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Maeve journeys into the Top End of Australia to seek out wild barramundi with local fisherman Billy Boustead and his chef friend, legendary Darwin and Alice Springs restaurateur Jimmy Shu (Hanuman). Next stop is the Sydney Fish Market with De Costi’s chief buyer Carmelo Lombardo, and renowned seafood chef Steve Hodges shares some of the secrets of cooking fish perfectly. Alberto Fava (Tipo 00) makes his inspired signature dish of squid ink tagliolini and calamari with salmon roe and bottarga. Maeve discovers how sea salt is produced in the Spencer Gulf South Australia by Olsson’s, and sea salt and rock salt are then used in a classic Sicilian recipe for whole baked snapper in a salt crust by chef Lino Sauro.
iver James Palanowski works in the eight-degree water off Tasmania’s east coast to harvest abalone, which is then used by acclaimed Chinese chef Frank Shek (China Doll) who teaches a home sous-vide method to achieve a spectacular spiced seafood omelette. Forager Peter Hardwick shares his favourite place on the NSW North Coast to find sea vegetables including samphire, seablite and pig face. In Tasmania James Ashmore (Ashmore Foods Tasmania) demonstrates how he preserves wakame and Tasmania’s favourite Japanese chef Masaaki Koyama (Masaaki’s Sushi) uses wakame to create a salad with octopus finished with a dressing using dashi. The salmon roe harvest in the Yarra Valley is spectacular as the fish laden with eggs are anaesthetised in a bath of clove oil-induced water and their jewel-like orange roe ‘milked’. Caviar is the crowning glory of pioneering Greek chef Peter Conistis’ (Alpha Restaurant) signature dish moussaka of eggplant, seared scallops and taramasalata.
Food Safari Water joins the pumping kitchen at the popular Golden Century which specialises in live fish and seafood and Eric Wong explains the cultural significance and meaning of eating a whole fish. Thai chef and restaurateur Amy Chanta (Chat Thai) deep-fries snapper and serves it with a fresh green mango salad with lots of herbs. Chef Tan (Malacca Straits) cooks a fish head curry with a creamy coconut curry base and Simon Lee (Masak Ku) teaches the secrets to the rich curry sauce. Self-described ‘fish nerd” chef Josh Niland (Saint Peter) shows how to break down a 15 kilo wild kingfish and develops recipes for an “eye chip”; smoked heart, pan-fried liver, seared milt (sperm sac) and deep-fried scales to add extra salty goodness to dishes. Last stop, assured master of the French kitchen chef Jacques Reymond (Bistro Gitan, L’Otel Gitan) shows how to prepare rouget (red mullet) roasted ‘en papillote’.
The pure clean taste of the ocean is celebrated in this episode which explores the natural briny flavour of the three main types of oysters with Clyde River ‘oyster affineur’ Steve Feletti (Moonlight Flat Oysters) and Lee and Suzanne Macefield (Get Shucked) on Bruny Island. Japanese sashimi and sushi chef Chase Kojima (Sokyo, Gojima) shows the knives and precision needed to create the most exquisite mouthfuls using the best raw fish for sashimi and sushi. Chef Louis Tikaram (EP&LP, West Hollywood) shares his recipe for making “white gold” Kokoda. Australia’s most acclaimed chef Tetsuya Wakuda (Tetsuya’s, Waku Ghin Singapore) celebrates the less popular species of fish which he says are actually more delicious, especially blue or slimy mackerel which he uses raw and cures with slices of dried kelp to create an inventive salad with shaved fennel. Italian chef Gabriele Taddeucci (Balla) slices beautiful red emperor for a classic crudo, dressed with blood orange and olive oil. Celebrated international Lebanese chef Greg Malouf uses the same techniques used for Lebanon’s national dish kibbe nayeh with raw salmon, adding spices and serving it with the lightest mountain bread.
