One dish, one barrel: Grilled mackerel.
A new edition and a new pairing of food and barrel. Flame-grilled mackerel. The recipe features two ingredients: mackerel and peas. Gestures, spices, cooking… will sublimate the dish. The chef is the master of the kitchen, just as a cooper is the master of the cooperage. Their gestures and recipes will sublimate the basic ingredients.
Just as a cooper pre-toasts his barrel for preparation, the mackerel is first steamed. It is then glazed with a mixture of soy sauce, honey and mirin before being passed over a flame, to reveal all its aromas, as with the barrel, whose different toasting intensities offer different aromas. It is served with a cream of pea soup in butter and red onion pickles. A Thai broth is poured into the middle of the plate just before serving, a final touch which could be compared to the finishing stage of guistrage* on the La Grange barrel. Precise dressing, like the cooper’s gesture, magnifies the final product.
Manufacture tonnelière La Grange coopers transform oak into a work of art, using age-old techniques. Every step in the barrel-making process is carried out by hand. It’s just like setting a plate in the kitchen before sending it to the dining room…
To accompany this dish, I’ve decided to be as precise as possible, opting for a bottle of Marsannay Blanc from René Bouvier (Le Clos Monopole), a modern, racy and complex Chardonnay that will go perfectly with this grilled mackerel.
*Guistrage: action of sanding with a guistre.
© Article written and recipe created by Pierre Guillot.
