Original subtitles

I was 19 years old when I first saw Australia.

My dad had just died...

..and I was running away from my old life.

What I found in Australia changed me.

And I can remember saying,

"This is me. I've escaped. This is my life."

Ow!

Today, Australia is so much more than

another travel destination to me.

My wife is Australian...

Thank you very much. No calories?

HE LAUGHS

..and this country has become my second home.

Love 'em to bits.

So after a lifetime of food journeys,

I'm finally retracing some of that first trip.

Yes! Now I'm ready to go.

I want to discover how Australia and its food is changing.

I remember coming up this coast... It was so remote.

You come back now and it's like this.

Takes me right back.

After exploring Sydney...

- Oh, look at that. - Oh, brilliant!

..and the Central Coast...

Well, I'd say it tasted like chickens used to taste.

..I'm travelling north.

A lot of the most exciting food now is outside of the cities.

I love them!

And I'm bringing my inspiration home to create new recipes.

Smelling deliciously of rum.

I suspect it's going to be another journey of a lifetime.

The New South Wales coastline stretches over 2,000 kilometres,

and along it, there's almost 900 beaches.

I'm following this coastline north,

and I'm more than 500km from Sydney,

heading towards my first stop, the town of Coffs Harbour.

This is the only part of New South Wales where

the Great Dividing Mountain Range tumbles into the ocean,

creating an archipelago called the Solitary Islands,

which feature in the creation stories

of the local Indigenous people.

Coffs Harbour was established in the 1860s,

when the British colonial government

realised the sheltered bays of the archipelago

were an ideal location to harbour ships.

More recently, Coffs, and the entire North Coast.

has become a beacon for people

in search of a sea change and a more relaxed way of life.

I'm curious to know whether this easy North Coast lifestyle

is influencing the way people live and eat

and how much it's changed since my first trip here.

The last time I was up here literally was 1967.

I hitchhiked from Sydney to Brisbane.

I had joined forces with two other British backpackers,

and barely left the highway.

Going hitchhiking in a strange country

seemed the best thing to do, because I remember at the time

I was reading On The Road by Jack Kerouac

and I just thought, "Yeah, I'm on the road!"

In those days, this coastline was so far off the tourist radar,

our trip made the news.

When we got to Brisbane,

we got photographed by the local paper, the Courier Mail.

We got on the front cover!

I mean, imagine that now.

Three hitchhikers making news like that!

This time, though, I'm making up for missed opportunities,

and stopping to explore, beginning with an ocean swim,

something I wish I'd done more of the last time I was here.

I do love Australian beaches.

I was quite used to surf, because in Cornwall we got the surf,

but I had no idea how much stronger it was.

Mind you, in those days, I had no fear.

These days, a little bit more cautious.

This is one of the area's most famous beaches, Sawtell,

and it's a comfort that

the surf life-savers are patrolling this beach,

as the sea looks quite rough to me,

although it hasn't deterred the surfers.

Just a bit messy, I think is the word.

It'll be invigorating!

Well, that was fabulous.

The waves are quite strong.

Sunny now, so I need to get a move on.

My last road trip here was such a rushed affair,

the only food we ate was fast food.

I feel a bit embarrassed to say what I enjoyed eating

in those early days on my trip north.

I remember eating a lot of things called Chiko Rolls,

a sort of version of a Chinese spring roll,

fried, deep-fried.

Had lots of cabbage in it and a bit of meat and some sort of spice.

I was very fond of them.

Otherwise, fish and chips, of course.

There was no sort of big finesse in what I was eating at all.

And there was no decent restaurants, of course.

So I guess that was it.

The one thing that I really enjoyed all the way was the beer.

When I was here in the '60s, there was just one thing

the Coffs Harbour region was known for - bananas.

The first bananas were introduced here in 1881, and soon after,

Coffs Harbour became the centre of banana production in the country.

A local farmer even created a shrine to it.

And there it is -

the Big Banana.

It's the world's biggest banana, and a proud example

of the country's strange love affair with oversized objects.

It's a bewildering and some might say endearing obsession.

And it seems the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour

was the start of it all.

60 years. So that'd be 1964, '65.

I was here in '67, came past in '67,

so it would've been pretty nearly new.

Says here, "Built in 1964,

"the Big Banana is well known as one of Australia's first big things."

Very important, these big things, in Australia, and I love that.

Some might say it's a little bit on the kitsch side, but not me.

Bananas are still one of the area's biggest exports,

and I'm keen to meet some of the growers,

so I'm heading to a small hamlet

that's the epicentre of farming on the coast.

Well, I'm off to Woolgoolga. It's also known as Woopi.

Why Woopi, I'm not sure.

But I'm meeting some people from the Punjab in India, which I know well.

It seems the first migrants from the Punjab to Australia

arrived more than a century ago.

They were Sikh farmers, and they started growing bananas.

Today, a quarter of Woopi's 6,000 residents are Sikh,

making it the biggest regional population in the country.

It's the start of Vaisakhi, the annual harvest festival,

celebrating Sikh culture and traditions.

So, no festival is anything without food,

and I'm very keen to see what they're preparing

in the Sikh temple, but in order to go there,

I've got to cover my hair - what's left of it -

and also take my shoes and socks off.

A bit embarrassed about my colourful socks, really, but there we go.

OK. Ready to go.

I've arranged to meet Joginder Singh,

a third-generation banana farmer and one of the temple elders.

