We've got Hives! and lots of other bugs!

Finally after many years of unforgivable procrastination we have finally got some beehives. Alfred Wittosch a local beekeeper from Otway Apiaries delivered our first hives about a month ago and today resplendent in his brand new outfit he gave us our first taste of fresh honey.
Fresh almost pure nectar straight from the comb that can only be compared to the taste of the first extra virgin oil directly from the press.
It was too young but we just could not resist a sample. Alfred explained that the bees concentrate the nectar and reduce the water content from about 60% to less than 15% by fanning it to give us what we call honey. Alfred is one of those people who for me rekindles the passion that we can lose sight of in pursuing this sometimes frantic foodie life. He loves his bees.
By the time we re-open [probably the first week in May] [more details later] we should have enough to be self-sufficient in this divine seminal sweetness.
But there are many other bugs here too... the spiders were at it last night.
With certain weather conditions we get a lot of small beetles that are attracted to the house lights and somehow our resident arachnoids know when and where to web.

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Program goes Live

Get in early as many of the small events are sold out very quickly.
Link to the Website and Program
http://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/www/html/24-mfw-festival.asp

Our event The Seven Year Itch is on February 24 bookings taken from Sat 26 January only by telephone 03 52362276. 50 places available.

In answer to Passable Cook but complete Luddite.

Robot says in answer to second question re Perils of P, the detail of which cannot be printed because of a limited liability that covers this site.

“All I can say is that MSG may be one solution or perhaps seek.com at right price. Caveat etc.”

The first question asked the Magic Robot for
”help in finding a good recipe for duck ragout” Sounds innocent enough.

Robot says:
My friend Kettner aka E.S Dallas and I have seen your cunning plot!
Ragout of Duck? The word that gives it away is ragoût.
Duck Stew does not have the same je ne sais quoi? Does it?
How about a Contise of duck? [Stack] or a Chartreuse [a concealment] of the same? Too plebeian?
But ragout also poses a different dilemma. Not only are we perceived to be gilding the lily in English but if we have to mix our languages,at least then let’s give them a considered title. The French are disdainful of the word ragoût because it ignores the rich chorus of words that describe specific “stews”.
Matelote –Fresh water fish. Civet of Hare. Gibelote of Rabbit. Fricassee of Chicken. Compôte of pigeon. Daube of Beef. Navarin of Lamb. And many more.
Dallas says a Salmi of Duck is preferred, the term for a “ragoût” of winged creatures. Robot also approves.

Stewing duck is in the traditional way poses some difficulties as duck meat does not like being simmered in anything other than its own fat for initial cooking. So first slowly roast the duck or prepare a confit [another can of words] then prepare your stew. The duck can be portioned and the bones, offal and giblets used to make the sauce.

Salmi of Duck
Suggested garnishes:
Green olives and wild onions with thyme?
Chestnuts, juniper berries and Pinot Noir?
Small turnips, garlic and cabbage?

But that’s really for Autumn.

This week I made a passable supper with some roast Chinese duck and a garnish of spiced Morello cherries [see a previous post] and a salad of succulents?

Magic Robot Replies


The Magic Robot on the side of the screen is from a 1950’s Board Game it features a futuristic atomic age plastic robot figure that sits on a mirror. To play the game you direct the pointer to the question and then place it on another mirror and it magically turns and gives you the answer. But this version is for questions culinary although a few others have crept in.

From S.W. Is Diane still making her collages? They were such a strong part of the Sunnybrae experience.

My word she is, although the style has changed considerably. Instead of the Victorian decoupage look she has been working in a much broader style.

She has combined painting with collage in some work. This screen was made from vegetable boxes and is now at Vince and Rosas market in Geelong appropriately as thats where most of the boxes came from.

The latest series is called Sex Kittens.

I will set up a blog for her in the near future to exhibit more of her work. She has completed a number of screens and her work has featured at the Linden Postcard exhibition and she stole the show at the Fitzroy Football Art show with her Geelong Football Club “Keep a Lid on It” that was the first piece to sell. Unfortunately I did not take a photo of it.

From Fun Guy: How can you tell the quality of Shiitake mushrooms and what is the best way to cook them?

The grading of Shiitake is an art in itself. Generally the thickest darkest fungi that have deep white creases when dried are considered superior. They are referred to as “flower mushrooms” or Donko grade, the thinner caps are called “love letters” in Japanese. Elizabeth Chong in a Melb Food and Wine Masterclass demonstrated that a very hot smoking wok is needed to cook them to develop most of the flavour.

