconds. Strain through a fine sieve and refresh with cold running water. Add the vinegar, salt and sugar to the saucepan and bring to the boil. Transfer the mustard seeds to a bowl and pour over the liquid. Cool to room temperature, then cover and leave at room temperature overnight.

Roasted Onion Petals:

• 1 white onion
• salt
• olive oil

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Toss the onion with salt and olive oil and wrap in aluminium foil. Roast in the oven for 2 hours, or until the onion is soft but still holds its shape. Cool to room temperature. Quarter the onion, remove the skin and separate the onion into individual petals. Trim the ends and cut each petal into half-inch thick strips. Set aside until ready to serve.

Onion Puree:

• 3 ½ cups thinly sliced white onions
• ½ Tbsp salt
• 3 white peppercorns
• 1 ½ Tbsp butter, plus ½ Tbsp cold butter
• 3 Tbsp white wine

Season the onions with salt and set aside. Tie the peppercorns in a small piece of cheesecloth. Heat a pan over high heat and add the butter, onions and peppercorn parcel. Cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute, being careful not to let the onions begin to colour. Add the wine and 1 ½ Tbsp water, cover with a cartouche of baking paper, and cook until the onions are tender, adding more water if the onions begin to dry out. Once the onions are cooked, remove the cartouche and reduce any liquid that is left in the pan. Puree in a blender with the ½ Tbsp cold butter. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve or chinois and cool over ice. Set aside until ready to assemble the dish.

Brown Butter:

• 250g butter
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 clove garlic

Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer slowly for about 40 minutes, until the butter is clear and a light caramel colour. Continue to cook, whisking vigorously until the butter becomes a walnut brown colour. Place the thyme and garlic in a sieve lined with cheesecloth. Strain the Brown Butter over the thyme and garlic, and set aside until needed. Discard the thyme and garlic.

Pork Rack:

• ½ pork rack (4 chops when sliced), frenched and skin removed
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 clove garlic, lightly crushed but still intact

Preheat the oven to 150°C and place a roasting pan and rack in the oven to heat. Season the pork with salt. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over high heat and then sear the pork, fat side down, until it is evenly browned (about 2 minutes). Add the butter, thyme and garlic and baste for another 2 minutes. Transfer to the preheated roasting rack and roast in the oven for about 40 minutes, basting with butter every 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Cherry Pork Sauce:

• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1/8 cup of speck or bacon, diced
• ½ cup sugar
• 475g cherries, pitted
• 3 pods star anise
• ½ cup red wine
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 ½ cups chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• salt

In a sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat and add the speck. Render the fat for 5 minutes, then strain the oil to remove the solids.

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar to a dark caramel. Add the cherries and star anise. Cook until the cherries are soft, then deglaze with the red wine and balsamic vinegar. Stir to dissolve all of the sugar. Reduce to a glaze and then chill over ice.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the chicken stock and tomato paste, and reduce to 1 cup of liquid. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of the glaze. Stir in the rendered fat and season with salt to taste.

Pickled Cherries:

• 5 Cherries
• 75ml white balsamic vinegar
• 75ml water
• 2 tsp salt

In a medium bowl, stir together the vinegar, water and salt, until the salt dissolves. Pit and quarter the cherries, and add to the pickling liquid. Marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Onions and Cherries:

• 1 scallion/green onion, white and light green parts only
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt
• Roasted Onion Petals
• 4 baby scallions/green onions
• 8 cherries, pitted
• ½ Tbsp butter

Shave the scallions into shards with a vegetable peeler, and dress them with the olive oil and salt. Heat the chicken stock in a saucepan over a medium heat. Just before you’re ready to serve, add the onion petals, baby scallions and cherries. Toss to combine and add the butter, tossing to glaze.

To Serve:

• Pork Rack
• Brown Butter
• Sea Salt Flakes
• Cherry Pork Sauce
• 4 Tbsp Onion Puree
• 8 Pickled Cherries
• 4 tsp Pickled Yellow Mustard Seeds
• 4 slices shaved Prosciutto di Parma
• 12 mizuna leaves

Slice the pork rack between the bones, giving you 4 pork chops. Brush the sides of the pork with brown butter and sprinkle with sea salt. Place a few spoonfuls of the Cherry Pork Sauce on one side of the plate, and top with a pork chop. Beside the pork chop, place a baby scallion. Warm the onion puree in a small saucepan over low heat and spoon 3 small blobs onto each plate above the pork chop. Top two of the piles of onion puree with glazed cherries, and the other with a pickled cherry quarter. Arrange two more pickled cherry quarters, some onion petals, some shaved scallions and a few strands of prosciutto around the plate to your liking. Scatter some pickled mustard seeds around the plate, and garnish with 3 small mizuna leaves.