Joginder, very, very nice to meet you.

Just what's going on here?

What we're having here today is

an annual parade called the Vaisakhi Parade...

- Right. - ..that was created by our tenth guru, Guru Nanak Devi,

to uphold justice and fight against oppression.

And, I mean, it's an enormous flag.

What's the significance of the flag there?

Well, it's called the Nishan Sahib.

So that tells people - from a long distance, they can see it...

- Yeah. - ..that here is the place where I can get food,

- I can get shelter... - Oh, I get it. - ..I can get assistance.

- Ah! - That's why we have the tall flagpole. - That's great.

Joginder tells me that the practice of flying a tall flag

began in the Punjabi plains...

..where a flagpole jutting up in the air

could be seen for miles around...

..guiding passers-by to the temple below.

Tell me about the Sikh community here.

I mean, how did it start?

The forefathers of this community actually migrated to Australia

in the late 1800s. A lot of them

- went to North Queensland to cut sugar cane. - Yeah.

- Hard work, that was. - Yes, that's right.

I once thought of getting a job when I was a teenager cutting sugar cane.

- Yeah! - I'm glad I never did. - Yeah, I know. It is hard yakka.

- So they were cutting sugar cane and that's six months a year work. - Yeah.

Banana work is year-round work, 12-months-a-year-round work.

And that's how Woolgoolga started.

From controlling nearly 70% of all banana production,

families like Joginder's began branching out

into other fruits and vegetables.

So now this area is the biggest blueberry growing area in Australia,

- along with blackberries, raspberries and cucumbers. - Fabulous.

- And why do you like living here, then? - It's just the lifestyle

and the climate here, and of course there's community.

The festival begins with a procession

from the temple to the town, and I find myself being swept along.

MUSIC AND CHANTING

I'm just really enjoying this.

Honestly, I didn't quite know where I was.

It's fabulous!

I don't remember seeing anything like this on my first visit.

It's a quintessential Aussie town,

but the parade feels like I'm back in Northern India,

and there are some familiarities, even for a Brit like me.

Just noticed this procession that's going past - excuse me -

it's going down Scarborough Road.

It's sort of... here we are in Australia,

back in Yorkshire, Scarborough and this parade.

Honestly, it's just so special.

You sort of feel lifted by it.

We've arrived at the local football field,

but instead of cricket and footy,

we're treated to displays of Sikh martial arts.

As well as a free snack.

This is the food they're giving away here,

and it's actually potato between two slices of bread.

But what I can see is there's lots and lots of

herbs and spice in there.

It's lovely.

Really, really well flavoured,

very well-seasoned,

and lots of Punjabi flavours in it.

Excuse me. I noticed you're having it with tomato sauce.

- Is that normal? - Yes, it is.

I find that really interesting. It's sort of a mixture of cultures.

- Yes. - You've got your Punjabi food there

and then you've got your tomato ketchup.

Yes, that's so beautiful.

Happy Vaisakhi.

SHE LAUGHS

With the parade done, it's back to the temple for more feasting,

and as the flag promises, there's plenty of food for everyone.

Almost every Sikh temple has a kitchen,

and this one is in overdrive.

These are vegetarian dishes...

..traditional breads...

..and classic Indian desserts like jalebis.

Today they're providing meals for more than 2,000 festivalgoers,

and I've joined the line-up for a feed.

I'm not sitting on the floor. You never get up again!

I'm opting for a red kidney bean curry,

or rajma masala.

The beans are slow-cooked in a spicy, fragrant tomato sauce.

This looks really good.

Lovely hot parathas...

..and the red bean curry.

Really nice.

Really quite hot.

Full of cinnamon.

I haven't seen a banana anywhere.

But what began with a few bananas

seems to have blossomed into something much bigger.

What I've enjoyed so much about today

is seeing a relaxed coastal lifestyle

being celebrated in a uniquely Punjabi way.

It's sort of the way I see Australia going,

that you get a community like this

adapting itself to the local lifestyle

but actually preserving their own heritage.

Because this festival today...

Well, you find the same in India,

and I have the same sort of great feelings of joy and enthusiasm.

And Sikhs aren't the only ones

having a massive influence on the local food.

For decades, Coffs has been welcoming migrants

from all over the world,

including a well-established African community.

So before I head further north,

I'm stopping by the Coffs Growers Market,

where the locals go for produce,

and to visit a special Ethiopian food stall

run by local culinary legend Tigest, or Tigi.

Well, just walking through the market, there's a queue here,

so wherever there's a queue, there's going to be good food.

Tigi came to Coffs 15 years ago from Ethiopia

and after trying her hand picking fruit and working odd jobs,

she took a gamble and she brought her food from home to the market.

Thank you so much. Appreciate that. Thank you.

Hello. Have you got a special today?

Yeah, sure. I've got traditional goat curry.

Oh, yes! I'd love to have... I'd love a goat curry.

- With injera OK? - Oh, I love injera. Yeah, yeah.

You want to try yellow split pea, a little bit?

Yellow split pea would be perfect.

No worries. And the vegetable?

Yeah, why not?

Great!

I'm really looking forward to this.

I've had Ethiopian food in London and it's really special.

- Anything else? - No, that'll be great.

- Thank you very much indeed. - No worries. - Would you be able to

- leave your shop? - Yeah, sure. - I'd like to have a chat.

Does everybody call you Tigi?

- Tigi, yeah. - It's a good name.

