Red Feather Inn: A Walk on the Wild Side.

There’s no end to the interest in food!

I’m not talking food as fuel, but food as experience – food that can conjure up memory.  Food that can create a taste of place and time – or the sense of terroir.  So it’s hardly surprising that we’re all hooked on the plethora of gourmet pleasures surrounding food that is at our finger tips that offers us a huge range of armchair gastronomic experiences through books and TV programmes – and for those even more committed – the real-time encounter of – ‘The Cooking School’.

There are numerous opportunities to educate one’s self in the culinary arts in Tasmania that range from the basic to the more sophisticated.  Brunyfire was drawn to the bush tucker advertising at the Red Feather Inn recently, that promised a ‘walk on the wild side’…….

The Red Feather Inn is a collection of historic sandstone buildings located in Hadspen, eight miles from Launceston, Australia’s third oldest city in the north of the State. Notable Georgian architect John Sprunt built the Inn with convict labour circa 1842, and it became one of Van Diemen’s Land’s first coaching inns in 1844.  The Inn has been turned into a kind of Georgian/faux French provincial style luxury accommodation. Very nicely done, with fluffy white bath robes and more cushions than we knew what to do with – but all in all, a little too twee for a couple of hardened techno-hippies (we do live in a fibreglass dome after all) with a preference for contemporary design, such as ourselves.

However, it was not the modernised country comforts or the attached cooking school that I had come for……….but The Wild Larder – Tasmanian Bush Tucker Experience that the Red Feather Inn were billing as ‘an amazing nature and wildlife experience’ that promised antics with wildlife in the Tyne Valley, on the side of Ben Lomond, and gourmet camp-side dining featuring all Tasmanian ingredients complemented by native spices and herbs.

The tour was led by a 7th generation Tasmanian and a veteran of the bush, Craig Williams, of Pepper Bush Adventures ……..who is passionate about the forest, is an environmentalist and is also a master butcher.  Pretty impressive for a man that cultivates the image of being an ordinary bloke.  A group of us, all Tasmanians as it happened, were introduced to the spice world of the bush – in particular, Sassafras and the Tasmanian pepper berry.Having identified and collected a handful of these flavoursome food enhancers, we continued further until we reached Craig’s bush hut, situated in a large flat plain of freshly mown grass…. …..here we would spend the evening wining, dining and wooing the wildlife. Built with secondhand, scavenged and recycled materials, with an outdoor kitchen and an interesting collection of fireplaces and heating contraptions, this bush haven had the rustic charm of a traditional bushie’s shack.

I never did find out if the devise on the left was just a giant heater, or if it was used to bake in.  The fireplace however, was soon put to use, and featured a unique cooking attachment in the form of an old circular saw blade, fitted so that it could swivel across the fire when required for direct cooking, or kept to one side as a food warmer.

Once we had donned our Red Feather Inn pinnies, removed the wine from the cooler and got stuck into the rabbit and pistachio terrine platter (with fruits, lavosh and cheeses) we got onto the real business of the evening – cooking dinner.So I was very amused to see that our campfire cuisine was going to be cooked on portable gas stoves…….

…….and that the Tasmanian produce would emerge from cans and jars!!  As Craig said, his outdoor kitchen is not called TinJar Cafe for nothing!Despite the skepticism, what followed was indeed a gourmet feast of our own making.  First course, miniature pancakes (or a kind of blini), topped with ‘blueberry’ cheese (blueberry cheese? Ah – Blue Brie!), sun dried tomatoes and pickled cucumber.Next – a frenzy of meat ball forming with prime venison and wallaby mince, onion chopping, mixing and stirring.  The meat balls were fried first and then brought to a roiling boil in a sweet and sour sauce and served up with caramelised onions.

Then – a lesson from Criag in how to cut fancy tomatoes – how to make capsicum ‘boats’ filled with tinned tuna and lightly fried field mushrooms……..

