A home cook in the city

Yummy Yum Cha

2011-02-09T14:58:00.002+10:30

It's almost criminal that it has taken me this long to experience the delights of Yum Cha but there it is. Perhaps it has something to do with the pre-frozen packs in supermarkets tainting my vision of what yum-cha actually is (i.e. deep-fried, frozen mini spring rolls), but it wasn't until I stumbled in to T-Chow in Chinatown that I experienced a fantastic yum cha.

Almost as soon as we sat down the teapot was delivered to our table and mere seconds later we were presented with a selection of dishes from the waiters. My only regret is that we slowed down a bit as we didn't turn down any of the first 6 or so mini-dishes we were offered, which meant that when some really interesting dishes came along later we were both WAY too full to accept them.

The stand outs for me was a lovely braised Tripe dish, almost nauseating to look at but don't judge a book by it's cover. It had a lovely anise flavour to the braising gravy and suprisingly tender (I've been put off by some tough tripe in the past). Also, the chicken feet, whilst they sound pretty awful were fantastic. I had attempted to make these myself in the past, but took them way beyond cooked to the 'falling apart' stage (not good when there are so many tiny bones involved). The soft, padded, collagen-y bottom of the foot where the toes meet providing the tastiest meat.

Of course it wasn't all offal, (I just can't turn these down) many of the dishes fell into the more conservative area that would appeal to wider tastes. The only dish I wasn't a fan of was the scallop 'dumpling', though my husband quite liked these. Each to their own.

Anyway, next time I go I will be bringing a much larger group so we can have many more dishes without having to undo the pants. We left with a very reasonable bill of $45 for roughly 7-8 dishes and tea and literally were unable to fit another bite in, though I really did give it a college try!

Gluttony...

2011-02-01T15:50:00.002+10:30

'Cerberus, a ruthless and fantastic beast,

with all three throats howls out his doglike sounds

above the drowning sinners of this place'

- Canto VI line 13-15, The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno, Dante Alighieri

The above passage describes, in Dante's great work of fiction 'Inferno', the Glutton's punishment in hell where Cerberus, kind of a big guard dog with 3 heads who routinely terrorises the hapless sinners. The beast represents the unrelenting gorging and hunger of those who committed which, when you think about it, isn't the worst thing to do: Gluttony. Supposedly, stuffing one's body like a Goose in a Foie Gras factory is disrespecting the body, and therefore somehow disrespecting God? (I know, I know; like I said; it's a work of fiction). I wonder then, why smokers or drug addicts aren't punished in a similar way.... seems a bit unfair to me.

But scary fiction aside, let's look at gluttony. I have touched on the topic of food abuse previously but now I find myself pondering this topic again. This might have had something to do with a throwaway comment made by Personal Trainer Michelle Bridges on her recent time in the home of the 4 men she will be training on 10's 'The Biggest Loser Families'. She claimed she initially was looking forward to having a week where she might get to enjoy some fabulous, gourmet foods but instead had to tolerate plate after plate of greasy, sugary, fatty rubbish. What is funnier is that she was surprised!

When you think about it, when someone gets to such a large size it can simply not be about the food any more. I think this is where the show falls down a bit and you tend to see a situation where many contestants put the weight back on. Food as an addiction is really no different to drug or alcohol addiction, it's outcome is just a lot more visible and therefore more easy for people to discriminate. Clearly, the food is medicating a much bigger problem and a more practical way to deal with the issue is to treat the cause rather than the symptom. Diet and exercise are obviously important but if you are not dealing with the underlying psychological issues.... well that's when the weight piles back on.

I think it's strange that Bridges would lump those with a serious weight problem together with people who truly adore food. True, I've never been seriously overweight so it hard for me to comment with authority (I did carry a couple of extra kilos in my first year of marriage but I shed those with some serious hard work!) but I imagine when you are obese the food is as much an enemy as a love. There's nothing loving about sitting down and eating 2 Litres of ice cream after a dinner of a whole pizza. It almost seems like a punishment.

