Well, we talk about almost everything else on twitter, I guess the next step had to be a twitter wine tasting.

Lead by wine guy Ben Knight (@benandwine) we are “gathering” this Sunday 29 April.  A group of us are going to try 2010 Atlas Section 32 Cabernet Malbec from the Clare Valley and will be tweeting our impressions with the hastag #melbyncru.  If you don’t know how hastags work, give me yell on twitter (@essjayeff).  

There’s no set time, so open at will and tweet your thoughts.

Atlas Wines Website    (@atlaswines)

Photo courtesy of @UrbanImporters

I bought my bottle at Blackheart and Sparrows (@blackheartswine) in North Fitzroy for $20.

Blackheart and Sparrow locations.

88 Punt Road Windsor       t 9510 6385
131 Lygon Street East Brunswick       t 9380 1831
113 – 115 Scotchmer Street North Fitzroy      t 9486 8046

in NSW: available at Annandale Cellars (@annandalecellar) and Bottega Del Vino

It goes against my grain to adapt recipes for vegans / coeliacs / food intolerances in general. Not cause I dislike my friends who eat in special ways, but because I find most substitutes are either highly manufactured alternatives (i.e. Nuttalex, Melrose Spread, non-eggwhite etc) or something that alters the texture or taste.  There are a couple of things I can’t eat, but instead of hunting around looking for manufactured alternatives that are “similar” to the item, I just eat other things.

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BUT … on contemplating my Hot Cross Bun recipe last year, I realised I could make just a couple of changes to make a vegan version for the guys at work who tend to miss out on my baking.  I tried it – and it was good.  So here it is, and my traditional recipe is over here.

Ironically, I started making my own buns some 20 years ago because I was a vegetarian and didn’t want to eat gelatine (which is used in traditional hot cross bun glazes).  Now I’m an ethical omnivore and have reverted to my traditional recipe. It is really delicious and quite simple. But here’s the vegan version for those others.

• Hot Cross Buns – Vegan
• 14 g instant dried yeast (two sachets) (or 30g fresh compressed yeast)
• 500 g (4 cups) plain soft flour (not bread flour, just standard plain flour)
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons orange flower water
• 1 tablespoon neutral flavoured oil like canola
• 100 g currants
• 50 g mixed peel
• 20g diced citron if available. (Cedron is variety of citrus and is sold as a glacé fruit.  It is the traditional flavouring for panettone so you will often find it in Italian delis.  I bought mine at Meditteranean Wholesalers 482 Sydney Road, Brunswick.)
• some grated citrus rind (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1 tsp salt salt
• Paste for Crosses
• 30 grams plain flour
• ¼ tsp caster sugar
• Glaze
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• squeeze lemon or lime juice

Slices of cedron waiting to be sliced, frothy yeast mix on right

Spice paste and fluffy yeast

3. Add the yeast and spice paste and start mixing again, adding up to 185 ml of warm water in splashes until you achieve a soft and sticky dough. Knead on low setting (2) for 5 mins or so until smooth.

Vegan on left, traditional on right

Vegan buns on left and traditional ones on the right

The traditional buns are taller and slightly larger, probably due to the egg adding extra raising action.

Tips for success with buns:

Keep everything warm and if possible choose a humid day to bake.  If it’s neither – turn your oven on early and boil the kettle every now and then.

When I set out to make a classic recipe I reference, cross-reference and then google search a few more variations before setting out. Last year I did this with Hot Cross Buns and I of course forgot to blog the result.  So here we are again – trying to remember that best bits from last year and blogging as I bake to ensure I don’t forget again!

The research facility...

I started making my own buns some 20 years ago because I was a vegetarian and didn’t want to eat gelatine (which is used in traditional hot cross bun glazes).  Now I’m an ethical omnivore and have reverted to my traditional recipe. It is really delicious and quite simple, however there is an almost as tasty vegan version here.