…….to be served with gently steamed Tassie salmon with a Sassafras and Pepperberry flavoured butter sauce.  And this was what I’d been waiting for!  A lesson in how to make a truly gourmet dish over an open fire.  Craig’s technique was a unique take on a practice many of us would most likely use at home.  Firstly, a decent fillet of salmon was gently slashed on the diagonal, half way through the flesh (to allow the subtle bush flavours to penetrate) and placed gently onto a sheet of cooking foil, skin side down.  Generous (and I mean generous) knobs of butter were placed on top with washed Sassafras and Pepperberry leaves scattered over the butter.  Finally, another sheet of foil was then placed carefully over the top, and the top and bottom layers of each side of the salmon parcel then carefully folded, making sure the foil wasn’t pierced.

The parcels were then placed onto the fire grate. The magical thing about this technique was once the parcels puffed up and expanded, you knew they were done – to a state of deliciousness……..

Red Feather Inn Cooking School

42 Main Street, Hadspen

Tasmania

inquiries@redfeatherinn.com.au

Class cost: $395 (max. 8 people)

Accommodation  & Class Package: $545 pp twin share

Breakfast included for accommodation package

 

Cooking in Kelp Bags: Māori style.

Finally, back home from our Kiwi wanderings and all fired up to get back to our island home on Bruny and to put some of the new knowledge on cooking with fire to practice.  On reflection, New Zealand’s geography is one of extremes.  A land of fire and ice.

But its people, both Kiwi and Māori alike, proved down home courteous and friendly.  We can all mock the Kiwi accent (a Sydney friend thought that ‘beckpeckers’ were a kind of wading bird) but the Māori language is lyrical to listen to.  A swine for an outsider to read though, and many a township on our touring map received a verbal scrambling.

Inspired by Al Brown’s use of kelp for cooking crays (check out Kaikoura Cuisine) I learnt later about the Māori tradition of bull kelp (rimurapa) bags for both cooking and storing  food.

These kelp bags, or pōhā are an ingenious use of a natural material, that were produced in large quantities during summer in preparation for the muttonbirding season. Harvested from the sea, they were then opened up and inflated.In this photograph, taken near Foveaux Strait in 1910, a woman splits open the kelp with her hand, while a man inflates a blade.  Inflated blades were hung up to dry for several days, then deflated and rolled up.

In autumn the bags were taken to the islands around Stewart Island where muttonbirds, or tītī, were caught. The kelp bags were filled with muttonbird chicks; an average-sized pōhā could hold up to 50 birds. When the bag was full, hot fat was poured over the birds and the top tied off to exclude air. Birds have been preserved for up to six years with this method.

I was very much impressed with this use of bull kelp, and knowing that we have copious amounts of the stuff on Bruny, I sought it out at Adventure Bay recently.

I was soon to learn that what I thought looked identical to the bull kelp of New Zealand, was in fact, quite a different creature……………..with quite a different structure.  The Kiwi bull kelp is made up of a honeycombed internal sections, which made it look quite easy to separate with a sharp knife.  The stuff that I’d found and wanted to use, was much denser, and at first, it didn’t look likely that I’d be able to open it up.

However, applying the same Māori principle of using the hand to part the kelp, I found that once I could get an opening started with a sharp knife……………..I was able to get my hand in……….

……..and was able to proceed until I’d separated all the way along the required length.Once a I’d made a couple of bags, I filled these with local pippis, mussels, chopped onion and garlic (note: no additional moisture is necessary as the juices from the shellfish make their own clear sauce). The bags were then ‘stitched’ together with wooden skewers and both were placed on the hot coals in the firepit.The secret to cooking the contents of these little masterpieces, is to watch that they don’t burn…….  …….but once they start to char, whip them out of the coals before the bags give way and you lose all the delicious juices.  Toss through some additional fresh oysters from Get Shucked……….………as well as some of the last of the summer season’s cherry tomatoes by green fingered Barry Weston (from Adventure Bay)…..

This finger lickin’ meal had a delicate smokey taste from the woodsmoke and charred kelp, with a slightly salty briney taste from the shellfish.  The meal was washed down with a nice chardy, and the juices mopped up with one of John’s fine sourdough loaves……..

……….straight from the Bruny Island Cheese Company’s wood oven.

Bliss……….

Auckland: Al Brown’s Depot – Cooking with Fire.

5th March, 2012.