On the other hand, as a person of healthy weight who loves food in a serious way (and who has a very handy gym membership to work off the calories that result), I don't have that love/hate relationship with food. I can think of nothing better than a glass of wine and a gorgeous cheese that I most likely spent too much on (it's always worth it) or a square of 85% dark chocolate. I'd rather enjoy small amounts of that type of luxury than the 'cheap and nasty' equivalent which may consist of a few cheap beers or cask wine (gah!!), a whole chunk of cheap club cheddar and the whole family block of chocolate.

Anyway, I haven't really drawn any conclusions (as usual), but I guess I have established (thanks to Dante) that people have always been cruel to the obsese (I don't feel that the punishment described in his poem fits the crime) when really what they need is not to be told to 'put down the fork', (which is like telling an anorexic 'Just eat something') but a bit of understanding and access to the right help that treats what is causing them to medicate with food.

Pondering over... I'm going to go enjoy an espresso and a square of 'Steven ter Horst' chocolate, yum!!

Why Baking is better than modern technology

2011-01-26T12:09:00.004+10:30

(and yes, I am aware of the irony of using a blog to air my opinions on this matter)

1. Eggs don't require software updates

2. Flour doesn't suddenly crash for no reason and lose your work

3. Butter doesn't get infected with 'Malware' and require you to return it to it's original form and start making the butter from scratch before you can use it again.

4. You don't need to call Customer Support when your cake doesn't rise properly, ususally it really is just your fault.

5. Cream doesn't require you to remember 100 different passwords and login names.

6. You can't get a virus from using your Kenwood Chef.

7. Recipes don't ever require expensive upgrades to remain usable.

8. You always know that a croissant takes about 15 minutes to bake, it doesn't slow down or speed up based on how many other people are 'baking' (i.e. downloading)

9. Talking to a tech support rep who cannot speak a word of English is not necessary when I am having trouble aerating a sponge.

10. Eggs, flour, butter and sugar don't have complicated moving parts that require expensive reapirs.

An ode to the lemon tree in my neighbor's backyard

2010-06-11T14:24:00.002+09:30

O tree so laden with fruit
you stand so tantalisingly close
yet you might as well be far away
guarded by steel and yappy critters as you are
Why do they ignore your bounty?
If you were mine I would not neglect you so..

In the dark of night I may come,
and snatch one or two of those fragrant, golden orbs
They will be zested into a single, fresh pasta dish;
with pecorino, murray river pink salt and grassy olive oil
.... and a grinding of freshly cracked black pepper....

A few food memories from Thailand

2010-05-21T21:01:00.002+09:30

(left) 'Tiger', my little restaurant buddy on Phi Phi Island, I wanted to bring him home!

Below; The beers are just better in Thailand! Not to mention the food...

Little Tiger Restaurant, Phuket, Thailand, the happiest place in the world :)

Berkshire Pork + The Silver Spoon = 1 very happy foodie

2010-05-21T15:47:00.001+09:30

Tomorrow night I am finally trialing the much-praised Berkshire Pork, which I have heard great things about. I have decided I’m no longer comfortable with buying meat unless I know for sure if the meat is produced without causing the animal to have an unhappy life.

Growing up we always had our own meat butchered, so I know for certain that up until the moment of their death, our animals were fat and happy. I’m sure this is why the meat tasted so good!

Ever since I have found it hard to source good quality meat, and pork has been the hardest (we didn’t have pigs but they still seemed so much better back then). The pork of my childhood had a good half inch at least of fat in the rind, now the shoulders/loins etc that I see in many butchers or supermarkets barely have half a centimeter and the roast is always a dry, crackling-free letdown. Why on earth breeders tried to lower the fat content of the pigs is beyond me. If there are some fatties out there who can’t say no to a normal pig then that’s not my problem; I want my pork as fatty as possible (I just work it off at the gym).

Anyway, after hunting around for outlets of the much-lauded ‘Berkshire Pork’ I have a lovely loin cut that I plan to roast up tomorrow night.

And of course such a beautiful piece of meat deserves the best treatment so I will be using a recipe from my latest favourite cookbook; ‘The Silver Spoon’; I can’t believe that it has taken me this long to buy this classic. It is stuffed so full of recipes so I did the math and found if I cooked one of the recipes a night it would take me about 6 years to cover the whole book! This is my kind of cook book, not full of lovely styled photos (these have their place, but really you’re paying for pretty pictures and not many recipes), just packed with as many recipes as can fit on the pages.

