No. 01
THE MAGAZINE WITH CONTR I BUTIONS FROM:
NICK HADDOW • MIKE BENNIE • SHARON FLYNN KIRRILY WALDHORN • MATT YOUNG • AND MORE
20–19
moorabool valley • Bellarine Peninsula • surf coast
geelong’s ultimate wine festival • november 2-3 •
F
toasttothecoast.com.au
CONTENTS PEOPLE'S CHOICE 2018 – RESULTS & WINNER
WHAT'S THE STORY WITH RAW MILK CHEESE? NICK HADDOW
ANTHONY FEMIA
FESTIVAL
ABOUT CHEESE
ABOUT CHEESE
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10
14
WINE & CHEESE MATCHING IS (GENERALLY) GROSS. DISCUSS.
SAKE & CHEESE
ANNA WEBSTER
ANNA WEBSTER
AFFINAGE, OR THE ART OF AGING CHEESE
MATT YOUNG DRINK
20
DRINK
18 GO WITH YOUR GUT
MOVE OVER WINE, IT'S TIME FOR BEER… & CHEESE
SHARON FLYNN
KIRRILY WALDHORN
HEALTH
DRINK
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WHISKY & CHEESE SEAN BAXTER DRINK
24 VEGAN CHEESE
PROFILE: JO BARRETT
WITH SHANNON MARTINEZ ANNA WEBSTER
EXECUTIVE CHEF AT OAKRIDGE YARRA VALLEY ANNA WEBSTER
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
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No. 01
MOULD THE MAGAZINE
MOULD COLLECTIVE 30 2019 REVEL EVENTS 32
20–19
Welcome to the first-ever edition of MOULD – The Magazine! We sincerely believe that this publication reflects our commitment to sharing and exploring the stories and wisdom of some of the amazing cheese producers and personalities that we’ve been lucky enough to work with over the last two years. The following pages capture a snapshot of a moment in time – Australian cheese in 2019: where we are, who’s involved and where we’re going. Ultimately, we hope that this magazine (and MOULD – A Cheese Festival as a whole) can serve as a blueprint of what a homegrown Australian cheese industry can be. This magazine and MOULD – A Cheese Festival are a testament to what happens when people hang up their preconceptions and come together with open minds to share their passion and explore new things. From vegan cheese to whisky and sake to gut microflora; there’s more than enough sandwiched between these pages to keep you arguing with your mates in front bars, cafes and long car trips for at least the next twelve months. So thanks for coming and thanks for being a part of the MOULD journey. We hope this is the first of many more to come. Dan Sims •
Nick Haddow •
Founder / CEO, Revel
Founder, Bruny Island Cheese Co.
WHO IS REVEL? You know us. We’re the artists formerly known as Bottle Shop Concepts – the team behind epic wine and food events including Pinot Palooza, Game of Rhones, MOULD – A Cheese Festival and Gauchito Gil’s Malbec Day. We’re hell-bent on creating fun, unique event experiences – especially around wine. But as this magazine will attest to, that’s not all we will do. Make sure you check us out, either via our website revel.global or Instagram @revel.global. CONTRIBUTORS: Jo Barrett, Sean Baxter, Mike Bennie, Anthony Femia, Sharon Flynn, Nick Haddow, Shannon Martinez, Dan Sims, Kirrily Waldhorn, Anna Webster and Matt Young.
PUBLISHER: Super Assembly • superassembly.com.au SALES & ADVERTISING: Nikki Friedli & Max McHenry DESIGN: OK-OK • ok-ok.net PRINTER: Graphic Print Group • graphicprint.com.au
REVEL: 26 Sackville Street, Collingwood 3066 VIC cheers@revel.global
PAPER STOCK: Grange Offset by Ball & Doggett Cover: 110gsm / Text: 70gsm • ballanddoggett.com.au
mouldcheesefestival.com
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M O U L D
NATIONAL PEOPLE’S CHOICE 2018 RESULTS
When MOULD – A Cheese Festival launched in Melbourne in 2017, it was an instant success. So much so that in 2018, numbers were capped and more sessions were added to make sure as many people could access these delicious dairy delights as possible. 2018 was also the year that the festival made its Sydney debut, doubling attendance numbers across the country. Every single person that came to any of the six sessions held across these two cities in 2018 voted for their favourite cheesemaker on the day in the People’s Choice competition. It is our pleasure now to present you with those results. Here it is: your top three for 2018!
MILAWA CHEESE CO.
BRUNY ISLAND CHEESE CO.
GRANDVEWE CHEESES
STATE: VICTORIA MILK TYPE: CHEESE & GOAT
STATE: TASMANIA MILK TYPE: COW
STATE: TASMANIA MILK TYPE: SHEEP
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Milawa Cheese Co. were voted the best producer at almost every MOULD session in 2018, so it was pretty obvious they’d end up in first place overall. Based in the King Valley in Victoria’s North-East, Milawa Cheese Co. produce a huge range of cow and goat’s milk cheeses from beautiful locallysourced milk from farmers.
Nick Haddow founded Bruny Island Cheese Co. in 2003 and has been making cheeses inspired by his experiences and travels through France, Italy, Spain, the US and the UK ever since. He’s something of a pioneer of raw milk cheeses in the Australian cheesemaking industry, and since 2017, only uses milk from his own herd of cattle to make his cheeses. With about nine in the range (including the Otto, a drool-worthy, fresh cow’s milk cheese wrapped in prosciutto), plus a host of beers Haddow brews under the Bruny Island Beer Co. banner, there’s something for every taste here. It follows that Haddow and the team from Bruny Island Cheese Co. would finish in the national top three for 2018. Well done all!
Some of their cheeses have been in production since day one, like the Milawa Blue and the King River Gold. Others, like the Goat’s Milk Camembert, were the result of happy accidents later in the process (see the full profile on pg. 06 to read more). But, whether they came about intentionally or not, Milawa’s 20-odd cheeses are all spectacular, and clearly you think so too. Huge congratulations to Ceridwen, the Brown family and the whole team at Milawa Cheese Co!
