Check out locally made craft brews at Federation Square. This is an opportunity to meet the brewers and discover the secrets of the state’ s great beers. Try not to get bladdered, please. Where: When: Time: Cost: The Atrium @ Fed Square 27th & 28th February 2008 4.30pm – 8.00pm Tasting tickets $25 (plus $2 deposit) -includes [...]
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Check out locally made craft brews at Federation Square. This is an opportunity to meet the brewers and discover the secrets of the state’s great beers. Try not to get bladdered, please. Where: When: Time: Cost: The Atrium @ Fed Square 27th & 28th February 2008 4.30pm – 8.00pm Tasting tickets $25 (plus $2 deposit) -includes 20 [...]
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This place is only 5km from my front door by foot. But it is hard to find. Walk down Clarendon Street and turn first right after Market St. I know you are worried about ducking down a dark alley in South Melbourne. With its proximity to the Crown Casino this is brothel territory where winners [...]
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Politically correct ginger beer: what’s wrong with this picture? Well Jeremy Clarkson is in trouble again. This time for describing a car as being “very ginger beer”. It didn’t matter that an audience member of Top Gear said it was a bit gay. Just that he used the rhyming slang. Well there is plemty of [...]
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Beer not only tends to create fools but is meant to be foolproof. You know, just crack the can or bottle and swig it down. Or just visit a pub. Then this 5 litre monster lands on my doorstep. Wow, that reminds me of my student days although I never did manage ten pints – [...]
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There is no copyright on recipes (in most of the world) as there is on words or software. Still, this was no barrier to the Copenhagen-based art collective Superflex to release an open source recipe for beer. Writing in Wired, Laurence Lessig the father of the Creative Commons license says: “What makes Free Beer free [...]
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Well big and little m’s efforts at World Cup and Plate of matching food and drink through the world cup put my efforts to shame. Of 32 countries they ate 24 different cousines in 31 days. Australia vs Italy. Italy wins. Lucky beer and the swollen liver. I’m losing it. Japan pisses all over Australia. [...]
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The trouble is that Australia just didn’t perform and for once the winner of this stage of the FIFA (Fuck I can’t Face Another) Beer World Cup. For this match I pitted Australian microbrewery drops with some mainstream Italian. First the Holgate Brewhouse Mt Macedon Pale Ale (4.5 per cent),a great local beer. But despite [...]
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The pressure of trying to match beers to the FIFA World Cup football is taking its toll. Remember I’m in the city that Jerry Seinfeld described as the arse end of the world – geographically speaking. Watching the world cup in Melbourne means very late nights and early mornings. My face is permanently embossed with [...]
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This is the big one and a tricky contest it was. Japan started with a strong opening. Who can resist a Sapporo, Kirin or, especially Asahi. Australia in contrast has a mixed bag of beers, most of which are a working man’s brew. These are epitomised by VB and Melbourne Bitter (Nobody but tourists drink [...]
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ArgentinaAny country that holds an annual Octoberfest – I think I’ve said that before – has to know what makes a quality brew. Argentina with it’s links to Germany has been celebrating beer since 1964. The most popular beer is Quilmes. I’ve read mixed reviews. Somepeople rave about it’s thirst quenching properties. Others say it [...]
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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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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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