][1]David Scott is the Head Chef at Blackwood’s Bar and Grill at the Nira Caledonia on Gloucester Place in Edinburgh’s New Town.
His restaurant has just introduced a rather enticing new a la carte menu which you can see here. Many of the dishes are cooked in a Josper oven, a nifty bit of kit that gives dishes a distinct smoky flavour.
The 5pm Dining blog asked David to tell us a bit about his Josper:
‘Essentially, it’s a charcoal oven which can cook at a very high heat. That heat seals the meat off quickly and makes for a juicy, tender interior.
][6]Unique seasoning blend
We have our own unique seasoning blend which we put on our steaks and that forms almost a crust on the meat. It gives it more texture as well as adding flavour.
It’s far hotter than a conventional oven so you have to allow what ever you have cooked to rest for longer than usual when you take it out.
It normally runs at 350 to 400 degrees C during service. A normal, domestic oven usually runs at 180 to 200. Go much above 400 with the Josper and it’s too quick – it goes black on the but isn’t cooked in the middle.
The controls are simple. There is an air intake at the bottom and an air outtake at the top. You could fire it up, keep the vents closed and let it burn quietly all day or you can bash it up to 500 degrees and burn off all the charcoal in two hours. It’s not a scientific piece of kit. It’s more intuitive.
The air outtake controls how smoky it is as well as how hot. Fatty meats such as pork produce more smoke than say a fillet of steak.
Smoky flavour
It lends itself well to cooking steak but we also cook more delicate dishes like sea bass. Obviously, it’s quite thin when filleted and only takes about a minute to cook on the bars.
You wouldn’t cook everything on it – Dover sole would be too delicate. Having said that, I do a version of bouillabaisse, the French fish soup in there. That works well with a smoky flavour.
It is a nice bit of kit but it takes a bit of getting used to. I don’t burn myself as much as I used to but you soon learn not to touch it.
We’ve also introduced a smoke gun into the bar to try and we’re experimenting with some smoky flavours in the drinks.
We do make a big deal of the smoky flavours we can add. It’s kind of our house style and it gives the menu some theatre.’
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