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It’s not really a surprise to see Grandvewe Cheeses make the cut. This organic Tasmanian cheesery is the most awarded sheep cheesery in Australia: their Sapphire Blue beat 360 other cheeses for the title of Champion Cheese at the Sydney Royal Show – and they’ve won numerous awards for their vodka (and other whey liquors), too, including Best Australian Vodka at the World Vodka Awards in 2017. Lead by cheesemaker Nicole Gilliver, this family-run operation sees everything – from the grass to the sheep (a herd of rare, pure Awassi ewes) to the milk and, of course, the cheese – grown and made on the farm. From October to March, you can pop by Grandvewe and watch sheep milking demonstrations. If you can’t make it out to Woodbridge, they now have a shop in Hobart where you can try and buy all their cheeses, 2 spirits and other products. 0 • 1 9
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M O U L D
PEOPLE’S CHOICE 2018 WINNER MILAWA CHEESE
In the late 80s, David and Anne Brown bought a derelict, red-brick butter factory in the tiny alpine town of Milawa in Victoria’s King Valley. At the time, the only cheeses that were available in Australia were canned Camembert, imported Danish blue or bulk cheddar and the couple, craving the fresh, soft cheeses of Europe but having nowhere to buy them, decided to make their own.
The Browns packed up their kids, Gareth and Ceridwen, and moved the family from Melbourne to Milawa. They chose Milawa for its climate (it’s good for growing grass, which keeps the cows happy), and for tourism – being in the foothills of the Victorian Alps and therefore on the road to the snow. The first cheese the Browns made was the Milawa Blue, inspired by the Gorgonzola Dolces they fell in love with while in Italy – a blue that was soft, mild and creamy, and very unlike what was already available. The second cheese they made was the King River Gold – a delicate, “entry-level” washed rind cheese. They’re still producing both of them 30 years on.
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That’s not all they produce – unlike other cheesemakers, particularly those in Europe who often specialise in just a few varieties, Milawa make about 20 different types of farmhouse-style cheese. Using either cow’s milk or goat’s milk sourced from local farmers, Milawa make everything from fresh curd cheeses through to white mould cheeses to washed rinds, blues and hard cheeses.
A few cheeses they produce have been born of “happy accidents”. Ceridwen, who today runs Milawa Cheese as its CEO, shares the story of an intern who accidentally turned on the goat’s milk vat instead of the cow’s milk vat for the Camembert, resulting in Milawa's first Goat’s Milk Camembert. Another cheese, called the Ceridwen, a fresh goat’s milk cheese with a grapevine ash and a white mould exterior was originally meant to taste more like the Loire Valley’s Sainte-Maure de Touraine. “It's nothing like or similar to de Touraine but it's still a lovely cheese,” says Ceridwen. Similarly, the ‘Milawa White’ was originally supposed to be a Milawa Blue, but somewhere along the line a mistake was made and the team liked it so much they kept making it. “It's basically a blue without the blue,” says Ceridwen. You can taste (and buy) all the Milawa cheeses by visiting their factory in Milawa. They have a tasting room on-site, as well as a French restaurant, a bakery, the Wood Park Wines cellar door, an art gallery and a gift shop so there are plenty of other reasons to visit too. If you’re interested in checking out the wider area, Brown Brothers (no relation!) winery is just down the road.
When they started Milawa Cheese Co., David and Anne (alongside a few others including Tarago River Cheese Company and Meredith Dairy) inadvertently became pioneers of the Australian specialist cheese industry, and it’s really only been since then that the industry has existed in Australia. The last decade in particular has seen a real boom with small, artisan cheesemakers making exciting cheese all over the country. But despite the increase, Milawa Cheese Co. remains a frontrunner in the industry. It’s why they were voted the best in the MOULD – A Cheese Festival 2 People’s Choice competition across all 0 • cities and all sessions in 2018. 1 9
Presented by
MOULD
DAIRY AUSTRALIA
Find out more about the dairy industry’s commitment to sustainabil ity at
D A I R Y M A T T E R S .C O M . A U
B E YO N D THE TA B L E Ian Campbell from Queensland’s Barambah Organics is so focused on the welfare of his herd that he found himself instinctively checking his wife’s gums during her pregnancy. “He’d check to see if I was deficient in anything,” says Jane Campbell, “just like he does with our cows.”
� A highly trained rural scientist who specialises in animal nutrition, Ian can tell just by looking at their gums whether his cows need more minerals or vitamins, and is able to add them to their feed (made up of organic grain grown on the property, equating to about 20% of the cows’ diet) to prevent or stave off potential disease. Of course, he rarely needs to. The Campbell’s 800-strong herd are free to roam the lush Barambah paddocks, getting the nutrients they need from the “virtual salad bowl” of mixed grasses that cover the rich soil of their property on the Queensland-New South Wales border.
� The Campbells moved their operation to the Border Rivers Region in 2006 because of its proximity and access to reliable water. “You just can’t be in the dairy industry without reliable water,” says Jane. Prior to that, they farmed in the Queensland region of South Burnett, about 400 kilometres northeast, on a site that had been farmed by Ian’s family since 1912. Ian converted the fourth-generation family farm, ‘Spring Creek’, to organic status in 1999. In 2002, he and Jane produced their first bottle of milk under the Barambah Organics brand. � The awards and accolades won by Barambah for their dairy products, most recently a Champion award at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards for their Light Milk, are proof that their practices and processes, as well as skill and experience, make for phenomenal dairy products. � For Kym Masters of Section28 Artisan Cheese in the Adelaide Hills, quality care is the only way to yield quality milk, and therefore quality cheese, which was the reason he decided to source all the milk for his alpinestyle cheeses from Glenmax Holstein Dairy when he started his operation four years ago. Owned and run by Andrew and Sonya Maxwell, Glenmax Holsteins is renowned for its herd management practices and was recently elected into the Holstein Breeder’s Association Hall of Fame. The milk they produce has a cell count of at least 10, and often 20, times better than the Australian standard. The dairy’s close proximity to Master’s cheesery – just seven kilometres separate the two – also means a reduction in food miles. � “From the cheesemaker’s perspective, if you don’t have high quality milk, you can’t make high quality cheese,” he says. The awards he’s won are testament to this: both his Monforte and Monte Diavolo won Champion
“It drives environmental sustainability and allows them to ensure their cows’ health.”
at the Australian Grand Dairy Award in 2018. � The Maxwell’s cows spend almost all their time outdoors, roaming the soft, grassy pastures of the Adelaide Hills, coming inside only to be milked. It’s the same at Barambah Organics. Cows – stocked at a rate of one cow per five acres of prime agricultural pasture – spend almost all their time outside. They’re even given time off from milking – about 100 cows are rested at any one time, often for periods of two or three months. The size of Barambah allows Jane and Ian to often rest whole paddocks, too – they have space enough to move cows to other paddocks while they let the soils and grasses regrow and regain health and vitality, which benefits the cows as well as the land. “We don’t want to exhaust the land or exhaust the animals,” says Jane “We’d just end up exhausting ourselves.” Both dairy farmers say that the death or illness of one of their animals is akin to a death or illness in their families; another reason why the health of their cows is paramount. � Excellent dairy practices are also important when it comes to producing quality milk, and keeping the animals healthy and happy. A clean dairy – clean milking teats, clean machinery clean pipes and so on – is key. “It’s how clean is your kitchen, effectively,” says Masters. Running a clean dairy often also means running an effective, sustainable dairy, too. “Andrew and Sonya made the call that it’s better for their animals and better for their milk to run a minimum input farming operation,” says Masters.