Anyway, stay tuned as to how this dish turns out. I am reading ‘Everything but the squeal’ by John Barlow at the moment, hence my minor pork obsession at the moment.

I'm not a food snob, I swear!

2010-03-11T15:42:00.001+10:30

Reading back on some of my posts, it has occurred to me that I must come across as a pretentious twat! I swear I’m not a food snob and here is proof in the forms of some of the more low-brow guilty pleasures I indulge in:

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese; the only reason I don’t keep this on stand by in my pantry for emergencies is because of the calorie count, but it’s unbeatable for a massive carb-fix!
Cadbury ‘Wipsa-Gold’ chocolate bars: The ones that for some inexplicable reason only Coles supermarkets sell; probably a good thing though because I’d probably eat one every day if I could get my hands on them more easily. Kate Moss once said ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’; she obviously hasn’t tried these!
‘Emergency pasta’ – 1 can of Rosella Tomato Soup (it must be Rosella brand!), pasta, 1 cup grated cheese. One word; awesome
KFC potato & gravy with KFC chips (don’t knock it til you try it)
Mee-Goreng instant noodles (picture me hiding my face in shame)
Cookies and Cream flavoured anything – enough said
Fried haloumi cheese; nothing added to glam it up; just fried and eaten immediately; how can anything that tastes so good possibly be so bad for you?

A happy accident

2010-02-07T12:54:00.002+10:30

Yesterday I created a dessert by accident; I had successfully made profiteroles (after finally biting the bullet and getting over my fear of screwing them up!) and even made the creme patisserie filling, things were looking promising. I decided that I might as well go the whole hog and make toffee to coat the profiteroles, problem was I forgot that boiled sugar continues to cook long after you take it off the boil. If I had taken it off the boil just a bit earlier things would have been ok, but as it was I took it off the heat just as it came to the right colour. Problem was, it quickly turned a dark brown molasses-like colour within a few minutes.

So stuck with a batch of profiteroles with no toffee to finish them off; I had to find another solution. I pulled out my copy of Stephane Reynaud's 'Ripailles' and flicked to see if I could find something else to top them off; a glace icing presented itself as a solution but with no way to make the chocolate or coffee icings recommended with what I had in my pantry I had to think of another flavouring.

The only essence I had handy was some Rosewater, a few drops of this with some pink food colouring; this is how the Turkish Delight Eclair was born; I just need to come up with a more creative name for it in the fashion of Adriano Zumbo, who gives his pastry creations such wacky, hilarious names :-)

When I make a more attractive looking batch I will post photos..

A good life

2010-01-28T10:45:00.000+10:30

Overhearing a discussion at work the other day, I came to realise that from a food point of view I am actually extremely lucky in my upbringing. As I listened to a discussion about my colleagues disillusionment about the source of our meats and fruits/vegetables and their worries about what they are putting into their bodies and those of their children it make me come to a few conclusions as to why I was lucky to grow up on a farm rather than in a suburb in the city (not that I ever envied city kids, what a dull life to only have a backyard to roam in):

Raw Milk: One of the wondrous things about growing up on a dairy farm was I never went wanting for dairy; and the pasteurised & skinny version I buy now just doesn’t seem to have the same flavour. Of course; it is illegal to sell raw milk in Australia but it’s not illegal to go to you bulk tank with a jug and fill it up! I don’t understand why; it never made us sick! I still remember seeing that gorgeous layer of cream settling on the top of the jug as it sat in the fridge and having to stir it in so that it wasn’t quite so rich! This is probably something I will never be able to have ever again, unless the laws change in Australia.

Killing our own meat: Aside from the fact that my dad used to chase us kids around with the decapitated heads of the sheep he sometimes butchered for meat, I recall finding it fascinating to watch the process of an animal becoming the various cuts of meat that ended up on the dinner table. Sure, there was a tinge of sadness (lets face it, sheep are kinda cute) and revulsion (it’s a smelly and bloody job!) but I also understood that this was the way things are.

