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The post How to make Gourmet Traveller your preferred source on Google appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Here’s our food editor’s guide to all your leftover Christmas ham dilemmas.

How long does ham last in the fridge? 

Cooked ham should keep in the fridge for up to two weeks, if stored correctly.

Because Christmas ham has been cured, it’s dried and has a low moisture content, which helps prevent bacteria growth. According to the CSIRO, cured meat can last around two weeks when stored between 0–3˚C. So, it’s best to store it in the coldest part of the fridge.

So, how do I store ham?

“My preferred way to store leftover Christmas ham in the fridge is with a ham bag,” says Adey. “The majority of ham bags use a premium calico cloth, which is ideal for ham storage. Plus, many Christmas hams from quality butchers often come with a ham bag, or have them available for purchase.”

To prep your ham bag, soak it in a mixture of 1L water and 2 tbsp white vinegar, then wring out the excess. Place the whole ham leg in the ham bag, enclosing the end by wrapping it under the ham, and store it in the refrigerator.

Repeat the soaking process of the ham bag (without the ham inside it) every two to three days, or when the bag dries out. This will help keep your ham as fresh as possible.

There are also two important things to remember when storing ham:

1. For freshness and longevity, it’s best to store ham on the bone. So when serving, carve to the size of your crowd. You can always carve more as needed.
2. Refrigerate as soon as possible. Leaving ham at room temperature can increase the risk of spoilage. According to the NSW Food Authority’s recommended 2-hour/4-hour rule, you can still eat your ham on the day if it’s been left out of the fridge for 2–4 hours. But after that, it shouldn’t be consumed. 

What can I use instead of a ham bag?

A large, clean tea towel or a cotton pillowcase are great substitutes for a ham bag.

“As a ham bag is often made from calico, using everyday household items such as linen tea towels or old cotton pillowcases is perfectly fine,” says Adey. “Just soak as above for the best results.”

Are there any other ways to keep ham in the fridge?

It’s best to keep ham whole and on the bone, as this way will keep it the freshest for longer. However, if fridge space is at a premium, slice ham into the largest portions possible and either cover it with plastic wrap or aluminium foil and store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

How can you tell if ham is spoiled?

The first sign of spoilage is smell. Fresh ham should be salty and smoky. So if your ham has a scent that is sour, rancid, sulphuric or ammoniacal, it is time to throw it out.

Texture-wise, ham should be firm and moist, whereas if it’s slimy, sticky, or tacky, it is spoiled. Plus, visual cues such as dark-coloured patches and mould are also good indicators that it’s time to throw out your ham.

“If in doubt, throw it out,” says Adey.”

Can you freeze ham?

“Yes, you can absolutely freeze ham.” Adey recommends freezing it sooner rather than later to retain freshness. A good rule of thumb is that ham should last in the freezer for up to six months. Once you thaw ham, though, it must be used within three to four days and cannot be refrozen.

Store by portioning into desired amounts before freezing so you can defrost the frozen ham as required and reduce any food waste. Wrap ham in aluminium foil and place in a freezer bag, labelling the bag with the contents and date.

Christmas ham leftover ideas

• Make ham stock or soups like pea and ham soup or ham hock minestrone and freeze for winter
• Make ham hock ramen
• Swap guanciale for leftover ham in spaghetti carbonara
• Make bruschetta with tomato, stracciatella and basil; charred asparagus with crushed peas; or shaved fennel, fig, radicchio, and mint drizzled with aged balsamic vinaigrette
• Make ham hock terrine or persillade for an easy starter for summer lunches
• Add to omelettes, quiches, and frittata
• Coarsely chop and add to pie fillings, such as chicken and mushroom; leek, pea and tarragon; or triple-cheese 
• Add to fried rice for easy weeknight meals
• Add to your ham and cheese toasties, croque monsieur or jaffles
• Use it as a sub for bacon in an oozy mac and cheese bake
• Make muffuletta, the Sicilian ham, cheese and antipasti mega sandwich
• Add to potato rosti, croquette and empanada fillings
• Add to your favourite cold potato salad
• Cut into steaks and grill or pan-fry as an easy substitute for pork cutlets and chops
• Add to dumpling filling by combining with chopped prawn mince, spring onion, ginger, garlic and sesame oil

21 recipes for leftover Christmas ham

Five-cheese and ham triple-decker toastie

Five-cheese and ham triple-decker toastie recipe – Preheat oven to 180C. Stir ricotta, cheddar, provolone and parmesan in a bowl to combine, and season to taste.

The ultimate ham baguette

What makes it the ultimate? It could be the cider-glazed ham, the crisp cabbage salad or the slices of Emmenthal.

Croque-monsieur with smoked ham, cheese and smoked sausage

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for Croque-monsieur with smoked ham, cheese and smoked sausage

Kylie Kwong’s Christmas fried rice

We’ve teamed up with OzHarvest and Kylie Kwong to create Gourmet Leftovers: a fried rice that uses up your Christmas produce.

Ham and Gruyère tartlets with fried egg

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for ham and Gruyère tartlets with fried egg.

Ham and provolone mac and cheese with fried egg

If there were such a thing as breakfast pasta, this would be it.

Ham, Fontina and rosemary risotto

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for Ham, Fontina and rosemary risotto

Little Valley’s miso-poached chicken and ham salad with chilli dressing

Miso is protein-rich paste made from fermented soybeans and is a staple in Asian cooking.

Cheesy polenta waffles with fried egg and ham

Polenta adds a gorgeous texture to these waffles, which are perfect for breakfast or brunch – or dinner, or supper for that matter.

Beetroot and ham salad with sour cherry dressing

This is the ideal Boxing Day salad when you need to use up any leftover ham.

Pea and ham salad

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for pea and ham salad.

Devilled ham with cornichons and cheddar

Devilled ham with cornichons and cheddar recipe – Combine ingredients (except cornichons, cheddar and bread) in a bowl, season to taste and press into a jar.

Pea and ham soup recipe

The appeal of this classic soup recipe with humble origins is nothing new – and with these robust flavours, it’s little wonder.

Ham and cheese toasties with quick-pickled cucumber

Layer these quick pickles into sourdough sandwiches filled with leg ham and Gruyère before toasting, or keep them on hand to serve with smoked trout or gravlax.

Cauliflower piccalilli with ham and buttermilk biscuits

You’ll fall in love with this turmeric cauliflower piccalilli. They’re a perfect match with sliced ham and buttermilk biscuits, the savoury American cousin to scones.

Darren Robertson’s shaved zucchini salad with Christmas ham and macadamias

We’ve teamed up with OzHarvest and Darren Robertson to create Gourmet Leftovers: a zucchini salad that uses up any odd ends from Christmas.

Ham tamales

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for ham tamales,

The Hawaiian

Is Hawaiian pizza your guilty pleasure? If so, this one’s for you. Inspired by Bar Brosé’s “late-night sandwich”, this is all about tangy pineapple pickle and excellent leg ham and Gruyère.

Cuban sandwiches

The Cubano, or Cuban sandwich, is like a ham and cheese sandwich on steroids, made with roast pork as well as ham, and pickles and mustard.

Banh mi thịt (Vietnamese pork roll)

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for banh mi thit.

Ham steaks with fried egg and chilli tamarind sauce

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for ham steaks with fried egg and chilli tamarind sauce.

The post How long does ham last in the fridge? Our food editor shares his best ham hacks for Christmas and beyond appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Whether you’re seeking an easy Yule log recipe or a modern twist on the French bûche de Noël, this iteration supplies the best of both. The creamy chocolate spread and addition of raspberries makes it a little lighter (but just as decadent) for an Australian climate. While we’ve kept our decorations simple, feel free to let our creative spirit shine with the addition of chocolate ‘bark’, fondant ‘ornaments’ or other additions that might make your Yule log look even more festive.

How to make a Yule log

Method

1.

For sponge, preheat oven to 180˚C fan-forced. Grease and line a 25cm x 35cm Swiss roll tin or oven tray with baking paper. Whisk eggs in an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (6-8 minutes). Meanwhile, stir sugar and 1½ tbsp water in a small saucepan over high heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil without stirring. With motor running, add hot syrup to eggs and whisk on medium speed until mixture cools and holds a thin ribbon (6 minutes).

2.

Sieve in flour and cocoa, fold to combine, then fold in butter. Spread batter evenly in prepared tray and bake until sponge springs back when gently pressed (8-10 minutes).

3.

Carefully turn out onto a clean tea towel lined with baking paper and dusted with cocoa and peel baking paper off base of sponge. Loosely roll sponge in tea towel, starting from a long edge, and leave to cool (30 minutes).

4.

Meanwhile, for chocolate cream, heat chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch water and stir frequently until melted (5 minutes); remove from heat and cool. Place butter in bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth (30 seconds), then add cream cheese and beat on low speed until combined. Gradually add melted chocolate and beat until smooth; then add cream and beat until soft peaks form (5 minutes). Stand chocolate cream at room temperature until ready to assemble. (Do not refrigerate).

5.

Once your sponge has cooled, unroll to assemble. Using a small offset spatula, spread two-thirds of cream evenly over sponge, leaving a 2cm border along a long edge. Scatter raspberries evenly on top of cream, then roll cake up slowly.

6.

Using a long spatula, transfer cake to a platter. Spoon remaining cream over the bûche de Noël. Scatter with chocolate shards, extra raspberries and slivered pistachios.

Roll sponge while still warm as this shapes the cake for the final roll and stops it breaking. Liberally coat baking paper with cocoa to stop sponge sticking.

Notes

Yule Log FAQs

The post Yule log (bûche de Noël) appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

It’s that time of year again. The days are a little bit shorter, there’s a cool edge to the mornings, and the air is fragrant with fruit-laden, cinnamon-spiked hot cross buns. Sydney’s finest bakeries are serving the holiday treats in the lead up to the four-day long weekend. So in the spirit of healthy competition, we picked up some of the city’s most popular hot cross bun for the ultimate Easter bun showdown.

We enlisted our discerning Gourmet Traveller team of hot cross bun lovers to determine the best of the best, tasting festive baked goods from local bakery favourites to cutting-edge institutions. The GT panel decided to rank only traditional buns with dried fruit, so you’ll find no choc-cross buns here.

From traditional, spice-laden and fruity classics to buns with slightly modern twists, which festive baked bun will take the crown in Sydney’s ultimate bun bake-off? One thing is certain: it’s going to be a deliciously close call.

So what’s the verdict?

1. The GT team favourite: Iggy’s Bread

Bronte

Perhaps the least traditional of our traditional round-up, placing Iggy’s in the top spot was a controversial but clear decision across the GT panel. Iggy’s hot cross bun takes a bold departure from tradition, with its sourdough base offering a dense, chewy texture that’s both hearty and satisfying. The spices, while subtle, are perfectly complemented by the bun’s nutty undertones, though the strong, signature sourdough flavour could at times overpower the spice mix. The fruit is dense and evenly distributed throughout, with the addition of walnuts and other seeds adding extra flavour and crunch to elevate the bun. The cross, scored rather than piped, enhances the rustic appeal and the lack of glaze keeps the finish crackly and crisp.

The verdict: This is an ideal option for those with a more refined palate, after a savoury twist on the classic hot cross bun. As our creative director Jacqui Triggs put it, “this is a grown-up’s hot cross bun!”.

Rating: 4.5/5

2. Sonoma

Alexandria, Bondi, Glebe, Leichhardt, Menai, Rose Bay, Terrigal

Sonoma’s take on the hot cross bun is a light, slightly doughy texture, striking the balance between softness and density. The spices are well integrated, lending a subtle warmth that complements rather than competes with the fruit. As for the fruit criteria, the cranberries steal the show with their juicy, sweet quality, though the even distribution of the fruit could be improved for consistency across each bite. The bun’s cross, an “S” marking in place of the traditional cross, is a charming final flourish, while the golden-brown glaze imparts a light sweetness that doesn’t overwhelm.

The verdict: A fantastic iteration, especially for those who enjoy a thoroughly classic, traditional bun.

Rating: 4.5/5

3. Baker Bleu

Double Bay

Baker Bleu’s traditional hot cross bun skews slightly more savoury, with an almost sourdough-like taste: slightly springy, slightly dense, culminating in an ideal balance of chewiness without being too heavy. Its spice profile, with hints of cinnamon and allspice, is warm but subtle, leaving room for the fruit to shine. While the fruit is of excellent quality, there’s room for improvement in its distribution. The cross, a simple non-denominational ‘X’, is delicate yet defined and we found its slightly burnished finish charming.

The verdict: Overall, these buns rise to the occasion. This is a well-executed bun, though some might crave a little more complexity in the spice and fruit balance.

Rating: 4/5

4. A.P Bakery

Darlinghurst, Eveleigh, Newtown, Surry Hills, Sydney CBD

A.P. Bakery’s hot cross bun is a true crowd-pleaser, with a soft and well-risen texture that makes for a substantial bite. The subtle spices are balanced and thoroughly enjoyable, though some may wish for a stronger hit of traditional cinnamon and nutmeg. The fruit is of high quality and very delicious, particularly the boozy soaked raisins and candied orange, though the distribution could be a little more thorough and consistent across the batch. The cross stands out with its glossy finish, but the overall sweetness of the glaze may be slightly excessive and sticky for some.

The verdict: A good looking, glossy bun with a subtle spice profile. An easy pleaser.

Rating: 3.5/5

5. Bourke St Bakery

Various locations across Sydney

Disclaimer: on the day of judging, some of our panel were absent. Luckily, our Australian Women’s Weekly colleagues were only a few desks away and more than eager to give some notes. Bourke St Bakery’s hot cross bun stands out with a moist, fresh texture, giving it a distinct edge in the textural criteria. The spice is delicate; neither overpowering nor underwhelming — perfect for those who prefer a slight savoury edge. Fruit distribution is solid, with plump raisins that retain moisture, though some may prefer more variety to their fruit mix for added depth of flavour. The cross, glossy and light, has a subtle sweetness that balances the overall bite well.

The verdict: While the bun excels in texture and finish, it’s a touch conservative in flavour, making it a safe yet satisfying option.

Rating: 3.5/5

6. Tokyo Lamington

MarRickville and Newtown

These sweet yuzu-spiked buns are a small deviance from what could be considered traditional, but the panel once again decided they largely retained the core characteristics of a traditional bun. Tokyo Lamington’s hot cross bun balances lightness with substance, with a texture that’s soft and fluffy, providing a satisfying crumb without being too airy. The subtle spice profile, though pleasant, could be bolder and the yuzu fruit provides a refreshing modern and seriously delicious twist. However, the fruit distribution leaves something to be desired, with only occasional hits of zesty citrus from the yuzu. The cross, defined in a clean ‘X,’ is visually pleasing and the glaze adds a light, non-sticky sweetness that doesn’t overwhelm the bun’s overall character.

