winter

...cuts of meat, that is. And what to do with them.

This week, I had my first MC gig for a cooking demonstration at the Sydney Seafood School. That's right; me, 100 butchers, 2 very talented chefs - Darren Robertson (ex-head chef, Tetsuya) and Andrew Gimber, (current head chef, Jimmy Liks).

The purpose of the evening was to inspire butchers to see the possibilities of less popular or harder to sell cuts of meat, which leads us to this week's FBi Friday Delicious show.

Winter's a great time to stew and slow cook meat, and go for slightly fattier bits of animal (though if you ask a chef, anytime's a good time of the year for a cut of meat with a bit of fat on it - fat does = flavour, after all).

Shopping List (cut's of meat to ask your butcher for)

- Ham hocks (great for making soup, stews)
- Beef cheeks (in a slow cooker with red wine, garlic, herbs, stock = win)
- Brisket (not just a Jewish fave - this one's good for braising, smoking or BBQing)
- Pork belly (salt it, braise it, then pan fry it to crisp the skin)

Here are a couple of restaurants around the traps who are doing great winter dishes.


The Burlington Bar and Dining
www.burlingtonbardining.com.au

6 Burlington St
Crows Nest NSW 2065
(02) 9439 7888
google map

The lower north shore is looking pretty good these days, with the strip along Willoughby Road and surrounds turning up great food, from burgers (Counter Burger, Grill'd) to Ramen (Ryo's Noodles) and fine dining. Nothing says 'hearty' more than a pie and at The Burlington Bar and Dining, while their current menu is looking pretty heart warming in general, there's a steak and kidney pie with pan-fried liver, onion and speck that has 'quintessential winter meal' stamped all over it. We're told there's also a ham hock on the menu worth trying, too.


Ash St Cellar

www.merivale.com

320/330 George StSydney New South Wales
Australia
(02) 9240 3000

google map

Chef Lauren Murdoch's food at Ash St Cellar bistro menu in this cute little wine bar is great for sharing - the menu is made up of tapas-sized dishes, great for a snack with a couple of glasses of vino, or for when you're feeling indecisive and want to try everything. It's tucked away at the back of the Ivy building, uber-bar skeptics can rest assured it feels like it's own little den, rather than like you're dining in the the machine. At the moment, Lauren is doing a beef brisket, braised in Guinness, with parsnip mash, parsnip crisps and mustard butter..who says there's nothing to look forward to in winter?

sydney sammiches

Sandwiches are so hot right now. Ok, that's a slight exaggeration...they've been back on the foodie friendly list for a little while..and for good reason: Sydney is doing some great things with the whole 'two pieces of bread and something in the middle' concept.

There's even a great new blog, dedicated to the beauty of the sambo: Bianca Khalil's photoblog Sandwichface is an ode to her home made creations with partner in crime, FBi's own Andrew Levins, as well as some of the more interesting ones around town. I particularly like this deep fried camembert one. There's also a great website called Scanwiches - scans of cross sections of sandwiches. Guess it really is good to be the filling between the bread...

So, if you don't live with these crazy kids, where can you get a good sammich in Sydney?

Malibu
62-64 Foster St, The Georgio, Basement, Surry Hills 2010
(02) 9280 2233

If you like 'em big, then this Surry Hills destination will be your new best friend. It's all about the doorstop of bread, generous fillings and tasty combinations that keep regulars coming back for more. Locals love the chicken schnitzel with mayo and cos lettuce and the seasonal vegetables on brown Vienna bread, despite sounding completely boring, puts up a good fight for tasty, substantial vegetarian fare.
Four Ate Five
485 Crown St, Surry Hills, 2010
(02) 9698 6485
www.fouratefive.com
Four Ate Five has been killing it since the day they opened. Pretty much everything these guys do is great, including the housemade creamed corn on the breaky menu, but when it comes to sandwiches, the pick of the litter is the pulled pork sandwich. What's pulled pork? Marinated, slow cooked pork (usually the shoulder), known as carnitas in Mexico - until the meat literally falls apart. Teamed with crisp cucumber and apple, smothered in tomato chutney and aioli on dark, almost caramel-flavoured sourdough...it's worth starving all morning just to stop by and order this lunchtime gem.

