The secret kitchen wisdom that top chefs and cooks swear by (and you should too)
The best ideas are often the simplest. The same goes for cooking. In our popular column The Dish, we ask some of Australia's most influential people what cooking wisdom they live by – among many other burning questions.
Here are the golden nuggets from some of our top cooking talent that you can apply in your kitchen, too.
Lennox Hastie, owner-chef, Firedoor, Sydney
I always say cook the food you want to eat – it sounds stupidly obvious but it's everything. You have to make yourself happy first. You have to choose the ingredients you want and there's nothing worse than cooking something you don't love.
Silvia Colloca, Italian-Australian TV personality and cookbook author
It's imperative the pasta is not overcooked. The concept of al dente [resistance to the tooth] matters to Italians, and it matters to me. It's more important than you think and not as snobby as it might sound. It mostly applies to dry pasta. As a rule of thumb, if the packet says 11 minutes, take it out after nine or 10 minutes because it continues to cook with the residual heat.
Andrew McConnell, chef and restaurateur
Less is more. I wish I had learnt this earlier as a chef, but it's something you learn on the job as your palate matures. It has a lot to do with you as a person and what you like, and not so much the technical aspect of cooking. In the southern countries of the Mediterranean, they do this so well.
Brigitte Hafner, owner-chef Tedesca Osteria, Victoria
I learned very early on from [Sydney chef] Kylie Kwong about when to season. It's essential, and many people put the salt at the end, but for me, salt is there to extract flavour, not to add anything. I would say you must always season carefully and purposefully. And, of course, taste as you go.
Poh Ling Yeow, TV presenter and recipe writer
I learnt about balance from my mum – salty, sweet and sour. At the end of cooking a meal, it's all about these three things.
Clare Smyth, chef, Oncore
It's about buying the best-quality produce you can afford. That rule never gets old. Buy what's in season and keep it simple when you cook. Eat more vegetables is another one – it's better for us and better for the planet.
Sarah Wilson, Australian author and podcaster
My mum had six kids and was so good with food. The wisdom I got from her is 'do not peel vegetables or fruit'. A lot of the nutrients are in the skin, and that's the same with meats. I use the last little bit of everything. I reuse lemon peels, the skin on chickens and the fat on meat. I also live by this mantra: If in doubt, eat as your grandmother or great-grandmother used to eat.
Diana Chan, TV host and writer
As simple as it sounds, it has to be 'taste as you go'. Many cooks forget to taste their food, but I am always checking the flavour as I cook. It's important that when the dish hits the table, it should have the perfect amount of seasoning.
Donna Hay, tastemaker and recipe writing legend
For me, it's about combining simple ingredients that punch above their weight, rather than adding more when you're working on a dish. 'Less is more' is always the key.
Maggie Beer, Australian cooking legend
Produce is the key, as is simplicity. Make produce shine by using the right cooking technique, and have the confidence to keep it simple.
Shannon Martinez, owner-chef, Smith & Daughters, Melbourne
Observing my paternal grandmother, Rosa Martinez, in her commission house kitchen is where I learnt a lot about cooking. I would plant myself with her in the kitchen whenever she was by the stove. It's where she spent most of her time. We would talk, and I would observe her gentle style of cooking. As a young chef, you see a lot of aggression in the kitchen, but I liked her passion with a gentle approach.
Marion Grasby, TV presenter, food writer and entrepreneur
Never wash someone else's wok. A well-seasoned wok's patina is a work of art and a labour of love. Scrub too hard or use harsh detergents and all that love gets washed away. Do the dishes but leave the wok, please.
Guillaume Brahimi, French-born chef and restaurateur
The best advice I heard as a chef is that seasonal ingredients are everything. It doesn't mean they have to be expensive, but in season is a must when cooking. I don't try to cook with produce that isn't available. I learnt that as a young boy growing up in France with my family – we always shopped from markets as we needed items. I do that with my work as well. Shopping in season is the most cost-effective.
Hugh Allen, chef at Vue de Monde, Melbourne
It's a common piece of advice, but starting with incredible produce really makes all the difference. If the base ingredient is exceptional, you don't need to do much to make it shine.
Helly Raichura, owner-chef of Enter via Laundry, Melbourne
My cooking style is instinctive, and I continue to approach the kitchen in the same way. I hold on to the basics I learnt growing up in an Indian household – like how to cook rice, chapati and vegetables. And in Australia, I go with what is fresh and in season.