The verdict: A contemporary take on the classic, Tokyo Lamington’s HCB is bright and tremendously enjoyable; a perfect treat for those seeking a lighter option.

Rating: 3.5/5

7. Wholegreen Bakery

Alexandria, Bondi Junction Pop-up, Sydney CBD

For a gluten-free option, Wholegreen’s hot cross bun impresses with its soft, pillowy texture, though it lacks the chewiness that some expect from its wheat counterparts. The subtle spice notes could benefit from a bit more punch as the blend almost fade into the background against the ample fruit or when sampled with butter. The fruit mix is of high quality and evenly distributed and skews towards a traditional blend, making this bun ideal for the gluten-free purist. Visually, the bun is polished with a glossy glaze and a well-formed, pleasingly rustic cross.

The verdict: Though it may not fully replace the classic, it stands out as a commendable gluten-free alternative that doesn’t compromise on freshness.

Rating: 3/5

8. Fabbrica

Chatswood, Coogee, Darlinghurst, Newtown, Rozelle, Sydney CBD

Fabbrica’s hot cross bun is springy in feel and well shaped with a slightly dense, doughy finish. While the texture is commendable, the spice balance unfortunately falls short. The fruit distribution is inconsistent; some buns are fruit-packed with whole dates, raisins, and sultanas, while others miss the mark entirely (which could be a plus for the dried-fruit averse in your network). The cross, defined and finished with a spiced glaze, delivers on visual appeal, though the sweetness might be a little overwhelming for some.

The verdict: These hot cross buns have a commendable and satisfying texture, but the inconsistent fruit distribution, overly sticky glaze and too-subtle spice just miss the mark.

Rating: 3/5

The post The best hot cross buns in Sydney: the ultimate hot cross bun bake-off appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

What to do at the lido

Get your Euro’s worth

However miffed you might be about forking out for something that is normally free (aka the sea), there’s value in buggering off to an unfamiliar beach without fretting about parking, shade, toilets, snacks and getting comfy on the sand. Lean into the lido’s offerings, and show up with little more than your togs, your towel, your book and (suck it up) your wallet. As a general rule, you’ll get two chairs/loungers and an umbrella for €30 a day. Let the lido do the work for you. You’re paying for it.

Arrive hungry

Yes, you’re normally permitted to bring your own snacks (just not allowed to eat them in the restaurant or bar), but lido menus don’t hike up the prices; expect to be stung upon entry, but not thereafter. Some of the family-friendly buffets are a bit of a bun fight; it’s much more fun to flag down a server and order drinks and meals direct to the lounger. There’s a classy trust system in place and you pay hours later, when you leave. The tiniest of tips will do; it’s understood the entrance fee has you covered.

Overdress

Thinking about sensibly taking off those gold earrings before hitting the beach? Keep them on! Worrying that it’s daft to bring both sandals and thongs? Toss them into your beach bag; many Italians wouldn’t dream of straying off-sand in flip-flops. Italians dress (and undress) to impress on the beach. Don’t stress about it, but if you’ve got that Missoni caftan or Loro Piana slides, we promise, they will never look out of place at the lido.

What not to do at the lido

Expect privacy and personal space

Standard Italian lidos function as exposure therapy for the world’s more prudish peoples. Expect mountains of tanned flesh, at perilously close quarters. Such is the Italian determination to pack as many bronzing bodies as possible into this prime real estate, you will be mere inches from your bikini- and Speedo-clad neighbours. Italian holidaymakers don’t care; they’re here as much for the social hubbub as they are for the sunshine and sea. The trick to enjoying a day at a lido is to embrace it, and people-watch from behind your oversized Gucci sunglasses while a waiter brings you Peroni after Peroni.

If you crave privacy, seek out rocky coves and small spiaggia pubblica, but be warned, the public beaches can be overcrowded and disappointing. In some parts of Italy, lidos occupy 70 per cent of the beach, and they’ve taken the best bits.

Settle for small talk

The Italian lido has been a piping-hot political potato since a recent EU directive pressed the Italian government to put long-held (and family-monopolised) beach concessions up for competitive bidding by 2027. If you detect a lull in energy as everyone slumps into a post-pasta stupor after lunch, we recommend casually asking your sunbathing neighbours what they think of the new lido leasing legislation.

Facciamo festa! Some Italians are absolutely furiosa about the loss of these decades-old, family-run lido businesses, who rent beach concessions from the government every year, a rolling lease that has until now been passed down within the family. Others feel estatico because these powerful families have capitalised on archaic leasing legislation for far too long; in 2020 the average annual fee for a concession owner was €7603 while the average turnover was €260,000. Either way, you’re guaranteed furious gesticulations and an emotionally charged atmosphere for the rest of the day.

Be the beach asino

That’s a donkey, by the way. Basic public pool rules apply at the Italian lido: balls can be chucked around when you’re in the water, but not on the sand. If you’re taking photos, make it clear they’re of yourself or
a cheesy sunset, and not some poor person towelling themselves. Don’t bring a speaker; many lidos will play their own music anyway. In these small but important ways, a lido is far superior to the public beaches where there is invariably some asino blaring reggaeton and tossing a ball about.

The post Lido law: How to navigate the Italian lido like a local appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

At first glance, modern-day chocolate shelves offer the same abundance. There are countless attractive brands, bright colours and exciting flavours on offer, but behind all those tempting wrappers, you might be surprised by the lack of diversity. Most mass-produced chocolate is made from similar cacao beans – the main ingredient of chocolate – and usually offers the same “chocolatey” flavour we’re all familiar with. Surprisingly, there are also many brands that don’t produce their own chocolate.

A lot of Australian chocolatiers use pre-made, mass-produced “couverture” from companies like Barry Callebaut or Valrhona, which they melt down and repurpose for their own creations. So while there are many different chocolate bars on a shelf, many of them offer the same core flavour, and some are literally made from the same chocolate as each other.

This lack of variation inspired Cuvée Chocolate co-founder Deniz Karaca to create his own chocolate from scratch, after years of working with European couverture. “We wanted to create something that was unique in the market,” says Karaca. “It’s very hard when you buy the same ingredients as all your main competitors. If you start at the same point, you don’t necessarily end at the same point, but you end up with something very similar.”

Originally from Germany but now based in Melbourne, Karaca has more than 20 years experience as a pastry chef and chocolatier. He placed third in the 2013 World Chocolate Masters competition in Paris, and was Savour Patissier of the Year in 2016. Despite reaching such pinnacles of chocolate success, he had a strong desire to take things one step further, and in 2019 he started making bean-to-bar chocolate, using a variety of rare types of cacao.

Cacao is a tropical fruit native to South America but is now cultivated worldwide, typically within 20 degrees north or south of the equator. Much like the diverse grape varieties used to craft different wines, there are many different types of cacao, offering more than 400 natural flavour notes. Cuvée Chocolate’s Grand Cru 75% Dark Chocolate bar, for example, carries distinct cherry and plum notes, thanks to the Tanzanian cacao with which it’s made. The familiar “chocolate” flavour many of us grew up with is just one of cacao’s many possibilities, yet it remains the dominant profile in mainstream chocolate.

The process of turning cacao into chocolate is long and complex. It begins with farmers harvesting cacao pods, fermenting the beans, then drying them out. The beans are then shipped to the chocolate maker, who roasts the beans to fine-tune the flavour. They’re then cracked and “winnowed” to separate the inner nibs from their shells, before the nibs are ground into a paste, known as cacao mass.

The mass is refined for smoothness, then conched to further develop flavour and texture – a process that involves continuously mixing and aerating the chocolate for up to 72 hours. “It’s all really hands-on,” says Karaca. “If you come into our kitchen, it’s not just a stainless steel line of machines that are all connected, where you chuck in beans at one end and chocolate comes out at the other. Every step of our process has a human involved; every step has quality control. We can really keep our finger on the pulse.”

The bean-to-bar movement was largely based in North America until around 2005, when craft chocolate makers started emerging across the globe. Australia was among the early adopters, with Michelle Morgan of Zokoko in Sydney establishing her brand in 2006. Today, there are more than 35 Australian bean-to-bar makers, as well as a handful of specialty cacao growers in northern Queensland.

Debbie Makin of Ratio Cocoa Roasters in Melbourne is a former zoologist and lifelong chocolate enthusiast. Inspired by her brother’s coffee roastery and its “bean-to-cup” ethos, Makin followed her chocolate dream and set up a bean-to-bar factory in Brunswick in 2017. The factory has a glass wall running through its centre, behind which you can see the full production process, from sacks of beans at one end to wrapped bars at the other.

“The biggest thing about bean-to-bar is transparency,” says Makin. “We’ve got nothing to hide – anyone can see the equipment we’re using; anyone can see the ingredients we’re using.”

Like most specialty foods, bean-to-bar chocolate costs more than mass-produced alternatives, with most bars priced between $10 and $15. That price isn’t just a reflection of the high quality ingredients and craftsmanship, it’s also a result of ethically sourcing the beans. “Sourcing directly from farmers or cooperatives means we know exactly where our beans come from,” says Makin. “We know that the farmer’s being paid a fair price, well above market rates.”

Makin is also the organiser of The Australian Chocolate Festival by Bean-to-Bar Makers. Last year’s inaugural festival featured 25 stalls and chocolate makers from seven different countries, with a strong emphasis on educating the public about the quality, ethics and flavour diversity of bean-to-bar chocolate. This year’s festival is happening on July 5 to 6 at the Seaworks Precinct in Williamstown, Victoria, with twice as many stalls and visitors expected.

Although bean-to-bar chocolate is arguably 20 years behind the specialty coffee or craft beer trends, it’s the fastest growing sector in the global chocolate industry. Educating consumers and changing culture takes time, but the Australian movement is introducing people to chocolate with more flavour, nuance and purpose than they ever thought possible.

Thanks to the hard work of Deniz Karaca, Debbie Makin and a host of other passionate pioneers, there’s never been a more enticing or compelling time to be a chocolate lover.

The post Counting beans: The best bean-to-bar chocolate in Australia for a decadent Easter appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

New Zealand pinot noir

Central Otago’s reputation with this grape is well-deserved. Dense, silken, and powerful, great examples are in one of the country’s driest places, Bannockburn, noted for its complexity of flavour and herbaceousness: producer Domain Road captures this perfectly.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Queensberry and Wānaka offer more aromatics and elegance as demonstrated at Nanny Goat where fine pinot noir is the calling card.

You may pay more than Adelaide Hills or Yarra Valley, but there’s merit in the extra expense. “There are interesting schist-based and extremely old soils in Central Otago, and then as you get north of Christchurch, it becomes a lot more limestone and reminiscent of Burgundy,” reflects Campbell Burton, a Melbourne-based wine distributor with a penchant for organic winemaking.

“Some excellent pinot noir is coming out of this region, particularly from Black Estate and Vita. These wines cost the same as a well-made Australian wine. They’re made and farmed similarly, but the fruit and structure are quite different in the glass.”

And the fact they are organic and devoid of systemic chemical sprays only adds to their appeal. “These interesting wines, and others, are worth seeking out. You can track down young and exciting Kiwi producers in Australia with a little effort.”

Bigger New Zealand reds

With scarcely any pollution and a thinning ozone layer, one factor many never consider is sunlight. “Light is such a defining aspect of New Zealand. In Hawke’s Bay, particularly, they can achieve optimum ripeness but with low alcohol levels – which you’ll struggle to do anywhere else,” says Burton.

His go-to is Amy Farnsworth’s Amoise label, where she deftly crafts medium-bodied and concentrated reds from cabernet franc and syrah, underscored by distinctiveness yet approachability. “These are genuinely different-tasting wines and styles you will not find in Australia,” says Burton.

“Halcyon Days is another great producer and their sangiovese from last year is low alcohol with soaring perfume and deliciousness. You couldn’t make this wine in the Adelaide Hills.”

Our affinity for bold red wine in the Lucky Country is storied. And while Margaret River and Coonawarra come to mind, Hawke’s Bay is also excellent for the late-ripening tendencies of cabernet sauvignon.

The distinctive terroir of the Gimblett Gravels subregion highlights the interplay of heat-retaining stony soils with oceanic influence. Mills Reef captures this variety’s dark, brooding nature with finesse; their Elspeth Cabernet Sauvignon is a high-value way to sample it.

Notable New Zealand white wines

Rippon in Wānaka must be one of the world’s most beautiful wineries. However, its prowess with gewürztraminer is its true unique selling point.

Outside the French region of Alsace, where it grows triumphantly, New Zealand is one of a few places globally where the white grape excels. Try an off-dry style of this aromatic wine where moreish lychee and rose characters soar.

The North Island coastal town of Gisborne also has a reputation for this sub-category of wines that can vary in dryness and offer superb affordability. A superb match with any food dominated by heat or spice.

Australia might be known for its bone-dry rieslings, but Central Otago emphasises purity of fruit and nuanced minerality from glacial terraces and ancient soils. Among neighbouring vineyards, Prophet’s Rock is a great place to start, with a convincing focus on this variety.

Extended skin contact rieslings are nothing new; a handful of winemakers are going for mouthfeel, leaving bottles unfined, unfiltered, and delicious. Trickier to match when dining – but not impossible – these wines are intelligent and left-of-centre.

Central Otago’s Sato creates riesling and pinot gris that walk the tightrope between skin contact and premium results, redefining conversations around what constitutes fine wine.

Organic and minimal intervention wine in NZ

Dan Gillett of Wine Diamonds and Everyday Wines in Auckland admits New Zealand’s natural wine landscape is a couple of steps behind Australia.

“We had many new people come onto the scene and leave as quickly as they appeared. But there are still ardent vintners out there doing great stuff. Brood is a perfect example in Nelson, who is making noteworthy wine and beer side by side.”

Confirming the adage: it takes a lot of good beer to make great wine. “Their Pollen is a funky chardonnay riesling blend, unusual but smart and great drinking.”

Curtailing the image you need to be hip to drink natty is Bell Hill in North Canterbury. “The chardonnay is their best work. It’s a devoted project centred around soil and climate, so the price point reflects this. Ultimately, their drive is to make the best in the country,” he says. Natural ferments, zero fining, next to no filtering, and organic vineyards all contribute to an irrefutable movement on this bearing.

Gillett confirms it isn’t always a new enterprise, either. “The ones who are succeeding have always used low intervention methods: taking high-quality grapes, doing little to them, and ending up with fabulous wine representative of where it comes from. Hans Herzog is one of those producers,” he says.

The Swiss winemaker and his wife, Therese Herzog, employ a holistic, hands-on methodology across 20-plus varieties at their Wairau Valley vineyard. “He’s taken a long-term approach and succeeds with grapes usually never found in that region.”