From Darling Grace. I remember the Dim Sims from the Grace Darling Hotel [ that dates me] can you pass on the recipe?

Gee that goes back to 1979! As you have reminded me, we served them in the bar at the Grace Darling Hotel in Collingwood and every second Saturday the publican Peter Charleston [who did the footy stats at 3KZ] would bring back Jack [Captain Blood] Dyer and Bob Davis to the pub for an after-the-game session. Jack loved the dimmies but one Saturday the bar manager, Freddy [Brownlow Legend] Goldsmith came into the kitchen and said that God wanted to speak to the cook. I sheepishly went to face the legend and as he sat at the bar he skulled a ramekin of the chilli dipping sauce and said “Son, you’ve been watering it down!”

Chicken and Ginger Dim Sims
A simple Dim Sum Aussie style.

Serves 6
30 Won Ton wrappers
500g minced skinless chicken thighs
1 medium onion cut into small pieces
Two small pieces of ginger cut into pieces
2 cloves of garlic
Half a small carrot
Half a bunch of coriander
A small red chilli deseeded and cut into small pieces
Juice of one lime a small splash of fish sauce
30ml of ketchap manis [Conimex Brand]
10ml Kikoman soy sauce
30g bean shoots 30g pea shoots for garnish

Crush the garlic, one of the pieces of ginger, chilli and half of the coriander in a mortar and pestle. Mix with the ketchap manis, soy, lime juice and fish sauce. Taste.
Mix half of this mixture with the chicken, carrot, onion, the rest of the coriander and the other piece of ginger and mince or put through a food processor. Fry off a little and taste. Adjust the seasoning to your taste. A little Tabasco is good.

To make the dim sims spoon a little of the chicken mixture on to each wrapper and bring up the sides to make a dim sims, the top can be open.

Steam for about 10 minutes and serve on the sauce and shoots. Add more Chilli if there is a Blood in the bar.

From Alistair:
You mentioned planting Charentais Melons in an earlier post can we buy them in Victoria?

I am not sure, I heard that there were some being sold a couple of years ago but not recently. They are not difficult to grow and ripen well in a Victorian Summer. I hope they will be grown in greater numbers as they have an exquisite perfume as well as flavour. Ask at Stall 83 at the Victoria Market or Fratelli Fresh in Sydney.

From J.R. Magic Robot Says NO!

Fine Print

It’s always in the fine print.





The pile for the op-shop was getting suspiciously large.
Madam D has to be supervised in certain weather. She would say I need supervision regardless of the weather. On some days she can come back from op-shopping with 16 koala bears, 10 kg of knitting patterns and a dozen tea-towels. On other days your favourite Johnny O’Keefe album can end up on its way out the door.
Today it was an early Barry Humphries album and 2 Phantom comics amongst a lot of mutually agreed upon surplus stuff.
Just in the nick of time I noticed them. I had forgotten about the Phantom comics bought for the graphics, the old paper, and a lost childhood. Then I thought I had better check to see if it was worth anything, as the renos were starting to add up. That’s when it happened. Bingo! an article in the SMH confirms a very rare first edition worth a couple of weeks of builders’ work. See Link: http://www.smh.com.au/news/money/for-the-ghost-who-walks/2006/04/03/1143916462088.html. Jackpot.
For about a half an hour I basked in my forgotten op-shop coup. Then I rang a Frew Publishing with my find and instead of a ticket to Sydney to offer the rarest of Phantom comics to the keenest of collectors his secretary asked an innocent question. Did it have a printers’ line under the second page? No I replied, then she told me of the 1991 facsimile reassuringly adding it was worth about an hours' worth of plumbing.
Always check the fine print.

De Croze returns

But the day ended well, very well. The copy of Austin de Croze’s What to Eat and Drink in France 1931 has returned from a short holiday in the lost books’ dimension.
What’s so special about this edition? It all started about 25 years ago with a casual peek into Elizabeth David’s book Mediterranean Food. A small aside, an unusual recipe sketch for an Anchoiade de Croze containing figs, almonds, fennel seed, very alluring. I started to make it and it became a regular in our recipe repertoire for over 20 years usually paired with a Cantal or Parmesan Cheese tart.

Much later I had the privilege of meeting Jill Norman, E.D’s good friend and original publisher. Jill started the Penguin Cooking List. She is an author of many fine books and a highly respected editor. A couple of years later we had the pleasure of presenting a lunch and dinner together honouring Elizabeth David. Jill Norman was the guest speaker at an event called ‘Is there an author in the house?’ where the said anchoiade was featured.
This image below is from the original Memorial Service for E.D. Jill had brought a copy for each person at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event.











