COOKBOOK REVIEW: Australia Cooks edited by Kelli Brett

COOKBOOK REVIEW: Australia Cooks edited by Kelli Brett

ABC Books
May 2016
Hardback, $49.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Cooking

8.5 /10

Conceived and compiled by ABC Radio journalist Kelli Brett, Australia Cooks is a lavishly appointed attempt to explore the new food culture of Australia, featuring over sixty of the best recipes submitted by home cooks, as well as twenty stories and recipes from chefs from around the country.

As host of ABC Radio’s The Main Ingredient (winner of the World’s Best Food & Wine Radio Program award at Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards), and current editor of Cuisine magazine, Brett is uniquely placed to know what’s happening at both the high end of Australian haute cuisine, and in household kitchens across the land.

It’s this passion which stands out in Australia Cooks: home-grown produce, gorgeous photography, creatively cutting edge recipe ideas which are still simple enough to be sourced and replicated at home, all come together to create a simply gorgeous coffee-table styled tome which will undoubtedly bounce between your living room and kitchen.

In fact, it might just be easier to buy two copies: one to flick through, enjoying the essays and photos, and one to work from and splatter with the stains that only the best cookbooks accrue through years of faithful service in the hearth.

Combining the traditional cooking brought here by generations of multi-culturalism, with an exciting modern edge, Brett features a little of everything, from Wattleseed damper rolls; crayfish salad; upside-down ratatouille pie; beer-battered popcorn marron; kangaroo dumplings to die for; slow-cooked lamb shanks; quandong lamingtons; plum ice cream and lavender honey cake, offering a unique mix of old world and bush tucker ingredients and attitudes to create a wonderful snapshot of Australia’s modern cooking styles.

Category: Book Reviews