New Zealand sauvignon blanc

Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room. I’ve smelt Marlborough sauvignon blanc being opened across a restaurant floor. Yet, despite its prolific status, some winemakers are taking this style and incorporating nous to create a drink that doesn’t scream tropical fruit salad.

Lees stirring, measured use of oak, and careful low-yield fruit growing create an attractive take at Te Whare Ra, where the modus operandi is to restore faith in the potential quality of wines from the region.

On the same train of thought, nearby Tokyo ex-pat Takaki Okada’s Folium wine produces beautifully crafted sauvignon blanc from hand-harvested fully organic vines hinging on meticulous canopy management.

The result is less tropical fruit and atypical zippiness: drink it by itself or pair it with a fish crudo without taking centrestage. Restrained sauvignon blanc from Marlborough does exist. Do your research; reap the rewards.

The post Beyond sauvignon: The new-wave New Zealand wines on the rise appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

If you’re one of the 90 per cent who says they care about where their seafood comes from, and want to know how to best make use of it so our oceans and other waterways thrive, there are a bunch of changes you can make when shopping for fish to cook at home, or choosing fish in restaurants.

“Basically, all fish is yummy,” says Clark. “It’s about getting out of your comfort zone and trying something different.”

Our sustainable seafood guide to buying fish

Look for the stranger fish species and cuts

Not only should you be shopping – where possible – for lesser-known species but it’s also worth looking at using bits of the fish that would usually end up in the bin. If you’re fortunate enough to dine at Josh Niland’s Saint Peter in Sydney, the work’s done for you, with Niland and his team presenting noodles made from melted fish bones and fish eyeball macarons. But it’s something you can do at home as well. “Fish wings!” says Phil Clark. “They’re one of my favourite pieces of fish and are a really cost-effective way to have seafood every week.”

Choose the MSC blue tick — but with caution

Looking for fish marked with the blue tick from the international not-for-profit Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a fairly easy way to be sure you’re buying wild fish that’s been caught from a healthy population, in ways that minimise impact on both the stock levels and the environment. But sometimes their ticks come with controversy, as outside groups challenge their methodology, or dispute whether a fishery is flouting the rules. One way to cross-check is by consulting the Good Fish Bad Fish website, which provides an extra layer of insight into the sustainability of different species of fish.

Avoid Tasmanian salmon

There’s plenty of information about the potential harm that breeding Atlantic salmon – which is not native to Australian waters – has on the seas around Tasmania where they’re farmed, although the big salmon companies dispute a lot of it (and one, Tassal, has even earned the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s coveted green tick).

But putting that aside, there are always going to be better options available than eating introduced, farmed fish. “We don’t see it as a product that has any place on our menu,” says Lachlan Colwill from elegant Hobart kaiseki restaurant Omotenashi. “It would be the equivalent of us using battery chicken.” Instead, Colwill and his partner Sophie Pope challenge their guests to get excited about more interesting and less controversial species such as native Australian salmon and goatfish.

Make friends with your fishmonger

A fishmonger who cares as much about what you’re eating as you do, should be your best buddy. A good one will help you work out how to prepare and cook those daunting species or cuts, and probably save you a few dollars at the same time (because the less “desirable” a species or fish part is, the cheaper it’s likely to be). They should also be able to reassure you about provenance.

“Pester fishmongers and fish butchers with questions: when it arrived, where it’s from, who caught it,” says Colwill. “If they can’t answer or seem like they’re bluffing, you should probably just walk away.”

Buy whole fish

Buying a whole fish is the only way to guarantee that no one has washed it with water which, as fish fanatic Josh Niland never tires of explaining, is the fastest way to ruin a fish’s flavour. It also means that you can try your hand at working with the less-utilised parts of the fish when you get it home. “Get it with scales on and guts in, and learn how to [clean it] yourself.

That’s the only way to guarantee that someone’s not going to wash it under a tap and ruin that beautiful thing,” insists Colwill, though Josh Niland is a little more forgiving.

“If you would like a fish to be filleted, deboned, butterflied or have its skin removed, then ask for it!” Niland wrote in 2021’s Take One Fish. “There’s nothing wrong with getting a professional to do this for you, especially if it will improve your experience with the fish once you get home.” Just tell them to stay away from the tap as they do it.

Don’t buy fish from overseas

Like any food product, local is best. Australian fisheries are generally managed much better than many of their international counterparts, and a fresh-caught local fish is always going to taste better than something packed in ice and shipped in from another country. Ideally, fish shouldn’t fly. The exception to this is New Zealand, which is globally recognised for its sustainable fisheries management – including its farmed King salmon, which is a more sustainable alternative to Australian farmed salmon.

The post Sustainable seafood guide: How to be a better fish eater appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Blackberry and Panna Cotta lamington

Laura Metcalf and Kelsie Culpan, Mor Bakery

Combating the lamington’s one traditional setback, dryness, Laura Metcalf and Kelsie Culpan of Auckland’s Mor Bakery are nod to legendary Sydney baker Nadine Ingram for their fix. “We discovered the brilliant Nadine Ingram’s panna cotta-soaked lamington and it was somewhat of a game changer for us,” they say. “Our dream lamington would be studded with blackberries and drenched in a tonka bean panna cotta soak. It would be coated in a classic dark chocolate glaze and rolled in toasted coconut with big, long, fancy flakes.”

Savoury Rendang lamington

Khanh Nguyen, King Clarence

Stitching together his Australian upbringing and deep love for Southeast Asian cuisine, the King Clarence executive chef takes his lamington in a savoury direction. “One of my favourite coconut-based dishes is rendang, a slow-cooked ‘dry curry’ that brings depth and complexity,” he says. “The tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat of rendang would act as the ‘sponge’, while the dry curry provides bold flavours with a nod to chocolate – and could even be seasoned with a hint of Vegemite for an Australian umami hit.” Nguyen would braise a whole cut of beef in a fragrant rendang; press it, chill it, and trim it into cubes. Before serving, he would gently reheat the cube (retaining its shape), glaze it with the reduced dry curry, and roll it in toasted, shredded coconut, “for texture and a nutty contrast”. And for those who insist a lamington needs jam, Nguyen suggests a sweet, sour, and spicy Davidson plum and fermented chilli jam.

The Heart of the Rainforest lamington

Mindy Woods, Karkalla

First Nations chef Mindy Woods, a Bundjalung woman, gives the Australian icon a deeper tie to country. “I want to reflect the beauty of the land I come from,” she says. “I would create a white chocolate and macadamia sponge with finger lime curd. And instead of the usual dessicated coconut, I would elevate my lamington with roasted, shaved macadamias.”

Pandan and Kaya lamington

Lorcan Kán, Etta

Since joining Etta in mid-2024, head chef Lorcan Kán has quickly earned a reputation for his unique creations and flavour combinations – including a chilli oil parfait with orange sugar melon, lychee and lime leaf sorbet. His ultimate lamington sees him think outside the square – literally – to reinvent the sweet treat in doughnut form. “A pandan chiffon cake doughnut with a kaya [coconut jam] filling; fried and then dipped in chocolate ganache and covered in soft coconut. Everything should be really soft and light. Lamingtons are too square, I want to see a nice, soft circle shape.”

Pistachio lamington

Valentine Fodor, Vege Mamma

Sydney cakemaker Valentine Fodor is a rising star on Instagram with her custom dream cakes. Her fresh spin on the lamington casts pistachio as the leading ingredient. “My dream combination would have a pistachio praline for texture and crunch between layers, and a vanilla-bean cream,” she says.

Matcha Green Tea lamington

Meg Tanaka, Cibi

“Coming from a side of Japan in the ’90s where coconuts weren’t common, my first taste of a lamington was an inspiring moment,” says Meg Tanaka of Melbourne’s cult Japanese bakery, Cibi. “I would create a fine, soft sponge using quality matcha powder from Kyoto, sandwiched with a matcha cream and tossed with shredded couverture white chocolate and finely shredded coconut.”

Victoria Sponge lamington

Richard Dormer, Gibney

Perth-based pastry chef Richard Dormer at Gibney reverts to his childhood in the United Kingdom for his take on the Australian classic. “One of the first cakes I have memories of baking in England was a Victoria sponge,” he says. “My lamington would have a layer of raspberry jam and vanilla cream through the middle and the sponge will be lightly flavoured with zesty lemon peel.”

Passionfruit, Yuzu and Raspberry Cheesecake lamington

Rosemary Andrews, Mietta

“When we were kids, we’d pick fresh passionfruit and raspberries from our garden, and Mum would bake them into steamed puddings or sponges,” says the owner and executive pastry chef at Mietta in Melbourne. Her ultimate lamington would balance nostalgic flavours with a modern hit of yuzu and swap sponge for a decadent cheesecake body, adding a touch of lime for a final flourish, to “enhance the creaminess of the cheesecake and add a refreshing twist”.

Pandan and Taro

Loan Le “Elena” Nguyen, Kudo

“Fragrant pandan pairs beautifully with creamy and earthy taro,” says Elena Nguyen of Melbourne’s Kudo bakery. Kudo is known for its cool interpretations on French canelés (think Madagascar vanilla spiked with oaked rum or espresso spiced with star anise-infused custard). Going from one afternoon tea icon to the next, Nguyen’s lamington riffs on classic Vietnamese flavours. “It evokes memories of the Vietnamese sweets I enjoyed growing up.”

The post Lamington reborn: Leading chefs’ creative takes on the classic dessert appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Olives are cherished for their rich, briny flavor and versatility — be it in a Dirty Martini, chopped up in a puttanesca or served solo as a delightful summer snack.

A great olive is plump, firm, and has a balanced combination of bitterness and saltiness. Here we put store-bought olives through their paces to find the four best olives in Australia. From Mount Zero’s bag of punchy rosemary and pepperberry marinated olives to the classic tin of Perello spicy olives hailing from Spain, these are the best olives to have in your pantry, ready to roll out when company calls.

Mount Zero rosemary & native pepper mixed olives

Native pepperberry leaves carry the aroma of Australian bushland, with notes of paperbark, cinnamon and herbs, which adds the ideal seasoning to these mixed olives. Coated in a punchy extra virgin olive oil that’s infused with rosemary, each green and dark purple olive is robust and tasty.

$5.50 for 80gm, mountzeroolives.com.au

Made by Max mixed marinated olives

When he’s not creating recipes and styling photo shoots for GT, food editor Maxwell Adey is busy mixing marinades for these premium olives. A blend of South Australian kalamata and Victorian green olives are punctuated with briney cornichons, making this tasty combo the perfect one-stop-shop for apéro hour.

$18 for 495gm, madebymax.com.au

Simon Johnson gordal olives

These olives are a prime cocktail garnish thanks to their strong, salt-forward flavour profile and firm texture. Gordal olives, also known as queen olives, are grown in Spain. They are harvested early in the season, making them denser and more flavoursome than their black counterparts.

$12.95 for 300gm, simonjohnson.com

Perello spicy gordal olives

Regarded by chefs as the leading olive preserver in the world, Perello’s signature spicy gordal olives pack a serious flavour punch. The bright chartreuse ovals are big on flavour, with a smoky, salty aroma and a deeply savoury, almost meat-like flavour. Try them skewered with anchovies as a Gilda or in your next Martini.

$11 for 150gm, mateinspain.com

The post The best store-bought olives in Australia, according to GT editors appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Koshu (Japanese wine)

Evolving over the centuries, Koshu is Japan’s only known indigenous grape variety. Its thick, red-tinged skin makes it comparatively resistant to disease in Japan’s humid climate. From a cult-favourite winery, Grace Wine’s Hishiyama koshu is a single-vineyard wine that expresses grapefruit and nashi flavours and hints of limestone minerality. The wine’s greatest appeal is its texture, as the freshness comes not from acidity but from a linear minerality that sweeps across the palate. The wine works beautifully with a whole range of foods, from grilled prawns on a barbecue to tempura battered vegetables or a sticky miso-glazed salmon rice bowl.

Try: 2021 Grace Wine Koshu Hishiyama Vineyard

Shōchū

Shōchū is a traditional Japanese spirit made from rice or sweet potato (or a combination of both), combining sake brewing techniques with a spirit distillation process. Its origins date back 500 years, with the first recorded production in the Yamagawa area, now part of Kagoshima Prefecture, in southern Japan. Once used as a disinfectant for sword wounds during the Edo period, shōchū has undergone a modern transformation, becoming one of the trendiest ready-to-drink beverages on the market. You can’t go past a bus stop, billboard or social media post in Japan without seeing a mention of Suntory’s Minus 196 cans – a refreshing mix of shōchū, vodka, soda and lemon. The name comes from the unique process of capturing the fruit’s vibrant flavours: lemons are flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen at an astonishing -196°C, locking in their freshness and enhancing the drink’s crisp, citrusy appeal.

Try: Suntory Minus 196 Double Lemon (4-pack)

Sake

Sake is one of the world’s most unique and exciting beverages. The Houraisen Akai Sake project involved a year-long collaboration between Deja Vu Sake and Houraisen Brewery. Typically, the rice used in sake production is polished, resulting in a clear liquid that is delicate, slightly sweet, and low in acidity. This sake, however, is made from a minimally polished ancient red rice, which retains a ruby-red hue, reminiscent of cherries. The resulting sake tastes bright, fresh and vibrant with a well-balanced interplay of umami and sweet plums and a pleasing complexity.

Try: Houraisen Akai Sake Junmai

Yuzu sparkling sake

There’s a strong connection in flavours between Australia and Japan, particularly through our shared appreciation of their traditional citrus fruit, yuzu, which can be found in everything from Australian-made sodas to hot sauce. Yuzu is a citrus fruit that originated in China and was brought to Japan in the Nara Period (710-794). Yoshinogawa, Japan’s fifth-oldest sake brewery and the oldest sake producer in the Niigata prefecture, has created a refreshing sparkling sake infused with Japanese yuzu juice. The vibrant citrus aromas of yuzu and grapefruit, as well as an elegant palate and delicate bubble, work perfectly with blue swimmer crab, prawns, lobster, and all manner of good Australian seafood.

try: Yoshinogawa Yuzu Sparkling Sake

Japanese whisky

Having just celebrated its 100th anniversary, Japanese whisky is hardly “new wave”. But it’s an excellent case study of combining a rich history of local craft with global lessons. Fuji Gotemba Distillery (located at the foot of Mount Fuji) is one of the only distilleries in the world capable of distilling multiple styles of grain whisky within a single blend – produced from single grains at one distillery. Each component is aged separately, with master blender Jota Tanaka overseeing the process. The Fuji Single Blended Whisky is super soft, with all these silky layers, purity of flavour, and a hint of a smoked sage character that weaves its way into the palate. It’s easily a benchmark for blended whisky globally.

Try: Fuji Single Blended Whisky

The post A sommelier’s guide to new Japanese drinks to try appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

From glass to plate and beach to barbecue, these summer hacks will help you beat the heat.

