#TheGrandJourney – A Multi-Sensorial Experience That is All About Flavour

For most people, it is rare the opportunity to consider the flavour profile of a single ingredient and the role it plays to a given dish – but even more so, the opportunity to reflect on 10 different ingredients, their usage, provenance and quality. 

As a food writer, I relish the prospect of such experiences - #TheGrandJourney by Bombay Sapphire is a multi-sensorial experience that is all about flavour, and it is taking place right now (17th to 23rd July 2017) in London’s Banking Hall.

Bombay Sapphire uses 10 different botanicals from around the world selected by the brand’s Master of Botanicals Ivano Tonutti. I am told only the finest and sustainably sourced ingredients go in to produce the brand’s gin, these include juniper berries (Italy), grains of paradise (West Africa), almonds (Spain), lemon peel (Spain), cubeb berries (Java), coriander seeds (Mexico), angelica root (Germany), cassia bark (IndoChina), orris root (Italy) and liquorice (China).

Liquorice from China - one of the 10 Bombay Sapphire gin botanicals

For #TheGrandJourney, Bombay Sapphire built a train - the Laverstock Express (named after its distillery, Laverstock Mill in Hampshire) and is taking “passengers” on a Gin of Ten Journeys, illustrating through a multi-sensorial food and gin pairing dinner, the 10 botanicals and places around the world where these are found.

Collaborating with the brand is Michelin-starred chef Tom Sellers of Story Restaurant who created four dishes specifically for this campaign. Using Spanish lemon peel, Tom’s scallop two ways was a delightful dish of raw and pan-fried scallops – Tom mixed diced raw scallops and apple with lemon, crème fraiche and fine slices of radish. The pan-fried scallop was served with a super-light and zingy lemon foam, a very sophisticated hollandaise-style creation brimming with flavour, zinginess and intense citrus flavours.

Another fantastic dish, this time using Spanish almonds, was Tom’s Spanish Iberico pork (served pink) with roasted pear, fresh and sugared almonds and Amaretto jelly. I loved the toasty nuttiness of the almonds combined with the creaminess of the rare Iberico pork and the sweet touches in this dish – the sugared almonds, Amaretto jelly and roasted pear, all came together beautifully in a dish I will remember for quite sometime. Pork and almonds, who would have thought?!

Dessert was also memorable – a refreshing ice cream of herbaceous angelica (considered the 3rd most important botanical in gin, after juniper berries and coriander seeds), with salted blackberry and bitter chocolate.

But the gin botanical inspired creations were not only limited to food – there were a number of cocktails devised by brand ambassador Sean Ware using these ingredients. There were a few favourites – the cubeb berry was a peppery cup of Bombay Sapphire, coffee and cardamom cold infusion with Benedictine and tri-pepper tincture. 

Using orris root, we were served a zesty coupette of Bombay Sapphire, fig and bergamot liqueur, violet leaf tincture, bergamot juice and crème de violet – this was intensely floral.

Perhaps my favourite of the lot was Sean’s Maghreb High Ball – made from 1 part each of Bombay Sapphire gin, water, and Moroccan liqueur (a heady concoction of vodka, dried mint leaves, coriander seeds and saffron) to 2 parts of honey mead, garnished with fresh mint leaf, this was as exotic and spicy as it was refreshing.

Before #TheGrandJourney, three of Bombay Sapphire’s 10 botanicals were new to me - grains of paradise, cubeb berries and orris root. On further research, I discovered that grains of paradise are melegueta or malagueta pepper. This is a native plant of West Africa brought in to South America, especially to Brazil by the Portuguese who had a number of colonies in the continent at the time. Malagueta is the most popular pepper used in Brazil and I love using it in food for its pepperiness and citrus undertones.

I also discovered that cubeb berry is an Indonesian plant that is cultivated for its fruit and oil. Dried, they’re similar in appearance (and taste) to black pepper. I learnt that cubeb berries have long been used alongside juniper as their combination pairs well with other core gin botanicals. 

Cubeb berries - one of Bombay Sapphire's 10 gin botanicals

Have you ever wondered why gin can have such an intense floral quality? Well, one of its botanicals, orris is the root of the iris, specifically from the Iris Pallida and Iris Germanica plants. These are beautiful, blooming flower species that grow widely across the world. A lot of work goes into harvesting orris; after three to four years of growth, the roots are dug up and left to dry for at least 5 years, before being ground to powder for use as a botanical in gin. Dried orris root take on a floral, sweet smell and unsurprisingly has been used in perfumes for years.

If you have not been able to secure a spot for #TheGrandJourney, you will be pleased to hear that Bombay Sapphire will be collaborating with ten leading cocktail bars across Europe, five of these in the UK. For the next twelve weeks from the 17th July 2017, five UK bars well known for their outstanding creativity in cocktail making will be serving limited edition tipples using Bombay Sapphire’s 10 botanicals. In London, bars taking part include The Berkeley (angelica), Three Sheets (coriander seed) and Scout (liquorice), while in Manchester the Science and Industry (grains of paradise) and in Edinburgh the Panda and Sons (cassia bark).

Discovering new flavours, ingredients and how to use them in my cooking and cocktail making is what makes me tick – I have been hugely inspired by #TheGrandJourney and have created my own recipe using two of Bombay Sapphire’s botanicals: liquorice and juniper berries. If you would like to try my meltingly tender, super ‘Slow-Braised Pork Belly in Honey Mead, Soy, Liquorice and Juniper Berries’ dish, you can find the full recipe here.

For more information on Bombay Sapphire gins, cocktails and The Grand Journey, visit their website at http://www.bombaysapphire.com.