• Hot Cross Buns – Traditional
• 14 g instant dried yeast (two sachets) (or 30g fresh compressed yeast)
• 500 g (4 cups) plain soft flour (not bread flour, just standard plain flour)
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 40 g butter
• 1 egg
• 100 g currants
• 50 g mixed peel
• 20g diced citron if available. (Cedron is variety of citrus and is sold as a glacé fruit.  It is the traditional flavouring for panettone so you will often find it in Italian delis.  I bought mine at Mediterranean Wholesalers 482 Sydney Road, Brunswick.)
• some grated citrus rind (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1 tsp salt salt
• Paste for Crosses
• 30 grams plain flour
• ¼ teaspoon caster sugar
• Glaze
• 1½ teaspoons caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon gelatin

Cedron slices next to the lime, frothy yeast on right

3. Sift flour and salt into mixing bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached, stir in the sugar and add the fruit and peels.  Mix with dough hook for a few seconds to ensure fruit is coated with flour and all is distributed evenly.

4. Add the yeast, egg and spice paste and start mixing again, adding up to 130ml of warm water in splashes until you achieve a soft and sticky dough. Knead on low setting (2) for 5 mins or so until smooth.

A soft sticky dough

Doubled in size

Vegan on left, traditional on right

Piped crosses

8. Remove from oven.  Make glaze by heating gelatine, sugar and two tablespoons of water until dissolved. Brush glaze over hot buns.

Fluffy texture, lovely spicy fruit flavour

Vegan Buns on the left - Traditional ones on the right

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OK I’ll admit it – I’m a bit (lot) of a Joost fangirl.  Spend five minutes talking to the man and you’ll have a head buzzing full of information, ideas, new stuff to find out more about … it just tumbles out.  His passion is thoroughly contagious!

I’m so pleased that we have another Greenhouse pop-restaurant here in Melbourne on the banks of the Yarra at Queensbridge Square during the Melbourne Food and Wine festival.  I want folks to be inspired by what is being achieved here, and the values on show.

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The Greenhouse has a corner of shipping containers which hold a prefab kitchen, toilets and a bio-generator.  I understand these units are going to be re-used in the next Greenhouse project, maybe in Queensland.    There’s a fascinating time-lapse video of the construction process on Joost’s website.

You can also see a feature on Joost and how the CSIRO tried to burn down on of his GreenHouses on the
7:30 Report here

Read the rest of this entry »

If people are paid for postive reviews, where does that leave an honest blogger? Are online mercenaries the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.

I think just about every story I’ve read about the benefits of citizen journalism, or blogging / micro-blogging etc brings up the issue of the uncensored nature of this kind of writing; that’s it’s free from the influences of editors and PR machines, and that it is to be valued for its independence and “truth”.

But what happens when people are paid to provide positive content for facebook, twitter, on blogs and I guess even face-to-face?

Many of us “crowdsource” via twitter, asking for recommendations for everything from a restaurant to a plumber. We get responses from people who follow us, but what if some of those people who follow you are “crowdturfers”?  They look real, but they are paid to be positive about a subject and get a “valued first-person experience”, “non-PR aligned” “opinion” “out there” in the ether.

Recently, Ed Charles from Tomato Melbourne posted a link to someone’s Gumtree ad on twitter.  That ad offered “lengthy and positive” posts on a particular website to restaurant owners, at no cost to the restaurant. The fee-for-service would appear to be very little and come from advertising revenue on a site I’ve never seen before, and is quite unlovable in design. I think only desperate restauraters would take up the offer.  But I haven’t seen shilling so blantantly advertised before. I will assume that there is some other trade-off for the person offering the services as the likely income generated is not much, and the business model has been challenged in other publications.

This led to a really interesting discussion on twitter about the ethics of blogging which I will document in another post, but for now my question is, if crowdturfing takes off what value does your blog/twitter account have.  How can you verify and protect your online persona?  Do you care?

* I took the term “crowdturfing” from an article in The Age, attributable to Ben Zhao, an Associate Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The relavant extract is below as is the link to the full article.

