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 […]
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The perfect pork pie part 1: Makin’ bacon
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 down that route. Where local artisans and manufacturers go wrong is the filling, which should be three types of pig chopped into different sizes and […]
Twitter is helpful for small business
WITH sales falling and a faltering reputation caused by dirt-cheap brands, Australian wineries have a problem abroad, but small Australian wineries are fighting back. They are building their brands online using the free social networking tool of the moment, Twitter, which allows people to post frequent short messages of up to 140 characters and keep fellow users updated on their world. Many wineries and wine websites are discovering the advantages of Twitter, which is simple to use, costs nothing more […]
Q&A: Should I modify my tipping in the global financial crisis?
Q What is the appropriate amount to tip? I realise that tipping has never been much of a norm in Australia, but for some reason I still feel obliged to tip at high-end restaurants, and I’m very conscious of the etiquette. I simply don’t know what the proper amount is, if any. In times of global financial crisis, the problem becomes more difficult, as I feel more constrained. I suppose my question is, what is the tipping etiquette in general, […]
Is the raw milk review biased?
Finally some news – or perhaps information – has emerged from Food Standards ANZ on the submissions last year on the review of raw milk processing standards. FANZ has distributed this pdf which I can’t seem to find on their website where it discusses raw milk products (but their again I have a short attention span if I can’t find something easily). If you are new to this debate the standards in Australia are inconsistent and the current review is […]
Listen to Heston Blumenthal and Thomas Keller talk the new cooking with Neil Perry
Packed into the new recital centre in Melbourne were a star-studded audience to hear Neil Perry, Heston Blumenthal and Thomas Keller discuss “A new approach to cooking”. Sydney chef Tony Bilson was taking notes sitting next to the legendary Cheong Liew. I think I spotted Karen Martini and Martin Boetz. The audience was also packed full of a who’s who of local food media as well as few bloggers and quite possible a few more food twitters. We were all […]
Andrew McConnell’s Cutler and Co takes Gertrude St to another level
The dessert that made me a plate licker. I’m not the only one worrying about the recession. But I’m probably the only one in Cutler & Co thinking about it. The reincarnation of chef Andrew McConnell’s Three, One, Two at the top end of Gertrude St is packed. So packed, McConnell later tells me that it took them by surprise which explains a couple of timing issues that a few of you will have seen on Twitter. But the whole […]
Q&A: Tips for world travellers
Q I am writing to you from agricultural heartland (Gippsland, that is) and hoping you might be able to give a coupla tips for surviving a visit to Washington DC. Naturally, the idea of eating in America inspires a degree of terror in me and I thought just maybe you might have a few clues? We are also visiting the Big Apple for the first time and would love to eat well there too.. I have heard this is easily […]
My secret chocolate kiwi fruit shame
À la recherche du temps perdu: Anthon Berg marzipans Back in the 90s in London I was doing a lot of Valrhona. Specifically, Manjari. I would hop on a moving Routemaster – the 137 – and sneak up to the Kings Rd to score big chunks of the stuff and Valrhona truffles made with Normandy cream and calvados. A friend was complicit in it encouraging me to bring Mangari to his Clapham South dinner parties. We were into some really […]