Tag Archives: Mt Buller

Eating Out, Home cooking, Travel

Pre-wedding diet

1 Comment

BullerSunrise

G’day Tony,

Ok, so I had to dust off the cob-webs (pardon the pun) and put some electrons on virtual paper. Humblest apologies for being off-line for so long, that’s if you missed me. If you didn’t miss me, sorry I am back.

Winter left in a hurry, replaced by all that is good about spring…except the snow melting, strong northerly winds, hayfever, the smell of dynamic lifter on the garden, changing clocks forward (daylight savings time) and school holiday madness in the city. Other than that, I love spring and all that it brings!

Our final weekend at Mt Buller brought together a great group of friends for a little bit of skiing and a lot of eating and drinking. A boisterous group at the lodge on the Saturday night partook in an array of goodies lovingly BBQ’d by Jim…chicken pieces marinaded in rosemary, garlic, chilli, olive oil and lots of fresh lemon zest and juice, slow braised pork belly (bbq’d to give a really nice caramelisation) courtesy of Alex and lamb rissoles with cumin, turmeric, smoky paprika, sumac, parsley and feta cheese…yep, fetta crumbled through the mix. Much, much goodness!

Some salads and freshly baked bread to round out the meat feast. Oh, and wine. Lots of wine!

Dessert was a surprise. I whipped up a chocolate self saucing pudding, while someone mixed together the fixings for a sticky date pudding. Confusion, wine, not sure which, but flour was inadvertently left out of the sticky date. Unsurprisingly the mix didn’t set. It was only then that the error was picked up. So, I did what any hungry (I was stuffed the gunnels, but still wanted sticky date pudding) I added a half amount of self raising flour, mixed and popped back in the oven. The comments when served surprised me…best sticky date pudding ever! Score!

The last few weeks have been a blur of pre-wedding diet food. Some stand out meals. Nah, who am I kidding. The stuff is okay, but is never going to substitute for real home cooked food!

Julia and I have an agreement. We must visit one nice restaurant a month. Not a big ask in a city like Melbourne. But being away every weekend and both of us super busy during the week, it simply hasn’t happened for a while. About to make up for it, though.

Was taken to Zia Rina’s Cucina by Phil from Armadale Cellars the other day for lunch. Phil’s been around the block a few times and he rates chef/owner Rina as good as any Michelin stared chef he’s seen on the continent. Must admit, the food is blindingly good. So much so, heading back there this week with a good friend who will be in town from Dubai. If any place can float Nick’s boat, this should do it. Oh, it’s BYO too, so I am going to hit Nick up to dust something off from his Arabian cellar…no doubt I will be doing the same from my cellar.

Honey-moon is fast approaching (next week). A few nights in Bangkok, to get into the groove. So, I booked us into Nahm and Gaggan. Both are listed in the top 50 restaurants in the world, but are they that good?

Sure, you can live it up in Thailand without spending a bomb, but I fail to understand how Nahm (rated #12 in the world) can cost BHT2,000/person (~AUD75.00) for degustation dinner, while the highest rated Australian restaurant, at #32, is giving you their experience at AUD190/person. I know, I know, this opens a Pandora’s box of arguments.

Pretty soon, we in Melbourne will play host to The Fat Duck. Yep, that Brayside stalwart which boasts a number of Michelin stars. For 6 months and 45 seats, that means 16,000 people will be served while they are in Melbourne. Getting a table…forget it. Ballot it will be, but at north of $525/person (ex-booze), it is almost cheaper to fly to England and experience it in its home location!

How much are you willing to spend (not including tip) and a meal to remember? Does it need to be a restaurant that is rated by Michelin, or S. Pellegrino or whichever is your go to restaurant reviewers?

For me, that memorable meal may be as simple as some hawker food on the foreshore of somewhere tropical, but it’s not going to stop me visiting Nahm and Gaggan. In the meantime, it is back to the microwave to “cook” dinner for tonight *sigh*

Catch you soon!

 

Daniel

Home cooking

Spring Lamb

1 Comment

Turkishbread

Hi Tony.

I see you were in New Zealand?! How was that? Did you survive the Savalanche?

