The Dirty Chef
Page 30
Very gingerly remove the pudding basin from the water, take the lid off and run a knife around the inner edge if needed.
Tip the pud onto a plate and serve warm with jersey cream (if you can).
Acknowledgments
My journey has only been possible because of the people who came before me and the people around me. I take my hat off to all those who have already made positive steps to living closer to the land, not least our neighbours, who care for our farm, our livestock and us in times of need. Thanks Rob and Trudy, Duane and Joan, and Mark and Gini in particular for making us feel not only welcome, but also loved. I hope our high profile hasn’t destroyed that most precious of things—your privacy.
On the personal side, we’ve been blessed with grass and the services of a bull, thanks to Gerard Crochon. I also want to thank Mike and Jo-Anne Gissing for grass, cows, ducks, a bull and the loan of a trailer too many times to count. We’ve been aided by Aidan Direen on the dairy cow front, and Jo Cook on the cooking front. I’ve had tremendous support from talented cook, stylist and mate, Michelle Crawford. We’re indebted to Sue Plant for helping prepare garden beds, and to The Lotus Eaters café for coffee and a tree for Hedley to play in while we drink it.
On the television front, a big thanks to Erik Dwyer at SBS for seeing in me some vague ability to say something of interest. Thanks also to Sonja Armstrong at Essential Media for driving the Gourmet Farmer project from the outset, and producer Aline Jacques for keeping things tracking along. Thanks to Max Bourke for the gentle, kind way he cajoled me into being filmed, even when tired and grumpy, for the first two series. We’ve loved having the crew—including Russell Hawkins, Tobi Armbruster and Mick de Montignie—become part of our lives. All of us were coaxed and pushed and organised by Nicola Hawkins, who had the job of wrangling the unwrangleable, sometimes from her base in the UK. Thank you for not only putting up with us, but also helping to make the series what it is through your endless research and input.
Thanks, also, to Tracy O’Shaughnessy and the team at Allen & Unwin for giving me the rare and privileged chance to record some of my personal transformation in print.
Sadie and I have been lucky enough to have Phil O’Donnell take on his role as part-time farmhand with flexibility, humour and grace. Thanks for filling in all the gaps, Phil. And for the trailer.
I want to thank my mates Ross and Nick, who are there when I get crook, when there’s a crowd to feed, wine to drink, fish to catch (or not, as is usually the case), even when there’s a film crew to take some of the spontaneity out of it. I feel blessed to have shared this journey with you, but just as importantly, with your families: Leonie Struthers and Emma Harley are two of the finest women anywhere. Everything we have been able to achieve is thanks to our partners in life.
Which leads me to Sadie. Thank you for being brave enough to move to the far ends of the earth, and for bringing Hedley into our lives. For embracing all those parts of the farm I tend to neglect. For all those glorious meals, kind words, shoulder rubs and hugs that get us through the good days and the hard days. I promise to take you trout fishing soon.
About the author
Matthew Evans grew up in the gastronomic capital of Australia—1970s Canberra. Despite the grey mashed potatoes and the grey lamb and the grey liver, he loved food, and went on to become a chef, winning a Sydney Morning Herald chef’s hat for his cooking in the mid-1990s.
Matthew then fell for restaurant food on the other side of the swinging doors, transferring his allegiance from the kitchen to the table and becoming a restaurant critic. For about ten years he made much of his living writing about restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne, for five years as chief restaurant critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, before feeling the urge to get his hands dirty once again.
Matthew moved to Tasmania in 2008 to get closer to the source of his produce, and began life as a small-holder on Puggle Farm in 2009. He currently lives on that original small farm, while most of his livestock and garden beds are on Fat Pig Farm, a bigger property nearby, which he and his partner Sadie set up in 2011.
Matthew is the author of quite a few books on food, including the acclaimed The Real Food Companion. He was also features editor at Vogue Entertaining + Travel, and is a former editor of The Age Cheap Eats and The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide. Matthew is a presenter of three series of Gourmet Farmer on SBS Television and writes a regular recipe column for Feast magazine. In his spare time he likes to cook.