Lemon Tart made from Heston Blumenthal's "Heston at Home"

I have been thinking about shops and companies that create one thing and do it well. The perfect example is the Aussie staple of chicken and chips. Made by many and  tasty to some, but there was always space for improvement. Then came El Jannah in Granville making the charcoal-iest ( i just made that up) chicken, Lebanese style. I also need to add that they do a damn fine potato chip too which I believe is under rated but is just as important as the chicken. Bourke Street Bakery have taken many goods over the years and crafted them to perfection, although their prices are inflated rather exponentially. My point is, do one thing and do it well.

The Lemon Tart I made from Heston's book is such an example. Something that is thought of as a staple in the Australian dessert culture but often over looked and accepted for what it has been. I present to you this Lemon Tart I believe a business empire could be built on.

On Tuesday the following night, I calmed myself to a meditative state as working with pastry, a Zen like state of mind is required. Any small feeling of anxiety and stress will be apparent as soon as my hands touch this sensitive little square of dough.

Two sheets of baking paper.

Roll.

Freeze for 30 minutes.

Leave on top of the tart for 30 minutes to line and let sink in slightly, then minimally touching the pastry to line the tart tin.

Freeze for 30 minutes.

That's an hour and a half of just rolling and lining the tart tin. I know it seems excessive but I believe the tart case to be more important than the filling as it is the packaging for the recipients of such fine work. That and I am paranoid of ruining a good thing. Lucky I was born with patience.

It came out a treat. I mean, as I did not trim the edges of the pastry in cases of shrinkage (if you are smiling you have a dirty mind, yet imaginative) the pastry fell over the tart tin edge and fell off leaving small biscuits in the oven tray. The lemony smell of these small biscuits burnt my tongue as I there is no better taste of fresh biscuits as they crumble in your mouth and the whole things pretty much turns back into sugary lemony butter. Just like a good chip being over looked to eye the crowning glory of a charcoal chicken of any dinner table, the tart case is the means and packaging of a seriously good lemon tart.

The other winning factor for this lemon tart is the lemon filling itself as it is cooked precisely to 70 degrees C. Like any good dish, controlling the temperature is imperative to acquire a premium taste. Examples include Hai Nan chicken where a whole chicken is immersed in a master stock that has reached boiling point and allowed to cool for an hour.

As you can see my temperature probe fell in at precisely 70 degrees C 

so that the lemon filling set around indentation.

Shane Delia's 12 hour slow roasted lamb dish from his restaurant Maha is another gorgeous example. The lamb is cooked for 12 hours at a temperature of 75 degrees C which means the meat will cook slowly and uniformly. This creates meat that flakes away from the bone, becoming drop dead gorgeous as it breaks off. The key is that the meat never actually goes past the set temperature which means it will not dry out. Twelve hours at 75 degrees will surely cook through any meat, especially if it attached to the bone.

The same can be said about anyone that makes their steaks with a scientific probing thermometer...65 for rare, 70 medium, 75 well done.

The simple boiled egg with a par cooked runny yolk that does not give us any scares is precisely cooked at 65 degrees, with egg whites cooking at a lower temperature.

It is for this reason the lemon filling is cooked to 70 degrees allowing the lemon concoction containing egg yolk to set without over cooking or making the filling too firm. This is how a perfect finish is achieved. Jewel like. That velvety finish everyone goes on about regarding ganache and ice cream. In this dish is where the true meaning lies.

After 20 minutes the lemon filling was checked as the required temperature was closing in. Twenty five minutes hit the spot. The tart was allowed to cool in the tin as I didn't want to run the risk of the filling being too heavy for the pastry walls, as it had softened under the heat but would harden up as it cooled.

For aesthetics, each slice was sifted with icing sugar and caramelized for that amber crunch to flourish alongside the other textures and tastes.

The filling was opposite to that of sucking on a lemon warhead. It did not make your face implode like too many good Australian citizens have come to expect of this country's culinary staple. It was half way between a butter and a jelly, flavored for days with lemon that made the glands in your body salivate. Not just the ones in your mouth.

Friends of mine were the ones to benefit from this dish that I was sure to be a hit, as I raved on about how good it was as I gave it to them. They told me it was good. Hopefully not because I had told them it was good before they ate it. Maybe. As the dish came from the mind of Heston and followed to a T by moi, you can be assured that it was at least better than the norm.

It was freaking A-mazing, I promise!

O.k. that's enough of that.

Just trust me ; )