Cooking up a storm

Gin and food are intrinsically linked. They have been through history, with gin and ginger being one of the very early food pairings, and their connection has grown with the gin revolution. There are many parallels and connections. And with such extensive complexity in flavour and technique, it’s understandable why they share a similar space, and why we see chefs moving into distilling.

Now you might not realise it, but the founders of Thunderflower Gin, Dominic and Anicca O’Nions, also work in Ashburton Cookery School and have years of experience between them. Anicca says that one of the skills she picked up at the cookery school was that of layering flavours: “When you’re around cooking, you learn to layer the flavour, top notes, mid notes and high notes.” She makes a comparison to some eastern styles of cooking where food has sweet, sour, hot, “Whether a chef approaches one flavor with multiple techniques, or uses one technique to marry a variety of flavors, layering can create dimensionality, structure, or refined variation on the palate. A well-layered flavor profile (built on three ingredients or 30) won’t fade after first impact; it’s going to last, and change, over the course of the bite.”