antipodean antics

tonight on abc asia pacific, they showed a very graphic documentary about eating disorders, then immediately followed it with an episode of neil perry's "fresh and fast" cooking program. sick bastards!

if you don't know who neil perry is, he's a chef in australia who owns rockpool, has a line of food products, and several cooking shows and cookbooks. i've never been to any of his (previous and current) restaurants, but they've shown several of his series here, and i've made a few of his dishes with good, solid results. the emphasis, of course, is on fresh local produce, cooked with a sort of pan-asian twist, although he does lots of mediterranean-inspired dishes as well. tonight's menu: stir-fried abalone with samphire, king george whiting sicilian style, pan fried chicken breasts with tzaziki, dry style curry of crayfish (the link will take you to the recipes).

i don't know, there's something about him that rubs me the wrong way. maybe it's that whole "chef is god" thing that a lot of good chefs seem to (or actually do) exude, maybe it's because he's a little manic....or is that just talking fast, because he talks pretty fast....maybe it's that stupid ponytail....


2004 abc
i've been photoshopped!

anyway, i digress. despite whatever strange conclusions i've jumped to, i like his recipes. they are simple enough to follow, straightforward (in that i mean when a recipe says it's stir-fried minced chicken with mirin soy sauce and chili, that's pretty much what it is), and turn out well. the only problem is that a lot of the ingredients are difficult-to-impossible to find (samphire, anyone?), and then there's this whole antipodean thing of calling an ingredient something totally funky--a green onion or scallion is known as a shallot or eschallot, a crawfish is a 'yabby', oh, and why is calling a slipper lobster a 'bug' appetizing?

oh those wacky aussie foodies, gotta love 'em.