Aussie Chefs' Cookbooks

[misgabi]

Kitwilliams,

I like the Donna Hay cookbooks - have found them reliable and don't remember every having a major dissappointment based on the recipe (as opposed to a personal stuff up).

I started with Bill's Open Kitchen last week and cooked four things out of it over the weekend - mainly because the Lifestyle channel is showing Bill's Food at the moment and I love his style. The recipes were great, easy to follow and all worked perfectly.

I intend to buy his other two this week!!

[spoonbread]

HI! I am from Texas and have been very interested in Australina Cuisine for a fair bit. These books that are mentioned are quite helpful. I've yet to see an Australian book that is similar to Joy, but some books have been helpful to me are....

Fusions by Martin Webb

Australian Foods by Alan Saunders

All recipes work in these books. But I 3will look up the ones posted. Thanx!

[Aussie_Gusto]

Spoonbread in Texas: Wonderful that you are cooking up some lovely Australiana foods, but am mystified and intrigued how you have found suitable ingredients to match the recipes. I lived in Houston for 2 years and it was difficult to find the correct ingredients to prepare dishes I had made for many years. Items such as dessicated coconut - finally found some in Indian stores, the sugar quality and grain size, icing sugar (very different taste) suet, brown malt vinegar, dried peel (not sugared!) and some of the dried fruits, copha and many other items. Our search for many items took us far afield. The Central Market would have some items, Sandy's Organic had others (they stock the cheapest white pepper) and have wonderful oats. I often found that Fiesta had some items in their Spanish and British sections which could be used or easily adapted to the Australian recipe.

Of course, most of the supermarkets stock British foods, including the vinegar, Lyles Golden syrup, etc. Though the cheapest British foods is found in the Indian/Pakistani/General Asian stores.

Keep cooking though! Let us know how your family etc enjoy the foods from these books.

(No longer in Houston, now in Biloxi Mississippi - very few shops of note here - may have to drive to New Orleans for our Indian groceries)

** have you worked out the equivelant of the measures? i.e. Tablespoon also the metric? Just holler if you need any help.

Edited March 30, 2004 by Aussie_Gusto (log)

[Aussie_Gusto]

oops! Somehow I posted twice.......must be the blonde hair????hahhahaha

Edited March 30, 2004 by Aussie_Gusto (log)

[spoonbread]

Hi Aussie-Gusto!

Ok, I am a professional chef here in San Antonio, Texas, and I think that Australia is coming in a zenith similar to what America is doing. But Australia has some twists that are pretty cool. The ideas from ya'll are great, and yes, to be true to the recipes, as far as ingredients are concerned, isn't easy, but since I'm a chef I can order alot of the ingredients. But more so are the techniques used and the idea of flavor combinations. They are different and quite pleasing. So I adapt what I read. Obviously, it would be difficult and quite expensive to get quandongs here, but Texas peaches are quite good, and just the idea of pairing them with truffles (by Tetsuya Wakada) is fantastic! Hence, I am fascinated with what is going on in Australia and New Zeland.

Thank you for the welcome! And yes, I know the metric from the imperial measurement system. (although it was a pain to learn!! lol) I hope to learn from ya'l and if I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Aussie_Gusto]

Spoonbread, thanks for the reply. San Antonio is a marvellous city - love the river walk. I Used to enjoy a trip there (3 hrs from Houston) and also stopping on the way to get some nice smoked sausage (similar to a sausage in Australia called Kabana or Cabana). If your are searching for any good recipe books or need any packaged or tinned Australian items, pop into a store in the Alamo Plaza called About Australia. Souveniers, books, sheepskin, Travel Agents, Aussie foods etc - Paul and Veronica (real Aussies) run the store. They are most accomodating and will order in for you. If Passionfruit is exhorbitant to get (as I usually found) they do have the tinned John West which, though not as good as a fresh piece of fruit, will suffice in dessert preparations. Try some of the biscuits (cookies) they stock such as Tim Tams etc hahahahaha

The measurements ugh! hahahha The tablespoon will get you every time...What you call a Tablespoon here we call a dessertespoon in Oz.. I think the calculations 1 and half to one, but I adapt as I go, depending on the recipe. Cup is a metric cup but in the old Aussie classic recipes (of which I still use a lot, it was a breakfast cup).