I’d been told by a friend that you needed to get in early to Al Brown’s latest food venture, the Depot Eatery & Oyster Bar located in the Skycity complex in Auckland’s Federal Street to avoid the long queues.  A question of first come first serve as Depot doesn’t take bookings, and unless you’re a local, it can also be tricky to find.  Set beneath the Sky tower, that dominates the city, this unassuming eatery and its fellow restaurants and cafes along the same strip, is a bit of surprise.  Depot’s entrance sits almost opposite the glamour and glitz of the city’s casino – the last kind of place I’d ever choose to eat in.But Depot’s main attraction was not just on the freshness of the produce, (oysters are shucked while you wait)….……or the emphasis on seasonal local produce, or even the ambiance of the place……..…..a mixture of the quirky…..…..and the quaint….All this helped set a great atmosphere, but it was  the way much of the food was prepared that I found exciting.  The use of fire and the associated flavours that certain woods can provide are very much exploited here – foods were either fast fired on the grill over searing charcoal…..…..or slowly seduced to succulence in the wood fired oven………..served with additional sauce – Nicholas – the wood fire chef.Depot has been in operation since 2011 and maintains a friendly, but professional charm personified by its proprietor and owner, Al Brown.  Casual and friendly (once again, we were accompanied by the ever effervescent Sofia who was welcomed as much as any other customer) – the service was knowledgeable but not in your face.The menu offers a range of tapas size as well as larger sized dishes – we decided on the small share plates to begin with, so that we could swop and share a range of dishes.  Started with clams that were prepared live before our eyes, served with chardonnay vinegar and bloody mary ice……..…..followed by the New Zealand meat board……………..that comprised of Akaroa bresaola (cured beef, made to a traditional Italian recipe from Akaroa): wild rabbit rillettes, pork salami from Waikana and air dried paprika beef.  Served with a cherry relish, chevrego cheese and fennel and fig sourdough!!

This was followed by a couple of larger dishes – wood roasted Rangitikei chicken with Israeli couscous, aubergine and yohgurt – alongside………………wood roasted pork hocks with apple and horseradish salsa verde.

From Depot’s menu Eat Up – names like Kaimoana boullabaisse – Rangitikei chicken – Waikanae pork – Akaroa bresaola – whilst not easily rolling off the tongue, (as we were to discover, to much merriment during our Kiwi map reading efforts) do conjure up the most romantic of images.

Depot was yet another bucket list item that sure as hell didn’t disappoint.

Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar

86 Federal Street,

Auckland,

New Zealand.

Rotorua: Cooking Kiwi Style.

Saturday 3rd March.

Finally, Brunyfire gets a taste of  indigenous cooking traditions and the ideal place for this was Rotorua – situated centrally in Aotearoa’s North Island.  Rotorua is the heartland of Māori culture as well as the centre of the island’s geothermal earth forces.  A land of fire and ice – what a country of extremes.I was particularly interested in discovering more about the Māori tradition of cooking in an earth oven, or hangi.  Traditional Māori believe that the earth is the giver of all life – from the soil, comes food or kai and that same food was, and still is, cooked beneath the earth.

The definition of a hangi is best described as an organic pressure cooker.  Basically, a hangi consists of a hole dug in the ground that is stacked with carefully loaded firewood, on top of which sits a pile of rocks. A fire is then lit beneath the fuel, which heats the rocks above to white heat.  The ash and some of the coals are then removed, the hot stones laid at the base of the pit and the food, pre-wrapped in fresh leaves (these days in the ubiquitous aluminium foil) and placed on the hot rocks, which are dampened (to create steam).  The whole lot is then covered in more dampened greenery, and covered over with soil. (Check out Curious Kai).

Setting up a hangi best illustrated below: Traditionally, the hangi would have looked something like this to begin with……..…… but nowadays, tourist demand is high, and the methods have been streamlined – the men by the way, as is still the tradition, are responsible for digging the pit and firing up the hangi.  The womenfolk prepare the food.  However,  to cater for the multitudes, instead of digging a pit in the ground each time, a brick lined cavity is used in most of the tourist hangi hot spots. The fuel, instead of the wood of choice being Manuka, is now packing cases, and the stones, a mixture of metal elements….The metal baskets atop the stack of fuel are to hold the food which are then straddled across the top of the pit on a couple of metal bars…….(the above image illustrates the bed of hot rocks, once the food baskets have been removed.)  Chicken, lamb, stuffing (wrapped in separate foil bags) and vegetables, are all placed in the wire baskets, covered with a damp cloth and then damp sacking.  The stainless steel lid (seen above) is then placed firmly over the top, fitting snugly to prevent steam escaping.  The process usually takes 3-4 hours, and once done, the sacks are removed and the feast begins!!