It’s not pretty but its part of life. I always get a laugh when some city people are horrified at footage of animals being butchered for meat; how exactly do they think the animal is killed? With flower petals and fluffy bunnies? At least in the case of our meat; it was quick and the animal had a good life up until its death. The steers we sent to the butcher (a bit too much of a job for a farmer without the right tools) had a happy life grazing in green fields and it was just an accepted part of life that they would come back to us in the form of a table full of cuts that needed to be bagged, labeled and frozen for later use.

This is probably why no I am such a fan of the whole ‘nose to tail’ concept of not wasting any part of the animal and don’t understand why people get squeamish about eating certain parts of the animal. All this pro-meat blathering makes me sound pretty callous but I love animals of all kinds (except spiders, they can just leave me alone!), it just so happens that I also love meat and I want to ensure that the meat I eat is ethical. Nobody who proclaims to be an animal lover is a fan of battery farming.

The Veggie patch and orchard: This is what I miss more than anything; I used to love sitting in blood plum or mulberry tree and stuffing myself silly with fruit until I felt sick! I still can’t find an apple that tastes anything like those picked right off the tree and eaten unwashed (no sprays or chemicals here!). And there was something Christmas-like in waiting for the vegetables to be ready for picking; I loved to pull radishes out of the ground; take them over to the garden tap then rinse and eat on the spot (I must have had terrible breath!). Tomatoes that are home grown are a revelation and there is no equivalent I can find even at the central market. Don’t even get me started on broad beans! These appear for just a few weeks at the central market, and then sadly seem to vanish just as quickly. The only thing I don’t miss is finding hunts man spiders in the silver beet leaves.

Fresh eggs: Once I get a decent sized back yard the first thing I will do apart from establishing a vegetable patch is get myself a few chooks; they really do have the most comical personalities and nothing beats a fresh eggs that is still warm. A bigger challenge still was coming across a batch of eggs that the chooks had hidden in the orchard and doing the ‘float test’ to see if they were off or not.

The kitchen; I think this is where my love of all things food began; as I have mentioned in previous posts, mum was an awesome cook and had she been a working mother I might never have had the chance to learn to love preparing food as much as I did. Coming home from school and being able to smell roast beef and potatoes, or cake and biscuits before I even entered the house is a fond memory. When I eventually have kids of my own I plan to spend as much time in the kitchen (and taking them to food markets) with them as possible. Of course the necessity of having to earn a living will probably mean this is not as much as I’d like but I can work with that.

Reading back over all of this makes me wonder what on earth I am doing living in the city sometimes! At least for me, seeing where my food came from made me appreciate it a whole lot more and certainly makes me appreciate it when I can find great quality ingredients. The only drawback is that it can make you terribly fussy about what you buy and is a cause of many rants when I see the quality of fruit, veg and meat in the ‘Big 2’ supermarket (“they call this basil?? It’s barely fit for human consumption!!”).

My Cooking Role Models

2010-01-15T13:09:00.001+10:30

I got to wondering the other day who has had the greatest influence on the how I cook, and unlike a lot of passionate home cooks it’s probably not the run-of-the-mill Jamie Olivers (although he is awesome) and other internationally renowned celebrity chefs. I’m not sure what that means or if it really even matters, but here is my list anyway:

Maggie Beer

Probably the closest thing I have to a celebrity on my list (let’s face it, she is pretty big, even if just here in Australia), but I’ve yet to see any Chef get as excited about food as she does and a personally signed copy of my all time favourite cookbook (Maggie’s Harvest) takes pride of place in my bookshelf. Here’s a woman who started off with a simple idea and has turned it into an empire without compromising the quality of her product for the sake of profit.