Americano Perfecto

Lachlan Bentley, head bartender, Apollo Inn

Ever wondered what bartenders make at home? Like chefs, they keep it simple. In summer, Lachlan Bentley drinks a variation on an Americano. “I really enjoy them topped with beer instead of soda,” he says. “It’s called an Americano Perfecto.” The choice of beer is up to you. “Just as you’d switch up a gin in a Martini, you can switch up what beer you use. I stick with Campari and sweet vermouth, but sometimes I like a fruity sour beer, a lager or even an IPA.”

Avocado cups with scallop crudo

Dean Romeo, brand director, Felons Brewing Co.

When Dean Romeo found himself with avocados and Hervey Bay scallops on a boat, he got creative. “I thinly sliced the scallops, shook up some olive oil and lemon juice in a jar, and used that to cure the scallops,” he says. “Then I halved the avocados, took the pits out, stuffed them, and hit them with salt, pepper and dill. Delicious.” For ease, he suggests pre-curing the scallops before heading out, so all that’s left is filling the avocados. His ideal pairing on a hot day? “A really ice-cold European-style lager.”

Spicy grilled pineapple Margarita

Kane Pollard, executive chef and co-owner, Topiary and Ondeen

Returning to Cairns recently after living there for three years, Kane Pollard and his wife tried a spicy pineapple Margarita. “It was a time and place moment,” he says. “They taste so much better after you’ve walked through the markets and seen the bright pineapples.” At home, they recreate it by roasting whole pineapples over charcoal. For a simpler option, he suggests barbequing the pineapple, steeping it in agave syrup, and then filtering it. “If you do that, you can put a slice of the soaked pineapple in the drink, too,” he adds.

Thai-style passionfruit and pineapple shakes

Adam Muscat, chef and co-owner, Samila Gaeng

Icy fruit shakes were Adam Muscat’s cool-down method of choice when he lived in Thailand. “In Ao Nang, Koh Samui, and any of the popular beaches in Phuket, there are ladies with fruit carts and you can ask them to blend [the fruit] up,” he says. His favourites were pineapple and passionfruit shakes, sometimes with a little coconut milk added. The recipe is simple enough to make at home: “It’s basically a cup of ice, a cup of fruit, a touch of sugar syrup and salt. I like mine not super blended, so it has some thickness.”

Jamu

Dewa Wahyu Bintara, managing director, Mei Mei Bali

This traditional herbal concoction is made from natural ingredients such as turmeric, ginger, galangal, pepper, lemongrass, lemon and lime. “Imagine a wellness shot, but rooted in ancient recipes and packed with all these earthy, vibrant flavours,” says Dewa Wahyu Bintara. Growing up drinking it every day, he’s seen it blow up recently. “Jamu was the go-to for something both flavourful and good for you. Nowadays, you’ll find it in everything from cocktails to kombucha,” he adds. Packed with ingredients that are available year-round in Southeast Asia, it’s super refreshing, especially in the heat. “You can drink it cold, or even mix it with soda to make it more tropical,” Bintara says. “In the heat, jamu just balances you out; it’s energising but also soothing. Perfect for beach days.”

Granita

Kieran Tosolini, Rivareno Gelato

While it’s gelato that underpins Tosolini’s business, there’s another Italian iced treat that brings back joyful memories of research trips to Italy. “The absolute best granita that we had was on the Amalfi Coast, which is famous for growing the best lemons in the world,” says Tosolini. After trying plenty of different granitas all across Italy, Tosolini has perfected Rivereno’s recipe at home. “All of our granita is made with real fruit, water and just a little sugar.” Tosolini’s tip for a perfect granita is that it should have a great mouthfeel and never be too icy. “It [should be] like an explosion of fruit in your mouth. Just super refreshing.”

Tomatoes and burrata

Karena Armstrong, executive chef and co-owner, The Salopian Inn

Before summer, Karena Armstrong and her team plant tomatoes in The Salopian Inn kitchen garden. Once ripe, she likes to dice and toss them with mustard oil and shallots, pairing them with burrata and garlic-rubbed toasted sourdough. “The tomato has to be a summer, sun-ripened variety,” she says. “Oxhearts, Black Russians, Tommy Toes, any variety – it just needs to be super ripe.” It’s a dish she brings to a friend’s place to enjoy outside. “I still love that moment of cutting burrata and seeing the oozy cream come out. It never gets old.”

Iced chrysanthemum tea

Narin ‘Jack’ Kulasai, co-owner and chef, Porkfat

When in Thailand, Narin ‘Jack’ Kulasai enjoys Nam Gek Huey (chrysanthemum tea), a refreshing golden-yellow drink introduced by Chinese migrants and cherished for its cooling properties. “It makes you feel calm and relaxes your mind,” says Kulasai. To make it, steep dried chrysanthemum flowers in hot water, strain, sweeten with honey or sugar, cool, and serve over ice. Pair with something spicy, or drink on its own after working up a sweat. “After walking in the city, you feel thirsty, so you buy a glass of this drink to refresh you,” he says. “It’s my favourite.”

Fresh oysters with Shucked Byron Bay dressing

Reina Patrick, co-owner, Harrisons

With summer temperatures in Port Douglas averaging around 32 degrees, Reina Patrick has mastered staying cool. “We’ve got an amazing seafood supplier here so we’ll pop in, grab some oysters and head to the creeks near Silky Oaks Lodge,” she says. “They’ve got amazing sandy banks, ice-cold water and it’s surrounded by green rainforest.” Patrick brings along the oyster dressing dropper bottles by Shucked Byron Bay. “They are so mobile, so we pack them up with some chairs and set up a little spot.”

The post Hot hospo hacks: food and drinks hospitality veterans swear by when staying cool in summer appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Bobby Passionfruit

Recalling a certain nostalgic ubiquitous can, this prebiotic soft drink is an easy-going summer sip. Tropical fruit notes are backed by a gentle fizz.

$48 for 12 x 330ml, drinkbobby.com.au

StrangeLove Yuzu

Byron Bay early adopter StrangeLove is behind this peppy but refreshing tin accented by Japanese yuzu. Expect a bright mash of mandarin and lemon-like citrus.

$11 for 4 x 330ml, strangelove.com.au

Mischief Brew Tonic No. 2

Restrained and elegant, these small batch tonics out of Adelaide showcase interesting savoury and bitter ingredients. This edition is a subtle infusion of bitter orange, herbaceous lemon myrtle and rosemary.

$60 for 12 x 250ml cans, mischiefbrew.com.au

Ordinary Soda White Grapefruit

Far from being eponymous, this spiffy soda pops with a clean grapefruit flavour. It would be ideal over ice with a wedge of citrus, or served with a glug of white tequila.

$42 for 12 x 330ml cans, drinkordinary.com.au

Yumbo Soda Lemonade

A can you’ll finish with enthusiasm, this Yarra Valley citrus-powered squash is thirst-quenching and flavourful. A bit like Solo’s more fashionable Gen X cousin.

$6 for 375ml, yumbosoda.com

The post The best craft sodas in Australia, according to our editors appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

From blue corn to flour-based, Taco Tuesday is looking on the up. Here is our pick of the best tortillas in Australia.

La Banderita

These rounds are flour-based rather than made with corn, which makes them a little softer and stretchier (but not gluten-free). Ideal for filled-to-the-brim burritos.

$11 for 20, harrisfarm.com.au

Doña Cholita

Sold frozen to capture the sweet, nutty flavour of blue corn and made in NSW’s Northern Rivers, these tortillas offer a well-balanced flavour and texture. Founder Jefte Juarez had trouble finding tortillas as good as the ones he had growing up in Mexico, so he set about crafting his own.

$9.89 for 12, organicdeliverysydney.com.au

La Tortilleria

This Melbourne-based artisan uses Australian-grown corn and sea salt for its masa (dough) and nothing else. Used by the likes of Rico’s Tacos and Frankie’s Tortas and Tacos, these malleable, soft tacos offer an authentic taqueria experience at home.

$9.20 for 15, latortilleria.com.au

El Cielo

Slinging tacos and Mexican groceries since 2012, El Cielo was founded by three Mexican friends who set out on a mission to create the dishes they remembered from home. These soft taco shells are excellent as flautas (rolled-up fried tacos) or tostadas, which sees each disc fried and then topped.

$7.50 for 10, elcielo.shop

The post The best tortillas in Australia, as tested by GT editors appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

From flavour-forward and fermented to the salty and whole, there’s a pickle for everyone. Here are our pick of the best cucumber pickles to buy.

Would you rather make your own? Our bread and butter pickle recipe is a winner.

Westmont sweet & spicy pickles

Australian pickle upstart Westmont has been perfecting its brine since 2014, and these crinkle-cut cukes are some of the best and crunchiest we tried. Chilli adds zing, and this humble all-rounder pickle belongs in the fridges of home cooks and chefs alike.

$7.50 for 500gm, westmontpickles.com

Tsuke Mono Japanese pickles

Naturally fermented with a trifecta of saltiness from soy, sweetness from mirin, and acidity from rice vinegar, these pickles pop. Aromatic mustard seeds and a thick slice make these excellent for topping rice bowls, cold soba or served as part of a bento box.

$10.99 for 400gm, harrisfarm.com.au

Dillicious Straight Up garlic dill pickle chips

These pickle pucks are joined by dill fronds for tasty results. The rounds are ideal for putting on burgers to add a pop of crunch, with an acid-forward flavour profile ideal for cutting through richness.

$16, dillicious.com.au

Wicked Pickles dill pickles

Whole small cucumbers are brined for bitey results. These offer up a sweeter, less acidic pickle option, making them good to have in your fridge and on hand for a late night snack attack.

$3 for 500gm, coles.com.au

The Essential Ingredient cornichons in vinegar

The French know how to do a good pickle, and this traditional iteration sees whole baby cucumbers submerged in brine alongside tarragon. A convenient lifting drainer prevents the need for spoons or fiddly fingers. Best served accompanied by a hearty farmhouse pâté and baguette.

$7.75 for 350gm, essentialingredient.com.au

The post The best cucumber pickles in Australia, as tested by GT editors appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Choose your jar carefully depending on your preference or meal. For a salad already loaded with texture, a silky smooth oil is probably your best option. But for everything else, we love a crispy chilli oil, like the five you’ll find below.

Not only do these oils come with a hint of fiery heat, they’re dotted with pops of flavour gold. In these jars, you’ll find tantalising hunks of garlic, crisp shallots and even a shiitake mushroom.

Whichever your choice, for whatever meal you’re sitting down to eat, it can almost always be improved by a drizzle of one of these chilli oils.

Umami Papi

This is the sort of oil that you start with just a teaspoon, before quickly going back for more, thanks to its aromatic, savoury and salty profile. Underpinned by a solid spice kick, the chilli-crisp-to-oil ratio is also on point. 

$15.50 for 225ml, umamipapi.com.au

Gini Maya

This flashy and fierce chilli oil is underpinned by the scent of curry leaves, alongside garlic and ginger, which gives it a citrusy and pungent edge. The Sri Lankan-style condiment celebrates the bright flavours of the cuisine, offering a unique flavour profile.

$15 for 250ml, ginimaya.com.au

Six-Eyed Scorpion

This Melbourne-based chilli oil ups the ante with solid chunks of garlic and shallots, making it a generous and handy dish finisher, be it atop burrata, tofu or eggs. Developed by chef Sandra Seah (ex-Transformer, Smith & Daughters and Riso) this chunky chilli oil is a leading example of the classic.

$18.50 for 200ml, sixeyedscorpion.com

Soka Pantry Co

Crafted with olive oil rather than canola oil, Soka Pantry creates a versatile and moreish condiment. Alongside the usual suspects you’ll also find bay leaf, dried shiitake mushrooms and nutritional yeast for a deeply flavoured oil that goes well on anything from lasagne through to tacos. 

$17.95 for 180ml, sokapantry.com.au

Oomami

Rich, red and bitey, this new take on a chilli crisp has a coarse consistency thanks to nubs of almonds and sesame seeds. The original version is more savoury than spicy, while this extra hot edition centres on gochugaru (Korean red chilli peppers) for heat, balanced perfectly with just enough salt and sugar.

$19 for 250ml, oomamibondi.com.au 

Make these and then top with chilli oil…

Previous

Hash browns with eggs fried in olive oil and herb salad

Turkish eggs with samoon

Stir-fried udon noodles with mustard greens, tofu and peanut sauce

Stir-fried sweet potato noodles with tofu

Shaved zucchini, fennel and mint salad with burrata

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Thai curry

A rich picture of Thai regional cuisines is often painted over with the broad brush of green curry, red curry or Massaman curry outside of Thailand. The Thai government only spurred this along with its initiative, the Global Thai program, which it launched in 2002 to get Thai food into restaurants and homes across the globe. In doing so, they created standardised menus that featured the aforementioned curries.

Palisa Anderson of Chat Thai and Boon Luck Farm is among a cohort of chefs deprogramming Australia’s homogenised understanding of Thai food to restore regionality (no, you don’t have to say goodbye to your favourite Thai green curry recipe). Thailand’s history with curry differs to other Southeast Asian countries. While Thailand was never colonised, Anderson says it was “cross-pollinated” by migration throughout the ages. Take the Massaman curry, for example, which many contend to be a Southern Thai dish influenced by Malay and Indian cuisine but Thai food expert David Thompson traces the origins back to 17th-century Thailand via Persian merchant Sheik Ahmad Qomi.

From the hearty cuisine in the northernmost part of Thailand, Lanna, with its dishes such as khao soi, a curried chicken noodle soup; to the fiery Isaan region in Thailand’s north-east that spruiks fresh and grilled foods high in acid like som dtum, the green papaya salad; to Bangkok’s central Thai cuisine showing off the best of “royal” cuisine along with street-vendor dishes; all the way down to the south lined with coconuts, where you can find the spiciest food of all and is home to a large Muslim population who cook up a mean goat biryani.

“Every dish is different from village to village, even though the name might be the same, the way it is cooked would be completely different,” says Anderson. “What is a curry? Is it a soup or a stew? All I know is that it means it’s an abundance of food, representing our generosity and eagerness to share and nourish.”

Now, it’s time to make our Thai green curry recipe, red curry recipe, or Massaman curry recipe (pictured above).

Australian curry

Understanding curry in Australia starts with spice blends. Masala refers to a mix of spice powders in various Indian languages, like Urdu “masalih” or Hindi “garam masala”, being a hot blend and one of the most famous ones. There are different varieties from varying regions, but it was coined in ancient times as a medicinal spice blend. Meanwhile, in countries across Southeast Asia, fresh or dried spices are ground by hand in a mortar and pestle to create unique, fresh spice mixes.

