Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2022 i Gourmet Traveller

July luggage You’ll always stand out from the crowd – and baggage carousel – with July’s vibrant new magenta colour range, which includes free personalisation on every case. july.com/au Maison Balzac Elise Pioch Balzac has been bringing a touch of French flair to Australian tables for 10 years now and her new collection, Les Fruits de Mer, is her most playful yet. We especially love the new pom pom candle holders. maisonbalzac.com Jaraman half-bottles Good things come in small packages and as demand for quality wines in small formats grows, Taylors Wines has released its Jaraman collection in demi-bottles. Small but mighty. taylorswines.com.au The Tasman, Hobart There’s a lot to love about Hobart’s grandest new hotel, The Tasman, but guests staying in the St David’s Park Suite have one extra-special…

Lake House, Daylesford You know a dish is good when you order it again a day later - and so does your dining companion. A thick layer of sweet spanner crab sits atop chewy koshihikari rice in a rich umami-spiked sauce on the Lake House’s autumn menu. Joanna Hunkin, editor Shangri-La Yanuca Island, Fiji Yes it’s good for kids - but you know a resort hits the “luxe family vacay” mark when parents get an hour or two each day free of all parental responsibilty. I took mine at golden hour, along with a herbaceous gin cocktail known as a Basil Smash. Thanks kids club! Anna McCooe, acting deputy editor Ori’s Bar, Bondi Da Orazio’s bar offshoot is peddling this golden disc that sandwiches layers of mortadella with cacio e…

How did you get into cooking? My grandmother and mum both love cooking and that’s why I got into it. I realised food brings people together and nourishes. I then studied the culinary arts and fell in love. I went to work at Pujol in Mexico City and stage at Noma. What are you trying to do at No 92? It was a wine bar doing European food, but little by little, we’ve started doing more Mexican food to reflect my experiences. Tell me about your tortillas. We press our tortillas to order. In Mexico, tortillas are one of the most important ingredients. My family would never eat a tortilla that’s a day old – it’s something Australians don’t understand. Cooked fresh – it’s much softer and lighter, like a…

Oranges are a natural hybrid between two wild citrus species, the mandarin and the pomelo. No doubt you are familiar with the mandarin. But you might not know the pomelo, which bears fruits almost the size of a soccer ball, with very thick pith, and a mild bitter flavour. The orange probably first appeared in the region bordering southwestern China, northeastern India and Myanmar, where the ranges of the pomelo and mandarin overlap. The word “orange”, famous for not having a rhyming partner, comes to us from Sanskrit nãrangah, via Persian nãrang, Arabic nãranj, Spanish naranja, Italian arancia, and finally French and English orange. The word “orange”, to describe a colour, was not used in English until the 16th century. The term “orange” actually applies to two rather different fruits:…

Spice is every sommelier and winemaker’s nightmare; in basic wine-tasting principles, you want wine to pair cohesively with all fruit, acid and alcohol elements integrated with the dish. But what’s the one thing spice does? It exacerbates all those elements in the wine. However, there’s a hidden power in pinot gris’ neutrality and subtle citrus notes; and its versatility across aromatic spices – from garam masala and coriander root to Sichuan pepper. And there’s no more excellent example of the food pairing potential of this variety than Australia’s spiritual home of pinot gris/grigio, Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Mike Aylward, winemaker and owner of Ocean Eight, explains the secret to pinot gris’ pairing with spices: “The wine sits almost behind the palate, the weight handles chilli and spices and the acidity cleans…

Rittenhouse 100 Proof Straight Rye At 50 per cent ABV, it’s an unapologetically punchy expression, but the boldness is pleasantly balanced by notes of cocoa and orange peel. $90 for 700ml nicks.com.au Michter’s US1 Single Barrel Straight Rye The entry-level rye whiskey in the heavily awarded Michter’s stable is a standout. Velvety, elegantly spiced and ideal for cocktails. $115 for 700ml carwyncellars.com.au The Gospel Straight Rye Made in Melbourne using single-sourced rye grains, The Gospel offers a woody, complex and distinctly Australian take on the style. $91 for 700ml thegospelwhiskey.com…