Margaret Fulton

Every time I see this woman on TV I just want to hug her, she is adorable! Of course I was too young to remember her in her hey-day when she ‘taught Australians how to cook’ as she is credited with doing so I have come along a bit late to Fulton-worship. She is now this tiny, frail looking woman but she lights up when she is talking about food and still has so much energy. Her encyclopedia of cooking is another favourite of mine; there are no pretentious ‘foams’ or ‘soils’ or other weird ways of preparing food, just no-nonsense recipes for those of us who want to know how to make a perfect pastry or sponge or want some questions answered when we can’t reach our mum for a phone consult on why the Chocolate Ganache seized (I didn’t get a drop of water in it I swear!!), which brings me to my next point:

My mum

Ok ok, it’s cheesy I know, but the amount of times I’ve had to call her up to answer some cooking related question for me is astronomical. My childhood was spent coming indoors from getting all muddy and smelly on the farm to the scent of freshly baked cookies, cakes or some other treat. I still learn from her to this day (and I like to think she has learned a few things from me too by now!) and I have to admit I was just a little bit smug as a child as I knew all the other kid’s mums were rubbish cooks compared to her.

Possy (my Grandmother)

I think the greatest compliment that I have received recently about my cooking was that my Christmas Pudding was ‘almost as good’ as Possy’s. That’s saying a lot because she was an awesome cook. For some reason everything she prepared always tasted so yummy!

Food abuse in the west

2009-09-11T13:10:00.001+09:30

I got to thinking the other day, why do we have this problem with food abuse in western society? Food abuse is really like any other form of abuse (alcohol, drugs etc), only instead of syringes filled with heroin the problem is KFC buckets full of fried chicken.

I am befuddled when I try to think of why people go down this path, surely nobody actually enjoys the feeling of eating a greasy Big Mac or similar? Each to their own (and there is no finer hangover cure than a bacon Double Cheeseburger taken before bedtime after a big night out), certainly, but of course no one can deny it becomes everybody’s problem when we have the resultant health problems within society (obesity, diabetes, heart disease etc.).

All the public health initiatives we have seen over the past 20 years have not helped (think ‘life be in it’), in fact the problem is growing ever worse. We have an increasing nanny-state where parents want food ads banned from TV (ever heard of just saying no to your kids?) and certain foods/drinks are banned from school cafeterias but none of this makes any difference.

The problem is that food has become just another opiate for the masses; people don’t appreciate what they are putting in their mouth as they haven’t had to think about it. It’s cheap, quick and mass-produced and it makes them feel good. More often than not it’s also laced with hidden fat, chemicals, salt and calories that equivalent food made by hand just would not have (compare fasta pasta spag bog with what you could make yourself). There have been suggestions in the scientific community that sugar is just as addictive as smoking and I’d believe it.

Recipe experiment: Prosciutto wrapped chicken stuffed with fetta & chorizo

2009-08-19T21:10:00.004+09:30

I threw this recipe together the other weekend when in Penola visiting mum & dad. Boning the chicken is the hardest part (but fun!) and the rest is dead easy :-) This was enjoyed by all eating it .. a good winter dish! Forgive me if the proportions aren't exact but I didn't measure as I made it up as I went along.

Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Roll Stuffed with Chorizo and Fetta

1 X whole chicken (make sure it's free range!), size depends on how many you're feeding
1 X Chorizo Sausage, chopped into small pieces
A decent handful of crumbled Danish fetta (Danish fetta spreads better over the chicken)
2 X chopped shallots
3 X cloves garlic, crushed & chopped
Approx 6 slices Prosciutto
1 tbsp olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

First bone your chicken, if you don't know how to do this, it takes a bit of explaning and requires visual aids so you may want to Google it. Try the Gourmet Traveller website. Don't remove the skin as this helps keep the chicken moist when roasting.

Heat olive oil in pan over moderate to high heat and cook your garlic and shallots for a couple of minutes until shallots start to soften, add chorizo and fry for about 1 more minute. Allow to cool slightly.

Spread your de-boned chicken over a clean chopping board and nearby, lay out the prosciutto slices so they overlap each other slightly. Take the chorizo mix and spread evenly over the inside of the chicken. Crumble the fetta over the top of the chorizo.

Starting at the end closest to you, roll the chicken tightly and then carefully transfer onto the prosciutto slices you have laid down. You might need a second person to slide 3-4 pieces of kitchen string under the roast while you lift it up slightly so as to not let the filling fall out. Tie the string at equal distances along the length of the roast and then place in a pan on a roasting rack.

Roast in oven, this again will depend on the size of your chicken but I found mine took about 1.5 hours.

