To prepare the parfait, preheat the oven to 150°C. Fry the shallots in 50g butter with seasoning until transparent. Add the garlic, thyme, brandy and crushed coriander seeds, melt the remainder of the butter and add to the shallots. Leave to cool slightly.
Blend the duck and chicken livers until puréed. While blending add the cooled shallot and melted butter mix, season and blend to emulsify. Pour the mixture into a terrine mould, place in a bain-marie, and cover. Cook the parfait in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Cool over ice. Once chilled, blend the parfait until silky smooth and leave to set in the fridge for 1 hour before serving.
To make the red wine jelly, mix all the ingredients together in a small saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute. Pour the mixture into a small square plastic container and leave to set - do not move until completely set.
For the red wine poached quinces, preheat a water bath to 75°C. Peel and core the quinces, cut into ½ cm thick wedges and season with salt and pepper. Vacuum the crushed juniper, quince wedges, red wine and sugar. Cook in the water bath for 30 minutes, or until tender but not too soft. Cool over ice.
To serve, scoop a quenelle of parfait on to a slice of toasted baguette, and place on the plate. Garnish the plate with dollops of the jelly, slices of red wine quinces and pickled walnut pieces, then finish with a few micro leaves and rapeseed oil. Serve immediately.
2011年9月27日星期二
Buzz word: Lightweight
"We're the major equipment supplier for the centre, providing the 2,500-ton press," said Colin Folco, general manager at Dieffenbacher, which manufactures hydraulic presses for such sectors as automotive and the wood industry. "The press is the heart of the centre."
The centre is a joint project between the University of Western Ontario and Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, which is considered a world leader in material and process research and development work for the lightweight sector, said Ted Hewitt, Western's vice-president of research and research international relations. The City of London contributed $10 million to the centre, which is slated to open its doors next July.
It will focus on the development of lightweight materials to be used by auto parts manufacturers and others in industry that produce structural components from composite material that can significantly decrease product weight.
"As this new technology starts to take root, companies will start to replace steel and metal with these lightweight composites which have a huge advantage in so far as they're lighter, they can be made more quickly, they're cheaper and they're strong," said Hewitt. "Lightweight composite materials are not only silicon fibre, but hemp, glass, carbon and other natural products as well.
"It's technology which is key here and unique technology which Fraunhofer society is bringing to Canada, which will provide tremendous benefit not just to auto parts suppliers, but a number of other players in the manufacturing sector in the region and throughout the Midwestern U.S."
Faced with increasingly stringent fuel efficiency standards, automakers are eager to wean their dependency off of steel and metal.
Industrial hydraulic presses manufactured by Dieffenbacher are used by automakers to process composite materials, such as carbon and glass fibres, into exterior and interior auto parts, said Folco.
The new centre will act as a testing ground for partnering companies, which also include Ford, General Motors and Toyota, said Hewitt.
"If I'm a manufacturer of bumpers and I'm using plastic technology, I can move to a lightweight material," said Hewitt. "If I'm using metal I can go to the facility and I can mould and produce my new part in small quantities and I can test its use and application for which it's intended and then adapt the technology within my own operation and buy the equipment to do that."
Frank Henning, director of the Fraunhofer Project Center, said Dieffenbacher, whose parent company is headquartered in Germany, was one of the driving forces behind the new centre.
"It's too complicated to send heavy moulds overseas," said Henning. "We need something which is right on their soil in North America, where people can use North American materials and can be faster in innovations."
Henning said composite materials are already found in a variety of automotive parts and process, including frontend assembly carriers, underbody shields, upper beams carriers, seat shells, spare wheel wells, tailgates and roof modules. He noted that BMW is currently working on a carbon-enriched body.
"These technologies are at the edge of being transferred into industrial applications," Henning said. "We'll see more parts on the market in the next two to three years."
The centre is a joint project between the University of Western Ontario and Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, which is considered a world leader in material and process research and development work for the lightweight sector, said Ted Hewitt, Western's vice-president of research and research international relations. The City of London contributed $10 million to the centre, which is slated to open its doors next July.
It will focus on the development of lightweight materials to be used by auto parts manufacturers and others in industry that produce structural components from composite material that can significantly decrease product weight.
"As this new technology starts to take root, companies will start to replace steel and metal with these lightweight composites which have a huge advantage in so far as they're lighter, they can be made more quickly, they're cheaper and they're strong," said Hewitt. "Lightweight composite materials are not only silicon fibre, but hemp, glass, carbon and other natural products as well.
"It's technology which is key here and unique technology which Fraunhofer society is bringing to Canada, which will provide tremendous benefit not just to auto parts suppliers, but a number of other players in the manufacturing sector in the region and throughout the Midwestern U.S."
Faced with increasingly stringent fuel efficiency standards, automakers are eager to wean their dependency off of steel and metal.
Industrial hydraulic presses manufactured by Dieffenbacher are used by automakers to process composite materials, such as carbon and glass fibres, into exterior and interior auto parts, said Folco.
The new centre will act as a testing ground for partnering companies, which also include Ford, General Motors and Toyota, said Hewitt.