Big Bite
Shop 3, 250 Pitt Street, Sydney
(02) 9283 4700

If you're in the city and stuck for lunch ideas, then you're in luck. Just make sure you get there before the lunch rush hits, or be prepared to wait. Again, this is big sandwich territory - good for ravenous lunchers, or to share, if you're not up for the challenge. Try the grilled chicken, with basil oil, lemon & chive mayo, roma tomatoes, mixed lettuce, rocket and snow pea sprouts.

Honorable mentions:

Ham, mustard, pickle and mayo @ Youeni Provides
379b South Dowling Street, Darlinghurst 2010
www.youeni.com.au

Italian sausage @ Little Vienna
Hunter, Barrack and Pitt Sts, City, North Sydney
www.littlevienna.com.au

Crab sandwich (posh entry) @ Guillaume at Bennelong
Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Circular Quay
(02) 9241 1999
www.guillaumeatbennelong.com.au





Image courtesy of Bianca from Sandwichface.

long (weekend) lunch

As heard on FBi Radio

With the long weekend upon us, it's a good opportunity for many to abscond city limits and head for the hills....or at least to fit in a few more recreational activities that the extra day affords.

Here are my picks on what to check out in Food Town this long weekend.

Riverside Organic Markets

A new organic or farmers market is always worth checking out. This time, Gladesville gets a food boost with the addition of a new organic market happening each Saturday from 9am to 1pm. This weekend heralds Riverside's first market so there's sure to be plenty of pomp and celebration to welcome it to town.

Find out more about Organic Food Markets, the guys who put these (and other) markets on here.

Riverside Girls High School
Cnr Victoria & Huntleys Point Road, Gladesville
June 12 and every Saturday from 9am - 1pm

Flavourfest

...when just a few flavours aren't enough, jump in to the car and head to the Hunter Valley for this self proclaimed festival of produce, good food and of course, plenty of wine.

Check out celeb chefs Pete Evans and Toby Puttock and Janelle Bloom performing live demonstrations, meet the growers, stroll the hawker-style eat street and work it off to a beat coming from live bands and entertainers.

Hunter Valley Gardens
2090 Broke Road Pokolbin, NSW 2320
June 12-14

Truffle Hunt

For the foragers, if the idea of running around in the freezing cold with a dog in a scent-crazed frenzy sounds fun, then Oberon's Truffle Hunt is for you. Australian truffles may get a bit of a bad wrap from food writers occasionally, but short of booking a ticket to Europe, Australian truffles are improving from season to season and this is a great opportunity to see, first hand, how it's done.

Lowes Mount Truffiere
927 Lowes Mount Road Oberon 2787
02 6329 8210

More info here.

Kitchen Stadium: Creative Sydney Session #6

If food be the music of love, play on.

We already know that DJs like Levins from FBi are known for being great cooks, so here's a concept: This Saturday night, The MCA will host a dj battle/cook off where two teams will sample and generate soundscapes while creating culinary masterpieces at the same time.

Featuring Siberia Records which includes djs and members of Lost Valentinos and more, it's the ultimate combination of food and beats to kick your long weekend into gear. Who's hungry?

Museum of Contemporary Art
Circular Quay, Sydney NSW 2000
June 12
8.30pm-10.00pm

Info from twothousand.

berta

As seen in Daily Addict
The arrival of a new baby is always a cause for celebration. In the case of owner chef Andrew Cibej of hip Italian trattoria Vini in Surry Hills, his new restaurant, Berta is an exciting addition to the family.
Tucked away in a quiet back street in Surry Hills, near Central station, Berta’s blink-and-miss-it entrance may be hard to find, but it’s well worth it when you do. If the front of house face looks familiar, that’s because Vini’s much-loved manager Kristen Allan has come across to rock the cradle.