Slice thickly and serve, you will find that the prosciutto sticks to the skin of the chicken and will hold it's shape well. i like to serve it with some green veg as it's very rich!

Yum!

Cook books I'm loving at the moment

2009-07-24T19:28:00.002+09:30

Just a short one this time!

"Ripailles" - fanstastic french cook book, not dumbed down at all, full of classic and somewhat scary (veal kidneys fried in their own fat!) recipes. Not to mention some of the traditional french dishes and pastries - Cassoulet, eclairs etc. Artery clogging goodness :-)

"Maggie's Harvest" - by Maggie Beer Best.Cookbook.Ever. enough said.

"Margaret Fulton's encyclopedia of Food & Cookery" - great for those times when I have an ingredient I don't know what to do with (Okra, most recently) and some of those classic dishes grandma used to make :)

"A Day at El Bulli" - there is no way I will ever be able to prepare the recipes in this book but it's good to dream!

"Italian Local" by Tobie Puttock - good, yummy and relatively simple dishes by Jamie Oliver's Aussie right hand man.

And... every issue I own of Gourmet Traveller.

I could go on but it would keep me here all day and frankly, I'm hungry. Bye for now!

Why Ratatouille is the best foodie film

2009-05-28T16:01:00.001+09:30

I sat down and thought about it, and there really aren’t that many ‘foodie’ films out there, and where there are; they usually have a sub-plot (usually romance) which detracts from the food aspect (think ‘No Reservations’). The big exception is “Ratatouille”, how sad that what is essentially a kids film is the only one (at least the only one I can think of) to focus on the food aspect!

Personally, I love ‘Ratatouille’; what a wonderful premise the film is based on:

‘Anyone can cook’

The idea being that you don’t have to be some high up Chef who trained with the best in the world to ‘know’ food. Look at Masterchef as an example:

There are all types in this show, one that stands out for the wrong reasons is Aaron, here’s a guy who seems to know a lot about food. He famously tried to impress the judges with a ‘molecular gastronomy’ style dish which looked very impressive but apparently tasted like rubbish. His knowledge seems to outstrip many of the other contestants but he just doesn’t seem to have the instincts. This is further demonstrated by the fact that he seems to continually turn out second rate dishes (why he hasn’t been voted out is beyond me). Those with less ‘technical’ knowledge than him are better at what they do because they clearly love it.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that all the technical skills & knowledge in the world mean jack if you don’t have the heart for food. So realistically, there could be many ‘home cooks’ out there whose skills outstrip those of many chefs. Not all of course, but I’ve been to too many restaurants where the chef appears to have no taste buds (then I’ve been to some places where I’ve been completely blown away too). Watching the Cook & the Chef last night, I heard Maggie Beer say she had no formal training and learned everything she knows from reading books; and she’s a legend! I’d wager 90% of these Chefs in the average restaurant don’t have even half the ability that she does, it’s clear that she adores food, and obviously that comes through in her cooking. If I had even 10% of her ability I’d be thrilled!

Hence my point about the ‘Ratatouille’ movie; which I think embodies it’s concept that ‘anyone can cook’ perfectly. As it happens the lowly rat with a genuine passion for food (don’t get me wrong, I’m not comparing Maggie Beer to a rat!!) turns out to have more instincts for food and flavours than the head Chef of what used to be the best restaurant in France. I’m not minimizing the importance of training for one minute (then I’d be like one of those people I hate who pick up a paintbrush and declare themselves an Artist) but it seems to me that there are as many passionless and disenchanted chefs running sub-standard restaurants (i.e. the cranky, sell out head chef in the movie) as there are geniuses with a real gift who turn food into an art form (the rat).

Why offal is awesome

2009-05-25T20:17:00.001+09:30

I remember hearing somewhere (it might have been ‘The Cook & The Chef, it’s a very educational show) that using every part of the animal shows the utmost respect for that animal’s sacrifice. The thought being that you show a level of disrespect by throwing away any part of the slaughtered animal; metaphorically ‘throwing away its life’ if you will. I guess vegetarians would argue that you should just shun meat altogether but I tend not to listen to most vegetarians after I see them wearing leather shoes and eating gelatine-based foods.

