Rotisserie, the classic French cuisine

Triwik Kurniasari ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  JAKARTA   |  Sun, 06/21/2009 1:14 PM  |  On the Town

Hundreds of years ago, before modern ovens were invented; the French royal family had a tradition of cooking meat in a unique way: roasting skewered meat on a spit (a long rod used for roasting meat over a fire).

Called rotisserie, this style of cooking was usually practiced when royal families hosted dinner parties in honor of their aristocratic guests.

Rotisserie is generally used to cook large sized meat, such as an entire turkey or lamb.

"The best way to cook meat is to cook it in big pieces because you keep the juice and the flavor inside. So, it *the rotisserie* is the best way to cook the meat," said Olivier Piganiol, executive chef of the Dharmawangsa Jakarta Hotel in South Jakarta.

The meat is cooked evenly by rotating it over the fire. The roasting enriches the juices and the final flavor of the meat.

Want to enjoy cuisine prepared using this unique style of roasting?

No need to travel across the seas to France or use a time machine to get back the era of French aristocrats. Now, you can enjoy rotisserie style meat in Dharmawangsa, South Jakarta every Friday evening.

At the Jakarta Hotel, different kinds of meat cooked rotisserie style are served on a big table in the terrace of the hotel's garden.

Piganiol says he wanted to create the ambience of old-style French dining in the hotel.

His favorite rotisserie dish, he said, is the Black Angus - the beef rib eye that has been marinated for 300 days in black pepper and fresh thyme.

Slices of the beef taste smooth and juicy and really match the black truffle sauce. It also tastes good with red wine sauce.

After tasting the beef, you can refill your plate with milk-fed lamb loin marinated in lemon and pesto and combine it with mint sauce. The texture of the lamb is soft and well matched with the aroma of fresh mint leaves.

Venison is also worth to try. Put a few slices of venison onto your plate and add foie gras sauce or red wine sauce to create a perfect flavor.

"People are very interested in venison because it is quite uncommon in Indonesia," said Piganiol.

If you are more into fowl dishes, you can try chicken drumsticks rolled in bacon combined with barbecue sauce.

Whole quail is also a good choice. This dish tastes great without any sauce. The quail is tender and doesn't smell fishy.

If you find it hard to eat the quail with a knife and fork, fingers are recommended.

Once you order a kind of meat, one of the chefs will skillfully remove the meat from the spit straight from the grill and slice it up for you.

Customers can choose to add sauces to their meat, or condiments, such as Dijon mustard, Horse radish, onion and pickles, are also available.

If you need some carbohydrates and vegetables on your plate there are some selections you can choose from, such as Asian favorites like saffron rice, Italian rigatono with tomatoes concasse, potato gratin (sliced potatoes with cheese) and steamed vegetables.

If rotisserie doesn't grab you, the hotel also offers two unique seafood dishes: giant lobster and whole fish cooked in a clay pot.

The lobster, mixed with spinach, melts on the tongue, while the fish tastes really good with beurre blanc (lemon butter sauce) and tomato concasse (a mix of tomatoes, basil leaves and herbs).

The fish cooked in clay, Piganiol said, is also a very old-fashioned technique that many people have forgotten.

For an unforgettable dining experience, you can try the famous French classic dessert, crepe suzette. This dessert consists of a crepe with a hot sauce of caramelized sugar, orange juice, lightly grated orange peel and liqueur (usually Grand Marnier). Combined with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it will double your culinary joy.

Don't miss out on checking how the crepe suzette is made. It is interesting to watch the sparks dance in the pan when the liqueur is poured over the freshly cooked crepe. Dinner at this hotel really feels like stepping back into the olden days of the French aristocracy.

The rotisserie menu is available at the restaurant and garden of The Dharmawangsa Jakarta Hotel
Every Friday evening, 7 - 11 p.m.

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