BEN SHEWRY
Award-winning chef Ben Shewry made his name in Melbourne, running one of Australia's best restaurants, Attica. But it was a farm in North Taranaki that first shaped his food philosophy, teaching him the importance of great produce.
I had a very rural, adventurous childhood. We didn’t have much money at all, but we never felt poor. We always had things to do, like whitebaiting, snorkelling for paua, kina [sea urchin], mussels and pipis.
Whitebait are endangered now, like any wild seafood that’s under pressure. Back in the early ’80s it was pretty plentiful, and whitebaiting was a national pastime. They are tiny and translucent, nothing like the whitebait in Australia. It’s a very slow way of fishing and you don’t get very much – a decent amount would be a cup of whitebait. That was the way I made pocket money, making $35 a kilo for my whitebait from the local butcher. It’s so delicate, and the best way to cook it is just with a little butter and a light toss. We also love to eat it in a fritter with whisked eggs.
I have a great affinity for paua [abalone] too. Paua fritters are something that I miss. We have mostly black-lipped abalone, and one of the ways we’d tenderise them was mincing them, using a cast-iron crank-handled mincer. We’d put paua through the mincer, then chopped onions, salt and pepper, parsley, eggs and flour, to make a fritter. They were always so delicious.
This story is from the April 2021 edition of Gourmet Traveller.
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This story is from the April 2021 edition of Gourmet Traveller.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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