Biota. Grow. Gather. Cook. - James Viles

This book is for all cooks.
It’s ok to lose your way: sometimes it’s needed.
For my beautiful family: Polly, Harriet and Henry.

You make me a better cook.
Contents
Cover
Title
Foreword – Peter Gilmore
A journey – James Viles
A meal with James – Josh Evans
How to use this book
Simple recipes
Garden
Farm
Forest
Glossary
The people of Biota
Index
Acknowledgements
Copyright
Foreword
Peter Gilmore, Executive Chef, Quay and Bennelong
restaurants, Sydney
In many ways James Viles is a man after my own

heart. His interest in the sheer diversity that nature
offers the chef and his passion for growing his own
produce have shaped and informed the way James
approaches his cuisine at Biota Dining.
James cooks in a very modern way and over the last four years he has
developed a personal style that truly embraces and reflects his local
environment. James has built genuine relationships with local farmers and
producers and these have become an integral part of his cuisine; the evidence
of this bears fruit on his menus.
This book represents James’ passion for his region and documents his
commitment to hunt and gather, grow and cultivate from his environment to
create a truly regional cuisine.
A journey
James Viles
What is biota? Not just the restaurant – biota is the

plant and animal life of a region, our region. To me,
biota is a notion, a philosophy that guides us towards
mother nature and helps us create from our local farms,
forests and gardens. We find ourselves making the
most of every ingredient. To some this would be called
a sustainable approach; to us it’s just a way of life.
But it didn’t start like that for me. At the age of 24 I was fresh into a
restaurant in Bowral in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, a small
town 690 metres above sea level with a yet-to-be-discovered diverse
microclimate. I thought I had found the food that I wanted to cook, food that
was pretty damned special – when, in fact, what I was cooking was food with
no home and no heart. I was working among a bounty of streams, wild meat,
weeds and lush roadside fruit, in a region that was untouched, raw and ready
and I didn’t even know it. I don’t remember visiting, talking to and learning
from the surrounding farms. I bought meat from a local butcher, but I didn’t
ask where it was from. I certainly don’t remember asking what breed it was
and what it was fed or for how long. I didn’t know that the oxalis growing in
the cobbled steps outside the kitchen door was one of the most beautiful
weeds I could find; I didn’t even notice its tiny yellow flowers come to life
for six weeks of the year. So what happened?
I went away, like many chefs. But I didn’t go to Europe and work in the best
Michelin kitchens; I went to the Middle East, to Dubai. I was an eager young
guy from the country and ready to see and experience everything I could, and
I did just that. I took a position as chef de cuisine of a 500-room hotel that
had over 200 chefs. I had never seen so many different nationalities, so many
different restaurants and cuisines in one place. The hotel was like its own
little city. I suddenly found myself running one of the top western-style
restaurants in the Middle East. It was two levels of pure excess – 30 chefs for
60 seats, the same in floor staff and me with my own office. Now why the
hell does a 25-year-old chef who should be cooking need an office? I found
that out very quickly – I would sit, 50 floors high in the Arabian sky, ordering
duck foie gras from France and goose foie gras from Morocco, branded
caviar from Russia, seafood from New Zealand, beef from Argentina,
Australia and the USA, fruit from Syria, lamb from Pakistan and vegetables
from France – all to the sound of the lunch service. For two years I learned
the politics of running a hotel kitchen; I cooked tastings for already well-fed
hotel executives; I made sure my uniform was pristine and that I looked the
part. I was young and it was all new.
‘I found myself driving and looking at the side of the

road more than the road itself, hoping to see the young
shoots of wild fennel or red stem dandelion. The more
I looked the more I found.’
Then I took on a role as executive chef of a five-star hotel in Oman. When I
got there, a cyclone had just ripped through the city of Muscat and the hotel
had to be closed down for five months for rebuilding. I have never felt so far
out of my depth. I had 110 chefs waiting to come back to work and five
restaurants to rebuild and refit. I had bitten off way more than I could chew,
but I chewed like buggery and we opened. And the same thing happened: I
wore a chef’s uniform and looked like a chef, but I didn’t cook; I didn’t even
touch the food I was ordering; sometimes I didn’t even know if it had come
in. Two years later, I was extremely well versed in supply chain logistics,
menu engineering and the running of a large multi-national kitchen, but I had
an itch.
So, I had experienced a small local restaurant with five staff, and a kitchen in
the Middle East that made Las Vegas feel organic. I had a choice to make. I
missed the country, I missed the smells, I missed Australia and I missed the
freedom to be myself. I was more mature and I had purpose, something that I
had never had before. I walked around this property in Bowral with my
father, and he kept saying, ‘Do you think we could make this something
special?’ My senses were alive: there were blackberries, dandelions, ducks,
water, honeysuckle, snakes, sorrel and clovers; the air was clean, the grounds
were lush, although somewhat wild, my heart was alive and I was excited. I
found myself asking questions: what is this, is it edible, how can I use it? I
was hungry for answers. I met local growers and farmers and they inspired
me; I went into the woods and there were deer to watch and mushrooms to
pick from the forest floor; I gathered lavender, wood sorrel, fiddle fern and
oily pine needles. I found myself driving and looking at the side of the road
more than the road itself, hoping to see the young shoots of wild fennel or
red-stem dandelion. The more I looked the more I found.
Finally, it was making sense; the ingredients and the food had found me
when I wasn’t looking. I was just aware of my surrounds and all I had to do
was join the dots and do things with integrity. I started asking, what is
produce to a chef? Is produce the same as ingredients? What is the difference
between a cook and a chef? I can only say what I think, but the reality of
produce versus ingredients is simple to me: produce belongs to the producers,
the farmers and growers who invest blood, sweat and tears in what they
believe; ultimately that belongs to mother nature. Ingredients, on the other
hand, belong to us, the cooks. We cook the ingredients that belong to the
environment, the producers and the growers. As cooks we have a
responsibility to treat the ingredients with good intent, and try to tell beautiful
stories of the habitat, connection and the producers.
This might sound very simple, but we are all at the mercy of mother nature in
everything we do; she is one variable that cannot be tamed. So why waste any
of our time trying to change her? Why waste energy trying to make tomatoes
grow for two months longer? Or try to pick saffron milk caps in the forest in
summer? We need to teach ourselves to be patient, be happy with what’s on
offer and use it to our best abilities.
‘If we, as cooks, set ourselves boundaries, a series of

borders, and train our hearts and minds to ask each
other questions, we might just end up with a plate of
food that makes sense.’
If we, as cooks, set ourselves boundaries, a series of borders, and train our
hearts and minds to ask each other questions, we might just end up with a
plate of food that makes sense. Does this dish need a garnish? Here’s a
question: what the hell is a garnish? Why do we need to make a beautiful
leek, pulled fresh from the garden, roots and all, look any better than it
already does? Why should a plump duck breast need a garnish – is it not
beautiful enough? So, if there is a weed on one of our duck dishes, it’s
because it belongs there, because the ducks were enjoying that weed before
we cooks set eyes on them.
It’s hard to cook like this at first. It’s hard in spring when everything around
you is blooming and you want to use every flower, every shoot. This is called
inspiration. It’s the best feeling in the world, but like all good things it needs
to be contained. That’s when the boundaries come in: a less is more
approach.
Sometimes I feel that I’ve wasted 20 years of my cooking life, but maybe I
needed to see things that didn’t make sense, and maybe those years were the
most important. I hope that I can keep discovering, learning and working
with nature to redefine regional Australian cuisine. This is what we are
working towards at Biota Dining. It won’t take months or even years: it will
take a lifetime, a special bond and a commitment to a region to do this.
The recipes and stories in this book don’t belong to me, they belong to biota:
not the restaurant, but the biota of our region. They belong to the people who
gather, grow, hunt and cook them, all of which means the world to me. Enjoy
these recipes from our region and if you can’t find an ingredient because it’s
not in season or not in the forest or at the farm near you, then think about
connection and habitat and ask yourself a few questions.
Cook with principles, cook with purpose and, most of all, cook with heart.
A meal with James
Josh Evans, Lead Researcher, Nordic Food Lab
James is cooking for a civilisation that has lost its

connection to nature, wants to regain it and does not
quite know how. Biota Dining is one vision of how this
reconnection looks and tastes. And it is as compelling
and broad-minded as it is delicious.
I got to know James by cooking with him at one of the First Fruit Dinners at
the Adelaide Festival in 2014. We sat 150 guests at long tables on the banks
of the Torrens, a magical late-summer place. I will try to share what I think is
remarkable about James and Biota through what we cooked that day.
We began by washing our hands. The day before we had been up in the
Basket Range in the Adelaide Hills, collecting final produce from our go-to
farm and seeing what might be available in the wild. The land was quite dry
so there was little in the way of greens, but we did come across a wild lemon
tree with flourishing healthy boughs. We cut off a couple and kept them cool
in the fridge overnight. When guests arrived the next evening, we invited
them to ‘wash their hands’ in the fragrant boughs, rubbing their hands and
faces with the aromatic leaves. We wanted to give them the same heady joy
we had felt when we found this tree in the Hills. Then we mixed cocktails of
Australian gin with native botanicals, local Vermouth from Victoria, and
homemade fig leaf tincture, seasoned with the lemon oil hanging in the air.
It was autumn and the wine harvest was well underway. Grapes were being
pressed, leaves were beginning to yellow and dry, and vines being trimmed
back after the harvest. We got our hands on some spent fruit from one of the
wine producers. Already with many active yeasts, the grapes started a
vigorous levain for the bread. The butter started as cream cultured with lactic
acid bacteria that had been living on the vine leaves; the vines themselves
were dried and used to lightly smoke the butter; the leaves then used to wrap
the finished butter. And the spent grapes themselves, with their tannic skins
and fresh crunchy pips, became a compote alongside the butter and bread.
From one plant came the three components of this first course, a humble
offering already on the table as guests sat down. Fresh grapes are also
beautiful – but acknowledging the potential of something otherwise discarded
leads us to consider other parts of the same organism, and different methods
for tying them into our cooking.
‘To learn more about a land, wherever it may be, we
must endeavour to learn from those who have been its
stewards longest and who know it most deeply.’
The first plated dish came from the beach and sea. Soft orange tarama of
lightly smoked John Dory roe and sea urchin is the ocean’s nourishing sweet
fat. We tempered this with sourness and bitter: lettuce, charred and brined;
enormous fresh clams quickly pickled in rice vinegar, a sour punch with
fleshy heft; sea blight, beach mustard and dune spinach – wild plants from
the sand, succulent and surprising. We covered the lot with activated
charcoal, crisp and porous. While the bread and butter expresses what is
possible with a single plant, this dish starts to illustrate James’ inclusiveness
towards many different parts of an ecosystem: benthic coastal fish, tidal
molluscs, beach weeds, even something like volcanic rock. This is one such
‘story of the land’, bringing together the species within an ecosystem.
For the main course we cooked whole kangaroo tails in the coals with the fur
and skin on, learning from the Aboriginal way of preparing tail in many
regions of the country. We scraped off the charred fur and finished the dish in
the oven with a jus of chicken feet and blackberries. It was portioned on the
bone and served family-style in hollow trunks, with roasted red carrots, wild
blackberries, and purslane and mallow leaves collected on the river site. A
tail is rarely the most prized part of an animal in European gastronomies, with
kangaroo, however, it is arguably the most delicious – thick with gelatine and
connective tissue and interspersed with rich fat and meat. To learn more
about a land, wherever it may be, we must endeavour to learn from those who
have been its stewards longest and who know it most deeply. This is
especially true in Australia, where both the pain and rupture of colonisation
remains so stark and the potential to rebuild diversified food systems in such
an ecologically unique continent is so great.
We then served something of a cheese course: fresh sheep’s milk curd, soft
and wobbly, with a supple gel of mead infused with lavender leaves. We kept
the milk and honey within the savoury realm, with charred onions and a broth
of onions and grains, garnished with bitter aromatics such as multicoloured
wild flower bee pollen, wild fennel flowers, yarrow flowers and leaves. The
crisp milk skin finished the dish as an ode to mother nature and maternal
nourishment. Many of James’ dishes show his great appreciation of dairy,
from different animals and brought into different forms, celebrating its
versatility and its longstanding value in many traditional societies around the
world.
We found dessert where the field and forest meet. A purple carrot, alternately
cooked in molasses and dried for three days until it became thick, black,
chewy candy, came to resemble a warped stone or a forgotten piece of
carbonised wood. Molasses sponge, torn and dried slightly to make a crisp
crumb on its broken surface, reminded me of a bolete, long since gone to
spore and dashed to pieces on the forest floor. Pear skins, rolled and dried,
looked like twigs or curled leaves. Fried pine needles fell from above and a
leaf of fat hen was strewn from the field’s edge. Served with bowls of
buttermilk from the butter, salted and sweetened with local honey, chilled and
foamed. The seasoning for this dish was already at hand – stuck to the
branches strung above the tables. Green tree ants have a strong burst of
acidity from the formic acid they produce for defense, and a powerful lime
flavour from the pheromones they use for communication. We brushed the
wood with the leftover carrot molasses and stuck the ants all along the
tangled branches running the length of the table. When the dessert was
served, we brought the guests’ attention to these tiny but powerfully tasty
animals just overhead to be plucked and savoured. Where two ecosystems
meet, often the biota is particularly diverse, flourishing on the margins.
‘He is one of a growing number of chefs around the
world sketching the blueprints for a broader way of
eating, one that not only emerges from the landscape
but acknowledges its role in shaping it.’
Such cuisine will and should look different in different hands, and in different
areas around the world. And it can take a variety of names. For James, in
Bowral, it could be ‘biota cooking’. He is cooking his locality in its totality,
not just the plants and animals and fungi and microbes themselves, but their
interactions, their systems of symbiosis and mutual reliance. His cooking
attempts to appreciate all organisms and all their parts, both those we eat and
savour and those we do not but that are, in the larger system, equally as
important. He is one of a growing number of chefs around the world
sketching the blueprints for a broader way of eating, one that not only
emerges from the landscape but acknowledges its role in shaping it. He and
his team and his wider community of producers, farmers and other stewards
are trying to build a future where all organisms are able to eat and eat well, to
live and live well, and live well together.
What does this type of cooking look and smell and taste like? What is it
trying to spark in us? What does it want to enact in the world? This book is
James’ answer to these questions – and it is, like everything James and his
team make, a deeply worthwhile proposal.
Nordic Food Lab is a unique, non-profit organisation that investigates food

diversity. Established in 2008 in Copenhagen, it combines scientific and
humanistic approaches with culinary techniques from around the world to
explore the edible potential of a region and the flavours that imbue foods with
a connection to place and time.
How to use this book
Cooking for me is not about what’s written on a piece of paper. A recipe can
only ever be a guideline; a platform from which to create. Cooking should be
a sensory experience that evokes curiosity; a place where we can let loose
and discover. If you are cooking to the season, that means adapting on the go.
No recipe can ever be cooked exactly; our seasons change every year and our
ingredients change every year. A season is simply a time during the year
when some things are usually ready to eat and others aren’t.
Spend some time reading through this book. You will see the recipes are built
of several different components on the plate. I don’t include specific
instructions on how to combine, plate or present these components: you
might be from another part of the world, living in another biota that inspires
you as a cook, or have different ingredients to hand. It would make me happy
if you used these recipes as a starting point to discover your own dishes and
flavour combinations. You might choose to make the burnt pears with the
ingredients from the roadside apples recipe because you have nice apples in
your part of the world at that time.
We don’t ‘garnish’, but we do add wild plants and flowers from our gardens
to the plate: they are visually pleasing, add different textures and flavours
and, most importantly, are always chosen in the context of the story of that
dish. They might be the fat hen buds that flourish in the fields where Norm
grows his potatoes or the elderflowers from our gardens that are also
fermented into vinegar and elderflower water. There is a glossary to help you
reference these plants and any unusual ingredients; where possible, we’ve
listed alternatives that you could use in their place.
Please follow the advice on the types of plants that we use – they need to be
properly identified, edible, organically grown and free from pesticide sprays.
If you are in any doubt about varieties of plants, especially mushrooms,
please don’t take any chances with them.
The salt we use is flake salt from the Murray river. You can use any similar
salt that is not iodised – I always use single origin, natural salt rather than a
mixture containing iodine.
The oils we use in the restaurant are all produced here in Australia, rather
than being imported. We use free-range eggs and birds in all our cooking.
The flours we use are organic and unbleached. We also mill our own single
origin grains in the kitchen.
Sugar in the recipes is unrefined cane sugar, unless stated. Cane sugar
contains a higher proportion of natural molasses for great flavour and colour.
It’s important to think about where your milk has been produced and buy the
best quality you can. We use organic, lightly pasteurised dairy products
whenever possible and also cook with sheep’s and goat’s milk – it’s local to
us and, depending on the recipe, has more fat and flavour. When the recipe
requires sheep’s milk, if it’s not available use best-quality, full-fat cow’s
milk. Similarly, sheep’s cheese can be replaced by good-quality ricotta.
In our dishes we use a variety of different thickening and gelling agents, such
as iota carrageenan, gellan gum, xanthan gum and kuzu. These are all widely
available in supermarkets.
Some of our restaurant dishes make use of equipment that might not be in
every household kitchen. We have adapted these to make them suitable for
cooking at home.
We dehydrate ingredients by drying them for many hours at a very low

temperature in a dehydrator. This maintains the structural integrity, flavour
and texture. You could use your oven set to its lowest temperature instead of
a dehydrator, but these machines are useful and are now widely available and
inexpensive, so you might find it worthwhile investing in one.
Another technique we use is to vacuum seal ingredients inside vacuum bags
and then cook in a water bath which is held at a set temperature. This type of
cooking is very gentle and helps maintain the flavour and structure of the
ingredient, giving a precise and consistent result. It might sound very
technical for the home kitchen, but you can buy cryovac machines in kitchen
and department stores and they aren’t overly expensive. If you don’t own a
machine, you can usually take your ingredients to a local butcher who will
vacuum seal them for you. (Don’t be tempted to use an ordinary household
ziplock bag or water will seep in during the cooking.) You will need a good
digital thermometer to maintain the temperature of the water bath (and for
many other aspects of cooking). After cooking, plunge the vacuum bag into a
sink of ice to chill.
We smoke many ingredients at Biota Dining, using an offset smoker that I

built from an old stainless steel refrigerator when the restaurant opened. To
build a smoker fairly easily at home, take a deep oven tray and make a small
fire of twigs or cuttings in it. Smother the fire by putting a flat tray on top of
the deep tray, locking in all the smoke. Put the ingredients for smoking on a
wire rack (in a bowl if necessary), lift off the flat tray and put the wire rack
on the smothered fire. Replace the flat tray to lock in the smoke. Leave for
about an hour (or however long is specified). Remove the rack and
ingredients and build another small fire in your deep tray. Repeat the process
twice more, until the ingredient is smoked to your taste.
We also enjoy cooking on the firepit. Sometimes there is no alternative that

will give the same results, but, when specified in the recipe, you can use a
chargrill pan to create the same flavour of timber and black charring on the
food.
So, cook from your heart and from your biota, use these recipes as you wish
and combine them with whatever you have. Present the dishes on whatever
plates you own and in a manner that is natural to you — don’t force the
presentation or the cooking and you will have a tastier, more honest dish; a
dish you can be proud of. Cooking from nature is pure and easy; it’s not
about rules. Enjoy the process.
Simple recipes
A practical way to use this book is to spend a day or
two cooking the simple recipes in these pages. They
create a starting point for many of the dishes that
follow and can be made in large quantities and stored.
Most can be made well in advance and some of them,
such as the vinegars, can be kept for up to a year if
stored correctly.
SALT CURE
1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) salt
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) white sugar
Finely grated zest of 2 limes
2 bunches of fennel fronds, coarsely chopped
Combine the salt and sugar. Add the lime zest and chopped fennel fronds, mix well and apply liberally.
Leave for the amount of time stated in the recipe. Especially good for curing fish such as trout or
salmon.
STORE: In an airtight container in a cool dry place for 1 week.
CHICKEN STOCK
2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) chicken feet, necks or wings
Splash of white vinegar
Put 5 litres (175 fl oz) water into a very large saucepan or stockpot. Add the chicken and slowly bring
to a simmer, skimming regularly to remove any impurities. Simmer, uncovered, over low heat for 2–4
hours. Strain through a fine strainer. Return to low heat and simmer until reduced by three-quarters and
rich enough to coat the back of a spoon. Finish with a splash of white vinegar.
STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.
LAMB CARAMEL
2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) lamb bones
Splash of cream
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Place the lamb bones in a roasting tin and roast, turning once, until
golden. Transfer to a large stockpot and add 5 litres (175 fl oz) water. Slowly bring to a simmer,
skimming occasionally to remove any impurities. Allow the stock to simmer very gently, uncovered,
for 10–12 hours. Strain through a fine strainer. Return to low heat and simmer until reduced by three-
quarters. Add a splash of cream and then allow to boil until the lactose converts to caramel and the
sauce is rich and glossy.
BEEF GLAZE
2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) beef bones
700 ml (24 fl oz) red wine
30 g (1 oz) molasses
30 g (1 oz) caster sugar
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Place the beef bones in a roasting tin and roast, turning once, until
golden. Transfer to a very large stockpot and add 5 litres (175 fl oz) water. Slowly bring to a simmer,
skimming occasionally to remove any impurities. Allow the stock to simmer very gently, uncovered,
for 10–12 hours. Strain through a fine strainer. Return to low heat and simmer until reduced by three-
quarters. Add the wine, molasses and sugar and boil briefly to finish the sauce, which should be sticky
and rich.
FISH GLAZE
Cottonseed oil (for deep-frying)
2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) bones from any white fish
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) prawn heads
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) smoked pork hock
Half-fill a saucepan with oil and heat to 185°C (365°F). Working in batches, fry the fish bones until
golden and crisp. Put the fried fish bones, prawn heads and smoked pork hock into a very large
stockpot and cover with 5 litres (175 fl oz) cold water. Slowly bring to a simmer, being careful not to
boil or the stock will be cloudy. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid to ensure maximum flavour.
Simmer for 8–10 hours, then pass through a fine strainer. Return to low heat and simmer until reduced
by three-quarters. The stock should remain clear.
STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

PASTA DOUGH
11 egg yolks
250 g (9 oz) 00 flour, plus extra for flouring
1 teaspoon olive oil
A pinch of salt
Using a food processor, blitz all ingredients together until the mixture looks like wet breadcrumbs.
Remove from the processor and work the dough on a floured kitchen bench until smooth and elastic.
Allow to rest for at least 2 hours before rolling through your pasta machine.
STORE: Wrapped in a damp cloth in the fridge for up to 4 hours.
NOTE: Save the egg whites to make Mum’s roses. You can freeze the rose petals with the egg whites
in an airtight container and the egg whites will take on their flavour.
SUGAR SYRUP
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) white sugar
100 g (3½ oz) glucose
Put the sugar and glucose with 1 litre (35 fl oz) water in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the
sugar dissolves – make sure the sugar has dissolved before the water comes to the boil.
STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 months.
SORBET BASE
2.1 kg (4 lb 11½ oz) fine cane sugar
910 g (2 lb) glucose
35 g (1¼ oz) trimoline or sorbet stabiliser
Put 2 litres (70 fl oz) water in a large saucepan with the sugar, glucose and trimoline. Heat until the
sugar dissolves, stirring once or twice. Cool before refrigerating.
STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 months.
FRESH MILK SKIN

1 litre (35 fl oz) full-fat cow’s milk
Put the milk in a shallow baking tray and heat on the stovetop until beginning to steam. Reduce the heat
to low and leave to form a skin. Discard the first skin as it will be very fragile and continue to cook
until a second skin forms. Using a palette knife or small blade, loosen the skin from the sides of the tray
and gently lift onto a plate lined with oiled plastic wrap to cool. Continue to make and lift off more
skins as they form.
STORE: Between layers of baking paper in the fridge for up to 2 days.
DRIED MILK SKIN

1 litre (35 fl oz) full-fat cow’s milk
Make fresh milk skin using the method above. Place the skin onto oiled baking paper and then dry
overnight in the oven on the lowest possible setting.
STORE: In an airtight container in a dry place for up to 1 week.
PICKLED GARLIC
300 ml (10½ fl oz) white wine vinegar
100 g (3½ oz) white cane sugar
30 garlic cloves, peeled
3 cloves
3 star anise
6 black peppercorns
Put the vinegar and sugar into a saucepan with 1 litre (35 fl oz) water and bring to a simmer. Add the
garlic cloves and spices. Remove from the heat and leave to steep until cool. Bottle the garlic in the
pickling liquid.
STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge or a cool place for up to 6 months.
TOASTED GARLIC OIL

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) garlic, peeled
2 litres (70 fl oz) cottonseed oil
Finely mince the garlic in a blender. Heat the oil to 185°C (365°F) and fry the garlic until crisp and
golden. Using a slotted spoon, remove the garlic and drain on kitchen paper. Once the oil and garlic
have cooled, combine the two in an airtight jar.
STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 2 months.
PINE OIL
5 handfuls fresh, young, green pine needles from the tree
1 litre (35 fl oz) cottonseed oil
Bruise the pine needles to release their essential oils and add to the cottonseed oil.
STORE: In an airtight jar for up to 6 months.
NOTE: You can use spruce instead of pine needles.
BEETROOT VINEGAR
1 litre (35 fl oz) beetroot juice
250 ml (9 fl oz) white wine vinegar
2 star anise
6 juniper berries
6 black peppercorns
Combine the ingredients in a pan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and leave to steep until
cool, then bottle.
STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge or a cool place for up to 1 year.
ELDERFLOWER VINEGAR
450 g (1 lb) honey or 1.35 kg (3 lb 1 oz) white cane sugar
75 ml (2¼ fl oz) cider vinegar
7–8 elderflower heads with flowers
Dissolve the honey in 1 litre (35 fl oz) boiling water. Add 3 litres (105 fl oz) cold water and the vinegar
and elderflower heads. Store in a demi-john (found at your local home brew supply store). Allow 2
weeks for the fermentation process to take place.
VINEGAR OF BARLEY GRAIN