Harissa is a traditional staple of North African cuisine, and like many other cultures, recipes and ingredients vary between regions and households. This harissa is hot, but not as fiery as many because we use long red chillies; to decrease the heat even more, seed some or all of the chillies as this is where most of the heat is found. We have marinated a lamb leg and roasted it in this recipe but it goes equally well with chicken, seafood and vegetables. Green harissa, made from green chillies and coriander, is ideal for barbecued meats, especially chicken. Rose harissa, made from tomatoes, red chillies and smoked paprika, as well as dried rose petals and rosewater, works well with seafood. The fragrant rose balances the heat of the chillies. Step…

It’s been two years since Paul Farag and his team first discovered the Aalia site, located below Harry Seidler’s MLC Centre, now refreshed as 25 Martin Place. Incorporating the skills learnt at Monopole and Fish Butchery, Farag has set out to rethink the idea of Middle Eastern cuisine. “I wanted to create a venue that championed and pioneered a respect for a culture and cuisine that’s been around for such a long time,” says Farag. It was his head chef posting at Surry Hills’ Nour that was a springboard for Farag to explore his Egyptian roots, before delving deeper at Aalia. The menu is made up of elegant dishes with a sharp focus on seafood. “When people think of the Middle East, they think of dry, desert land. Not many…

Africa is a continent made up of 54 sovereign states. Straddling the equator, it encompasses a great number of climates: equatorial in the centre and near coastal areas; wet tropical on the fringes of the equatorial region; tropical temperate with a dry climate and dry winter in a large part of southern Africa; semi-arid and arid in the north with high temperatures and very low rainfall; temperate near the Mediterranean with hot and dry summers and cool and wet winters. This diversity in climates is an initial indicator of the diversity of produce, and consequently cuisines found in Africa. While we often talk about African cuisine, it would be more insightful to refer to the “cuisines of Africa”. Even though the basics are often similar, there are actually as many…

The name Sean Brock is synonymous with the food of America’s south. Raised in rural Virginia, Brock made his name in Charleston where he spent more than a decade exploring lowcountry cooking via renowned restaurants McCrady’s and Husk. Now based in Nashville, Tennessee, the James Beard-winning chef and cookbook author continues to contribute to the southern cuisine discussion via his venues Audrey, June, The Continental and Joyland. When he’s off-duty, this is where Brock likes to go. WELCOME TO NASHVILLE The food scene in Nashville is progressing at an extraordinary rate. One of the things I love most about the local culinary landscape is how diverse it is. When visiting you can experience everything from a meat and three (a Tennessean restaurant with daily choices of meat and a variety…

There are few things more inviting than the aroma of gently toasted spices on a cold winter’s night. Or, as was the case when we shot the cover for this issue, an Arctic autumnal afternoon. The scent alone is enough to start warming you, even before you sit down and tuck into their subtle, complex flavours. It’s easy to see why spices have been so coveted throughout history, acting as a form of currency across centuries and civilisations. As Max Anderson discovered when he visited Indonesia’s Maluku Islands, spice was once so valuable to the Dutch, they traded Manhattan – then known as New Amsterdam – for the islands, which were the sole source of nutmeg at the time. In this issue, we explore a world of spice, flavour and…

SYDNEY While chef Somer Sivrioğlu may have become a household name in his birth land of Turkey thanks to his role judging Masterchef, he’s back in Australia, opening Maydanoz down the Wynyard end of the CBD. Focusing on vegetables – but not wholly vegetarian – the 100-seat restaurant plucks inspiration from the Aegean Turkish coastline. Meze-style bites favour bright herbs, spices and grains and legumes, be it carrot hummus with turmeric and dukkah; dolmas with sun-dried eggplant, rice, chickpea, tomato and mint; and cavolo nero and leek pie with zucchini and haloumi. Wine-wise, mineral-driven drops taken from amphora vessels and organic vineyards will lead the wine list, which can be enjoyed alongside complimentary dips and flatbread during Maydanoz’s weekday happy hour. The CBD scores another win with the arrival of…

