Australian foods

[Jeebus]

I am a chef up in Toronto and we have been asked to host an Australian winemakers dinner at the restaurant. I must confess other than the very basics I am not very familiar with the native cuisine and was looking to see if anyone may be able to shed a little more light on the subject. Any info or webs sites would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help

Jonaton Lome

[The Chefs Office]

Send a note to Ben Chrsitie (he's often on these boards).

Should be able to help.

www.benjaminchristie.com

[chezcherie]

if you do that, please share the reply. i have a culinary event coming up with some australian trade reps, and would love to hear the input. thanks!

[Mandarin]

I was once a guest at an Australia Day lunch, in London, hosted by a Swedish company. We had crocodile, kangaroo and an enormous pavlova, supposedly made with an ostrich egg. However, because the chef was Swedish, everything (apart from dessert) was flavoured with huge amounts of dill! Not highly recommended.

[SBonner]

For inspiration look at cook books by Neil Perry, Bill Granger, and Kylie Kwong. We had some great meals in Australia at these chefs restaurants. Austalian's are the masters of fusion cuisine - so maligned here in B.C. with our attempts. I know we can now get Kangaroo here in Canada so thats an option for an entree. A number of Australian bush spices and herbs are available here as well. You will have no trouble finding plenty of Australian wines and I would recommend to go with an Australian Riesling, Coonawarra or Margaret River Cab, Barossa Shiraz, and some Rutherglen Tokay to show off the vinous side of Australia.

Cheers,

Stephen Bonner

Vancouver

[Shinboners]

Austalian's are the masters of fusion cuisine - so maligned here in B.C. with our attempts. 

←

If it's fusion that you want, then go no further than the cookbook, "Ezard" by Teague Ezard. You will not be disappointed. He's got a new cookbook out. It's titled "Lotus", but it's more pure Asian than fusion.

There's also Christine Manfield with her books Paramount Cooking, Paramount Desserts, Spice, and Stir and she has no problem with East/West fusion. I believe that she'll have a new cookbook out next year.

Whilst he's a New Zealander rather than an Australian, Peter Gordon is another chef/author that's worth checking out for fusion.

[Jeebus]

For inspiration look at cook books by Neil Perry, Bill Granger, and Kylie Kwong. We had some great meals in Australia at these chefs restaurants. Austalian's are the masters of fusion cuisine - so maligned here in B.C. with our attempts.  I know we can now get Kangaroo here in Canada so thats an option for an entree. A number of Australian bush spices and herbs are available here as well. You will have no trouble finding plenty of Australian wines and I would recommend to go with an Australian Riesling, Coonawarra or Margaret River Cab, Barossa Shiraz, and some Rutherglen Tokay to show off the vinous side of Australia.

Cheers,

Stephen Bonner

Vancouver

←

Just to make thing a little more fun we were sent a list of the wines they will be supplying us with. 4 reds and 2 sparkling one red and one white, not very balanced to build a menu around but whatever. Thanks for the help and suggestions guys/girls. I will post a write up with photos once we have done the event. Here is a listing of the wines

Rochford, Macedon Ranges Pinot Noir, '03

Turners Crossing, Cab Sauv, '04

Turners Crossing, Shiraz, '04

Goulburn Terrace, Sparkling Marsane, '02

Sandhurst Ridge, Shiraz, '04

Innocent Bystander, Sparkling Shiraz Voigner, '0

Edited May 14, 2006 by Jeebus (log)

[Hector]

I was once a guest at an Australia Day lunch, in London, hosted by a Swedish company. We had crocodile, kangaroo and an enormous pavlova, supposedly made with an ostrich egg. However, because the chef was Swedish, everything (apart from dessert) was flavoured with huge amounts of dill! Not highly recommended.

←

HAHA..So typical.. Us Swedes are dill crazy..

For geting hold of aussie native bush stuff: Vic Cherikoffs site