1.35 kg (3 lb 1 oz) white sugar
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) toasted barley grain
75 ml (2¼ fl oz) apple cider vinegar
5 g (1/8 oz) bread yeast
Dissolve the sugar in 1 litre (35 fl oz) boiling water. Add 3 litres (105 fl oz) cold water and the toasted
barley and cider vinegar. Once the mixture has cooled to blood temperature, add the yeast. Store in a
demi-john (found at your local home brew supply store). The mix needs to be fermented between 18
and 24°C (64 and 75°F). Allow 2 weeks for the initial fermentation process to take place. You have
now made barley wine.
The next stage is to allow the mix to continue to ferment for at least another 4 weeks or until the
ferment has become vinegar. Once fermentation is finished, strain your vinegar and bottle for use.
CHERRY VINEGAR
500 ml (17 fl oz) fresh cherry juice
80 g (23/4 oz) caster sugar
20 ml (1 fl oz) apple cider vinegar
Place the juice, sugar and vinegar in a pan and heat to 24°C (75°F). Pour into a demi-john. Cut a small
square of cloth and tie over the top of the demi-john. Ferment the vinegar between 18 and 24°C (64 and
75°F) for at least 6 weeks.
FENNEL SALT
2 handfuls of wild fennel
200 g (7 oz) salt flakes
Pick the fennel fronds from the stems and place in a food processor with the salt. Blend until fine. Place
on a tray and dry out in a warm kitchen for a couple of days. Once totally dry, store in an airtight
container.
PUFFED BARLEY
300 g (10½ oz) barley
1 litre (35 fl oz) cottonseed oil (for deep-frying)
Put the barley in a saucepan of boiling water and cook for about 1 hour until the grain cracks. Strain
and allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 85°C (185°F). Spread the barley on baking trays and dry in the
oven for 2 hours. Heat the oil in a saucepan to 185°C (365°F) and deep-fry the barley in batches until it
is puffed and golden. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.
STORE: In an airtight container in a dry place for up to 6 days.
PUFFED AMARANTH
300 g (10½ oz) amaranth
Put the amaranth in a saucepan of boiling water and cook for about 40 minutes until soft and tender.
Strain. Preheat the oven to 85°C (185°F). Spread the amaranth on baking trays and dry in the oven for 2
hours. Heat the oil in a saucepan to 185°C (365°F) and deep-fry the amaranth until puffed and golden.
Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.
PUFFED RYE
300 g (10½ oz) rye
Put the rye in a pan of boiling water and cook for about 1 hour until the grain cracks. Strain. Preheat the
oven to 85°C (185°F). Spread the rye on baking trays and dry in the oven for 2 hours. Heat the oil in a
saucepan to 185°C (365°F) and fry the rye until puffed and golden. Remove from the oil and drain on
kitchen paper.
PUFFED SORGHUM
300 g (10½ oz) sorghum
Boil the sorghum for about 1 hour until soft and tender. Strain. Preheat the oven to 85°C (185°F).
Spread the sorghum on baking trays and dry in the oven for 2 hours. Heat the oil in a saucepan to
185°C (365°F) and fry the sorghum until puffed and golden. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen
paper.
SEAWEED DRESSING
Cottonseed oil (for deep-frying)
300 g (10½ oz) kingfish bones
100 ml (3½ fl oz) white soy sauce
20 g (3/4 oz) bonito flakes
1 knob of ginger
300 g (10½ oz) wakame seaweed
Lime juice, to season
Half-fill a large saucepan with the oil and heat to 185°C (365°F). Deep-fry the kingfish bones until
crisp and golden. Set aside to drain on kitchen paper. Put 2 litres (70 fl oz) water into a large saucepan
and add the soy sauce, bonito flakes, ginger and seaweed. Bring to a simmer and then add the fish
bones. Maintain a simmer until the stock is rich and flavourful. Strain and chill in the fridge. Season
with lime juice.
STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 month.
BURNT CUCUMBER AND LEEK DRESSING

30 Lebanese cucumbers
2 large leeks, green tops only, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves
1 bird’s eye chilli
100 ml (3½ fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
100 ml (3½ fl oz) vegetable oil
Salt, to taste
Peel the cucumbers and put the skins and the green leek tops into a heavy-based pan over high heat.
Once charred and very dark, put into a food processor or blender with the garlic and chilli. Start to
process, adding the two oils in a slow trickle – the final consistency should be quite a thick, oily paste
with a smoky charred flavour and a little warmth from the chilli. Once you have achieved this, add salt
to taste.
NOTE: Use the peeled cucumbers.
BROWN BUTTER
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) butter
Put the butter in a large pan and boil until the milk solids begin to caramelise and the butter begins to
foam and give off a nutty scent.
STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 week.
NOTE: It is nice to finish brown butter with hard herbs such as sage, marjoram and thyme.
SALTED PLUMS
120 g (4¼ oz) coarse sea salt
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) ripe whole plums
Vodka
100 g (3½ oz) red shiso leaves
Put a layer of coarse salt into a sterilised container, such as a wide bowl or tub. Sterilise the plums by
washing them in the vodka and then add to the container before covering with more salt and the shiso
leaves. Repeat the layers until all your plums are used up.
Cover the container with a plastic bag and weigh down. Leave in a cool dark place for around 1
week, until the plums become soft and are sitting in a dark reddish liquid. Once the liquid is about 2 cm
(3/4 in) above the plums, remove the weight and strain. Do not discard the liquid – this is ume vinegar.
Lay the plums on clean trays to dry in a fairly sunny place for about 3 days. At the end of the drying
process they should look like dried apricots. Store in airtight jars with more shiso leaves, or for a soft
texture add back to the ume vinegar.
STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 year.
SOURED CREAM
500 ml (17 fl oz) cream
125 ml (4 fl oz) natural yoghurt or buttermilk
Put the cream in a pan and heat gently to blood temperature. Add the yoghurt, remove from the heat
and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to steep until the cream curdles and a thick layer of curd
forms on top, with residual whey underneath – it will take around 24 hours will produce a thick cream.
Gently remove the cream from the top with a spoon and discard the whey.
STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
ELDERFLOWER WATER
8 good heads of elderflower
Roughly bruise the stems of the elderflowers, checking for any insects. Put 2 litres (70 fl oz) water in a
saucepan and add the elderflowers. Tightly cover the pan with plastic wrap and steep over low heat for
4–6 hours. Ensure the plastic wrap stays tight throughout this stage as you don’t want to lose any of the
flavours. Pass the elderflower water through a fine strainer and allow to cool.
FERMENTED APPLE
10 apples
150 g (5½ oz) sugar
Juice the whole apples and put the juices and pulp in a demi-john. The mix needs to be left to ferment
at between 18 and 24°C (64 and 75°F) for 10 days. You can strain off the liquid apple juice to use or
keep in the fridge in an airtight container. You can keep the mother ferment in the demi-john going for
months by adding more juiced apples.
PROPAGATED OATS
100 g (3½ oz) dried, unhulled oats
It is easy to propagate oats and other seeds and grains. Line a tray with a few layers of muslin
(cheesecloth). Scatter the oats on the muslin and then gently spray the oats and cloth with water until
saturated. Put the tray in a warm, daylit spot such as a kitchen windowsill (we use the polytunnels for
this) and repeat the process every day for 5–9 days until shoots have appeared. You can propagate a
variety of seeds by this method.
garden
Addicted to seed
To truly create from the garden is one of the most

satisfying ways to cook. My mother is a horticulturist
and when I was a young boy we had a polytunnel in
our backyard that was used to grow plants from
cuttings and seed. Our garden was where weekends
were always spent as a family, mowing the lawns,
trimming hedges and cutting back roses. I was addicted
early – digging up the nearby paddocks and forests for
pine tree shoots to transplant, in the hope that by
Christmas I would have a small tree to sell.
To be able to walk through a garden of edible plants is a wonderful thing.
When Biota was born, so was a garden – when the garden was born, so was
Biota. This small garden would drive our ethos and the way we cook, no
matter how big or how small it is; it provokes the thought process that takes
us to another world.
We started as a bunch of young cooks planting seeds in a small greenhouse.

Once they matured we carefully moved them to deeper soil in raised beds we
had built. We planted breakfast radish, chamomile, violets, heirloom
tomatoes and pineapple sage, with no real use for any of it, as we had no
restaurant yet to use it in. After the first year of growing and learning as
cooks, we realised we had developed an addiction to the seed. Watching
something grow gives inspiration in many different ways; to spend time in
the garden with your fellow cooks, pulling weeds, getting fresh air and
planning the night or day to come is a rare thing. So we embraced it and to
this day we see it as an important part of our growth. As time passed and the
restaurant grew busier, we were hungry to plant more varietals. We built
more gardens, set up a natural composting system that uses the heat from the
sun to break down organisms, and started to create from the garden. We
thought about dishes that would showcase the very thing we were growing: a
simple cucumber, for instance, can be the star of a dish that has an oyster in
it; why is it that we automatically think the dish should be labelled ‘oyster
with cucumber’ when we were aiming for ‘cucumber with oyster’?
‘We thought about dishes that would showcase the

very thing we were growing: a simple cucumber, for
instance, can be the star of a dish that has an oyster in
it; why is it that we automatically think the dish should
be labelled “oyster with cucumber” when we were
aiming for “cucumber with oyster”?’
Having gardens to supply our kitchen with endless ingredients and inspiration
is wonderful; what it also does is open doors to a community. We make
friends with like-minded people who share the same addiction to the seed.
Local people bring in huge sacks of citrus fruit, or a bin bag full of nettles,
just because they think we might like to use it. This feels very special, and it
makes us want to make use of the ingredient with utmost integrity.
We don’t overwork the plants and vegetables in our cooking; we rely on them
to display their natural beauty. I love to see the roots of the plant, the very
thing that keeps it alive, in our cooking. One night at Biota, about 20 minutes
into a busy Saturday service, a new cook was working on the vegetable
section, one of the most important in our kitchen. He was preparing the leeks
for a dish of beef. Now, to me, a leek with its roots on is a beautiful thing: it
has stood so proud in the earth for 90 days before we harvested it. To serve
the leek cooked with its roots intact, as if it had just been pulled up, requires
great care. I remember having a 15-minute discussion with the cook,
explaining how the leek’s future rested in his hands, and that what he did to it
in the next ten minutes was crucial. The same thought process is applied to
everything that comes from our garden. The cooks at Biota have a
relationship with the earth in which ingredients are grown and with the
ingredients themselves – we are connected. Enjoy the journey of root
vegetables, legumes, seeds, grains, leaves and flowers in this chapter… we
do.
SPRING // Recipe for four
Cabbage, new asparagus and warm nut milk

Every spring we see some amazing asparagus appear in the garden beds,
lasting into the summer. I love those early, new-season asparagus spears
charred on one side until blackened and then allowed to rest, just like you
would with a piece of meat.
WARM NUT MILK

60 g (2¼ oz) hazelnuts
60 g (2¼ oz) almonds
60 g (2¼ oz) macadamias
300 ml (10½ fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk
8 g (¼ oz) kuzu
Toast all the nuts in a low oven (about 85°C/185°F) on separate trays for about 35 minutes until the oils
are released. While the nuts are still warm, put them on a board and crush lightly, then add to the milk.
Leave to chill in the fridge overnight.
Strain the milk from the nuts into a saucepan. Add the kuzu to the milk and stir gently. Cook over
low heat for about 20 minutes until thickened, then season with salt and place in a plastic container in
the fridge to chill.
When ready to serve, warm the nut milk in a small metal bowl over a pan of warm water for about 4
minutes.
CABBAGE
8 white inner Chinese cabbage (wong bok) leaves
20 g (¾ oz) white soy sauce
2 teaspoons grape seed oil
Put the cabbage leaves in a vacuum or cryovac bag with the bean paste and oil. Seal the bag and cook
in a water bath at 64°C (147°F) for 35 minutes. Transfer the bag to an iced water bath to chill.
CABBAGE SAUCE
10 outer cabbage leaves
1 brown onion, roughly chopped
10 g (¼ oz) black truffle, grated
30 ml (1 fl oz) linseed (flaxseed) oil
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) cream
Put the cabbage leaves, onion, truffle and oil with 200 ml (7 fl oz) water in a large pan, cover and steep
over low heat for 40 minutes. Once cooked, add the cream and purée until smooth. Pass through a fine
sieve.
NEW ASPARAGUS
4 stems new-season asparagus
Snap the woody ends from the asparagus stems. In a very hot dry pan, sear one side of each asparagus
stem until black. Season with salt.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Young kale leaves
SUMMER // Recipe for four
Carotene, celeriac and sea urchins
This recipe is about using up all the old carrots left in our gardens. They
might be aged, distorted and finished, but for this recipe they have a purpose.
We make the carotene in advance with a lot of carrots, then it’s kept in a
sealed airtight jar and used over the course of the year.
SEA URCHINS
2 teaspoons salt
2 live sea urchins
Stir the salt in 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water to make a brine. Wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands,
turn the sea urchin upside down to expose the mouth. Using scissors, pierce a hole, then cut a circle,
about 7–8 cm (23/4–3¼ in) in diameter out of the shell. Lift up the circle and remove. Using a spoon,
scoop out the white star-shaped part and discard and then scoop out the orange roe. Rinse off any black
stuff clinging to the roe. Place the roe in the brine and leave overnight in the fridge. Lift out of the brine
to serve.
DRIED SCALLOP DRESSING

20 g (3/4 oz) dried scallops
10 g (¼ oz) kelp or sea lettuce
20 ml (½ fl oz) lime juice
Bloom the dried scallops and kelp in 80 ml (2½ fl oz) warm water for about 45 minutes. Strain the
liquid, allow to cool and then whisk in the lime juice and grape seed oil to emulsify.
CAROTENE
20 last-season carrots
Juice the carrots and bring to the boil in a saucepan. Turn off the heat and the carotene will split away
and come to the top. Use a ladle to skim off the carotene into a fine strainer lined with muslin
(cheesecloth). Store in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 year.
CELERIAC
300 g (10½ oz) celeriac, cut into fine strips
40 g (1½ oz) carotene (above)
20 ml (½ fl oz) olive oil
30 ml (1 fl oz) dried scallop dressing (left)
Toss the celeriac with the carotene, oil and dressing.
CAROTENE SAUCE
3 eggs
30 ml (1 fl oz) lemon juice
40 g (1½ oz) carotene (left)
200 ml (7 fl oz) grape seed oil
2 teaspoons salt
Mix the eggs, lemon juice and carotene together, then slowly whisk in the oil until the sauce has
emulsified. Season with the salt.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Marigold petals from the garden
Legumes, their flowers and fresh cheese

Fresh milk is something we tend to take for granted but it is quite special,
especially when pure and free from human intervention. Sometimes the
simplest things are the best. If you can use unpasteurised milk from a local
farm here, then do so; if not, use the most lightly pasteurised milk you can
find. Milk that has had the least amount of human interference will make a
better cheese and have a finer texture and flavour.
FRESH CHEESE
400 ml (14 fl oz) full-fat cow’s milk
2 g (1/8 oz) rennet
1 teaspoon salt
Put the milk in a heavy-based saucepan and heat to 32°C (90°F). Remove from the heat and stir in the
rennet.
Pour the mixture into four 100 ml (3½ fl oz) dariole moulds or plastic containers, filling to about 1
cm (½ in) from the top. Put the moulds in a baking tray and fill the tray with warm water. Cook the
cheese in a very low oven for 2 hours, keeping the water at 38°C (100°F). Remove from the oven and
leave to cool in the tray.
Line a perforated tray with muslin (cheesecloth) and gently tip the cheeses out of the moulds onto the
lined tray. Put this over another tray to catch the whey, and leave the cheeses in the fridge for 2 hours to
dry out. Keep the whey for the dressing.
FRESH WHEY DRESSING

150 ml (5 fl oz) whey from the fresh cheese (left)
30 ml (1 fl oz) olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
Combine the fresh whey with the olive oil and salt and whisk until the dressing is emulsified.
LEGUMES
150 g (5½ oz) fresh broad beans
160 g (53/4 oz) podded fresh sugar snap peas
20 radish pods
20 ml (½ fl oz) linseed (flaxseed) oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon salt
Double pod the broad beans. When ready to plate, combine the raw vegetables and mix with the oil,
lemon juice and salt.
SHOOTS ON THE PLATE

1 punnet pea shoots
1 punnet mung bean shoots
20 new pea blossoms
20 radish flowers
WINTER // Recipe for four
Carrots, dill seeds and oily fish

This dish is all about the purple carrot: in fact, the oily fish is almost just a
seasoning for the carrots. The carotene turns the grape skins purple, but the
grapes remain a vibrant green on the inside. I find the old carrots similar to
the oily fish in some ways: not perfect, not the first choice for everybody…
but for me they are. Ask your fishmonger to fillet the mackerel for you, but
you will also need to keep the bones.
FRIED BONE JUICES

700 ml (24 fl oz) vegetable oil
Bones from 2 small mackerel
1 brown onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, unpeeled
100 ml (3½ fl oz) white soy sauce
100 g (3½ oz) dried kelp or sea lettuce
Juice of 2 purple unpeeled carrots
6 g (¼ oz) xanthan gum
2 teaspoons salt
12 green grapes
Grated zest of 1 lime
Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan to 180°C (350°F) and fry the fish bones until brown and crisp. Put
the bones in a deep saucepan and add the onion, garlic, white soy sauce, kelp and 600 ml (21 fl oz)
water. Cover the pan and infuse over low heat for about 1 hour.
Strain into a clean saucepan, add the carrot juice and xanthan gum, then place over low heat and
whisk until thickened. Season with salt and then strain through a fine mesh strainer. Put in the fridge to
chill. Add the grapes and grated lime zest to the bone juices just before serving.
DILL SEED OIL

50 g (13/4 oz) dill seeds
1 teaspoon salt
Toast the dill seeds in a dry frying pan, shaking the pan regularly, until they become fragrant. Remove
from the pan. Heat the grape seed oil to 60°C (140°F). Add the dill seeds and salt, seal in a container
and leave to cool.
OILY FISH
Fillets from 2 small Spanish mackerel (approximately 300 g/10½ oz)
1 small bonito or fresh sardine
Use a blowtorch to gently scorch the underside of the fish fillets.
PLANTS TO FINISH
6 small red mustard leaves
12 dill sprigs
8 young bracken tips
Last-season purple carrots, unpeeled, shaved
Biota’s gardens
The gardens at Biota are on 3.5 acres in the town centre
of Bowral, secluded by a high pine hedge in a little
world of their own. As we became familiar with the
micro climate of our region, we discovered that we
don’t have just four seasons, but eight. There are the
obvious seasons for planting and harvesting, then there
are sub-seasons of those seasons.
We graduated from planting seedlings to propagating seeds in a 30-metre
long polytunnel – over 120 trays a month of varied plant species. Gardens
require a great deal of adaptation: we need to work closely with mother
nature, take our time and develop the soils, the water and how we feed the
gardens. We have 20 black bins for all our kitchen waste – these use the heat
from the sun to promote bacterial organisms, which in turn break down the
food. This is then tipped onto the garden beds and turned into the soil to
nourish it.
Our gardens are always hand weeded and we don’t use any herbicides or
pesticides – this means a somewhat wild garden, depending on the season.
Some leaves might have small bugs or holes in them, like our cos (romaine)
lettuce, but at Biota a bug doesn’t mean a leaf isn’t fit for human
consumption; it doesn’t mean it’s not dish worthy. I really think all
supermarkets should start to sell the ‘ugly’ vegetables too – these plants and
vegetables, for me, are more interesting to cook with, they demand more
attention and deserve respect. At the end of the lettuce season the plant has
often got bugs, is sometimes going to seed and is not really fit to eat as a
fresh leaf… so we burn the lettuce, roots on, over hot coals and then plunge it
into a hot pickle made from elderflower vinegar and ginger from the garden.
This simple method of preserving a lettuce that was at the end of its life is
very special. Suddenly that old bug-ridden plant has taken on a new identity,
its flavour profile is sharp, its texture crisp again and its colour vibrant.
‘This simple method of preserving a lettuce that was at
the end of its life is very special. Suddenly that old
bug-ridden plant has taken on a new identity, its
flavour profile is sharp, its texture crisp again and its
colour vibrant.’
We preserve a lot of different plants, vegetables and fruits using different
techniques. Some traditional methods have been shown to have a lower
energy input and carbon footprint than modern methods; fermentation,
pickling and brining are an essential part of our cycle each year. The
elderflowers in our garden, for example, bloom very quickly and don’t last
long on the plant. If we’re not using them fresh, they are made into a vinegar
for the kitchen and a ferment for the bar to use in the juice menu that we offer
as an alternative to wine matchings. The garden lavender is also made into a
ferment.
Every morning the kitchen and bar cooks gather all the plants from the Biota
gardens as a team. This is a special and most important moment in the day:
it’s a time for discussing the day ahead and for checking on our plants. We
discuss dish rotation, plant rotation and most of all a ‘like minded’ approach
to who we are and what we stand for.
Line-caught squid with plant juices

For the plant juices, we use naturally nutrient-dense species that can be wild
or garden grown. If you’re using wild plants, try dandelion, nettles or clover;
we use the older leaves from our gardens. The line-caught squid and its oil
might usually be seen as the major components of this dish – we view them
more as vehicles to carry the delicious plant juices.
SQUID OIL
100 g (3½ oz) squid tentacles
3 teaspoons salt
Preheat the oven to 60°C (140°F). Clean the tentacles and then rub in the salt. Dehydrate in the low
oven for 6 hours.
Gently heat the oil in a pan to 70°C (158°F), add the dehydrated squid and remove from the heat.
Transfer the squid and the oil to an airtight jar, seal and keep in the fridge for up to 1 month. The oil
will take on a umami flavour and the longer you can keep it the stronger this flavour will become.
PLANT JUICES
100 g (3½ oz) celery stalks
10 large nasturtium leaves
100 g (3½ oz) English spinach
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) olive oil
3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
Juice all the plants and strain the liquid. Stir in the olive oil, vinegar and salt and refrigerate until
chilled. Use immediately.
SQUID
1 large line-caught squid
To prepare the squid, gently pull the tentacles away from the tube – the intestines should come out too.
Keep the tentacles and discard the intestines. Push up the beak from the centre of the tentacles and slice
it off. Pull out the plastic-like cartilage from inside the tube. Rub the tubes under cold water to remove
the skin. Clean and dry, then score the back of the tube.
Pan sear the squid in a dry, hot frying pan, scored side down, for about 1 minute. Allow to rest for 2–
3 minutes before slicing to serve.
PLANTS TO FINISH
12 young celery tips
8 small nasturtium leaves
6 corn shoots
Sweetened garden pumpkins with frozen

sheep’s milk yoghurt
This is a dessert – I love to use vegetables for sweet dishes; I always find
them very versatile to work with, especially root vegetables such as the
pumpkin. The pumpkin seed mix under the frozen yoghurt and smooth, sweet
pumpkin cream creates a surprise of textures.
FROZEN SHEEP’S MILK YOGHURT

200 g (7 oz) cane sugar
300 g (10½ oz) sheep’s milk yoghurt
Dissolve the sugar in 360 ml (12½ fl oz) water and then add the yoghurt. Strain and then put into an
ice-cream machine and churn until frozen. If you don’t have an ice-cream machine, pour into a shallow
freezer container. Freeze until semi-frozen, then whisk very thoroughly. Freeze and whisk again, twice
more.
PUMPKIN CREAM
1 butternut pumpkin
60 g (2¼ oz) cane sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 g (1/8 oz) xanthan gum
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) walnut oil
Cut the pumpkin into small pieces and put in a pan with the sugar, salt and 500 ml (17 fl oz) water.
Cook over low heat until soft and tender. Remove from the heat and drain, keeping some of the cooking
liquid. Purée the pumpkin, using some of the cooking liquid, until the purée is thick and smooth.
Chill, then whisk in the cream, xanthan gum and walnut oil.
PUMPKIN SEED MIX

40 g (1½ oz) walnuts
40 g (1½ oz) buckwheat
40 g (1½ oz) pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
40 g (1½ oz) amaranth
40 g (1½ oz) honey
2 teaspoons salt
Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F). Toast the nuts and seeds in the oven for about 15 minutes until the
oils are released. Melt the honey with the salt and fold through the toasted nuts and seeds. Leave to cool
before serving.
TO FINISH THE PLATE

Burnt pumpkin seeds
MID TO LATE SUMMER // Recipe for four
Garlic scapes, spanner crab and sunchokes

The sunchoke is a member of the sunflower family and is one of my favourite
plants. It’s also known as Jerusalem artichoke, earth apple or topinambour.
Glorious sunflowers form during its life cycle and when the flowers fall it is
an indication that the tubers are ready for harvesting.
SUNCHOKE CREME
400 g (14 oz) Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes)
100 ml (3½ fl oz) cream
2 teaspoons salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Make a foil bag large enough to hold the artichokes and seal them
in tightly. Cook in the oven for 50 minutes. Scrape all the flesh out of the chokes and leave to cool.
Whip the cream until soft peaks form and season with the salt. Mash the chokes with a fork and fold
into the cream.
SUNCHOKES
Juice of 1 lemon
200 g (7 oz) Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Half-fill a large bowl with water and add 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Peel the artichokes and place
in the lemon water to stop them browning. Using a mandolin, slice the artichokes as thinly as possible.
Dress with the remaining lemon juice, olive oil and some salt.
SPANNER CRAB
5 whole spanner crabs
Cook the crabs in boiling water for about 8 minutes, then plunge into an ice bath to chill. Remove the
meat from the shell: lift the triangular flap from underneath the crab that attaches to the top shell. Lift
the top shell away from the body and pull the intestines and grey gills out of the body. Crack the claws
with the back of a heavy knife. Remove the crab meat from the claws and body and discard the shell.
GARLIC SCAPES
15 garlic scapes
20 g (3/4 oz) pink Murray salt
Blacken the garlic scapes over hot coals or in a hot chargrill pan. Once the outer flesh is charred, add
the olive oil and salt.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Society garlic flowers
Yarrow leaves
MID TO LATE SUMMER // Recipe for four
Sorrel and fennel sorbet, blueberries and

garden lavender
This sweetened dish of plants and berries is full of antioxidants and promotes
good iron levels, plus it’s refreshing and bloody tasty. Work fast when you’re
using plant materials such as the sorrel, spinach and kale: the nutrients are
brought out of the plants when they are heated up, but as soon as they start to
oxidise they lose some of their wonderful attributes.
SORREL AND FENNEL SORBET

290 g (10¼ oz) sorrel leaves
60 g (2¼ oz) fennel stems
135 ml (4½ fl oz) sugar syrup
Juice the sorrel and fennel. Strain the liquid into a bowl, stir in the sugar syrup and xanthan gum and
then whisk well. Transfer to an ice-cream machine and churn until frozen. If you don’t have an ice-
cream machine, pour into a shallow freezer container. Freeze until semi-frozen, then whisk very
thoroughly. Freeze and whisk again, twice more.
STEEPED BLUEBERRIES
100 g (3½ oz) sugar cane
40 g (1½ oz) lavender buds
300 g (10½ oz) blueberries
Put 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water into a saucepan and add the sugar cane and lavender buds. Stir off the heat
until dissolved and then heat gently to 65°C (149°F). Add the blueberries and steep for 3 hours at that
temperature. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
SWEETENED CREME
100 g (3½ oz) honey
2 teaspoons salt
300 g (10½ oz) sour cream
Fold the honey and salt through the sour cream. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
CHLOROPHYLL
600 g (1 lb 5 oz) green garden plants, such as sorrel, English spinach or kale
Juice the green plants and bring to the boil in a saucepan. Turn off the heat and the chlorophyll will
split away and come to the top. Use a ladle to skim off the chlorophyll into a fine strainer lined with
muslin (cheesecloth). Serve immediately.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Lavender flowers
Bronze fennel fronds
Cucumber, native oysters and beach plants