Exquisite snacks based on seafood star in many cuisines around the world. Chef Frank Camorra (Movida Aqui) shares his recipe for luscious salty buñuelos de bacalao. Larger than life Greek chef Thomas Deliopoulos (Mykonos Restaurant, Kalimera Souvlaki) shows how to create two perfect dishes using a mighty five-kilo octopus – preserved in oil and cooked over charcoal. In the Thai world, the perfect seafood mouthfuls come from Northern Thailand in the form of miang kham - a multi-textured wake up for the taste buds from chef Pacharin ‘Air’ Jantrakool (Chon Thai). Louisiana style seafood sandwiches in the form of po’ boys using battered fried oysters and marinated prawns are prepared by chef Chris Weysham (Po’ Boy Quarter and East of Everything). Chef Danny Russo (Candelori’s, Russolini Group) uses neonata mixed with fermented chilli to create a Calabrese speciality known as “poor man’s caviar”, while Kiwi expatriate home cook Kate Kennedy whips up New Zealand’s beloved white bait fritters which are served with buttered square white bread.
Cooking fish over fire is an instant call to the tastebuds. Chef Lennox Hastie (Firedoor) takes his grill to a NSW south coast beach to cook a perfect whole flathead over coals, served with an ingenious pil-pil sauce. In Sydney’s Western suburbs, Vietnamese man of fire chef Ben Nguyen (Hai Au) cooks periwinkles and cockles while former Hanoi-born restaurateur Liên Yeomans shares her recipe for Chả cá lã vọng. Andrew McConnell (Cumulus Inc, Cutler and Co, Supernormal etc) forages for coastal vegetables on the Mornington Peninsula and cooks calamari over charcoal, making his own oyster sauce from scratch. Croatian chef of 40 years Ranko Despot (Balkan Seafood Restaurant) shows the traditional Gardella grill and cooks up a number of different fish, sharing tips and techniques on cooking perfect fish.
Shark-defying scallop diver Paulie Polacco harvests some of the world’s most prized queen scallops off Kangaroo Island. Adelaide-based Calabrese chef Salvatore Pepe (Pepe’s Cucina) uses queen scallops to create a delicious mouthful called capesante gratinate. Mussel farmer Lance Wiffen harvests his ‘black gold” at Port Arlington on Port Philip Bay, Victoria explaining how sustainable and delicious these shellfish are. Turkish chef Somer Sivrioglu (Anason, Efendy) shares his recipe for midye dolma and how to eat them Istanbul style, using the shell as a scoop. Italian dynamo Paola Toppi (Bar Machiavelli), loves the delicate sweetness of blue swimmer crab and uses it to star in her three-minute masterpiece, cooked with fresh pappardelle pasta. Continuing the Italian love of shellfish, chef Danny Russo (Candelori’s, Russolini Group) reckons scampi is the best gift of the ocean and cooks the delicate shellfish in a wood-fired oven.
The simplicity of cooking and serving seafood in one pot is a hallmark of cuisines around the world. Chef Angie Hong shares the secrets of Vietnamese claypot and Cajun chef Chris Weysham (Po’ Boy Quarter, East of Everything) cooks his version of a crawfish boil with a spicy base and a mountain of prawns and crabs. Belgian chef David Coumont (Moxhe) cooks up a pot of mussels using eschallots and a splash of wine. Peruvian chef and teacher Jorge Chacon cooks the renowned hangover cure parihuela. Thai-Australian cafe owner and farmer Palisa Anderson (Boon Café) makes jungle curry using butterflied whiting while Spanish chef Gerardo Iglesias makes fideua in a paella pan on the jetty at Geelong, Victoria.
Food Safari water captures the sheer adventure of one of the world’s great marine migrations – following the mullet run up Australia’s east coast, harvesting the roe to make the age-old preserved product bottarga, used as “the parmesan of the sea” by Sardinian chef Giovanni Pilu (Pilu at Freshwater) in a simple but fabulous spaghetti alla bottarga. BJ Plummer (Woodbridge Smokehouse, Tasmania) explains hot and cold smoking of salmon and ocean trout and the care taken to hand slice the rosy fish. Also in Tasmania, Japanese chef Masaaki Koyama (Masaaki’s Sushi, Geeveston) introduces how dashi is made and uses leftover bonito flakes to make a calcium rich sprinkle for rice called furikake. Malaysian Chinese chef Victor Liong (Lee Ho Fook) shares his version of the Chinese tradition of making XO sauce while chef Frank Camorra (Movida) shows a simple Spanish recipe for pickling sardines with an escabeche sauce.