In Australia, we cut the name to half, so...

- Well, let me just try this goat curry. - Yeah, sure, no worries.

Fabulous.

That's lovely.

That beetroot curry is exceptional.

- Oh, thank you. - I wouldn't say it's a curry,

- but it's just got a really earthy taste of beetroot. - Thank you.

It tastes really authentic, really real, really local.

A lot of people say, "Oh, Tigi, what are you doing?

"Coffs Harbour is not ready for this!"

- Really? - Oh, my God. And...they are!

I have to say, it says a lot about the local community

that this is very unusual food

- and they've just taken it to their heart. - Absolutely. Yeah.

Well, all I can say is, I can understand why.

- Because... - Thank you. - ..it is so good.

- This goat curry is really special. - Thank you.

I could have had Ethiopian coffee as well,

but I've heard the familiar sound of an espresso machine,

which has lured me to a nearby coffee cart.

- Hello. - Hello, how are you? - I'm very well.

- A coffee would be very... A flat white. - Yes.

And I have to say, being Australia, I know it's going to be good.

SHE LAUGHS

Definitely.

- Thank you. - Thank you so much.

The flat white is believed to have originated in Sydney in the 1980s.

It reached the UK around 2005,

and today one in three Brits regularly order a flat white,

making it one of Australia's most successful culinary exports.

If you just watch the care and attention

and the joy of watching them make it.

No wonder Australian coffee is the best in the world.

- Here you go! - Perfect. - Enjoy. Thank you. - Thank you very much.

I just love little markets like this.

I mean, these potatoes look particularly appetising,

and I think grown here in Coffs Harbour,

they'll have a lot of flavour.

I find potatoes from warmer climates sort of tend to be sweeter.

You never know what you're going to find.

Ah, finger limes!

This native fruit has been an essential part of the diet of

First Nation Australians for at least 60,000 years,

but has only been farmed commercially since the 1990s.

They are a true citrus, bush tucker original.

- Do you mind? - Go for it.

- I love them. - Yeah, they're pretty good, aren't they?

I mean it's like the most limey thing you could taste,

- I think, really. - Yeah, yeah.

- They stand out just because they're... - Yeah.

..perfect with fish, which is my speciality.

They're really good. I mean, they're very expensive back in the UK.

The tiny beads of pulp are sometimes called lime caviar.

So what are these? They look very similar.

OK. They are. These are something different.

They're a cross between a finger lime and a mandarin.

- Smells of mandarin and lime. - It's gorgeous, isn't it? Yeah.

- That's so good! - Yeah.

Well, who do I ask to get a better name than

- finger lime X, stroke mandarin? - Yeah!

In fact, I've discovered it's called a blood lime,

and it was developed by government agricultural scientists.

How exciting to find a delicious new fruit

that's a unique blend of something native and introduced.

I wonder what other new things await me on my journey north.

This verdant stretch of hills along the coast,

speckled with small towns, is called the Northern Rivers

because of the number of waterways

that wind their way through to the ocean.

I'm making a small stop

just 40km north of Coffs Harbour

in the small village of Glenreagh,

in search of the iconic Aussie road trip meal, a meat pie.

When I was here age 19, I remember an ad at the time saying,

"See you around like a Big Ben Pie."

And, er, they didn't seem as good as Cornish pasties to me

at the time, but I grew to love them.

And now I think no road trip would be the same

without a meat pie or two.

I've heard there's a small country town near here

with meat pies that have been voted -

not once but twice - the best meat pies on the coast.

Glenreagh was established as a farm in 1858,

but a gold rush in the 1880s drew hundreds of prospectors here,

turning it into a boom town.

Most of its architecture still dates from this period...

..but not all of it.

I was just driving along, I couldn't resist this.

I just love dogs, even if they're as big as this one!

I just love all these big things in Australia.

It is sort of part of the culture, really.

Oh, what's it say here? Here we go.

Oh, it's the Golden Dog!

The legend was told that a gold nugget

in the shape of a dog was found on the Orara gold fields.

The lucky finder took the small nugget to the hotel

to use as payment to buy a beer.

However, laws of that time

prohibited the sale of alcohol to Indigenous folk.

The fate of that nugget is not recorded,

but the story has resonated in local folklore.

After the gold ran out,

Glenreagh became another quiet country town.

But that's changed recently,

because its bakery has been winning awards

and attracting waves of visitors back to the town.

The woman responsible for this new-found fame is Brooke Stephan.

Brooke was born south of Sydney

and went on to become a pastry chef at Claridge's

in the Ritz in London before moving here.

I've come to meet her, and more importantly, try her pies.

Well, I've heard this is the place for meat pies.

It sure is!

They look great, I must say.

So the pastry looks fabulous.

We make everything from scratch here.

Yeah, so we don't buy anything pre-made.

Handmade shortcrust pastry

will add a crumbly, tender base to the Aussie meat pie.

Aussie pies are traditionally made with beef mince.

Instead, Brooke is using slow-cooked smoked brisket

in a thick gravy.

So what is a patissiere from Claridge's

doing in a place like Glenreagh?

Just basically needed, like, a tree change. So, um...

- A tree change? - Yeah, a tree change.

So just coming from the city, just something, you know,

nice little place to bring up a family. Yeah.

So when you started here,

were you trying to sell them... sort of high-end way?

Yeah, I mean, people were very like,

"Don't change... Make sure she doesn't change the pies."