Gin and oysters are a great combination, and I love my gin with a slice of
cucumber, which is where this combination arose. This is definitely
cucumber with oyster – the oyster is accustomed to being centre stage, but
here it’s very much a vessel for the fabulous chilled flavour of that garden
cucumber. You can use large Pacific oysters here or, my favourite, gold-lip
oysters from Tasmania. Beach mustard is a gathered ingredient that we
collect from the coast and is entirely optional if it’s not easily found where
you live.
CUCUMBER ICE
6 cucumbers, unpeeled
2 sprigs bronze fennel
2 teaspoons lime juice
30 g (1 oz) honey
Juice the unpeeled cucumbers with the fennel. Add the lime juice and honey to the cucumber juice.
Pour into a shallow tray and freeze for 2 hours, running a fork through the mixture every 30 minutes as
the ice particles form.
CUCUMBERS
4 of the best Lebanese cucumbers you can find
10 cucumber flowers
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) aromatic gin
Start by peeling the cucumbers, then use an apple corer to remove the cucumber seeds. (Save the
peelings to make burnt cucumber dressing.)
Take the outer flesh rings and slice into 1 cm (½ in) thick pieces. Dress the cucumber slices and
flowers with the gin and leave in the fridge until needed.
OYSTER CREME
6 large unopened oysters
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) white soy sauce
Juice of 2 lemons
Shuck the oysters, keeping all the juices. Strain the juices into a blender and then add the oyster meat.
Add the cream, soy sauce and lemon juice and purée until the creme is thick.
SHUCKED OYSTERS
4 unopened Angassi oysters
Shuck the oysters over a plate to collect the juices. Remove the oysters from their shells and leave on
the plate in their juices in the fridge until ready to serve.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Nasturtium leaves
4 sprigs beach mustard
1 sheet of sea lettuce
Mum’s roses
The perfume of a rose, the smell of fresh chamomile and the scent of stone
fruit in peak season – all these make this dish special. This tells a story of
summer – warm days and bees buzzing around my mum’s roses. We serve
bee pollen with this, and the stone fruit is soaked in local mead. In the
restaurant we make the meringue in a nitrogen bowl – it maintains the
integrity of the rose petal, keeping it pure and aromatic. If you have been
storing egg whites in the freezer for this dish, a tip is to freeze rose petals
with the egg whites so they take on the flavour.
PEACH SORBET
660 ml (23 fl oz) peach nectar
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
Juice of 2 limes
135 ml (4½ fl oz) sorbet base
Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat to 65°C (149°F). Stir until dissolved and then put in the
fridge to cool. Transfer to an ice-cream machine and churn until frozen. If you don’t have an ice-cream
machine, pour into a shallow freezer container. Freeze until semi-frozen, then whisk very thoroughly.
Freeze and whisk again, twice more.
STONE FRUIT
2 peaches
2 nectarines
2 blood plums
500 ml (17 fl oz) mead
Take the stone fruit and score the skin with a sharp knife. Put a deep pan of water on the stove to boil.
Once the water is boiling, add the stone fruit for 2–3 minutes, until the skin starts to come away from
the fruit. Transfer the fruit to an ice bath to cool rapidly and stop the cooking process. Peel off the skin,
cut off the cheeks of the fruit and remove the stone. Store the cleaned fruit in the mead.
PEACH GEL
6 g (¼ oz) iota carrageenan
550 ml (19 fl oz) peach nectar
Whisk the iota and peach nectar with 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water. Transfer to a pan and heat to 86°C
(187°F). Pass through a fine strainer and refrigerate until set.
ROSE MERINGUE
60 g (2¼ oz) fine cane sugar
100 g (3½ oz) egg whites
20 g (3/4 oz) rose petals, roughly chopped
Put the sugar and egg whites in a bowl over a pan of boiling water (don’t let the base of the bowl sit in
the water). Whisk until the meringue reaches a temperature of 34°C (93°F). Remove from the heat and
add the chopped roses, then whisk until firm. Preheat the oven to 70°C (150°F).
Spread the rose meringue on a tray lined with baking paper and cook for 6 hours. Once cooked,
break it up into small pieces and freeze until you are ready to serve.
Alternatively, if you own a nitrogen bowl (and you must follow the manufacturer’s safety
instructions for these carefully), whisk the sugar and egg whites until firm, stir in the roses and put 200
g (7 oz) nitrogen into the bowl. Add the meringue mix and chop to make a frozen powder.
VANILLA CREME
10 g (¼ oz) honey
Seeds scraped from ½ vanilla bean
Whip the cream, honey and vanilla bean seeds until thick. Keep in the fridge until needed.
TO FINISH
10 chamomile stems
10 g (¼ oz) bee pollen
10 g (¼ oz) bronze fennel fronds
LATE SUMMER TO AUTUMN // Recipe for four
Rosehips and rhubarb

Rosehips are the fruit of the rose plant. This recipe came about because I
noticed the bud-like fruit forming after successful pollination of the flowers
in spring, which would then ripen towards the end of summer into autumn.
This was perfect for us because our Mum’s roses dish finishes at the end of
summer. So the seasonal dish to follow is the rosehip – meaning we get to
use the plant twice! The best way to maintain the integrity of the rhubarb is to
cook it in a water bath – this keeps the shape as well as the colour and
flavour.
RHUBARB
8 stalks red rhubarb
Peel the rhubarb and keep the peelings. Put the rhubarb and sugar syrup in a vacuum or cryovac bag.
Seal the bag and cook in a water bath at 58°C (136°F) for 55 minutes. Gently plunge the bag into iced
water, leaving the rhubarb in the bag with all its juices until ready to use.
DRIED RHUBARB PEELINGS

40 ml (1¼ fl oz) sugar syrup
Rhubarb peelings from above
Heat the sugar syrup to about 60°C (140°F). Place the peelings in the syrup and remove from the heat.
Lay out the peelings in a lined dehydrator so they are not touching and season with the salt. (We line
the dehydrator here because the peelings are so fine that they tend to stick otherwise.) Dehydrate on
low for 24 hours.
FROZEN GOAT’S MILK YOGHURT

280 g (10 oz) goat’s milk yogurt
200 ml (7 fl oz) sugar syrup
Whisk together all the ingredients with 360 ml (12½ fl oz) water. Transfer to an ice-cream machine and
churn until frozen. If you don’t have an ice-cream machine, pour into a shallow freezer container.
Freeze until semi-frozen, then whisk very thoroughly. Freeze and whisk again, twice more.
ROSEHIPS
20 rosehips
300 ml (10½ fl oz) honey
Remove all the hairs and seeds from inside the rosehips and put the rosehips in a pan with the honey
and 80 ml (2½ fl oz) water. Cook slowly over low heat for about 1 hour until the rosehips become soft
and translucent. Separate the rosehips from the liquid and set aside.
Stir the iota into the liquid, heat to 84°C (183°F) and then pass through a fine strainer. Leave to set in
the fridge until needed.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Red creeping oxalis
Just great juice
We noticed the amount of spent fruit and leaves we had
left in the kitchen at the end of each week and decided
to start creating our own juices. It was a further
opportunity to showcase the local, seasonal fruits,
vegetables and wild plants on our doorstep, and also to
give diners an alternative to wine or other alcohol.
It was an exciting programme to start: we had no preconceived ideas on how
the juices should taste or look, so we were working with a blank canvas. We
looked at the basics of an ‘ideal combination’ to either balance or enhance
each of the dishes. This was approached in the same way as wine matching,
by defining acidity levels, sweetness, bitterness, texture and flavours. What
we came up with was interesting and fun: a few aspects needed work, but it
became clear that the basics were good and we could tinker with the product
and fine tune as we went along. This meant that, unlike wine (when the
winemaker produces a bottle and we pour it), we had full control over the
flavours and other attributes of what was going into the glass.
Along with some straightforward juices such as caramelised grapefruit and

smoked pomme fruits (apples and pears), we began to ferment seasonal fruits
and plants from our garden. Having some experience in home brewing, Ben
collected peaches from the roadside to ferment. Using a fermenting bottle, the
kitchen used the peach cheeks for our Mum’s roses dish and we took the
remaining peach flesh and skins. We placed them in water and waited,
hoping that the natural sugars in the fruit would seep into the water and that
the wild, natural yeasts on the unsprayed, wild peaches would ferment the
‘peach water’. We waited and watched for two weeks, until it stopped
bubbling. And the process worked – with an added bonus: the peach juice
had soured and the natural bacteria on the peaches had ‘eaten’ the alcohol.
The result was a beautiful, nutty and complex peach ferment. After straining
the finished ferment, we de-alcoholised it by heating for a few hours.
We kept some of this unpasteurised ferment to add to our next batch –

creating a form of ‘mother’ so that we wouldn’t lose the beauty of the first
batch. We continued to ferment these peaches, nectarines and, later, plums on
a fortnightly basis. Each batch had its own unique qualities, and the mother
kept developing and improving until the end of the stone fruit season.
Once we had a taste for fermenting stone fruit, we tried our hand at other
fermentations: local feijoas, apples, pears and even longans. They were all
different, wild and complex. Then we turned our focus to the garden and
looked at fermenting elderflowers and pineapple sage. These plants had little
to no natural sugars, so a dash of our own Biota honey provided the sugars
for the naturally occurring plant-based yeasts to eat. The result was a mead-
like fermentation with the subtle flavours and aromas of the delicate garden
botanicals.
Over the course of the year we continue to place anything with natural sugars
into a fermentation vessel. If it doesn’t work for any reason, we’ve wasted
nothing more than our time and a little spare fruit – but we’ve had fun
discovering, learning and improving. Wild yeasts and natural sugars occur in
unknown quantities, and each batch will ferment for a different length of time
and produce varied results. It is one of the beauties of natural fermentation.
Fragrant mandarins and bergamot

Mandarins remind me of school, and that time of year when there was always
dried peel lying all over the playground. Kids came in from lunch with
mandarin juice all over their uniforms, and we all smelt like mandarins for
the rest of the afternoon. This recipe captures those wonderful aromas from
the oils in the peel. Occasionally, we find bottles of freshly squeezed
mandarin juice in the fridge at small greengrocers – if you come across this,
you can use it to make the sorbet and preserved mandarin peel.
MANDARIN AND BERGAMOT CUSTARD

200 ml (7 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk
1 sprig bergamot
2 pieces mandarin peel
4 egg yolks
4 leaves gold-strength gelatine
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Put the cream, milk, bergamot and mandarin peel in a pan over low
heat for at least 1 hour. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy and then strain in the
infused cream.
Pour into a baking tray and bake for 25 minutes or until split. Leave to cool slightly, then purée until
smooth. Soften the gelatine leaves in water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water, add the leaves
to the purée and whisk until dissolved.
Pour into a shallow tray and leave to set in the fridge overnight.
MANDARIN SORBET
50 g (13/4 oz) mandarin peel
160 ml (5¼ fl oz) sorbet base
340 ml (12 fl oz) mandarin juice
Put the mandarin peel and sorbet base in a pan over low heat and cook for about 1 hour until soft.
Leave to cool, strain and then add the mandarin juice.
Transfer to an ice-cream machine and churn until frozen. If you don’t have an ice-cream machine,
pour into a shallow freezer container. Freeze until semi-frozen, then whisk very thoroughly. Freeze and
whisk again, twice more.
MANDARIN POWDER
Peel of 6 mandarins
Dehydrate the peel in a dehydrator at 85°C (185°F) for 6 hours. Once dried, grind the peel in a coffee or
spice grinder to a fine powder.
PRESERVED MANDARIN PEEL

400 g (14 oz) mandarin peel
1 litre (35 fl oz) mandarin juice
300 g (10½ oz) cane sugar
2 sprigs bergamot
80 g (23/4 oz) lemon aspen
Put the mandarin peel, juice, sugar, bergamot and lemon aspen in a heavy-based saucepan and simmer
until the skins are translucent.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Rue
Norm’s potatoes, onions and cheese

Norm and Robyn have been growing their potato crop in Robertson, about
700 metres above sea level, since the 1970s so I thought it was about time
Norm had a pototo dish named after him. We like to think of Robertson, with
some of the highest rainfall figures in the country, as the potato-growing
capital of Australia. You can use any small heirloom potatoes here, whatever
is local to you. The fat hen buds are in the dish because they grow wild
throughout Norm’s fields.
FRESH CHEESE
500 ml (17 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk (unpasteurised, if possible, or lightly pasteurised)
5 g (1/8 oz) rennet
3 g (1/8 oz) salt
Put the milk and cream in a pan and heat to 32°C (90°F). Remove from the heat and stir in the rennet
and salt. Pour into twelve 100 ml (3½ fl oz) dariole moulds or plastic containers, filling to about 1 cm
(½ in) from the top.
Put the moulds in a baking tray and fill the tray with warm water. Cook the cheese in a 38°C (100°F)
oven for 4 hours.
Leave to cool in the tray. Line a perforated tray with a clean cloth and put another tray underneath.
Pour the set curds onto the tray and keep the whey that collects underneath for using in another recipe,
such as the spent vegetables.
POTATOES
4 red heirloom potatoes (we use local cranberry reds)
4 white heirloom potatoes (we use local Dutch creams)
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) duck fat
1 tablespoon salt
2 sage stems
Preheat the oven to 78°C (172°F). Peel the potatoes and place in the duck fat; add the salt and sage
stems. Roast in the oven for 3 hours. Leave in the duck fat until ready to use.
ONIONS
4 small red onions, unpeeled
4 small white onions, unpeeled
30 ml (1 fl oz) toasted garlic oil
2 teaspoons elderflower vinegar
Slice the onions through the centre. Put the onions, cut side down, in a hot dry frying pan and allow to
burn. Remove the pan from the heat and cover with an upturned bowl. Leave the onions to sweat for 30
minutes and then peel the layers apart.
Use the inner shells on the plate and keep the outer shells for the onion juices, right.
ONION JUICES
200 g (7 oz) outer shells of cooked onions (left)
2 garlic cloves
40 g (1½ oz) honey
2 teaspoons salt
80 g (23/4 oz) any puffed grains, such as barley, amaranth, rye
Put the onion shells, garlic, honey, salt and 300 ml (10½ fl oz) water in a saucepan, cover and steep
over low heat for 2 hours. Strain the liquid into a clean pan, add the puffed grains and steep for a further
1 hour. Strain and whisk in the xanthan to thicken.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Burnet leaves
Chickpea shoots and flowers
Fat hen buds
LATE SUMMER // Recipe for four
Fallen feijoas with almond milk

The feijoa is a flowering plant from the myrtle family, native to the highlands
of southern Brazil and now a common garden plant in New Zealand and parts
of Australia. The fruit matures in autumn usually, although in the Southern
Highlands it’s during summer. When the shrubs start to flower, they have
beautiful little flowers that are white on the outside and deep red on the
inside. The flower is just as good as the fruit and very meaty. However, the
more flowers you pick the less fruit you’ll get. We serve feijoas fresh, but
they oxidise once cut from their protective skin, so work quickly. You can
use guavas here if you don’t have feijoas.
FEIJOA SORBET
370 g (13 oz) feijoa flesh
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) lime juice
135 ml (4½ fl oz) sorbet base
Put all the ingredients in a food processor, add 35 ml (11/8 fl oz) water and purée until smooth. Transfer
to an ice-cream machine and churn until frozen. If you don’t have an ice-cream machine, pour into a
shallow freezer container. Freeze until semi-frozen, then whisk very thoroughly. Freeze and whisk
again, twice more.
ALMOND MILK
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) almonds
80 g (23/4 oz) fine cane sugar
10 g (¼ oz) agar agar
200 g (7 oz) puffed amaranth
Preheat the oven to 85°C (185°F). Put the almonds on a tray and toast in the oven for 22 minutes. Heat
the milk to 80°C (176°F) and add the toasted almonds. Transfer to a container, seal and leave in the
fridge overnight to steep.
Strain the milk, stir in the sugar until dissolved and then whisk in the agar agar. Heat to 78°C (172°F)
to activate the agar agar, whisking continuously. Leave to set in the fridge, then purée until smooth.
Pipe a few lengths of almond milk into the puffed amaranth and toss gently to coat with the seed-like
grain. You could also pipe a few smaller balls of almond milk around the plate as well.
MEAD GEL
500 ml (17 fl oz) mead
Put the mead and sugar syrup in a saucepan, add the iota carrageenan and heat to 85°C (185°F).
Remove from the heat and leave to set in the fridge.
FRESH FEIJOAS
8 feijoas
Cut the feijoas in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Flax
Quarter Acre Farm
Jo Dodd
The Quarter Acre Farm is simply that: an urban block

of around a quarter of an acre on which food is grown.
It’s not really a farm in the conventional sense of being
a highly intensive production system; rather, it’s more
of a foraged landscape. Diverse and random
arrangements of fruit, herbs, flowers and vegetables are
dispersed throughout the garden, making harvesting
activities more like a foraging experience. There are
now over 100 different edible plants growing on the
property.
In the beginning there was just lawn and a few trees. Over the last ten years I
have slowly constructed the garden, initially with more controlled and
conscious crop rotation strategies as I built up the soil, but never with row
plantings. There are no straight lines in nature. While I understand the
principles of maximising production through row cropping, producing for
profit has never been my aim. As an agro-ecologist I’m more interested in
seeing how plants can coexist and still be productive. I take a Darwinian
approach to growing; it’s survival of the fittest, natural selection gardening.
Often this means that the fittest plants grow in inconvenient places such as
pathways or the remaining lawn, but that’s all part of the wabi sabi approach
that I take.
By allowing annual plants to complete their seed-to-seed lifecycle I have

facilitated their becoming ‘perannuals’ that provide volunteer crops of feral
vegetables. Flowering crop plants also offer food sources for predatory and
parasitic insects. Providing for the good bugs means that I have very few pest
issues. Managing the farm is now a matter of finding the balance between
entropy and intervention. The point at which I need to manage the chaos is
often when I just can’t get through the jungle.
‘It’s an experimental facility and a living laboratory,
where I can show that the city kid who did an
agriculture degree can go beyond the bounds of
conventional food gardening to create a self-regulating,
productive ecosystem.’
My aim in developing the farm was partly through necessity as a low-income
earner, but I also wanted to demonstrate that food gardening can be attractive,
not just a sequence of boxes with a separate orchard area. I call it
‘ornamedible’ landscaping. It’s not until you look closely that you realise the
vast majority of plants are edible. It’s an experimental facility and a living
laboratory, where I can show that the city kid who did an agriculture degree
can go beyond the bounds of conventional food gardening to create a self-
regulating, productive ecosystem. I use many strategies based on
permaculture design principles, but I haven’t consciously designed the site,
rather, it’s evolved as time and resources have become available. That
approach in itself is a permaculture principle.
Many people say to me that they would like to grow their own food but it will
take up too much time, it’s really hard work, or it costs a lot of money to set
up. That’s where the stereotypical manicured vegetable gardens are
misleading. If you want that much order in a natural system it’s going to need
lots of attention/intervention. Soil can be built, rather than bought; resources
can be collected and stored; and garden-edging materials can be improvised
in many different ways. I’ve scavenged rocks, pavers, logs and pallets for bed
edges, newspapers and cardboard for sheet mulching, and woodchips for
pathways. Net curtains from op-shops will last up to five years as bird
protection netting for a fraction of the cost of a new net. Gardening on the
cheap just takes imagination, resourcefulness and patience. If I had a
conventional-style food garden I wouldn’t have enough time available to
manage it. My somewhat chaotic system still yields with minimal
intervention. The most time-consuming aspect for me these days is usually
harvesting.
An integral part of any natural system is the cycling of nutrients. There’s a

number of different ways I do this on the farm. The gravity-fed, chook-driven
slow composting system handles all of the pruning materials, all of the grass
weeds and some of the spent vegetable crops. The girls pick their way
through piles and eventually I pull them apart, shred any hard sticks that
remain and redistribute the compost. The chooks are fed and we have tasty
eggs for a large part of the year. Guinea pigs are one of the best small animals
to have in a garden. They mow the lawn, love to eat weeds and vegetable
scraps and provide an abundance of easy-to-handle manure. Kitchen scraps
that don’t go to the chooks or pigs go through a worm farm or the compost
bins, along with the litter from the pig cage. I don’t take a very high-tech
approach to producing compost: I just add a stack of dried leaves every time I
put in kitchen waste and a scoop or two of stinky liquid manure made with
weeds and herbs such as borage, comfrey and yarrow. No tiresome turning,
no temperature monitoring: it all breaks down eventually. The worms,
bacteria and fungi do all the work. When I get around to it, I’ll empty a bin,
usually when I’m creating a new garden bed. Why buy fertiliser when there’s
so many ways you can make your own?
Collaborating with James and the Biota crew has been such a great
experience. James appreciates the sporadic nature of forage gardening and
really values edible items that money can’t buy. You’ll never see feijoa
petals, radish flowers and pods, or dandelion leaves at a market, let alone
mallow leaves and wood sorrel. That I can go backyard foraging and give
James a weekly collection of leaves and flowers that I would otherwise pull
out as weeds is a joy. I like to grow unusual food plants, but I’m not much of
a cook, so handing Chinese artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, yacon and
water chestnuts to James and seeing what wonders he can do with them is
truly exciting. Working with Biota inspires me to keep trying out new plants
and looking at food in different ways. I’ve also broadened my knowledge of
edible so-called weeds and now see food plants everywhere I go.
‘Working with Biota inspires me to keep trying out

new plants and looking at food in different ways. I’ve
also broadened my knowledge of edible so-called
weeds and now see food plants everywhere I go.’
With the introduction of juice matching to the menu I’ve also become more
interested in contributing to what Biota are doing in the bar. I’ve always
loved herbs and now I have excuses for putting in even more plants. Hops,
cola herb, lime geranium and Korean mint are plants I probably would never
have thought to grow without the opportunity to hand them over to someone
to experiment with. Their fermenting experiments also mean that I can
offload some excess fruit for them to play with. There are only so many
apples I can eat, fresh, stewed or dried!
Working with James is also important to me because his vision sits

beautifully with my ethos. Sustainable agriculture is my passion and it is my
long-term goal to be working full-time, either growing food sustainably or
‘growing’ sustainable growers by providing education and consulting
services. James’ support of local growers, his appreciation of seasonality and
his willingness to cook with foraged greens and hunted feral animals is a
genuinely sustainable approach. That he produces exquisite culinary artworks
with this strategy is a testament to his passion, dedication and tremendous
skills.
AUTUMN // Recipe for four
Fermented apples, quince, soft crème and

chocolate
This dish reminds me of autumn and the fallen apples that start to rot on the
ground and give off their slightly fermented aroma. The fragrant and floral
scent of a quince is one of my favourite things. This is a simple dish that can
be made months in advance, even served in winter if you like.
QUINCE PASTE
6 quinces
Put the sugar and 500 ml (17 fl oz) water in a saucepan over low heat. While the sugar is dissolving,
peel the quinces, add to the pan and cook for 3–6 hours until the quince is soft and turns dark red-pink.
Add the iota carrageenan, bring the heat back up to 84°C (183°F) and cook until the fruit starts to break
down.
Pour into a shallow tray, allow to cool slightly and then leave in the fridge overnight. Purée until
smooth and store in the fridge.
CHOCOLATE AND APPLE SORBET

260 ml (9¼ fl oz) fresh apple juice (about 600 g/1 lb 5 oz unpeeled apples, juiced)
70 g (2½ oz) fine cane sugar
20 g (3/4 oz) glucose
100 g (3½ oz) dark chocolate, broken into pieces
Strain the apple juice. Put 60 ml (2 fl oz) water in a saucepan and add the juice, sugar, glucose and
chocolate. Heat until the chocolate has melted, then put in the fridge to chill.
CHOCOLATE AND APPLE CREME

375 g (13 oz) dark chocolate, broken into pieces
150 g (5½ oz) fermented apple
Put the cream in a saucepan and heat to 78°C (172°F). Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely
simmering water and then mix with the cream. Remove from the heat, add the fermented apple and
leave to cool in the fridge.
FERMENTED APPLE JUICES

200 ml (7 fl oz) fresh apple juice (about 600 g/1 lb 5 oz unpeeled apples, juiced)
200 ml (7 fl oz) fermented apple
Add the apple juice to the fermented apple juices. Add the xanthan gum and work it into the mixture
until it starts to thicken. Strain and keep chilled.
SOFT CREME
Whip the cream and sugar until soft peaks form.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Flax
Bronze fennel fronds
Young maple leaf
Soft leeks, dark rye crumb and animal glaze

This is a large winter leek, cooked over the coals, scraped back and then
coated in the richest sauce of animal glaze. Ask your butcher for the animal
cuts – feet and heads tend to produce the most meaty and gelatinous glaze.
This turns a simple leek into something very special.
ANIMAL GLAZE
2 lamb heads or neck bones
4 pork trotters
5 kg (11 lb) chicken feet
4 leek tops
4 brown onions, roughly chopped
500 ml (17 fl oz) sherry vinegar
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Place the lamb heads and pork trotters in a roasting tin and roast,
turning once, until dark brown. Transfer everything, including the pan juices, to a large heavy-based
pan. Add the chicken feet, leeks, onions and 1.5 litres (52 fl oz) water and cook, uncovered, for 12
hours over low heat. Strain the liquid through a fine strainer, put in the fridge and leave to cool.
Remove the excess fat from the top and put the stock in a heavy-based pan. Add the sherry vinegar
and then cook over medium heat for 3–4 hours until reduced to a clear, gelatinous glaze.
LEEK
4 large leeks
20 g (3/4 oz) salt
Obtain some good local timber that is dry and not green with which to light a small fire. Trim the green
tops off the leeks (use them for the animal glaze). When you have hot coals, place the leeks on the coals
and cook them on all sides until black. Alternatively, chargrill the leek on a barbecue until blackened.
Leave to cool, then gently peel away the outer burnt skin to expose the tender flesh. Coat with the dark
rye crumb, below.
DARK RYE CRUMB

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) dark rye bread
20 g (3/4 oz) fennel pollen
2 teaspoons salt
Place the dark rye bread in a food processor and blitz to fine crumbs. Heat the grape seed oil in a pan
and fry the crumbs until they are crunchy. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve. Season
with fennel pollen and salt and use to coat the leek.
BURNT BUTTER
150 g (5½ oz) butter
2 teaspoons salt
Put the butter in a saucepan and heat until light brown. Remove from the heat and season with salt.
TO FINISH
Clovers
Mallow flowers
SUMMER TO AUTUMN // Recipe for four
Fire-pit beetroots with leather jacket cheeks

We cook these beetroots over the fire pit at Biota – it’s all about the
blackened skin and flavour of the coals. So, this one is best left for a time
when you cook outside over an open fire. You can use cod or tuna cheeks as
well as leather jacket here – ask your fishmonger.
FIRE-PIT BEETROOTS
4 large beetroots
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
Light a small fire and, once hot coals appear, drop the beetroots onto the coals and cook for around 40
minutes to an hour, turning every 15 minutes until they are cooked through with some internal
resistance.
Peel the beetroots, keeping the skins. While still hot, weigh the beetroot peelings and flesh, and purée
300 g (10½ oz) hot peelings with 200 g (7 oz) beetroot flesh, the olive oil and salt.
BEETROOT LEATHER
100 g (3½ oz) beetroot flesh from fire-pit beetroots (left)
50 g (13/4 oz) sugar syrup
Cut the beetroot into 1 cm (½ in) thick slices. Place in a saucepan with the sugar syrup and cook for
about 15 minutes until soft. Remove from the syrup and dehydrate in a low oven or dehydrator on 80°C
(176°F) for 3 hours.
Once dehydrated, rehydrate in the beetroot juices (see below) for about 10 minutes.
BEETROOT JUICES
250 g (9 oz) beetroot flesh from fire-pit beetroots (left)
Beetroot vinegar
Juice the beetroots and mix with the beetroot vinegar.

