Tomorrow

I'm performing tomorrow.
Cooking for the local seafood festival on a stage.
I get to introduce people to the wonders of agar-agar.
I wonder how everyone would feel if they knew i was veganish?

Fine Dining for Vegans

I spend a lot of my time reading and thinking about food. Like every long-term chef I also have a pretty good idea about what I do and do not like on a plate.
Since eliminating animal products from my diet I have been researching vegan fine dining pretty much constantly, and i've come to a few conclusions.
#1) There is no reason that vegan dishes should be of less quality than equivalent omni dishes.
#2) Unless you are a health resort or a specifically healthy eating establishment we need toThe  ditch the flavorless low salt, low GI, not fat crap.(Gluten free i'm all for however,  allergies should be taken seriously)
#3) We need to stop veganising omnivorous dishes, the vegan versions are poor imitations, and don't really convince anyone. Vegetables have their own beautiful language and should be allowed to speak for themselves.
#4) There are a whole bunch of new ingredients and techniques that are only just now being explored, things like sous-vide, vacuum evaporation and various vegetable gums are opening a whole new range of textures and flavors not previously attainable. These areas have some massive possibilities for vegan food.
#5) The tide is turning, plant based cuising is becoming more and more acceptable.

The #1 restaurant in the world for the last 2 years is a restaurant called Noma in Copenhagen and, while being a far cry from even vegetarian, is very plant centered. They choose to showcase their local plant life and animal parts tend to only play a secondary roll. ( http://www.noma.dk/ )

I can seriously foresee a time in our gustatory future when some of the top restaurants in the world are vegan.

Honestly, I can't wait.

Back to Aus

Well........ A lot has gone on since last post.
- Our first baby was born in a beautiful homebirth.
- I got usurped as head chef of the steakhouse (my bosses belated response to a payrise request)
- We moved back to Australia (to be closer to family)
- I spent quite awhile looking for work, or at least it felt like it, looking for work in our country town and now the Head Chef of an as yet to be opened Modern Australian restaurant with a strong SEAFOOD focus.
I mean really, it feel like I just keep stepping away from vegetables. I can work some into the menu, but their place is always going to be limited.

As an aside however, I am going to be the long term caretaker for Modernist Cuisine, a spectacular compendium of everything to do with food and cooking techniques.

Starr Anise

To me star anise is the Ringo Starr of the spice world, it’s distinctive flavor is much better suited to a supporting role amidst other strong spices and flavors than being center stage (I’m sorry Ringo if you ever read this, you were a fantastic drummer, but in lead vocals I really think you are an acquired taste).


The powerful taste of star anise is due largely to the compound Anethone, a chemical also found in european anise (no botanical relative), tarragon, and liquorice. Anethone has a sweet flavor (of its own accord) and a strong scent. Believe it or not (no really, you should take this one on faith) the shiny seeds actually have far less flavor than the shell (or fruit) surrounding, which I found out much to my disgust when I decided to test this information (p.s. eating parsley helps to remove the flavor which was un-dissapated by anything else I tried).

At work (yes that same freaking steakhouse) I use star anise in combination with other herbs and spices to bring out Umami flavors in dishes (mostly meat based) that also have a high fat content, this is because (especially when combined with onions) the subtle application of anise has the effect of heightening this savory flavor. When used in Vegan cookery the effect can be the same, used with mushrooms, star anise emphasizes their mushroom-iness, and my favorite method of use is to combine white beans (for fat and body) kombu (for umami), and star anise. Any Vegan dish that has a high fat content and strong protein presence can benefit from a small amount of star anise.

I could go into the applications of star anise in sweet cooking but I really cannot stand the taste of liquorice.

If designing a new dish using star anise you should keep in mind its traditional accompaniments, in India it is used in conjunction with cardamom, cloves, pepper and cinnamon to make chai (combine with sugar and oat milk and simmer for 20-30 minutes, then steep black tea leaf, try it, it’s good.) or in China with the addition of szechuan pepper (prickly ash).


But seriously, do NOT chew the spice raw, it will be a mistake you will regret for most of the day.

Photo Credit: Nikki Griffin