- Yeah, yeah. - "Make sure she doesn't change the vanilla slice."

They didn't want me to change any of that.

I started doing a bit of high-end stuff and it just didn't sell.

It didn't sell at all. And then so I went back, stripped it right back,

just slowly introduced it, and we've all basically grown together.

Fabulous. Well, I've got to try one of your pies.

What do you recommend?

At the moment, we've got a beautiful brisket and jalapeno.

- So would you like to try one of those ones? - I would indeed.

You don't mind a bit of spice?

I don't mind spice at all, no.

- No. - OK.

- Hopefully you enjoy. - Thanks.

- I've decided to join you. - Oh, brilliant! - You don't mind?

No, I don't mind at all.

- That looks so appetising. - Yeah? - What have you got, then?

So I have got a lovely cauliflower and Comte cheese pie.

- All right. - So do you like tomato sauce, or...?

Well, I do, actually, but I just feel I should

- just try one without it first of all. - Try it... Yeah.

It's got a lovely, nice flavour.

- Mm! - Yeah?

- Oh, that's very good. I love the crisp top. - Yeah?

And I'm loving the Mexican cheese in there.

What else is in there, then?

So we've got some nice bechamel sauce.

- Ah, that's what it is! - Yeah. Some nice bechamel sauce,

two types of Mexican cheese.

- Yeah. - It's like sort of Monterey jack or something like that?

- Yes, exactly what it is. - Is that what it is?

Such a good pie!

- Texture, the crispness, the softness. - Yep.

- Wow. - Good. Thank you very much. - Thank you!

- Mm. - Mmm.

I'd shake your hand, but I've got pie and sauce all over it!

Well, luckily...

Oh, really good!

I never thought of that!

I like what Brooke said about she and the community growing together.

I firmly believe that people always appreciate good food,

no matter where you are.

That was the perfect road trip snack to fuel me

as I get back on the highway and continue north.

It's interesting travelling up the North Coast,

because I can remember the names.

Basically, I was hitchhiking and most of the time

stuck just to the Pacific Highway,

occasionally going off to the odd beach.

But this time I'm heading into the town of Ballina,

two hours' drive from Glenreagh

and just south of my final destination, Byron Bay.

Ballina sits on the mouth of the Richmond River

and has its very own big thing.

This nine-metre-high landmark celebrates the town

and its importance for prawn fishing.

I was just walking back there and this guy said,

"You can't cook that prawn!"

Actually, it's pretty impressive, I must say.

It says in the guide

it's 30,000 times as big as a normal prawn,

and it also says it's the biggest artificial prawn in the world.

Hooray!

Ballina's Big Prawn is one of Australia's most famous big things,

and I'm leaving town with a boot full of fresh local prawns.

Luckily, my next destination is just 20 minutes up the road

in the Byron Bay hinterland.

Gosh, it's so beautiful, this countryside.

It's so tropical.

This area was once covered by the Big Scrub,

an expanse of sub-tropical rainforest

that covered an area the size of Singapore.

By 1900, extensive clearing for dairy farming

meant that much of the rainforest was lost.

But everything changed in 1973,

just a few years after my first road trip,

when the Aquarius Festival,

known as the Australian Woodstock, was held here.

It brought a new generation of hippies and artists into the area.

These new arrivals would fight a historic battle

that saved the remaining forest from any further logging.

The Byron Hinterland has remained a haven for artists ever since,

and I'm on my way to visit one of them.

Chinese Australian Lindy Lee was born in Brisbane in 1954

during the notorious White Australia Policy.

It was designed in 1901 to prevent non-European immigration

and was only fully disbanded in 1973.

Today, Lindy is one of the country's most celebrated artists.

She's famous for huge sculpture and public installations.

I wonder if she's got anything really big,

like the big peach or the big prawn? You never know!

I'm excited to see her work

and cook for her and her team at her studio.

Oh, this is lovely. It's so peaceful.

Oh, it's so nice.

Hello.

Very nice to meet you.

- Well, welcome to my house, my studio. - Wow.

It's very, very impressive.

I love these!

- Oh, yeah. - I work with a lot of locally sourced wood.

These lines are created with electricity.

- It's a bit dangerous, but... - Well, it looks like electricity!

It looks like, you know...

- It's fractal burning. Yeah. - Looks like lightning.

I love distressed wood.

These... I think witchety grubs have eaten through this.

- Oh, I see! So this is you, but this is actually natural, then? - Yeah.

My gosh!

SHE LAUGHS

It's just fascinating just looking at them, really.

What's it saying?

That's such a hard question.

You know, I grew up with this kind of face,

and in that time, it was the White Australia Policy.

That was a very painful period to be Chinese.

So I never felt that I could belong.

So I would go back to China and it's like, I'd look like

everybody else, but I couldn't speak Chinese, you know.

I didn't know the habits of the Chinese,

and so it was very confusing.

Then I took up Zen Buddhism,

which is actually a Chinese philosophy,

and it is actually asking you not who you are

but what is this that exists,

which is a much more profound question.

So I don't have to be either Chinese or Australian.

I can be this dance that is Chinese and Australian.

So I found an incredible amount of liberation.

So the central philosophy in my work is that

we're part of something much bigger, and I love that,

because somebody who grew up thinking that she couldn't belong,

you know, I've come to understand there is only belonging.

So my work is about belonging

and being an intrinsic part of something much greater than you,

and you can call it what you like.