I was first inspired by Chris Manfield’s dynamic energy and intensity 25 years ago when I met her while working for Neil Perry. With each exchange I always learn something new from her, she is one of this country’s greatest cookbook authors and a natural, generous teacher. I have keenly followed her rich, broad and colourful career path, holding her in the highest regard, as I do Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander. I love the way Chris’s career has kept evolving well after hanging up her restaurateur hat. Most of all, I admire the way she takes everyone along on her wonderful journey. “You can’t help where you’re born but you can choose where you live,” says Christine Manfield, speaking from her home in northern New South Wales, where she…

2021 Quealy Mornington Peninsula Pinot Grigio, $28 The queen of aromatic whites in the Mornington is a delightful take on classic pinot grigio. Crunchy pear meets ripe yellow peach with a lovely saline minerality. It’s slurpable, gluggable and a benchmark for textural whites in this country. quealy.com.au 2019 Kerri Greens Clementine Vendange Tardive VT Gewürztraminer Pinot Gris, $40 A little left of centre but perfect for a spicy stew. A blend of gewürztraminer and pinot gris grapes was left on the vine for an extended time to let botrytis ripen to an extreme. The result? Nectar of the gods with ginger blossom and lychee notes. kerrigreens.com 2021 Ocean Eight Pinot Gris, $40 This wine displays refreshing citrus flavours of mandarin, cumquat and Granny Smith apples. The Ocean Eight style shines…

Serrano. Guajillo. Manzano. For every palate, a chilli: from the mild crunch of a banana pepper to the peppery kick of the cayenne, from the sweetness of friggitelli to the prickling heat of the birdseye. Across almost every country and culture, chilli proliferates – by some estimates, there are more than 50,000 Capsicum cultivars grown worldwide. It inspires devotion, obsession and for some, a never-ending quest for an ever-hotter fix. But where did it all begin? In what’s now known as Bolivia and Mexico, the Indigenous people first foraged chillies where they grew in the wild. As early as 4000 BC, they were cultivated for culinary use. Aztec plant growers developed dozens of annuum species; from there, they passed to other Mesoamerican and Native American cultures, then to those in…

A few years ago, a spicy Mexican meal changed the way I live, love and travel forever. I had never really respected moderation, or temperance, or even compromise before. “It only takes one person to make a compromise,” I would cheerfully announce when trying to get my way about something – and I was never the one deviating from my whims and wishes. As well as being unable to compromise, I have always been unable to get enough of a good thing. As a child, this might be birthday cake – the only thing that stopped me devouring the entire thing would be the physical intervention of my parents. Even now, somewhat constrained as I am, by social niceties and a desire to remain an accepted member of the tribe,…

On Saengyojanr (Ging Thai, Melbourne) “I visited The Boiling Crab in Glen Waverley recently and indulged in a spicy seafood boil that is now one of my absolute favourites. Even though it’s Cajun-style, the aroma and warmth reminded me of my childhood in Thailand, eating stir-fried crab with chilli jam.” The Boiling Crab, Shop 7-9, 52 O’Sullivan Rd, Glen Waverley, Vic. Dan Hong (Mumu, Sydney) “A couple of weeks ago I had an amazing Sichuan-braised fish at Loon Fong in Chinatown. Most people are used to the chilli oil version but there are many different versions including a green Sichuan pepper and pickled chilli braised fish that we had. Not super spicy in terms of heat, but the numbing sensation was insane, as the green Sichuan peppercorns are known to…