Spring has sprung here. The weekend at Mt Buller was, well, winter seems like it is over. Warm day on Saturday and foggy, with a little rain on Sunday. Per usual, I worked both days but it was hard to keep the crew motivated in the rain. It wasn’t too hard to convince them that a coffee stop at Koflers was a good idea.

I’m not cooking as much at the moment. Nor are we going out terribly much. Pre-wedding diet don’t you know!

I am lucky enough to get a dinner a week at the local. The Carringbush is doing well to keep things fresh. A recent visit, Mick (one of the managers) let me know he picked up some Yarra Valley truffles from a mate. Who am I to turn down something yummy sprinkled with truffle shavings? There were a couple of offerings, but I found it hard to go past the veal backstrap schnitzel with truffled macaroni and cheese. So much truffly, cheesy goodness!

Mum & dad joined us for a meal later in the week. Royce went the chicken Kiev with lobster & scallop butter and mashed potato with shaved truffle. Also much truffly goodness. Hard to believe, but it was the first time Royce has had truffle.

Had hankering for a burger on Sunday whilst driving back from Buller. So it got me thinking. What could I do only on a BBQ, but be worthy to grace our table. Easy, lamb-burger with all sorts of goodies locked in. Even better, lamb-burger on some fresh home-made Turkish bread. I reckon you can do the bread on the BBQ too. Got to be the easiest bread, other than pizza base. Worth a try if BBQ is your only option.

The bread takes longest to make, so give yourself a good 90 mins:

400gm bread flour
8gm salt
4gm sugar
4gm dry yeast
10ml extra virgin olive oil
300ml water

Carefully weigh the dry ingredients in big bowl and mix. Take temperature of the dry mix. Add the olive oil and then water, but make sure temperature of water adds to 50 degrees with temp of dry ingredients (e.g. if dry mix is 20C, water needs to be 30C). Mix that mess for about 10 mins until the dough begins to pull away from the sides. Cover it with glad wrap and set in warm place for about 90 mins. It should rise to about 3x original.

Dough

When you’re good to go, turn it out onto a lightly greased tray very carefully. You don’t want to knock much air out of it. Lightly dust it with flour and/or sesame seeds and press finger tips in to make dents.

Bread

Whack in very hot 300C oven for about 10-13 mins. This is why I think you do it on the BBQ.

My lamb burger mix is simple, but oh so good on the fresh, hot Turkish bread. In a bowl, whack in an egg, a handful of chopped parsley, a teaspoon each of ground coriander seeds, cumin, smoked paprika and turmeric.

Spicemix

A splash of olive oil and the minced lamb. To really set if off, crumble some fetta into the mix and form into burger patties.

Burgermix

BBQ those bad boys and serve with some shaved cucumber, char-grilled eggplant and if you can wangle it, some chilli relish.

burgerfixingsJuliaandburgerlambburger

When are you heading back to the island? Or have you got a BBQ in Bangkok? Not even sure if you can get lamb easily in Thailand?

Better fly, rare moment, so should clean the house or something.

Cheers,

Daniel

Home cooking, Travel

Dough boy

1 Comment

Little Buller Spur

Hi Tony,

I’ve heard you are having some (tasty) wildlife issues on the island? Be interested to hear what recipes you come up with for them. Perhaps a nice game terrine?

As mentioned, we have been up at Mt Buller every weekend this season. It has been quite the season! Not only lots of snow, but snow of the kind you normally expect to find in North America or Europe. On Friday night, it was snowing at the entrance gate. First time I have seen that in about 25 years.

Mt Buller

One of things I find thoroughly entertaining, given we are staying in a lodge, is the amount of food people bring up. Sure, you’re out in the cold for a goodly portion of the day and maybe, just maybe, skiing pretty hard too (have no fear, that doesn’t include me).

I walked into the lodge on Friday night to see mountains of food stacked in the pantries. Thinking an infantry battalion was staying for 6 months in the modest 18 bed lodge gave way to the realisation that those up for the weekend had simply over-catered.