LEATHER JACKET CHEEKS
12 leather jacket cheeks
300 ml (10½ fl oz) olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
Ensure the fish is free of any silver skin or sinew. Heat the olive oil to 64°C (147°F) and cook the
cheeks in the oil for about 25 minutes until lightly coloured and slightly crisp. Season with the salt.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Red garnet amaranth leaf
Baby beetroot leaves
Black nasturtium flowers
LATE WINTER TO SPRING // Recipe for four
Raw peas, Jersey milk cheese and toasted oats

The harvesting of peas at Biota marks the change in the season and the
weather. We plant trays and trays of seeds in the polytunnel, some for fruit
and others just for their tendrils and flowers. When you’ve made the Jersey
milk cheese here, keep the whey in an airtight container in the fridge for up to
four days and use it to cook with spent vegetables.
JERSEY MILK CHEESE

260 ml (9¼ fl oz) full-cream Jersey cow’s milk (unpasteurised, if possible, or lightly pasteurised)
25 ml (3/4 fl oz) buttermilk
3 g (1/8 oz) rennet
Put the milk and buttermilk in a saucepan and heat to 30°C (86°F). Add the rennet and stir gently. Pour
into four 100 ml (3½ fl oz) dariole moulds or plastic containers, filling to about 1 cm (½ in) from the
top of the moulds. Put the moulds in a baking tray and fill the tray with warm water. Cook the cheese in
a 36°C (97°F) oven for 4 hours. Leave to cool in the tray.
Line a perforated tray with a clean cloth and put another tray underneath. Pour the set curds onto the
tray and keep the whey that collects underneath.
TOASTED OATS
100 g (3½ oz) organic rolled oats
30 g (1 oz) butter
salt, to taste
Toast the oats in a dry frying pan over medium heat, shaking the pan regularly, until fragrant and
golden. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl.
Put the butter in a small pan over medium heat until starting to colour and foam. Remove from the
heat and add to the toasted oats. Add salt and the garlic oil.
FLOWERS AND LEAVES

12 pea blossoms
12 black nasturtiums
12 pea shoots
Scarlet runner beans
12 propagated oats
Pick all the flowers and leaves, wash in chilled water and arrange on the plate over the cheese.
RAW PEAS
160 g (53/4 oz) sugarsnap peas
20 ml (½ fl oz) linseed (flaxseed) oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon salt
Pod the sugarsnap peas and keep them raw. Mix with the oil, lemon juice and salt when ready to serve.
BUTTERMILK DRESSING
100 ml (3½ fl oz) buttermilk
2 teaspoons salt
Whisk together the buttermilk, olive oil and salt until emulsified.
The bees of Biota
Our bees are European honey bees. They are the
busiest workers and play a very important role in the
life of Biota by pollinating our plants. Australia’s early
European settlers introduced honey bees to ensure a
good supply of honey. Naturally a few escaped and
they are now wild throughout most of Australia’s
southern states, pollinating our crops and wild flowers.
At Biota we have Langstroth hives that sit among the elder trees. These hives
are easy to manage, having frames that sit inside each box in which the bees
build their honeycomb, and are commonly used throughout Australia. We
also have a lot of fun with the Warré hive. The Warré hive is also known as
the ‘people’s hive’ and was developed in France by Emile Warré in the early
twentieth century. Warré experimented with over 350 designs – it was his
goal to find a system that was simple, natural, economical and bee-friendly. I
first heard about this from a family friend who is very passionate about
beekeeping and I was intrigued, as it seemed like a more natural way for
these busy little creatures to work. It is a good solution for those who are
interested in keeping bees simply and naturally without harsh chemicals or
medications.
The Warré hive is a vertical tiered hive with no frames that is simple and
cheap to build and easy to manage and maintain. The bees draw down their
own comb from top bars fixed to the box. The new hive boxes are added to
the bottom and not the top of the hive – bees prefer to build down so this
gives them a hive environment that is healthier and better suited to their
natural tendencies. The quilt provides a layer of insulation and sits under the
roof on top of the uppermost box.
‘The hive is managed with organic principles, using no

chemicals, and careful effort is made to keep the hive
strong so that the bees control pests and disease with
their own resilience and good hygiene habits.’
Bees are wonderful engineers, who have a precise team approach to
everything they do. There are around 20,000 dedicated workers doing their
best to make sure each flower is pollinated. They don’t do all this work for
free, of course. They collect some pollen for themselves and nectar is also
collected to be made into honey. The bees forage up to 5 kilometres from the
hive, likely visiting all the best gardens of Bowral and Burradoo, and return
with the nectar for making honey. The bees put in an amazing effort, with
each bee making just one-tenth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
Biota’s bees are looked after by bee man John Scott, who is extremely
passionate about the bees and takes great pride in the movements and
routines of the hive. The hive is managed with organic principles, using no
chemicals, and careful effort is made to keep the hive strong so that the bees
control pests and disease with their own resilience and good hygiene habits.
This keeps the honey clean and pure. There is always enough honey left with
the bees at the end of the season to get them safely through to spring.
With nectar collected from all the flowers in the gardens of Biota and
surrounding Bowral, there should be plenty of honey for the bees and enough
left for us to enjoy in desserts and on the breakfast plates of Biota’s guests.
We pay our respect to these wonderfully diverse little creatures with a very
humble fragrant dish of honey, mead, native flowers and garden lavender on
our menu. It is served with frozen floral Jersey milk.
Burnt pears, frozen milk and molasses sponge

We burn the pears over the fire pit in the garden. If you can’t use a fire for
this recipe there isn’t really an alternative for getting the same charred flavour
in the pears, but you could use fresh or poached pears instead. You will also
need a dehydrator and a cream gun here.
FROZEN MILK
100 ml (3½ fl oz) goat’s milk
Whisk together all the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a shallow tray and freeze for
2 hours, running a fork through the mixture every 30 minutes as the ice particles form.
BURNT PEARS
4 local pears
100 g (3½ oz) honey
Peel the pears, keeping all the peelings. Use a small knife to remove the flesh from the cores, keeping
the flesh for the pear paste, left. Stir the honey into 300 ml (10½ fl oz) water in a saucepan, add the pear
cores and poach for 45 minutes over low heat, ensuring the cores still have some resistance.
Meanwhile, if you can, make a small fire. Lift out the pear cores from the saucepan (keeping the
liquid) and once gentle coals have appeared put the cores in the fire and char evenly until black.
Remove any ash from the pear cores and put in a dehydrator for 1 hour on 90°C (194°F).
Put the pear peelings into the poaching liquid in the saucepan and simmer until the skins are
translucent. Strain the liquid and keep it in the saucepan to use in the pear paste, right.
Arrange the peelings, flat, skin side up, on a baking tray and dehydrate these at 65°C (149°F) for 4
hours.
PEAR PASTE
Pear flesh from burnt pears (left)
Poaching liquid from burnt pears (left)
12 g (½ oz) agar agar
4 pepper berries, crushed
Put the pear flesh in the saucepan of poaching liquid and simmer over low heat until soft. Set aside to
cool. Add the agar agar and heat to 80°C (176°F). Place in the fridge until cold and set, and then purée
until very smooth. Add the crushed pepper berries.
MOLASSES SPONGE
130 g (43/4 oz) plain white flour
1 egg yolk
310 ml (103/4 fl oz) cream
50 g (13/4 oz) molasses
2 teaspoons salt
7 eggs
Mix together all the ingredients and then purée. Add to a cream gun and charge with two gas chargers.
Once charged, take a plastic cup and three-quarter fill it with the mixture; repeat with three more cups.
Microwave on high (100%) for 40 seconds.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Thyme flowers
ALL YEAR ROUND // Recipe for four
Spent winter and summer vegetables cooked in
whey
Ugly vegetables can be beautiful, too! This is the best recipe ever – so simple
and tasty and made from something you might have been tempted to throw
away. Go out to your garden or greengrocers and grab all the leaves and old
bruised vegetables you can find. If you make your own butter, you’ll have
lots of whey left over. This is where to use it.
SPENT WINTER VEGETABLES

COOKED IN WHEY
About 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) old vegetables, from a selection of lettuce leaves, carrots, onions, cabbage
100 ml (3½ fl oz) grape seed oil
825 ml (28 fl oz) whey or buttermilk
200 g (7 oz) sour cream
Place all the raw vegetables in a food processor and purée. Transfer to a pan with the grape seed oil and
cook all the vegetables gently for about 45 minutes, without allowing them to colour.
Add the whey or buttermilk and cook over low heat for 2 hours until all the liquid has evaporated.
Cool in the fridge and then fold in the sour cream.
SPENT SUMMER VEGETABLES
COOKED IN WHEY
About 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) old vegetables, from a selection of white onion, white cabbage, white carrot,
garlic squash
825 ml (28 fl oz) whey or buttermilk
200 g (7 oz) sour cream
Place all the raw vegetables in a food processor and purée. Transfer to a pan with the grape seed oil and
cook all the vegetables gently for about 45 minutes, without allowing them to colour.
Add the whey or buttermilk and cook over low heat for 2 hours until all the liquid has evaporated.
Cool in the fridge and then fold in the sour cream.
farm
Country childhood
Inspiration comes in many forms: sometimes from

initial contact with something or someone; sometimes
from mother nature; and more often than not,
especially in this case, from memory.
I have the fondest memories of my childhood. I lived on a property about 20
kilometres outside the town of Scone, New South Wales. We were the last
house along the dirt road and so I was always the last kid on the bus. Our
home was a long house made of red cedar; in the morning there would be
kangaroos in the paddock, boxing until the sun came up.
We owned one pet who was especially full of character. His name was Rufus
– a large, black-faced Suffolk ram who thought he was a dog. My parents
would open the house gate into his paddock and Rufus would come running.
To be a young boy and see 90 kilograms of ram, moving across the paddock
at speed, prancing with glee because you’re holding out a chocolate biscuit
for him, can be disconcerting. Rufus would get to within five metres and I
would panic and throw the biscuit into the paddock, then duck behind Mum
or Dad. Rufus was the happiest sheep I have ever met; completely unaware of
his own size and sheepiness. One afternoon my sister was sitting in the back
seat of the car, ready to go on a family outing. We owned dogs who would
travel in the back seat, so Rufus obviously assumed that was where he should
be sitting too. As Rufus bounded in through one car door, my sister shot out
of the other side. Rufus sat there patiently, looking forward to a family day
out.
These animals were part of our life. I developed a love of animals at a young
age, not only as pets but as a food source as well. That connection is
something that has made me who I am today. We moved to Bowral in the
Southern Highlands when I was 11 years old, and eventually I went to an
agricultural college and spent a lot of time building vegetable gardens and
showing cattle at the local shows. Every afternoon after school I worked in a
local butcher’s shop. This was in the days when butchers spread sawdust on
the shop floor to mop up any pieces of meat and fat that dropped. I loved the
smell of that sawdust (more than I liked sweeping it up at the end of the day).
I started work at 4 pm and finished at 6 pm – my job was to clean the cool
room and the dishes. Scraping fat from the floor of the chiller in winter is not
the world’s best job, but it taught me the importance of a clean and well-
structured cool room.
‘Animals are part of our biota. They provide us with

more than just a food source: they give us knowledge,
jobs, happiness and purpose as a society.’
A couple of months into my job I was taught to make sausages. By the age of
13 I could make and tie sausages; by 14 I could truss a piece of meat. I loved
the banter between the butchers, and the joking; I also loved seeing the whole
carcasses come in to the shop. I began to learn the whole process; I would go
to the cattle sale yards in Moss Vale and purchase the steers, then help take
them back to the farm that was owned by the proprietor of the butcher’s and
put them in the paddocks. We left them on grass for several months and
finished them on grain, hand mixing the grain with molasses every week.
When they were ready, we took them to Wollondilly abattoir for slaughter,
and then they were brought into the shop for processing and sale. I
experienced all this before I was 14, and I loved it. I had no idea then, but it
has made me the cook I am today. (It might have been that, and the Saturday
morning ritual of cooking breakfast for six butchers: meat and bread, lots of
it.)
Animals are part of our biota. They provide more than just a food source:
they give us knowledge, jobs, happiness and purpose as a society. Some we
consume and some we don’t, and they must all be respected in every way,
from the paddock to the cook to the table. I have learnt this first hand and I
still eat meat, but I always think very carefully about how the animal was
farmed, what it ate and how it was processed.
Green almonds, purslane and fried fish throats

Green almonds are a favourite of mine; they have a completely different taste
to older almonds. I particularly like the husks, which, when young, are full
and sweet. These are great to pickle as well. Ask your fishmonger to give you
some throats from either snapper or hake (you need the bones and two heads
as well for the glaze). If you can’t buy fish throats, sand whiting or even cod
cheeks are good alternatives.
GREEN ALMONDS
20 young green almonds
30 ml (1 fl oz) rice vinegar
20 g (3/4 oz) honey
Remove the green husks from the almonds. Keep the almonds in a damp towel until ready to use and
thinly slice the green husks. Mix together the rice vinegar, honey and 40 ml (1¼ fl oz) water to make a
pickling solution and add the green almonds and husks. Store in a sealed container in the fridge for
about 2 days for the flavours to develop before using. Can be stored for up to 1 week.
FISH GLAZE
2 large fish bones and fish heads (snapper is perfect)
1 smoked pork hock
500 ml (17 fl oz) white wine
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the fish bones and heads until brown and crisp. Put the fish bones
and heads, pork hock, white wine and 200 ml (7 fl oz) water in a deep saucepan, then cover and simmer
for 4 hours. Strain and leave in the fridge to separate, then remove the fat layer from the top of the
stock. Return the pan to the heat and reduce the stock for a further 2 hours to make a glaze.
CHILLED ALMOND MILK

300 g (10½ oz) blanched almonds
310 ml (103/4 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk
20 g (3/4 oz) salt
1 tablespoon linseed (flaxseed) oil
4 g (1/8 oz) gellan gum
3 g (1/8 oz) iota carrageenan
Finely blend the blanched almonds. Put the milk in a pan with 200 ml (7 fl oz) water and add the
almonds. Heat to 55°C (131°F) and then cover and put in the fridge overnight. Strain the almond milk
into a heavy-based saucepan and add the salt, linseed oil, gellan and iota. Heat to 84°C (183°F), stirring
continuously. Strain onto a tray and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to set. Purée until smooth and then
keep chilled.
FISH THROATS
4 large fish throats (from snapper or hake)
100 g (3½ oz) potato starch
5 g (1/8 oz) fennel salt
Lightly coat the fish throats in potato starch. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and shallow-
fry the fish for about 4 minutes until crisp. Season with the fennel salt.
PLANTS TO FINISH
5 sprigs purslane, including stems
Rue
Clean the purslane by picking off the leaves. Keep the stems to use as well.
Milk-poached veal, clovers and puffed rye

This recipe is all about springtime. The flavours are gentle and tell the story
of the young calves and their mothers’ milk, the rye in the grain bins and the
clovers in the pasture. Serve this dish very chilled.
PUFFED RYE
200 g (7 oz) organic rye
10 g (¼ oz) linseeds (flaxseeds)
25 thyme leaves
Cook the rye in boiling water for 22 minutes until it begins to split. Refresh in cold water and wash
away any starch. Place in a dehydrator at 60°C (140°F) for 5 hours.
Heat a dry frying pan over medium heat, add the linseeds and toast for 2–3 minutes, shaking the pan
regularly. Heat the grape seed oil to 190°C (374°F) and add the rye. When it has puffed up – and this
will happen very quickly – remove from the oil and mix with the thyme leaves and toasted linseeds.
POACHED VEAL
400 g (14 oz) veal loin
30 g (1 oz) salt
4 whole white peppercorns
Trim the veal of any sinew or cartilage. Once trimmed, rub the salt all over the meat then set aside for
about 2 hours in the fridge. Rub the salt off the meat and put it in a vacuum bag. Add the milk and
white peppercorns, seal and cook in a water bath at 64°C (147°F) for 26 minutes. Remove from the
water bath and leave to cool, in the bag or out. When ready to serve, thinly slice the veal.
CLOVER JUICES
200 g (7 oz) clover, including stems
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) vinegar of barley grain
80 ml (2½ fl oz) linseed (flaxseed) oil
Rinse and juice the clover, stems and all. Whisk the juiced clover with the vinegar and oil until
combined and emulsified.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

800 ml (28 fl oz) fresh milk skin
PLANTS TO FINISH
Clover
Oxalis
Caramel lamb breast, dried lactose, fresh and

cooked oats
It’s spring and the paddocks and fields at Pecora Dairy in Robertson are full
of young lambs and native flowers. This dish pays homage to the sheep that
provide; it’s a circle of life. The sheep eat the oats from the pasture, which in
turn provides their young with milk. This dish all comes from the one
paddock. Instead of lucerne flowers here you could use violets.
LAMB CARAMEL SAUCE

2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) lamb bones
830 ml (29 fl oz) full-cream sheep’s milk
Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F). Put the bones in a roasting tin and roast for about 1 hour, turning
once, until they have a good dark brown colour. Put the bones in a large pan, add 1 litre (35 fl oz) water
and simmer slowly, covered, for 24 hours. Strain and chill the stock for 24 hours and then remove all
the fat from the surface.
Put the clear stock over medium heat and reduce slowly until three-quarters of the stock has
evaporated. Add the milk and reduce until the sugars in the milk sweeten – the liquid will turn yellow,
become more viscous and taste somewhat sweeter. The milk will split – at this point, remove it from
the heat and cool slightly. Blend in a food processor to make a thick caramel and bring it all back
together. This can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 months.
LAMB BREAST
300 g (10½ oz) iodised salt
80 g (23/4 oz) cane sugar
50 g (13/4 oz) pepper berries, crushed
1 boneless lamb breast, trimmed
Combine the salt, sugar and pepper berries and rub all over the lamb. Leave to cure for 6 hours in the
fridge. Lightly rinse off the cure. Preheat the oven to 88°C (190°F). Put the lamb in a deep ovenproof
dish and add enough water to cover the lamb. Cover the dish and roast for 7 hours.
Lift the lamb out of the water and cool on a tray in the fridge. Cut into strips and sear in a chargrill or
frying pan over high heat to caramelise. Add to the warm lamb caramel sauce and set aside until ready
to serve.
DRIED LACTOSE
1 litre (35 fl oz) full-cream sheep’s milk
Put the milk in a shallow frying pan and heat to 58°C (136°F). Hold at this temperature for 40 minutes.
Gently remove the skin from the top of the milk and place on a non-stick ovenproof mat. Season with
pink salt. Repeat to make 4 skins. Preheat the oven to 75°C (150°F) and leave the milk skins in the
oven for 1 hour until dry (note that they will not change colour).
COOKED OATS
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) dried organic rolled (porridge) oats
300 ml (10½ fl oz) chicken stock
1 litre (35 fl oz) full-cream sheep’s milk
10 g (¼ oz) pink Murray salt
45 ml (1½ fl oz) linseed (flaxseed) oil
Put the oats and stock in a pan and leave to soak for about 1 hour. Place over low heat and cook gently
for about 20 minutes. Fold in the other ingredients and cook for a further 15 minutes.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

Fresh oats, propagated from seed, 6 days’ growth after germination
Lucerne flowers, propagated from seed, 48 days’ growth after germination or violets
SHEEP CURDS
200 g (7 oz) fresh curds from any good sheep’s milk cheese (or cow’s milk ricotta)
Green grapes, elderflower and fig leaf ice

cream
In spring and summer each year we gather elderflower from the garden at
Biota; the buds get lightly soaked in vinegar just as they are about to flower. I
planted the elder trees four years ago in the watercourse run-off from the dam
on the grounds. This refreshing recipe always reminds me of that planting
day.
ELDERFLOWER BUDS
20 young elderflower sprigs
175 ml (5½ fl oz) elderflower vinegar
Rinse any insects off the elderflower. Seal in an airtight glass jar with the sugar syrup and elderflower
vinegar and keep for 1 week before using, if you can, for the flavours to develop. This can be stored for
up to 2 months.
GREEN GRAPES
20 large seedless green grapes
Score the grapes with a sharp knife and drop into boiling water. Leave for 2 minutes, until the skins
begin to lift. Transfer to an ice bath and peel off the skins (keep these to use for green grape skins,
right). Seal the grapes and lemon juice in a vacuum bag for 1 hour.
FIG LEAF ICE CREAM

4 fresh fig leaves
3 egg yolks
Pour the milk, half the sugar and 60 ml (2 fl oz) water into a pan and bring to the boil. Pour over the fig
leaves and leave to infuse for 6 hours in the fridge.
Put the egg yolks and the remaining sugar in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (don’t let
the base of the bowl touch the water) and whisk until you have a pale and creamy sabayon. Strain the
infused milk over the top of the sabayon, whisking constantly, then chill.
GREEN GRAPE SKINS

20 green grape skins (from green grapes, left)
Warm the grape skins in the sugar syrup until translucent. Remove and dehydrate in a dehydrator at
60°C (140°F) for 3 hours.
GRAPE AND ELDER JUICE

100 ml (3½ fl oz) green grape juice
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) elderflower water
Pour the grape juice, elderflower water and iota into a pan and heat to 75°C (167°F). Strain and leave to
set in the fridge.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Elderflowers
Flax buds
Borrowed land garlic, beans and bycatch

prawns
The name ‘Borrowed land’ respects the original occupants of this region, the
Gundungurra and Wodi Wodi peoples, on whose land Sahlan and Penny
grow their garlic. They grow biodynamic purple heirloom Rocambole
Australian garlic and also give me the garlic scapes that work wonderfully in
this recipe. Bycatch prawns are also known as ebi prawns.
BEANS
8 scarlet runner beans
Clean the beans and leave whole. Place in a hot, dry frying pan and scald one side until blackened. Rest
in a warm place and then remove the seeds from the pods, add to the garlic oil and set aside until ready
to serve.
GARLIC SCAPES
4 garlic scapes
2 teaspoons toasted garlic oil
Cut the centres from the scapes and sear in a hot dry pan until dark. Dress with the garlic oil.
WHIPPED GARLIC
20 g (3/4 oz) peeled garlic
5 g (1/8 oz) salt
Boil the garlic in 400 ml (14 fl oz) water for about 10 minutes until soft. Purée the whole mixture in a
blender and leave to cool.
Whisk the egg whites into the purée until fluffy, then add the oil slowly, drop by drop at first, to
prevent the mixture curdling. Season with the salt.
REDUCED MILK
1 litre (35 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk
20 g (3/4 oz) kelp or sea lettuce
2 teaspoons white soy sauce
Place the milk and kelp in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes until reduced
and sweetened. Remove the kelp. Season with white soy sauce.
BYCATCH PRAWNS
32 bycatch prawns
40 g (1½ oz) caviar (we use biodynamic Yasa)
Peel the prawns and keep on ice. Combine the prawns gently with the caviar and leave over ice until
you are ready to serve.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

3 cloves pickled garlic
Onion flowers
Chilled sheep’s milk with brined fish roe

I love this served very chilled and eaten with dark rye bread. We use the
sheep’s milk yoghurt from our local Pecora Dairy – it’s at its best in spring.
To add a smoky finish to the dish, we add a dusting of very finely blended
hay ash from our smoker.
CHILLED SHEEP’S MILK

400 g (14 oz) sheep’s milk yoghurt
10 g (¼ oz) fennel pollen
4 cloves pickled garlic, finely chopped
Hay ash, for dusting
Spoon the yoghurt into a large square of muslin (cheesecloth). Tie up the ends and hang overnight over
a bowl to catch the whey. Keep the whey to make the brined fish roe, right. Gently mix the yoghurt
with the fennel pollen and garlic. Dust with hay ash just before serving.
BRINED FISH ROE

40 g (1½ oz) John Dory roe, eggs removed from roe sac
60 g (2¼ oz) trout roe
100 ml (3½ fl oz) whey (from chilled sheep’s milk, left)
50 g (13/4 oz) salt
12 g (½ oz) cane sugar
50 g (13/4 oz) biodynamic sturgeon caviar
Hay ash, for dusting
Cook the John Dory and trout roe in boiling water, then chill under cold running water. Mix together
the whey, salt and sugar until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Add the chilled roes and caviar and
leave overnight. When ready to serve, remove from the brine. Dush with hay ash just before serving.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Mallow
Wood sorrel
ALSO ON THE PLATE
20 g (3/4 oz) dried mullet roe
Pecora Dairy: mother’s milk
Michael and Cressida McNamara
We established Pecora Dairy in 2011, after seven years

of research and development. It’s a family-owned
business and the milk is sourced and processed on site
from our 100 ewes. We hope to increase to 150
animals but Pecora Dairy will never have enormous
commercial reach. Rather, our overarching philosophy
is to be sustainable and gentle on animals, the land and
resources.
Pecora Dairy sits on 130 acres in Robertson, New South Wales, where the
mountains meet the sea and lush green paddocks sit alongside dense
rainforest. This area has a stunning microclimate with the highest rainfall in
the state. The rainfall supplies permanent spring-fed creeks and dams, which
support a rich biodiversity, integral to Pecora Dairy’s philosophy of farming.
The combination of rich red basalt soils and abundant water supply make this
perfect dairy country; however, rather than cows, we have chosen sheep as
the source of our milk.
Our working flock of pure East Friesian dairy ewes is the only one in
Australia. As a registered stud, we do feel an obligation to conserve and
refine the breed for future generations of Australian sheep dairies. The East
Friesian is the world’s highest producing dairy sheep. Originally from the
Netherlands, the breed is perfectly suited to the high rainfall and cool climate
conditions of Robertson and we try to be conscientious and gentle stewards
of these beautiful animals. For the first 30–40 days from birth, the lambs
share the ewes’ milk with the cheese makers. By taking only the evening
milk for cheese, we allow the lambs to grow strong with a higher survival
rate and less stress on the mother and lamb. Unlike at many dairies, the ram
lambs are raised until they are ready for sale. Pecora Dairy’s operation is
seasonal, which means that every year between late May and July the ewes
get a well-deserved break from the milking parlour ahead of lambing.
‘Pecora Dairy is less of a farm and more of a system.