I don't want to say this to you, Lindy,

but we were looking at the big prawn... But...

THEY LAUGH

..but in a way, you've got to have a sense of humour as well.

No, look, I have a great deal of affection for the big prawn,

- the big banana, the big sheep. - Yeah?

And I have produced a big snake in Canberra.

Lindy's most ambitious public work to date

was created for the National Gallery of Australia.

After three years of work

involving 200 engineers and metalworkers

and costing $14 million,

it's the biggest art commission in Australian history.

It's about ten metres in diameter. It's called Ouroboros.

It's the snake that eats its own tail.

Oh, that's beautiful!

I think it works quite well.

You know, there's a dish called merlan en colere, which is...

you cook a little whiting -

English whiting, not the sand whiting here -

and you make it bite its tail, right?

And then you batter it and deep fry it.

- Can I have one?! - You certainly can!

- I didn't know that! - Yeah.

I can smell something burning.

Oh, well, we're doing a charring process.

One of the things about Australia, of course,

is that we are governed by fire and flood,

so I use fire and water

because they're beautiful materials to work with,

but it's also the lived experience of being in Australia.

- So we're charring the wood. - Yeah.

And it's according to a Japanese method called shou sugi ban,

and what it does is,

it not only burns off all of the detritus

and all that sort of stuff, but it preserves it.

- Oh, OK. - So it's a beautiful technique.

Looks great. What sort of wood is it, then?

Oh, the wood is camphor laurel, which is really interesting.

- So in Asia, it's considered a wondrous tree. - Yeah, yeah.

So somebody decided to plant them in Australia around this region,

thinking it would be a good idea, but they're an invasive pest.

But I love the fact that, you know, this thing revered in one spot

- is an absolutely... - Yeah.

..you know, pest and despised in another.

- Yes. - And it is because here, it's killing off the Big Scrub,

so it is actually important to get rid of it.

But there's a sort of echo of,

you know, your early life here, I guess?

It is sort of a poetic of my early life

- and my sense of experience of Australia. - I can get that.

So, symbolically, it's kind of the perfect wood to choose.

Do you feel like some lunch?

I'd love some. I'm starving!

The property where Lindy lives and works

was once a dairy farm

before being restored as a rainforest

through years of replanting.

It's here on the veranda that she and her team

share a meal together every day,

and it's where I'll be preparing their lunch.

Lunch for Lindy -

grilled king prawns with a tarragon Pernod dressing.

The first thing I'm going to do is banana the prawns.

That means I'm going to just open them out

to put on the grill.

If you can't get big prawns like these ones,

it's OK to use smaller ones.

I'm showing off a bit.

I cooked this for the current Queen, Camilla,

and she really liked it. So...

I hope that Lindy and everybody else are going to equally like it.

Right. Then I open the prawn up like that,

and most importantly is to remove

what I think we call in this country...

..the poo chute.

Just one thing about all this material,

which so often gets thrown away,

this, which is the roe, and this, which is the tomalley,

which is actually the nervous system of the prawn,

makes excellent thickener for a sauce,

so I'm going to leave that in there,

cook it, then take it out and stir it into my finished sauce.

And brush them with a bit of melted butter.

OK. They're ready to go on the barbecue now.

So I'm going to put them on shell-side down

and I'm not going to turn them over.

If you don't have a barbecue,

you can do these in a pan

or using the grill in your oven.

First of all,

I don't want this precious matter in the head,

which is a mixture of the roe and the tomalley,

to fall out onto the grill.

And secondly...

..I'm looking for the aroma of hot grilled shells

to pervade the atmosphere and give us all a sense of anticipation.

So while those are grilling,

I'm just going to make the simplest of dressings.

First of all, with a little bit of shallot.

Some tarragon, some French tarragon.

I love tarragon.

Now some parsley. The same amount, roughly, of parsley.

LOUD BIRD WHISTLE

That is a whipbird!

An onomatopoeic word if you ever heard one.

You can just hear a whip going...

MIMICS WHIP CRACK

..like that.

Fabulous!

So there we go.

Next, the other ingredients.

Love the whipbird!

That's a bit of French mustard in there,

and now this is the Pernod going in there.

And olive oil.

This is actually a recipe from a very famous English chef,

long - sadly - departed, called Elizabeth David,

and it's a French recipe.

What I find really interesting about this is

it has a little bit of soy sauce in there, which,

in these days of everything having a umami flavour...

You can't beat that in a sauce like this.

Like Lindy, it's a recipe that's not afraid to celebrate,

or dance, as she puts it,

with a number of influences, including Chinese.

Finally...

..a bit of salt and pepper...

..and a squeeze of lemon juice.

There we are.

Right, they're looking pretty good.

Smelling absolutely wonderful.

And now I hope you can see that the roe, the red roe,

and here's all the head matter, which we call tomalley...

So I'm just going to take this out now and pop it in my dressing,

and it just gives everything a lovely sort of seafoody flavour.

It is actually starting to rain.

One minute you've got bright sunshine and sort of steam

and the next minute you've got really heavy rain,

which is slightly why I'm doing this under cover.

We really are in the subtropics here.

So that's all mixed up nicely.

So now just to dress the prawns.

And one of the things that Lindy was saying

when I said that I was doing prawns for lunch, she just said,

"Well, I hope you're going to use the heads,"

because a lot of people don't rate what's in the head,

but there's so much flavour there.