She had recalled that I was intrigued by De Croze and that I did not know much about him. About 3 months after the event a package arrived in the mail. She had remembered and sent a copy, not just any copy but a first edition containing the recipe with a very special provenance. So you can see I’m glad he’s back.

Now you can follow the trail of de Croze who completed a similar journey as Elizabeth David in recording the traditional foods of France a generation earlier. He dedicates the book to his son Joel ‘a future gourmet who, through this book will learn the Geography, History, and Psychology of his native land in the language of a good friend country..

Lovingly A de C.




The trail if you follow it will take you to Curnonsky who invented Bibendum through all the various Provinces of a time gone by. I won’t spoil it for you.

Eels Dam Eels

Spent the morning adjusting the water systems.

Water conservation here at Sunnybrae is an ever-changing week to week proposition.

This area is blessed with good rainfall so I am not whingeing, but as so much of our time is spent on water management I thought you may as well be privy to the most important aspect of how this property works.

Drinking water comes from the roof into 4 tanks that are now all pretty close to being full. The large roof area means that each millimetre of rain gives 3 or 4 hundred litres of very fine clear drinking water. All the tanks are connected to an underground tank that dates back to 1868 when the house was built and for 10 years before the restaurant began [’81 to 91’] it was plenty for all our household needs. Now all the drinking water from the other tanks is filtered and gravity feeds into the old underground tank where it is cooled naturally. I think it is one of the highlights of a visit to the restaurant. It tastes great. Although the mains-water goes right past the front of the property we have resisted connecting to it.

Flavour especially in water is fundamental.

The dams on the other hand are a different matter altogether. We are on deep sandy loam and even very heavy rain like we thankfully had last month does not begin to create run-off these days unless we get a very sudden downpour. I say these days because the underground water-table has dropped significantly over the last 10 years. Some of our neighbours have bore-water and they have said that now they are sourcing the bores more than 15 metres lower than last year. They say that there is a very large artesian river under the Otways but the last 10 years or so has depleted this reserve considerably. While the garden can look quite green it’s an illusion.
Some call it a green drought. It is when large twenty year old trees begin to die that this becomes apparent. We have lost over 20 big trees in the last two years.We also use the dams for the 20 dairy cows that are agisted here, so it’s not all available for the garden. Just as the drinking water is connected to a central point all the dams are connected to the front dam and we use a windmill to pump water from our largest dam up to a holding dam and then gravity feed it to the central distribution dam that is near the road.

This dam gets good run-off from the road so it is only in these summer months that the windmill needs to be used. The cows had been playing with the now exposed pipes on the bottom dam so maintenance was needed.

Around this time of year we drain the holding dam into the front dam as evaporation in two places is wasteful.
We have used over 60 cubic meters of mulch this summer so the vegetable garden is holding its own but only tomatoes have been planted in large quantities. We need them for this year’s sauce and once you have tasted home grown there is no going back. It is all about the flavour.

Flavours can be elusive. They hide in the parts of an ingredient we sometimes find too difficult to bother with.
The shell of a cray, the giblets in a chook, the skin of an eel.
One way to capture a flavour is by infusion or slow poaching.
A few years ago as the dams were drying up, ever optimistic, we decided to enlarge one hoping for good rains later. The muddy bottom that was left had to be dredged out. As the ‘digger jigger’ started to move the sludge that was the only moisture left, we noticed a mass of what looked like wriggling agie-pipes.

Eels, lots of eels.

This dish uses smoked eel, the skin of which contains an intense flavour perfect with a fragrant red wine. This recipe was designed for a mate Barry Williams who loved Pinot Noir and is based on the traditional Burgundian dish of

Oeufs Meurette.

Smoked Eel with Pinot Poached Eggs

Skin a good fresh smoked eel I don't like to use them frozen. Check the regional produce guide on the right for details of where to source them. Or view the Skipton Primary Schools excellent eel project at http://www.skiptonps.vic.edu.au/eels.htm

Cut up the skin and take the meat off the bones and cut it into small pieces.
Make a gutsy red wine stock from the eel skin and bones using good pinot noir for the liquid. Use lots of vegetables carrots, leeks onions garlic, a little celery. Strain and remove as much of the fat from the top as you can. If there is too much fat left cool it in the fridge it will set and be easy to remove.
Save a little stock to heat the eel in and reduce the rest till its rich and shiny. Toast a few slices of your favourite bread rub with garlic and set them aside. Fry a little bacon and leek till crisp and set aside.
Warm the eel gently in the stock you saved.
Poach the eggs in the red wine sauce place on the toasted bread arrange the eel around it and garnish with the fried leek bacon.