Flavour worlds collide in this left-of-centre collaboration between Melbourne’s much-loved crispy chilli oil slingers, Chotto Motto, and vegan chocolatiers, Birdsnake. The product of their unlikely friendship is a tongue-tingling, palm-sized chocolate bar that’s as cute as it is flavoursome. Rice crisps and a subtle undercurrent of chilli deliver Chotto Motto’s signatures, while Birdsnake has infused 65 per cent Ecuadorian vegan chocolate with warming cinnamon and nutmeg. $14.50, chottomotto.com.au…

The taste of home for me is very simple North Indian cooking: dhals, chapatis and a bowl of yoghurt…If I’ve been on the road a lot and eating set food, if I can get that in front of me it almost brings a tear to my eye. I was very curious as a kid about cooking. I would watch my mum create these meals. She was this magician with a sprinkle of cumin seeds and a touch of turmeric. What always fascinated me was the way she could take raw ingredients – nothing in our home was bought. Even the dough was kneaded at home. A lot of people buy the dough for dosa from a packet and mix it in with water but my mum would grind the lentils…

MONK’S CHAI Blended in Melbourne, this ethically focused chai blend possesses a subtle warmth thanks to the addition of pimento and cayenne peppers, contrasted with the sweetness of organic agave. Made by baristas, this chai comes with detailed brewing instructions to recreate a café-style chai latte at home. $25 for 250gm monkschai.com IMPALA & PEACOCK This non-traditional chai calls upon wattleseed and chicory root in place of black tea to deliver a toasty caffeine-free take on the brew. The biscuity notes pair well with oat milk, and it can also be served chilled and black. $29 for 110gm impalaandpeacock.com.au REMEDY & SPICE Richly redolent of ginger and cardamom, this sticky chai maintains its powerful aroma from packet to brew. Focused solely on chai blends, this Melbourne-based tea maker nails the…

In theory, a cocktail made with a whopping shot-and-a-half of Angostura Bitters just shouldn’t work. Yet, it’s the bracing intensity of flavour and unmistakable Christmassy spice that make the Trinidad Sour such a curious and compelling drink. Bartender Giuseppe González came up with the polarising modern classic at Brooklyn’s celebrated Clover Club and entered it into a cocktail competition back in 2009. Using Trinidad and Tobago’s most popular flavouring agent as the feature ingredient – backed up with rye whiskey, orgeat and lemon – may not have wowed the judges, but the unorthodox move has amassed more than its fair share of fans. Chief among them? Pasan Wijesena, owner of Jacoby’s Tiki Bar in Sydney’s inner west. “Ironically, despite the amount of bitters, the drink isn’t bitter at all,” he…

The first thing you’ll notice as you enter Parlar’s sleek Potts Point space – next door to its sibling, Franca Brasserie – is the service. The team has cracked the front-of-house alchemy of appearing as soon as you need something, then instantly fading into the background. You’ll see staff address all sorts of snafus with graceful guile. Consider kicking things off with a cocktail. Highlights include the Twisted Sangria and the Riviera – a refreshing lip-smacker that pairs gin and sherry with grapefruit. The lengthy wine list is packed with varietals from up, down and around the Iberian Peninsula. It’s worth enjoying your apéritif with thin slices of wonderfully fatty jamón ibérico, but I suggest diving straight into the tapes (Catalan for tapas) – a ripper roster of bites. Start…

Mixed seed and spice crêpes with roasted pumpkin SERVES 2 // PREP TIME 15 MINS // COOK 40 MINS (PLUS RESTING) 65 gm plain flour, sifted 1 tsp each nigella seeds, sesame seeds, coriander and fennel seeds 2 tbsp finely chopped chervil, lemon thyme and parsley 160 ml (⅔ cup) milk 5 eggs, 1 egg lightly beaten 20 gm unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for brushing 400 gm Kent pumpkin, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped 80 ml (⅓ cup) extra-virgin olive oil 2 tbsp date syrup 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 tsp Aleppo pepper 100 gm mixed sunflower and kale sprouts, to serve 1 For crêpes, place flour, seeds, half Aleppo pepper and herbs in a bowl. Whisk milk, egg and butter together. Gradually add milk mixture to flour, whisking…