Anyway, they're ready to go.

I mean, this is totally my style of cooking.

It's not everybody's cup of tea,

but as I put on one of my menus,

this is the sort of food...

..where people get gloriously messy as they eat it.

I think that's rather nice.

Yay!

ALL CHEER

Yum!

Well, I hope you enjoy them. Help yourselves, really!

- Looks fantastic. - Looks great.

The best part is that you've left on the heads.

- Oh, yes! - That is so bloody Chinese of you!

Thank you.

HE LAUGHS

These Ballina king prawns, caught locally,

are prized for their sweet flavour.

I mean, you have such great produce.

We just don't have prawns like that.

Excuse me, Rick, I just have to have a moment of silence.

This is really delicious.

Oh, good!

HE LAUGHS

Rick, honestly, were you not impressed by the big prawn?

Well, I suppose it was never intended to be a work of art,

but I love it.

I just love all the big everythings in this country. It's fab!

THEY LAUGH

THEY LAUGH AND CHAT

WHIPBIRD WHISTLES

I love names of roads and things in Australia,

like Possum Shoot Road,

Friday Hut Road, Slaughterhouse Road.

There's no messing in Australia.

They say exactly what they mean.

And what I'm seeing at the moment there are a lot of signs

warning me to watch out for koalas.

I didn't know that they were found in great numbers on the North Coast.

Actually, there's a fair bit I don't know about them,

so I'm pulling over to look them up in my favourite guidebook.

So I've got this book,

it's called Australian Facts, Myths and Legends.

So I've just looked up about koalas.

I love this. It says,

"The koala is one of those delightful animals

"which is surrounded by myths.

"It is said to sleep for an average of 22 hours in every 24.

"It is also said that it lives entirely on

"specific eucalyptus leaves,

"that it has a tendency to urinate when picked up by humans

"and that it settles into a single tree for most of its life.

"All of this is not true."

HE LAUGHS

Great!

Back on the road, nearly 800km north of Sydney,

the world-famous surf town Byron Bay

sits under the watchful gaze of its eye-catching icon,

the Cape Byron Lighthouse.

The lighthouse is one of the first places

the sunrise can be seen in the country,

as Byron Bay sits on the most easterly point

of the Australian mainland.

In the 1960s and '70s,

while the surrounding hills attracted hippies and artists,

this former wedding town became a magnet for surfers

looking for the perfect wave.

Their love of the ocean

and enthusiasm for alternative ways of living

would shape the town's culture in ways that can still be seen today.

Byron is home to just over 10,000 people,

including some of Hollywood's most famous celebrities.

But it still seems pretty easy-going,

or laid back, as the Aussies would say.

I do think the beach resorts like Byron Bay

have a particular Australian charm,

of just comparing it to beaches in California,

which are much more commercial, much more built up.

This is just so relaxed.

I was also thinking that I will definitely come back here

for a holiday because, you know,

sometimes filming isn't really on holiday,

although I like to make it out that it is.

Byron Bay's international appeal has given rise to

a thriving restaurant scene

and I've arranged to pop into one of the most well-known,

The Three Blue Ducks.

At the helm is co-owner and chef Darren Robertson.

Darren's a British expert from Kent.

He moved to Australia when he was just 24

and honed his skills

working at some of Sydney's most renowned restaurants

before settling here in Byron Bay.

Darren's taken the paddock-to-plate trend to a new level,

bringing his restaurant directly to the field.

Much of what he serves is made from the fresh produce

and native ingredients grown here

by a passionate collective called The Farm.

Hello, Rick. How are you mate?

Last time I saw you, you were in Sydney!

- It's been a while, hasn't it? - Well... - Welcome.

- I've heard all about this. - Finally. Yeah. Welcome to The Farm.

It's 86 acres,

farmers growing veggies for us to showcase in the restaurant.

The restaurant produce store, coffee shop...

I love it. All this corrugated iron. So, so Aussie, isn't it?

Yeah. It's a tin shed on a field!

I first came here when I was 19 and I remember...

I mean, I remember coming up this coast.

- It was so remote, so far away from everywhere. - Yeah.

You come back now and it's like this!

It is pretty special. I think regional dining...

I mean, you know how that sort of exploded as well.

It used to be almost not very cool.

It was like almost ten years behind, you know, and I feel like

- a lot of the most exciting food now is outside of the cities. - Yeah.

Up here is the sort of mecca of farmer's markets.

There is one every day.

- Yeah. - And if you're not near a farmer's market,

you just drive round the hills and there's little honesty boxes.

- Yeah. - You can just go and pick up, you know, little pumpkins

and some avocados and tomatoes.

I feel like that is just really... it's a beautiful way of life.

- Well, let's have a look around. - I'll show you around. - Yeah, yeah.

I'd love to, yeah. Cheers.

So as a boy from Kent, how do you feel about living in Byron Bay?

Mate, I still pinch myself.

You know, just living this sort of wholesome, sort of outdoorsy life.

The land here is perfect for growing veggies,

herbs and local native fruit.

That's because the soil is volcanic,

a remnant of nearby mountain Wollumbin,

which erupted a million years ago.

Everyone in the collective uses sustainable practices

aimed at reducing their footprint on the environment.

This includes using all the waste from the restaurant as compost,

as well as growing many of their plants not in neat lines,

but in clusters that mimic how they would grow in a rainforest.