Historically in Australia, Keen’s Curry Powder, a blend of turmeric, coriander, salt, fenugreek, black pepper, chilli, rice flour, allspice, and celery, was the only access to spices migrants could find when they came to Australia. The Tasmanian condiment, created by British arrivals Joseph and Annie Keen in the 1860s, embedded further into Australian food culture when missionaries introduced the powder to First Nations Australians – not Australia’s finest moment, but a significant one all the same. Even now, it’s big in the homes of Aboriginal Australians in recipes such as curried sausages. Torres Strait Islander chef and restaurateur Nornie Bero even uses it in her dad’s favourite recipe of tin meat (corned beef) and rice in Mabu Mabu.

Sri Lankan curry

Chef Gayan Pieris at Many Little Bar & Dining in Red Hill South puts his Sri Lankan culture on a plate. Pieris sees the generic term “curry” as a launching point for new diners. “Curry is used as a universal word for pretty much any spiced dish but it’s our job now to explain the differences to people. Even if I call something a Sri Lankan chicken curry, we have so many different variants from across the island. I try to state the town or area from which each dish is inspired on our menu,” he says.

On his menu, Negombo prawn curry highlights the use of prawns, which is common for the coastal town on the island’s east, and Jaffna goat curry shows off a dish that harnesses the rich intensity of roasted curry powder from the Tamil population in the island’s north.

Now, it’s time to make our Sri Lankan chicken curry recipe or Sri Lankan fish curry (pictured above).

Japanese curry

In a game of global ping pong, colonisation spread “curry” from India to Britain and into Southeast Asia. In Japan, curry, or “kare” was introduced during the Meiji Restoration, with British sailors nourishing themselves with a thicker, heartier roux in their curry. It was classified by the Japanese as yōshoku, or Western food, in the same vein as katsu and hamburger steak.

Now that you know all about curry…

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In the last couple of decades, the Australian olive oil industry has started to get beautifully boutique, not unlike the way Australian wine did in the 1980s. And similar to our wine industry, as a country we punch well above our weight – if not in quantity, certainly in quality. If you scan the list of winners from 2022’s New York World Olive Oil Competition – considered to be the most prestigious extra-virgin olive oil contest in the world – Australian oils came a very respectable 10th out of 28 countries. Not bad considering it only produces 0.5 per cent of the world’s oils. 

The majority of our output is dominated by one name – Cobram Estate, which is responsible for around 65 to 70 per cent of all Australian output. “They’re one of the world’s largest anywhere, because typically in Europe olive oil farms are family operations that collaborate with cooperatives,” says David Valmorbida, president of the Australian Olive Oil Association. “But then we have this emerging group of mid-sized growers – beautiful brands like [The Hunter Valley’s] Pukara Estate and Mount Zero. And then there are the boutique guys – the grassroots.” They all have their place – it’s widely agreed within the industry that the mass-market but consistently high-quality Cobram Estate has been a godsend in terms of raising the profile of Australian oils overall – but it’s the little guys where the really exciting stuff is happening.

Olives tend to like the same terroir and climate as grapes, so Australia’s main growing regions are around Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. One of these boutique producers is Goldi, a brand from a family-run farm in Kialla, in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. Headed up by Janine Fahey and her sister-in-law Dina Sminova, they produce two main single-variety oils: their “punchy” Coratina, an Italian olive, and milder Arbosana, which is native to Spain. 

Originally, the family sold their product to chefs but in 2021 they started getting so much demand from family and friends that they began selling directly to consumers. Like Rio Vista, Goldi presses its own oil (and occasionally helps its neighbours do the same) rather than sending it elsewhere for processing, which Fahey says is one of the benchmarks to look out for when selecting a quality local oil. “The sooner you press the better quality of the oil, especially when you can control the temperature,” says Fahey. 

She thinks Australians are increasingly recognising the quality of Australian brands. “Previously I think people thought quality only came from Europe,” she says. “And I think once they’d use any old rancid oil. But now people are so much more aware of flavour, and they’re interested in traceability and where their food comes from.” 

Of course, chefs have been interested in homegrown oils for a long time. Peter Gunn from Ides and March in Melbourne has been devoted to Australian olive oil for most of his cooking career, specifically Mount Zero from the Grampians region of Victoria. Today, Mount Zero olive oil forms the base of all his restaurants’ flavoured oils, including a waxflower oil that he serves with pickled pumpkin, and a mountain yuzu-infused oil that dresses an almond chocolate cake. “I always want to use a product that’s as fresh as possible,” he says – and with olives harvesting in late autumn and winter, a northern hemisphere oil is always going to be staler when Australian oils are at their peak. “That’s not to disrespect the foundations of olive oil, or where beautiful olives come from originally. It’s just about staying true to our locality.” 

Ibrahim Kasif, of Nomad offshoot Beau, concurs. He’s a Rio Vista fan, particularly its garlic- and turmeric-infused flavoured oils. “Coming from a Turkish background, olive oil is a big part of our culture, and at the forefront of every meal,” says Kasif. “Rio Vista’s oil is an example of the kind of oil my family has always loved – my aunties, uncles, grandparents. There’s high quality stuff going on there.” That’s not to say he won’t be using European or Middle Eastern olive oils at all at Beau – there’s a Cypriot sun-dried black olive oil that has no equivalent here that he can’t wait to get his hands on for salads and pulses. But Australian oils, he says, “go blow-for-blow with them.”

As one of the largest consumers of olive oil outside of the Mediterranean – Australians glug through around 50 million litres per year – our appetite for homegrown good oil shows no signs of slowing, especially as uncertainty hits the northern hemisphere market thanks in part to droughts and conflicts in Europe and as people recognise the benefits of buying their oils fresh and local. “People are saying, hey, we want high polyphenol levels, we want the antioxidants, we want the squalene, we want flavour profiles and quality,” says Asciutto. “I think it’s really exciting.”

What are the different varieties of olive oil?

More than 100 olive varieties are grown in Australia, each with a different flavour personality. We asked Australian-owned olive oil brand Rio Vista’s olive oil sommelier Sarah Asciutto to explain the most popular.

Koroneiki

A small-fruited Greek variety with lively notes of candy bananas and fresh oregano and thyme. Paul Farag uses it with his signature cuttlefish, ummak huriyya salad and couscous dish at Aalia in Sydney. “The tropical notes lift the cuttlefish,” says Asciutto.

Nevadillo

This hardy Spanish varietal is known for its high oil content and full-bodied flavour profile: tomato vine, fig leaves and summer fruits. “I think of it like a summer garden where you’ve brushed up against the tomato leaves,” says Asciutto. The team at Nomad Melbourne use it in their ice-cream sandwich. “It’s quite savoury so putting it on something sweet turns it on its head, while bringing out its other flavour notes like stone fruits and citrus.”

Hardy’s Mammoth

First grown by the Hardy’s wine family in South Australia, this plump green olive of unknown lineage is a uniquely Australian variety. Its oil is popular in desserts thanks to its passionfruit, guava and cardamom notes but it also comes alive when used to finish white-fleshed fish. Tom Tilbury at Adelaide’s Press Food and Wine uses it on his kingfish, peppers, fennel and fragrant herbs. Asciutto explains, “You’ve got the sweetness of the fish, and then the Hardy’s Mammoth adds this bright fruitiness.” 

Picual

One of the most popular varieties grown in Australia, this Spanish cultivar generally has tomato notes in its profile, says Asciutto, “It pairs well with tomato-based foods, beef stews and roast pork.” 

If you’re not buying individual varietals and want more all-purpose oils, Asciutto says, a good guide is to think of olive oil intensity like wine – milder flavours work with lighter, fresher food and vice versa. “Mild oils [which are generally on the fruity side] are great for baking, for making mayonnaise or for a delicate fish,” she says. “Classic oils, which have a bit more pepperiness, are great as a base to a pasta sauce or on a paella or for roasting vegetables.” Robust oils, which are strong and peppery, are for finishing – splashed over a steak or for dipping in bread. “They’re even good for something like prawns,” says Asciutto, “which have that strong flavour, to lift them up.”

Expert tip

The post A guide to the Australian olive oil industry appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Best egg noodles, as tried and tested by our editors

Double Merinos

Ready to be dressed simply or served in fragrant herbal broth, these noodles are versatile and hardy. If par-boiling these noodles before stir-frying, always rinse with cold water to prevent overcooking.

$3.89 for 375gm, harrisfarm.com.au

Gourmet Alley

These egg noodles are steamed then oven-dried to make them a useful pantry staple. The dense noodle nests cook quickly and have a fine, stringy texture, that makes them ideal for Hong Kong-style chow mein.

$5.40 for 454gm, Thai Kee IGA Supermarket

Kam Fu foods

Perfect to serve dry or in soups, these Australian-made noodles are used by restaurants across Australia, and are also available in most supermarkets. Each strand has good elasticity.

$3.99 for 500gm, harrisfarm.com

Jang’s Noodles

As one of the suppliers for China Doll and Kylie Kwong’s now-closed Lucky Kwong, this family-run business ensures all their noodles – which are conveniently available in up to 1 kg bags – are top quality. The flatter-style egg noodles are made in Sydney’s Campsie, and have a firm texture.

$2.65 for 375gm, Thai Kee IGA Supermarket

MC Yee noodles

With a higher alkaline level (thanks to bicarbonate of soda), these golden noodles have excellent bite to them. The noodles are aged and chilled, while the corn starch prevents them from sticking together when cooked.

$2.80 for 375gm, Thai Kee IGA Supermarket

What to make with your new noodles…

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Clam, sausage and black bean noodles with garlic chives

Braised Yi-fu noodles

Flower Drum’s char siu pork with egg noodles (keong chung cha siu lo mein)

La mian with pipis and ginger

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It was in our final two days in Treviso that I invented a “tiramisù challenge” to find the city’s best. At Pasticceria Max, the 2021 award-winner for Treviso’s best tiramisù, the bar was set high. Presented in a round individual dish with a single layer of coffee-soaked sponge biscuits topped with piped rounds of sweet mascarpone egg whip, the flavours were pronounced yet performed in perfect symphony.

In an unexpected twist, Antica Pasticceria Nascimben’s own version of tiramisù included overpowering marzipan. Their traditional version was extremely creamy and not to my palate, which was still recovering from the shock of a marzipan mouthful. My accomplice polished them both off with glee. Award-winning Zeus Pizzeria da Laura served a dreamy tiramisù with feather-light sweetened mascarpone cream and harmonious mocha flavours of coffee-soaked sponge biscuits and bitter cacao. The luscious mouthfeel made me involuntarily berate my gorging niece to be a better sharer. 

We intentionally ordered a light lunch at refined Trattoria Toni del Spin to save room for, you guessed it. Their tiramisù’s creaminess was light, and a delight, with notes of coffee and chocolate offset by the correct amount of sweetness. The prettiest café in Treviso, Camelia Bakery, has an entrance adorned with flowers, yet its tiramisù came in a brown paper cup. The pronounced cacao and smooth, soft cream were missing a coffee punch. The human hoover disguised as a 16-year-old girl was happy to clean it up.

A voting card for Treviso’s best tiramisù was presented at Gustolia. In their generous slab, the coffee-drenched biscuits and the cream had a lovely flavour, but it was denser than others. I abstained from voting.  There were several others we tried, to a total of 14, that were all acceptably delicious, even if unremarkable, each with the commonality of coffee-soaked sponge and sweetened mascarpone cream whipped with eggs. Every venue prided itself with a display of trophies and newspaper cuttings of award-wins pinned to their walls.

Seven serves of tiramisù each day challenged even me, a self-appointed connoisseur, but not the teen tiramisù taster. Her favourite was from Zeus, and mine was a tie between Le Beccherie and Zeus.

When I asked the president of the Tiramisù Academy, Tiziano Taffarello, to explain tiramisù’s appeal, he said, “it’s the most popular dessert in the world because its ingredients excite all the taste receptors that we have on the tongue: the salty with the eggs, the sweet with the sugar and ladyfinger biscuits, the acidity with the coffee, the umami with mascarpone cheese, and bitter with bitter cocoa. It’s a magical recipe.”

Tiramisù perfectly exemplifies Aristotle’s quote “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.

Translated to “pick me up”, tiramisù’s history may have many layers, but given that it was largely undiscovered until the 1970s, it has quickly shot to fame to become one of Italy’s greatest culinary legacies, whether it’s a traditional recipe made with just egg yolk or non-traditional with a boozy inclusion. 

Three classic tiramisù recipes to try

A classic tiramisù

A traditional tiramisù recipe to have on repeat.

10 William St’s tiramisù

The classic Italian dessert you know and love.

Tiramisù

Our detailed and easy-to-follow recipe on how to make tiramisù.

If you can’t get enough tiramisù, check out our must try tiramisù recipes.

The post History of tiramisù: Tracing the origins of Italy’s famed dessert appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

One such ingredient is Passata, a smooth tomato purée made from fresh, in-season tomatoes. It’s often used as a base in a variety of dishes from pasta sauces to soups and stews.  

Sydney-based chef Joel Bennetts (Fish Shop, Burger Park) uses Mutti Passata tomato purée when cooking at home. 

“To create the flavour depth that I’m looking for, I always use Mutti Passata tomato purée. It’s a high-quality product with a sweet, rich flavour,” he tells GT.  

Read on to discover how to use Passata in a way that unlocks its full potential, and continue scrolling for Bennetts’ quick and easy spicy gin rigatoni recipe.  

What to look for when buying Passata 

The best Passata is sold in jars or bottles rather than cans, and should have a short ingredient list including tomatoes, salt and herbs such as basil for added flavour. The less additives the better, as this is a good indication that high-quality ingredients have been used.  

Italian brand Mutti is renowned for its fragrant, fresh-tasting and quality product range, including its Passata which is crafted from 100% Italian tomatoes picked at optimal ripeness and processed within 24 hours to retain their freshness.  

The Passata is lightly concentrated to remove any natural water content, resulting in velvety, smooth purée with a rich tomato flavour — without the need to add sugar during cooking time.

How to cook like a chef using Passata 

This pantry essential saves time in the kitchen while dialing up flavour. And because Mutti Passata is thicker than traditional canned tomatoes, this versatile Passata also cuts down on simmer time, making it perfect for quick mid-week dishes or slow-cooking for weekend entertaining. 

By adding Passata into your recipes, you can transform everyday meals into impressive chef-quality dishes. Use it to whip up shakshuka, tomato soup and more.  

For a quick pasta, try Bennetts’ spicy gin rigatoni with Passata. “This dish is all about the beautiful, rich tomato sauce. The gin heightens the flavour of the tomatoes and elevates this to something special,” he says.  

See below for the full recipe:

Joel Bennetts’ spicy gin rigatoni 

For best results, use freshly grated parmesan. Flambéing the onion mixture with gin creates a deeper flavour in the sauce. 