These events can differ in quality from the extremes of a Butlin’s Holiday camp experience, to more authentic events – Brunyfire was a bit fed-up at what was promising to be a right old knees up evening.  It was really hard trying to decide from Tas which was the best of these tourist events, and in retrospect, it would seem that the hangi and performances (that usually go along with the feast), would have been better at the Te Puia, New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute.  Shouldn’t complain though – the food from the hangi pit was delicious – a genuine smokey taste and the meat was pretty succulent.

Desserts, however, were worth a miss…………

The following day, we spent a fascinating time at Te Puia.  First stop, a decent mocha made by Claudia…….. …….that even our own barista, Vivi was impressed with.

Māori traditionally used the natural hot pools to cook in, and I eventually found the Ngararatuatara cooking pool that I knew existed somewhere in the Te Puia grounds.  This ancient Māori cooking pool has a surface temperature of around 98°c……..……and currently, mussels, sweet corn and eggs are cooked in the pool, using the traditional flax bags or tukohu………..that are still created in the Weaving School.

Whilst the hangi or earth oven is most commonly associated with traditional Māori cooking methods, indigenous New Zealanders also exploit the natural geothermal activities that are so prevalent around Rotorua.  In Whakarewarewa village, for example, cooking devices are prepared by placing wooden boxes on top of a newly created vent.

Food is then placed inside the steam box – this includes a full meal, including desert in the form of steamed puddings (as illustrated above – the covered tin cans contain the steamed pudding mix).  The lid is then fixed firmly to ensure a snug fit, and the steam allowed to do its work.

Back on Bruny, the firepit that I had built from a dismantled kiln with re-cycled kiln ports, was always designed in such a way that I might develop it into an above groundhangi.  Scrabbling around in a deep pit with red hot rocks is not something I relish……..

…..that, however, is a story still in the making…………

Whakarewarewa Thermal Village

17 Tryon Street

Rotorua,

New Zealand.

The New Zealand Māori Arts & Crafts Centre

Te Puia,

Hemo Road, Rotorua,

New Zealand.

Mitai Maori Village,

196 Fairy Springs Road,

Rotorua,

New Zealand.

Napier and Nanna Fare.

Friday 2nd March.

Napier is better known for its 1930s Art Deco architecture than its ‘nanna’ food.  But it was the latter that was my most endearing and enduring memory of Napier.  And wouldn’t you know it, the first European to see the future site of Napier was Captain James Cook who had sailed down the east coast in October 1769.  Just can’t seem to shake the guy – from Adventure Bay on Bruny Island and again, here in Napier.

Napier was leveled in 1931 by an earthquake that also claimed over 256 lives.  In the consequent rebuilding, the whole town was rebuilt in a single style that has provided the world with a unique collection of buildings of a particular era and style.

Looking more like dainty pastries than buildings, Napier’s down town central is a pretty delicious looking place……So with food very much on our mind, I was delighted to find the Farmer’s Market was in full swing in the local Shire car park – normally held in the street, but undercover today as it was blowing a gale.  There was a great range of goodies to choose from, ranging from relishes…..

……to fruit liqueurs…….Hey – Che lives and he likes jam!!

It’s amazing who you spot in a Farmer’s Market.  Che and all his little revolutionaries decided to stock up for a picnic, and selected a range of hand made cheeses…..……and smoked fish of all kinds from the Smoke Hut……Right opposite the car park/Farmer’s Market, we spotted a very elegant photography gallery…….inside of which was The Kitchen Table Cafe, an eclectic mix of retro domestic, good coffee and tasty food.It’s been an observation I’ve noted that as we’ve traversed the country, stopping off at small country towns for breaks between destinations, that there is a real sentimental nostalgia for things past.  Unlike the Aussies who mercilessly bag the British food legacy, the Kiwi’s seem to embrace it.  Reading a number of Kiwi cook books and magazines, I’ve noticed the frequent reference to a love of ‘baking’.   The tradition of making of cakes and biscuits seems to be a time honoured practice of keeping Nanna’s recipes alive – a quaint and respectful pastime.

