FOOD FILE:The 21st running of the Hennessy Gold Cup takes place next Sunday, but the race to design a lunch menu for VIP guests began some weeks ago

CREATING A MENU for a dinner party can be a challenge. You want your guests to relax and enjoy the meal and, after all the effort you’ve gone to, you possibly want them to be impressed by your culinary skills, too. It’s one thing when just six or eight friends are getting together, but when it’s 280 VIPs invited to a big day on the Irish racing calendar, it’s party planning on a different scale.

Next Sunday marks the 21st running of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown, and it’s going to be a big day for all concerned. Some will be there for the racing, some for the social occasion, and some for the fashion – designer Philip Treacy and model Jasmine Guinness will judge the best dressed competition. As the runners and riders face into the three-mile tussle for the Gold Cup, the sponsor’s guests – including the new French Ambassador to Ireland, Emmanuelle d’Achon, Italian filmmaker Vittoria Colonna, Chernobyl Project’s Adi Roche, Michelin star-winning chef Ross Lewis – will be sitting down to a celebratory lunch that has been several weeks in the planning by a team in two countries.

David Fransoret is Hennessy’s chef at the Château de Bagnolet in Cognac, a former home of the Hennessy family, where the company now entertains its guests. Cian Irvine is executive chef with Compass Group Ireland, which has the catering contract for Leopardstown racecourse. Between the two chefs, a menu had to be designed to match the occasion, with just six or seven chefs preparing it at the racecourse.

Fransoret came up with three canapés – foie gras lollipops, beef carpaccio and ceviche of salmon – to be served as a first course. There will also be a fish course of red dourade Niçoise-style. For the rest, it was decided that the two chefs should meet in the kitchens at Château de Bagnolet and create and compare two main courses and three desserts, with the help (or hindrance) of two Irish food writers, including this one.

No pressure then, I thought, as I tied my apron strings and was put to work in the château’s professional-standard kitchens.

The competition for the main course was between rack of lamb with basil and Parmesan crust, served with pommes mousseline, aubergine and garlic caviar and lamb essence; and pork Wellington with white pudding and apple stuffing, served with white onion and fennel soubise, celeriac gateau and chive jus. For dessert, the choice would be between dark chocolate, Hennessy and caramel tart with salted peanut praline and candied kumquats, coffee crème brûlée, and Hennessy dark chocolate fondants.

As Food & Wineeditor Ross Golden Bannon peeled, chopped and stirred under Irvine's guidance, I was dispatched to the pastry area to assist Fransoret. A dark chocolate fondant mixture had already been prepared – indeed, he suggests making it up to five days in advance it to allow the cognac flavours to permeate.

I was instructed not to let any drips to fall on the sides of the greased and floured ring moulds as I filled them. Easier said than done, but using ring moulds set on a greased baking tray, rather than ramekins, made them easier to turn out after their brief sojourn in the oven.

The next task was to wield a sizeable blow-torch to brûlée the sugar topping on the coffee crème brûlées. Fransoret’s perfect, evenly caramelised topping did not splutter messily against the sides of the serving dishes; mine did.

Finally, the chocolate caramel tart had to be made. The chef’s initial puzzlement when confronted with the tins of condensed milk was not much allayed by the revelation that in Ireland caramel is sometimes made by submerging the tins in simmering water for two hours. After three unsuccessful attempts at making the caramel, the problem was identified – glucose syrup is not a perfect substitute for Golden Syrup. Rapid simmering and much stirring later, the requisite consistency was achieved and Caramelgate was averted, but I wouldn’t bet on tinned condensed milk making a reappearance in the Château de Bagnolet kitchen any time soon.

On the other side of the kitchen, Irvine was dealing with another substitute ingredient: an approximation for white pudding and sausage meat for the pork Wellington had to be conjured up, using chicken sausages and Toulouse sausages blitzed together in a blender. Very good it was, too. The lamb dish was simpler in conception, and local Cognac lamb stood in admirably for the Irish meat that would be used in Leopardstown.

At last, a formal tasting of all five dishes took place in the château’s winter garden conservatory. It was decided that the rack of lamb was tasty, but not quite tantalising enough. The pork generated a far more positive response, with the smooth onion and fennel soubise, the deeply savoury pork and the chunky gateau of potato and celeriac coming together as an inspired and interesting combination.

The caramel and chocolate tart, served with a glass of Hennessy XO that proved to be a wonderful partner, was also pronounced a winner by several lengths, and will be a crowd-pleasing finale to next Sunday’s lunch. Winners all right.

The recipe for the tart is reproduced here. Don’t be put off by the length of it; it’s quite straightforward, and definitely worth the effort.

Dark chocolate, Hennessy and caramel tart with salted peanut praline and candied kumquats

Pastry

150g butter, diced

90g icing sugar, sifted

1 pinch salt

2 eggs, beaten

340g plain flour, sifted

Caramel

800g (2 tins) sweetened condensed milk

4 tbsp Golden Syrup

2 tbsp butter, diced

Chocolate

225g dark chocolate, melted

50ml Hennessy cognac

150g butter, melted

1 large egg

3 egg yolks

45g sugar

Candied kumquats

100g kumquats

250ml orange juice

50ml Hennessy cognac

50g honey

100g brown sugar

Peanut praline

100ml sugar

100ml water

100g peanuts

Pinch of flakey sea salt (Maldon)

Pastry: Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs slowly, one at a time. Fold in the flour and lightly knead. Rest the pastry in a fridge for one hour. Roll into a pre-greased, fluted 10-inch cake tin. Blind bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Caramel: Combine the Golden Syrup, butter and condensed milk and bring to a simmer; do not boil. Simmer for five minutes, stirring constantly. Pour a generous layer of caramel into the blind-baked pastry case, leaving enough room for the chocolate topping. You may have some caramel left over. Allow to set for one hour.

Chocolate topping: Melt the butter and chocolate together and add the Hennessy cognac. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl over gently simmering water until thick and creamy: the more you whisk it the lighter it will be. Fold in the butter and chocolate mix. Pour this on top of the carmel base and bake at 170 degrees for five minutes.

Candied kumquats: Blanch and refresh the kumquats twice in hot and then ice-cold water. Remove the flesh and discard. Rinse them again and dry them. Put the Hennessy, honey, brown sugar and orange juice in a pot and bring to the boil. Add the kumquats and reduce very slowly until a marmalade-like consistency is reached. This may take up to an hour. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn.

Peanut praline: Boil the sugar and water for three minutes to make simple syrup. Simmer the peanuts in the sugar syrup for 10 minutes. Remove them from the syrup and allow to cool on parchment paper. Blitz on pulse mode in a food processor, or chop finely. Add the flaked sea salt.

Serve a slice of the tart with the candied kumquats alongside and a sprinkling of peanut praline in a line on the serving plate.