Canelés: the new thing? Once it was donuts for me. Then a rainbow cornucopia of macarons. Now it’s Canelés, this particular one from Dench Bakers in North Fitzroy. To me they have the look of a barnacle or some such other marine creature that you have to chisel off a rock. But they are in fact gorgeous soft brioche-like confections soaked in custard and caramelized on the outside. They are a small snack but big enough for your partner to […]
Cooking
The humble olive: how to cure your own
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 them in. Once I had persuaded the bus driver to let me manoeuvre the barrels onboard, I also had to convince the other passengers to help me load them off and back on at every winery so we could exit […]
First truffle of the season
It was an urgent call to action the other Friday from Prahran Market’s Twitter stream: “Stop press! Black WA truffles in an hour ago! These were in the ground this time yesterday! Damian puke (sic) mushrooms” Pretty soon I was on the tram from South Melbourne to pick up the car in St Kilda. The tram terminating at Mart 130, I marched across the Albert Park and was drenched for the first time that day to pay $60 for 15 […]
How to make yoghurt the simple way
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.
Sod local food, it’s mango season
Fresh peppercorns Two things drag me out of the local groove; mangoes and mud crab. We did the mud crab on full moon. Now it’s the turn of mango. And the fresh green pepper corns discovered at Damian Pike’s stall on the recent bloggers’ tour of Prahran market. Fresh peppercorns are a real treat. In Cambodia and India I enjoyed them – thanks to French influences in Phnom Penh and Pondicherry – with peppered steaks. But few people have bothered […]
My recipe for perfect porridge (and tight buttocks)
Warning: unsubstantiated claims follow Creamy porridge 1 measure of cheap rolled oats 1 measure milk 1 measure and a bit more water A substantial pinch of salt Cook slowly, for an hour or so. Serve with drizzled honey and milk There is one secret I want to share with you. It’s the reason I’m not the size of Falstaff – or if you are into serial TV rather than theatre in the round – Hurley from Lost. It’s the reason, […]
Crappy Miele cooktops with knobs on
See where the knobs broke. Or should that be knobs off? On the surface Miele is the brand to buy. It’s solid, doesn’t discount and sponsors most of the important food events. It is the backbone of the mobile kitchens at Prahran Market. Then why am I left so angry by my stove top? Because it is really badly designed, has plastic knobs which broke off within a few months and because it costs about twice as much as, for […]
The perfect pork pie part 3: pork harder
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 based, again on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s, seems to be similar to most. Ingredients For the filling: 1kg pork shoulder 250g home made bacon 250g minced pork belly 12 finely sliced sage leaves Several sprigs fresh thyme salt to taste (my […]
The perfect pork pie part 2: in a pickle
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 my local Coles didn’t have any lard. I’ll be making Yorkshire puddings with the remainder in a few weeks. And, bugger, I can’t make the Roy Hattersley joke now. The acid in the piccalilli cuts through the fat in […]