We understand that well-run pasture-based operations
have a low carbon footprint. We use no externally
supplied water or ground water, only rainwater run-off
and access to our three natural springs.’
We aim to be careful custodians of the land and are committed to using no
pesticides on the farm and no drenches on the milking sheep. Pecora Dairy is
a pasture-based system and efforts are concentrated on soil health by using
natural fertilisers and growing perennial pastures. We believe that through
increasing organic matter in the soil, carbon is sequestered, which neutralises
the carbon footprint.
Pecora Dairy is less of a farm and more of a system. We understand that

well-run pasture-based operations have a low carbon footprint. We use no
externally supplied water or ground water, only rainwater run-off and access
to our three natural springs (which all run into the Shoalhaven River via
Kangaroo Valley). All the effluent water, dairy wash water and whey from
cheese-making is reclaimed and re-used – through sprinklers back on to
pastures. Almost all our product is sold within 160 kilometres of the farm,
keeping food miles to a minimum.
We have been working with National Parks and Wildlife to save an

endangered plant species – Pomaderris walshii – by fencing and collecting
seed. Riparian corridors of natural bush are nurtured and provide habitat for
native lyrebirds, wallabies and potoroos. It also serves to provide vital
midday shade for the milking ewes. Ten acres of the property, which has a
high conservation value, is fenced off from the ewes to protect its
biodiversity.
Off the farm, connectedness is vital for Pecora Dairy. This is a business that
values strongly the interaction between its product, consumers and industry.
Through our local farmers’ markets, we foster the sense of connection and
productivity, that ‘buying local’ provides a local community and economy.
We believe it is important for consumers to identify with the provenance of
product, which farmers’ markets fulfil. We have developed collaborations
with chefs like James and hope to celebrate and assist the Australian story
being told on a plate, giving a sense of time, place and flavour.
Beef cooked over coals, dark fruits, molasses

glaze and amaranth
I love this cut of beef. We use David Blackmore rib-cap: cooked first in a
water bath to firm up the proteins, then chilled and cooked over extremely
hot coals in the fire pit behind the kitchen. We use different timbers in the fire
pit, such as apple, peach or vine cuttings. Ask your butcher for rib-cap with a
high ‘marble score’ (such as MB9+); another option would be striploin
MB6+.
BEEF AND MOLASSES GLAZE

5 kg (11 lb) beef bones with marrow
5 brown onions, halved
100 ml (3½ fl oz) red wine
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) molasses
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Put the bones in a roasting tin and roast, turning once, until dark
brown and caramelised. Transfer to a deep stockpot and cover with water. Add the onions and simmer,
covered, over very low heat for 10–12 hours.
Strain the liquid and refrigerate until chilled. Remove the fat layer from the top of the stock. Return
the stock to high heat, add the red wine and then simmer hard to reduce the stock by three-quarters. Stir
in the molasses.
BEEF COOKED OVER COALS

1 Blackmore rib-cap MB9+
Put the whole rib-cap in a vacuum or cryovac bag. Seal and cook in a water bath at 78°C (172°F) for 36
minutes. Chill quickly in iced water. Use a chargrill pan or hot coals in a fire pit to cook the beef on
high heat until it begins to char and blacken; this will take approximately 4 minutes on each side.
Remove from the heat and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
DARK FRUIT JUICES

100 ml (3½ fl oz) cherry juice
100 ml (3½ fl oz) blood plum juice
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) cherry vinegar
Combine the fruit juices and then whisk in the xanthan gum until thickened. Add the cherry vinegar and
strain through a fine sieve.
DARK FRUITS
12 cherries
12 mulberries
12 wild blackberries
12 riberries
Dark fruit juices (left)
Place all the fruits in a small saucepan with the dark fruit juices and olive oil and heat gently.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Veal tendons, raw kingfish and white radish

This recipe relies on the best and cleanest veal tendons from your local
butcher, and only the best wild kingfish. It is one of my favourite dishes. We
are lucky to be able to forage for sea lettuce along the coast of New South
Wales. It is also known as green kelp or wakame and you can buy it at Asian
food stores in dried form and then soak it until it blooms.
VEAL TENDONS
4 veal tendons (from a young calf)
500 ml (17 fl oz) chicken stock
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Soak the veal tendons in salted water for 24 hours and then rinse off the saline. Put the tendons in a
vacuum bag with the chicken stock. Seal and cook in an 88°C (190°F) water bath for 12 hours. Put the
bag in the fridge and leave to set hard. Cut the tendons into thin slices when ready to use.
CURED KINGFISH
400 g (14 oz) kingfish loin
150 g (5½ oz) salt cure
Clean the kingfish by removing any skin and bloodline. Rub the cure over the fish and leave in the
fridge for 12 hours. Gently wipe off the cure and slice thinly with a sharp knife.
KINGFISH
200 g (7 oz) kingfish belly
50 g (1¾ oz) white onion, diced
2 tablespoons seaweed dressing
Finely dice the kingfish and mix with the white onion. When you are ready to serve, dress with the
seaweed dressing.
WHITE RADISH
1 small daikon (white radish)
30 ml (1 fl oz) seaweed dressing
2 teaspoons lime juice
Peel and slice the daikon as thinly as possible into long sheets (a mandolin is ideal for this). Dress with
the seaweed dressing and lime juice.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Black nasturtiums
Beach mustard leaves
Young radish leaves
Assorted sea lettuce
LATE SUMMER // Recipe for four
Aged duck ham, bunya nut cream and saltbush

I think cured meats are fantastic: they have such a different personality to
cooked or even raw meats. The best duck to use here is a variety that has a
high fat content. We use a cross between American Pekin and Aylesbury.
You need to allow yourself at least three weeks for curing and ageing the
duck here – like all worthwhile projects, this is a process that cannot be
rushed or tampered with. The bunya nuts we use to make the cream are
usually harvested in mid to late summer, when the whole cone has fallen
from the bunya pine.
DUCK HAM
2 fatty duck breasts, with skin
10 g (¼ oz) young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree
300 g (10½ oz) salt
2 star anise
10 g (¼ oz) black pepper
2 thyme sprigs
Clean the duck breasts and pine needles and place in a deep tray. Put the salt, sugar, star anise, black
pepper and thyme sprigs in a food processor and blend until aromatic and fine. Rub this salt cure into
the duck breasts and place any excess cure on top. Cover and leave in the fridge for 9 days.
Wipe the cure off the duck breasts with a damp cloth. Pat dry with a dry cloth and place on a flat
metal tray. Take a blowtorch and scald the duck skin until it is black. Allow to cool, then wrap each
breast twice in muslin (cheesecloth). Tie with butcher’s twine and hang in a cool place at around 6–
10°C (43–50°F) for 2 weeks. Slice paper thin when you’re ready to eat.
BUNYA NUT CREAM

1 tablespoon grape seed oil
250 g (9 oz) raw bunya nuts
1 white onion
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt
Heat the oil in a pan. Add the bunya nuts, onion and garlic and sauté until soft. Add the milk and salt,
cover the pan and steep for 30 minutes off the heat. Pour into a blender and purée until smooth. Pass
through a fine mesh sieve and chill until cold.
SALTBUSH
40 large saltbush leaves
Layer about 4–5 leaves together, roll up tightly and thinly slice, to chiffonade as thinly as possible.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

Burnt cucumber and leek dressing
4 sprigs red elk leaves
Creamed hen eggs, mud crab, celery hearts and

local truffles
I love the texture of the soft eggs and the mud crab here – what a wonderful
combination. A little tip is to store your eggs in the truffles for a few weeks in
the fridge before making this. The truffle flavour will seep into the eggs
through their porous shells.
PICKLED CELERY HEARTS

100 ml (3½ fl oz) vinegar of barley grain
50 g (13/4 oz) cane sugar
10 g (¼ oz) celery seeds
12 young celery hearts
Warm the vinegar of barley grain with the sugar and celery seeds. Add the celery hearts to the liquid
while it is still hot, then leave in the fridge until needed.
MUD CRAB
1 whole mud crab
10 ml (¼ fl oz) lime juice
Plunge the crab into boiling water and cook for about 8 minutes. Transfer to iced water until chilled. To
remove the meat from the crab, cut into quarters with a large knife or cleaver. Pull the intestines and
grey gills from the body and crack the claws with the back of a heavy knife. Remove the crab meat
from the claws and body. Dress the crab meat in olive oil, lime juice and some salt.
CREAMED HEN EGGS

8 eggs
10 g (¼ oz) salt
40 g (1½ oz) butter, melted
100 ml (3½ fl oz) soured cream
Mix the eggs with the salt and melted butter in a saucepan. Stir constantly over low heat until firm, then
add the soured cream and serve immediately.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

125 ml (4 fl oz) brown butter
16 thinly shaved slices of black truffle
PLANTS TO FINISH
Celery leaves
Yarrow buds
Duck eggs with stock of old winter plants and

bones
This recipe reminds me of frost-bitten vegetables, dormant and forgotten in
the cold earth; it’s great to bring them back to life. You can use whatever
vegetables you have; you’ll need about 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) in total. I tend to stick
with green and white plants such as brassicas and tuber stems, leaves and
roots. You don’t want the duck egg to be too soft here: it needs to be cooked
so it has an almost gel-like consistency.
WINTER PLANTS AND BONES STOCK

4 beef bones with marrow
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) duck bones
1 litre (35 fl oz) chicken stock
Cabbage hearts, roughly chopped
Old mushrooms
Kale stems, roughly chopped
Brown onions, roughly chopped
Leek tops, roughly chopped
Garlic scapes
Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F) and roast all the bones, turning once, until dark brown. Transfer to a
stockpot. Cover the bones with chicken stock and cook, covered, for 12 hours over low heat. Strain the
stock, return to the stockpot and add the vegetables. Cook over low heat for a further 4 hours.
Strain the stock again and refrigerate until chilled. Remove the layer of fat from the top of the stock
and season with salt. Whisk in the xanthan gum to thicken the stock and then strain.
DUCK EGGS
4 large fresh duck eggs
Cook the duck eggs, unshelled, in a water bath at 64.5°C (148°F) for 45 minutes. Remove from the
water bath and allow to cool naturally. When ready to use, put the eggs (still in their shells) in hot water
(but not over any heat) for 4 minutes. Crack each egg into a bowl and season with salt and a little
toasted garlic oil.
COOKED WINTER PLANTS

4 kale leaves
8 cabbage leaves
2 teaspoons linseed (flaxseed) oil
2 turnips
Lightly sear the kale and cabbage leaves in the linseed oil until soft. Cook the turnips whole in salted
water until tender. Cool and then slice thinly on a mandolin.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Fat hen buds
Smoked hen, creamed corn and sprouted

grains
I would never use anything other than organically farmed, free-range
chickens – I can’t stand even the thought of caged birds. These ladies have a
good amount of fat on them and the sprouted grains we use in the dish are
those that the birds generally feed on. Once the grains are sprouted, we warm
them in duck fat and they take on a beautifully nutty characteristic.
SPROUTED GRAINS
30 g (1 oz) brown lentils
30 g (1 oz) rye
30 g (1 oz) brown peas
30 g (1 oz) barley
60 ml (2 fl oz) melted duck fat
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Mix together all the grains. Line a tray with layers of kitchen paper folded to about 1 cm (½ in) thick.
Moisten the paper and sprinkle the grains over the top. Fill a spray bottle with water and spray the
grains every 2 hours for 3 days. Keep the tray covered in a warm, dark place. Once the grains have
sprouted and you are ready to serve, heat them in warm duck fat and salt.
SMOKED HEN
1 organic chicken (approximately 1.2 kg/2 lb 11 oz)
200 g (7 oz) hay
80 g (23/4 oz) salted butter
2 teaspoons vinegar of barley grain
Remove the legs, wings and neck from the bird (keep these pieces for the hen and onion juices, right),
leaving just the two breasts on the frame. Put the frame with the olive oil in a vacuum bag and seal.
Cook in a water bath for 42 minutes at 64°C (147°F). Leave to cool, then chill.
To build a smoker, take a deep oven tray and build a small fire in it with the hay. Smother the fire by
putting a flat tray on top of the deep tray, locking in all the smoke. Lift off the flat tray and put a wire
rack with the chicken frame on the smothered fire. Replace the flat tray to lock in the smoke. Leave for
about 20 minutes, then lift off and rebuild the fire. Repeat the smoking twice more.
Put the smoked chicken in the fridge to chill and then cook, skin-side-down, until it has a good
colour.
While the chicken is cooking, melt the butter. Turn and baste the chicken in hot butter several times
until golden and crisp. Cut the breasts off the frame, then slice and dress with the vinegar.
HEN AND ONION JUICES

Left-over chicken parts from smoked hen, left
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 brown onions, cut into large pieces
6 garlic cloves, crushed
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and roast the chicken parts for 15 minutes until brown. Heat the
olive oil in a large stockpot and sauté the onion and garlic until soft. Add the chicken parts, cover with
water and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 6 hours. Strain, bring the stock back to the boil and
reduce by half.
CREAMED CORN
5 corn cobs
100 g (3½ oz) soured cream
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Slice the kernels from the corn. Juice the corn kernels (best done in a juicer as the corn is then
thickened by its own natural starches. If you don’t have a juicer, blend the corn and then push it
through a sieve). Put the corn in a pan and cook over low heat, stirring continuously until it thickens.
Add the soured cream and season with the salt.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Purslane leaves
Rue
Pigeon cooked in maltstock with prunes

Young pigeon is perfect for this dish. The meat of the bird is mostly
concentrated in the breast area, so we use the breast on the plate and save the
bones for making the sauce. The skin is very fine and can be aged in the
fridge after blanching to dry it out for a couple of days.
PIGEON IN MALTSTOCK
1 whole young pigeon
200 ml (7 fl oz) chicken stock
250 g (9 oz) dark malt powder
200 ml (7 fl oz) white soy sauce
20 g (3/4 oz) whole white peppercorns
Remove the head, wings and legs from the bird and save for making the pigeon glaze. Tie a piece of
string around the neck of the bird.
Put the chicken stock, malt powder, soy sauce and peppercorns in a large pan, bring to the boil and
then simmer for 45 minutes to make a maltstock.
Bring the maltstock to 80°C (176°F) and keep at this temperature. Add the pigeon and gently poach
in the stock for 8 minutes. Remove and cool the pigeon, then repeat the poaching for 6 minutes. Hang
the poached pigeon in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 3 days before slicing the breast for serving.
PRUNES
4 prunes, pitted
80 ml (2½ fl oz) cherry vinegar
50 g (13/4 oz) poppy seeds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
Soak the prunes in the cherry vinegar overnight. Combine the poppy seeds, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Warm the prunes through in the cherry vinegar and then drain and coat them gently in the poppy seed
mixture.
PIGEON GLAZE
Pigeon wings, legs and head
4 chicken carcasses
500 ml (17 fl oz) beetroot juice
Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Roast the pigeon and chicken carcasses for about 1 hour or until
brown. Place the bones in a stockpot and cover with water. Cook, uncovered, over low heat for 24
hours. Strain the stock and place in the fridge overnight.
Skim the layer of fat from the top of the stock, put the stock in a pan and reduce over low heat until it
thickens to a rich glaze. Add the beetroot juice and reduce for a further 15 minutes. Use to glaze the
pigeon breasts before serving.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

Thinly sliced lardo
PLANTS TO FINISH
SUMMER TO AUTUMN // Recipe for four
Set milks, onion caramel, oregano and barley

The time to make this is when the onions are sweet and full of juices, which
for us is January to May for most varieties in Australia. This dish is so full of
natural sugars that it’s almost a dessert.
SET MILKS
100 ml (3½ fl oz) full-cream sheep’s milk
100 ml (3½ fl oz) full-cream goat’s milk
8 g (¼ oz) rennet
5 g (1/8 oz) salt
Preheat the oven to its lowest setting. Put all the milk in a saucepan and heat to 30°C (86°F). Gently stir
in the rennet and salt. Pour into four 100 ml (3½ fl oz) plastic dariole moulds, filling them three-
quarters full. Cook in a 36°C (97°F) water bath in the oven for 4 hours (use a temperature probe to
ensure the temperature stays constant). Cool in the moulds to room temperature, then chill in the fridge
(still in the moulds).
Line a perforated tray with a clean cloth and sit it on another tray. Turn out the chilled milks onto the
cloth. Keep the whey for use in another recipe, such as the spent vegetables.
ONION CARAMEL
6 brown onions, peeled and halved
Put the onions and sugar in a vacuum bag and add 150 ml (5 fl oz) water. Seal and cook in a 78°C
(172°F) water bath for 5 hours. Strain the liquid into a saucepan over medium heat and cook slowly
until reduced by half.
ONION SHELLS
6 baby onions, unpeeled
30 ml (1 fl oz) onion caramel (above)
Cut the unpeeled onions in half. Blacken the onion halves in a hot pan or on a chargrill plate, and then
leave in a sealed container until soft.
Rub off the blackened charrings and carefully separate the onion shells. Dress with linseed oil and
the onion caramel.
BARLEY COOKED IN ONION CARAMEL

200 g (7 oz) organic barley
1 tablespoon onion caramel (left)
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Bring 700 ml (24 fl oz) water to the boil and add the barley. Cook for 60–80 minutes until the barley is
soft and beginning to crack, then drain and rinse under running water. Preheat the oven to 80°C
(170°F). Put the barley on a baking tray and dry in the oven for 2 hours.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, fry the barley in two batches until golden and then drain well.
When ready to serve, put the barley with the onion caramel and salt in a large saucepan over gentle heat
to just bind.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Oregano leaves
Oxalis
Onion flowers
Lamb brains in toasted seeds, kale juices and

soured cream
The lamb brains here are soaked in milk and then dried and gently fried,
giving them a superb texture. Their creaminess is enhanced by the crispness
of the toasted seed coating and the sour astringent taste of the kale.
TOASTED SEEDS
50 g (13/4 oz) white sesame seeds
40 g (1½ oz) parsley seeds
20 g (3/4 oz) linseeds (flaxseeds)
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Heat a dry frying pan over medium heat and lightly toast the sesame seeds for 2-3 minutes, shaking the
pan regularly. Remove from the pan and lightly toast the parsley seeds and then the linseeds. Let all the
seeds cool, then mix together with the salt and crush lightly. Use to coat the fried lamb brains.
LAMB BRAINS
4 small lamb brains
80 g (23/4 oz) butter
Trim and clean the brains of any sinew and then soak them in the milk in the fridge overnight. Drain
and pat dry with kitchen paper. Fry the brains lightly in melted butter for about 8 minutes, depending
on their size, until the butter starts to turn to brown and the brains are golden. Coat the brains with the
toasted seeds, left.
KALE JUICES
200 ml (7 fl oz) juiced kale
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) white grape juice
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) buttermilk
5 g (1/8 oz) salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
Put the kale juice in a bowl and then gently whisk in the grape juice, buttermilk, salt and olive oil until
emulsified.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Wilted rape leaves and stem
ALSO ON THE PLATE

Soured cream
Autumn to winter // Recipe for four
Pork neck cooked in eucalyptus with chestnuts

This dish comes from such a simple idea. I was out looking at the pigs at
Redleaf Farm; they had just been moved into a new purpose-built paddock
and it was a wonderful dense forest of eucalypt trees. The leaves had fallen
all through their feed troughs and they were greedily eating vegetables and
grain mixed with eucalyptus. It would be nice to think that the eucalyptus
they eat might flavour the meat, but we’ve given the process a helping
hand…
PORK
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) pork neck
50 g (13/4 oz) fresh eucalyptus leaves, crushed
10 g (¼ oz) salt cure
Trim the pork neck of any excess sinew or fat. Put the eucalyptus leaves and salt cure in a tray. Put the
pork in the tray and rub with the cure.
Lay the pork on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a cylinder as tightly as possible. Ensure it is
airtight and then place in a steamer for 12 hours at 70°C (158°F). Once steamed, refrigerate until
chilled, preferably overnight, before cutting into slices.
HAY ASH
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) lucerne hay
In a fireproof vessel such as a metal bucket, set fire to the lucerne hay and burn until completely black.
Allow to cool and then mix in a food processor to make a fine powder. This quantity of lucerne will
make about 10 g (¼ oz) hay ash.
SQUID AND ASH GLAZE

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) chicken feet
1 smoked pork hock
20 ml (½ fl oz) squid ink
10 g (¼ oz) hay ash (left)
20 ml (½ fl oz) white soy sauce
Put the chicken feet and pork hock in a large stockpot or saucepan. Add 2 litres (70 fl oz) cold water
and simmer gently for 2 hours. Strain the broth, return to the heat and simmer until reduced by two-
thirds. Add the squid ink, hay ash and soy sauce and simmer until reduced to a glaze.
EUCALYPT SALT
5 g (1/8 oz) fresh eucalyptus leaves
10 g (¼ oz) sea salt flakes
Blend the eucalyptus leaves and salt in a spice grinder to make a fine powder.
MUSTARD SEEDS
20 ml (½ fl oz) white soy sauce
20 g (3/4 oz) yellow mustard seeds
Combine the soy sauce with 1 tablespoon water. Warm to 60°C (140°F), add the mustard seeds and
soak until the liquid has been absorbed.
LICHEN
1 handful of fresh lichen
Sea salt, to taste
Ensure the lichen is clean and free from grit. Heat the oil to 185°C (365°F) and fry the lichen until
golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.
CHESTNUT CREME
200 g (7 oz) fresh chestnuts
100 g (3½ oz) peeled, chopped parsnips
100 g (3½ oz) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
10 g (¼ oz) sea salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Roast the chestnuts until the skins start to blister. Peel the chestnuts.
Put the milk in a saucepan, add the chestnuts and parsnip and simmer until very tender. Strain and
place the chestnuts and parsnip in a food processor. Add the chilled butter in small amounts and blend
to create a smooth cream. Season with salt.
Hen yolks, toasted rye, cooked curds and

chickpeas
The humble hen egg: so simple and yet so versatile. This dish was one of
Biota’s first ever creations. I remember collecting eggs from my mum’s
chook pen and I dropped one on the ground. It cracked open in a pile of food
scraps that included chickpeas, sprouting in the earth.
COOKED CURDS
115 ml (33/4 fl oz) cream
20 g (3/4 oz) calcium lactate
15 g (½ oz) salt
Pour the milk and cream into a heavy-based saucepan and heat to 88°C (190°F). Stir in the calcium
lactate, reduce the heat slightly and allow the lactose to separate. Season with the salt, then ladle the
curds into muslin (cheesecloth) lining a fine-mesh strainer. Hang over a shallow plate in the fridge for
at least 3 hours.
TOASTED RYE
400 g (14 oz) old rye bread
10 g (¼ oz) salt
40 g (1½ oz) black truffle, finely chopped
2 sprigs flowering thyme, finely chopped
Blend the rye bread to fine crumbs in a food processor. Heat the grape seed oil in a frying pan over
medium heat and toast the crumbs until brown and crisp. Strain the crumbs through a fine mesh
strainer, discarding the oil, then leave to cool. Add the salt, chopped truffle, toasted garlic oil and
flowering thyme.
EGG WHITE PEARLS

140 g (5 oz) egg whites
Put the egg whites in a bowl with 60 ml (2 fl oz) water and mix gently with a whisk until a small
amount of froth appears. Pour the mixture into an eye dropper. Heat the grape seed oil to 60°C (140°F).
Gently drop the egg white into the oil and allow small pearls to form. Once the pearls are completely
white, lift out with a slotted spoon and cool on a ceramic plate with a small amount of the oil to prevent
sticking. Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 3 days.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

Pasta dough, rolled into sheets and cooked
HEN YOLKS
4 egg yolks
160 g (53/4 oz) duck fat
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Put each yolk into a small plastic cup or dariole mould (but nothing heavy or ceramic – if you use
ceramic moulds they become too hot and cause the eggs to stick). Melt the duck fat and gently pour
into each cup to cover the yolk. Season each yolk with salt.
Half-fill a saucepan with water and bring to about 70°C (158°F). Float the cups in the water and cook
for 4 minutes. Turn out the eggs to serve.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Chickpea shoots
Yarrow shoots
Suckling pig from Redleaf Farm with warm

milk bread
The Sparke family at Redleaf Farm has been raising some of the best pigs I
have ever eaten. At Biota Dining we take the pigs at varied sizes, depending
on the time of the year and our specific demands. The first suckling pig we
took from Katrina and Sam weighed about 11 kg (24 lb). I cooked it whole,
as I do with most of them, and the skin was like glass. From that day on it has
been a personal quest to cook the most perfect piece of pork with the ideal
meat to fat to skin ratio. The pigs roam the paddocks, and even the house
paddock, eating plants, bugs and sometimes the plums from our plum trees.
So, with this recipe we serve a salted plum – wonderful with the soft meat
and the lactose-rich milk bread.
SUCKLING PIG
1 young suckling pig (usually around 4–8 kg/9–18 lb)
200 g (7 oz) salt
Splash of vinegar of barley grain
I prefer to cook the whole suckling pig on the bone and remove the joints once it’s cooked. To do this,
you will need a large oven (if not, ask your butcher to portion the pig for you). Crack the spine of the
pig so that it lies flat. Rub the salt into the pig skin, leave for 2 hours and then rub off gently. Preheat
the oven to 160°C (315°F) and cook for about 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours, or until the meat is soft.
About 15 minutes before the end of cooking, increase the heat to 190°C (375°F) to crisp the skin. Once
cooked, splash the meat side with vinegar before slicing.
WARM MILK BREAD

4 eggs
60 g (2¼ oz) glucose
150 g (5½ oz) biodynamic flour
10 g (¼ oz) baking powder
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Put the milk in a saucepan over high heat and simmer until reduced to 150 ml (5 fl oz). Preheat the
oven to 165°C (320°F) and line a 20 cm (8 in) loaf tin with baking paper.
Beat the eggs and glucose for a couple of minutes until frothy. Add the dry ingredients and mix well.
Transfer to the tin and bake for 40 minutes until firm. Cool in the tin in the fridge, then pour the
reduced milk over the top. Allow the bread to soak up all the milk before cutting.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