It may be one of the most overused adjectives in food writing and conversation today: umami. Fun to say and delicious to savour. But its lesser known cousin yakumi has yet to enter the Australian lexicon, despite playing an equally important role in Japanese cuisine. If umami is the Top Gun of Japan’s national kitchen, yakumi is its Goose. Granted, Japan might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of spice. Unlike its neighbouring countries across the East, who lead with fiery hits of chilli and piquant flavour bombs that burst in your mouth, Japanese food is famed for its subtlety and restraint. But behind those complex, delicate flavours, you will find yakumi bringing balance and playing yin to umami’s yang. Hitoshi Miyazawa, head chef…

Aleppo A warm, smoky chilli pepper with a mild heat that builds slowly on the palate, commonly used across the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Ancho Dried, ripe poblano peppers. Generally low in heat, with a distinctive sweet, fruity flavour. Árbol A long, curved chilli with a bright, fiery heat and slightly grassy flavour. Baklouti A large, pungent chilli with a mellow tinge of heat, found in Northwest Africa. Used as the primary ingredient in harissa. Bhut jolokia Popular in India, this chilli is notorious for its intense flavour and blistering heat. Also known as the ghost pepper. Birdseye Tiny, fiery chillies commonly used in Thai cuisine. Sometimes called bird peppers or chilli padi. Capsaicinoids A series of related compounds concentrated in the internal ribs and seeds of a chilli…

The story of spice has been laden with mythology, symbolism, ritual, romance, seduction, temptation and bloodshed. What is a spice? At their simplest, spices are the parts of plants most densely rich in flavour, which can enliven and elevate food. They are the dried seeds, barks, roots, rhizomes, fruits, arils, flower buds and resins from plants that grow mostly in tropical climates. Ask a cook and they will tell you about the aromas that have to be teased out through cooking and that spices are decidedly not herbs, the fresh and leafy parts of plants grown more locally. They will know that spices’ aromas and flavours are volatile and fat soluble, the spices best freshly ground and their flavours extracted by sizzling in oil, and how they can be used…

The key ingredient in mint tea is time. Well, time and mint, of course, but it’s time that matters the most. Every Moroccan has their own recipe for mint tea. But the one thing that each fiercely individual routine has in common with the other is that it should never, ever be rushed. In the desert, a single pot can take an hour to perfect. Here, in a small village in the Atlas Mountains, our guide Abdul begins the ritual of pouring glasses and returning them to the pot, pouring and returning, the tea leaves muddling with the fresh mint over and over again. He will not be hurried. I am seated on a terrace draped in soft carpets belonging to Hassan and Safida – and Abdelhaid, their boisterous three…

East of Eden Old-world interiors, what to wear, winter skin and scents and tools for a spice-driven kitchen. SPICE BAZAAR Look to the colours and forms of the Ottoman Empire to heat things up in the kitchen. SALT & PEPPER A tonal take on bohemian style doesn’t overpower. Just balance light with dark and sprinkle to taste. Code red Warm up your wardrobe with hits of chilli red, cumin green and golden ginger. It’s a wrap Draped, looped, tucked or tied, a statement scarf transforms cold-weather dressing.…

Like food and fashion, good skincare is seasonal. Just when you might have a routine sorted, the mercury drops, the heater cranks and what worked for you in summer no longer applies. In the season of comfort eating and cosy dressing, the skin’s outermost layer, the stratum corneum (or skin barrier) needs nurturing too. That’s because dry air breaks down this protective system to cause flakiness, irritation and even more water to evaporate from deep within. The answer lies in hydration, which informs every stage of the winter skin routine starting from step one: cleansing. Winter skin needs a cleanser that will cut through makeup and pollution so serums and moisturisers can work their magic, but it also requires a strip-free clean. The sweet spot removes impurities and leaves protective…