Epicurean Graphics by Les Mason

A special extra box arrived with the wines from Crittenden Estate today It was a box of Epicurean magazines from 1968 to 1988. Twenty years of how fine food and wine was developing in Australia. Garry knows I collect food and wine ephemera and kindly sent them along with the Crittenden Estate Arneis, Moscato and Savignin, varieties that are not found on this side of the bay.
The first thing that jumped out at me while unpacking the magazines was how extraordinary the early graphics were. . The title pages reveal the early art director as Les Mason, “who was considered by his peers to be the seminal force in the establishment of graphic design in Melbourne in the 1960s and '70s....”
Link to The Age obit here
You can see the resonances of Les mason's style in many contemporary artworks from Deborah Halpern to Reg Mombassa
Then as I started to get into the content of the magazines I was drawn along a journey guided by many of the best, most articulate and passionate people that shaped the way the food and wine industry is right now in Australia.
 Penny Smith, Marian Halligan. Len Evans, Diane Holouigue, Mietta, Dan Murphy, Ian Hickinbotham, and Oscar Mendelssohn, the list of contributors is extraordinary and long. We see the first review for Jacques Reymond and Tansy Goode. Mietta talks to a very disillusioned Alain Chapel who is all gloom and doom about the loss of tradition in French cooking.The first run of the sous-vide revolution kicks off. Tony Bilson is reviewed by Len Evans at Tony’s Bon Gout then later at Kinsellas. A very young Terry Durack writes with a wry Australian  humour and passion on 3 star dining in France.
The early years 1968--1975 give perspective to a time before I started on this journey, then in the later volumes I am confronted by the very events that dragged my generation very willingly into a life of hospitality. Many of the recipes recorded have stood the test of time but those that copied the “flavour of the month” Nouvelle Cuisine from European sources look just as silly as the aspic and chaud froid disasters of a previous generation copying the last gasps of la Grande Cuisine. I wonder how young cooks now starting out will look back at the current micro-molecular smears and splodges in 40 years? Probably in 5 dimensions on media that not even Apple has dreamed about.....

THE STING

A couple of months ago on an early morning walk I came upon this seething mass of buzzing bees parked on an olive tree next to the hive. Alfred aka THE STING is my bee buddy, but he was away and unable to come to the rescue. It looked like our queen was banished from the hive by a new queen. He is called THE STING as he often drives arround in an old Land Rover troop carrier with the beekeepers headgear on. But I know its really  Alfred.

The question was did our queen abdicate or was she banished?
Something had to be done quickly. With the magic of the electric telephone THE STING was able to direct me from afar to simply catch the swarm. He would come the next day to collect it. Now I don’t know about you but I had never captured a swarm of bees before  THE STING insisted that as it was early in the morning, and a cool day, they would simply drop into a box without drama.I donned my best “protective “gear of a fly net, garden gloves and [as it was the first container that I could see in the shed and it had wheels ] I grabbed a wheelie-bin and decided to have a go. I must have been half asleep. The strategy was to take a pruning saw place the wheelie-bin under the swarm and cut the branch dropping the bees, avec branch, into the bin. But as I put the bin under the bees and touched the branch they miraculously, just as THE STING had said, all dropped directly into the bin and I could close the lid in a flash. Feeling very clever I stashed the swarm in the shed and waited for THE STING to come the next day. He checked the old hive and said there was indeed a new queen and took the swarm away. The next day he rang to say that yes the old queen was with the swarm and he could bring them back in a new hive in a few days.
So she was indeed banished by a new queen. That was a couple of months ago and last week THE STING returned, checked the hive again and we processed the new seasons’ honey.

A hive produces about 30kg of honey a year and now with 2 hives we have to find new ways to use it.

All our ice creams are now made with honey instead of sugar. This week there was a windfall of red currants so a redcurrant and honey gelati is being paired with verbena poached stone fruits.



The painful sting came today as I was mowing around the olives near the hive ,not serious but a reminder that we all need a STING every now and again. So if you are wlking arround our olive grove bee warned!!

The old Ice cream machine is a 1950’s Husquavarna manual salt and ice model.The manual contains a recipe for Italian Tutti Frrutti gelato. The modern machine is a Carpigiani if it was the STIG driving it he would rate it cool, very cool.

Return of The Fearless Vampire Killers

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

And the Alburrian Ambassador

Cordially Invite You to

The Return of the Fearless Vampire Killers

Saturday March 13 and Sunday March 14

for

A Celebration of garlic in all its forms.

Begin with a gartini

Followed by 5 courses of seasonal Sunnybrae specialities

Highlighting the many forms of the stinking rose

With matching wines

No garlic in the desserts but there will be savouries

During the afternoon there will be a

COOKWIZ With a 10 Kilo Prize

$110 including wines

Book early before the program goes into the paper in February

http://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/

Gastrodamus or The List I Write Every Day.

I would like to wish all readers a very safe, humorous and of course highly opinionated New Year....
We got 20mm rain overnight, one of the best beginnings to a new year for a long time.
No time for the obligatory Best Of or Gastrodamus [new Gastrodamus blog?] list [GMAB] instead , I’m posting the list I write every day
The Prep List.

This list usually grows as the day gets going. Dishes to be tweaked today include 2 new desserts, set up for new lamb dish, pillau strategy, remmber what a no fructose diet is? And so on..

For all of you cooking today I salute you, those of you grazing remember the cooks are also having fun.

Friday Jan 1 2010

Rory To Pick and Wash.

Aptenia one large bucket, Garlic pearls small bucket, Rucheta big bucket, Tarragon small container
Rock Samphire 4l box, fennel shoots for soup, Chives large bunch for soup, parsley as much as possible, bay leaves for panna cotta and stocks, zucchini flowers 20, nasturtiums for both days.
Oregano, sage, thyme, Perilla, lovage small containers, big bowl of lemon verbena. peach and raspberry leaves small amount. As much purslane as possible, all ripe berries, 3 cucumbers, all courgettes, savoury, Big bucket of rhubarb, oak leaf and cos. Horseradish.

Prep

Rreduce all stocks
Red wine stock, hare infusion over veal stock, morello stock, porcini stock
Caponata base, un-cure salmon and pork.
Dressings and salads, check watermelons. Beetroot relish, clean asian herbs.
Spice mix for lamb and shrimp spice and garlic oil, tomato oil, pilau kit.
Aioli, Mayo, Anchoiade, Remoulade,
Poach and skin sweetbreads, cook Malabar and leeks, cut red caps. Cook staff lunch.
Make hare crepinettes, Turkey garnish, peel and poach turnips,
Pancake mix, cook poppyseed filling, crème Anglaise, panna cottas, brullee
New Berry dessert, slow cook rhubarb, mangoes pureed, saffron mascarpone.
Clean passionfruit, make orange marmalade, Ice cream base, set all ice creams ready to churn Sat.
Sorbet base lemon verbena and cassis, star anis Anglaise for pav filling, cardamom mint syrup for cherries, de pip cherries.
 Refresh starter, make big biga.
Set wood oven
Re read Frank Morehouse's Loose Living