� At Barambah Organics, aside from paddock and crop rotation, the other sustainability practices the Campbells have implemented include proper and natural irrigation thanks to the farm’s proximity to water. They also provide housing and cover living expenses for their staff at the farm, and have a very low turnover as a result. At the processing factory in Brisbane, solar panels provide much of the site’s electricity, and in October last year, they again began using glass bottles to package their milk. “For us, we do everything we can to make sure we’re not harming our animals or the land in what we do,” says Jane. “Our conscience dictates that we have to find packaging and processes that are not harmful, and make sure we’re leaving a lesser footprint.”
� While the examples given here are exceptional, the quality of animal care and therefore milk in Australia on average is overwhelming high. “The average dairy farmer really loves their animals,” says Jane.
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Written
NICK H A DD OW
W H ATˇS T H E STO RY WITH R AW MILK CHEESES?
M O U L D
The subject of raw milk and raw milk cheese has been a hot topic for as long as I have been making cheese. There are some very strong opinions (and often not a lot of facts) on both sides of the debate. It is symbolic of the divide that exists in many areas of our food production, namely the chasm of disconnect that often lies between the producer, the scientists and the consumers.
� So why does the issue of raw versus pasteurised milk cheese get people’s backs up so much? Possibly it is the tradition. But more than that, I think this debate goes to the core of the discontent much of society feels when our food gets manipulated. We feel like our autonomy is being threatened, our ability to live the life we choose, make our own decisions and be guided by our own common sense. We tolerate this in almost every aspect of our lives, but when it happens to our food, we seem to take it more as a personal attack. � Pasteurisation of milk is an excellent thing… when it is needed. For well over a century it has prevented diseases including tuberculosis, brucellosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and Q fever and has made milk a globally important source of food. � Pasteurisation is the name given to the heat treatment of milk (and other liquid foods such as juice, eggs and beer) to destroy pathogenic bacteria, which can cause illness. Pasteurisation does not sterilise the milk but it does destroy most of the good bacteria as well as all of the bad. The process temperature can vary and it is always in combination with a minimum time. The typical standard in the dairy industry is to process at 72°C (162°F) for 15 seconds. Pasteurisation (and refrigeration) is the reason milk now has a use-by date; some 2–3 weeks after it has left the farm. In contrast, UHT milk has been heated to a minimum
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of 138°C (280°F) for 2 seconds. This destroys all the bacteria in the milk, which is why it does not need to be refrigerated and has a ridiculous shelf life. It also denatures the proteins and caramelises the natural sugar in the milk, which is why it tastes so awful. Even when kept at less than 2°C (36°F) raw milk will start to deteriorate – it has a lifespan of 4–8 days because of the naturally occurring bacteria. � Food Safety. Because pasteurisation kills bacteria, it is the first and foremost reason countries in the West have mandatory pasteurisation laws for all commercial dairy products. It is a safety net designed to protect the lowest common denominator. However, these laws are becoming less defensible because unsafe cheese can still be made using pasteurised milk. Raw milk cheese can be made safely. It happens every day, in dozens of countries by thousands of cheesemakers.
If we start with fresh, clean milk from healthy animals raised in good conditions, and process it into cheese using sound practices that respect some basic principals of microbiology, then safe cheese will always be the result.
� Raw milk from healthy animals is, fundamentally, a safe food. It is a complete food source for newborn mammals, rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, hormones and bacteria. In fact, it is close to being a perfect growth medium for these vital bacteria. But it is also the perfect growth medium for pathogenic bacteria. � Cheese is a fermented food. Fermentation is a natural and ancient food preservation technique which can render unsafe foods safe. The primary fermentation in cheese is the conversion of lactose (the sugar in milk) into lactic acid. This job is done by bacteria, which occur naturally in milk. � Cheesemaking is basically the process of acidification (fermentation) of milk and the removal of water. This acidification is crucial in producing
a safe cheese. It is important because through fermentation, these good bacteria will decrease the pH of the milk, producing an unfavourable environment for the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Also, the proliferation of the good bacteria will produce an environment which is strongly competitive, making it difficult for colonies of the pathogenic bacteria to establish in harmful numbers. This is especially the case for raw milk. � In cheesemaking, post-pasteurisation contamination is a real risk. This is because pasteurisation removes much of the good bacteria as well as all the bad. The good bacteria form a natural defence in the milk, and if this defence mechanism is removed or compromised, then undesirable bacteria can become established and flourish quickly. This is why rapid acidification of pasteurised milk is
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an essential step in cheesemaking. In Europe, many cheeses are made with ‘pre-ripened milk’. Pre-ripening is the process of adding a small amount of lactic acid-producing bacteria to the milk stored at a warm temperature (usually 10°C– 20°C/50°F–68°F) for up to 12 hours before it is made into cheese. This is done to proliferate the good bacteria. It also develops better flavours in the milk and cheese. In Europe, for many cheeses it is a legal requirement to do this. The milk for Comté (the biggest selling cheese in France), for example, is legally not allowed to drop below 10°C (50°F). This practice is unfortunately largely illegal in Australia, the UK and the USA. Still, there are those who maintain that pasteurisation is essential to producing safe cheese. There are also those (including some very highly regarded scientists) who see pasteurisation as a threat to food safety.
� We were making cheese long before we had food scientists, and we are playing catch-up a bit. For the past 50 years or so we have taken a very conservative, risk-averse approach to food production – one that has shunned centuries of traditional food production and relied wholly on the point of view of science. This has resulted in many of our traditional foods being compromised or lost. Today there is a better understanding of the time-proven methods that have long produced food that is safe and pleasurable, so that science can now inform our food production, alongside tradition, rather than dictate to it. � Fl avour. Fans of raw milk cheese maintain that pasteurisation destroys the natural flora in the milk which deliver so much of the character and flavour of the cheese. This is true but it is not an absolute truth.