Salted plums
PLANTS TO FINISH
Mallow
Redleaf Farm
Katrina and Sam Sparke
We certainly didn’t imagine we would ‘grow up’ to

become pig farmers, it just happened along the way.
We moved from Sydney and bought what was then a
fairly run-down farm in a magnificent spot in the
Southern Highlands.
The hard (but rewarding) work began then. Fencing, soil testing, learning
about farming different animals and experimenting with organic ways to
improve our lot occupied the first few years. As our family grew, so did our
knowledge and desire to do something worthwhile with our farm. We love
our food and strive to live healthily and sustainably, while supplying the
finest quality free-range produce to a discerning local market. We are
fortunate to have found, and built, a perfect backyard ‘playground’ at Redleaf
that enables us to farm ethically and protect our local native wildlife. The
useable land adjoins 200 acres of bush that becomes state forest and national
park. It is a magical spot, one we are proud to tread lightly on and return back
to the farm what we take out.
We discovered an area under old pine trees that had been used several
decades earlier for pig grazing, so we started researching heritage breeds. We
decided on Saddlebacks, and purchased our first two sows, Pepper and
Ginger, as cute little pets. They grew, and it was after their first litters that we
first met James. Sam called in to the newly opened Biota Dining to ask if he
might be interested in buying local pork. James was on our doorstep at the
crack of dawn the next day and bought the lot, there and then.
A happy collaboration ensued. James also tried our lamb, and picked herbs
from the grazing paddocks to serve with the lamb. Paddock rotation, stock
rotation and organic principles help to maintain our lush, high-nutrient
pastures. A crop of pea and oats planted to improve a paddock also provided
flowers and peas for James, and a high-nutrient silage to see cattle through
the winter. James often comes out to forage through the paddocks for all
manner of things – from mallow and pine needles to red sorrel or goose eggs.
‘We firmly believe that the best-tasting meat is from

happy animals. Treating our animals well is paramount
to us, and that extra love definitely comes across in the
taste of our meat.’
We firmly believe that the best-tasting meat is from happy animals. Treating
our animals well is paramount to us, and that extra love definitely comes
across in the taste of our meat. Extending our product to some of Sydney’s
most awarded chefs has been most rewarding. As a small family farm, our
stock numbers are low so we can manage our hands-on approach – hence our
produce is very seasonal. We like it that way; it seems far more natural. It
means we can’t guarantee a steady supply for a menu item, but when our
pork or lamb is available, it is a ‘special’ treat.
Allowing our pigs to roam and graze and mate at their leisure means that
sometimes we have a lot of piglets at once, and sometimes we have none for
a few months. Our sows have shelters, but often prefer to build their own
‘nests’ to birth in. It’s great to see them living as naturally as possible, and
following their instincts. Our neighbours were horrified to see that we let
them dig the paddocks, but they are wonderful ploughs. With a strategic plan,
we utilise their ploughing talent to help with preparing land to be rejuvenated.
Pigs are intelligent animals and most come running by name for a home-
made muesli of mixed grain. They love an ear scratch or belly rub. The
piglets don’t get names – it is sad to see them go at 10 weeks, but as a farmer
I rest soundly knowing they have had the best short life a pig could have, and
that they will be appreciated for their superior taste and lack of chemical
input. Raising animals ethically is important to us; there is no need for cruelty
in sustainable farming.
Growing up with nutritionist Rosemary Stanton as my mother, I have always

appreciated real food. We feel it is vital to educate our children in food and
its provenance – a bigger picture than just visiting the supermarket. I
endeavour to use every part of an animal possible, and respect it, so that its
life is not taken in vain. If it’s a suckling pig bred for purpose, we will eat
every bit. If it’s a wild deer I have hunted in my paddock, we will eat the
better cuts, mince the tough bits and tan the hide. If it is a feral introduced
species such as a fox, we will take its life to protect our stock and the native
wildlife, and then skin and tan its lush pelt. In this way I feel no guilt in
taking my natural place in the food chain and providing for my family.
There are more and more people who want to understand their food
provenance. We took on board ‘you are what you eat’. Now, we’ve realised
‘you are what your food eats’. I like to know what that is. I’d encourage
people to read labels or ask the producer. Make the choice that feels right, not
just for you, but for the food you are eating. Support farmers’ markets, local
growers, seasonal produce and restaurants that do the same. And, most of all,
take the time to savour and enjoy every bite of whatever it is you have chosen
to eat.
Cherries, soured cream, buckwheat and

liquorice
The cherry season in New South Wales is short, starting in November and
finishing around the first week of January. Every year we like to have a dish
– sweet or savoury – that celebrates the cherry and shows off the fruit at its
prime time.
CHERRIES
20 cherries, pitted
Burn the cherries on a barbecue or in a hot, dry pan until blackened all over. Then refrigerate.
CHERRY SORBET
500 ml (17 fl oz) cherry purée (pitted, blended and sieved fresh cherries)
240 ml (8 fl oz) sorbet base
Put the cherry purée and sorbet base in an ice-cream maker, add 240 ml (8 fl oz) water and churn until
frozen. If you don’t have an ice-cream machine, pour into a shallow freezer container. Freeze until
semi-frozen, then whisk very thoroughly. Freeze and whisk again, twice more.
BUCKWHEAT ROCKS
100 g (3½ oz) butter
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar
Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat and then toss in the buckwheat. Sift the icing sugar over the
buckwheat in small batches, tossing so it’s fully coated. Keep the pan on the heat and use a wooden
spoon to stop the buckwheat sticking. When all the sugar has been added, remove from the heat and
leave to cool.
LIQUORICE GEL
80 g (23/4 oz) Mec3 liquorice compound
12 g (½ oz) gellan gum
Put the liquorice compound and gellan gum in a pan with 150 ml (5 fl oz) water. Bring to the boil,
stirring continuously, and then remove from the heat. Leave to set in the fridge. Once set, purée until
smooth.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

160 g (53/4 oz) soured cream
PLANTS TO FINISH
Red oxalis
Flax
Dark rye and oat bread rolls

Baking and breaking bread is one of the most important ceremonies we have
at Biota. All the cooks in the kitchen are able to make great bread and it plays
an important role in our dining room. We serve the bread in small pouches
made from kangaroo pelt – the winter coat of the large grey kangaroo –
which keeps the bread warm on the table.
MOTHER
225 g (8 oz) dark rye flour
80 ml (2½ fl oz) dark beer
Put 185 ml (6 fl oz) water in a clean metal bowl with the flour and mix with a large metal spoon. Add
the beer and fold in. Wrap in plastic wrap and store at approximately 26°C (79°F) overnight to get a
slight ferment.
Store the mother in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks, using it up as you make your
bread.
STARTER
20 g (3/4 oz) mother (left)
100 g (3½ oz) dark rye flour
Put the mother in an electric mixer with the dough hook attached. Add 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water and mix
well. Add the dark rye flour and mix to a smooth paste. Place the dough in a clean metal bowl and wrap
tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to ferment at approximately 26°C (79°F) for a minimum of 16 hours
and up to 24 hours.
DOUGH
250 g (9 oz) dark rye flour
10 g (¼ oz) salt
200 g (7 oz) bakers’ (strong) flour
150 g (5½ oz) starter (left)
Natural yoghurt and rolled oats
Attach a dough hook to an electric mixer. Put the ingredients in the bowl in the following order: dark
rye flour, salt, bakers’ flour, starter and 230 ml (8 fl oz) water. Mix on low speed for 3 minutes, then
medium speed for a further 2 minutes. Place the dough in a clean metal bowl and wrap with plastic
wrap. Leave to prove at approximately 26°C (79°F) for 90 minutes. Gently give the dough three or four
folds at 40-minute intervals to further strengthen it.
Turn out onto a clean work surface and gently fold the dough three or four times, or just enough to
release any excess gas trapped in the dough. At this stage the dough will need to be covered with a
damp cloth so it doesn’t dry out.
Preheat the oven to 210°C (410°F). Cut the dough into 100 g (3½ oz) pieces and roll into balls. Press
out flat to about 1 cm (½ in) thick and place on semolina-dusted baking trays. Brush each roll with
yoghurt, making sure you brush all the way around, from the base up. Scatter with oats.
Bake for approximately 16 minutes, steaming the oven as the bread goes in, then twice more at 3-
minute intervals, by adding 125 ml (4 fl oz) water each time.
ALL YEAR ROUND // Recipe makes about 800 g (1 lb 12 oz)
Vine-smoked butter
I really enjoy the fact that we make our own butter; it’s a very simple and
satisfying process. At the end of each season we collect vine cuttings from
our regional vineyards. We store and use them to smoke the cream for our
butter. This gives a sense of connection to the wines we serve, and it appeals
to my heart that it’s one of the first things customers experience at Biota. If
you don’t have vine cuttings, use hay, birch or even fruit tree cuttings.
In many traditional dairies and homesteads, cream was often skimmed off
several milkings over a couple of days and collected to make butter. The
cream was, therefore, several days old and somewhat fermented by the time
the butter-making process began. During fermentation, bacteria converts the
milk sugars into lactic acid, causing the cream to sour naturally. The
fermentation process produces additional aroma compounds, creating a
wonderfully flavoured butter. Butter made from fermented cream is known as
‘cultured butter’.
SMOKED CREAM
2.2 litres (74 fl oz) cream
8 vine cuttings
Leave the cream out for about 5 hours to come up to room temperature and sour.
To build a smoker, take a deep tray and make a small fire in it, using two or three vine cuttings.
Smother the cuttings with a thin flat tray on top, locking in all the smoke. Remove the flat tray and
place the cream in a shallow bowl on a wire rack on the smothered cuttings. Put the thin tray on top
again and leave to smoke for about 1 hour. Remove the cream from the smoker, add another couple of
vine cuttings, allow the smoke to build up again and smoke the cream for another hour. Repeat the
process once more, so the cream has been smoked for a total of 3 hours. Remove the bowl from the
smoker and chill in the fridge.
BUTTER
Smoked cream (left)
20 g (3/4 oz) salt
To make the butter, beat the smoked cream and salt until the fat solids separate from the buttermilk. As
this happens, remove the fat solids from the bowl by hand. Place them in a piece of muslin
(cheesecloth) or kitchen towel and hang overnight with a bowl underneath to collect the buttermilk that
drips from the butter. (Make sure you keep the buttermilk for cooking the spent vegetables.)
Let the butter set for a couple of hours in the fridge before serving. You can store the butter for up to
1 month in the fridge.
forest
Beneath the pines
It’s late one March evening, service has finished in the

restaurant, I look at the bookings for the next day and
realise there will be no time in the morning to collect
the mushrooms we have put on the lunch menu.
I walk out of the back door of the kitchen into the crisp mountain cold snap,
the beginnings of winter; it makes me feel refreshed and awake, like a cold
shower. I grab a galvanised bucket from the smoking room and jump in the
ute. The drive out to the forest late at night is wonderful: fog, native animals
and me. I do feel a small amount of anxiety: it’s dark, but there is a deep blue
glow from the full moon and a lot of stars.
By the time I arrive on the dirt road that will take me to one of our trusted
mushroom gathering areas, I’m wondering if it’s really worth it – should I
take them off the menu tomorrow? It’s bloody cold and very dark – the tall
pines are hiding that blue moonlight I was hoping for as I stomp over the
mossy forest floor. But I’ve left the ute’s headlights shining on high beam
and I try not to think about the dark shadows.
I’m looking for pine mushrooms. It’s early in the season and the slippery
jacks are waiting for the wetter, colder time of the year. The pine mushroom,
also known as saffron milk cap, is one of the best-known members of the
milk cap genus. The mushrooms grow under conifers and we find a lot on the
side of the pine-covered mountain about 15 minutes from Biota.
To be out in the forest, night or day, is a very special feeling. The smell of
pine, the crisp mountain air and the pure excitement of finding clusters of
mushrooms is amazing. In the season we go out as a team in the afternoon
between service. The chefs jump out of the car and go missing for 30
minutes, all in their own direction, searching for fiddle fern and mushrooms.
We meet back at the car with buckets full of mushrooms, big smiles and
everyone eager to get back to the kitchen and cook what they’ve found.
These are proud cooks, proud of themselves and proud of what mother nature
has given them to cook with. There are even times when we go out to the
forest as a team, knowing full well there are no mushrooms, no berries, no
forest flowers, the sap of the pine trees is not running and there is no fern. It
doesn’t matter: the restaurant team want to go out, they want to interact with
nature, perhaps because they just want some fresh air, or to find a level of
inspiration and even discover the undiscovered. The forests are there for us,
they are part of our biota, and for us to explore. They never fail to make us
feel alive, refreshed and inspired.
‘The forests are there for us, they are part of our biota,
and for us to explore. They never fail to make us feel
alive, refreshed and inspired.’
The forest we gather from is over 3500 hectares and a mixture of native forest
and radiata pines, which were first planted in the early 1900s. In the autumn
and winter months we gather mushrooms here, then we start to see native
flowers coming through, as an indication that it’s soon to be berry season.
During berry season we start to tap the pine trees to gather their sap.
Ingredients from the forest are never ending and the more time we spend out
there the more we learn.
In early 2013 I was reunited with a chef who has made a big impact on what
we do at Biota. Joel came to me on a freezing winter’s morning and, as well
as being a wonderful cook and a wonderful friend, he’s given Biota
something we never had real access to, hence it was never included in our
menus. This is the bounty of foraged beach plants that he gathers from his
home on the coast just south of Sydney. You’ll find many of these plants
appearing in the recipes in this chapter.
I’m not in favour of using a lot of seafood on our menus because we’re not
on the seashore; we are inland. We have wonderful brook trout, trout in local
farm dams and rainbow trout. If any other seafood is to be served on the
menus at Biota, it’s usually something that has a shell, so is protected in its
own little world until the shell is opened.
Many of the ingredients in this chapter are wild and can be found in the forest
or on the side of the road. Be sure you can identify them before using them.
EARLY SPRING // Recipe for four
Forest flowers, Jamberoo Mountain blue and

honey
This is inspired by our spring trips out to Pecora Dairy. There are often a lot
of native wild flowers in bloom, with busy native bees buzzing around them.
The Jamberoo Mountain blue is our local cheese – it’s beautiful and fairly
floral but you can use any local blue.
NATIVE HONEY GEL

120 ml (4 fl oz) native honey
5 g (1/8 oz) salt
6 g (1/8 oz) iota carrageenan
Put the honey and salt in a saucepan and stir in 90 ml (3 fl oz) water. Add the iota and heat to 84°C
(183°F). Strain the liquid and store in the fridge until ready to use.
LINSEED CRISP
250 g (9 oz) linseeds (flaxseeds)
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Preheat the oven to 70°C (150°F). Whisk the egg whites until stiff and then fold in the linseeds and salt.
Spread on a paper-lined baking tray and bake for 2 hours.
JAMBEROO MOUNTAIN BLUE

300 g (10½ oz) Jamberoo Mountain blue cheese (sheep’s milk blue)
Break the cheese into small pieces and leave out to come to room temperature before serving.
FOREST FLOWERS
Wild lavender
Blackberry buds and fruit
Native cherry flowers
Wild fennel pollen
Pick and clean the forest flowers. Keep in a cool place until you are ready to use.
AUTUMN TO WINTER // Recipe for four
Quince cooked in pine sap with whipped brie

It is a lovely fact of our neighbourhood that every autumn we are bombarded
with bags of quinces from the locals. It’s also pear season, and we use all the
parts of the pear, even the cores – they have so much residual sugar. Each
year we tap pine trees for their sap in early spring and save it to make this
dish in autumn. The pine sap is strong and astringent. If the sap isn’t flowing,
we use four green eucalyptus leaves for flavouring the quinces instead – steep
the leaves in the poaching water and add the quinces. You can order whey
from a dairy, or collect it yourself if you are making butter, cheese or yoghurt
at home.
QUINCE IN PINE SAP

100 g (3½ oz) pine sap
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) lemon juice
400 g (14 oz) quinces, cut into four, seeds discarded
40 g (1½ oz) young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree
Dilute the pine sap in 600 ml (21 fl oz) water in a saucepan. Add the lemon juice and the cut quince.
Add the pine needles and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 4 hours until the quince is tender. Chill in
the liquid in the fridge.
WHIPPED BRIE
200 g (7 oz) soft brie
100 g (3½ oz) brown butter
3 g (1/8 oz) salt
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) whey (from butter, cheese or yoghurt making)
Remove the rind from the brie. Put the cheese in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Transfer to a
bowl and then use a wooden spoon to slowly stir in the brown butter, salt and whey.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree
Rabbit cooked in straw and toasted grain broth

This dish is inspired by the sight of young rabbits at Redleaf Farm, darting in
and out of the straw bales and eating grains that have been stored in bags for
the farm animals. We use straw or hay to cook the rabbit in and then serve the
meat with quince; it’s a very fragrant and gentle combination. We make this
in autumn when the quinces are ripe, but you can leave them out and make
this all year round.
TOASTED GRAIN BROTH

300 g (10½ oz) rabbit bones
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) mushrooms
80 g (23/4 oz) puffed barley
80 g (23/4 oz) puffed sorghum
80 g (23/4 oz) puffed rye
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Place the bones in a roasting tin and roast, turning once, until dark
brown. Transfer the bones to a stockpot, cover with water and add the mushrooms. Cover the pan and
cook gently for 3 hours. Add the toasted grains and continue to cook gently for 1 hour.
Remove from the heat and strain the broth. Simmer over low heat until reduced by half.
SLOW COOKED QUINCES

4 quinces
5 sprigs assorted garden aromats
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Place the quinces whole on a bed of aromats in a baking tray and
cook in the oven for 1½ hours. Peel the skin from the quinces, cut the fruit into small pieces and add to
the broth when you are ready to serve.
RABBIT COOKED IN STRAW

1 whole rabbit
100 g (3½ oz) butter, melted
20 g (3/4 oz) salt
2 handfuls of dry straw or hay
Clean the rabbit and remove the kidneys (you can ask your butcher to do this). Coat the rabbit in melted
butter and salt, then sear in a large frying pan over medium heat until brown. Use kitchen string to tie
the hay or straw around the whole rabbit.
Put the rabbit in a clay pot or flameproof dish with a lid and cook over medium heat for about 1 hour
or until cooked through. Remove the straw from the rabbit and carve.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Watercress stalks and flowers
River plants, steamed trout and buttermilk

We use brook trout, rainbow trout and brown trout in the restaurant,
depending on the time of year and where we’ve been fishing. We often camp
beside the local river; the banks are lush with river mint, fennel and purslane
growing among the rocks.
TROUT ROE
80 g (23/4 oz) trout roe
30 ml (1 fl oz) light soy sauce
Put the trout roe and soy sauce in a vacuum or cryovac bag, seal the bag and leave for at least 3 hours in
the fridge, to compress and marinate the roe.
BUTTERMILK
120 ml (4 fl oz) buttermilk
10 g (¼ oz) salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
Whisk together the buttermilk, salt and olive oil until slightly aerated.
TROUT
2 brown trout or rainbow trout, filleted
2 sprigs river mint
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Cut four pieces of baking paper just larger than the trout fillets. Place each fillet, skin side down, on a
piece of paper. Put in a steamer, making sure none of the fillets overlap (you might need to use two
layers of the steamer). Put a sprig of river mint on each fish, cover and steam for about 6 minutes. Peel
the paper away from each fillet, followed by the fish skin. Season with the salt.
BROWN BUTTER CREME

100 ml (3½ fl oz) brown butter, at room temperature
300 g (10½ oz) sour cream
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Mix together the brown butter and sour cream and season with salt.
PLANTS TO FINISH
River mint
Fennel
Purslane
Mulched pine caramels

In spring and summer we head out to the forest and place taps in about 15 to
20 large radiata pine trees. The best time to collect the sap is between
October and January here in Australia, when it’s running up and down the
tree. When we’ve finished tapping the tree, we always fill the tap hole with a
wooden plug to prevent harm to the tree from invasive insects and disease. If
you can’t get pine sap, or resins from another tree such as birch, you could
use molasses instead. Molasses can be quite strong though, so be careful how
much you use.
CHOCOLATE SHELLS
You will need 9 ml (¼ fl oz) spherical chocolate shell moulds here. Heat the chocolate to 34°C (93°F)
over a double boiler (or put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of barely
simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Hold the chocolate at that
temperature for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Pour into the moulds and leave to set in the
fridge until ready to serve.
SALTED PINE CARAMEL

50 g (13/4 oz) spring pine sap
360 g (123/4 oz) cold butter, chopped
Heat 30 ml (1 fl oz) water with the pine sap to 70°C (158°F) and cook for 20 minutes. Strain the liquid
and add to the sugar in a saucepan. Cook until the mixture reaches 180°C (356°F) on a sugar
thermometer, then remove from the heat and stir in the butter until melted. Add the salt and leave to set
in the fridge until it has a paste-like consistency. Spoon into a piping bag and fill the chocolate shells
(left).
MULCHED PINE
200 g (7 oz) young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree
Wash and dry the pine needles. Chop as finely as possible (we use a spice grinder) to make a fine
mulch. Coat the chocolate caramels in mulched pine and keep chilled until ready to serve.
SPRING TO SUMMER // Recipe for four
Fallow deer, pink onions, wild fruits and plants

This recipe can be made with different parts of the deer; we use the loin and
the fillet as well as the rump. Fallow deer are in abundance during this time
of year. We use the sous vide method here, with vacuum bags and a water
bath – you can ask your local butcher to vacuum bag the meat and wild fruits
for you.
PINK ONIONS
8 small red onions, with roots left on
30 ml (1 fl oz) beetroot vinegar
20 g (3/4 oz) salt
Peel back the onions to the young flesh. Put the onions in a vacuum bag with the vinegar, oil and salt.
Seal and cook in a water bath at 78°C (172°F) for 35 minutes. Plunge the bag into iced water and leave
until chilled.
When ready to serve, pour the onions and any juices from the bag into a saucepan and warm through.
Keep the onion juices for warming the wild fruits, right.
WILD FRUITS
12 blackberries
50 g (13/4 oz) munthries
50 g (13/4 oz) riberries
50 g (13/4 oz) roadside plums
Pink onion juices (left)
Put all the fruits in a small saucepan and heat gently in the juices from the pink onions.
VENISON
400 g (14 oz) venison, your choice of cut
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) olive oil
20 g (3/4 oz) native pepper berries
Put the deer in a vacuum bag and add the olive oil and native pepper. Seal and cook in a water bath at
68°C (154°F) for 22 minutes. Plunge the bag into iced water and leave until chilled. Remove the
venison from the bag and pat dry. Seal in a hot pan until nicely coloured on all sides and then leave to
rest for 20 minutes.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Oxalis
Wood sorrel
Dandelion leaf
Hunters and gatherers
Before European settlers arrived, the Southern
Highlands region of Australia was occupied by the
Tharawal people, who lived mainly on local plants,
animals, fruits and vegetables and by fishing in the
local streams. The women gathered the plants and
vegetables of the region while the men hunted land
mammals and speared fish. The name of our town,
Bowral, is believed to have derived from the aboriginal
word ‘bowrel’, which loosely translates to ‘high’.
I very much believe that hunting wild meat is the way forward towards a
more sustainable future. We hunt for deer and rabbits on neighbouring
properties and prepare what we’ve shot either for the staff or for special
meals on those properties. It isn’t legal for us to serve wild hunted meat in the
restaurant as it needs to have passed through an abattoir for processing. I
believe that farming for the masses might feed a country, but wild harvesting
feeds a soul. When we shoot an animal, we use every bit of meat from that
animal and then take the hides to Berry to be tanned. There’s no wastage; it
teaches us patience and to take only what we need at any time.
We have rifle licences but prefer to bow hunt in the forest. Sometimes it can
take half a day of following an animal, in the quiet, watching its behaviour,
before a shot is taken. Sometimes a shot is never taken – the animal might be
with calf or be a nursing female and so we leave it.
It’s important for me to know the provenance of the animal, and to know that
the last thing the creature saw and smelt was its own natural environment, its
own food, its own biota, rather than the horrors of the abattoir.
‘Hunters know from experience that life lives on lives

and we participate directly in the most fundamental
processes of life. That is why many hunters have been
and still are the foremost conservationists of wildlife
and wild places.’
It concerns me when I see us putting cheap mass-produced meat into our
bodies with no real care or connection, no real heart and no love. What’s
happened to us? And what will happen to us in another 300 years? We should
want to know and find out more about the food we eat, but as soon as it’s a
piece of wild meat on a plate, people become squeamish and don’t want to
know… Well, we should know: wild meat is tasty, sustainable and far, far
more humanely produced than what comes from many modern farms.
I believe that we are born hunters and gatherers. To be out in the wild is one
of the most pure ways to interact with nature, whether that means fly fishing
in a local stream, standing waist deep in crystal clear mountain water, or
walking deep through the forest to hunt fallow deer, goats and hares. Just to
be out there gives a sense of freedom.
Hunting is a way to fall in love with nature. For me, it’s not about the kill, it’s
about the hunt. Around the world in all cultures the urge to hunt awakens in
many of us at a young age. The predatory instinct can appear spontaneously
without previous experience or coaching, and in the civilised world we often
hunt despite attempts to suppress the instinct. Adventure, hunting and fishing
can give us that deep connection with pine forests, mountains, grasses,
waterfalls, deer, rabbits, berries, plants and each other. Hunting can also teach
us intelligence, patience and to respect the power of nature.
Hunting reminds us to think with our heart instead of our heads. We learn
where our food is coming from and what it has eaten. We learn to respect it
and not produce and take more than we need. No hunter revels in the death of
the animal. Hunters know from experience that life lives on lives and we
participate directly in the most fundamental processes of life. That is why
many hunters have been and still are the foremost conservationists of wildlife
and wild places.
Mushroom stock with wood-smoked perch

We are lucky in Australia to have a bounty of seawater fish, but our inland
estuaries are also home to some delicious species such as this perch. We
serve this dish with older mushrooms that have been dried and made into a
stock.
MUSHROOM STOCK
600 g (1 lb 5 oz) assorted mushrooms
20 ml (½ fl oz) grape seed oil
4 brown onions, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
70 g (2½ oz) sea lettuce
1 litre (35 fl oz) chicken stock
5 g (1/8 oz) salt
Preheat the oven to 60°C (140°F). Slice the mushrooms as thinly as possible, arrange in a single layer
on a baking tray and place in the low oven for 5 hours to dehydrate.
Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the onions and garlic lightly. Add the dry mushrooms, sea
lettuce and chicken stock and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Infuse over low heat for 6 hours without
boiling or uncovering.
When ready, strain through muslin (cheesecloth), discarding the solids. Season with the salt and
white soy sauce.
WOOD-SMOKED PERCH
2 perch fillets (about 200 g/7 oz each), skin on
Salt cure
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) pine timber or apple timber
Gently rub the perch fillets all over with the cure mixture and place on a wire rack. Leave to cure for 1
hour and then rub off the cure.
To build a smoker, take a deep oven tray and build a small fire in it with the timber. Smother the fire
by putting a flat tray on top of the deep tray, locking in all the smoke. Lift off the flat tray and put the
wire rack with the perch fillets on the smothered fire. Replace the flat tray to lock in the smoke. Leave
for about 20 minutes. Remove the rack and perch, and build another small fire in your deep tray.
Repeat the process twice more, until the perch is smoked to your taste.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Burnet
Rocket (arugula) flowers and stems
Enoki mushroom tops, dressed in olive oil and salt
Raw kangaroo, artichokes and lucerne