“… the crucial ingredient of a novel form of attack, recently detailed by computer scientists in California, is not software, but people. Growing numbers of mercenaries are being hired to help twist the landscape of social media – to write rave reviews of products, post convincing spam, set up accounts on social networks, or perform other tasks.This gives their employers new ways to do everything from legally questionable marketing to outright theft.

…just glancing at one of the profiles you would probably think it came from a real person; you might read the opinions, and perhaps click on a link or two.

”They looked too real,” said Zhao, ”to be machine generated.”

The accounts were the product of what Zhao has dubbed ”crowdturfing” – a combination of ”astroturfing” and ”crowdsourcing”. Astroturfing is an older term that refers to fake grassroots efforts, such as secretly paying people to send notes to their senator in favour of a bill.

Crowdsourcing is outsourcing to a crowd – a form of mass collaboration in which someone puts out a public request for help with a large number of well-defined tasks.

Combine the two and you get websites such as one called Zhubajie in China, which publishes offers for work like singing the praises of a particular dress on social media.”

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/new-kinds-of-dark-forces-are-being-unleashed-online-20120108-1pq2f.html#ixzz1iuzXBut6

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Longer days are upon us and balmy nights are sure to be here really, really soon. We’re celebrating with the Fringe Food Festival and Chef, Matt Wilkinson.

You might have heard recently that Matt’s plans to return to fine dining (at the Hen & Coq) have been stalled, but you don’t have to wait to taste some of the dishes he’s been working on.

On 1st December we’ll be presented a dinner that grew around the idea of obtaining something quite special, forced rhubarb.   You can read more about this Yorkshire speciality over here on the Fringe Food site.  We’re very lucky to find a grower who is willing to experiment for us.  You certainly won’t see forced rhubarb all over town anytime soon.

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We will be featuring forced rhubarb in two courses, one savoury one sweet. But first, as I had to listen to the Circle of Yorkshire Life, so now you will have to read it…

So, in Yorkshire, the largest county in the  north of England, they were blessed with grains to make beer, and so beer they made. At the end of the process the leftover grain and mash was fed to the pigs, so happy pigs were grown, and happy pigs poo,  The pig poo was used on the rhubarb plots to grow the biggest bestest rhubarb in the world.

If you’ve even watched The Great British Menu you’ll know that rhubarb is known as *the* dessert ingredient.  Rhubarb and Apple Crumble, Rhubarb and custard, Rhubarb jelly, Rhubarb pie, rhubarb drinks, rhubarb chutney…

So the plan so far (subject to change or seasonal variation) is something like this.

• A selection of canapes featuring smoked items ( I think Matt wants to play with a smoker?)
• Cured duck breast, duck confit and all it’s bits with rhubarb sauce and fois gras
• White asparagus, ricotta, whey and grains with pork scratchings  (gettit?  grains … pork, rhubarb)
• Main dish of pork
• Matt’s special rhubarb and custard with Nan’s crumble.

(NOTE: really this may change –  we are very much subject to seasonal variation on this dinner)

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And if the weather is fine – we’ll be able to spread out into the back garden, which is full of fruit and vegetables doing their growing thing.  Hope you’ll come and join us for this special night.

What: Seasonal and local 4 course meal, plus canapes, with matched wines
Chef: Matt Wilkinson
When: Thursday 1st December
Where: Pope Joan, 77-79 Nicholson Street, East Brunswick (96 Tram).
How much: $115.00 a person (plus 30 cents booking fee) including wine.

Booking: Bookings (via TryBooking)

Please note that due to the nature of this event we are unfortunately unable to alter the menu.

If you haven’t heard yet, there’s a new festival around town.  Some trumped up food bloggers and tweeters  (me included) have prevailed upon their friends and contacts in the food industry to help put on some affordable, interesting and interactive dinners.

So far we’ve hosted a truffle dinner and St Ali with Matt Wilkinson from Pope Joan, another truffle dinner at St Ali with Scotty Pickett from The Estelle, yet another truffle dinner at The Estelle with Scott Pickett, a Vegan dinner at Embrasse with Nic Poelaert and a Grass fed vs Grain fed beef taste off with Ron O’Bryan at the Vine Hotel.