The Kitchen Table was a kind of shrine to these sentiments………

….and even a domestic goddess has to powder her nose sometime…………….

The Kitchen Table Cafe

138 Tennyson St
(Photographers’ Gallery)
Napier
Napier City

 

Farmer’s Market

Lower Emerson Street,

Napier
(if wet, Municipal Theatre Carpark, Tennyson Street)

Every Saturday

Martinborough: Village of Pinot Noir.

Friday 2nd March.

On the road again, this time headed out of Wellington to Martinborough to track down more of the Pinot Noir that we had tasted at Logan-Brown.  Martinborough is a cute little village of some 1300 full-time inhabitants.  First stop was the Martinborough Village Cafe……Decent coffee, and a nice atmosphere – must have been a Mum’s morning, as the place was crowded out with young Mum’s and their offspring – lots of pushchairs and pandemonium!  But better still was the wine centre next door, full of local produce, including some beautiful little bottles of olive oil…..Molive Gold is a boutique award winning, hand-picked blended virgin olive oil from Molive.  This was such a great little souvenir product, that I decided to keep it for myself!

The Cafe must also figure largely in the annual wine, food and music festival, The Toast of Martinborough if these fabulous posters hanging on the cafe walls was anything to go by.

During November, the wine festival is a major draw card for this otherwise sleepy little town, swelling the population by 10,000.

However, we were here for the more serious business of wine tasting, so we mosseyed on down to the Martinborough Vineyards….. …….where we were given a royal sampling of some very nice drops.

Martinborough has a large number of wine producing vineyards, notably Pinot Noirs.  The place has a warm micro-climate, with hills to the east and west and almost all the vineyards occur in thin ribbons around the northern and eastern sides of the town.

My tipple of choice was the Burnt Spur Pinot Gris 2011 at NZ$22 a bottle – grown on clay based soil – how appropriate is that for a mud wrangler.  Described as having ‘heady aromas of pear, nectarine and ginger on the nose with citrus and floral notes in the background.  This wine is crafted to be enjoyed in its youth, but will cellar well for 3-5 years…….”…..if it can last that long!

Village Cafe,
6 Kitchener Street,
Martinborough

Martinborough Vineyard
Martinborough, New Zealand

Molive
Verdale,
101 Cromarty Drive
Martinborough 5784

 

Wellington: Capitol of Cool – Logan-Brown.

29th February, 2012.

I was standing in front of this red door – where others must have stood before me if the food blogger sites I checked out on arriving home were anything to go by – concentrating on the shot.  I had booked the Brunyfire/Jetsetvagabond crew into this iconic restaurant from Tasmania to ensure a table at the time we would be in Wellington.

A tall, lean gentleman in black, with a bald head and a nice smile, asked me if I wanted to have a look inside.  Somewhat taken aback, I responded, non too graciously in retrospect, ‘who are you?’  He replied, mentioning the name Steve Logan somewhere in the conversation – which I totally neglected to register properly.  I prattled on about not needing to go in thank you very much, as we’d be having a meal there in the evening.

Later that day, I bought a book that I had heard about that featured the locally foraged food of Aotorea by a couple of guys (none other than Steve Logan and Al Brown) whose TV program Hunger for the Wild make our own crew from Gourmet Farmer  look like a bunch of pussies……. Having bought the book, I took a much closer look at the fellow in the beanie on the front cover!  Oh – so that’s Steve Logan!!  Talk about slow – the opportunity to have had a guided tour of this renown restaurant by a leading figure of New Zealand’s culinary fraternity (the co-owner no less) had by this time, completely passed me by.  What an idiot!! What a total tit……

Nevertheless, we dined at Logan-Brown that evening and were not disappointed – it was a fabulous meal, and the wait staff were delightful, especially as we had one excitable little girl with us who could hardly sit still……Set within a beautifully restored 1920s banking chamber, Logan-Brown was established back in 1996 to bring the fine dining experience to Wellingtonians (and to the rest of New Zealand – and the world) despite its location in the street of sleaze, Cuba Street.  