Bon Appetit!

Edited March 31, 2004 by Aussie_Gusto (log)

[spoonbread]

Thank you very much, I shall look up that store! Ya never know what one might find. And it is always great to meet and talk with people that truly know what original ingredients taste like. I have an Aussie friend/chef that swears by TimTams..( lol), as well as being adament about vegemite.

[Aussie_Gusto]

Yes try the Tim Tams! hahahaha I will completely understand about the Vegemite though! This store also has dessicated coconut, Golden Syrup (superior to Lyles), Australian honey,. They also organize functions on dates such as ANZAC day (25th April) and Australia Day. They usually arrange for Aussie meat Pies,Sausage rolls, Lamingtons, Pavlova etc, so if you get the chance, have a try of these classic yummies.

Nice chatting!

[spoonbread]

Cool! I will try those products. Really, vegemite isn't that bad, I just like to give my chef/friend a hard time. But she told me how to use it and it was ok, to my palate at least. And I have most of the recipes of foods you have mentioned ( pavlove, etc.). I'm tryin' to get my Aussie chef/friends to try menudo! lolol..

Nice chatting with you as well...

[Rhea_S]

Australian cookbooks and magazines are gorgeous. The photographs are always enticing. I buy Donna Hay and Delicious whenever I find them at the local bookstore. I use the Donna Hay recipes for about 20% of what I cook. That's mostly because I stock many of the ingredients required by Hay recipes, most everything is fresh yet quick and simple and the flavours are right in line with my tastes.

[helenas]

Recently i bought several books by australian chefs: all of them are excellent.

I have two by Christine Manfield,

couple of Neil Perry,

Ezard by Ezard,

and finally Longrain Modern Thai Food by Martin Boetz (this one i coundn't find in US and wanted badly so i ordered it directly from Australia).

[Trixy]

Cool! I will try those products. Really, vegemite isn't that bad, I just like to give my chef/friend a hard time. But she told me how to use it and it was ok, to my palate at least. And I have most of the recipes of foods you have mentioned ( pavlove, etc.). I'm tryin' to get my Aussie chef/friends to try menudo! lolol..

Nice chatting with you as well...

You are going to be trying for awhile Spoonbread!

I also find Ian Hemphill's " Spice Notes" an invaluable resource. And Stephanie Alexander's " Cook's Companion" is a real gem too.

[spoonbread]

One day, Trixy, one day.....

What of Niel Perrys' books? What are the names and are they good?

[petemelb]

Hi there Spoonbread - I use Neil Perry's "Simply Asian" book quite a bit. If you haven't checked out the Rockpool Website (www.rockpool.com.au) it's worth a look. It lists his other books. Check-out his current menu at Rockpool. He has some fantastic dishes listed.

[Sleepy_Dragon]

I've only got two at the moment, but I really like them both:

Banquet: Ten Courses to Harmony, by Annette Shun Whah & Greg Aitkin

-- this is mostly a food-related history of the Chinese community in Australia with recipes scattered throughout.

kylie kwong: recipes and stories

-- good food with family stories behind them

Pat

[spoonbread]

petemelb- I finally recieved "Simply Asian" and it is great! I will order "Rockpool" next. I haven't seen any other books by Neil Perry, but this one should keep me busy for a bit. The website is very cool, and the menu items are well worth mentally chewing over. Thanx for the recommendations!

[petemelb]

spoonbread - pleased to hear that you like "Simply Asian".

Another Australian Chef who does the Asian-inspired thing well is Teage Ezard.

