'Not For Sale' Exhibition Dinners, March

The retina of a Zebrafish' by Dr. Steve Wilson, 2011

As part of 'Not for Sale', an exhibition curated by Dr. Crystal Bennes (writer, critic and founder of SALON) we cooked a series of three dinners in the offices of Spoonfed in Angel Islington over the course of ten days in March. The menu evolved over the course of the project - we wanted to develop dishes that would feature repetitions of certain ingredients throughout the meal, and some replacements had to be made as the seasons were changing.

Chris at Buntings Butchers in Peckham taking the skin off a Middle White Pork Belly.

Brining Pork Belly, Cheeks and Ribs

Dehydrating Apple Peels to make a sweet/sour powder

Red Apple Peel after being dehydrated and ground with sour Malic Acid (derived from Apples)

Using our Polyscience Smoking Gun and Alderwood chips to smoke a reduction of Chicken Stock, Barley Malt Extract, Thyme and Mustard for the pork belly sandwich.

The last of the season's forced Champagne Rhubarb from Yorkshire, procured for us by Tim Sheehan at Franklins Farm Shop in Dulwich. We cooked the stalks en sous vide with honey, parsley stems and sugar to garnish the pork. We prepared more rhubarb in the same way to extract the juice for the Rhubarb 'Custard' Dessert.

Cornish Mackerel fillets, curing in Sicilian Lemon-infused Salt and Sugar

Brioche buns rising. We have recently been attempting to make our own bread rather than buy it as we used to. We have been experimenting with various recipes from chefs we admire, and have almost reached our perfect method.

Portobello mushroom 'steaks' curing in Thyme Salt for the vegetarian alternative to the pork. they were served with Samphire and Seaweed Powder.

Pork Cheek, cooked en sous vide for 8 hours and deep fried until crispy, to be served with 63°C poached Hen Eggs. Later in the week, the meat garnish changed to Oxtail, slow-cooked in veal jus en sous vide for 24 hours and garnished with Leeks.

The Belly Pork Skin roasted and subsequently crushed into crumbs for the sandwich.

We didn't have time to photograph all of the plates, and so some images of different iteration of each dish will have to be imagined, but here are some we managed to get...

Lemon-cured Cornish Mackerel
Marsh Samphire, Apple Gel, Channel Wrack Kelp Powder

63°C  Poached Hen's Egg
Slow-cooked and fried Pork Cheeks

Middle White Pork Belly Sandwich
Brioche, Malt Sauce, Dried Wild Garlic, Poached Rhubarb and Crackling

Pears
Pecorino, Rocket Sauce, Quince Gel, Hemp Oil

Lemon Polenta CakeRhubarb "Custard", Applemint

Apple Balsamic Vinegar Caramel
Maldon Salt

Guests were invited to fish out their poached eggs from the circulating water bath which was installed and cooking the eggs thoughout the exhibition and first courses. We gave instructions on how to break open the eggs, and the diners plated the first component of the course. We then plated the garnishes at the table.

Mike explaining the plating of the egg course.