Stephanie Alexander, Australian cooking royalty
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In this beautiful book, master pastry chef Christopher Thé shares his recipes and tips for standout modern cakes, bread and pastries that are defined by the Australian landscape and its distinctive produce. Equipment: 20 x 10cm loaf (bar) tin Ingredients Banana bread Caramel miso buttercream To garnish Substitutions Method Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line the loaf tin. To make the banana bread, sift the self-raising our into a large bowl, add the sugar and spices and mix well. Add the egg, milk, half the melted butter, the banana and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined - the mix should not be completely smooth and still have lumps of banana visible. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Immediately brush the loaf with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon myrtle sugar. For the caramel miso buttercream, add the caster sugar to a saucepan with 60g water and brush the side of the pan with water until there are no sugar crystals above the water line. Bring to the boil over a high heat and allow to go to a light caramel colour. Turn off the heat and stand by with the cream while the caramel continues to cook to a deep brown colour. This should take about 10 minutes. Add the cream and whisk to combine. Add the miso paste and whisk until incorporated, then pour into a heatproof container and refrigerate until cool. Add the butter and half the icing sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light. Slowly pour in the miso caramel while whisking, then add the remaining icing sugar until the desired consistency is achieved. Transfer to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain 8mm nozzle. To serve, cut a slice of banana bread and lay it on a plate. Pipe on small dots of miso caramel buttercream, then sprinkle with dried red seaweed akes. Garnish with toasted macadamia nut pieces and nasturtiums, or whatever flowers are in season. Serves 6 Ingredients Madeleines Lemon myrtle tea Substitutions Method Preheat the oven to 210°C. For the madeleines, melt the butter gently in a saucepan until the sediment separates. Discard any foam that floats to the surface and decant the yellow butter, leaving any white liquid behind. You should be left with approximately 90g of clarified butter. Add this to the honey, mix well and allow to cool. Sift the our with the baking powder into a bowl. Whip the eggs with the sugar on high speed in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm (or when the mixture holds its shape for 10-20 seconds when the whisk is pulled out). Fold in the our and baking powder, salt and lemon myrtle, then the butter and honey. Transfer the mixture to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Brush the madeleine tray or moulds with extra melted butter and dust with our. Pipe in the mixture, filling the moulds three-quarters full. Bake for 5 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool slightly before unmoulding. While the madeleines are baking, make the lemon myrtle tea. Boil 125g water in a saucepan, sprinkle in the sugar and return to the boil. Add the lemon and cinnamon myrtle leaves and allow to cool, then add the lemon juice. Garnish the tea with the elderflowers before serving with the madeleines on the side. Makes 16 madeleines Ingredients Lilly pilly plum jam Ricotta filling Butter, for brushing Substitutions Method For the jam, add the sugar to the plums in a bowl, mix well and allow to macerate for about 30 minutes. Add 125g of water, transfer to a saucepan and cook until the fruit has dissolved and the temperature reads 106 °C, then remove from the heat. Add the lilly pillies, lemon juice and vanilla bean pod and seeds, mix well and allow to sit for about 15 minutes. This gives the fruit a chance to candy without the jam losing too much moisture. Return to medium heat and bring the temperature back up to 106 °C. Test the jam's setting point using a cold saucer. To make the ricotta filling, drain the ricotta of excess liquid, place in a bowl and beat in the flour. In a stand mixer tted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until opaque, then add the caster sugar and whip to soft peaks, about 6 minutes. Fold through the ricotta mixture and set aside. To make the butter for brushing, put the vanilla seeds in a small saucepan. Add the vanilla bean, butter and caster sugar and melt over a low heat until homogeneous. Allow to cool, then whisk in the egg yolks. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. To pull the strudel dough, drape a clean tablecloth over a table and lightly dust it with our. Dust the dough with our and atten it as thin as possible with your fingertips, then pick it up and drape it over your arm. Bounce the dough gently to allow gravity to pull the ends downwards, thinning the dough. Briskly turn the dough 90 degrees and flip it onto your other arm. Bounce the dough again gently to allow it to stretch thinner. Repeat until the dough almost reaches the ground. This is when we can finish stretching the dough on the table. Lay the dough on the tablecloth and pull it gently, teasing it out from the edges as you move around the table. Avoid stretching the already thin centre any further, or it will be too thin to hold the filling and your strudel may burst when baked. Keep going until the strudel covers the whole tablecloth and is thin enough to see through. Brush the dough with the prepared butter. Allow it to air-dry long enough that it loses its ability to stretch, but not so long that it will be dry when worked. Transfer the ricotta mix down one side of the pastry, leaving a 2 cm (3/4 in) gap at each end. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the lilly pilly plum jam, and spoon the jam and the cherries over the ricotta, then sprinkle on the sliced almonds. Pick up the long edge of the tablecloth and loosely roll up the strudel. Don't roll it up too tightly, or all your thin layers may fuse into one thick layer, undoing all your hard work. Finish with the seam side down. Crimp the ends and transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper, snaking up and down if necessary. You may need to enlist a helper at this point to prevent the strudel from tearing. Brush the top with more butter. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool completely, then dust with icing sugar before cutting and serving. Makes 1 strudel / serves 12 Ingredients Eucalyptus ganache Face icing Substitutions Method Prepare four baking trays with silicone baking mats. You can bake in two rounds if you have only two trays. For the macarons, add 160g (approx. 5) of the egg whites, the icing sugar, almond meal and charcoal powder to a bowl and mix well with a spatula to form a paste. Set aside. Place 100g of water in a small saucepan with the caster sugar and brush the side of the pan with water until there are no grains of sugar above the water line. Heat over high heat until the syrup reaches 112°C on a cooking thermometer. Place the remaining egg whites in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip to soft peaks. Bring the syrup to 116 °C and pour into the whipped egg whites in a slow stream while mixing on high speed. Allow the mixer to run at high speed for another couple of minutes, then turn down to medium speed. Whip until the meringue has cooled enough to pipe, has thickened and become shiny. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Fold the meringue into the paste with a rubber spatula, then gently beat the mixture to loosen it until it is the correct consistency for piping; when you pipe, the mix should flow but not be too runny. Transfer the meringue to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle and start by piping a large circle for the koala's head and smaller circles on each side for the ears. Once you have piped the whole tray, pick up the tray and tap the bottom on your benchtop to remove any peaks in the meringue. Leave to sit for 30 minutes to allow the macarons to dry before baking. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray before releasing. For the eucalyptus ganache, bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the chocolate and butter to a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling cream over the top. Allow to sit for a minute, add the eucalyptus oil, then gently mix with a rubber spatula until homogeneous. Leave to cool before loading into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. For the face icing, add the icing sugar, charcoal powder and meringue powder to a coffee mug, then add 45g water. Mix with a teaspoon until the icing is stiff. Continue to add drops of water until you reach a consistency where the icing can be piped in rm lines. If the icing is too runny to pipe, add more icing sugar and mix again. You may need to add more charcoal powder to darken the colour, too. To assemble, arrange the macarons in pairs that match in size and shape. Pipe a ball of eucalyptus ganache on the bottom of a head, and one on each ear. Sandwich with another cookie and pipe on a face. Makes 24 macarons Ingredients Substitutions Method To make the cinnamon myrtle sugar, grind the cinnamon myrtle leaves to a powder in a spice grinder. Add to a bowl with the sugar and cinnamon and mix together well. In this beautiful book, master pastry chef Christopher Thé shares his recipes and tips for standout modern cakes, bread and pastries that are defined by the Australian landscape and its distinctive produce. Equipment: 20 x 10cm loaf (bar) tin Ingredients Banana bread Caramel miso buttercream To garnish Substitutions Method Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line the loaf tin. To make the banana bread, sift the self-raising our into a large bowl, add the sugar and spices and mix well. Add the egg, milk, half the melted butter, the banana and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined - the mix should not be completely smooth and still have lumps of banana visible. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Immediately brush the loaf with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon myrtle sugar. For the caramel miso buttercream, add the caster sugar to a saucepan with 60g water and brush the side of the pan with water until there are no sugar crystals above the water line. Bring to the boil over a high heat and allow to go to a light caramel colour. Turn off the heat and stand by with the cream while the caramel continues to cook to a deep brown colour. This should take about 10 minutes. Add the cream and whisk to combine. Add the miso paste and whisk until incorporated, then pour into a heatproof container and refrigerate until cool. Add the butter and half the icing sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light. Slowly pour in the miso caramel while whisking, then add the remaining icing sugar until the desired consistency is achieved. Transfer to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain 8mm nozzle. To serve, cut a slice of banana bread and lay it on a plate. Pipe on small dots of miso caramel buttercream, then sprinkle with dried red seaweed akes. Garnish with toasted macadamia nut pieces and nasturtiums, or whatever flowers are in season. Serves 6 Ingredients Madeleines Lemon myrtle tea Substitutions