"If I'm a manufacturer of bumpers and I'm using plastic technology, I can move to a lightweight material," said Hewitt. "If I'm using metal I can go to the facility and I can mould and produce my new part in small quantities and I can test its use and application for which it's intended and then adapt the technology within my own operation and buy the equipment to do that."
Frank Henning, director of the Fraunhofer Project Center, said Dieffenbacher, whose parent company is headquartered in Germany, was one of the driving forces behind the new centre.
"It's too complicated to send heavy moulds overseas," said Henning. "We need something which is right on their soil in North America, where people can use North American materials and can be faster in innovations."
Henning said composite materials are already found in a variety of automotive parts and process, including frontend assembly carriers, underbody shields, upper beams carriers, seat shells, spare wheel wells, tailgates and roof modules. He noted that BMW is currently working on a carbon-enriched body.
"These technologies are at the edge of being transferred into industrial applications," Henning said. "We'll see more parts on the market in the next two to three years."
2011年6月22日星期三
Clinton Township plastic molder Anderson-Cook expands in China
Clinton Township-based Anderson-Cook Inc. plans to expand its Shanghai operations, including plastic molding, to handle growing demand for more precision automotive components in China.
The company plans to move from a 37,600-square-foot plant into a new, 64,500-square-foot building this year and has seen its sales in China double every year since 2008, company officials said.
Anderson-Cook plans to add four or five injection-molding machines to the 21 presses it now has in Shanghai, sales manager Rebecca Yue said in an interview at the International Auto Parts & Accessories Expo, held June 9-11 in Guangzhou, China.
“We have many current customers and potential customers who are very interested in our gear transmission housings,” including plastic components, Yue said.
The company does not compete in China’s mass market for auto parts, sticking to components where precision is required, and it is seeing demand for those types of parts rise, she said.
Most of its customers are the China operations of large foreign auto suppliers, including Lear Corp., Johnson Controls Inc. and Visteon Corp. But it is starting to see more interest from domestic Chinese carmakers as they seek to offer products such as better anti-lock braking systems, Yue said.
The Shanghai factory specializes in products such as gears and shafts, which make up about 77 percent of sales. It is also involved in office products and medical assemblies.
The company employs 130 at Shanghai but is unsure how many employees it will add in the expansion, Yue said.
Like factories in other big coastal cities, wages have risen substantially at the Shanghai plant — more than 10 percent a year for the past several years — prompting Anderson-Cook to look at more automation, she said.
Anderson-Cook has eight factories in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and China. It opened the Shanghai plant in 2005.
The company plans to move from a 37,600-square-foot plant into a new, 64,500-square-foot building this year and has seen its sales in China double every year since 2008, company officials said.
Anderson-Cook plans to add four or five injection-molding machines to the 21 presses it now has in Shanghai, sales manager Rebecca Yue said in an interview at the International Auto Parts & Accessories Expo, held June 9-11 in Guangzhou, China.
“We have many current customers and potential customers who are very interested in our gear transmission housings,” including plastic components, Yue said.
The company does not compete in China’s mass market for auto parts, sticking to components where precision is required, and it is seeing demand for those types of parts rise, she said.
Most of its customers are the China operations of large foreign auto suppliers, including Lear Corp., Johnson Controls Inc. and Visteon Corp. But it is starting to see more interest from domestic Chinese carmakers as they seek to offer products such as better anti-lock braking systems, Yue said.
The Shanghai factory specializes in products such as gears and shafts, which make up about 77 percent of sales. It is also involved in office products and medical assemblies.
The company employs 130 at Shanghai but is unsure how many employees it will add in the expansion, Yue said.
Like factories in other big coastal cities, wages have risen substantially at the Shanghai plant — more than 10 percent a year for the past several years — prompting Anderson-Cook to look at more automation, she said.
Anderson-Cook has eight factories in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and China. It opened the Shanghai plant in 2005.
2011年5月15日星期日
Colourful travails on the tiles
A few weeks ago, having discovered that our shower had been leaking for about a decade, we were forced to consider ripping the whole thing out and replacing it with a not cheap but rather nasty version fashioned in what is fondly dubbed "acrylic" by the manufacturers but looks like horrible plastic to me.
The first part of this renovation involved trashing the cabbage tree mosaic I had lovingly crafted on the back wall of the shower some 12 years ago. I had expected to erupt into sentimental sobs as the sledgehammer struck the first blow, but in reality I found myself rather relieved to be liberated from the daily evidence of my amateurish efforts at the mosaic art.
That was my second attempt at mosaicing. My first was on a set of steps leading to my house on Waiheke a zillion years ago. I was inspired by economy - smashing up plates and embedding them in cement was cheaper than paving or railway sleepers. The result was far from stylish, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I recall that I was inspired to create the cabbage tree on the shower wall after seeing the work of various mosaic artists, including Con Kiernan, Judi Brennan, Dhaj Sumner and others.
This second attempt was somewhat more sophisticated than the steps, and, at the risk of sounding immodest, drew gasps of admiration from those friends intimate enough to experience the interior of our shower.
