Aussie lamb, however, is great. It is slightly gamey even without hang time, but it’s not as funky as its European counterparts (which unfortunately, I find too funky – unusual for me, since I generally like game and funk).

I find Aussie lamb is best cooked to medium or medium+, which perhaps explains why Australian’s general understanding of “rare” is equivalent to what the Brits would call “medium” and what the French would call “well done”!

BBQed here, a la “Niçoise”, with what is essentially an undercooked ratatouille that has black Kalamata olives and plenty of thyme thrown through it. The combo is fantastic, and with a decent hit of vinegar in the sauce, a full red wine is a great partner.

Aussie lamb a la Niçoise

Soffritto

I prefer a 100% durum wheat Italian semolina (non-egg) pasta, but making egg pasta is fun anyway…

Drying egg pasta

Tagliatelle (the real! pasta for) bolognese

I am increasingly thinking this is an excellent treatment for warm water Australian fish with less flavour. (Flathead aren’t bad flavour-wise, but they’re not great either.) I also find that Asian preparations tend to work well.

The dish below is BBQed spiced flathead, with a spice mix including plenty of sumac (which gives a citrus lift that works with seafood), plus perhaps some cumin, coriander and black pepper. This is served with three salads: nashi pear with soy sauce and a light vinegar; orange, carrot, parsley and cumin (a great combo); and a French-dressed green leaf. It’s a nice summer dish.

BBQed spiced flathead with three salads

The shellfish, however, are fantastic!

I prefer the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) to the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas). Perhaps that makes sense, since the former are the native species. They seem to have a bit more of the “rock pool” flavour that many oyster lovers crave. Regardless, Australian grown oysters often have rich creamy texture relative to many European or N. American grown examples.

Sydney rock oysters

I’ve cultured wild sour doughs and varied salt content, proving times, kneading technique (the throw-the-dough-on-the-counter traditional French technique is best for this type of dough), tried different flour types… but I think, ultimately, it primarily comes down to having the right flour.

These kinds of loaves use flour that provide a gluten matrix that allows long extension without being too elastic (i.e., they don’t “stretch back” to their original shape). N. American and Australian flours tend to have high gluten (high protein) content and are too elastic for a successful loaf of this kind. Flours from these countries lend themselves well to highly aerated breads with a close and uniform texture but not the classic pain de campagne that is loose, open and full of holes. (British flours tends to be too weak (low in gluten) and are, besides, a hit and miss affair due to the climate (vintage variation).) French flour perhaps has the right combination. Without having access to French flour, I’ve explored blending flours: by combining strong white flour (high gluten content) with plain flour (weaker gluten) it is possible to obtain a balance that provides extensible dough that isn’t too elastic. This approach has been more successful, but I’ve yet to truly obtain the results I desire….

Nevertheless, even if it’s not quite there as a bread, a wild sour dough with a highly aerated tight crumb is fantastic toasted and slathered with butter.

Wild sour dough starter culture

No 'spider's web'-like structure, but this highly aerated, tight crumbed wild sour dough bread is great toasted

I tried the same wine with Ma Poh Doufu, one of my favourite Szechuan dishes. I tend to make the dish without too much chilli (ginger and chilli wok-ed in oil before adding spring onions and pork mince; then some red bean sauce and chicken stock, and finally the silken tofu and toasted Szechuan peppercorns), and serve it with wheat noodles.

I was really quite surprised at how fantastic this combination was! To my taste, it was amongst some of the better food-wine matches I’ve ever had. There’s something about the salivation that Szechuan peppercorns induce (it must be due to the hydroxy-alpha-sanshool) that seems to work well with a juicy-fresh mineral non-grape wine.

Following that, I tried some of my Rhubarb wines with Szechuan chicken (generally: red bell pepper/capsicum, chicken, leek, garlic, ginger, black beans, soy sauce, rice wine, plenty of Szechuan peppercorns) and this was a great match too.

Forget Gewurtz, Riesling or whatever…. fruit wines are the way to go with spicy Asian cuisine!

The Gooseberry is made from a purple variety called Worcesterberry and I tend to make it pretty funky/earthy, with a touch of residual sugar but good acidity. The Rhubarbs tend to be dry, mineral, light-medium bodied whites.

Ma Poh Doufu with Passionvale Gooseberry 2006

Szechuan chicken with Passionvale Mayfield Rhubarb 'The Vegetal' 2007

Goat cheese and chive ravioli, tomato and basil vinaigrette
A classic flavour combo that just works so well. The “vinaigrette” is more like a light tomato based sauce with sharp acidity.

Goat cheese and chive ravioli, tomato and basil vinaigrette

Celeriac soup, beetroot and red wine emulsion
Rob Feenie’s combo concept-wise. It works pretty well.

Celeriac soup, beetroot and red wine emulsion

Lemon sole, Australian mountain pepper spice, carrot, parsley butter, garlic chips
Halibut, quatre épices rub, poached figs
Essentially two dishes in one, because I just love packing the flavour combos in.
Lemon sole remains a popular N. European fish, particularly in the UK. It’s a delicate fish with a great flavour, and it’s also cheaper than Dover Sole. It doesn’t (or “shouldn’t”) require much treatment, so here I served it with carrot in a parsley butter (coz carrot and parsley work well together, and parsley and butter work well with sole). The garlic crisp and mountain pepper were small touches to just provide some fun (the pepper is a native pepper berry from Tasmania that has quite a hot peppery flavour).
Halibut is amongst my favourite fish, quite unlike many fish due to its firm, almost meaty texture. This fish is great fried, and can take a bit of spice. The figs were essentially poached in port. These components worked surprisingly well together.

The above dishes were served with Bonneau du Martray‘s Corton-Charlemagne 2001. I not think this worked particularly well, but I am not a fan of BdM’s CC (the flavours just aren’t what I look for in white Burgundy) and I may also have been a little tired of it at the time too, since a friend had coincidentally served me blind a different vintage of the same wine a day or two prior. Perhaps I was biased because of this, though really I wouldn’t expect this wine to work with the above dishes particularly well anyway (this wine was opened for what it was, not for the match it might provide).

Lemon sole, Aussie mountain pepper spice, carrot, parsley butter, garlic chips; Halibut, quatre épices rub, poached figs

“Pepper, pita, feta”: stuffed peppers, feta sorbet, spiced fried pita
A wanted to play around with stuffed peppers. I tend to pack them with rice, herbs, tomato sauce and onion. I find they can work fantastically well with red wine if the acidity is kept high (add plenty of vinegar) and they contain Greek quantities of olive oil.

Paired with Château Lagrange St Julien 2003, with which it worked pretty well.

“Pepper, pita, feta”: stuffed peppers, feta sorbet, spiced fried pita

Roquefort cheese, poached pear, spiced toasted walnuts, sweet-wine-poaching reduction
I feel I’ve refined this composed cheese course dish pretty much to the point of perfection. The flavours just work so well together. The pear is poached in a syrup containing white wine and lemon juice, and the nuts are roasted with a little salt, cardamom, cinnamon (perhaps some black pepper or cumin).

I feel this dish pairs very well with a sweet Loire Chenin Blanc. In this case, IIRC, it was Baumard’s 1992 Quarts de Chaumes.

Roquefort cheese, poached pear, spiced toasted walnuts, sweet-wine-poaching reduction

Chocolate dèlice, salted caramel, peanut icecream
Evidently, presentation went a bit wayward.. the diners even joined me in the kitchen at the dish composition phase for some pretty funny cuts and constructions (not shown)… but it tasted pretty good if I do say so myself. Certainly a rich dessert.

Chocolate dèlice, salted caramel, peanut icecream