Kangaroo is a sustainably sourced meat with the animals grazing in the wild
and eating naturally rather than being intensively farmed. It’s a clean eating
meat that serves this recipe well. Instead of flattening the kangaroo fillet, you
could dice it and serve as tartare.
BURNT CHILLI OIL

100 g (3½ oz) green and red chillies
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) walnut oil
Burn the chillies, with their seeds in, over hot coals or in a hot pan until black. Place in a vacuum or
cryovac bag with the walnut oil and seal. Cook in a water bath at 65°C (149°F) for 4 hours. Leave at
room temperature until the next day, then strain.
BUCKWHEAT
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Bring a panful of water to the boil. Add the buckwheat and cook for about 8 minutes. Strain and rinse
in cold water to remove all the starch. Preheat the oven to 80°C (175°F). Spread out the buckwheat on a
baking tray and dehydrate in the low oven for 24 hours. When ready to serve, fry in the grape seed oil
until puffed and then season with salt while hot.
ARTICHOKES
Juice of 1 lemon
4 globe artichokes
200 g (7 oz) yoghurt, hung in muslin (cheesecloth) overnight in the fridge
Add the lemon juice to a bowl of cold water. To prepare the artichokes, remove the stems and peel back
the flowers to expose the young flesh. Use a spoon to remove and discard the hairy chokes from the
centres; put the artichokes in the lemon water as they are prepared.
Put the artichokes in a pan, cover with water, add the olive oil and cook over low heat for about 15
minutes until tender. Drain, cool, cut into small cubes and fold through the yoghurt. Season with salt.
KANGAROO
400 g (14 oz) kangaroo fillet
50 g (13/4 oz) salt
10 g (¼ oz) pepper berries, ground
Trim the fillet. Mix the salt, sugar and pepper berries together to make a cure and rub this over the
kangaroo fillet. Leave to cure for 2 hours.
Wipe off the cure with damp kitchen paper, cut the kangaroo fillet into 1 cm (½ in) thick slices and
place between two sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten with a meat mallet and coat with the buckwheat.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Artichoke centres from the growing flower
Oxalis flowers
Pine mushrooms from the forest, confit leek,

rape juices and Pecora Dairy yoghurt
Mushroom season in the forest is an inspiring time. Taking in the smell of the
damp forest floor and green pine in the crisp cold air is a great way to start
the day. We put this dish on the menu every year: it’s very simple and is all
about the pine mushrooms.
PECORA DAIRY YOGHURT

200 g (7 oz) sheep’s milk yoghurt, hung in muslin (cheesecloth) overnight in the fridge
CONFIT LEEK
1 leek
10 young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree
4 g (1/8 oz) salt
Slice off the green part of the leek (if you have chickens, they will love this). Put the white tender leek,
pine needles and oil in a vacuum bag. Seal the bag and cook in a water bath at 86°C (187°F) for 5 hours
until translucent. While still hot, remove the leek from the bag and separate the layers. Season with the
salt.
PINE MUSHROOMS
8 pine mushrooms
20 ml (½ fl oz) toasted garlic oil
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Collect the freshest pine mushrooms you can find and brush them clean of pine needles and the forest
floor. Heat a frying pan to smoking point and sear the mushrooms whole, stalks upwards, until almost
black, adding the grape seed oil just before you take them out of the pan. Remove from the pan just
before they are fully cooked and allow to rest. Slice the mushrooms and toss in the garlic oil and salt.
RAPE JUICES
600 g (1 lb 5 oz) rape leaves and stems
30 ml (1 fl oz) pine oil, chilled
Clean the rape leaves and stems and then juice. Chill until needed, then toss with the pine oil just before
serving.
SALT-BAKED TURNIP
250 g (9 oz) rock salt
1 egg white
1 turnip
Mix the salt, egg whites and 25 ml (3/4 fl oz) water together to make a bound mixture. Take the turnip
and completely encase it in the salt mix. Put the turnip on a tray and bake in a 180°C (350°F) oven for
about 35 minutes, or until cooked through with minimal resistance to a skewer. Remove from the salt
crust and leave to cool. Thinly slice with a mandolin or sharp knife.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Young rape leaves
Mulched pine
Wild plants and artichoke ice cream

Roadside findings are often plentiful in summer. Young shoots of sorrel,
dandelion, fennel and oxalis are favourites for this little dish. You can use
any plants you like, but it’s good to have some different identities – bitter,
tangy and even somewhat oxalic. The sweetened ice cream is best combined
with plants that have citric notes, to cut through the richness of the lactose
and creamy Jerusalem artichoke.
ARTICHOKE ICE CREAM

450 g (1 lb) Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), peeled and sliced
1.5 litres (52 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk
250 g (9 oz) fine cane sugar
8 g (¼ oz) salt
Simmer the Jerusalem artichokes in the milk until softened. Add the cream, sugar and salt and heat to
58°C (136°F). Purée the mixture and then leave to cool in the fridge. Transfer to an ice-cream machine
and churn until frozen.
If you don’t have an ice-cream machine, pour into a shallow freezer container. Freeze until semi-
frozen, then whisk very thoroughly. Freeze and whisk again, twice more.
WILD PLANTS TO FINISH

Clovers
Oxalis
Dandelion
Sorrel
Fennel pollen
River bed sorrel, eucalyptus and frozen goat’s

milk yoghurt
One of my favourite things to collect and eat is fresh sorrel from the local
river near Biota; when the water is running the young sorrel in the river is at
its best. In this recipe it’s paired with goat’s milk yoghurt – which is equally
good in springtime.
FROZEN GOAT’S MILK YOGHURT

5 egg yolks
80 ml (2½ fl oz) white wine
280 g (10 oz) goat’s milk yoghurt
200 ml (7 fl oz) juiced sorrel
Put the egg yolks, sugar and wine in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the
base of the bowl isn’t sitting in the water. Gently whisk until pale and foamy. Remove from the heat
and chill in the fridge.
In a separate bowl, whisk the cream until stiff. When the egg mixture is chilled, add the whipped
cream, yoghurt and sorrel juice. Pour into a shallow tray lined with baking paper and leave to set in the
freezer.
EUCALYPTUS GEL
400 g (14 oz) eucalyptus leaves
30 g (1 oz) fine cane sugar
10 g (¼ oz) gellan gum
Put the eucalyptus leaves in a saucepan with 600 ml (21 fl oz) water, cover and place over low heat.
Leave to steep for 3 hours. Stir in the sugar and chill in the fridge. Add the gellan gum and heat to 84°C
(183°F), stirring constantly. Pour into a container and then chill and leave to set in the fridge. Remove
the leaves, purée until smooth in a blender and then keep chilled.
CHOCOLATE CRISP
135 g (43/4 oz) glucose
Put the sugar and glucose in a saucepan and heat to 160°C (320°F). Remove from the heat and stir in
the chocolate until melted. Spread into a paper-lined shallow tray and leave to cool in the fridge.
Once cold and hard, break into pieces and blend to a fine powder in a food processor. Preheat the
oven to 170°C (325°F). Sift the powder onto a paper-lined tray and bake for 11 minutes. Remove from
the oven and cut into fingers.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Cherry blossom flowers
Smoking
The smoking of food dates back to the time of
primitive peoples. As caves and simple shelters lacked
chimneys, these dwellings could become very smoky.
Our ancestors would often hang meat up to dry and
keep safe, and they soon became aware that meat
stored in smoky areas acquired a different flavour and
was better preserved than meat that had been simply
dried out.
Over time this process was combined with pre-curing in salt or brine,
resulting in a remarkably effective preservation process that was developed
by numerous cultures around the world. In those early days smoking was
quite harsh and ‘heavy duty’ as the main goal was to preserve the food. Large
quantities of salt were used in the curing process and smoking times were
quite long, sometimes involving days of exposure.
Smoking food changes its texture and its flavour profile. We enjoy smoking
lots of different ingredients at Biota, including dairy products, fish parts,
animal parts and even fruit. It’s a versatile technique that makes for some
interesting flavours. We are lucky enough to have a wonderful selection of
local wood to smoke with. We use different timbers depending on the season
and ingredient; some of my favourites are peach, apple and pine wood.
There are also different ways to smoke ingredients. The method we use most
commonly (we find it gentle and not so overpowering to the food) is cold
smoking. The food is smoked over damp timber at a temperature of between
20 and 30 degrees Celsius. We use two types of smoker: my favourite is the
most primitive method of digging a pit, lining it with either rocks or an old
wine barrel and building a small fire in the bottom. A damp piece of cloth or
hessian is draped over the pit to smother the fire and reduce the amount of
oxygen – this makes more smoke. This method is fantastic for smoking fish
by the river or in the backyard. The other method we use is an offset smoker
that I built when the restaurant opened. It is made from an old stainless steel
refrigerator. We smoke almost everything in this: it has racks inside for
hanging meat and trays for smoking liquids.
To build a smoker fairly easily at home, take a deep oven tray and build a
small fire of twigs or cuttings in it. Smother the fire by putting a flat tray on
top of the deep tray, locking in all the smoke. Put the ingredients for smoking
on a wire rack (in a bowl if necessary), lift off the flat tray and put the wire
rack on the smothered fire. Replace the flat tray to lock in the smoke. Leave
for about an hour (or however long it specifies in the recipe). Remove the
rack and ingredients, and build another small fire in your deep tray. Repeat
the process twice more, until the ingredient is smoked to your taste.
LATE AUTUMN TO EARLY WINTER // Recipe for four
Wild honey, brioche, frozen milk and

macadamias
Each year we are given honey by neighbours and other beekeepers in our
region. We keep our own European honey bees at Biota, but this recipe was
developed using honey from wild flowers pollinated by native bees. The dish
is essentially in honour of the humble bee.
MACADAMIA CREME
300 g (10½ oz) toasted macadamias
12 g (½ oz) gellan gum
Preheat the oven to 145°C (293°F). Put the nuts on a baking tray and toast for 14 minutes. Meanwhile,
gently warm the milk. Tip the toasted nuts into the warm milk, cover and leave in the fridge overnight
to infuse. Strain the milk into a saucepan, add the gellan and heat to 84°C (183°F). Pour into a container
and leave to set in the fridge. Purée until smooth.
FROZEN MILK
100 ml (3½ fl oz) goat’s milk
Whisk together all the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a shallow tray and freeze.
Run a fork through the milk every 30 minutes to break up the ice particles.
BRIOCHE
450 g (1 lb) bakers’ (strong) flour
8 g (¼ oz) salt
20 g (3/4 oz) dried yeast
2 eggs
120 g (4¼ oz) salted butter, softened
Mix the flour, salt, yeast, sugar, milk and 50 ml (13/4 fl oz) water to form a dough. Once the dough
forms a ball and pulls away from the side of the bowl, add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until the
dough comes back together. Leave to rest for 30 minutes covered with a tea towel in a warm place.
Mix the dough again while adding the soft butter. Leave to rest for 1 hour before making the loaf.
Preheat the oven to 175°C (330°F). Put the dough in a 30 x 10 cm (12 x 4 in) tin and bake for 40
minutes.
MEAD GEL
100 ml (3½ fl oz) mead
185 g (6½ oz) wild honey
6 lavender buds
12 g (½ oz) iota carrageenan
Stir together the mead, wild honey and 375 ml (13 fl oz) water in a saucepan. Add the lavender buds
and place over low heat for 20 minutes to infuse. Scoop out the lavender and stir in the iota. Heat to
80°C (176°F), then strain and leave to set in the fridge.
PRALINE
240 g (83/4 oz) macadamias
60 g (2¼ oz) maltodextrin
40 g (1½ oz) yoghurt powder
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Put 40 ml (1¼ fl oz) water in a saucepan and add the sugar. Heat to 160°C (320°F), without stirring,
until the sugar starts to caramelise. Take the caramel off the heat, stir in the macadamia nuts then
quickly pour onto a paper-lined tray.
Leave until cold and then break up and crush in a food processor and pulse to a powder. Add the
maltodextrin, yoghurt powder and salt. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
ALSO ON THE PLATE

Dried milk skin about 10 g (¼ oz)
PLANTS TO FINISH
Lavender flowers
AUTUMN TO WINTER // Recipe for four
Slippery jacks, chargrilled parsnip and

steamed chicory
When picked, peeled and cooked immediately, slippery jack mushrooms are
stunning. We tend to use them towards the end of the saffron milk cap
season. In the local forest the slippery jacks seem to appear as the season gets
colder and wetter.
PARSNIP FLOSS
2 parsnips
200 ml (7 fl oz) cottonseed oil
5 g (1/8 oz) salt
Grate the parsnips on a fine microplane and cook in boiling water for a minute or two until soft.
Refresh in iced water, then drain well.
Preheat the oven to 65°C (150°F). Spread the parsnip on a baking tray and dehydrate in the oven for
5 hours. Fry in hot cottonseed oil for 4 seconds and then season with the salt.
CHARGRILLED PARSNIP
4 small parsnips
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Put the parsnips, salt and olive oil in a vacuum or cryovac bag. Seal and cook in a water bath at 84°C
(183°F) for 32 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath to cool down. When cool, rub the skin off the parsnips
and cook until just coloured in a chargrill pan.
STEAMED CHICORY
3 white chicory (witlof)
20 ml (½ fl oz) elderflower vinegar
Wrap the chicory in plastic wrap and steam for 10 minutes until soft. Remove from the steamer and
dress in the elderflower vinegar and oil.
HEN YOLKS
4 egg yolks
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) duck fat
Place each yolk in a plastic cup or dariole mould (don’t use heavy ceramic moulds or the yolks will
stick), pour the duck fat over the top and float the cups in a water bath at 55°C (131°F) for 6 minutes.
Turn out the eggs.
SLIPPERY JACKS
8 slippery jacks
Pick the best slipperies you can find. Peel off the brown skin, brush them clean and pat dry (don’t wash
them or they’ll soften up). Heat a pan to smoking point, add the oil and cook the mushrooms on both
sides.
LATE SUMMER TO EARLY AUTUMN // Recipe for four
Roadside apples and wild blackberries

My favourite roadside findings are the random apple trees that grow wild –
they are not sprayed and bear the most beautiful fruit each year. I love to use
the apples when they are sharpest and most sour. That works well in our
region as the wild blackberries are full of sugar and are very ripe at exactly
the same time. So this is a dish that’s almost entirely from the side of the
road. The frozen apple juice does have to be made with a nitrogen bowl, as it
maintains the integrity of the sour apples – if you own one of these, follow
the manufacturer’s safety instructions very carefully at all times.
FROZEN APPLE JUICE

500 ml (17 fl oz) fresh apple juice (unpeeled apples, juiced)
60 ml (2 fl oz) lime juice
2 teaspoons sugar syrup
Liquid nitrogen
Once the apples are juiced, add the lime juice and sugar syrup. Half-fill a nitrogen bowl with liquid
nitrogen, add the apple juice and stir until it becomes a fine frozen powder.
STEEPED BLACKBERRIES
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) blackberries
5 eucalyptus leaves
Put all the ingredients in a saucepan with 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water and cook over low heat for 1 hour.
Remove from the heat and pour into a tray to cool down.
APPLE JAM
400 g (14 oz) apples, unpeeled
Grate all the apples, using the cores and seeds as well. Put in a pan with the sugar and oil and cook over
low heat for just over 1 hour until translucent. Chill until needed.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Blackberry flowers
Forest fern tips
Wood-smoked oysters in pine oil

I love a smoked oyster, if the smoking is gentle and the oyster is fresh. I
would serve this with dark rye bread and some soured cream.
SMOKED OYSTERS
12 unopened Sydney rock oysters
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) peach timber or apple timber
Shuck all the oysters and put on a fine metal rack. To build a smoker, take a deep oven tray and build a
small fire in it with the timber. Smother the fire by putting a flat tray on top of the deep tray, locking in
all the smoke. Lift off the flat tray and put the wire rack with the oysters on the smothered fire. Replace
the flat tray to lock in the smoke. Leave for 20 minutes and then remove the rack and oysters and build
another small fire in your deep tray. Repeat the process twice more, until the oysters are smoked to
your taste. Put the smoked oysters in the fridge to chill.
PINE OIL
10 g (¼ oz) native pepper berries
200 g (7 oz) young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Put the oil in a saucepan and add the native pepper, pine needles and salt. Cover the pan and place over
low heat, keeping the oil at about 58°C (136°F) for 3 hours. Leave to cool, then pour the unstrained oil
over the chilled smoked oysters.
Keep the oysters in the oil in the fridge for up to 1 week to allow them to take on the pine flavour
before serving.
Young pine, duck and sun-dried grapes

The inspiration for the combined flavours of this dish comes from Biota’s
own grounds. Every year we see flocks of young wild ducks making their
nests among the fallen pine needles. You can use all the parts of the duck or
just a few here. And the grapes need four weeks to dry.
SUN-DRIED GRAPES
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) white grapes on the vine
Dry the grapes on the vine on a sheet of tin in the sun outside for about 4 weeks, until they are dark
brown in colour and have a very concentrated sweet taste.
DUCK GLAZE
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) duck bones (from duck parts, right)
200 g (7 oz) chicken feet
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) apple cider vinegar
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Put the bones in a roasting tin and roast, turning once, until brown.
Transfer to a deep heavy-based saucepan, add the chicken feet and 300 ml (10½ fl oz) water. Cover the
pan and cook over low heat for 6 hours. Strain, then return to the saucepan and reduce for a further 2
hours until viscous. Stir in the vinegar. This is now the duck glaze.
PINE NEEDLES
80 g (23/4 oz) young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Use a small blender or spice grinder to mulch the pine needles into an aromatic fine dust. Add the salt.
DUCK PARTS
1 whole duck, including head, if possible
100 g (3½ oz) duck fat
4 duck tongues
4 duck hearts
Take the duck and remove the breasts and legs (if your duck has the head, also remove the tongue).
Keep the bones for the duck glaze.
Trim the duck breast and put in a vacuum bag. Seal the bag and cook in a water bath at 64°C (147°F)
for 22 minutes. Cool in an ice bath. Heat half the duck fat in a frying pan and sear the duck breast over
low heat, skin side down.
Put the duck tongues in a vacuum bag with 40 ml (1¼ fl oz) of the olive oil. Seal the bag and cook in
a water bath at 84°C (183°F) for 28 minutes. Cool in an ice bath and then warm in the duck glaze.
Trim the duck legs and put in a vacuum bag with the remaining duck fat. Seal the bag and cook in a
water bath at 88°C (190°F) for 7 hours. Remove from the bag, pick the meat from the bones while still
hot and put on a tray.
Trim the fat from the duck hearts and put the hearts in a vacuum bag with the remaining olive oil.
Seal the bag and cook in a water bath at 64°C (147°F) for 8 minutes. Cool in an ice bath, then sear over
high heat and place in the warm duck glaze.
CAULIFLOWER MILK
300 g (10½ oz) cauliflower
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Cut the cauliflower into small pieces. Cook in the milk for about 30 minutes until soft. Season with the
salt, then add the xanthan gum and purée. Pass through a fine mesh strainer.
PEAR PAPER
4 beurre bosc pears, cut into small pieces
100 g (3½ oz) unrefined cane sugar
8 g (¼ oz) pectin
Preheat the oven to 50°C (120°F). Put the pears and sugar in a pan with 80 ml (2½ fl oz) water and
cook until the pears have broken down. Add the pectin and then purée with a blender. Spread very
thinly on a non-stick mat and dry in the oven for 4 hours. Peel off the mat and cut into pieces.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Yarrow
Young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree
Clams, charcoal, smoked roe and pickled spent

lettuce
I love the burnt, smoked campfire characteristics of this recipe. We don’t use
a lot of whole fish at Biota but I do love creatures in shells: they come to us
in their own little environment, contained in their own tasty juices. We use
the charcoal here to mimic the dark sand of the shoreline where the clams are
found. The samphire on the plate is also foraged from the same shoreline.
Buy mirror dory roe sacs at the fish markets or order them in from your
fishmonger. Alternatively, ask your fishmonger to track down whatever fish
roe is in season; the whiter the better, although this recipe will also work with
trout or salmon roe.
PICKLED SPENT LETTUCE

4 wilted cos (romaine) lettuces, cleaned but left whole
300 ml (10½ fl oz) rice vinegar
200 g (7 oz) honey
Put the lettuces on a hot barbecue or in a frying pan over high heat until the outside leaves are charred
and blackened. Mix together the rice vinegar, honey and white soy to make a pickle. Pour the pickle
into an airtight container that is large enough to hold the whole lettuce. Add the lettuce to the pickle,
seal the container and leave overnight in the fridge. Break off leaves as you’re ready to use them.
CLAMS
8 carpet shell clams or similar
50 ml (13/4 fl oz) clam juices
2 native limes, flesh spooned out
Open the clams in the same fashion as you’d open oysters, over a bowl to catch any juices. Gently
remove the meat from the shells and cut into small pieces. Add the native lime, oil and 50 ml (13/4 fl
oz) collected clam juices and then spoon back into a clean shell. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
SMOKED ROE
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) mirror dory roe sacs
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) pine or apple timber
20 g (3/4 oz) garlic, coarsely chopped
100 g (3½ oz) white onion, coarsely chopped
200 g (7 oz) white bread, torn into pieces
60 g (2¼ oz) salt
Place the roe sacs on a wire rack. To build a smoker, take a deep oven tray and build a small fire in it
with the timber. Smother the fire by putting a flat tray on top of the deep tray, locking in all the smoke.
Lift off the flat tray and put the wire rack with the roe on the smothered fire. Replace the flat tray to
lock in the smoke. Leave for about 20 minutes. Remove the rack and roe and build another small fire in
your deep tray. Repeat the process twice more, until the roe is smoked to your taste.
Remove the fish eggs from inside the sac and purée with the lemon juice, garlic, onion and bread
until smooth. Slowly add the grape seed oil while continuing to blend. Blend to a smooth paste, add salt
to taste and keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
CHARCOAL
400 g (14 oz) organic white flour
100 g (3½ oz) activated charcoal
10 g (¼ oz) salt
Put 200 ml (7 fl oz) water in a bowl. Add the flour, charcoal, salt and oil and mix to form a dough
(kneading is not necessary). Rest the dough for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line
about 5 baking trays. Roll the dough as thinly as possible into rectangles approximately the size of your
baking trays. Put the dough on the trays and bake for 11 minutes or until crunchy. Cool on the trays,
smash into small pieces and store in an airtight tin for up to 1 month.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Black nasturtiums
Samphire
Beach mustard leaves
Glossary
ACTIVATED CHARCOAL is made from nut shells or coconut shells and is

commonly used as a purifier. It can be found at most health food shops.
AGAR AGAR is a powdered gelling agent that is obtained from algae. It is a

natural vegetable gelatine and is available from selected health food stores,
Asian grocers and online.
AMARANTH / RED GARNET LEAF is a plant from the amaranthus genus. We grow
our red amaranth from seed in our gardens – the seeds can be obtained at any
nursery. The leaves are crimson red with a malty, slightly sweet taste. There
are over 900 species of amaranthus, so you should be able to find something
in your own area.
BEACH MUSTARD LEAVES can be gathered from the north and south coasts of
New South Wales during autumn. This is a beach foreshore plant with small
purple flowers and is related to the brassica family. If beach mustard is not
available, young rocket leaves and buds would be similar in taste, although
not as strong.
BEE POLLEN is the pollen ball that has been packed into pellets by worker bees.
Foraging bees bring pollen back to the hive, where workers pack it into cells.
The pollen becomes mixed with nectar and bee salivary secretions. Bee
pollen is the primary source of protein for the hive. It can be bought at good
health food stores.
BERGAMOT is from the citrus family. The bergamot is an orange but the colour
of the peel is yellow and is inedible – although it can be used to flavour food.
You can buy bergamot essence in good food stores. It has a sour taste and a
strong aroma of orange.
BLACK NASTURTIUMS are also known as Indian Empress nasturtiums. They
have dark blue–green leaves that taste peppery, and dark red flowers.
BRACKEN TIPS are available pretty much all over the world. There is nothing
that entirely replicates their flavour.
BURNETis a bright green leaf that tastes like cucumber. Salad burnet is a
common lettuce that is available world wide.
BYCATCH PRAWNS, also known as ebi prawns, are small prawns that are caught
unintentionally while fishing for other species. You can sometimes find them
for sale at fish markets. These are best eaten raw and very fresh and have a
wonderful sweet flavour.
CLOVER is an annual herbaceous weed that grows in lawn and paddocks. It

has a very grassy taste and is full of chlorophyll. It is one of the main nectar
sources for honey bees. If it’s not available where you live, young spinach
leaves provide a similar flavour.
DRIED SCALLOPS can be found at any good-quality Asian grocer, or you can
make them at home by dehydrating scallops for several days. These are
wonderful for use in stocks and dressings.
FAT HEN is an annual weed found in paddocks and on the side of the road. It’s
a nutritionally dense member of the goosefoot family. When the buds or seed
heads form they can be eaten fresh. If you don’t have fat hen, use
chrysanthemum leaves or even winter brassica, depending on the season.
FENNEL POLLEN has a wonderful intense flavour. We gather it from wild fennel
and dry it, but it can also be obtained from speciality ingredient shops.
GARLIC SCAPES are the tender young flower stalks from the plant. We cut them
off to promote larger bulb growth. Scapes have a wonderful onion and garlic
flavour and the texture of a very young spring onion (scallion). If they aren’t
available where you live, use garlic chives for a similar flavour.
GELLAN GUM is a gelling agent used for applications such as soft suspended
purées. In some instances it can be used in place of gelatine in vegan dishes.
It is available from speciality food stores and online.
HAY ASH is the ash that is left over when we have smoked ingredients in hay.
We take the ashes and mix them in a spice grinder to form a smoky black
dust for flavouring.
IOTA CARRAGEENAN is a gelling agent derived from red seaweed. It works well
with proteins and dairy products and can be found in most speciality
ingredient shops and online.
KUZU is a thickening agent made from the kuzu plant. It has superior
thickening properties, especially for smooth, shiny sauces, gravies and soups.
It is bought as a powder and should be stored in an airtight jar. Kuzu is mixed
with cold water and added to other ingredients close to the end of the cooking
time. As it simmers, it will thicken and become translucent.
LEMON ASPEN is a fruit native to North Queensland. It tastes like wild lime and
is very sour. If it’s not available where you live, finger limes provide a
similar flavour.
LICHEN that we use is taken from radiata pine trees in the forest during winter
months. We clean the lichen, dry and then fry it in hot grape seed oil. If it
isn’t available to you, just leave it off the dish.
MALLOW is a weed that grows in moist soils near river beds and creeks. It has
the texture of aloe and a high water content. If it’s not available where you
live, try using dandelion leaf.
MALTODEXTRIN is used as a carrier of flavours, a sweetener, a thickening

agent and to help dry out foods. It is a white powdered substance that can be
made from corn, potato, tapioca, wheat or rice. It is found in speciality
ingredient shops.
MEC3 LIQUORICE COMPOUND is a confectioners’ liquorice paste that can be

found at most quality cooking shops.
MUNTHRIES are the native fruit of an Australian ground-cover plant. They taste
like spicy apples and are also referred to as native cranberries. Munthries are
full of antioxidants. If they aren’t available where you live, use young fresh
red fruits or berries that are local to your region – we sometimes use
elderflower berries or even red currants.
ONION FLOWERS are bulbs that burst into white flowers towards the end of
their cycle and have a wonderfully strong onion flavour. If they are not
available where you live, society garlic flowers would be the best alternative.
OXALIS / RED CREEPING OXALIS is the largest genus of the wood sorrel family
and has a strong acidic taste reminiscent of sorrel. It’s high in oxalic acid and
is fantastic with dairy-based dishes. If it’s not available, wood sorrel or even
large leaf sorrel can provide a similar flavour.
PEPPER BERRIES are the autumn fruits of a native shrub of eastern Australia.
They can be used fresh or dried and have a very pungent peppery taste. If
these are not available where you live, fresh green peppercorns will provide a
similar flavour.
PINK MURRAY SALT is natural salt from Australia’s Murray River.
RADISH PODS form after the plant goes to seed – the best variety for this is the
rat-tail radish. These have a strong flavour and can be eaten blanched and
chilled or raw when young. If you can’t buy them, you could use the stem of
the rape plant, or even just the radish itself.
RAPE is an annual from the brassica family, with a distinct mustard flavour. It
can be found at most quality greengrocers and markets when in season.
RED SHISO LEAVES are from a plant also known as perilla. Red shiso has a
distinct flavour of aniseed. It’s used fresh in pickles, or cooked.
RENNET is a complex mixture of enzymes produced in the stomachs of

ruminant mammals and is used in the production of most cheeses. It can be
found at good ingredient shops.
RIBERRIES are the pink-red fruit of the lillipilli plant and have a distinct
flavour of cloves or cinnamon. The plants fruit in Australia in the summer. If
these aren’t available where you live, use any young, fresh red fruits or
berries local to your region – we sometimes use elderflower berries or even
red currants.
RIVER MINT is a rambling mint bush found across south-eastern Australia in

moist forests and around waterways. The thin, soft serrated and pointed
leaves are found in pairs on long runners. If you can’t find river mint, use
variegated mint.
SALTBUSH covers large areas of the dry inland of Australia. It is a sprawling

grey-blue shrub with leaves full of water. These have a slightly salty taste. If
it’s not available where you live, use sorrel or even dandelion.
SAMPHIRE is a fleshy, smooth branched plant that grows between rocks by the
sea in the hot months of the year. It has a crispy texture and is quite salty.
There is no suitable alternative for the flavour and texture of samphire, so if it
isn’t available to you, simply leave it off the dish.
SCARLET RUNNER BEAN (MULTIFLORA BEAN) is a member of the legume family.

