Stay at home and avoid: – substandard overpriced fixed menu meals – overpriced sparkling wine masquerading as champagne. – overcrowded restaurants – wandering minstrels – gypseys selling roses – hype
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valentines
The inside guide to eating and drinking in Melbourne. Since 2005.
Copyright Edward Charles and Tomato Media Pty Ltd 2005-2011
- Vertical Smart Slide 1
- How to cure olives
- Posted 598 days ago
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…
- How to make passata
- Posted 683 days ago
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…
- Yoghurt making
- Posted 756 days ago
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.
- The perfect pork pie
- Posted 1016 days ago
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…
- How to make Picalill…
- Posted 1018 days ago
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…
- Makin' bacon
- Posted 1019 days ago
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…
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Recent journalism- Kicking Indian food clichésWhat’s your favourite Indian dish? Chicken tikka masala? Rogan josh? Naan bread? Indian restaurants have huge menus full of these and other popular dishes from the north of the country, but most ignore the delightful vegetarian spiced food from the south, and the wondrous array of fish dishes from a country with 6,100km of coastline […]
- The wonder of ArzakRestaurants are fickle things with short life spans. Even the most successful often close at their peak. But, in this world, Arzak Restaurant in Spain’s San Sebastián has been a constant since it was established in 1897. And what is more remarkable is that, four generations later, it is still in the Arzak family’s hands […]
- Bompas and Parr’s art of jellyMeet the jellymongers, Sam Bompas and Harry Parr. The old Eton College pals have taken the UK party scene by storm with their flamboyant jellies, bow ties and jelly-stained trousers. Whether it’s flooding the ground floor of a stately home to make a giant cocktail navigable only by boat, or inspiring the world’s top architects […]
- Defining Irish fareIt’s butter. Rich creamy butter, the product of Ireland’s rich emerald green pastures, that excites Rachel Allen, the woman who put Irish cooking back on the map, and who recently visited Australia as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. “I always come back to dairy.” says the TV chef, cookbook author and champion […]
- The foodies’ guide to Chinese New YearJust as Christmas is the most important festival on the Western calendar, Chinese New Year is the most important on the Chinese one. It’s about the family coming together to feast on New Year Eve, honour their ancestors and wish for prosperity. Unlike the Western Christmas and New Year, it doesn’t fall on a set […]
- Kicking Indian food clichés
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- What I love about The Family Meal
- Why I love The Family MealPosted 92 days ago
We 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…
- The cult of the wineglass
- The cult of the wineglassPosted 113 days ago
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…
- How to cure olives
- The humble olive: how to cure your ownPosted 598 days ago
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,…
- How to make passata
- Tomato season means it’s time to make passataPosted 683 days ago
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…
- Yoghurt making
- How to make yoghurt the simple wayPosted 756 days ago
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.
- Thai master David Thompson in conversation
- Thai master David Thompson in conversationPosted 765 days ago
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…
- 101 – sorry 127 – things not to eat and drink before you die
- 101 – sorry 127 – things not to eat and drink before you diePosted 904 days ago
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…
- Thomas Keller talks Tomato
- Thomas Keller talks TomatoPosted 961 days ago
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…
- 11 ways to spot a food wanker
- 11 ways to spot a food wankerPosted 982 days ago
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…
- 40 exclusive minutes with Heston Blumenthal
- 40 exclusive minutes with Heston BlumenthalPosted 1000 days ago
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…
Copyright Edward Charles and Tomato Media Pty Ltd 2005-2011