food

I was lucky enough to recently find myself on an immense cattle station in the Gulf of Carpentaria with a group of friends. This particular station runs Brahman cattle, the seemingly naturalised breed that is in abundance in the north. Curiously,...

The delicious teatime treat of saffron and currant buns, also known as revel buns, is native to the countryside of Cornwall. And while the mention of saffron may conjure images of Buddhist monks in flowing robes, this saffron snack rose to...

The window in which to pick artichokes is very short. They go from being young, tender and a joy to prepare to a stringy and tough time-waster, which makes absolute sense considering they are a thistle. This, combined with their short shelf life,...

I know I’m courting controversy and might even lose some of you immediately with the next statement, but here we go. Candied peel is absolutely delicious. I can hear the howls of horror in my head. I’ve come to conclude that it must be one of the...

Sea urchin can be one of the best things you can eat or one of the worst things, depending on the day. The handling is so important. They go from being sweet and tasting like the ocean to tasting like, for want of a better term, cat food. If you...

There are times when I really feel my 20th-century Australianness, and not always in a good way. Often it is when I am thinking about, or cooking, offal. Sure, I remember staying at friends’ farms and watching a sheep being slaughtered in the yards...

Talk of nettles and most folk flinch, recalling run-ins in fields with shorts. The thought of eating or even harvesting them isn’t exactly met with exuberance. Like most things involving gardening, it draws an analogy with life, as I was once taught...

There’s no denying that I love the versatility of choux pastry. Once the technique is mastered it is the key to so many dishes. First, there is the baked version, well known as the basis for cream puffs, eclairs, Paris-Brests and profiteroles. Add a...

I’m not sure how many varieties of quinces there are but I know there are shitloads. This recipe is about trying to use things during a glut, like making passata when you have excess tomatoes. One technique for cooking quinces is to do it slowly...