This was a light-bulb moment for me. I’ve always loved the parts that many other people would turn their noses up at and I know I’m in good company; Maggie Beer is a well known offal enthusiast, and why not? Offal is packed full of flavour!

It got me thinking; of course it’s a terrible waste to throw away whole parts of an animal because of our hang ups about what they are. Who cares what function it used to serve?
I get that some people just don’t like the taste, and that’s fine, at least they gave it a go. But on some of the occasions when I have dined out with groups and ordered an offal based dish (and when given the option, I will always go for it if it’s there) there is an inevitable ‘ewwww’ moment from one of my fellow diners. When I press them if they’ve ever tasted what I have been served, 9 times out of 10 they say no. How on earth can you say you hate something you’ve never even tried?

We Aussies are such a squeamish lot, we don’t like mould in our cheeses, we don’t like our sausages to be made with blood (but we’ll eat hot dogs, go figure?!) or our milk to be un-pasteurised. I guess I wouldn’t have survived evolution as I’ll pretty much put anything in my mouth. I’d be the person trying deep fried crickets in Thailand or eating the maggot-cured cheese in Europe (though I admit that last one may be a stretch if they’re not removed). I suspect it’s often not about the taste (ok, sometimes offal can be overpowering in large amounts) but what it did when it was ‘working’. Funny no one complains about eating what is essentially muscle tissue or in the case of eggs – a giant ovum.

Sparrow Kitchen & Bar in North Adelaide has the most divine Chicken Liver Pappadelle (I like to try new things but it’s hard to go past this favourite so I end up ordering the same thing when I go there). I think if most people tried this and other offal dishes that have been prepared correctly they might change their minds a bit. Perhaps they are scarred by unpleasant childhood memories (I wouldn’t know, all I remember is the tripe with white sauce and pressed tongue that my grandmother used to serve and I loved those).

I guess some offal items are a bit hard to prepare too (think tripe, brains), and a bit stinky when raw (Kidneys) but my theory is that it’s generally worth the extra effort. That and I don’t mind spending inordinate amounts of time in the kitchen. Anyway, some are ridiculously easy; chicken livers would have to be one of the easiest things to prepare (just don’t overcook them!) and they taste great. Don’t forget about the high iron levels in lamb’s fry! Liver Pate is surprisingly easy to prepare, if a little time consuming and kicks the butt of most store bought varieties (with some high end exceptions).

Access might be another thing, offal can be hard to find at times. When I asked a local butcher if they had any lamb kidneys a while back; their response was that the extra effort of removing these/getting rid of the surrounding fat (why not leave it on!!? I don’t care!) was not worth the measly amount that they can sell them for. What a waste, and they call themselves a butcher (I don’t shop at this particular place anymore, not just because of that reason though).

I am starting to notice though; my local supermarket has started to keep a small selection – most of the time kidneys and livers and the occasional heart or tongue. Not much variety but it’s a start. Problem is; if you don’t get there early their small selection is usually sold out. Obviously there is a small group of other converts in my area, which is promising.

In Europe, offal is reportedly very expensive (supply & demand, people actually WANT to buy it) and here we throw it away like garbage. In these lean times you’d think we’d make things stretch a little bit more and not be so wasteful.
If I’m completely honest, I do hope that Aussies continue to shun offal, as it will keep the prices low for devotees like me. Maybe one day it will go the way of the lamb shank, a once delicious but un-fashionable cheap cut that can cost as much as $10 for one shank.

What was on the home menu tonight?

2009-05-17T19:39:00.001+09:30

Olive & Tallegio Arancini with Tomato Sugo

Why don't we cook anymore?

2009-05-17T19:31:00.002+09:30

This week I read an interview in The Advertiser with the owner of Woodside Cheese Wrights. She spoke of the trouble they were having attracting a qualified Cheese Maker to their company and revealed that there were only 14 qualified cheese makers in South Australia. Her only solution was to look offshore for someone to fill this role.