Note

The post Everything you should know about Passata to unlock its full potential appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

Who knows their way around a steak better than the executive chef of some of Sydney’s finest steak restaurants? Chef Pip Pratt heads up The Gidley, Bistecca and Alfie’s, and certainly knows his secondary cuts from the prime. With an impressive wet-ageing facility housed within Alfie’s, Pratt ensures butchery and cooking across all venues is top end so that guests are served nothing but prime beef. Across the border in Victoria, Ash McBean of G McBean Family Butcher is a fifth-generation butcher, born bred and raised around beef and butchering. You’ll find her behind the counter alongside her father, Gavin McBean, at the pair’s flash butcher located inside Prahran Market.

So, whether you like your steak cooked blue or medium-rare, prefer a high-fat content or something a bit leaner, want to weigh up whether that T-bone or rib-eye steak is worth it, or are simply a steak lover, this is your guide to the best types of steaks.

What are the different types of steak?

T-bone steak

This hefty steak packs two different textures and flavour experiences – a tender fillet muscle on the smaller side of the bone and a juicy sirloin on the other. “The bone is left in for moisture retention. And essentially, it really helps flavour the meat,” says Pratt. These T-shaped steaks vary in size depending on where in the short loin they are cut from, and the bone also helps conduct heat while being cooked. On menus you may see it listed as bistecca alla Fiorentina; or porterhouse with fillet. As with any steak, cooking and resting are equally important. But for the ultimate home-cooked steak (T-bone or any other cut) McBean recommends seasoning it the day before cooking. “Salt your steak the day before you cook it, and lay it on a rack in the fridge. It’s almost like dry-ageing it,” she says. “I won’t eat a steak without doing that, it’s a game changer.”

Eye fillet steak

This lean and tender cut is taken from beneath the sirloin, and is also known as filet mignon or chateaubriand. “Eye fillet is taken towards the tail end of the cow on the underside. So it’s sort of where all the facilities and the kidneys are and so it doesn’t do a lot of work, so it’s always very, very tender,” says McBean. It can be bought as a single long piece, or it can be cut into round steaks. “It’s extremely tender, really easy to eat and doesn’t have any resistance whatsoever,” says McBean. It has a grassy, lean and less “meaty” flavour profile, that’s more delicate on the palate and texturally soft. When it comes to buying this top end fillet, it’s important to know where beef comes from to ensure you’re getting good quality meat. “It’s important to just have a conversation with your butcher to find out where your meat comes from. Most butchers are more than happy to talk about that, and if not, it’s time to find a new butcher,” says McBean.

Flat iron steak

This delicious but lesser-loved steak is cut from the oyster blade. While the shoulder is traditionally a braising cut (as it holds up much of the weight of the cow) when trimmed this cut comes good for grilling. “Flat iron is an interesting one,” explains McBean. “The whole muscle itself is called an oyster blade. And that’s beautiful for slow cooking, it breaks down really nicely and it’s got awesome flavour. But if you trim out all the sinew and all the fat, it’s essentially two muscles that sit on top of each other. And that’s the flat iron.”

Sirloin steak

Also known as a porterhouse and New York strip, the sirloin is taken from the posterior quarter of the cow. “That same muscle that travels along the backbone eventually turns into the striploin and porterhouse. So it’s all one great big muscle, it just depends on which rib it started with. And that’ll determine what it’s called,” says McBean. It’s one of the more affordable premium cuts of steak, and thanks to its prime combination of flavour and texture, it doesn’t require much effort to cook it. “You get a lot more of the flavour from the fat on the outside cap of it, so you want to keep as much of that intact as you possibly can,” says Pratt. “It’s also got a little bit of sinew which has a bit of chew and gnarliness in the edge.” Pratt recommends cooking sirloin over a wood-fire where possible.

“It creates that intense heat and allows that slightly smoky crust to develop, and we just season it with salt and pepper. And a tiny bit of beef fat just to help conduct the heat.”

Scotch fillet steak and rib-eye steak on the bone

Also known as boneless rib-eye or rib fillet, the Scotch fillet is one of the most prominent steak cuts in restaurants. “It’s essentially the first steak in the entire backstrap of the cow before sirloin. Scotch is the same as a rib-eye, depending on whether it’s on the bone or not,” says McBean. Thanks to a nugget of fat in the centre and natural intramuscular fat (or marbling) it has an excellent buttery flavour.

A rib-eye on the bone is also known as a côte de boeuf, while a flashy tomahawk is just a rib-eye with a long bone left in. “While it’s good to have a bit of bone for flavour, to be honest, having the whole bone is
a complete waste of time because you’re paying for the weight of bone, which won’t impact the flavour,” says Pratt.

Secondary cuts of steak

Rump, flank, hanger and skirt steaks are all flavourful steaks, that when cooked correctly offer excellent flavour. “For many of these cuts, it really depends on how you slice the steak once it’s cooked so it’s tender,” says McBean. “If you’re cutting against the grain, you’re breaking up those muscle fibres and it’s gonna break down in the mouth a lot more easily.” Often marinating these cuts of steak will ensure the flavour is on point.

What does ageing do to a steak?

Dry-ageing steak

To develop its flavour, meat can be aged in a humidity-, airflow- and temperature-controlled environment. “What that does is over time it draws out the moisture. With that, the enzymes in the proteins break down. So you get a much more tender steak,” says McBean. Traditionally it was a practice of many butcheries, before going out of style in the ’80s and ’90s in response to people’s fear of fat (to dry-age, a piece of meat needs fat on it: it needs to be both marbled inside the muscles; and plenty of fat on the outside to protect it). Typically dry-aged meat is more expensive as it loses the water weight increasing the cost by weight; and then you factor in the labour and time. “People are divided on whether they like it or not,” says McBean. “It gives the meat a stronger, funkier flavour, which I love and a lot of our customers love.”

Wet-ageing steak

Alongside the increasingly popular method of dry-ageing beef, the process of wet-ageing is gaining traction. “After the animal is dispatched it gets broken down, it then gets vacuum packed under pressure. That pressure helps preserve it for longer, and also works to break down the muscle fibres and helps tenderise the meat,” says Pratt. Meat is kept under pressure within its juices to develop its flavour and can be finished off using a traditional dry-ageing method.

Now you're in the know…

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Pinbone’s rib-eye steak with chilli sauce

Bistecca Fiorentina with asparagus

Steak with caramelised onion and ginger ponzu

Pepper steak with baby lettuce salad

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The word pasta itself has Latin and Greek origins, meaning paste, of flour and water. This simple combination is then pressed, rolled, extruded, curled, and pushed into an array of pasta shapes and styles – sometimes filled. While the combinations of different types of pasta are endless, each town, chef and family will have a preferred style, so pasta is about getting to know the nuances of each. 

This is not an exhaustive guide to pasta types but instead an expert guide to popular and lesser-known pasta shapes. Gourmet Traveller talked to two of Australia’s top pasta chefs for their list of favourite shapes and their uses to get you thinking about, cooking and discussing all the types of pasta available.

“There’s a match-making element to putting pastas and sauces together,” says Diana Desensi of Byron Bay’s Pixie Food & Wine. “Pasta is meditative for all of us. I don’t know whether it’s a chef thing or an Italian thing. It’s a luscious, beautiful thing to make. Getting the dough right and then eating pasta you’ve made that day, there’s nothing quite like it.” 

We spoke to Desensi, along with Scott McComas-Williams of Palazzo Salato and Ragazzi, to learn about some of their favourite pasta shapes, and explore the origins, tips and tricks for each.

Different types of filled pasta

Tortellini 

Taking its name from torta – Latin for filled – this navel-shaped pasta is always fun to make, “but you have to get the right amount of air out of it,” says Desensi. “You’ve got to put so much flavour into one tortellino. That’s something a lot of people miss the mark on,” she says. For traditionalists, Desensi is a fan of tortellini in brodo (broth) – a classic dish. “In Milan we had it at a little trattoria. The handmade tortellini were tiny, smaller than a five-cent piece. To get something so homely – chicken stock with some pasta – done right, it’s insane.”

Scarpinocc 

Bon-bon-like in shape, scarpinocc is said to represent a handmade cloth shoe. “It’s cute but functional,” says McComas-Williams of the dimple in the middle, which makes this shape a perfect vessel for a butter or stock sauce. “Because of the way it’s folded and pinched at the end, there’s two and even four pieces of pasta coming together, so it’s a real textural difference.” He recommends a silkier filling, such as potato purée, to build on this contrast. “You couldn’t go stuffing it with a sausage farce, you need something smooth. Something silky that’s going to ooze out.”

Ravioli

“Our ravioli dough contains egg white. We always use whole egg for stuffed pastas, as the protein in it makes it easier to fold,” says McComas-Williams. With the first mentions of ravioli appearing in one of the oldest medieval cookbooks published in the early 1300s, it’s one of the first and most classical-filled pastas. Alongside the square-shaped ravioli is the raviolo, which is rounded, and either style can be served as a single large pillow.

Agnolotti del plin 

These small folded pockets are like dumplings that can hold a heavier filling, with “plin” meaning pinch. “It’s one of the smartest shapes because of the way it pleats over and cups the sauce. Traditionally it’s served with a lovely brown butter and a chicken or pork stock,” says McComas-Williams. From the north of Italy, the elegant shape can hold a meaty farce as the filling, be it mortadella and ricotta or braised and ground pork loin. “I hold this shape close to me because it set my career on its current trajectory,” explains Desensi. “[It] looks unassuming but it holds the sauce well.”

Hand-rolled pasta types

Maltagliati

Maltagliati means badly cut dough. “[This pasta shape is] traditionally a peasant style of dish, made with offcuts from other pasta,” says Desensi. “It’s thinly rolled, so when you put your hand behind it you can see it. It’s really silky.” At Pixie, Desensi serves with a pancetta and veal sausage ragù with artichoke and lemon to cut through the richness of the sauce.

Cavatelli 

The origins of this pasta spread far and wide across southern Italy. Akin to its ear-like cousin, orecchiette, cavatelli is usually made from semolina (durum wheat) and water. “Down south they grow durum wheat, which thrives in drier conditions” explains McComas-Williams. “It’s beautiful because the gluten |is stronger, so you don’t need the egg in it, [meaning] it’s got more of a chew.”Make it by scraping the dough along a ridged board, fork or a cheese grater.

Tajarin or tagliolini

In traditional Piedmontese dialect, tagliolini means cut. These thin ribbons of egg-yolk-based pasta are similar to fettuccine. “Up in Piedmont, they use just “00” flour and egg yolk. It’s so yellow it looks like it has turmeric in it,” says McComas-Williams. “We do that in winter with hazelnut and truffle.”

Trofie 

Hailing from Liguria in northern Italy, this short, spun pasta shape is best known for being paired with traditional pesto. “It should be served with green pesto from the north,” says Desensi. “I personally wouldn’t have pesto any other way.”

Pici 

“It’s very labour intensive but it’s a great noodle,” says McComas-Williams. To make pici, you roll out semolina and Tipo “00” flour-based dough into long rope-like pieces that aren’t uniform in diameter. This playful, hearty pasta will hold up to anything – from olive oil, pancetta and breadcrumbs through to a rich ragù. “We tend to do it in autumn with duck and mushrooms,” he adds.

Tonnarelli or chitarra

“It means on the guitar,” explains Desensi. Rolling dough across a stringed apparatus creates a square, beautifully textured strand-like pasta. “When you press it on the chitarra [guitar] instead of putting it through the [pasta] laminator, you’re not compressing it, [so it] has an excellent hydration level as well.”

Farfalle

Farfalle (or butterflies) have fluted edges, made from a thin laminated egg dough. “Because it’s folded in the middle, it ends up being bitey in the middle,” says McComas-Williams. “All those ridges pick up sauce, as does the fluted edge. The flat part is silky and smooth.” When making fresh farfalle, always leave time for the shapes to dry out to ensure they don’t go floppy when cooked.

Extruded pasta shapes

Conchiglie 

This conch-shell shaped pasta varies in size, from spoon-sized mouthful to palm-sized cupping shells. This then dictates the pasta’s purpose, such as cupping minestrone soup or being stuffed and baked. “Conchiglie are fun. They scoop up all the beautiful sauce and it’s great for sharing,” says McComas-Williams.

Mafaldine 

“It’s a great shape: it’s textural, it’s versatile and those ridges are perfect for catching sauce,” says McComas-Williams. This frilly pasta will suit anything from a carbonara to seafood classics. “It’s an all-rounder and you can’t really stuff up your sauce choice,” adds McComas-Williams.

Gigli or trottole

Born out of Naples during the industrialisation of pasta production, when extruders were first invented, these twisted shapes cling to chunkier sauces such as ragù, amatriciana or braised chard, with chunks of guanciale and pecorino. “If you look very closely, the edges are ridged. This is from bronze dies,” says McComas-Williams. Bronze dies on extruders rough up the edges of the pasta to add texture, replicating pasta’s texture when made traditionally on wooden boards.

Pasta Recipes

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Pronto pasta: Quick and easy pasta recipes you need this week

How to make fresh pasta (it’s easier than you think)

Our best ravioli recipes to try your hand at filling and folding

Electric pasta makers for making fresh spaghetti and fettuccine a casa

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The post Types of pasta and their uses: An expert guide appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

What is jamón serrano?

Spain’s answer to Italian prosciutto, jamón serrano is usually cured for 12-18 months. Many breeds of pig are used, but the most common for serrano is duroc. “It’s the most common pig used to make ham, not only in Spain but across Europe,” explains Andrés. Serrano ham comes in different levels of quality – some very good – and it can be produced all over Spain.

What is jamón Ibérico?

The highest grade of Spanish ham, jamón Ibérico only comes from the Iberian breed of black pig, which is unique to the Iberian Peninsula. Similar to wagyu, fat is distributed throughout the muscle resulting in a marbled texture. This pig grows more slowly and its meat takes longer to cure. “Like wine, it’s a very complex and labour-intensive product to make,” says Andrés.

The quality depends on the lineage of the pig, with at least one of its parents required to be 100 per cent Iberian. Other factors influencing quality and classification are the pig’s diet and the way it is reared. The pig may have grazed freely, usually on acorns (jamón Ibérico de bellota, or acorn-fed Iberian ham); or grazed freely and helped with grain; or if the pig wasn’t free range it was probably fed on grain and legumes. Then there’s the maker, who decides the amount of salt used and the number of days the leg is left for. “When they hang the hams in the workhouse, open windows impact each hanging position differently depending on temperature, humidity and the direction of the wind. They rotate all the hams every week,” says Andrés. The whole process is a huge investment, taking up to 42 weeks and, as a result, jamón Ibérico can cost up to $400 per kilo. “When you buy jamón you’re buying it for the expertise. The majority are family-run businesses that have been around for generations.”

Where can I get jamón? 

