There’s not too much time for Weekend Herb Blogging this weekend with the kick-off of the World Cup Football (and FIFA Beer World Cup at this site) and the Queen’s Birthday Weekend. While Kalyn in Salt Lake city is freezing basel, in Melbourne (Australia) we are just freezing with a shroud of mist hanging over [...]
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Poland I’ve fielded a handful of polish beers the key breweries being Zywiec, Tyskie, Okocim, Lech, Brok and a few others. Most of these are owned by the multinational beer companies. The Zywiec with 5.6 per cent alcohol by volume (abv) was pale and had a very clean hoppy taste, too light perhaps. It is [...]
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Germany Of course, the country that hosts the Octoberfest is going to have great beer. It also has the run of the mill as well. DAB and Bitburger are perfectly acceptable and I’ve tasted a handful here but really prefer a Pils (the pity being that Austria with Trumer isn’t playing). The showing was average [...]
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Tomato is hosting the FIFA (Fuck I can’t Face Another) Beer World Cup and anybody is welcome to join in. You don’t have to be a food blogger. In fact, you don’t eve have to own a blog. All you have to do is email me your winning beers from each round of the game, [...]
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Cam at Appellation Australia, who started listing wine bloggers down here, suggested I should pull the food and the wine bloggers’ listings together. And I will. First though to identify who the pure wine bloggers are. There are fewer than the food bloggers so my mind hasn’t overheated and I’ve realised the flaw in my [...]
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We are a coffee granule free zone. But I do have half a kilo of some stuff that passed out of a Weasel’s backside. At least in Vietnam they call it weasel. It is a civet and the beans are poohed out, it having eaten the coffee berries. Some poor bugger collects the droppings and [...]
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Yes, Anthony Bourdain is nearly always among the top 10 search strings in this blog. No, I don’t have an answer to the question.
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Some of our friends have stopped visiting the local farmers market. They argue that they are sick of buying fruit, which goes off within two days. I’m a big fan of that fresh direct to market fruit and veg. But are we talking about ripe ingredients or ones that are near rotten or off? Could [...]
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“Like dried baby goat. Or perhaps – I know – like veal, like the veal of a baby suckling calf, only drier.” This is how Princess Mary of Denmark’s royal father-in-law Prince Henrik describes dog meat. The Hairy Bikers couldn’t decide whether it tasted like Pork or Duck. J warned me off this delicacy so [...]
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I have a place reserved for the Chocolate 15-18 chocolate humidor right between my truffle brush and my novelty apron. From: Coolhunting
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In the heat of the tandoor oven Theatre restaurants are best avoided being neither experts in good theatre or good food. However, this doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy theatre in restaurants. I’m not talking about the chef assaulting errant diners with a cleaver. It is about the experience the service or even the clatter [...]
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Three years ago I went on a boozy winery tour with a busload of artist mates. Somehow along the way I managed not only to buy two small olive trees, but also two magnificent French oak wine barrels to plant…
There’s a rumour that Melbourne hospitals lay on extra staff in the Emergency Department at this time of year. Yes, it's tomato season and given our vast migrant population, there will invariably be a few home-bottling and canning disasters. Every Italian…
Making yoghurt at home is really simple and doesn't take much science. Here we make two different styles of yoghurt using both cows' and goats' milk.
It took four hours of a Saturday afternoon to construct this gigantic pie.
The recipes available are all pretty similar, three different types of pork with herbs and spices surrounded by jelly and encased in a hot water pastry. This one…
There's a lot of meat and fat in a pork pie including the hot crust pastry which is made with lard and butter.
I bought a whole tub of dripping, which is basically like lard (pig fat) but from beef, as…
Five days later and the bacon is cured. Salty and sweet, with a hint of juniper and sage, it was worth it.
Nothing is ever easy for me. Frustrated by the poor quality of filling and pastry in local pork…
Recent journalismWe don't see much innovation in cookbooks nowadays but The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria is as you'd expect from one of the world's most innovative chefs.
What most…
Consult a financial adviser before drinking from a Riedel.
Dishwasher tablets erode your glasses and crockery. Use liquid instead.
Decant heavier reds at least 8 hours before drinking.
If you want to drink…
Three years ago I went on a boozy winery tour with a busload of artist mates. Somehow along the way I managed not only to buy two small olive trees,…
There’s a rumour that Melbourne hospitals lay on extra staff in the Emergency Department at this time of year. Yes, it's tomato season and given our vast migrant population, there…
Making yoghurt at home is really simple and doesn't take much science. Here we make two different styles of yoghurt using both cows' and goats' milk.
One of the most exciting chefs to be in town for the Sydney International Food Festival was the witty and erudite David Thompson. If you aren't familiar with Thompson, the…
I recently had a non-brush with death while eating what turned out not to be my last meal.
It made me think of all the meals I'd wasted. A bad…
Neil Perry (left), Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal (bald). Courtesy of the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival.
On the SBS Food site you can see my story on meeting Thomas Keller…
Typical. Just as the world peaked Paul Levi, the man who had no small part in bringing us the slightly dubious word “Foodie”, launches the Gastrosexual, a man with more…
With thanks to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.
It's 3.50 on a Friday afternoon. I've just finished a great meal cooked by Scott Pickett at The Point in Albert Park…
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