It’s been a terrific lot of fun and I’m hoping we can have many more dinners and bring many more ideas together.  Do let us know at fringefoodfestival@gmail.com if you have any ideas you’d like to bring about.

Our next dinner is a suckling pig afternoon in the inner north.

Come along!

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One of the many things I like about writing this blog, is that it records (for posterity ?  hah!) some of my thoughts, opinions and memories.  We all change over time. People, fashion, tastes (and taste), politics, knowledge, restarants and chefs … and cafes too.
Six year or seven years ago I lived in (north) North Fitzroy.  A bit of a wasteland, the Loaded Dog hotel had recently closed and food and entertainment options close to hand were few and far between.

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A new coffee shop, Growers Espresso, opened on the corner of St Georges Road and Holden street, serving locally roasted Australian grown coffee. My initial thoughts were … blergh – Australian grown coffee? locally roasted??  why would you bother?  Ten years ago, my Melbourne, and my taste buds were very much directed towards strong, bitter, Italian roasted espresso blends.   My tastes stayed this was for quite a few years; I like to think I was making up for the many years of Nescafe with frothed milk that was served to me in Queensland cafes. I tried Growers Espresso coffee once, but wasn’t really impressed.

So seven or so years down the track, I start going to the Farmers’ Markets occasionally, particularly Collingwood. There are three coffee choices at the market, the farm cafe, Dr Java and Growers Espresso. I would snub Growers (still!) and go to Dr Java.  Then one day, I changed. I dunno why, but I stopped at Growers and it was good coffee. Really good coffee.

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Nowadays. I really look forward to the markets (I barely shop for food anywhere else) and my Grower’s coffee.  If I work out my morning schedule properly I can drop in for a morning coffee; if I don’t attend a weekend market I drop in, or walk down for coffee. And on Sundays when they are closed, I make a pourover with some of their single origin beans at home. You could say my tastes have changed over the years.

The “killer app” though for me was their change to a “Farmer’s Market inspired” menu. Here was provenance for my snacks and lunch. Many of the producers are local folks I know and trust from the Farmers’ Markets. Lovely heirloom vegetables (no unripe greenhouse tomatoes here); free range Milawa chicken, rare breed pork, local artisan cheeses, free range eggs, Mt Zero olives and all manner of good and delicious things!

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The menu changes regularly, but the favourites are there whenever I visit. Coconut bread toasted, and served with Di’s rhubarb and Schultz Yogurt. muffins made in-house everyday, baguettes, frittata and Michele’s bikkies from Castlemaine.  The menu showcases fresh, seasonal and local produce, and delicious breed from Dench (also local). Regular features are Milawa Chicken, Gypsy Pig, Holy Goat Cheese, Lochelian Cheese I’ve even seen smoked barramundi.

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I still enjoy a Genovese coffee fairly regularly (mostly from Liaison) but it sits nicely alongside my local – which offers an Aussie Grown Eureka Coffee Blend and someother interesting bean every day.  Espresso or pourover. So very “modern and third wave”. And yes, they roast on site.
Funny how things change … I’m sure Mark, Hamish and the team have been doing things like this for ages .. I just wasn’t in this “space” until 18 months ago.  Now I am, they’d better not go anywhere soon.

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Follow them on twitter at @eurekacoffee

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It doesn’t happen very often these days unfortunately, but the meal I had at The Brix last week was astounding.

Keen eyes have been keeping an eye on the space behind Foxton’s Real Estate Agency at 412 Brunswick street for a while now. The planning permit was affixed to the unassuming roller door in Westgarth street late last year and the compact 40 seater which was originally scheduled to be open in May 2011, finally opened on 19th August 2011. But I reckon it’s been worth the wait.

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I’ve visited three times now, for the five course fixed price menu that is the only meal option on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday lunch, for an al la carte experience and for lunch.    Cheese and charcuterie are available at the small bar as an alternative to the five course set meal.