Raw milk cheese does have more character than the same cheese made on the same day from the same milk, only pasteurised.
This is a taste test I have done several times, with several different cheeses in several different locations. The results have always been clearly in favour (and flavour) of the raw milk version. � But that does not mean that all raw milk cheese has superior flavour to pasteurised milk cheese. I have tried some bloody revolting raw milk cheese in my time (i’ve even made a few of them). Likewise, I have also tasted plenty of pasteurised milk cheeses that have made me swoon (i’d like to think that I was responsible for a few of those, too). � In the 90s I worked at Neal’s Yard Dairy in London – a veritable library rich with UK artisan and farmhouse cheeses, staffed by some of the most cheese-obsessed individuals on the planet. On any given day the slate tasting bench groaned under the weight of around 100 different cheeses, sourced from every nook and cranny of Britain and Ireland. All but five were unpasteurised. At lunch, the staff had free access to the full range and it never ceased to amaze me that these cheese freaks who spent their days espousing the flavour benefits of raw milk cheese, routinely selected Colston M Basset Stilton, by law made with pasteurised milk, O for their own sustenance. The reason was simple: U it tasted utterly incredible. L D
� Terrior and integrity. Terroir is the essence of the place where a cheese is made. It is what gives a cheese its unique, regional character. Terroir is influenced by everything that makes a place unique. It is an expression of a cheesemaker’s integrity and unfortunately, pasteurisation is the enemy of this integrity. As a cheesemaker, I want to be able to use my skills to make the best cheese possible. Being made to use pasteurised milk does not allow me to do this.
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The rich flora found in raw milk is determined by several factors: the breed, age and health of the animal, the soil, the climate, the pasture, the supplementary feed such as hay or silage, the quality of the air and water the animal consumes; to list just a few of the big ones.
Combined, these produce a milk which is true and unique to that specific animal and farm. Pasteurisation removes much of that special character. ďż˝ In Europe, this is taken very seriously. Protected Appellations of Origin (PDO) is a system to ensure that these characters are not compromised or lost. In the Australian wine industry, we now place a high value on the terroir of wines. It is what sets two wines of the same variety, vintage and region apart. Yet in Australia, it is a conundrum to me that we do
not value terroir in cheese. In fact, we are legally obliged to stamp it out through pasteurisation. Yet, artisan and farmhouse cheesemakers in countries like Australia rely on this point of differentiation from more commercially produced cheeses which are becoming more and more competitive on quality and price but who are not in a position to make raw milk cheese. These regulations must be changed; not only to recognise that raw milk cheese can be made safely but also to allow for the development of real cheese with true regional character.
This is an edited extract from MILK. MADE. By Nick Haddow published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $29.99 and is available in stores nationally.
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Written
ANTHONY FEMIA From Maker & Monger
A F F I N A G E, O R THE ART OF AGING CHEESE
Affinage (pron. Aff-in-arge) is the age-old technique of maturing cheese. It is such a unique skillset that there isn’t a direct English translation. M O U L D
� In 2012, I was awarded the Churchill Fellowship’s Jack Green scholarship which allowed me to study this craft with cheese whisperer Ivan Larcher in France, at Neal’s Yard Dairy in London’s Borough Markets and at Jasper Hill Cellars in Vermont, USA. There is no degree or diploma in affinage – instead it is learnt through experience and guidance from a mentor. An understanding of microbiology and dairy science is a must, as the science learnt helps when viewing, smelling, touching and tasting a cheese during its time spent ripening. � It is a combination of alchemy, sensory evaluation and science which allows an affineur, or cheese maturation expert, to help guide a cheese to its full potential. In order for the affineur to understand what the cheesemaker is trying to achieve in flavour, texture and aroma, they need to have an understanding of the farm itself: the soil, grass, animal breed and cheesemaking techniques. All these variables play a significant part in the flavour profile and life of a cheese – variations in feed, weather, animal lactation and so on mean
no two batches of cheese are ever the same. Just as the cheesemaker has to adapt their recipes, the affineur must adapt their processes to get the best out of the cheese.
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� An affineur exists for two reasons. The first is that they possess a specialised skillset which makes for a better end product. The second is to provide an instant cash flow for the cheesemaker: as an affineur buys cheese from the maker straight away, it frees up the financial and logistical pressures of holding stock for up to two years without seeing a return on the cost of making that cheese. � To mature a cheese properly, an affineur must have a facility (or cave) with a temperature range of 8ºC–12ºC, a minimum relative humidity of 80% and minimal airflow within the facility. If the room is too cold, the rind doesn’t develop. If it’s too hot, the cheese develops too quickly and releases a lot of carbon dioxide. Not enough humidity and too much airflow causes the rind to die and the cheese fails to develop its full potential – it dries and cracks and becomes bland.
There are two types of affinage in the cheesemaking world: � One ― The first is the purist way, which is simply guiding the cheese to its peak condition. The affineur uses simple techniques, brushing the rind or washing with a basic brine, to remove unwanted bacterium and allow the natural microflora of the milk and what’s in the facility to grow the cheese. If the milk is of high quality, then the finished product will reflect this beauty. The affineur’s job is to help the product reach this peak. This pure form of maturation thrives in the raw milk cheese industry where the milk has a vast array of microflora and flavournoids waiting to reveal themselves in the finished product. Examples include Marcel Petite Comté (the best in the world) and Neal’s Yard Dairy, which has reinvigorated the British cheese industry with the resuscitation of heritage territorial cheeses.
� Two ― The second way is aging to enhance flavour and texture. This is more popular in the pasteurised milk and industrial cheesemaking worlds where, through the process of pasteurisation, the microflora in the milk is destroyed and the cheesemaker needs to increase the use of cheese cultures. For the affineur, this means extra techniques in the cheese maturation room; such as setting the temperature above 12ºC, excessive washing of the rind to increase the bacterial development, dunking the cheese in wine to mask inefficiencies in the milk or introducing advanced ripening agents to speed up the maturation process. This is how a bulk cheddar can have the flavour of a two-year-old cheese after only three month’s maturation.