Pairing the proteins of ocean and earth leads to an intriguing episode with some diverse and inspired flavour combinations. Vietnamese chef Dai Duong (Uncle, Uncle Collins) makes the classic Chao Tom, grilled to golden perfection. In the pre-dawn hours we join legendary brothers Meng and William Woon (Malay Chinese Takeaway) in making their rich prawn and pork stock, sharing their secret recipe that’s the basis of their iconic har mee soup. At the mouth of the Murray River, pipis are harvested by Alistair Scott-Young (Goolwa Pipi Company); Diogo Ferreira (Village on Cloey) and his mother Lucia use pipis combined with pork for a classic carne de porco a Alentejana. The elegant pairing of veal and tuna make vitello tonnato, shared by Pugliese chef Giuseppe Fuzio (Chiosco). Chef Martin Benn (Sepia) creates food as art as a tiger prawn morphs into a silky single sheet served with umami-rich broth made with the world’s most expensive jamon iberico.
Tasmanian-based chef Masaaki Koyama (Masaaki’s Sushi Geeveston) heads out in the misty mornings on the Huon River to haul up eel nets set the night before, grilling his catch and brushing with a delicious soy glaze. Founder of the acclaimed Tasmanian cooking school The Agrarian Kitchen chef Rodney Dunn (The Agrarian Eatery) prepares local eels in a brine and cold smoke them on his farm. On a pristine mountain stream in Victoria’s High Country, chef Anthony Simone (Baby Café & Pizzeria) takes us to his favourite trout fishing spot from childhood and shares his simple recipe for smoking trout using a wok, hickory chips and eucalyptus leaves. Dynamic Vietnamese chef Jerry Mai (Annam Restaurant and Bar) cooks a spectacular grilled Murray cod with herbs, including a wicked dipping sauce. Revered chef Peter Gilmore (Quay, Bennelong) shares his signature Australian dish of red claw yabbies and buckwheat pikelets.
A cheese and leek topped pie made with perfect white fish, smoked fish, salmon and plump prawns is chef Nelly’s Robinson’s (Nel Restaurant) favourite dish from childhood. Refugee and fisherman Nigethan Sithirasegaram (Tamil Feasts), makes a classic Sri Lankan crab curry. Talented home cooks Aurora Charabati demonstrates a fish and chips variation from Lebanon using the whole garfish. The fish that launched a thousand ships – salted dried cod – is a delicious comfort food treat for chef Jose Silva (Bibo Wine Bar) – his Bacalhau à Brás recipe sees cod soaked and cooked in a rich sauce with slowly cooked onions, eggs and shoestring potatoes.
Every year Singaporean chef Alex Lee (Alex Lee Kitchen) makes Yusheng to celebrate the new year. The cold clear waters off Bruny island Tasmania are where lobster fisherman Clive Perryman harvests Southern Rock Lobster, a delicacy close to the heart of chef and wok master Chris Jin (China Doll), who grew up in Shanghai and always associated the lobster with a lucky dragon. Jin demonstrates how to cook the lobster with ginger and shallots, flamed with cognac for a truly show-stopping dish. In Senegal, the national dish of fish and rice is called thieboudienne, served on a huge communal platter. Aissatou Ba (Tastes of Senegal) shows how thieboudienne is made. In Brazil, seafood is very popular and the Bahia region in the north is home to a much-loved dish called bobó de camarão which is made with prawns, cassava and dende oil, a favourite of chef Luiza Yu Gomes (1821, Civic Hotels, Universal Hotels Catering) who serves it with the beloved staple farofa made with cassava flour. One of the best seafood dishes of celebration comes from Lebanon – sayadieh, the pinnacle of many banquets and cooked by wholefoods chef and writer Fouad Kassab (Quirky Cooking's Life-Changing Food).