Stark rendered walls, raw concrete finishes and tilted mirrors give a sense of industrial understated cool, but the food created by head chef O Tama Carey is quite the opposite: think bold flavours, big aromas, fantastic produce and a knowledge of what makes Italian food rock.The dishes are designed to share, a kind of Italian tapas if you will.
Start with the baked scallops topped with sugna (crunchy cumbs of rendered pork, Sonoma miche breadcrumbs and capers), move onto ox tail broth with wild green tortellini and order up on the spectacular suckling pig, roasted with fennel and served with braised lentils, leek and chickory.
Buffalo milk ice cream with poached apples and candied rosemary and sage makes a fragrantly sweet way to end the meal.There’s a wine list of cool Italian finds, sourced regularly from Italy by Andrew and the team, so there’s plenty of interesting vino to sit at the bar and sip, too.
Vini’s edgier younger sister looks set to be a welcome addition to this end of the Surry Hills dining scene and as far as sibling rivalry goes – here’s a case of the bigger the family, the better.
Berta
17-19 Alberta Street, Sydney 2000
T: (02) 9264 6133
Opening hours: Monday - Saturday 5pm-late

all the best: dumplings in Sydney

At FBi radio, we believe in sharing the love. One of my most popular blog posts so far has been about dumplings in Sydney (find that post here), so when FBi's Saturday morning show All the Best asked me to talk food, I thought it'd be a good topic to drag back out, now that the temperature has dropped. Click here to listen to the podcast.

fooderati welcomes

Fooderati PR welcomes Jared Ingersoll and the Dank Street Depot group to the family. Look out shortly for news on Jared's latest project; the opening of new restaurant Cotton Duck in Surry Hills.

food on screen

As heard on FBi Radio (click here for the podcast)

It's been a week of media frenzy with die hard fans lining up around the block to get a first touch, and look at the iPad. It does seem curious how something as sensory as food has found such popularity in technology. We can look but not touch; we can listen, but not taste.

Regardless, it seems food and screens of all sizes are best mates in Sydney this week.

iPad - Order up big

So you didn't queue for 30 hours to get a first look in at the iPad? Well, if you want to try before you buy, here's a tasty way to do it. At North Sydney's Mundo Global Tapas restaurant, you can order your meal on Apple's latest phenomenon. 'Mundo' in Spanish means 'the world' and that's exactly what you'll expect to find on this menu. From Peking duck pancakes, truffled mac'n'cheese and Mexican-style empanadas, the menu starts at $6, so you don't need to shell out the big bucks to take the iPad for a spin.

Mundo Global Tapas Restaurant, 54 McLaren Street Sydney NSW 2060 - (02) 9965 5123

Television - Iron Chef

On a slightly larger screen (and a slightly larger budget), this weekend fans of the Japanese version of Iron Chef can get up close and personal with Iron Chef French, Hiroyuki Sakai and Iron Chef Chinese, Kenichi Chen while they battle it out at the Hilton, Sydney this weekend. For $385, Iron Chefs have collaborated with local Japanese chefs including Hideki Okazak from Darlinghurst's Rise restaurant to bring diners a six course degustation. A snip, really. If you don't have the cash, I'm sure they'll be hanging around the Hilton, so perhaps hanging out at Zeta bar might bag you a glimpse.

Hilton Hotel Sydney, 488 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000 - (02) 9266 2000

Film - Food Inc.

If you want to know more about the food you buy at the supermarket, prepare to be confronted. Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, the writers of The Omnivore's Dilemma and Fast Food Nation, which were adapted to film by Food Inc's Richard Linklater. The film takes you from farm to factory (and are they the same thing?), to supermarket floor - it's a comprehensive look at both sides of the fence when it comes to the business of feeding nations. Eye opening.

Showing at Palace Verona, Dendy Newtown, Cremorne Orpheum