Proof that Angostura aromatic bitters is all you need
In association with Angostura aromatic bitters
Photography by Declan Roache
We all know that Angostura aromatic bitters is that one ingredient that can lift a drink, bringing all the ingredients together — it’s the one ingredient that takes a drink from good to great. It turns out, though, that it also elevates food to a higher plane as well.
That’s what Peter Gatti, chef of Brisbane venues Red Hook and Coppa Spuntino (2015’s Wine Bar of the Year), has found working with Angostura aromatic bitters in the recipes presented here.
His Chicken Diavola with Angostura aromatic bitters makes great use of this essential ingredient, employing it in a sauce and in the edible lemon and lime garnish.
“The lemon and lime have been pressurised and carbonated in Lemon Lime & Bitters, and you can eat it cold,” he said. “The red splatter is Angostura aromatic bitters, pedro ximenez, and beetroot juice.”
Chicken Diavola usually is marinated in chilli and lime, but the “Angostura aromatic bitters works really well with it because it balances [those flavours] out and makes it more busty — that’s why I’ve plated it like that as well, like an explosion of flavour of the sweet, the sour, and the bitter as well.”
You might like to employ his technique for flash carbonating the lemon and limes — it makes a great garnish.
“The lemon and lime, because I’ve pressurised it, once it comes out it actually fizzes. It’s properly carbonated, and you can eat the whole thing as well — rind and all. It’s kind of like preserved lemon, but it’s sweet with Lemon Lime & Bitters,” he said.
And no other bitters could play the savoury, spice-driven role that Angostura aromatic bitters does for Gatti’s Chicken Skins — the distinctive flavour giving the skins a moreish, give-me-more quality that makes them the perfect drinking food, and one that suits a Trinidad Sour nicely.
RECIPE: ANGOSTURA LEMON LIME & BITTERS CHICKEN SKINS
Ingredients:
500grams chicken skins
30ml lime juice
30ml lemon juice
10ml Angostura aromatic bitters
10g salt
15g caster sugar
2g gellan gum
Method:
1. Take the skin off chicken or buy from butcher as is. Wrap in a cloth and dry out in fridge, then bake at 180C for 30-50mins.
2. For the salt, combine remaining ingredients with gellan gum, dehydrate, crush in mortar and pestle.
RECIPE: CHICKEN DIAVOLA WITH ANGOSTURA AROMATIC BITTERS
Ingredients:
30ml Angostura aromatic bitters
45m Pedro Ximenez Sherry
10ml Centrifuged fresh lime
25ml Centrifuged fresh lemon
Rind of half a lime
Rind of half a lemon
Fresh kaffir lime leaves
1 Corn-fed chicken leg
30ml extra virgin olive oil
White wine vinegar
Green chilli
Red chilli
1 Lemon
1 Lime
Angostura Lemon Lime & Bitters
30g Caster sugar
2g gellan
Method:
1. Pour the LLB into a ISI. Cut the lemon into 8ths, lime into 6ths and put them in. Charge it until you have excess pressure come out of the discharged bulbs. Once charged, hold ISI upright and discharge without losing liquid. Charge it again and leave to sit for 8 hours.
2. For the red reduction, add the Angostura aromatic bitters & PX together, reducing over very low heat so as not to boil it.
3. For the green reduction, add the lemon and lime juice to the sugar and reduce to a syrup. Once cool add the gellan gum and blitz with a high speed blender. Cryo-Vac to remove excess air, then add finely diced lime rind.
4. Serve with your favourite style of chicken.