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 pies it is my mission to make the perfect one. Or at least start wandering [...]
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Ingredients: serves two 2 eggs 4 slices of pancetta (he says thin but the only stuff I could find was round) Herby stuff 100g butter 1/2 an onion. Diced finely. i garlic clove. Diced finely. One cup each watercress and flat leave parsley leaves. One and a half cups baby spinach 25g grated parmesan Salt [...]
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When is a Yorkshire pudding not a Yorkshire pudding? Yorkshirefolk would say when it’s not made in Yorkshire. But according to one scientist it is when it’s less than 4 inches tall. That’s about 10.24 cm. But somehow Yorkshire puddings don’t seem right metric so let’s stick to a good old-fashioned 4 inches despite this [...]
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Yes, yes, yes, I still haven’t worked out to edit sound on video. But this, from Midsummer House in Cambridge, wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Ferran Adria who I interviewed on Monday. He gave me more than my allocated 30 minutes. At least that’s what I think. I was due to see him at [...]
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What do I miss most about home? It has to be the dear old Currant Bun. Today’s headline: Phew what a scorcher! Although they could be holding the front page to the Aussie cricketers a good firm kick in the bollocks. The last time I was home in England, en route to Spain, it was [...]
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Yes, Michael Blamey from St Kilda Today shot John Lethlean face on and possible Matt Preston in the back of the head (while Don Neil from At My Table looks on). I bought to an end of a very bloggy week of two events where food bloggers met. This second event was a media night [...]
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Too young to have participated, too old to be conceived then I really feel that I missed out on the summer of love. Now, the 40th anniversary of the summer of 1967, I enter what can only soon become my autumn of Viagra. For now though I’m enjoying flower power. Last southern summer while traveling [...]
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Who knows the fate of Tony Soprano? I know the fate of my old friend, Termini an Italian restaurant at the old St Kilda train station on Fitzroy St. Bumped off, dead, caput.I – my family – was there at the beginning when it was part of the Fitzroy Street tram terminal building site. Then [...]
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Tskui recovering from a hit and run driver is well enough for biscuits now and won’t keep still I’ve been meaning to bake dog biscuits every day this last harrowing week. It all started 6pm last Saturday when in Elwood a firework display was set off. Jak was on the beach with the dogs. Tskui, [...]
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Fresh wasabi: ugly but health giving Fresh Wasabi with the perfectly cooked salmon. It’s all about chemistry really. I’ve been eyeing-up the fresh Tasmanian wasabi from the potato man at Prahran Market for a while now and finally bought a $10 knob of the stuff. It’s a scrawny, black warty root with diminiative leaves and [...]
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Yabbies: those beady little eyes watched me to the end. Children, the elderly and the emotionally unstable should stop reading now as this is about the death and destruction I have brought upon the animal world, sometimes with my bare hands (in the case of game). I am a fan of my produce being fresh [...]
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I’m about to embark on the next of my molecular gastronomy experiments with Heston Blumenthal’s roast chicken which will take several days to prepare. But first a survey of other chefs’ approaching to roasting chicken. It is perhaps apprpriate to kick-off with this one which I found in The Futurist Cookbook, first published in 1932. [...]
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The future of cooking: In the kitchen at Interlude A couple of weeks ago I spent the afternoon in the kitchen of Robin Wickens and his chefs at Interlude. He was developing a new lamb dish which involved spraying coffee in the air while eating it (you may recall later that night I sucked on [...]
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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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