I'm intrigued to learn how it works

when supplying a busy commercial kitchen.

To walk me through it, Darren's taken me to meet Josh and Lynette,

two of the 22 farmers working here.

- Very nice to meet you. - Welcome.

Do you talk to the chefs about what they want, or do they...?

- Yes, yes. - Or do you tell them what you've got?

- I think it's a bit of both. - Oh, right. - It's a bit of both, yeah.

We do work together,

but there is the climate that we have to work with,

so we give them a forecast of what we can grow

and they kind of work their magic around that.

What makes yours special?

Is it just that it's close by to the restaurant, or do you think...?

- The freshness, yeah. - Yeah.

First...when I opened my place in Cornwall,

the thing I said was the fish comes literally

off the boats, into the back door.

- So it's the same thing, really. - Yeah, yeah. - People love that.

- I mean, your customers will be very, very taken. - Yeah.

It's still alive and vibrant when it's hitting the plates,

because it can be cut that morning

and then be getting served up by lunchtime.

Pretty much travelling from here to the wash shed,

which is behind the restaurant, you can't get any fresher than that.

It's a bit of a walk. We just walked here!

THEY LAUGH

On the edge of the farm is Darren's favourite grove of trees,

and one of Australia's few commercially farmed native plants.

- Is that them? Is that them there? - Yeah.

Once only found deep in the subtropical rainforests

along the coast here,

they produce one of the world's most popular nuts.

So this is the macadamia orchard.

I mean, they're old, then, aren't they? When were they planted?

Yeah. So these, I'd imagine, probably at least 20, 30 years old.

- They age up to about 100. - 100! - Usually between 60 and 100 years.

One tree will produce around 20 to 50 kilos of macadamia nuts.

- So that's... - This is it. This is a macadamia, which...

- I've never seen one before. - Beautiful thing.

And you remove this within 24, 48 hours,

otherwise it will spoil.

Can you show... Can you open one?

So...you're putting me on the spot now, Rick!

HE LAUGHS

- Oh, there we go. - There you...! Oh, hello. Hello!

Macadamias are known to have the hardest shell

of any nut on the planet.

- So that's the husk removed. - OK.

And then we have to crack this little guy.

The shell is five times stronger than a walnut.

- Ooh! - Looks good.

And so then, you know, there's that beautiful creamy...

I've got to try one straight from the shell.

- Oh, well done, well done. - There you go.

Straight from the shell.

- Totally different. - Isn't it?

Mmm! I love them.

So this is young and kind of fresh, and we'll dry them, roast them,

we'll make misos from them... all sorts of things.

But they're certainly a feature ingredient on our menus

and all throughout the Northern Rivers,

you see macadamias.

I think for Australia, it's probably the number one

native Australian ingredient that's so known on a global scale,

I think, macadamias.

Many of which come from this area, so super-important.

And also, they're just delicious.

Have to say, super-expensive too!

Well, you know, it's worth it, Rick!

THEY LAUGH

Good crop.

I mean, look at how long it takes

to get the things out the bloody shells.

All for good reason!

Let's take these and I'm going to knock something up

back in the restaurant just using produce from within these grounds.

- For me? - For you.

- Fabulous. - And for a bit for me. - Fabulous. Fabulous!

- So I thought I'd do a little farm pizzetta. - Oh, great, yeah.

I've got some doughs, and I'll just use

a whole bunch of ingredients from the farm,

and then we've got a local seafood farm

- literally 20 minutes from here. - Really? - Yeah.

It's a bug. They've rebranded it as Australian Bay Lobster.

Is that what they call it? What now? Australian..?

- Australian Bay lobster. - Oh, right.

So we've taken the meat out of there and just diced it up.

- Oh. - So they farm these. So these are actually fed...

- Yeah. - ..oysters.

- Really? - Yeah.

I've never heard of those. That's great!

They're absolutely stunning. So we'll put these on pizzas, salads,

we'll do like a little lobster roll. All sorts of things.

So this is sour cream...

..and a touch of the macadamia miso to flavour it.

This native twist on a Japanese favourite

will give the umami kick to Darren's pizza sauce.

A bit of a classic surf and turf, really.

So it's just some local salami, bit of seafood,

tied together with ingredients from the farm.

- So I've got a little XO here. So this is the XO. - Oh, great, yeah.

XO is a spicy sauce originating in Hong Kong,

made with dried seafood.

Darren makes his own XO sauce with aromatics grown on the farm.

That's going to be really tasty.

XO sauce is often used in Chinese restaurants across Australia

to stir-fry pippies, a native clam which I love,

and that's what Darren's doing here.

I'm just going to warm them through. I find, in the pizza oven,

I feel like it dries them out a bit sometimes.

He's now riffing on this Aussie Cantonese favourite

to add another topping to his farm pizza.

This is the mizuna.

Some Asian greens from the garden and a squeeze of lemon,

and our pizzas are ready to eat.

Along with the pizzas, we're having leafy greens,

roast potatoes and beef rump,

all grown and harvested here on the farm.

The cavalry's here!

Dig in, legends.

We're sharing this feast with some of the farm crew

and Darren's family.

Lucky there's plenty to go around!

Darren's really made a unique home for himself here,

and I'm sure I'll taste that in his cooking.

- All right! - Good stuff.

I've got to try your pizza.

Yum!

Do you know what?

- I like your pizza. - Thanks very much!

HE LAUGHS

You just...you just made...