� As you can see, maturing cheese via the managing of a microflora environment is a lifelong learning in dairy science, cheesemaking and animal husbandry. The key to being a successful affineur is the connections made with each cheesemaker, the ability to develop an understanding of what they want to achieve with their milk and providing them with proper feedback regarding their precious product when you notice a cheese has not reached its full potential. An affineur is forever learning new scientific discoveries regarding the bacterium in milk and the microflora present in their cave and how each individual strain of DNA present in the room and within the cheese imparts a certain characteristic to the flavour, texture and aroma of the cheese. Alchemy at its finest! The old adage is blessed are the cheesemakers, but I say blessed is the cheese microflora!
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GO WITH YOUR GUT SHARON FLYNN THE FERMENTARY Along with our famous kimchis and sauerkrauts, at MOULD we’ll be celebrating mould, naturally, and bacteria by featuring our kefir-cultured butter, milk kefir, cultured labneh, and sake lees crackers. You can find recipes for all of these in my book Ferment for Good: Ancient Foods for the Modern Gut. • Available to purchase at thefermentary.com.au and at MOULD – A Cheese Festival.
What Western medicine has historically seen as merely a digestive system that has to work, Eastern culture has seen as a central theme to their medical structure. The Japanese refer to the gut as onaka, "honoured middle" and hara, "centre of the spiritual and physical strength". However, the West is catching up, if only because of the explosion of gastrointestinal diseases and high incidence M of declining gut health, including obesity, allergic reactions, chronic inflammatory conditions and O autoimmune disorders. More recently, it’s being increasingly suggested that psychological conditions, U such as depression and anxiety, are linked to the health of our guts. L D
The decline of fermentation in Western countries through the 19th and 20th centuries came as agriculture became progressively industrialised and homogenised. At the same time, science developed increasing knowledge of the dangers of pathogens. Louis Pasteur invented the simple method of heating milk to 60°C for about 30 minutes, which kills the organisms that lead to spoilage and sickness. Pasteurisation has saved a vast number of lives, but Pasteur failed to recognise the complexity of the microbial world, seeing all bacteria as germs to be eradicated, rather than potential life-enhancing allies. Almost 150 years after the invention of pasteurisation, a 2010 study in Vermont compared bacteria levels in raw milk with the 1970s. Whereas microbe counts in the 1970s showed millions of bacteria in each millilitre, the 2010 study showed that 86% of milk samples destined to be turned into raw milk cheese contained fewer than 10,000 bacteria per millilitre and 42% contained fewer than 1,000 per millilitre. We are seeing a mass destruction of the microbial world. We now know that what we are seeing (and what our guts are feeling), is human-created; a direct result of our obsessive need for control over microbes at any cost, driven by Pasteur’s teachings to destroy pathogens across our world and create a blank slate from which we can control all outcomes. The consequences are vast and the solutions are complex and multiple; but for our guts to be healthy, we need to eat a diet rich in as many varieties of microbes as we can access. And through the industrialisation of our food system, we rarely encounter the microbial life we need for good gut health. Take the dairy industry as an example. They have used one breed of cow almost exclusively since the 1950s, the Holstein, and have bred them to produce staggering quantities of milk. In order to produce this milk, the cows can no longer source enough calories through their traditional diet of grass, which has resulted in the global industrialisation of their feed through a few, international companies. To put it simply; one type of cow now eats one type of food around the world – which, of course, means that they produce one type of milk, which is then pasteurised. Industrial cheesemakers then add industrially produced starter cultures, made in only three global company’s labs. By losing the terroir of cheese, we are left with a microbial homogeneity. Obviously, if this process were only happening to cheese, it would be only a loss to our tastebuds – but this story is being repeated across the
agricultural world, and our microbiome is telling the tale.
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At The Fermentary, we approach things differently. We see microbes almost like companion species. We work with them to produce deliciously wild fermented produce that are filled with billions of bacteria who then engage with your gut companions. We believe that fermentation connects us all to the wider universe. We are no longer solitary beings, trundling through life as islands. We are, each of us, universes for microbiome, that existed billions of years before we came on the scene and will be around for billions of years after we leave. Ferments made by different people differ from each other because of who made them, where they were made and what they were made from, where those were made and a myriad of other reasons that all connect us to a greater sense of what the Buddhists called anatta, or non-selfhood. At The Fermentary we honour this tradition by never using heat, chemicals, additives, or forced carbonation – we trust the microbes to do their job, with us guiding them to what we want. We like to think that this attitude to fermentation is the global norm rather than the exception. It is present through many traditional cuisines, including Japanese. Ingredients such as soy sauce, miso, mirin and sake are all fermented, reliant on the mould koji. A microbial powerhouse, koji was domesticated around 9,000 years ago, about the same time that herders in the Caucasus mountains were domesticating milk kefir grains to make yoghurt and cheese. Whereas milk kefir is now virtually unknown amongst the Western wider public; in Japan, koji holds celebrity status. Not only can you buy koji cell phone charms and read koji manga, there is a National Fungus Day on October 12, which celebrates the joys of this fermenting wunderkind. Although wild fermentation in Japan has suffered at the hands of the modern mentality of ‘faster, cheaper, more’, it has remained important within their culture and traditions, and their cuisine reflects this complexity. At The Fermentary, we use one of the byproduct of koji’s role in making sake. The tofu-like product, full of live bacteria and a delicious umami flavour, is called sake kasu (sake lees) and we use it to make delicious sake lees crackers. They are a wonderful example of someone else’s by-product being another person’s very tasty cracker. We are incredibly proud of this and all our products, and we stand firm in our belief that traditional, wild fermentation is one of the primary, and most delicious solutions to our gut health crisis.
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WINE CHEESE MATCHING IS GROSS. DISCUSS.
WRIT TEN BY
ANNA WEBSTER
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Most people would agree that wine and cheese are the perfect pairing, but in reality, the two don’t often work together. In some cases, the combination is positively gross.
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WITH THE THOUGHT S OF
MIKE BENNIE
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CLARE BURDER
First, a disclaimer; let us acknowledge that drinks pairing is very personal. You are, of course, entitled to do what you want, and this is as much opinion as it is science. Still, we’re not sure who, and when, decided that cheese and wine were meant for each other. Wine writer and delicious. magazine drinks editor Mike Bennie thinks it was borne from convention, fostered by lack of imagination and encouraged by a perpetuation of classic wine and food thinking (i.e., cheese comes at the end of a meal when the heavy reds do too). Wine educator and writer Clare Burder thinks that we took the few wine and cheese pairings that do work and concluded that they all do.