Import permits, linking the importer directly with the producer, are not easy to get in Australia. Still, it can be found in good Spanish delis, without the bone – bone-in legs cannot be imported into Australia due to biosecurity. “When I started my business, I was selling one leg of Iberico a week – only to Spanish people or serious foodies. Now so many people love this product and we sell about 10 legs a week,” says Andrés. It can be sliced to order; or bought pre-sliced, with more imported serrano and Ibérico options becoming available in Australia. Local producers are also trying their hand at jamón-style hams, which are closer to jamón serrano, and made with Australian pork, rather than imported meat.

How should jamón be served?

It can be sliced and vacuum-packed, but ideally it should be sliced, just wrapped, and eaten soon after. For optimal flavour, jamón should be taken out of the fridge to sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving. “Jamón Ibérico requires concentration when you consume it – you shouldn’t be doing anything else but enjoying the quality to appreciate it,” says Andrés. Iberico should have a deep ruby red appearance and will melt in your mouth. 

It should have fat marbled evenly throughout with soft, buttery flavour notes and traces of nuttiness thanks to the pig’s acorn-rich diet. Serrano can be enjoyed more widely, in bocadillos (sandwiches), laced through potato crisps or chopped up in croquettes. Both should always be enjoyed with the fat on.

Recipes with jamón

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Mike McEnearney’s tomato and jamón bread

Eun Hee An’s spring onion pancakes with jamón

Pork sausage, jamon and eggplant pizza

Grilled apricot salad with jamón and Manchego

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The post What is jamón? appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

More recently, Aussies have been sloshing vermouths in their glasses since the 1970s (mainly in Highballs or very wet Martinis), coming into fashion as a less potent alternative to other fortified wines of that era.

But vermouth doesn’t exist in a vortex; the craft movement that transformed Australian beer and spirits now has the 1970s throwback in its grips. So, where Australians have spent the past 20 years abandoning overly processed large brands (such as Cinzano), we are now developing a taste for premium local apéritifs made with native botanicals.

Today, there are more than 20 Australian vermouth producers compared to 10 years ago, when there were just two; Madenii and Regal Rogue, launched in 2011 and 2012 respectively. And while tradition dictates just two categories of vermouth (sweet red or dry white), the Australians are playing fast and loose with the rules. Embla chef and vermouth maker Dave Verheul from Saison Apéritifs explains: “We’re lucky here in Australia, we have a new world kind of freedom when it comes to breaking from tradition and that is evident when it comes to food and vermouth.”

And while a sole vermouth bar might have been ahead of its time (RIP Sydney’s Banksii), it’s clear our love of vermouth as an apéritif or blended into a cocktail continues to grow.

Here’s an expert’s guide to vermouth, from dry white styles to

Dry white vermouth

Dry White (aka the Martini one) is liberally splashed in a chilled glass for a “wet” version of the classic cocktail or just waived over the top for a “dry” martini. The new trend of serving Martinis on the rocks means these dry white vermouths have a chance to shine with their lemon balm and sage notes. In this country, Maidenii is the OG for vermouth production and still sets the benchmark. Its dry vermouth is truly one for the Martini lovers. It is viognier-based with generous lashings of wormwood, strawberry gum and wattleseed, and no bar is complete without it. All it requires is your choice of chilled gin and a twist of lemon.

Red vermouth

Made with a red wine base, red vermouths are known for their more robust flavours (courtesy of the red wine). This style once erred on the sweeter side but now makers are exploring the merits of subtle savoury notes to add balance to Negronis and Manhattans. An exciting case in point is Regal Rogue’s Bold Red. This red vermouth is a blend of organic shiraz from Orange, New South Wales, and organic un-wooded chardonnay as its base with spicy top notes of native pepperberry, wattleseed and native thyme. Adding other dark spices and dried fruits such as orange, cherry and fig gives an almost Christmas cake quality. An excellent addition to an Aussie Negroni combined with gin, and the aperitif liqueur of your choice, garnished with thyme and orange slices. 

Sweet and semi-sweet vermouth

This is another new vermouth category and speaks to lovers of a Spritz or a lower-alcohol highball. A sweet white vermouth needs no additional spirits to enhance its flavour. Just add ice, top with sparkling water and freshly cut herbs from the garden. At Saison Apéritifs, moscato is the base for all of Dave Verheul’s sweet white vermouths. “I want the base wine to have floral complexity, to be sunny and warm, and to have a high residual sugar so that it doesn’t require a lot of sweetening, if any.” The choice is a natural fit for its 2023 Summer Flowers release, which blends the wine with wild-picked and biodynamically farmed marigold, rose geranium, elderflower, and chamomile to enhance the floral aromatics of the moscato. Summer Flowers and other sweet white vermouths are best served solo over ice or in an Americano with a splash of soda, bitter orange liqueur, and a large orange wedge.

Amber and rosé vermouth

This new category for vermouth lovers breaks all the rules. Innovative makers include 78 Degrees Distillery in Adelaide Hills who blend McLaren Vale chenin blanc with shiraz to create a blush pink-coloured rosé vermouth. The result is a fruity style which sees fruits of the forest meet finger limes, that is perfect over ice with fresh finger lime pulp. Over in Victoria’s Yea Valley Philip Lobley Wines used a skin-contact sauvignon blanc to create its amber style, which explodes with cumquat, bitter pink grapefruit characters, and aromatic florals. Add your favourite grapefruit soda in a tall glass and sip while watching the sunset; light jazz in the background is not compulsory but highly recommended. 

The post What is vermouth? appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

When buying lobster, make sure it has all its feelers and legs intact, and make sure it’s not blowing bubbles. “When the fishmonger picks it out of the tanks, it should be lively and its tail springy,” says John Susman. Put it under ice once you get it, which will put it to sleep before you dispatch it, and results in softer, juicier meat. You can also buy good quality cooked rock lobster. “Just make sure it smells fresh and sweet, with no notes of ammonia,” says Susman. When you’re buying a lobster, you also want to get the most out of it. “It’s not just about the meat. Use the shells wisely to make a stock, sauce or bisque… Also spend a bit of time picking the meat out of the legs, because that’s delicious.”

Bugs

Slipper or bay lobsters – which we colloquially call bugs – are a by-product of the prawn trawling fisheries. “Currently, there’s a shortage of bugs,” says Susman. “You see a lot of this species out of Indonesia and the Philippines, and it’s hard to pick where they are from, so always ask the question of the fishmonger.” Closely related to rock lobster, these guys don’t survive well out of water and are mostly available cooked or frozen.

Crabs

Crabs are mostly caught in pots commercially, and are sustainably harvested and managed, with minimal impact on the environment and no bycatch. With all crabs, the shells should be vibrant in colour and have a fresh sea aroma. Like all crustacea, as they grow they drop their shell, and the soft-shell process begins. At the moment all soft-shell crab comes from Southeast Asia, mostly out of fisheries that have questionable sustainability credentials. Generally they are quite small and are juveniles removed from the biomass. Instead, opt for locally caught crabs where possible. When refreshing a frozen lobster or crab, mix a brine – 30 to 50 grams of salt per litre – then add ice to make a brine slurry. Add the crustaceans and leave for 10 to 15 minutes. “Because it’s salty, and the animal is salty, there will be no osmotic transfer. People say to put it in the fridge overnight, but that can promote oxidation. With a really cold, salty solution, that will protect the animal from the salt coming out of it, or the fresh water going into it,” explains Susman.

Southern rock lobster

You will often see these in the tanks of Chinatown restaurants. “Like the eastern rock lobster, it’s beautiful to cook because of its fat content… and has a really good, crisp texture.” Like any lobster, it should be cooked in generously salted water. “The measurement I use is 30 grams of salt per litre of water,” says Susman.

Eastern rock lobster

Found along the New South Wales, Tasmanian and South Australian coast lines, this rock lobster hides in holes and crevices around reefs. It is rarely exported and tends to have a firmer texture than other lobsters. “It has a really deep flavour profile – lobster is characterised by being rich and sweet, and the eastern rock lobster has mouth-filling notes of umami,” says Susman. “It’s beautiful to cook because of its fat content.

Western rock lobster

Often called crays by Western Australians, this rock lobster is only found along the Western Australian coast, and is caught in baited pots. Until two years ago, almost all of the harvest went to China. “It’s a fast-growing species and has a natural sweetness to it. It can overcook quite quickly, but a lot also come to market ready-cooked,” says Susman. “On the east coast we haven’t always seen a lot live, but now they are becoming more prevalent.”

Tropical rock lobster

Marked by its peacock-like spots, this rock lobster is typically hand-harvested, traditionally by Indigenous fishermen in the Torres Strait, and is also found in Far North Queensland and northern Western Australia. “It tends to be great for sashimi, because it has those high sweet notes,” says Susman. Being from warmer waters, it has a lower fat content than other lobsters, making it more challenging to cook.

Blue swimmer crab

These crabs are harvested live, but die quickly once they are out of the water. “Frozen is a really good way to buy blue swimmers,” says Susman. Fisheries plan their harvest around catching and preserving the integrity by freezing. The process occurs at around -60°, capturing the quality of the crab at the time. A domestic freezer at home is around -4° to -8°, and therefore shouldn’t be used to store crab for prolonged periods. If you want to serve cold blue swimmer crab, such as in a salad or canapé, buy it precooked.

Mud crab

“The price of mud crabs has gone up recently because the quota of mud crabs has been reduced significantly in Queensland, which is the principal region of production for muddies,” says Susman. They are feisty critters and should be stored covered in a damp cloth.

Spanner crab

“You can buy these live and New South Wales has had quite a good season, and spanners are readily available,” says Susman. You can also seek out good frozen raw meat, ideal for pasta or risotto. While cooked spanner crab meat is perfect for cold entrées or salads. “It has shellfish-like flavour, and is by far the best crab meat,” adds Laura Di Florio Yotis.

Scampi

These delicate crustaceans are found in deep cold waters off New Zealand and Western Australia and are available frozen. “These things oxidise very quickly. Because they come from very deep water, when they are exposed to oxygen, the meat disintegrates quickly,” says Susman. When buying, they should be consumed or cooked soon after purchase, and never refrozen. “Generally they have a milder and more delicate flavour than bugs and lobster, as they feed on other crustaceans and small fish,” says Laura.

Yabby

These guys are sustainable, farmed and can be found in freshwater dams, but are often hard to find commercially. “They take on the qualities of the water they live in, and so you have to purge them,” says Laura. “They burrow into banks, resulting in a bit more of an earthy taste.” It’s best to buy these guys live, or better yet go yabby pulling. Yabbies can also last up to a week out of the water. “They can crawl around so be careful to store them accordingly,” adds Laura.

Marron

“Marron has a beautiful flavour and texture,” says Anthony. More delicate than yabbies, they are the largest of the different types of freshwater crays and are sustainably farmed in South Australia and Western Australia. These rare creatures are hard to come by in markets, and are best bought live. “If someone’s really hankering for a marron, my advice is for them to contact their favourite restaurant and ask them for their fishmonger’s details because they are rarely found in retail settings,” says Susman.

Balmain bugs

Gaining the colloquial name as a nod to the Sydney waterfront suburb of Balmain, these guys tend to spend most of their lives in the seagrasses. “They can be incredibly sweet, through to smelling of garlic weed,” says Susman. “The less you do to these things, the better, so you can really get to understand the flavour profile of them,” says Anthony Yotis.

Moreton Bay bugs

Spending most of its life in sandy and muddy seabeds, Moreton Bay bugs are generally more consistent in their flavour. “They tend to be more lobster- like,” says Susman. To seek out locally caught bugs, try Australian Bay Lobster Producers, which is a small facility dedicated to sustainable land-based aquaculture.

Ready to cook?

Here are our favourite crab, lobster, and bug recipes!

The post Crustacean crash course: A guide to the types of crustaceans to know appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

You don’t have to go the full nine and a half weeks to know food and sex go together like Kim Basinger and a 1986 Mickey Rourke (don’t let us keep you from your erotic foodie fantasies). Take, for example, chocolate, which Tibballs believes to have undeniable chemistry. “From a technical point, endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin are four neurotransmitters that, when released from the brain, are responsible for our happiness. They are also released when we eat chocolate, which can replicate the feeling of being in love,” she says. “The melt-in-your-mouth texture followed by that pop of flavour also contribute.”

Like us, Tibballs isn’t here to dish out medical advice or push a wellness agenda, she just really loves chocolate in all its sensual glory. Her favourite dessert for sparking romance is a decadent chocolate lava cake – “a warm, baked chocolate pudding with a gooey chocolate centre that slowly flows out once you break into the dessert.” Technically, it is more saucy than spicy but it’s still utterly irresistible. “Even something as simple as melted chocolate drizzled over ice-cream, enjoyed while cuddling on the couch, can set a romantic mood.”

Through history, there have been aphrodisiacs, which are mostly symbolic like figs, asparagus, and cucumber and those that spark lust because they are rare and precious, such as truffle and saffron. Seafood earned its seductive reputation early thanks to the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite (or Venus in the Roman world), who emerged from the sea on a scallop shell. According to aphrodisiac foods authority Amy Reiley, who has her Master’s degree in Gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu and the University of Adelaide, the topic of what makes an aphrodisiac is a complex one. “I like to recommend foods that have both a folkloric history and some sort of scientific evidence to support their use as an aphrodisiac,” says the Fork me, Spoon Me author.

Oysters fit into the symbolic category, but they are also scientifically sexy thanks to the high quantities of zinc, which improves testosterone levels. Caviar is another extravagance, which pairs fertility imagery with a big zinc hit. And we all know nothing sets the mood quite like a mobile caviar service, delivering bumps directly to the snuff of hands. Add a little eye contact into the mix and there’s a reason the Russians used caviar as a weapon of “sexpionage” in the Cold War.

Then there are aphrodisiacs that stimulate, which is where things get truly spicy. Peruvian chef Samuel Rivas from Pastuso in Melbourne is a master of the invigorating cuisine. “Peruvian food is super aphrodisiac,” he says. At the root of this claim is the Peruvian aji amarillo chilli, a bright and fruity chilli with high levels of circulation-boosting capsaicin, reputed to heat things up. The yellow chilli’s powers are most potent when added to citrus, fish offcuts, scallops, and other Peruvian chillies to create a marinade for ceviche called aji amarillo leche de tigre (Tiger’s Milk), a legendary aphrodisiac (and hangover cure). As Rivas says, “This type of chilli combined with other ingredients, like seafood, makes the Peruvian food an aphrodisiac bomb.”

Also, on the menu at Pastuso is maca root, which is whipped into an emulsion and paired with an alpaca tartare. The Incas used it to increase their sexual appetite and fertility and, today there is science-backed evidence to show they were onto something.