You've made my year. Thanks, mate!

I think it's that macadamia miso with the sour cream and lemon juice.

- Actually, the bugs on the pizza, really lovely. - Oh, thanks, mate.

It takes a bit of doing to combine seafood and meat in a dish,

or surf and turf, as it's called here.

But the blend of local buttery lobster,

the juicy pippies and the spicy salami work a treat.

You know, moments like this, have a bit of a yarn and a cheeky beer

and a bit of food from the farm is like the... It is the ultimate,

the holy grail, and to be able to share that with guests

and travellers and friends is something pretty special.

I agree. I agree. I'll drink to that!

If I'd experienced the North Coast like this when I was 19,

I might never have left.

And it's not just the sunsets and surf

that make this place so alluring.

It's the willingness to find new ways

of keeping great traditions alive

by adapting them to somewhere very different.

Maybe that's what's making Australia

such an exciting place to eat right now.

And my time here has inspired me to revisit

one of my old favourite recipes

that is my nod to the original big thing, the big banana.

Of course I had to do a banana recipe,

and of course it has to be banoffee pie.

So, first of all, the fun bit - bashing up the biscuits.

That looks pretty good.

I wonder who first thought of

the idea of putting the biscuits

in a plastic bag?

Before that...

Everywhere, I suppose, biscuits, bits of biscuits.

220g of digestive biscuits

and 130g of butter

will make up the base of the pie.

Now mix.

Instead of using digestive biscuits,

you can use anything that has a milder flavour,

like tea biscuits or shortbread.

Don't bother home baking them.

Store-bought is fine.

Next put the mix into a baking dish and create the base.

I like to use a drinking glass to help mould the shape.

Takes a bit of time, but it's worth the effort.

Quite satisfying.

OK, well, I'm just going to put that in the fridge now to harden up.

Around 15 minutes should do the trick.

And move on to the next phase, which is to make the caramel filling.

First of all, melt some butter.

75g, then another 75g of brown sugar,

finished off with a whole can of condensed milk.

Who doesn't love condensed milk?

Just stir that in.

One thing I like to add...

A pinch of salt to even out the sweetness of the caramel.

OK, that's ready to go now.

Grab the base out of the fridge and pour in your caramel filling.

The British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

said this was her favourite dish to make.

I knew you'd like to know that!

Back in the fridge now for about an hour.

Or until the caramel has set.

It should be cool enough to go straight in the fridge,

but if it's too hot, leave it on the bench for ten minutes

before you pop it in.

So now for the all-important bananas.

And now I'm just going to split the bananas in half.

Like that.

I must say, when I was up in Coffs Harbour,

I did find the bananas particularly nice.

It might be because of the cooler growing conditions

that mean it takes longer for them to ripen

and give the fruit a much more complex flavour.

There we go. Ready to go.

To caramelise the bananas,

first melt 30g of butter

and a tablespoon of brown sugar.

Once they're combined, add the bananas, cut side down.

One tip here is, don't even think about turning them over.

You'll have plenty of caramel on the one side for the finished pie.

Finally...

I've just got some rum.

It's real rum.

It's not rum essence.

As history buffs like me will tell you,

rum has a deep historical connection

to the early colony of New South Wales,

because English officers of the Marine Corps

used it as a form of currency.

Or if you don't want to use any alcohol, leave it out.

It's just my little take on the banoffee pie.

So, while the bananas are cooling, I'm just going to whip some cream.

It's 200g of cream

whipped to firm peaks for dolloping.

Quite like the noise too.

SCRATCHY SWISHING SOUND

You could imagine a bit of modern music just in the background.

Just very quickly, it all comes together,

and you need to make sure you stop whipping

before you turn everything into butter.

And now I'm going to take it to firm peaks.

That's enough for me.

When the caramel is set, it's time to put on our toppings.

First to go on are the bananas.

Smelling deliciously of rum.

There we go. Now for the cream.

While banoffee often has the cream spread over the entire top,

I like big clumps.

A bit like foam on rough sea, deliciously messy.

And now...the chocolate.

And there it is.

I'm happy with that.

Let's see what Sas thinks.

Banoffee pie, Sas.

Thank you very much.

This looks scrumptious.

HE CHUCKLES

This is delicious.

No calories?

None whatsoever!

It's amazing, really.

True!

Isn't it a really confusing dessert?

Because everyone thinks it's American.

It's funny, because it was invented at a place called The Hungry Monk

in Sussex in England.

Well, the other confusing thing about banoffee pie

is that many people think it's an old-fashioned Victorian dessert,

when in fact it was only created in the 1970s.

You know what? I think it's a bit like sticky toffee,

or you call it sticky date pudding -

it's one of those things that people can't resist.

- When you were growing up, did you have this? - No. - No, neither did I.

No, no, well, because it was only...

I mean, when I was growing up... it was only invented in 1971.

It's amazing how food moves and changes

and becomes what everybody wants and then disappears.

As I'm discovering on this trip, there's something to be said

for adapting old favourites that are comforting and familiar

into something unique.

Join me next time on my Australian journey,

as I head away from the coast into Australia's vast interior.

So it's actually a really good workout for your whole body.

This is a winter orange.

They've got a lovely round flavour, lots of acidity, lots of sweetness.

That lamb is just why we breed lambs in Australia.

It's absolutely beautiful.

This time I've used milk, and it's creamier and more luscious.

- That might be our winner. - Wow!