Destination: Australia. Assignment: What is Aussie cuisine? If you guessed boiled mutton, overcooked beef and all those bad-British-food cliches, you’re wrong, mate. Things have changed on the world’s smallest continent.
Just ask Ian Parmenter, TV food presenter and cookbook author. A Brit whose passion for good food included developing his cooking skills in the chemistry lab at boarding school, Parmenter fled to Australia in the early ’70s, a period not known for its sophisticated food culture.
“My first hotel breakfast was lamb chops, fried eggs, bacon, beet root and cold lumpy gravy washed down with weak black instant coffee with a slice of orange in it,” he moaned.
To prove just how far Aussie food has come in the last 30 or so years, Parmenter spearheaded a weeklong bash for the international food media recently in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Dubbed “Tasting Australia,” the festival gave guests the chance to explore the cuisine and its genesis.
So what is it?
– “Mediterrasian,” Parmenter declared. This fusion of classical European and Asian techniques and ingredients mostly grown in Australia is credited to Cheong Liew, one of Australia’s most influential chefs who hails from Malaysia.
– “An amalgam of whole bunches of other cuisines–constantly evolving, multicultural, a potpourri,” said Paul Ransom, a magazine editor in Adelaide.
– “Barbecues, salads, seafood,” said a Sydney cabdriver from Malta who also insisted on sharing his favorite recipe for mustard prawns.
– “There’s an urgency, a forthrightness, about our cuisine. We are still in our infancy, streamlining and discarding the unnecessary, the ostentation,” said David Thompson, chef of Darley Street Thai (considered by many the best Thai restaurant in Australia) and the less formal Sailor’s Thai, both in Sydney.
But an Australian food pioneer was more blunt. “We don’t call it Australian cuisine at all. It’s just the food we eat,” said Margaret Fulton, herself greatly responsible for the education of the Aussie palate as an influential magazine food editor.
No consensus, really. But it’s fair to say that all of this perplexity is grounded in the checkered past of Australian food. For instance, Cherry Ripe, a columnist for The Australian newspaper, joined Parmenter in ruing those days when beef Wellington, fondue and oysters casino with bacon were the thing. Most restaurants had French names, and formal silver service prevailed, while anonymous chefs toiled away behind closed doors. Meat was big, she said, and definitely well-done; fruits and veggies were virtually ignored.
In sharing a retrospective on Australian food she developed, Sydney caterer Norma Willis confessed that in the ’50s, if you wanted olive oil, you had to get it at the drugstore.
In this relatively new country, immigrants had considerable effect on the cuisine. After the 1850s, when Chinese arrived to work in the gold mines, every Australian town had a Chinese restaurant. But, as in the U.S., the dishes Chinese immigrants cooked were what they thought the customer wanted. Remember egg foo yong?
Breweries began to flourish about the same time, and the institution of the free pub lunch meant any man with the price of a drink could eat as well. So what if the food wasn’t so great?
It wasn’t until the 1950s that the turning point came in Australian fare. Italians, Greeks and Lebanese moved in and opened restaurants. Postwar affluence allowed the young to take off for Europe and sample “continental cuisine.” After that, overdone mutton and overboiled potatoes just didn’t cut it.
Nouvelle cuisine didn’t hit Australia until the early ’80s, according to Ripe, who described it as “little bits of nothing on big white plates.” Next came California cuisine–grilled veggies, designer pizza. And then the biggest wave of all: the flavors of Asia. It started with “real” Chinese food, then Thai. Hard on their heels were Indonesian, Mongolian, Burmese, Japanese and Vietnamese.
Australians finally have come of age in food, said caterer Willis.
“We are multicultural,” Willis said. “We’ve taken from the best cuisines of the world and turned it into our own.”
A visit to Adelaide’s Central Market supports Willis’ theory. This bustling space, filled with smells and textures and colors that overwhelm and dazzle, represents the food of nearly 50 countries. It was there our group of tourists first experienced laksa, a fantastic Malaysian soup pungent with chilies, shrimp paste, lemon grass, galangal, turmeric and coconut milk.
Some other foods and occasions stand out in two weeks of touring:
– Dining at Cheong Liew’s The Grange, in the Adelaide Hilton. The first course, titled “The Four Dances of the Sea,” was described as soused snook, octopus aioli, spiced prawn sushi, raw cuttlefish and black noodles. It was stunning in presentation and fabulous in taste. And the dessert–palm sugar and black rice pudding with caramelized pear and dulce de leche (caramelized milk)–was dynamite.
– Experiencing native bush food and indigenous ingredients at Andrew Fielke’s Red Ochre Grill in Adelaide. Yes, Virginia, they really do eat kangaroo in Australia. And emu, crocodile and wattle seeds.
– Indulging in wine tastings in McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley (South Australia produces 50 percent of the country’s wines) where Melbourne newspaperman Bob Hart led visitors to the best vintages and varietals.
– Losing all control at the chef’s table in the kitchen of the sensational Hayman Resort in Queensland, where chef Dieter Grun served a magnificent dinner for 20 guests.
And then there’s Sydney–wonderful, brash, beautiful Sydney–where foodie highlights included:
– The Pier, a scenic spot that makes an appetizer called sashimi millefeuille with wasabi cream and pickled ginger. Thick succulent slices of raw salmon, tuna and a firm white fish layered with crisp won ton skins, dolloped with cream which was wasabi-ed enough to bring tears.
– Darley Street Thai–David Thompson is an Aussie who has immersed himself in everything Thai. Whether one eats here or at the new, less formal Sailor’s Thai, his food is authentic, complex and stunning.
BEET AND GINGER RELISH
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Chilling time: Overnight
Yield: 6 servings
This simple dish is a tasty accompaniment to grilled meats, poultry or fish. It also stands nicely on its own. From Alan Lennon, the 1918 Bistro & Grill in Tanunda, South Australia.
3 fresh beets, cooked, sliced
1 piece (2 inches) fresh ginger root, peeled, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt, ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients and chill at least 12 hours. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories …… 100 Fat ………… 9 g Cholesterol .. 0 mg
Sodium …… 20 mg Carbohydrates .. 5 g Protein ……. 1 g
GRILLED PRAWN SALAD
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 2-4 minutes
Chilling time: Overnight
Yield: 4 servings
Although this recipe has several steps, the vinaigrette and onions are prepared in advance so there’s little last-minute bother. From chef Dieter Grun of Hayman Resorts, Queensland, Australia.
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 cup balsamic vinegar
4 ounces macadamia nuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup each: olive oil, peanut or canola oil
Salt, ground black pepper
12 jumbo shrimp, shelled, deveined
1/2 pound baby salad greens
1 large ripe mango, cubed
1/2 red bell pepper, cut in thin strips
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds, optional, see note
1. Combine onion and balsamic vinegar in shallow glass bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 12 hours. For vinaigrette combine nuts with rice wine vinegar and mustard. Gradually whisk in oils; season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. Marinate shrimp in 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette at room temperature for about 1 hour. Butterfly (cut almost in half). Grill or broil 1 to 2 minutes on each side, just until pink. Don’t overcook. Arrange salad greens on four large plates. Top with drained balsamic onions, mango, shrimp and red pepper strips. Drizzle with remaining vinaigrette. Garnish with black sesame seeds if desired.
Note: Black sesame seeds are available in Asian markets.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ……. 555 Fat ………… 44 g Cholesterol .. 220 mg
Sodium …… 345 mg Carbohydrates .. 16 g Protein …….. 28 g