I haven’t had to cook in 3 weekends, with dinners with friends every night so far. Each is well versed in quantity planning, so I have been able to maintain my weight. My turn to cook this weekend, me thinks. The challenge is finding space in a crowded shared kitchen, so 1 pot dishes are preferred. I am erring on pulling some duck ragu from the freezer and serve it with some rissoni. Perhaps with a few slices of my hand-made bread? And a green salad. Can’t bring myself to make a 2kg lasagne for the 2 us.

If you’re interested in making some pretty easy bread, which is crusty and much goodness, I make a pasta dura. Try this, if you dare! Oh, word of advice, use scales and a good thermometer. Using those measuring cups/etc. simply won’t work.

250gm each of good baker’s flour and semolina

10g salt

5g dry yeast (much better than fresh yeast)

10ml light oil or fat

300ml water

Mix the dry ingredients together (you can add mixed seeds if you like, but add a little extra water if you do). Measure the temp of the dry mix (this is critical). Add the oil/butter/fat. Subtract the temperature of the dry mix from 50 and that is the temp the water you add needs to be (e.g. if the dry mix is 22C, the water must be 28C). Add the water and mix by hand until smooth. This will probably take about 10 mins. Cover in the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set aside in warm place with no draft for 1-2 hours. Mould into a loaf by pressing out into rectangle, fold corners in like you would for a paper plane and roll tightly (seam down). Return to bowl, cover and set aside until doubled in size.

Pre-heat oven to 220C. Spray loaf lightly with water and put in oven for 20 mins, spraying with water 2-3 times in that time. Reduce heat to 180C and cook another 40 mins. Remove and allow to cool a little.

I cook mine on a pizza dish with holes in it. Gives the loaf a great crust, but soft and good inside. Spread with lashings of butter and good honey or jam.

Pasta Dura

Not sure how I will go with a strange oven, but it is so worth the 3-4 hours to make. Perhaps you may have some time on the island to give it a go?

Better go and get some dinner sorted for my bride.

Cheers,

Daniel

Eating Out

Medium rare

1 Comment

Cabrolin Estate

Hi Tony,

It’s been a very interesting week. I finished up my last job on Friday (a solid 9.5 years of service) and have this week off before taking up my new, exciting role.

Here I was thinking that I would relax lots, catch up on some reading, spring clean the house and maybe even get out on the bike, despite the nasty weather. Instead I have been running around like a mad-man trying to tick off a long list of “to do’s”. Happily, I’ve managed most.

I was invited to a dinner on Tuesday by Armadale Cellars to look at a new-ish wine label out of the Yarra Valley.

The guys who set up Cabrolin Estate have real jobs and enough cash behind them to do it well. Only small plantings, about 5 acres, means the three of them do most of the viticulture, but most importantly, they have recognised they know nothing about making wine. So, what to do? Simple, engage Mac Forbes, a Yarra Valley guru for many years and the right hand man to the late Dr John Middleton of Mount Mary. In case you haven’t come across Mount Mary, their chardonnay and their cabernet driven Quintet’s are simply brilliant.

So, an interesting philosophy of Cabrolin is to have Mac assist them with every step and not focus on the selling price of their wines. The result? Well, they are only making Cabernet and Shiraz, with some blends, but I have to admit, the booze is really very good. The pricing is far from what you’d pay for a Quintet (>$100, if you can get your hands on some), hovering about $40/bottle-ish. Yes, I may have bought a little. Remind me when you are next here to drag out a bottle.

Another interesting aspect of Tuesday was the restaurant chosen. I’ve never been to Steer Bar & Grill before. After all, how often do I head to a steak house?! Sure, the beef was exquisite (I had a Sher 9+ Wagyu skirt steak done medium rare), but it was the conversation with chef Paul Wilson at the end of the evening that was MOST interesting.

I am now a lot less naïve about Wagyu . We discussed my beef (pardon the pun) about Wagyu burgers. Paul shook his head in dismay and explained how it works. There are only 4 producers of pure bred (9+) Waygu cows in Australia. This means their genetic make up is 95%+ of the pure breds in Japan. But, and here is the rub (pardon the pun), even if the animal is 45% Wagyu, some producers still call it Wagyu. There are any number of growers with “mutts”. Paul agreed that there is no point grinding good beef, Wagyu or not.

