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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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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A heady aroma rises from the bag of truffles at Simon Johnson (12-14 Saint David Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065 +61 3 9486 9456) This may seem extravagant but frame it within the cost of eating out. In Melbourne, in most decent restaurants, a main costs $30 to $40. It is difficult to find more than [...]
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Marsh samphire: first remove the woody stalks. A few weeks ago I was seen leaving a restaurant lunch with a brown paper bag. It wasn’t full of money although you could call it a bribe. It contained a couple of handfuls of samphire, which sell uncleaned at about $25 a kilo to restaurants. Samphire is [...]
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Salted capers: the essential ingredient. The beef was a bit chewy and thick and still retained some chill from the fridge. The tuna mayonnaise was slightly too runny. The restaurant was a Melbourne icon, the grill room at Grossi Florentino (although one dish alone made up for everything and will be elaborated upon on another [...]
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Stone cold sober, this vegetable does pass for Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite sent into the earth’s orbit. The only thing is that Sputnik was 23cm in diameter, this veggie is about a quarter of the size. Sputnik was metallic while the kohlrabi comes either in a light green or purple variety. According to [...]
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Overwhelmingly dill seem to be the favoured herb this week although thyme, chillis/peppers and olives also seem popular. And what have we learned? Perhaps most importantly that dill relieves gas (who me?), colic in babies, induces sleep and wards off witches. Also it is possibly to make soup without onions. I might also add that [...]
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Note: Voting has closed. The Weekend Herb Blogging round-up will be posted soon. Phew, it’s a lot of work!. Meanwhile, vote for the Breakfast Blog as the best Australian/New Zealand blog in the Bloggies – it’s up against some tough hot nude gay action although I won’t link to it. The thing about the Breakfast [...]
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Everything seems mundane. I miss the sights and the sounds of Asia – the smell of lemongrass, BBQs, leaded petrol and the honking of motor scooter horns. The strange, noisy cats in Laos. I can’t get my mind into gear despite lots of exciting writing projects and I can’t even decide where next to go [...]
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It’s official. I’m back in Australia although I do still have a backlog of Cambodian posts (thanks to slow internet connections, dodgy computers and bowels and blacklisted ISPs). This Australia Day Weekend Tomato is hosting Weekend Herb Blogging, an event devised by the award-winning Kalyn’s Kitchen in October 2005 and one of the most popular [...]
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Jak prepares green papaya salad Usually my blog posts are from the opposite season from most other people. That’s because most of the time I live in the southern hemisphere. For this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Scott at Real Epicurean, Jak and I in the northern hemisphere at the Three Elephants Cooking School [...]
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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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