My interest in dining here was not so much the need for a formal eating junket, but for the opportunity of eating food that reflects a large part of the Logan-Brown philosophy – that of eating locally, seasonally and sustainably.

Both Al Brown and Steve Logan are keen hunter collectors and this is reflected in their menus.  Both men share a love for fishing, hunting and the great outdoors – the traditions of the bach, family holidays and cooking on an open fire.

In TV New Zealand’s series Hunger for the Wild the pair trade the comfort of their restaurant for life on the road in an old Holden as they chase down some of New Zealand’s finest and freshest foods and the unique characters that know how to find it.

New Zealand is famous for its abalone, or paua, and whilst is is produced on a commercial scale, most goes overseas.  Both commercial and recreational harvesting of paua are bound by very strict rules, which are sadly, often broken – so poaching is a problem. Not surprising really as they are highly sought after both as a gourmet food source, and as a material for making the usual souvenir product. Despite the usual tat, we did come across some very tasteful pieces of jewelery.But it was paua as food that Brunyfire was interested in.  My only experience with wild abalone was with the few that Jetsetvagabond had caught off Umbrella Point some years ago – I still have the stains on my kitchen ceiling from the mandatory bashing that the flesh was subjected to prior to sauteing…….

One of Logan-Brown’s signature dishes is their Paua Ravioli with Basil, Coriander & Lime Beurre Blanc made by mincing the paua and mixing this with a touch of garlic and herbs and enclosing the mix in a couple of wanton wrappers before poaching them in boiling water.  A pretty good illustration of how to make a little go a long way.  This is then topped with thin slivers of crispy fried kumara (Māori word for sweet potato).

These delightful drawings were on a fine parchment like paper that neatly joined together to serve as napkin holders – all the various species are most likely on the menu, though I confess to not knowing the names of any!

These little drawings are a subtle reminder that sustainability is a major factor in the development of the Logan-Brown menu – and that means that all food is seasonal and at the peak of its freshness.  This was obvious in my main course of Line-Caught Snapper with Black -Foot Paua, Fava Beans & Pamesan Crusted Fennel.The other dish of the evening that scored pretty highly was the Wild Boar Fillet with Garlic Custard Tart, Quince & Iberico Jamon – not only bloody good, but with an interesting pedigree.What this dish lacks in indigenous authenticity, it more than makes up for in ingenuity.  Hunting, fishing, shooting and cooking in the great outdoors is, as mentioned previously, a national Kiwi preoccupation.  All the ingredients for this dish were introduced in the near past, none more importantly for both Kiwi and Māori alike than the pig.  One of the Hunger for the Wild episodes included Steve Logan hunting with local hunters for wild boar.  Having served wild boar at the restaurant since its opening in 1996, and having it delivered in vacuum sealed containers, Logan and Brown figured it was time to experience the hunt itself.

A mind boggling experience by any account, but one that a lot of Kiwi blokes seem to relish if the magazines are anything to go by…………Pigs were introduced to mainland New Zealand by Captain James Cook in 1773 – known as ‘Captain Cookers’, they were also released on islands off New Zealands’ coast as a food source for castaways.  Hunting seems to be a major pastime, and wild game (such as venison, pig, pheasant, rabbit, goat, to name a few) is on the menu of numerous restaurants.

The final course at Logan-Brown, however, was of a much more genteel nature, and one that befitted my newly conferred status as a Gran’ma.  Treats from Nana’s Cake Tin was a range of dainties that I wouldn’t normally look twice at – and in many instances, have quite an aversion to – Rocky Road in particular. (A concoction of bumpy-textured candy comprising miniature marshmallows, nuts and small chunks of dark, white or milk chocolate) – erk.

However, in this instance, Treats from Nana’s Cake Tin (comprising of single bite sized portions of Chocolate and Strawberry Lamingtons, Tea Cake, Rocky Road and Mini Mallowpuffs)………..all managed to convey a whole bunch of emotions from the nostalgia of childhood to respect for the domestic – and they actually tasted very good!!  Just to top off a perfect evening, Nana’s Treats were washed down with a very charming bottle of Noble Chardonnay from Pegasus Bay in the South Island’s Canterbury region.Our interest in Kiwi wines thus piqued – our next destination – Martinborough…….