A breakfast dish for a sunny summer’s day by the shade of a tree?
I would prefer to eat it to the sound of a thundering storm on the tin roof, filling those thirsty dams.

We'll always have Paris

Of all the travel memories that Diane and I share this image holds a very special place.
On a cold winters day after walking the old historic market area of les Halles we ducked into the dark and glorious Eglise St. Eustache at the bottom of rue Montorgueuil. Here amongst the sombre side chapels with their vaults and family tombs, past the smoke stained Rubens you come across this diorama and it hits you hard. A simple naive monument depicting the last traders leaving the market for the last time when it was pulled down to make way for what must be the largest Metro maze in the world. Standing there in the semidarkness amongst somber religious icons this gaudy childlike plaster installation confirms why Paris is such an extraordinary place. No stuffy planning committee to oversee the interior of this historic church where Moliere, Madam Pompadour and many others were originally buried. He was moved to Pere Lachaise later. Parisians still mourn the loss of the belly of the city.




But all is not completely gone. If you go up rue Montorgueuil look down the side alleys you will find knife makers, shops that sell those wonderful plastic Croque Monsieur signs, shops selling rules of the hotel boards that tell you that washing your feet in your room is verboten. All sorts of clues to an extraordinary time. These streets were the service areas to the great halls of Paris. On another trip in a side street we found a Foie Gras dealer that had been there for over 100 years, in another alley we found a game supplier with a similar history in a three level building where the game birds are received in the cavernous basement into which you can drive, then the produce moves up a floor to be dressed and finally to ground level to be sold both wholesale and retail. Bresse chickens amongst a very wide selection of other Produit Fermier or classified farm produce.




On our first visit to Paris we stumbled upon Dehillerin the legendary cookware shop. To our surprise with the franc at 9.5 to the Aussie dollar we could buy a very comprehensive batterie de cuisine and not go to jail when the credit card bill came. The pots are still in use after 25 years. A couple of years ago the shop looked sad and almost empty but there is a website. Andre Simon a similar cookware store has gone and now the wonderful façade holds another chic boutique.

At 15 rue Monmatre you will find le Cochon a L’Oreille a very small bistro seating about 18 inside and about 10 on the street. .
All the walls in the dining room are covered by hand painted tiles each wall depicting a different time at the market. From the toll of the opening bell to the last orders of the day. The bar is best example of an original Zinc I have seen. It is totally preserved including the purpose built wine coolers and compartments for all the required mis en place for the bar. During our first visit I was drawn by the XXXXX anduilette and we struck gold. The normal chef was away and the summer stand-in was a true student of classic les Halles bistro fare. Visitors since have reported less than perfect dishes but I can say that on each occasion our meals were brilliant. The patron grumpy, intoxicated and utterly delightful.
Our Paris ritual has been made: Saint Eustache and an andouillette at our zinc.

Is Salle Wagram still there?

Creme de la Crema

Crème de la Crema

Some blokes need bigger toys.
Thankfully I have been able sublimate my most of my retro-techno lust with stuff that also makes flavour. I love good machines that make edibles. Since seeing my first coffee machine a Herend porcelain covered neo-baroque Gaggia at the Gerbaud Budapest I have been hooked.
In 1981 after a stint in London I opened a café in Chapel street South Yarra that had a killer 1950’s Gaggia 4 group Cosmopolitan. Ramesh the man you see behind the beast, dear Sam [sadly no longer with us] and I spent many hours fine tuning each group to the point that I think it took us about a month to come down from a massive caffeine overdose. A few weeks ago I popped into the 100 mile café where one of our ex-chefs Richard works and lo and behold there was an identical model. I think it’s the same one but you can never be sure.