Two of the three folk behind The Brix were on the floor the first night we visited.  They are quite open as to their influences, Le Chateaubriand in Paris.  Based on this fact alone I was eager to try The Brix,  having had a delicious and “un-stuffy” meal at Le Chateaubriand in 2009. Emma O’Mara and Keir Vaughan (our hosts) have design backgrounds and this 40 seater is testament to  their skill and tastes.  It’s a lovely spot which manages to be bright and sunny even though the windows face south.  The front room is dominated by a large cornucopia styled photograph which was commissioned for the space.  The side room features wooden shingles and hanging plants which are a surprising feature that I’m sure will bring a welcome cooling effect as we move into summer.

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Joel Alderson is in the kitchen. I”d not heard of Joel before, but the pedigree is one to respect, Joost’s Greenhouse in Sydney, Attica and the Royal Mail in Dunkeld.  He’s joined by Daniel Dobra from Greenhouse in Perth, and also the Royal Mail. If that wasn’t enough to make me want to eat there, Ainslie Lubbock (also from the Royal Mail) has helped with the wine list and works a few shifts.

Once I’d heard all that I was no longer surprised by the offerings, but was very pleased to have a bistro like this so close to home (and a 112 tram ticket is certainly cheaper than flying to Paris).

The five course menu featured grilled baby cos, salsify, flowers, horseradish snow, crunchy quinoa, salmon, beetroot, celery leaf, artichokes, braised baby turnips, roast baby turnips, veal breast (with the most delicious, thin and crispy skin and layers of luscious fat and sweet veal meat, almost like a pork belly) served with carrots, saltbush and baby leeks; Confit duck leg that had been removed from the bone and pressed, served with a slice of perfectly pink breast duck, with baby turnips.  Dessert was coffee and chocolate cake with mandarin.

I’m not going to give away all of Joel’s little surprises here, but the plating is some of the prettiest I’ve seen.

We drank some delicious Gamay  (2010 Puzelat-Bonhomme Petite-Tannique from the Loire Valley), and some of the range of growers champagnes on offer.   The Fixed Price menu is $80 a person.

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I returned a few nights later to dine al la carte.  The menu descriptions are brief and specific which leaves a lot of room to be pleasantly surprised by what appears to be a never-ending supply of herbs, baby veg, leaves and edible flowers that accompanied the dishes we tried.  Some of the dished from the set menu were featured on the al la carte menu, such as the calamari (with radishes, lettuce, herbs and chive flowers) and veal breast.  We started with a naturally sweet, light french onion broth which was poured at the table over a selection of croutons, teensy, weensy baby (I mean SMALL! smaller than your little fingernail) onions, chives and chive flowers.

We followed with shallot tart tatin served with creme fraiche and perfectly picked leaf salad, and the calamari.

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Mains were beef fillet which arrived with a tastebud awakening smell of smoke that came from a spring onion that lay across the meat, which was spread across a slate, served with potato and cress; a plate of Bass Grouper, and lamb with artichokes cooked two ways, jerusalem artichokes, sweetbreads and oxalis leaves.

We ordered a side of “sprout leaves” which were similar to red kale, served with more of that amazing crunchy quinoa and finished with two desserts.

With a couple of glasses of wine each we spent $90 a head.

The third time I visited for a simple lunch.  The shallot tart tatin made an appearance again ($16), as did the beef with potato and cress ($22). We opted for a shallot tart, black pudding, apple cider, sorrel  and duck egg ($16), and free-range chicken terrine with leeks, potato and Kaissler (16).

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There is a synesso cofee machine, house made tomato juice and they take their tea seriously too, offering Mariage Frères blends from Paris.

My choice is for the five course fixed price menu  – this meal was astoundingly good, mind you –  I haven’t had breakfast there yet!

Oh yeh – and there is a life size pig in the doorway….

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… and an outdoor space

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It’s terrific value and an outstanding debut.  Here’s to the new kid just off the block, open only a week so be gentle with them and let them find their feet.  Relax, take it easy and enjoy a new local.