Grant Achatz’s braised lamb shoulder with cocoa and cardamom
"Admittedly, on the surface this dish seems a bit odd," says Achatz. "Cocoa, pumpkin, cardamom, lamb? This is a perfect example, however, of a technique we use frequently at Alinea called 'flavour bouncing'."
“Admittedly, on the surface this dish seems a bit odd,” says Achatz. “Cocoa, pumpkin, cardamom, lamb? This is a perfect example, however, of a technique we use frequently at Alinea called ‘flavour bouncing’. You basically take a focal ingredient and begin to ‘bounce’ satellite flavours off it. The rule is, not only do the supporting ingredients have to go with the main ingredient, but also they all must go with each other. For instance, lamb goes with eggplant and lamb goes with cardamom, but does cardamom go with eggplant? Yes. You continue the bouncing of ingredients off one another until the dish is complete.”
Ingredients
Aromatic sachet
Method
Main
1.For the aromatic sachet, tie ingredients in a piece of muslin and secure with kitchen string.
3.Add eggplant and pumpkin to roasting pan, leave uncovered and braise until the lamb pulls from the bone easily with a fork (1-1¼ hours).
4.Strain braising liquid from pan into a bowl, whisk in crème fraîche, and return to roasting pan. Season lamb generously, scatter with coriander, mint and lime rind, and serve.
Whole mace (also sold as mace blade) is available from Herbie’s Spices (herbies.com.au) or other specialist spice shops. If it’s unavailable, substitute a grating of nutmeg.