About 3 years ago I had another close encounter with a Gaggia, this time a 1962 Americano in original condition. I had no idea if it worked but bought it on spec. A small metal plaque on the bottom displayed the original distributors Bancroft and Sons in South Melbourne. One night when I popped Gaggia and Bancroft into Google the story of how Espresso came to Melbourne was revealed. http://www.rosarioscarpato.com/en/the_machines_eng.pdf. When you read this wonderful tale in the link above. you will come across the name Flavio Vedelago as I did on that night.
With only one F. Vedelago in the phone book I took the chance and met the man that not only made the Americano, the Cosmopolitan and still keeps many of the old lever machines going, but also a true gentleman of coffee. He said bring it over and I’ll see what I can do. Bancrofts made the whole machine in Melbourne as for a short time import duties were prohibitive. When casting the large brass groups they had trouble making them without flaws so they decided to turn them instead out of a solid piece of metal, so all the Oz built Gaggia groups are practically indestructible.
On inspection he was thrilled to see it had been kept so well and vaguely remembered selling one, possibly this one to a Chinese café in Wagga. He restored it to perfect condition and the friendship continues over a mutual love of kitchen gardens and coffee machines.

The home machine, a single group 1959 Faema Lambro, has kept me in coffee over the last few years, but a new boy has appeared on the block. For the restaurant I just can’t see myself letting anyone without a boilermaker’s licence drive her professionally. So welcome to the modern world with a newish single group Azkoyen that makes very fine coffee.

My favourite lever machine still in operation in Melbourne is at Sila Coffee Lounge in Brunswick Street. I still refer to the café as Pasquali’s. Pasquali’s son has carried on the legacy and keeps this gem in perfect working order . I have enjoyed many a coffee from this exquisite 2 group Faema Urania while doing a stint at the original Comedy Café way back in the early eighties and never fail to cop a short black when passing.

The 2 group Gaggia Cosmopolitan at the Special Cake Shop in Chapel Street Prahran is still there but it needs a good seeing-to from Flavio.

Faema E61’s the quantum leap from the lever jobs are around if you look closely but the lever machines are few and far between. The Galleon’s Cosmo is in retirement.
Perhaps we should create a virtual tour of the classic lever machines in Melbourne.

Does anyone know of others?

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival was looking at an event so keep your eyes on the program. Time for another shot and then back to the garden.
Planting out Charantais melons and more pimento di padrone today before the heat returns.

The Cookbooks that ate the Dining Room

We all love our books but dread the day when we have to move them. The floors are being done next week and everything has to be cleared and stashed away from the dreaded dust machine. I am not sure what's worse: floor sanding dust? or plaster dust? I think plaster has away of creeping into places that you never imagined even sawdust could enter. But there is one compensation for having to move a library and that is you can reacquaint your self with some of your best mates.

Suddenly a job that may have taken a couple of hours if it was moving furniture could easily end up a whole day especially if the weather's too hot to do anything useful in the garden. Then comes the moment when you are sure that the copy of de Croze is missing, that can eat up another hour. Time can stand still while you visit Chapelle and just have a little peek into Blue Trout and Black Truffles and then see what Ketner's has to say about, well just about anything! .

Its been a great day of rediscovery.

This group of ephemera holds a special place in the collection. In 1986, at least I think it was then [and now I can't check because the box is under a massive pile in the ladies loo] I read an article about Betty Austin, the head librarian at the Emily McPherson college who was compiling a bibliography of all Australian cookbooks prior to 1941. Over the years I have been a keen op-shop obsessive and have collected old cookbooks and had quite a stash at the time.

I went to see Ms. Austin and we quickly established a strong friendship over our mutual interest. She showed me through the library's collection and I even had a couple that she had not seen. During that time the Emily Mac library became place that I enjoyed visiting whenever a culinary question came up. [ Now you can ask the Magic Robot on the right]

Betty completed the bibliography and kindly sent me a copy that holds this whole collection together. Diane and I are still op-shop crazy but now of course its the fifties to eighties that we waste our hours on. The older bits of cooking ephemera are much harder to find. One of the small sub-sets in this collection are the wonderful but rather sad booklets given to injured returned servicemen after the First and Second World Wars to raise money.

It must have been a horrific comedown after losing your limbs in the Somme to go door to door selling little cookbooks. But they do give a very clear picture of the home cooking of the time.

The next stage of putting all the books back is also very important, after some more distractions a new order is achieved. The pile of must-read-agains grows and the cull that you know you should make somehow stays in the background. Although I must admit I love to cull a few copies bought in a moment of weakness or utter folly. What was I thinking?

Now if you have my copy of Austin de Croze please return it along with Frank Moorhouse's Loose Living. Which, if you haven't read I can heartily recommend to anyone except the person who's got my copy. Late fines apply.

And finally a small Crumb from Robert for all you Mr. Natural fans.