This might seem like an isolated problem to some but I think it points to a wider problem of the loss of basic food preparation ability in our society. We’re in a situation where people have de-valued these skills as passé or unglamorous. Everybody wants to be a stockbroker (or some other high paying & glamorous but essentially soulless role) but they have no clue (or don’t care) about the quality of what they are putting in their bodies. I can’t tell you how many supposedly smart and successful people I have spoken to who seem to think its quite amusing that they ‘can’t even make toast’, as though this is something to be proud of. I find it just a little bit sad.

Perhaps I am an unusual case as my idea of a good weekend is de-boning a chicken and making a stock using the carcass (or maybe I should just get a life) but I think it’s a terrible thing that we are losing such basic skills. I remember watching ‘The Cook & The Chef’ where it was mentioned that the old CWA (that’s the Country Women’s Association for city dwellers) cookbooks had no methods listed in their recipes, just the ingredients and quantities. The reason being that people (Ok, let’s be honest, women) knew exactly what to ‘do’ with the ingredients. You wouldn’t be able to do this now. I guess nobody teaches their kids to find their way around a kitchen anymore. I know not all of us were lucky enough to have a stay at home mum (or dad!) to teach us the ropes, but that’s no excuse. Let’s face it; if we want to learn how to do something badly enough we’ll do it. Mum taught me a whole lot in the kitchen but I’ve gone on to learn a lot more myself as well.

I’m not suggesting for a moment that everybody should go out and learn how to make pasta and shun the store-bought varieties (though I can tell you it is well worth the extra time and effort), San Remo would go out of business for one thing! However, I wonder if some of our ‘problems’ in society (Obesity and many of the other health problems related to poor diet) would be solved if people actually took an interest in their food and how it is prepared.

Even the tryouts for the Channel 10 Series ‘MasterChef’ were a bit revealing, was I the only person who thought that 7000 entrants (total, not just here in SA) was very low? Of course, there’s no glamour in getting your hands dirty in a kitchen (not like getting famous on Australian Idol) and how many people really care that much about food anyway? Even the final top 20, whilst mostly talented, have a few contestants who make me wonder how on earth they got on the show.

We live in a society where we I have observed that we have two types of ‘kitchen phobics’:

1) People measure the quality of their food by its size. The general thinking with these types seems to be that if you pay $15.00 for a schnitzel big enough to feed a small African nation (leaving out the soggy chips underneath) then you’ve got ‘good value for money’. Is it any wonder that we’re a nation of fatties? Why make something at home (or go to a great restaurant that serves realistic portions) when you can feed the family for a few dollars at the local Maccas? Just imagine for a moment if these same people actually learnt a bit about the food they’re eating and took an interest, would they still want to eat that disgusting greasy and tasteless burger?

2) The other type is the highly educated professional type who seems to think that food preparation in the home is just too passé and old fashioned for someone as fabulous as they are. These are your ‘try hard’ types dressed head to toe in designer gear who order green Oysters in the middle of summer and don’t notice the spawn (gross) because they’re too busy trying to look good in front of their equally vacuous friends (“oh yes I’m a terribly adventurous eater with my green oysters that I secretly don’t even like, please approve of me”). Their food ignorance is particularly frustrating as they actually think they know what they are talking about. I have heard of a particularly wealthy SA woman who has 2 kitchens in her home; a large, ‘hidden’ one where she hires an actual chef to prepare delicious meals for her guests and a ‘for show’ kitchen near the dining area where she makes it appear as though she made the food herself, I hope that this is an urban food myth but I fear it isn’t.

Knowing how to prepare food means that you know how to pick good quality ingredients that are in season (so you don’t end up with those disgusting Coles/Woolies apples that have been in cold storage for 5 years), and it doesn’t mean you have to pay more. Anyone who has been to the Torrens Island Market can attest to that. It also means you know which flavours work together (and which don’t), which means you don’t have to spend a fortune on expensive ingredients. Importantly, it also gives you a sense of control over what you are consuming; has anyone actually seen how much butter goes into puff pastry? You don’t want to be eating that everyday unless you have a death wish (not that I have anything against it, just not every day!).

I wonder what the world will look like in 10, 20, 30 years. Will we be a society made up of half grossly overweight people abusing their body with crap food and the other half glamorous, designer clothes wearing, Lexus 4WD driving schmik professionals with no basic life skills?