I have to confess I haven't been moved to create any mosaics since, but now that winter's approaching and my creative opportunities are likely to be limited by the copious rain that Northland delivers between now and October, I'm giving it serious thought.
And I can certainly recommend it to anyone with an artistic bent who wants to make something that requires minimal skill and minor technical knowledge.
Advertisement
The deal is, make something - a pot, a post or a statue - and if it doesn't turn out as well as you wanted, sit it in the garden and hide the dodgy bits behind a palm frond. It'll look great and your friends will be thoroughly impressed by your creativity.
There's heaps of information on the net about how to make mosaics, and if you want to go a step further, you're bound to find a local mosaic class unless you live in Chatto Creek and, even then, there's probably someone there who knows how to do it.
To get you started, here are some tips I was given by the Clay Art Studio a few years ago. Since the mosaic art has been with us for a few hundred years, I'm confident it still applies!
1 Make sure your base is weatherproof and stable. Concrete is the ultimate base for outdoor mosaic projects, but for outdoor pictures, fibre cement board is great. Paint the back when you have finished. Wood is pretty much useless - even marine ply. It expands and contracts so much with heat and humidity changes that the grout can crack and water can get in.
2 Use waterproof glue. On concrete, cement-based adhesives work really well, but whatever glue you use, check the label says that it is good for exterior use. Also, use plenty of it. Make sure that there is a layer of glue between the mosaic piece and the base - don't press down so hard that all the glue squeezes out the sides.
3 Use weatherproof tiles. Many cheaper tiles will absorb water and, though this is okay on a vertical surface, if used flat on a paver or path, this water can freeze in the winter and damage the glaze. Outdoor tiles, glass, vitreous glass and high-temperature ceramics are a more sensible choice.
4 Grout well. Ensure that the grout is packed into the gaps between the pieces and worked in well so there are no air gaps. Use a rubber squeegee or spatula to completely fill the whole space, right down to the baseboard.
5 Seal the grout with a commercial grout-sealer. This seals up any tiny gaps that you can hardly see and prevents water working its way into them. It also gives the grout a smoother surface that is harder for mould and lichen to get a grip on.
The first part of this renovation involved trashing the cabbage tree mosaic I had lovingly crafted on the back wall of the shower some 12 years ago. I had expected to erupt into sentimental sobs as the sledgehammer struck the first blow, but in reality I found myself rather relieved to be liberated from the daily evidence of my amateurish efforts at the mosaic art.
That was my second attempt at mosaicing. My first was on a set of steps leading to my house on Waiheke a zillion years ago. I was inspired by economy - smashing up plates and embedding them in cement was cheaper than paving or railway sleepers. The result was far from stylish, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I recall that I was inspired to create the cabbage tree on the shower wall after seeing the work of various mosaic artists, including Con Kiernan, Judi Brennan, Dhaj Sumner and others.
This second attempt was somewhat more sophisticated than the steps, and, at the risk of sounding immodest, drew gasps of admiration from those friends intimate enough to experience the interior of our shower.
I have to confess I haven't been moved to create any mosaics since, but now that winter's approaching and my creative opportunities are likely to be limited by the copious rain that Northland delivers between now and October, I'm giving it serious thought.
And I can certainly recommend it to anyone with an artistic bent who wants to make something that requires minimal skill and minor technical knowledge.
Advertisement
The deal is, make something - a pot, a post or a statue - and if it doesn't turn out as well as you wanted, sit it in the garden and hide the dodgy bits behind a palm frond. It'll look great and your friends will be thoroughly impressed by your creativity.
There's heaps of information on the net about how to make mosaics, and if you want to go a step further, you're bound to find a local mosaic class unless you live in Chatto Creek and, even then, there's probably someone there who knows how to do it.
To get you started, here are some tips I was given by the Clay Art Studio a few years ago. Since the mosaic art has been with us for a few hundred years, I'm confident it still applies!
1 Make sure your base is weatherproof and stable. Concrete is the ultimate base for outdoor mosaic projects, but for outdoor pictures, fibre cement board is great. Paint the back when you have finished. Wood is pretty much useless - even marine ply. It expands and contracts so much with heat and humidity changes that the grout can crack and water can get in.
2 Use waterproof glue. On concrete, cement-based adhesives work really well, but whatever glue you use, check the label says that it is good for exterior use. Also, use plenty of it. Make sure that there is a layer of glue between the mosaic piece and the base - don't press down so hard that all the glue squeezes out the sides.
3 Use weatherproof tiles. Many cheaper tiles will absorb water and, though this is okay on a vertical surface, if used flat on a paver or path, this water can freeze in the winter and damage the glaze. Outdoor tiles, glass, vitreous glass and high-temperature ceramics are a more sensible choice.
4 Grout well. Ensure that the grout is packed into the gaps between the pieces and worked in well so there are no air gaps. Use a rubber squeegee or spatula to completely fill the whole space, right down to the baseboard.
5 Seal the grout with a commercial grout-sealer. This seals up any tiny gaps that you can hardly see and prevents water working its way into them. It also gives the grout a smoother surface that is harder for mould and lichen to get a grip on.
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