These are long, green, knife-shaped pods. The purple seeds inside have a
strong bean flavour and, when young, can be quite nutty. Can be eaten raw or
cooked.
SEA LETTUCE is also known as green kelp or wakame. We are lucky to be able
to gather sea lettuce along our coastline. This is very translucent and bright
green, sometimes brown depending on the season and type. It adds an umami
flavour to dishes and can be bought at Asian grocers.
SLIPPERY JACKS are a common variety of mushroom in our local forests. They
are yellow-brown in colour and appear in late autumn/winter. Check very
carefully before picking and eating any wild mushrooms. If slippery jacks
aren’t available, use whatever mushroom is most local to you.
SOCIETY GARLIC FLOWERS are small purple flowers that form at the end of the
garlic plant cycle and have a slight taste of garlic. The leaves and flowers are
both edible raw.
WHEY is also called milk serum or milk permeate, and is the liquid that
remains when milk has been curdled and strained, often during cheese
making. It has a tangy taste that is refreshing when chilled.
WHITE SOY SAUCE is thinner and cleaner than regular soy sauce. We use it as a
seasoning in many of our dishes, sometimes instead of salt. It can be found at
good Asian grocers.
XANTHAN GUM is produced by fermenting corn starch and is used as a

thickener. It is gluten free and is available from health food stores and online.
YARROW is a flowering plant. It is sweet with a slight bitter taste, and it is best
to use young leaves. If you are using older leaves, blanch them first. There is
no suitable alternative, so if yarrow isn’t available to you, simply leave it off
the dish.
YOGHURT POWDER is powdered dried yoghurt found in speciality cooking

shops and good health food stores.
DISCLAIMER: Individuals using or consuming the plants listed in this book
do so entirely at their own risk. Always check a reputable source to ensure
that the plants you are using are non-toxic, organic, unsprayed and safe to be
consumed. The publisher cannot be held responsible for any adverse
reactions.
The people of Biota
Joel Bickford, Head Chef
Growing up in the Blue Mountains meant I was always

going to have a strong connection to nature and its
offerings; an understanding and appreciation that can’t
be learnt from books or taught in a classroom.
I was raised in a small rural town of only a few thousand people and afforded
a lifestyle of enviable simplicity. At the time it all seemed very normal, but I
look back and realise that not all kids my age were spending their days
tending hand-raised pheasants, gathering nettles, collecting duck and bantam
eggs, planting vegetable gardens, catching eels or trapping freshwater
crayfish. Picking from the countless fruit trees that lined our fences or the
wild blackberries and mulberry trees beyond, I developed a healthy respect
and curiosity that shaped the choices I would later make as a chef.
Now, after more than 20 years of professional cooking, many of those years
spent in city kitchens, I find myself drawn back to the country and regional
cooking. The attraction of growing and gathering ingredients from the land
and local surroundings is a promise no chef could refuse. The abundance of
diversity in the Highlands ensures we are able to stimulate our creativity as
chefs, challenge ourselves and learn from our environment.
It is now clear to me that my childhood had an enormous influence on my

thought processes when cooking… To understand where the ingredients
come from, why and how long it takes to get them to that point, to pick a
carrot when it’s at its sweetest or a young leek before it becomes fibrous, to
know that the sunchokes are ready to harvest when their huge flowers drop –
response to these nuances is only possible with a certain level of connection.
As a chef there is nothing more satisfying than growing something yourself,

then cooking and eating it. It’s a very primitive and natural process. It is hard
not to be inspired when you watch a vegetable grow from seed to the kitchen
table. Respect is shown for the product by maintaining its integrity;
sometimes simplicity is best. This is very much the philosophy we adhere to
at Biota – a less is more approach that celebrates nature in its original form.
The people of Biota
Ben Shephard, Wine Man
My role at Biota is two-fold: to manage the floor of the

restaurant and look after the wine list. It’s always
rewarding to finish a busy service and feel you’ve done
your best to get around 800 dishes, 500 glasses of wine
and hopefully met and perhaps exceeded the diners’
expectations.
We strive to fully immerse the diner in our culture with tales of the
connection between our food and wine offerings and the reason for serving
them. Every element, every dish and every action has a reason, and it’s our
job to showcase the where and the why.
Wines have long been a passion of mine, although I dislike the word
‘sommelier’ – it conjures an image of one-upmanship and perhaps a tendency
to speak down to diners. That’s not the sort of wine man I want to be. To me,
wine is something to enjoy, to embrace and discover.
I enjoy all wine. When asked what I drink at home, I always answer:
‘something that I’ve never had before’. It’s all part of the journey. Over the
last 18 months I’ve learned to never say no to a taste of wine. A local winery
had a merlot cabernet blend that I used to pass over whenever I was visiting.
After many months of being offered, I finally decided to give it a go and it’s
now one of my favourite local wines. That’s a lesson learned.
Our wine list at Biota showcases the best that we have to offer regionally.
The most famous wines of Australia are South Australian reds – they are
generally brash, full-bodied and bold. That style of wine doesn’t suit our
menu however, so we concentrate instead on lighter, spicier reds and
brighter, more acidic whites from cool climate regions such as the Southern
Highlands, Canberra, Tasmania and Tumbarumba. These wines suit James’
food and represent growing regions for Australian wine.
Index
almonds
almond milk
cabbage, new asparagus and warm nut milk
fallen feijoas with almond milk
green almonds, purslane and fried fish throats
warm nut milk
amaranth leaves
beef cooked over coals, dark fruits, molasses glaze, amaranth
fire-pit beetroots with leather jacket cheeks
pigeon cooked in maltstock with prunes
amaranth seeds
almond milk
onion juices
puffed amaranth
pumpkin seed mix
apples
apple jam
chocolate and apple crème
chocolate and apple sorbet
fermented apple
fermented apple juices
fermented apples, quince, soft crème and chocolate
frozen apple juice
roadside apples and wild blackberries
artichokes, see globe artichokes; Jerusalem artichokes
asparagus
barley
barley cooked in onion caramel
onion juices
puffed barley
set milks, onion caramel, oregano and barley
smoked hen, creamed corn and sprouted grains
toasted grain broth
vinegar of barley grain
beef
beef glaze
bee pollen
Mum’s roses
beetroot
beetroot juices
beetroot leather
beetroot vinegar
pigeon glaze
bergamot, fragrant mandarins
blackberries
fallow deer, pink onions, wild fruits and plants
forest flowers, Jambaroo Mountain blue and honey
steeped blackberries
blueberries
sorrel and fennel sorbet, blueberries and garden lavender
steeped blueberries
bonito, carrots, dill seeds and oily fish
brains
lamb brains in toasted seeds, kale juices and soured cream
bread
brioche
dark rye and oat bread rolls
warm milk bread
brie
quince cooked in pine sap with whipped brie
brioche, wild honey, frozen milk and macadamias
broad beans
legumes, their flowers and fresh cheese
bronze fennel
cucumber ice
Mum’s roses
buckwheat
buckwheat rocks
pumpkin seed mix
raw kangaroo, artichokes and lucerne
bunya nuts
aged duck ham, bunya nut cream and saltbush
butter
brown butter
burnt butter
vine-smoked butter
buttermilk
buttermilk dressing
Jersey milk cheese
river plants, steamed trout and buttermilk
soured cream
spent vegetables in whey
bycatch prawns
cabbage
cabbage sauce
cooked winter plants
spent winter and summer vegetables cooked in whey
caramel, lamb
caramels, mulched pine
carrots
carotene, celeriac and sea urchins
carrots, dill seeds and oily fish
cauliflower
cauliflower milk
young pine, duck and sun-dried grapes
celeriac, carotene, sea urchins
celery
creamed hen eggs, mud crab, and local truffles
line-caught squid with plant juices
pickled celery hearts
plant juices
chamomile
Mum’s roses
charcoal
clams, charcoal, smoked roe and pickled spent lettuce
cheeses
cooked curds
forest flowers, Jamberoo Mountain blue and honey
fresh cheese
Jersey milk cheese
raw peas, Jersey milk cheese and toasted oats
cherries
cherries, soured cream, buckwheat and liquorice
cherry sorbet
cherry vinegar
cherry blossom
river bed sorrel, eucalyptus and frozen goat’s milk yoghurt
chestnuts
chestnut crème
pork neck cooked in eucalyptus with chestnuts
chicken
animal glaze
chicken stock
hen and onion juices
chickpea shoots
hen yolks, toasted rye, cooked curds and chickpeas
chicory, steamed, slippery jacks and chargrilled parsnip
chilli oil
chlorophyll
chocolate
chocolate and apple crème
chocolate crisp
mulched pine caramels
clams
clover
clover juices
milk-poached veal, clovers and puffed rye
soft leeks, dark rye crumb and animal glaze
wild plants and artichoke ice cream
corn
creamed corn
corn shoots
crab
creamed hen eggs, mud crab, celery hearts and local truffles
garlic scapes, spanner crab and sunchokes
cream
soured cream
vine-smoked butter
cryovac
cucumbers
burnt cucumber and leek dressing
cucumber ice
cucumber, native oysters and beach plants
cure, salt
custards
mandarin and bergamot custard
daikon
veal tendons, raw kingfish and white radish
dandelion
dehydrating
desserts
burnt pears, frozen milk and molasses sponge
fallen feijoas with almond milk
fragrant mandarins and bergamot
green grapes, elderflower and fig leaf ice cream
Mum’s roses
rosehips and rhubarb
sweetened garden pumpkins with frozen sheep’s milk yoghurt
wild honey, brioche, frozen milk and macadamias
dill seeds, carrots and oily fish
dressings
buttermilk dressing
dried scallop dressing
fresh whey dressing
seaweed dressing
duck
aged duck ham, bunya nut cream and saltbush
eggs
creamed hen eggs, mud crab, celery hearts, local truffles
duck eggs with stock of old winter plants and bones
egg white pearls
slippery jacks, chargrilled parsnip and steamed chicory
warm milk bread
elderflowers
elderflower vinegar
elderflower water
eucalyptus
eucalypt salt
eucalyptus gel
fat hen buds

duck eggs with stock of old winter plants and bones
feijoas, fallen with almond milk and feijoa sorbet
fennel
fennel salt
salt cure
fennel pollen
chilled sheep’s milk
dark rye crumb
fire-pit cooking
beef
burnt pears
beetroots
leeks
fish, see bonito, hake, leather jacket, Spanish mackerel, sardines, snapper
fish glaze
fish roe
chilled sheep’s milk with brined fish roe
flax seeds, see linseeds
garlic
borrowed land garlic, beans and bycatch prawns
pickled garlic
toasted garlic oil
whipped garlic
garlic scapes
garlic scapes, spanner crab and sunchokes
glazes
animal glaze
beef and molasses glaze
beef glaze
duck glaze
fish glaze
squid and ash glaze
globe artichokes
grapes
fried bone juices
grape and elder juice
green grape skins
sun-dried grapes
hake
hay ash
hazelnuts
warm nut milk
honey
burnt pears
native honey gel
sweetened crème
ices, sorbets and ice creams

artichoke ice cream
cherry sorbet
cucumber ice
feijoa sorbet
fig leaf ice cream
frozen apple juice
frozen milk
frozen goat’s milk yoghurt
frozen sheep’s milk yoghurt
mandarin sorbet
peach sorbet
sorbet base
sorrel and fennel sorbet
jam, apple
Jerusalem artichokes
Garlic scapes, spanner crab and sunchokes
sunchoke cream
juices
kale
kangaroo
kingfish
cured kingfish
lamb
animal glaze
caramel lamb breast, dried lactose, fresh and cooked oats
lamb caramel
lamb caramel sauce
lavender
steeped blueberries
leather jacket cheeks, fire-pit beetroots with
leeks
pine mushrooms from the forest, confit leek, rape juices and Pecora Dairy
yoghurt
lentils
lettuce
linseeds
linseed crisp
toasted seeds
liquorice, cherries, soured cream, and buckwheat
lucerne flowers
macadamias
macadamia crème
praline
warm nut milk
mallow
chilled sheep’s milk with dried fish roe
suckling pig from Redleaf Farm with warm milk bread
maltstock, pigeon
mandarins and bergamot custard
maple leaves
marigolds, carotene, celeriac and sea urchins
mead
mead gel
Mum’s roses
meringue, rose70
milk
almond milk
cauliflower milk
chilled almond milk
dried lactose
dried milk skin
fresh cheese
fresh milk skin
frozen milk
Jersey milk cheese
lamb caramel sauce
macadamia crème
reduced milk
warm milk bread
warm nut milk
molasses
beef and molasses glaze
molasses sponge
mud crab, creamed hen eggs, celery hearts and local truffles
mulberries
mung bean shoots
mushrooms
mushroom stock with wood-smoked perch
yoghurt
slippery jacks, chargrilled parsnip and steamed chicory
toasted grain broth
nasturtiums
plant juices
nectarines
Mum’s roses
oats
propagated oats,
oils
burnt chilli oil
pine oil
squid oil
toasted garlic oil
onion flowers
onions
hen and onion juices
onion caramel
onion juices
onion shells
oregano, set milks, onion caramel, and barley
oysters
oyster crème
wood smoked oysters in pine oil
parsley seeds, toasted

parsnip, slippery jacks and steamed chicory
parsnips
chargrilled parsnip
chestnut crème
parsnip floss
pasta dough
pea blossoms
peach sorbet
pears
burnt pears, frozen milk and molasses sponge
pear paper
pear paste
peas
perch, wood-smoked
pickles and ferments
elderflower buds
fermented apple
fermented apple juices
green almonds
pickled celery hearts
pickled garlic
pickled spent lettuce
pigeon cooked in maltstock with prunes
yoghurt
pine
confit leek
duck ham
mulched pine
yoghurt
pine oil
plums
Mum’s roses
salted plums
pork
animal glaze
potatoes, Norm’s, onions, cheese
praline
prawns
Borrowed land garlic, beans and bycatch prawns
propagated oats,
prunes, pigeon cooked in maltstock with
pumpkin
pumpkin cream
pumpkin seed mix
purslane
quinces
slow cooked quinces
rabbit
rabbit cooked in straw and toasted grain broth
radish
radish pods
rape
yoghurt
rhubarb
dried rhubarb peelings
riberries
rocket
roe, see fish roe
roses, Mum’s
rye
dark rye crumb
milk-poached veal, clovers and puffed rye
onion juices
puffed rye
toasted grain broth
toasted rye
salt
fennel salt
salt cure
salted plums
saltbush, aged duck ham, bunya nut cream and
samphire
sardines
sauces
cabbage sauce
carotene sauce
lamb caramel sauce
scallops, dried, dressing
scarlet runner beans
Borrowed land garlic, beans and bycatch prawns
sea lettuce
mushroom stock
sea urchins, carotene, celeriac
seaweed
fried bone juices
seaweed dressing
sesame seeds, toasted
slippery jacks , chargrilled parsnip and steamed chicory
smoked foods
vine-smoked butter
snapper
sorbets, see ices, sorbets and ice creams
sorghum
puffed sorghum
toasted grain broth
sorrel
sorrel and fennel sorbet
sour cream
brown butter crème
sweetened crème
Spanish mackerel
spanner crab, garlic scapes and sunchokes
spinach, plant juices
squash
see also pumpkin
squid, line-caught with plant juices
squid and ash glaze
stock
chicken stock
fish glaze
mushroom stock
toasted grain broth
winter plants and bones stock
sugar syrup
trout, steamed with river plants and buttermilk

trout roe
truffles
creamed hen eggs, mud crab, celery hearts and local truffles
toasted rye
turnips
yoghurt
salt-baked turnip
veal, milk-poached with clovers and puffed rye

veal tendons , raw kingfish and white radish
venison
vinegars
beetroot vinegar
cherry vinegar
elderflower vinegar
vinegar of barley grain
watercress
rabbit cooked in straw and toasted grain broth
whey
fresh whey dressing
whipped brie
white radish, see daikon
yoghurt
frozen sheep’s milk yoghurt
yoghurt
Acknowledgements
Having a restaurant like Biota requires so many hearts. To cook and serve for
humans is one of the most sensual and realistic actions one can undertake; to
do it day in day out and love every moment of it takes a special soul. I have
so many people to thank for all the love and support I’ve received over the
past 22 years of my cooking career.
To my mum and dad: Mum, I didn’t know it at the time, but living in a
nursery surrounded by plants and being with you in the garden every day has
made me the cook and person I am today. Dad, you taught me that it’s better
to wear out than rust out; you have always worked so bloody hard at
whatever you do – you’re a true inspiration, a wonderful father and the
perfect business partner. You have both supported me and proved to me that
confidence, hard work and being a good listener is important in all parts of
life, no matter what we do.
For my family, who spend so many days away from me: Pol, you’ve always
been such loving support; you are an amazing woman. Thank you for being
so understanding and giving me two beautiful children.
To all the special growers and producers in the Southern Highlands: without
the wonderful produce that you bring in each week we are nothing as cooks.
Your ingredients inspire us in many ways.
To my special team of cooks and front of house: Ben Shephard, for your
attention to detail and for being so diplomatic and professional; Joel Bickford
– mate, you’re solid as a rock; I could never ask for a better friend and head
chef to share the kitchen with. Also Josh Gregory, Jess Thorley, Nell
Shephard, Serena Armstrong, Georgia Wheeler, Heydis Torres, Phil Roberts,
Nicola Coccia, Geordie Harrison: you guys are the heart and soul of Biota,
you’re the blood and the energy that has made it what it is today. I wish to
thank you for never giving up, for always believing and for sticking by my
side. You’re a special part of us and the people that enjoy your company at
Biota.
To the man behind the lens – Jason Loucas. You’re a bloody talented
photographer, mate. But you know that. More than that, you’re a great friend.
I want to thank you for the amazing times over the past four years we have
been working together. For the movies and imagery you have created for
Biota and for being able to accept and totally understand the project. Without
your photos to tell the story, things would not be where they are today.
A natural collaboration – Craig Waddell – mate, your art and energy inspires
me. Thank you so much for the gentle works for this book. I greatly
appreciate all you have done for me over the years and love having your
work at Biota; such a natural fit.
To Mollie Myerson and Barry and Maree Lee, for being a wonderful support
to Iain and me over the years. Your love, support and guidance is
overwhelming.
A very special thanks to the creative minds at cone 11 ceramics for their
beautiful plates.
A huge thanks to the team at Murdoch Books. To Hugh Ford for his stunning
design work, and Jane Price for making my words make sense. To Katy
Holder for going through my recipes, and to Sue Hines and Corinne Roberts
for believing in the project. You guys are all wonderful people who make the
dreams of many cooks possible.
And to all the loyal customers for your understanding of what we are doing,
your commitment and support over the years and for being part of our
project. I love the friendships that have been formed over the years and most
of all enjoy cooking for each and every one of you.
Published in 2015 by Murdoch Books, an imprint of Allen & Unwin
Murdoch Books Australia Murdoch Books UK
83 Alexander Street Erico House, 6th Floor
Crows Nest NSW 2065 93–99 Upper Richmond Road
Phone: +61 (0)2 8425 0100 Putney, London SW15 2TG
murdochbooks.com.au Phone: +44 (0) 20 8785 5995
[email protected] murdochbooks.co.uk
[email protected]
For Corporate Orders & Custom Publishing contact Noel Hammond,

National Business Development Manager, Murdoch Books Australia
Publisher: Corinne Roberts

Editorial Manager: Jane Price
Design Manager: Hugh Ford
Photographer: Jason Loucas
Food Editor: Katy Holder
Production Manager: Mary Bjelobrk
Design © Murdoch Books 2015

Photography © Jason Loucas 2015
Text © James Viles 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopyrightTexting, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
A cataloguing-in-publication entry is available from the catalogue of the

National Library of Australia at nla.gov.au.
ISBN 978 1 74336 557 1
eISBN 978 1 92526 849 2
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
IMPORTANT: Those who might be at risk from the effects of salmonella

poisoning (the elderly, pregnant women, young children and those suffering
from immune deficiency diseases) should consult their doctor with any
concerns about eating raw eggs.
DISCLAIMER: Individuals using or consuming the plants listed in this book

do so entirely at their own risk. Always check a reputable source to ensure
that the plants you are using are non-toxic, organic, unsprayed and safe to be
consumed. The publisher cannot be held responsible for any adverse
reactions.
Chef and owner of two-ha tted Biota Dining in Bowral, New South Wales,
James Viles has become one of Australia’s most respected young chefs and
restaurateurs, recognised for his commitment to sustainability and his
dramatic modern food. He champions the use of seasonal, ethical produce
to create honest, pure and delicious dishes.
Biota Dining sits in Australia’s Southern Highlands, a remarkably beautiful
region known for its fertile farmland, dense forests and seasonal climate.
James’ philosophy is simple: listen to the local environment and take your
inspiration and intuition from the very place that surrounds you. His dishes
match ingredients, textures and flavours that exist alongside each other in
nature. While James Viles might be redefining regional Australian cuisine,
this notion of biota is relevant everywhere in the world.
Biota Dining was honoured in the Australian Financial Review Top 100
Restaurants 2015 and won The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide
Regional Restaurant of the Year 2015 and 2014. In 2013 James was
awarded Electrolux Young Restaurateur of the Year.

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This book is for all cooks.

It’s ok to lose your way: sometimes it’s needed.

For my beautiful family: Polly, Harriet and Henry.

In many ways James Viles is a man after my own

What is biota? Not just the restaurant – biota is the

‘I found myself driving and looking at the side of the

‘If we, as cooks, set ourselves boundaries, a series of

James is cooking for a civilisation that has lost its

Nordic Food Lab is a unique, non-profit organisation that investigates food

We dehydrate ingredients by drying them for many hours at a very low

We smoke many ingredients at Biota Dining, using an offset smoker that I

We also enjoy cooking on the firepit. Sometimes there is no alternative that

STORE: In an airtight container in a cool dry place for 1 week.

STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

STORE: Wrapped in a damp cloth in the fridge for up to 4 hours.

STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 months.

STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 months.

FRESH MILK SKIN

STORE: Between layers of baking paper in the fridge for up to 2 days.

DRIED MILK SKIN

STORE: In an airtight container in a dry place for up to 1 week.

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge or a cool place for up to 6 months.

TOASTED GARLIC OIL

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 2 months.

STORE: In an airtight jar for up to 6 months.

NOTE: You can use spruce instead of pine needles.

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge or a cool place for up to 1 year.

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge or a cool place for up to 1 year.

VINEGAR OF BARLEY GRAIN

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge or a cool place for up to 1 year.

STORE: In an airtight container in a dry place for up to 6 days.

STORE: In an airtight container in a dry place for up to 6 days.

STORE: In an airtight container in a dry place for up to 6 days.

STORE: In an airtight container in a dry place for up to 6 days.

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 month.

BURNT CUCUMBER AND LEEK DRESSING

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 6 months.

NOTE: Use the peeled cucumbers.

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 week.

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 year.

STORE: In an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

STORE: In an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 6 months.

To truly create from the garden is one of the most

We started as a bunch of young cooks planting seeds in a small greenhouse.

‘We thought about dishes that would showcase the

Cabbage, new asparagus and warm nut milk

WARM NUT MILK

DRIED SCALLOP DRESSING

Toss the celeriac with the carotene, oil and dressing.

Legumes, their flowers and fresh cheese

FRESH WHEY DRESSING

SHOOTS ON THE PLATE

Carrots, dill seeds and oily fish

FRIED BONE JUICES

DILL SEED OIL

Use a blowtorch to gently scorch the underside of the fish fillets.

Line-caught squid with plant juices