He has a great book that was released a year or so ago called "ezard" (helenas referred to this earlier).

His website is worth a look (http://www.ezard.com.au/).

Cheers, Pete

[spoonbread]

I liked the site, and the menu looked great. Right up my alley. I'll order the book as well. Looks very interesting.

Thanx agian, pete!

[Shinboners]

Could I put a word in about "Paramount Desserts" by Christine Manfield?  

Hi all

This is my first post on this board.

On Christine Manfield, she's also released three other cookbooks...."Paramount Cooking", "Spice", and "Stir".

I haven't got "Paramount Cooking", but I can say that it's the companion piece to "Paramount Desserts".

I do have "Stir" and "Spice". "Stir" is split up into several sections where she has a recipe for a basic paste (eg., coridaner peanut pesto, garam masala, laksa paste, chili jam etc.) and a series of recipes that use those basic pastes. Her recipes do take some time, but are worthwhile for that special dinner party.

"Spice" is one of those dual coffee table and cooking books. In the book, she discusses spices and spice mixes before several sections of recipes (divided into salads, soups, seafood, poultry, meat, vegetables, noodles/rice, pastry, bread, and dessert. Near the end of the book, she has an essay discussing spices and wine. As yet, I haven't cooked from this book.

All in all, if you have "Stir" and "Spice", you probably won't need "Paramount Cooking" as many of the recipes overlap. Also, "Paramount Desserts" has recently been re-released in paperback.

Everyone else has already mentioned the really good Australian cookbooks. Bill Granger, Kylie Kwong, and Stephanie Alexander all have great books on the bookshop shelves. I've also found Campion and Curtis's "Campion And Curtis In the Kitchen" to be good, and Anthony Telford's "The Kitchen Hand - A Miscellany of Kitchen Wisdom" is fantastic for the times when you want to quickly check on a cooking technique or finding alternate names for foodstuffs. Also, Greg and Lucy Malouf's "Moorish" is quite good and friends have raved about their other book, "Arabesque". I've also had good recommendations from friends for Ian Hempills (spelling?) books on spices.

A couple of last things, the Ezards cookbook has been re-released in paperback and Shannon Bennett (of Vue De Monde) will be releasing a cookbook later this year.

Cheers

Edited May 29, 2004 by Shinboners (log)

[andiesenji]

For those in the U.S. interested in Australian cooking: there is a possiblity that the company which puts out Women's Weekly might be "translating" some of their list of cookbooks into American. I'm not sure which books, but as I find out more I'll post.

For years a friend in Sydney would pack up a bundle of AWW along with whatever cookbooks I wanted and ship them to me a couple of times a year. Then their site came on line and when they began accepting international orders I bought direct.

http://magshop.com.au/Books.asp?CID=522

I have at least 25 of the cookbooks. In the back of every book is a sections that explains the conversion factors and the difference between Australian measurements and English and American.

I find that the recipes are easy to understand and I have yet to prepare a recipe that wasn't excellent.

Some of my favorites are: Biscuits and Slices, New Finger Food, Wicked, Good Food Fast and The Christmas Book.

[helenas]

And both books by Greg Malouf: Moorish and Arabesque - just excellent!

[Shinboners]

I bought Arabesque last week. I don't know why I didn't buy it sooner.

[helenas]

I'm also curious about what do you think about Les Huynh's Blue Ginger cookbook? Sounds similar to Manfield's in spirit.

[Shinboners]

I've looked at the Blue Ginger cookbook a few times, but nothing in there has really inspired me to buy it. Looking at the recipes, there hasn't been enough in the book that makes me say, "I want to cook that!"

[helenas]

Thanks for responding: since it seems we have a similar likes in cookbooks, i'll skip on Blue Ginger.

How about Sri Lankan Flavours?

It's another one on my wishlist of australian titles.

In the meantime, i got The Lebanese Kitchen by Abla Amad, a friend of Greg Malouf's.