I was very saddened to hear about the passing of Anthony Bourdain. A true legend.
The chef who’s dark memoir about life in a New York City restaurant “Kitchen Confidential” helped me to understand the pressure of working in basement kitchens in London and put a little humour into the environment I was working in.
I had the pleasure of cooking for Anthony Bourdain at Molten when I owned it a number of years ago. He was a heavy smoker and I knew that he would be hanging out for a cigarette before long. So I developed this dessert that contained Tabacco, it went on to become a dessert we could never take off the menu.
It’s a bit naughty but that’s what Anthony would have wanted.
Chocolate pastry
- 2 eggs
- 100 gm sugar
- 350 gm plain flour
- 30 gm cocoa powder
- pinch salt
- 150 gm butter
Cream the eggs and sugar together in a mixer. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and sugar together. Rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the eggs and sugar mixture to form dough.
Refrigerate for an hour before rolling out to line a 22 cm flan tin.
Torte Filling
- 450 gm dark choc
- 300 gm unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
Place the chocolate and butter into a bowl over some simmer water.
Beat eggs and yolks and sugar until light and fluffy and fold sabayon into chocolate mix
Pour into your flan tin and bake at 130C for 25 minutes.
Cool before cutting
Tobacco Syrup
- Liquid
- 550 ml water
- 8 gm tobacco
- Heat water to boil, pour over tobacco in bowl and sit for 5 minutes to infuse. Strain and set aside both tobacco and liquid in separate containers
- Tobacco Syrup
- 150 gm sugar
- 150 ml water
- 200 ml tobacco liquid (from above)
Caramelize sugar and water, when golden, add tobacco liquid
Simmer until correct consistency is achieved, test by putting a tablespoon onto a plate and chill.
Remove form heat and allow cooling