Warming spices such as ginger, cinnamon, pepper and cardamom come into play too. Just ask O Tama Carey of Lankan Filling Station, who does a Sri Lankan love cake packed with cardamom, cinnamon, white pepper, salt and urban mythology. “The cake was influenced by the Portuguese when they came and then it was Sri Lankanified,” she says. The delectable dessert either got its name for being the cake a young woman baked to win the love of a suitor or as a hand-mixed labour of love. “It’s a very physical cake to make,” Carey explains. Either way, the story has a happy ending; fluffy egg whites over a golden outer crust and a dense, gooey middle. Plus, a pretty smell of rose, which Carey says is “very aphrodisiac”. With such an effect, Carey is lucky the love cake is the last course not the first. She laughs, “This is true. We need them to stay to the end.”

Rare and expensive, the aphrodisiac qualities of saffron are legendary. The ancient Greeks brewed it in love potions while, in quantity, it is thought to be a mind-altering hallucinogen, hence Cleopatra and her sexy saffron baths. As British ayurvedic chef Anjum Anand tells it, newly married couples from wealthy families in old India were given a glass of saffron milk every night for the first week of their marriage.

But is it simply the desire for luxury that needs quenching or is it more carnal? Anand can’t confirm or deny an aphrodisiac effect but says saffron offers numerous qualities that contribute to a libido boost. “Saffron is harmonising and, in the right quantities, good for our general immunity. It is good for the digestive system and for circulation as well,” she says. “It has also been considered good for one’s mood and has even been clinically proven to reduce depression. It is also said to improve PMT and menstrual issues for women and improve men’s fertility and, shall we say, vigour.”

Separately, she believes a few strands of saffron in her morning tea will aid in a youthful glow, though she also loves it in a kulfi or biryani. “If you can feel well physically and mentally, be in a good mood and glow, you are going to feel good about yourself and then you are at your most attractive.”

But what to wash it all down with? Isn’t a moderate amount of alcohol the most evocative aphrodisiac of all? Champagne is a reliable libido-enhancing libation, going to the head and then the hip-adjacent region with its inhibition-loosening effervescence. At Loulou Bistro in Sydney, chef Billy Hannigan loves Champagne with oysters, strawberries, and John Dory farçi, an elegant dish of poached Dory and scallop, dressed in a rich velouté of caviar and Champagne. Hannigan also calls it “the flirtiest dish on the menu at Loulou.”

By power of science or just suggestion, Champagne, chocolate, oysters, caviar and all their spicy contemporaries certainly put romance on the table. Even if they don’t make your dinner date any more attractive, one way or another, you will be seduced

The post A touch of magic: the history and science behind aphrodisiac foods appeared first on Gourmet Traveller.

In what’s now known as Bolivia and Mexico, the Indigenous people first foraged chillies where they grew in the wild. As early as 4000 BC, they were cultivated for culinary use. Aztec plant growers developed dozens of annuum species; from there, they passed to other Mesoamerican and Native American cultures, then to those in the Caribbean. Of about 25 species of the genus Capsicum that existed, five became domesticated across different areas: annuum in Mexico, chinense in Amazonia, frutescens in southern Central America, baccatum in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, and pubescens in the Andes. In gardens, on trade routes, in ritual practices and folklore, the chilli flourished.

The cultivation of chilli in the rest of the world has, by comparison, a fairly short history – barely more than 500 years. The plant was unknown outside of the Americas until Christopher Columbus brought them to Iberia in the early 1500s – when chillies (along with tomatoes, potatoes, cocoa and more) first reached foreign palates. Following Columbus, Portuguese traders carried chillies to settlements and colonies in West Africa, in India and across East Asia.

At the same time, the Spanish forged a path in the opposite direction, spreading the seeds through southern China and Manila by way of the Pacific. Once established there, local trade routes took chilli to Indonesia, Tibet and Bhutan, where it was adopted as a vegetable rather than a seasoning and used liberally in every meal (ema datshi, a stew made from chilli pods and soft yak cheese, is considered Bhutan’s national dish).

The Turks acquired chillies via conquests of Portuguese trade posts, and spread them to the Ottoman Empire, then Moravia and Hungary. There, the locals bred them to reduce their pungency – dried and powdered, the mild Hungarian wax peppers became paprika. In Thailand, tiny, bullet-shaped birdseye chillies set fire to local palates; in Syria and Turkey, the Aleppo pepper brought a new depth of warmth and spice; and in the Maghreb, the baklouti was pulverised into a paste to make harissa, forever changing the region’s cuisine.

Chilli probably made its way to Australia with the British, who had warmed up to the spice during the Empire’s colonial rule of India; or perhaps it came with Chinese migrants in the early 1800s. The 1864 publication The English and Australian Cookery Book – considered the first attempt to codify a specific Australian cuisine – calls for both cayenne and birdseye chillies in its recipes, while an earlier colonial cookbook, The Housewife’s Guide (1843), suggests cayenne to spice up such delicacies as beef à la mode, harrico of mutton and fricassée of rabbit.

Few other foods have been taken up by so many people in so many places with such enthusiasm – which is particularly extraordinary given the chilli’s unique ability to cause bodily pain. The heat in chillies comes from their capsaicinoids, a series of related compounds concentrated in its internal ribs and seeds. These capsaicinoids turn on the pain receptors in the mouth and tongue, delivering a burning sensation that ranges from pleasantly warming to an unholy assault. A particularly hot variety can induce streaming eyes, heart palpitations, hot flushes, furious sweats. One researcher, trying to pinpoint exactly why people actively seek out something that causes such suffering, coined the term “benign masochism”.

This theory rings true to chef Tony Tan, whose childhood in Malaysia meant early exposure to the experience. He recalls an early encounter with a chilli-stuffed rice ball: “It was so hot – like, the pain and the ecstasy, you know? You become a bit addicted to it because it releases endorphins.”

Tan has some authority to speak on the subject. Such is his affinity with the plant that his nickname as a child was “Little Chilli” and he was once painted for the Archibald Prize holding a pod aloft. These days, at his home and cooking school in Trentham, Victoria, he grows at least four varieties in his greenhouse: Scotch bonnets, cayenne, Hungarian blacks and Thai birdseye chillies. He’s watching them closely to see if they’ll cross-pollinate and produce new strains. “Chilli plants can be a little bit amorous,” he explains.

This amorous tendency accounts for the creation of ever-hotter pods, which has seen growers ratchet up the Scoville Heat Units (SHU) – the scale that measures a chilli’s bite – to increasingly alarming levels. No sooner than the bhut jolokia (the first chilli to register at more than a million SHU) was crowned the winner, the Infinity (1.1 million SHU) came along, followed by the Naga Viper (1.3 million SHU), Trinidad Scorpion Butch T (1.4 million SHU), and the Carolina Reaper, which currently dominates the field at an apocalyptic 1.6 million SHU and is probably available in your local supermarket.

And if you’ve bitten off more than you can handle? “The best antidote to kill that hotness is to take a lump of sugar and put it in your mouth,” says Tan. “It immediately tones the heat down.” For those not yet at the Reaper stage of the chilli journey, he suggests starting small. “If you are nervous about eating fresh chillies, then look at buying pickled chillies, sweet chilli sauce or chilli oil. After that, you can become a bit more experimental.” Like many who have fallen for its unique charms, Tan considers the plant to be something of an obsession. “Eating chilli is something that becomes part of your DNA,” he muses. “For me, my life will be rather boring if I don’t have it.”

The ultimate chilli glossary:

Aleppo: A warm, smoky chilli pepper with a mild heat that builds slowly on the palate, commonly used across the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Ancho: Dried, ripe poblano peppers. Generally low in heat, with a distinctive sweet, fruity flavour.

Árbol: A long, curved chilli with a bright, fiery heat and slightly grassy flavour.

Baklouti: A large, pungent chilli with a mellow tinge of heat, found in Northwest Africa. Used as the primary ingredient in harissa.

Bhut jolokia: Popular in India, this chilli is notorious for its intense flavour and blistering heat. Also known as the ghost pepper.

Birdseye: Tiny, fiery chillies commonly used in Thai cuisine. Sometimes called bird peppers or chilli padi.

Capsaicinoids: A series of related compounds concentrated in the internal ribs and seeds of a chilli that registers in our mouths as both heat and pain.

Cayenne: Most commonly used in its dried, powdered form, cayenne has a hot, aromatic, peppery flavour.

Chipotle: Dried, smoked, ripe jalapeño peppers with a moderately spicy, smoky and complex flavour.

Gochugaru: Dried, smoky-sweet chilli powder used in Korean cuisine.

Habanero: One of the more commonly available varieties, with a fruity taste and lingering, white-hot burn.

Jalapeño: A long, tapering thick-fleshed green chilli with a pronounced flavour and middling heat.

Kashmiri: A bright red, mild chilli commonly found in Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine. Generally used dried and powdered.

Paprika: A vibrant red chilli powder made from dried red pods, ranging in flavour from mild to hot to smoked. Popular in Spanish and Hungarian cuisine.

Poblano: A small green chilli that ranges in heat from mild to kicking, commonly used in Spanish cuisine.

Scotch bonnet: Similar in heat to the habanero, but with a somewhat sweeter and smokier flavour.

Scoville scale: A system of measuring the pungency of chillies based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, typically with capsaicin content as the primary measure. Recorded in Scoville Heat Units (SHU).

Serrano: A small, hot variety popular throughout Mexico and Southeast Asia. Sharp, crisp and with considerable bite.

Shishito: A mild chilli commonly used in Japan, with a fresh, peppery flavour. Generally used when still green.

Tabasco: A small pungent chilli, with a fiery, smoky taste, most famous for its use in Tabasco sauce.

Urfa biber: A dark red-purple chilli from Turkey, with a smoky, fruity, slightly sour flavour and modest heat.

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Dr Alison Jones, a researcher in food science at the University of New South Wales, considers umami to be our unofficial fifth taste. “For many of us, there are four basic taste categories that we can easily identify in the foods we eat: saltiness, sourness, bitterness and sweetness,” she says. “However, other taste categories have been proposed and there is ongoing research into what terms should be included as basic tastes. One such widely recognised term is umami.”

Around the world, humans have been savouring umami flavours for thousands of years, says Dr Jones. However, the word itself was originally coined in the early 20th-century by Japanese chemist Professor Kikunae Ikeda. Ikeda wanted to know the science behind the distinct flavour of dashi, so decided to study the molecular composition of one of its key ingredients, kombu. He discovered that a substance known as glutamic acid was responsible for the umami taste we’ve become familiar with today.

So how can you achieve umami flavours in your cooking? Here’s a guide to umami-rich Japanese ingredients and how to use them.

Bonito flakes

Otherwise known as katsuobushi, these salty flakes are laboriously produced by simmering, smoking, drying and fermenting skipjack tuna. They bring a smoky intensity to sauces, soups and even onigiri. When used as a garnish for okonomiyaki, the flakes dance and move with the hot steam rising off the pancake.

Tamari

Tamari is soy sauce’s Japanese cousin, made with little to no wheat. It’s slightly malty and brings a darker, more rounded flavour. Toasted nuts will benefit from a trickle of this. It’s also a solid dipping and seasoning sauce.

Kombu

This edible kelp is a great example of a food with naturally occurring MSG. Most often dried, it’s key to making dashi, a building block for many Japanese dishes. Dashi brings an extra-savoury dimension when added to noodle soups and ramen broth, or a few splashes can elevate a stir fry.

Miso

Red, white or yellow, miso is an easy way of packing more umami into your cooking. The ancient Japanese art form of miso-making sees soybeans fermented with salt and koji for anywhere between several weeks to seven years. This results in a thick paste with a salty, concentrated flavour. Add to braises, marinades and salad dressings, or use in desserts to create a pleasing salty counterpoint.

Dried shiitake mushrooms

Fresh shiitake mushrooms give earthy richness to dishes, but dried are even better. The drying process breaks down certain proteins in the mushrooms and ultimately generates a more concentrated, umami flavour. Use the rehydration liquid as the base for stocks, braises and sauces. Remember to keep sealed and store in a cool, dry cupboard.

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It all comes down to shape and style. A smaller bowl, for example, will trap aromatics and keep acidity alive, while something larger allows for more aeration, encouraging tannins to soften and complex flavours to develop over time.

There’s more to the story than “this goes with that”. Oncore head sommelier Remon Van de Kerkhof believes glass choice is a matter of expression. “What do you want the characteristic of that wine to be? What do you want it to do with that dish? Do you want the oak or acid to be more pronounced? Do you want the bouquet to leap out of the glass?”

Amanda Yallop, Fink Group’s wine director, agrees. “You pick the glass depending on what you’d like to highlight. An oaked wine, for example, usually needs a larger bowl to release the primary profile, while an aromatic white wine likes to be held tighter in a smaller bowl,” she explains.

The way in which a glass is made may affect the wine, too. Zalto glasses, which are the vessels of choice at Oncore, are hand-blown in Austria on the same degrees of axis tilt (24°, 48° and 72°) as Earth. According to the producers, this creates a “cosmic parallel” that enhances the qualities of the wine served inside them.

This attention to detail might be a step too far, yet Zalto’s sleek design and feather-light weight certainly lend an ethereal quality to the liquid served inside them. “It brings a sense of luxury and removes the barrier between the flow of energy and your palate,” says Van de Kerkhof.

Other premium stemware manufacturers like Riedel, Spiegelau and Plumm, are popular choices in restaurants across Australia.

Champagne

A slightly bulbed Champagne glass helps to keep the bubbles alive, and the flavour fresh and crisp. Crafted for younger Champagnes, sparkling wines, cava and prosecco, the shape of this glass accentuates both the aroma and palate of the drink, making it an excellent choice for a fizzy apéritif.

Bordeaux

The slightly tapered rim and linear shape of the Bordeaux glass means liquid will be distributed evenly on the palate, bringing balance to full-bodied, structured reds. Think cabernet, malbec, Rioja, brunello, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and shiraz.

White wine

The small bowl here benefits most whites by bringing out their acidity and accentuating certain aromatics. A great match for riesling, sauvignon blanc and muscadet, as well as lighter reds such as sangiovese and blaufränkisch.

Dessert wine

With its wide bulb through the centre, the sweet wine glass allows sticky and concentrated digestifs to breath, bringing out their floral qualities. It’s smaller than

a regular wine glass too, concentrating the wine to the centre of the palate where the sugars are accentuated. Perfect for port, sherry and madeira, as well as single malt whisky.

Burgundy

The shape of this beautifully ballooned glass does well to capture the aromatics of more complex reds and richer whites. Its rotund bowl and narrow lips make it ideal for pinot noir, nebbiolo and barbera, as well as larger expressions of oaky chardonnay.

Universal

As the name suggests, this medium-sized glass is the perfect all-rounder, ideal for any mature white or red variety. It’s also Van de Kerkhof’s pick for grower or vintage Champagnes, with its breadth allowing the wine’s bouquet to truly sing.

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