Something else I learned from Paul was that the better the grade of Wagyu, the more subtle the flavour. So, despite the hype, those looking for a steak are better off with a dry aged, grass fed Black Angus steak. Bring it!

Given the Sher “tomahawk” steak (2.2kg rib eye) at a lazy $270 which graces his menu from time to time and that he buys almost all of the prime cuts from all the pure bred producers in Australia, it makes me wonder what Wagyu is served by other dining establishments?

Wagyu Tomahawk

This reminds me of the hoopla around beef raised on a well regarded Australian island many years ago. Is it ok to call it “from a certain island” if the animal grew up on the mainland and only lived its last 6 weeks on the island? Is that enough time to change the character of the beef? Or…well, most disturbingly, when the milking cows go off their milk, turning them into beef? Milking cows are not bred for their beef. I understand this practice has long since stopped, but with the hype around the source of the beef nowadays, it makes me wonder.

In the interim, I can heartily recommend Steer. Word of advice, ask your waiter for help choosing a steak, don’t automatically head for the Wagyu. It might not blow your hair back.

Off to Mt Buller tomorrow. Lots of snow, so some skiing, red wine and work, not necessarily in that order.

Cheers,

Daniel

Eating Out, Home cooking

Quack

Leave a comment

Duck

Hi Tony,

Its open fire, roasted chestnuts and red wine time of year. And to think, all of that without cranking the airconditioner up.

Funny, no snow on the ground in the mountains yet, but we are already thinking about spring/summer again. That may have something to do with a little party we are planning in the spring…or because we are hanging out to slide down a hill and ride a lift back up again. Not sure which, maybe a little from column A and a little from column B.

Been working silly long hours, both of us, so the cooking has taken a bit of a backseat. Weekends have been our saviour. A chance to spend a few hours in the kitchen and get a few things made and frozen.

Come winter proper, we’ll be back at Mt Buller every weekend. Might put pay to some of the weekend cooking. Going to have to find a solution for that at some point.

Hey, when was the last time you made dumplings? Yeah, thought that might be the case…why would you make dumplings if you can buy them in Chinatown for a couple of baht each? Ok, so I spent a couple hours mixing up some minced chicken, lemongrass, ginger, coriander, garlic, chilli, sesame oil and Xiao shin wine and then folding a teaspoon full in some gyoza wrappers. Sure, I cheated at this point…I didn’t make the gyoza wrappers. Store bought. Not half bad though.

dumplings

Try this, some chicken stock, ginger, dark soy sauce bring to the boil, add the dumplings and after a while, Chinese broccoli, oyster mushrooms and some egg noodles. Great fast winter filler.  Wash it down with something zesty like an aged Petaluma Riesling.

dumplingsoup2

Do you ever get home at the end of the day and just have a hankering for something? Even if it means standing in 12C and rain whilst bbq’ing some chicken thigh fillets marinaded in cumin, sumac, turmeric, dried chilli, garlic and olive oil. But even more challenging, proving and baking some Turkish bread at the same time. Throw a little thinly sliced cucumber, chilli relish and tahini (with hot water and freshly chopped parsley) and you have a killer chicken burger!

Speaking of bread. I did a bread making course at the Abbotsford Convent over summer. They have an amazing wood fired oven, but doing a course there on a 40C day is not advisable. Was a great course, but I was scanning the paper today and low and behold, there is a pic of Baker Bob. Ok, it wasn’t such an inspiring story to go with the art. Seems Baker Bob was dabbling in other sorts of dough.

Revisited an old fav on Friday night. Not sure if you’ve been to Old Kingdom? It’s a Melbourne institution. Forget the menu, little on it that you would want to order. Duck is what it is about. It’s a duck 3 – way. Starts off with Peking duck, moves on to duck stir fry then finishes things off with duck bone soup. Wash it down with a bottle of pinot noir, either red or sparkling…who knew that Champagne would go so well with duck?!

Quieter time planned this week. I think I’ve done my bbq’ing for the week. Might crank the heater and hang out inside. Perhaps even light a fire and find a suitable bottle of red. Maybe a Forest Hill Cabernet?