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CHEFS Association/ RE Cancer Society Dinner
May 19 2001
Where did 114 guests enjoy a six-course black tie dinner in the middle of May cooked by five of New Zealand tops chefs to raise $14,000 for cancer therapeutics research?

Michael Coughlin transformed the mezzanine floor of the Otago museum in Dunedin for a menu that was not only cooked by New Zealand chefs from out of town but also accompanied by a stunning array of wines.

Michael has now managed this special event twice, two years ago in the towns art gallery, and this year a change of location enabled the museum cafe to be used as a cooking and plating area for the 114 covers.

Work started in earnest early on Saturday morning for Alistair Parker whose dish of Belgium chocolate mousse, nougatine dentelle, orange salad and white chocolate sorbet would be served as the fifth course on the menu.

A small window of time was allowed for the set up due to the museum closing at five o’clock. So within two hours Michael and a small army of helpers and students from Otago Polytechnic had the tables set, trestles tables for plating out and 456 hot plates on the go. A novel idea was the visual link between the kitchen and dining area, provided by Zoom Film & Video Productions Ltd. Each chef was to give a description of the course to follow prior to serving. So at 7.00 PM everything was ready for the Lindauer Grandeur to be served guests.

Judith Tabron plated a crab tortelli with a lemon and cider butter sauce and crispy leeks with assistance from a kitchen brigade that included a small team of local Dunedin chefs and Otago polytechnic students. Interest in an event like this is intense down here and Queens’s high School students were also involved. The wine was a Wither Hills Marlborough Chardonnay 1999. The number of glasses consumed in the kitchen at this stage was chef’s 4 students 0.

While Adrian’s second course was being served, the intensity and tempo increased especially for the students involved, when Varick Neilson created a tower of rare roasted tuna, oven roasted tomatoes, roasted egg plant, black olives and beet juice emulsion. With two more courses to serve, I was very glad to acquire a glass of the Schlumberger Pinot Gris les Prince Abbes 1998.

Philip Kraal who had controlled the order of plating up on previous courses then proceeded to place an array of ingredients on the 114 plates; pan fried broche coated, pressed oxtail, (three each) lamb sweat breads in a blackcurrant glaze with a cèpe dim sum in garlic beurre blanc. A Tatachilla 1998 Foundation Shiraz was served with this dish as the fourth course. The chef from Christchurch gave a rendition of the song that he had become famous for, only the night before in a bar in Dunedin known to locals as the “slappers bar” proved that a video link to the kitchen was safest way of communicating with guests at an event like this.

Things had gone very smoothly by 11.00 pm. The clean up was well under way, the video link was still going, chefs were still willing to talk and with just Alistair Parker’s dessert to plate with a glass of Cordier Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey 1995,the museum café could look like its old self again.

The meal finished with a Whitestone cheese selection of Windsor blue, Island Stream Mt domet Double Cream White stone Airdale.

So at the end of the night the smile of satisfaction that came over everyone’s face, reflected what was a very good night, and to think that everyone involved gave their time freely certainly provides good memories.