It sounds – and looks – so simple. Two spears of asparagus with a hollandaise sauce and a few slices of charcuterie on top. But of course, any dish cooked by Sat Bains and served at his eponymous restaurant is going to be hiding a few tricks up its sleeve. There are just two tasting menus – one seven-course, one ten-course – on offer at the restaurant, so each dish needs to be absolutely incredible. For Sat, that means showcasing exemplary cooking skills, offering something diners simply can’t get at home and championing ingredients that people won’t necessarily find in the shops. Asparagus with hollandaise and salami is something most of us could easily prepare at home, but Sat’s version is a completely different beast.
‘We use local Nottingham asparagus, an ingredient that’s only really in season for five or six weeks a year,’ he explains. ‘The aim is to intensify the flavour, so we blanch it in stock and butter, make a little emulsion, add house-made cured meats that are high in umami as well as Parmesan which is high in amino acids.’
Already, the mention of amino acids suggests Sat has done some serious research into the ingredients he works with. The balance of a dish (and how each of those dishes work together in a tasting menu) is at the forefront of the chef’s cuisine, and that means looking really, really closely at how different foods and flavours work together. A little tweak here and a small change there can easily take a dish from good to great.
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Mind to menu: Sat Bains’ asparagus with hollandaise and salami