Slow-Braised Pork Belly in Honey Mead, Soy, Juniper Berries & Liquorice - My Recipe in Collaboration with Bombay Sapphire Gin

Gin is one of my very favourite tipples, so I was thrilled to be asked to take part in Bombay Sapphire’s The Grand Journey, taking place between 17 and 23 July 2017 at London’s Banking Hall. But best of all, I got to experiment with some of Bombay Sapphire's botanicals and create a new recipe which I am sharing with you below, but more on that later.

The Grand Journey will be an immersive drinking and dining experience which explores the ten botanicals from around the world used in Bombay Sapphire gin. Ten dishes have been newly created by Michelin-starred chef Tom Sellers of Story Restaurant especially for this event - each will feature one of these botanicals: juniper berries, citrus, angelica, orris root, coriander, liquorice, cassia bark, almonds, cubeb berries and West African grains of paradise.

I recently got to visit Story Restaurant to find out more, and to cook one of these dishes with Chef Tom Sellers. His scallop two ways uses Spanish lemons (one of the gin botanicals), and this is what we made together.

It was a delightful dish of raw and pan-fried scallops – Tom mixed diced raw scallops and apple with lemon, crème fraiche and fine slices of radish. The pan-fried scallop was served with a super-light and zingy lemon foam, a very sophisticated hollandaise-style creation brimming with flavour, zinginess and intense citrus flavours.

Bombay Sapphire brand ambassador Sean Ware was also at Story Restaurant to prepare some fabulous cocktails, some of which will be available at The Grand Journey. I was interested to hear that for Sean, the measurements for a perfect G&T are 100ml tonic to 50ml gin, with loads of ice.

But beyond that, one of Sean’s gin cocktails that really impressed me was the Maghreb Hi-Ball. Made from 1 part each of Bombay Sapphire gin, water, and Moroccan liqueur (a heady concoction of vodka, dried mint leaves, coriander seeds and saffron) to 2 parts of honey mead, garnished with fresh mint leaf, this was as exotic and spicy as it was refreshing.

This was also the first time I got to try mead, an ancient drink thought to be the oldest of all alcoholic beverages preceding even wine, made from fermented honey. Unsurprisingly, it has a pronounced taste of honey and a rich, luscious sweetness. With an alcohol content as high as 14.5%, it resembles a fortified wine.  

Inspired by this experience, I went back to my own kitchen and decided to play around with some of the botanicals in Bombay Sapphire gin, as well as honey mead. One ingredient I thought was crying out to be combined with these – PORK BELLY!

In this recipe, I use one of my favourite cuts of meat, which is a great accompaniment to the sweet flavours of the honey mead, the savouriness of dark Japanese soy sauce, and the botanicals licorice root and juniper berries. 

This is an easy dish to prepare, and one I hope you will try out at home – it will taste even better the next day. All you need is a bowl of white rice and a refreshing Bombay Sapphire gin and tonic to go with it.

Slow-Braised Pork Belly
in Honey Mead, Soy, Juniper Berries & Liquorice
With Tatsoi-Sesame Greens

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1kg g boneless pork belly, in one piece
• 200g raw brown rice

• 500ml chicken stock (or water)
• 240ml Honey Mead liqueur
• 120ml soy sauce
• 30g soft dark brown sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, lightly bruised with the back of a knife
• 8 dried juniper berries, lightly bruised with the back of a knife
• 5cm liquorice root (can substitute with 1 star anise, whole)

• 1 tbsp English mustard
• 1-2 tsp cornflour, dissolved into two tbsp water (optional)
• Baking paper, cut in a circle to the size of the casserole lid and with a centre vent/hole

For garnish:

• 200g Tatsoi greens (or Bok Choy), roughly chopped
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds (optional)
• Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper 

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Add the pork belly, skin side down, and sear until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Turn over and brown on the other side, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer the browned pork to a colander and run under hot water to remove excess oil. Pour off the fat from the casserole and wipe it clean.

2. Return the pork belly to the casserole. Sprinkle the raw brown rice over the meat. Pour in enough cold water to cover by an inch and bring to a simmer over high heat. Cover with the cut out circle of baking paper with a centre vent. Braise gently until the pork is tender when pierced with a knife, about 2 hours (and up to 6 hours). Add water to the pot if necessary, as the meat should be kept covered in liquid throughout this process. 

3. Carefully remove the pork, keeping it in one piece. Discard the rice and the cooking liquid and wash off any residue off the pork under running water. Dry the pork belly with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel, and let it cool down to room temperature. If not cooking right away, tightly wrap the pork in cling film and refrigerate it for up to 2 days.

4. Cut the pork crosswise into 4 to 8 square pieces of roughly equal size. In a heavy casserole, add the chicken stock, honey mead, brown sugar, garlic cloves, soy sauce, liquorice root or star anise and crushed juniper berries, stirring over high heat until all the ingredients are mixed completely. Add the pork into the pan and return to the boil. Then reduce to a simmer and cook, turning occasionally for 1-2 hours or until the pork is very tender.

5. Gently strain the cooking liquid into a clean pan, reduce over a high heat until lightly syrupy and concentrated for about 5 minutes. Do be careful not to over-reduce the sauce as it will become too salty; if you need some thickening help, dissolve the cornflour in a little cold water and whisk in, little by little, until the sauce thickens to a coating consistency. Check for seasoning and adjust.

6. To prepare your garnish, blanch the leaves and stalks of the tatsoi greens in plenty of boiling, salted water for 15 seconds, drain, squeezing as much water as possible with a clean tea towel. Transfer the greens to a bowl, season with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and a tsp each of toasted sesame oil and seeds, mix well. 

7. To serve, top each piece of pork with about 2 tablespoons of the reduced sauce, a dollop of English mustard and the tatsoi-sesame greens on the side.

For more information on Bombay Sapphire gins, cocktails and The Grand Journey, visit their website at http://www.bombaysapphire.com.