Shewry admits it. He’s obsessive, creatively so, he insists, as a husband, son, father, brother, restaurateur and internationally renowned chef.
As the owner of Attica, one of Melbourne’s top restaurants, he had to be extra creative during Covid lockdown, pivoting to takeaway, a shop and even what he called a summer camp, opening a restaurant in the Yarra Valley.
While this, his second book, mostly concerns his life and career in the restaurant life, it is wide-ranging in the subjects it covers.
Naming few names, he shares anecdotes about some of the great and the good . . . and not-so-good . . . in his game, although Rick Stein is named, and comes in for some criticism, for putting fish into lasagne.
Along with good treatment of his staff, being creative in the kitchen, food journalism, even the ‘fraud’ of farm-to-table sustainability ethos, Shewry is quite obsessive regarding lasagne and Bolognese sauce.
One of the most entertaining chapters concerns his New Zealand family’s devotion to lasagne, the dish that marked all auspicious occasions, even Christmas Day. It is written with gentle humour and bad language (for which he apologises to his mother) and he lays down the 10 commandments for making Bolognese sauce and lasagne, especially using a wooden spoon to make the bechamel sauce.
Showing just how obsessive he can be on this subject, he includes not only the family recipe for Bolognese sauce (training wheels sauce, he calls it); but also the authentic recipe for Bolognese ragu; and then the obsession-level recipe for the sauce.
That’s when readers will find ingredients such as wild buffalo, venison, chicken livers, two kinds of wine, milk, and even wild boar, with the meats all minced with a No 8 mincer plate, preferably from Bologna.
This top Australian chef believes the days of the macho chef are over. He has quite an acerbic view of food critics and restaurant awards; insists there be no negative attitudes among his kitchen and wait staff; and declares that the national cuisine of Australia is that of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which he explores by cooking and talking on country with First Nations people.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
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