NOW, CONSIDER THIS. “When you eat cheese, you get a lactic buildup in your palate, which ends up negating a lot of the nuance in wine,” says Bennie. “If you’re drinking a big red and you have a cheddar alongside it, the creaminess of the cheddar will end up staining your palate in a way that means you won’t be able to appreciate the wine. Nor will the wine be able to cut through that creaminess in order to refresh your palate and encourage another mouthful." “It creates a sluggish, pleasure-less experience, like stuffing cottage cheese through fishnet stockings. It’s just not the right combo in terms of the way things fit in your mouth.” Burder agrees. “Pairing wine and cheese is largely a disservice to both,” she says, especially with wines that are high in tannin. “Tannins in wine bind with the fat in cheese leaving everything else behind and forcing the cheese to dissolve in the wrong way in your mouth.”
One of the most famous is Comté and Vin Jaune (“Yellow Wine” made from white savagnin grapes), both from the Jura in France. Vin Jaune is made in a similar way to sherry (although Vin Jaune is unfortified), and like sherry and some dry vermouth, its intensity and pungency can stand up to cheese. It is, says Bennie, “the most sublime food and drink pairing in the galaxy.” More conventional wine and cheese pairings exist, too. Sauvignon Blanc and fresh goat’s cheese is a firm favourite of Burder’s and she also believes that there’s room for success between Chardonnay (although be careful with oak) and white mould cheeses. Sparkling wine can also work really well, thanks to a hint of sweetness and the cleansing cut-through of its bubbles.
Soft cheeses in particular can make red wine taste metallic, thanks to trace compounds of iron in wine which can bind to aldehydes created during the cheese fermentation process.
While white wines tend to be a safer bet than red, fruity reds can often do the trick, and this comes down to sugar. “The savoury, umami, salty flavours in cheese are elevated by sugar,” she says, so, like eating cheese with quince paste, pairing cheese with a wine that’s on the sweeter side can really work well.
Bennie and Burder both believe there are much better pairing alternatives (namely beer, cider, sake and whisky), but for those of us who want to keep the wine and cheese dream alive, it’s not completely hopeless. There are a couple of pairings that work well.
Whatever you do though, and disclaimer aside, avoid big reds and cheddar. “The classic, men-in-suits-kind-of-dining always crescendos into a slab of cheddar and a big, thick, rich Shiraz,” says Bennie. “That is fucking horror. It’s no good.”
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SAKE W RIT T EN BY
MATT YOUNG
CHEESE FROM
BLACK MARKET SAKE
HEES
In my early years working in restaurants I had looked for the somewhat classic approach to matching cheese: tannic red wine with cheddar, port wine with blue cheese, and so on. But I came to the realisation that these were examples of wines that only just stood up to the character of the cheese and obliterated some of the more nuanced elements of both. After much sake tasting and cheese sampling I realised that sake really does come to the rescue. It can handle big flavours in cheese without overwhelming the other elements that make cheese so delicious. It almost magnifies the delicious nature of cheese. To understand this more we have to understand something called ‘umami ’. Both cheese and sake are full of umami. Umami is the Japanese word combining umai (delicious) and mi (essence) and is considered the ‘fifth’ taste after sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Technically, umami refers to glutamate, a type of amino acid, which occurs naturally in many foods such as meat, fish, vegetables and various dairy products including cheese.
M O U L D
I M AG E :
MUTEMUKA SHUZO – KOCHI
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In my previous life as a sommelier, one of the big questions I had was ‘how can I match a beverage to cheese in all of its wondrous variations?’ There was no simple answer - until I delved into the world of sake.
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In the production of sake, the protein in the rice is broken down leaving amino acids. The amount of amino acids depends on the length of fermentation and strength of the yeast (among other factors). The amino acids that remain give sake its robust, gamey and often succulent flavour profile. With cheese, long maturation enables more of the milk protein to decompose into amino acids, (think two-year-old Parmigiano-Reggiano vs fresh mozzarella as an example). This aging plays an important part in the taste of cheese. These amino acids, found in both sake and cheese, provide umami with its richness and savoury quality. This makes them pair well and complement each other across a spectrum of styles and flavours. There is a certain ‘supporting ’ element in matching sake to cheese as if the sake is there to highlight the flavour in the cheese without overpowering the more delicate elements. So the next time you’re in search of the perfect match to a delicious wedge of dairy goodness, have a glass of sake - I promise you won’t be disappointed. AVAILABLE FROM: BLACKMARKET SAKE.COM – FROM $72.00
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MOVE OVER WINE IT'S TIME FOR BEER… CHEESE I have spent many glorious years working in the beer industry and for over half of it I have extolled the virtues of pairing beer to food. I have also been witness to one of the greatest drinks revolutions of all time. Craft breweries have popped up on street corners, farmhouse ciders are everywhere, artisan distillers are creating incredible gins and whiskies, mixologists have turned cocktail making into an art form and yet…
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Wine continues to be the default term, the catchall, when it comes to referencing these incredible alcoholic beverages as a collective or when discussing food pairings.
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Think about it. Restaurants still proudly offer up their ‘wine ’ list even though we know that it’s also where they’ve listed cocktails, spirits and beers. The plethora of ‘food and wine’ festivals that focus just as much on other booze, (this completely baffles me that they’re not called ‘food and drink’ festivals), and then there is the common belief, taken on the gospel by the majority, that wine is the best partner to cheese. Think about how many wine and cheese events you have sat through, and how many other cheese pairing events there are by comparison. Now, I am in no way anti-wine, but can we please move on from wine being held up as the pinnacle for all great food pairings, especially cheese. Yes, I realise that it’s seen to be more romantic to share a bottle of wine over a cheese platter, but is it actually the best partnership? Let’s look at beer and why beer is such a great pairing to cheese. We are pretty spoilt in Australia with the quality of our local cheese producers who either have arrangements with dairy farmers or farm their own animals, producing various milk types from cow and goat to sheep and buffalo. It’s this milk that provides the backbone of cheese and is responsible for the rich, palate-coating gooeyness, the ooze or age or textural sensations that we all adore in cheese. These
sought-after properties require a pairing that can cut through this gratifying luxuriance while also highlighting and enhancing the nuances of the cheese’s character. This is where beer is in its element. Its lively carbonation works perfectly as a palate cleanser, cutting through those tongue-coating properties we relish in cheese.