Method Preheat the oven to 210°C. For the madeleines, melt the butter gently in a saucepan until the sediment separates. Discard any foam that floats to the surface and decant the yellow butter, leaving any white liquid behind. You should be left with approximately 90g of clarified butter. Add this to the honey, mix well and allow to cool. Sift the our with the baking powder into a bowl. Whip the eggs with the sugar on high speed in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm (or when the mixture holds its shape for 10-20 seconds when the whisk is pulled out). Fold in the our and baking powder, salt and lemon myrtle, then the butter and honey. Transfer the mixture to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Brush the madeleine tray or moulds with extra melted butter and dust with our. Pipe in the mixture, filling the moulds three-quarters full. Bake for 5 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool slightly before unmoulding. While the madeleines are baking, make the lemon myrtle tea. Boil 125g water in a saucepan, sprinkle in the sugar and return to the boil. Add the lemon and cinnamon myrtle leaves and allow to cool, then add the lemon juice. Garnish the tea with the elderflowers before serving with the madeleines on the side. Makes 16 madeleines Ingredients Lilly pilly plum jam Ricotta filling Butter, for brushing Substitutions Method For the jam, add the sugar to the plums in a bowl, mix well and allow to macerate for about 30 minutes. Add 125g of water, transfer to a saucepan and cook until the fruit has dissolved and the temperature reads 106 °C, then remove from the heat. Add the lilly pillies, lemon juice and vanilla bean pod and seeds, mix well and allow to sit for about 15 minutes. This gives the fruit a chance to candy without the jam losing too much moisture. Return to medium heat and bring the temperature back up to 106 °C. Test the jam's setting point using a cold saucer. To make the ricotta filling, drain the ricotta of excess liquid, place in a bowl and beat in the flour. In a stand mixer tted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until opaque, then add the caster sugar and whip to soft peaks, about 6 minutes. Fold through the ricotta mixture and set aside. To make the butter for brushing, put the vanilla seeds in a small saucepan. Add the vanilla bean, butter and caster sugar and melt over a low heat until homogeneous. Allow to cool, then whisk in the egg yolks. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. To pull the strudel dough, drape a clean tablecloth over a table and lightly dust it with our. Dust the dough with our and atten it as thin as possible with your fingertips, then pick it up and drape it over your arm. Bounce the dough gently to allow gravity to pull the ends downwards, thinning the dough. Briskly turn the dough 90 degrees and flip it onto your other arm. Bounce the dough again gently to allow it to stretch thinner. Repeat until the dough almost reaches the ground. This is when we can finish stretching the dough on the table. Lay the dough on the tablecloth and pull it gently, teasing it out from the edges as you move around the table. Avoid stretching the already thin centre any further, or it will be too thin to hold the filling and your strudel may burst when baked. Keep going until the strudel covers the whole tablecloth and is thin enough to see through. Brush the dough with the prepared butter. Allow it to air-dry long enough that it loses its ability to stretch, but not so long that it will be dry when worked. Transfer the ricotta mix down one side of the pastry, leaving a 2 cm (3/4 in) gap at each end. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the lilly pilly plum jam, and spoon the jam and the cherries over the ricotta, then sprinkle on the sliced almonds. Pick up the long edge of the tablecloth and loosely roll up the strudel. Don't roll it up too tightly, or all your thin layers may fuse into one thick layer, undoing all your hard work. Finish with the seam side down. Crimp the ends and transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper, snaking up and down if necessary. You may need to enlist a helper at this point to prevent the strudel from tearing. Brush the top with more butter. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool completely, then dust with icing sugar before cutting and serving. Makes 1 strudel / serves 12 Ingredients Eucalyptus ganache Face icing Substitutions Method Prepare four baking trays with silicone baking mats. You can bake in two rounds if you have only two trays. For the macarons, add 160g (approx. 5) of the egg whites, the icing sugar, almond meal and charcoal powder to a bowl and mix well with a spatula to form a paste. Set aside. Place 100g of water in a small saucepan with the caster sugar and brush the side of the pan with water until there are no grains of sugar above the water line. Heat over high heat until the syrup reaches 112°C on a cooking thermometer. Place the remaining egg whites in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip to soft peaks. Bring the syrup to 116 °C and pour into the whipped egg whites in a slow stream while mixing on high speed. Allow the mixer to run at high speed for another couple of minutes, then turn down to medium speed. Whip until the meringue has cooled enough to pipe, has thickened and become shiny. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Fold the meringue into the paste with a rubber spatula, then gently beat the mixture to loosen it until it is the correct consistency for piping; when you pipe, the mix should flow but not be too runny. Transfer the meringue to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle and start by piping a large circle for the koala's head and smaller circles on each side for the ears. Once you have piped the whole tray, pick up the tray and tap the bottom on your benchtop to remove any peaks in the meringue. Leave to sit for 30 minutes to allow the macarons to dry before baking. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray before releasing. For the eucalyptus ganache, bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the chocolate and butter to a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling cream over the top. Allow to sit for a minute, add the eucalyptus oil, then gently mix with a rubber spatula until homogeneous. Leave to cool before loading into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. For the face icing, add the icing sugar, charcoal powder and meringue powder to a coffee mug, then add 45g water. Mix with a teaspoon until the icing is stiff. Continue to add drops of water until you reach a consistency where the icing can be piped in rm lines. If the icing is too runny to pipe, add more icing sugar and mix again. You may need to add more charcoal powder to darken the colour, too. To assemble, arrange the macarons in pairs that match in size and shape. Pipe a ball of eucalyptus ganache on the bottom of a head, and one on each ear. Sandwich with another cookie and pipe on a face. Makes 24 macarons Ingredients Substitutions Method To make the cinnamon myrtle sugar, grind the cinnamon myrtle leaves to a powder in a spice grinder. Add to a bowl with the sugar and cinnamon and mix together well. In this beautiful book, master pastry chef Christopher Thé shares his recipes and tips for standout modern cakes, bread and pastries that are defined by the Australian landscape and its distinctive produce. Equipment: 20 x 10cm loaf (bar) tin Ingredients Banana bread Caramel miso buttercream To garnish Substitutions Method Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line the loaf tin. To make the banana bread, sift the self-raising our into a large bowl, add the sugar and spices and mix well. Add the egg, milk, half the melted butter, the banana and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined - the mix should not be completely smooth and still have lumps of banana visible. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Immediately brush the loaf with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon myrtle sugar. For the caramel miso buttercream, add the caster sugar to a saucepan with 60g water and brush the side of the pan with water until there are no sugar crystals above the water line. Bring to the boil over a high heat and allow to go to a light caramel colour. Turn off the heat and stand by with the cream while the caramel continues to cook to a deep brown colour. This should take about 10 minutes. Add the cream and whisk to combine. Add the miso paste and whisk until incorporated, then pour into a heatproof container and refrigerate until cool. Add the butter and half the icing sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light. Slowly pour in the miso caramel while whisking, then add the remaining icing sugar until the desired consistency is achieved. Transfer to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain 8mm nozzle. To serve, cut a slice of banana bread and lay it on a plate. Pipe on small dots of miso caramel buttercream, then sprinkle with dried red seaweed akes. Garnish with toasted macadamia nut pieces and nasturtiums, or whatever flowers are in season. Serves 6 Ingredients Madeleines Lemon myrtle tea Substitutions Method Preheat the oven to 210°C. For the madeleines, melt the butter gently in a saucepan until the sediment separates. Discard any foam that floats to the surface and decant the yellow butter, leaving any white liquid behind. You should be left with approximately 90g of clarified butter. Add this to the honey, mix well and allow to cool. Sift the our with the baking powder into a bowl. Whip the eggs with the sugar on high speed in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm (or when the mixture holds its shape for 10-20 seconds when the whisk is pulled out). Fold in the our and baking powder, salt and lemon myrtle, then the butter and honey. Transfer the mixture to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Brush the madeleine tray or moulds with extra melted butter and dust with our. Pipe in the mixture, filling the moulds three-quarters full. Bake for 5 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool slightly before unmoulding. While the madeleines are baking, make the lemon myrtle tea. Boil 125g water in a saucepan, sprinkle in the sugar and return to the boil. Add the lemon and cinnamon myrtle leaves and allow to cool, then add the lemon juice. Garnish the tea with the elderflowers before serving with the madeleines on the side. Makes 16 madeleines Ingredients Lilly pilly plum jam Ricotta filling Butter, for brushing Substitutions Method For the jam, add the sugar to the plums in a bowl, mix well and allow to macerate for about 30 minutes. Add 125g of water, transfer to a saucepan and cook until the fruit has dissolved and the temperature reads 106 °C, then remove from the heat. Add the lilly pillies, lemon juice and vanilla bean pod and seeds, mix well and allow to sit for about 15 minutes. This gives the fruit a chance to candy without the jam losing too much moisture. Return to medium heat and bring the temperature back up to 106 °C. Test the jam's setting point using a cold saucer. To make the ricotta filling, drain the ricotta of excess liquid, place in a bowl and beat in the flour. In a stand mixer tted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until opaque, then add the caster sugar and whip to soft peaks, about 6 minutes. Fold through the ricotta mixture and set aside. To make the butter for brushing, put the vanilla seeds in a small saucepan. Add the vanilla bean, butter and caster sugar and melt over a low heat until homogeneous. Allow to cool, then whisk in the egg yolks. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. To pull the strudel dough, drape a clean tablecloth over a table and lightly dust it with our. Dust the dough with our and atten it as thin as possible with your fingertips, then pick it up and drape it over your arm. Bounce the dough gently to allow gravity to pull the ends downwards, thinning the dough. Briskly turn the dough 90 degrees and flip it onto your other arm. Bounce the dough again gently to allow it to stretch thinner. Repeat until the dough almost reaches the ground. This is when we can finish stretching the dough on the table. Lay the dough on the tablecloth and pull it gently, teasing it out from the edges as you move around the table. Avoid stretching the already thin centre any further, or it will be too thin to hold the filling and your strudel may burst when baked. Keep going until the strudel covers the whole tablecloth and is thin enough to see through. Brush the dough with the prepared butter. Allow it to air-dry long enough that it loses its ability to stretch, but not so long that it will be dry when worked. Transfer the ricotta mix down one side of the pastry, leaving a 2 cm (3/4 in) gap at each end. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the lilly pilly plum jam, and spoon the jam and the cherries over the ricotta, then sprinkle on the sliced almonds. Pick up the long edge of the tablecloth and loosely roll up the strudel. Don't roll it up too tightly, or all your thin layers may fuse into one thick layer, undoing all your hard work. Finish with the seam side down. Crimp the ends and transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper, snaking up and down if necessary. You may need to enlist a helper at this point to prevent the strudel from tearing. Brush the top with more butter. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool completely, then dust with icing sugar before cutting and serving. Makes 1 strudel / serves 12 Ingredients Eucalyptus ganache Face icing Substitutions Method Prepare four baking trays with silicone baking mats. You can bake in two rounds if you have only two trays. For the macarons, add 160g (approx. 5) of the egg whites, the icing sugar, almond meal and charcoal powder to a bowl and mix well with a spatula to form a paste. Set aside. Place 100g of water in a small saucepan with the caster sugar and brush the side of the pan with water until there are no grains of sugar above the water line. Heat over high heat until the syrup reaches 112°C on a cooking thermometer. Place the remaining egg whites in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip to soft peaks. Bring the syrup to 116 °C and pour into the whipped egg whites in a slow stream while mixing on high speed. Allow the mixer to run at high speed for another couple of minutes, then turn down to medium speed. Whip until the meringue has cooled enough to pipe, has thickened and become shiny. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Fold the meringue into the paste with a rubber spatula, then gently beat the mixture to loosen it until it is the correct consistency for piping; when you pipe, the mix should flow but not be too runny. Transfer the meringue to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle and start by piping a large circle for the koala's head and smaller circles on each side for the ears. Once you have piped the whole tray, pick up the tray and tap the bottom on your benchtop to remove any peaks in the meringue. Leave to sit for 30 minutes to allow the macarons to dry before baking. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray before releasing. For the eucalyptus ganache, bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the chocolate and butter to a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling cream over the top. Allow to sit for a minute, add the eucalyptus oil, then gently mix with a rubber spatula until homogeneous. Leave to cool before loading into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. For the face icing, add the icing sugar, charcoal powder and meringue powder to a coffee mug, then add 45g water. Mix with a teaspoon until the icing is stiff. Continue to add drops of water until you reach a consistency where the icing can be piped in rm lines. If the icing is too runny to pipe, add more icing sugar and mix again. You may need to add more charcoal powder to darken the colour, too. To assemble, arrange the macarons in pairs that match in size and shape. Pipe a ball of eucalyptus ganache on the bottom of a head, and one on each ear. Sandwich with another cookie and pipe on a face. Makes 24 macarons Ingredients Substitutions Method To make the cinnamon myrtle sugar, grind the cinnamon myrtle leaves to a powder in a spice grinder. Add to a bowl with the sugar and cinnamon and mix together well. In this beautiful book, master pastry chef Christopher Thé shares his recipes and tips for standout modern cakes, bread and pastries that are defined by the Australian landscape and its distinctive produce. Equipment: 20 x 10cm loaf (bar) tin Ingredients Banana bread Caramel miso buttercream To garnish Substitutions Method Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line the loaf tin. To make the banana bread, sift the self-raising our into a large bowl, add the sugar and spices and mix well. Add the egg, milk, half the melted butter, the banana and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined - the mix should not be completely smooth and still have lumps of banana visible. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Immediately brush the loaf with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon myrtle sugar. For the caramel miso buttercream, add the caster sugar to a saucepan with 60g water and brush the side of the pan with water until there are no sugar crystals above the water line. Bring to the boil over a high heat and allow to go to a light caramel colour. Turn off the heat and stand by with the cream while the caramel continues to cook to a deep brown colour. This should take about 10 minutes. Add the cream and whisk to combine. Add the miso paste and whisk until incorporated, then pour into a heatproof container and refrigerate until cool. Add the butter and half the icing sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light. Slowly pour in the miso caramel while whisking, then add the remaining icing sugar until the desired consistency is achieved. Transfer to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain 8mm nozzle. To serve, cut a slice of banana bread and lay it on a plate. Pipe on small dots of miso caramel buttercream, then sprinkle with dried red seaweed akes. Garnish with toasted macadamia nut pieces and nasturtiums, or whatever flowers are in season. Serves 6 Ingredients Madeleines Lemon myrtle tea Substitutions Method Preheat the oven to 210°C. For the madeleines, melt the butter gently in a saucepan until the sediment separates. Discard any foam that floats to the surface and decant the yellow butter, leaving any white liquid behind. You should be left with approximately 90g of clarified butter. Add this to the honey, mix well and allow to cool. Sift the our with the baking powder into a bowl. Whip the eggs with the sugar on high speed in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm (or when the mixture holds its shape for 10-20 seconds when the whisk is pulled out). Fold in the our and baking powder, salt and lemon myrtle, then the butter and honey. Transfer the mixture to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Brush the madeleine tray or moulds with extra melted butter and dust with our. Pipe in the mixture, filling the moulds three-quarters full. Bake for 5 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool slightly before unmoulding. While the madeleines are baking, make the lemon myrtle tea. Boil 125g water in a saucepan, sprinkle in the sugar and return to the boil. Add the lemon and cinnamon myrtle leaves and allow to cool, then add the lemon juice. Garnish the tea with the elderflowers before serving with the madeleines on the side. Makes 16 madeleines Ingredients Lilly pilly plum jam Ricotta filling Butter, for brushing Substitutions Method For the jam, add the sugar to the plums in a bowl, mix well and allow to macerate for about 30 minutes. Add 125g of water, transfer to a saucepan and cook until the fruit has dissolved and the temperature reads 106 °C, then remove from the heat. Add the lilly pillies, lemon juice and vanilla bean pod and seeds, mix well and allow to sit for about 15 minutes. This gives the fruit a chance to candy without the jam losing too much moisture. Return to medium heat and bring the temperature back up to 106 °C. Test the jam's setting point using a cold saucer. To make the ricotta filling, drain the ricotta of excess liquid, place in a bowl and beat in the flour. In a stand mixer tted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until opaque, then add the caster sugar and whip to soft peaks, about 6 minutes. Fold through the ricotta mixture and set aside. To make the butter for brushing, put the vanilla seeds in a small saucepan. Add the vanilla bean, butter and caster sugar and melt over a low heat until homogeneous. Allow to cool, then whisk in the egg yolks. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. To pull the strudel dough, drape a clean tablecloth over a table and lightly dust it with our. Dust the dough with our and atten it as thin as possible with your fingertips, then pick it up and drape it over your arm. Bounce the dough gently to allow gravity to pull the ends downwards, thinning the dough. Briskly turn the dough 90 degrees and flip it onto your other arm. Bounce the dough again gently to allow it to stretch thinner. Repeat until the dough almost reaches the ground. This is when we can finish stretching the dough on the table. Lay the dough on the tablecloth and pull it gently, teasing it out from the edges as you move around the table. Avoid stretching the already thin centre any further, or it will be too thin to hold the filling and your strudel may burst when baked. Keep going until the strudel covers the whole tablecloth and is thin enough to see through. Brush the dough with the prepared butter. Allow it to air-dry long enough that it loses its ability to stretch, but not so long that it will be dry when worked. Transfer the ricotta mix down one side of the pastry, leaving a 2 cm (3/4 in) gap at each end. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the lilly pilly plum jam, and spoon the jam and the cherries over the ricotta, then sprinkle on the sliced almonds. Pick up the long edge of the tablecloth and loosely roll up the strudel. Don't roll it up too tightly, or all your thin layers may fuse into one thick layer, undoing all your hard work. Finish with the seam side down. Crimp the ends and transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper, snaking up and down if necessary. You may need to enlist a helper at this point to prevent the strudel from tearing. Brush the top with more butter. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool completely, then dust with icing sugar before cutting and serving. Makes 1 strudel / serves 12 Ingredients Eucalyptus ganache Face icing Substitutions Method Prepare four baking trays with silicone baking mats. You can bake in two rounds if you have only two trays. For the macarons, add 160g (approx. 5) of the egg whites, the icing sugar, almond meal and charcoal powder to a bowl and mix well with a spatula to form a paste. Set aside. Place 100g of water in a small saucepan with the caster sugar and brush the side of the pan with water until there are no grains of sugar above the water line. Heat over high heat until the syrup reaches 112°C on a cooking thermometer. Place the remaining egg whites in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip to soft peaks. Bring the syrup to 116 °C and pour into the whipped egg whites in a slow stream while mixing on high speed. Allow the mixer to run at high speed for another couple of minutes, then turn down to medium speed. Whip until the meringue has cooled enough to pipe, has thickened and become shiny. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Fold the meringue into the paste with a rubber spatula, then gently beat the mixture to loosen it until it is the correct consistency for piping; when you pipe, the mix should flow but not be too runny. Transfer the meringue to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle and start by piping a large circle for the koala's head and smaller circles on each side for the ears. Once you have piped the whole tray, pick up the tray and tap the bottom on your benchtop to remove any peaks in the meringue. Leave to sit for 30 minutes to allow the macarons to dry before baking. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray before releasing. For the eucalyptus ganache, bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the chocolate and butter to a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling cream over the top. Allow to sit for a minute, add the eucalyptus oil, then gently mix with a rubber spatula until homogeneous. Leave to cool before loading into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. For the face icing, add the icing sugar, charcoal powder and meringue powder to a coffee mug, then add 45g water. Mix with a teaspoon until the icing is stiff. Continue to add drops of water until you reach a consistency where the icing can be piped in rm lines. If the icing is too runny to pipe, add more icing sugar and mix again. You may need to add more charcoal powder to darken the colour, too. To assemble, arrange the macarons in pairs that match in size and shape. Pipe a ball of eucalyptus ganache on the bottom of a head, and one on each ear. Sandwich with another cookie and pipe on a face. Makes 24 macarons Ingredients Substitutions Method To make the cinnamon myrtle sugar, grind the cinnamon myrtle leaves to a powder in a spice grinder. Add to a bowl with the sugar and cinnamon and mix together well.
West Australian
2 days ago
- West Australian
Emma Garlett: With its roots in mourning, NAIDOC Week is now a celebration
Today, NAIDOC Week is one of the most significant events on the Australian calendar. Around the country, we gather to celebrate the strength, courage, leadership and resilience of First Nations people throughout our history. We honour our elders and champion our youth. We hold walks and art exhibitions, family days and award ceremonies. There are festivals and sporting events and school assemblies. NAIDOC Week has its roots in an act of protest by Indigenous activists in Sydney, who held what they called the Day of Mourning back on January 26, 1938. From those beginnings, NAIDOC Week has grown into a week-long festival to not only mourn what we have lost but to commemorate our achievements and culture. Here in Perth, we'll hold the NAIDOC National Awards, celebrating the best of Blak excellence. It is what it is today in our State because of the hard work of our elders, including Glenda Kickett. Dr Kickett has spent the past 18 years on the NAIDOC Perth Committee, 17 of which she has been its chairwoman. She's seen the event grow from humble beginnings. 'When we started there wasn't any NAIDOC Week. We had our first ceremony in Forrest Place with a tiny tent. over the 18 years I have seen it grow so much,' she said. '(Today) there are so many events across Perth and WA. It is not just Aboriginal people it is non-Indigenous people getting involved.' This year's NAIDOC theme is The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy. Dr Kickett said it was essential that we have a pipeline of talent; young leaders who can celebrate the work that has been done already and build upon it. Leadership programs such as Miss NAIDOC and Mr NAIDOC helped to bring some of those young people to the fore, giving them the platform they need to strive for progress into the future. NAIDOC Week 2025 begins this Sunday and runs for eight days. And as important as it is, and as entrenched as it has become on the Australian calendar, Dr Kickett says NAIDOC Week isn't the be all and end all. 'We should be celebrating all the time, not just on NAIDOC week,' she said. As NAIDOC Week continues to grow, it is a powerful reminder of how far we have come, as First Nations peoples and as an inclusive Australian country. It is an opportunity to uplift the next generation of leaders and to bring the entire community together to learn, yarn and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and achievement. Emma Garlett is a legal academic and Nylyaparli-Yamatji-Nyungar woman