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Beer has also evolved in Australia over the years and we now have the most diverse spectrum of styles we have ever seen, creating the perfect backdrop to the perfect pairing. Beer’s flavour profile is complex and it's easy to find characteristics in a beer that will complement or contrast the many flavours found in cheese. The grass and feed that dairy animals eat influence the flavour of their milk and the cheese produced by it. Similarly, the provenance of malting grain has a profound influence on the flavour of beers. It’s no surprise then that the two mirror and complement each other. Having hosted over 200 beer and cheese events, the greatest thrill I get is that look of astonishment that the two can work so harmoniously together. So please, consider beer when you next plate up your cheese platter, buy a few different styles and then just experiment with the various combinations. Guaranteed, it will be worth it!
WRITTEN BY
KIRRILY WALDHORN
HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAVOURITE PAIRINGS FROM OVER THE YEARS: FRESH GOAT’S CHEESE WITH A BELGIAN-STYLE WITBIER A very elegant pairing where the citric I nature of the goat’s cheese meets the citrus spicing of the witbier.
COMTÉ IV
WASHED RIND WITH A BARREL-AGED FARMHOUSE ALE Funk on funk, flavour on flavour, II intensity on intensity
ROQUEFORT WITH A STOUT A classic pairing! The stout behaves like the prune and walnut log, soften V ing the intensity of the blue with the creaminess of both the beer and cheese complementing each other perfectly.
BRIE WITH A KOLSCH The spritzy carbonation cuts through III the creamy palate of the Brie and both have a similar intensity of flavour.
WITH AN IPA The earthy and nutty characters of the cheese are juxtaposed to caramel malt and punchy hops merging together seamlessly.
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WHISKY
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(ALWAYS CARRY A JAFFLE IRON) H ISK
Let's get one thing straight immediately. • The information I am about to deliver may lead you down the irreversible life-path of spending the majority of your downtime sitting at home with your favourite ASDA cheese selection, a not too expensive single malt, all while deciding on whether you should watch the entire next season of Game of Thrones back-to-back or just stare blankly at the wall while the inevitable destruction of your entire social existence happens around you. • Either way you win.
M O U L D
W RIT T EN BY
SEAN BAXTER
FROM
NEVER NEVER DISTILLING CO.
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WHISKY AND CHEESE IS THAT GOOD. I first stumbled upon the unlikely pairing of whisky and cheese in the early hours of a Sunday morning. Fuelled on whisky highballs and half-priced tinnies, I thought it would be a good idea to turn to the only thing that I own that could deliver third-degree burns instantly, and of course made a cheese jaffle. I emptied the meagre yet relatively exotic contents of the refrigerator cheese shelf onto two slices of Wonder White and slapped it into a jaffle iron. I then poured myself a glass of smoky whisky and proceeded to wait the agonising seven minutes before I knew I could attempt to eat the toasted cheese laser I was currently compiling using the famous ‘bite and blow’ technique made famous by my father.
It all makes so much sense. Dry wine isn’t built to handle the sharp saltiness, fatty oiliness or pungent mouldiness of strong cheeses. That’s of course discounting most dessert wines, which work largely because you’re drinking fig paste.
The result was out of this world. Cataclysmic. Divine. Yes, I was already a little belted and probably didn’t know any better but the combination of hot, oozing mozzarella, bubbling cheddar and liquefied Danish blue alongside the smoke and spice of a peated whisky was simply perfection. I felt like I had discovered the Rosetta stone of culinary food experiences, a connection between the indecipherable twaddle rolled-out in modern cheese pairings and the spirit of the common (Scots)man.
It’s like going to a rave in your late 30s. It’s all too loud, it smells like sweat and there’s more acid then you remember.
Indeed, cheese and whisky go together like butter on toast, which is hardly surprising considering the last metaphor also pairs a dairy-based fatty emulsification with a grain based product of fermentation and heat. They were simply built to belong together.
Whisky and cheese is also pretty much fool proof. As long as you can handle a neat dram and know your way around the cheese counter at your favourite large supermarket chain, you’re bound to have a good time. This is unlike the comparatively impossible minefield of choosing the $20 bottle of chardonnay that’s somehow tasked with the unenviable role of trying to fight the 200 odd years of English cloth cheddar tradition in a single mouthful.
It all comes down to mouthfeel. Whisky flavour profiles are powerful compositions, built on foundations of malt and grass, lengthened with honeyed oak or ocean-washed brine and assisted by high alcohol. These flavours complement the rich and buttery textures of the world’s greatest cheeses. They linger and develop together, rather than fighting against each other. They become greater than the sum of their parts and forge independent flavour nuances that can’t be found in the various products separately.
Put simply, they complement each other texturally, making confident pairings easier to achieve. So next time you sit down with a single malt, flick on the jaffle iron. You won’t be disappointed. Unless you’re watching the next season of Game of Thrones . All the dragons die.
TOP TIPS Smoky Islay Scotch whisky paired with decadent triplecream French blue cheese.
Honeyed Highland Scotch whisky paired with an English crumbly cheddar.
Fruity Speyside Scotch whisky paired with a nutty Gouda or grassy Comté.
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For many, cheese is a deal-breaker when it comes to making (or even considering) the leap into veganism. “Even more than bacon,” says Shannon Martinez, co-owner and chef of Melbourne’s wildly successful vegan eateries Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli. Written by Anna Webster
Fuck bacon, cheese is where it's at!
VEGAN CHEESE with Shannon Martinez
̇ ̇ ̇ Just five years ago, options for non-dairy cheese were grim. Martinez describes one that “had the texture of putty” and “came in a log, like dog food.” It was, she says, all that was available, once. But now, there’s vegan cheddar, fetta, mozzarella and more being made all over the world, with countries like Greece and Germany leading the charge. Martinez herself makes a vegan ricotta that’s impossible to differentiate from the real thing, and a vegan Roquefort that even the world’s best cheesemonger begrudgingly admitted was delicious. ̇ ̇ ̇ Despite her sorcery in the kitchen, Martinez isn’t actually vegan. She fell into it by accident M after repeated requests for vegan food during her O time as chef at the East Brunswick Club. “I was U being asked more and more often for vegan L D
options and so I started looking into vegan food and created a small menu just so I could make my life easier,” she says.
“It went ape shit and that’s when the penny dropped for me – there were so many vegans out there, and no one was cooking for them.“ ̇ ̇ ̇ Fifteen years on, Martinez’s Smith & Daughters has been named the best vegan restaurant in the world by Big Seven Media (“Technically third, but the first two on the list weren’t actually vegan,” she says), an acknowledgment which she says is a huge step in the right direction for vegan food. This changing perception of what vegan food can be, an
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increase in dietary intolerances, and the ready availability of vegan foods in large supermarket chains like Coles and Woolworths (who stock a range of vegan cheese among other animal-free products), are all contributing to a growing acceptance of vegan lifestyles; helping those contemplating to take the plunge. ̇ ̇ ̇ The improvement in quality is having a huge impact too. Fewer corners are being cut, and more effort is being taken to ensure a better finished product. Take Martinez’s Roquefort. She uses real Roquefort culture in her vegan version and ages it for 12 weeks to allow the blue mould to develop, resulting in a truly stinky, creamy cheese. One of her favourite producers is the Vegan Dairy (one half of whom is the daughter of the couple who run Boatshed Cheese), who make a range of fresh vegan cheeses (think ashed chèvre and marinated boursin) as well as vegan butter, yoghurt and cream on the Mornington Peninsula. ̇ ̇ ̇ Martinez also points to Green Vie, a company based in Greece, who make everything from vegan parmesan (she uses 30 kilograms of it a week at her restaurant, it’s that good!) to vegan gouda, vegan haloumi and vegan sour cream. “They use a coconut oil starch base to make everything. The coconut oil makes the cheeses a little harder to use as they are naturally a little bit greasier, but if used correctly they are phenomenal,” she says. ̇ ̇ ̇ The combination of coconut oil and starch gives the cheeses a melting quality which closely resembles that of dairy-based cheese, making it perfect to use on pastas or in bakes, burgers, pizzas, toasted sandwiches and more. It also makes the cheese
nut and soy free as well, making it suitable for dietary restrictions beyond just dairy.
Smith & Daughters 175 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065
̇ ̇ ̇ Martinez will admit that vegan cheese isn’t better than the real thing just yet, although it is good enough that she’ll happily eat it herself. It might never be better than the real thing, she says.
“Although it used to be disgusting, it's now actually super yum, so it’s come a long way in the past five years. It’s happened fast! They’re growing meat in labs now, so who knows what the next five years will bring.“
BRANDS TO TRY Smith & Deli / Vegan Dairy / Green Vie / Extraordinary Foods / Vegan Perfection Importer
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Profile: JO BARRETT Executive Chef at Oakridge Yarra Valley
Caraway croissant with smoked trout, caviar and cultured cream. Potato with chocolate, coffee and orange. Rhubarb and native quandong cheesecake. These, and others like them, are the dishes Jo Barrett is known for, so it comes as a surprise to learn that the Oakridge chef once hated pastry. Written by Anna Webster
̇ ̇ ̇ “I did everything I could to avoid it,” she says. “I loved cooking where you could just throw a bit of this and a bit of that in, and pastry was so technical. Things had to be weighed properly, and I just didn’t understand it.”
would allow them to mill grain and bake bread and pastries for wholesale so they could save to open their own restaurant. But after repeated delays with the proposed site, they both accepted jobs at Oakridge in the Yarra Valley.
̇ ̇ ̇ Eventually, not being able to bake became too frustrating for Barrett. But serendipitously, she was cheffing at MoVida at the same time the MoVida Bakery opened in South Yarra. She put her hand up to go across and work in the kitchens at the bakery.
̇ ̇ ̇ This August will mark four years at the winery restaurant for Barrett and Stone, and although they’ve both become known for their honest, local, garden-to-plate cooking style, it’s here that Barrett’s reputation for desserts and pastry has really flourished. Her caraway croissant has attracted visitors to Oakridge since day one and was listed as one of the top 50 dishes that defined Australia in Gourmet Traveller in 2016. Her low waste ethos is demonstrated in many of her dishes, including her potato desserts, made from rescued potato skins that would otherwise be destined for the compost bin, and the gin orange parfait made from spent gin oranges from nearby Four Pillars distillery. Any leftover sourdough bread she’s baked gets turned into crackers for the
̇ ̇ ̇ “I’d never made bread before – I don’t think I even knew what sourdough was,” she says. She worked her way up the ranks, becoming second in charge under Michael James (James eventually bought the bakery, renaming it Tivoli Road). Then, after a stint with Shaun Quade designing dessert M menus for a number of restaurants, she left to plan O her own bakery with her partner and fellow chef U Matt Stone. They wanted something small that L D
we're serving ourselves.” Barrett grew up in a family where food and cooking and growing your own vegetables was really important (her grandmother was a chef, too), but even with this formative upbringing, running the restaurant and working the garden at Oakridge has taught her even more.
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̇ ̇ ̇ “I realise now how seasonal food is – not just what grows when, but you might have some bad weather and it wipes out a whole crop. Or it doesn't rain so the cows don't have any grass and you don't get enough milk to make cheese. ̇ ̇ ̇ “The first year we had the garden, we had a massive crop of tomatoes and we didn't know what to do with them – we were giving them away in the restaurant. And then the next year, we prepared for that again and had recipes and menus done, and then we didn't get any tomatoes at all.”
next day’s service, and any byproduct gets used in the creation of something else. ̇ ̇ ̇ She’s also a deft hand with Indigenous ingredients, topping lemon tarts with green ants, using mountain pepper berry in ice cream, combining Davidson plum with macadamia in a Swiss roll, and many other uses. All the produce used at Oakridge is either grown onsite or elsewhere in the Valley, however they’ll make exceptions for produce they've foraged for themselves, even if that’s saltbush from the coastline. ̇ ̇ ̇ About two years ago, cheesemaker Colin Wood implemented a cheese program
at Oakridge after a surprise allocation of milk from local biodynamic micro-dairy Little Yarra Dairy. When he left the restaurant in mid-2017, Barrett took over and has been making cheese – everything from Brie and washed rinds to blue and feta – ever since.
̇ ̇ ̇ It’s fortunate that Barrett got over her dislike of baking, because she’s become so good at it that she’s representing Australia at the World Trophy of Pastry, Gelato and Chocolate competition in Milan in October 2019. Along with her teammates – Adele Di Bella from Sydney and Bujinlkham Chuluunbaatar from the Gold Coast – Barrett will use the competition to showcase uniquely Australian ingredients (think bunya nuts, finger limes and blood limes) to an international audience.
“Milk is also turned into crème fraîche and butter – all the dairy on the menu is now made in-house.“
̇ ̇ ̇ “I only ever learnt pastry so I could become a better head chef and learn all the sections,” she says. “I never thought it would lead to this.”
̇ ̇ ̇ “It’s something we’re really proud of,” she says. “The goal was always to make whatever
Oakridge Restaurant 864 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream VIC 3770
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