Alex Herbert, Bird Cow Fish | Food & drink

Alex Herbert, Bird Cow Fish

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23.01.2022 I’ve been trying to decide what to cook this Saturday for my demo @carriageworksfarmersmarket. After much discussion with some old friends and @carriageworksfarmersmarket stallholders I’ve gone with simple breakfast and stuff my old market byline. Focus will be on the ingredients and why I choose to prioritise the good ones, how this choice elevates something like a sandwich to a celebration of ingredients and the Producers who make this choice a dreamy breeze. #goodsimpledelicious

23.01.2022 My old hand written recipe cards from all of my restaurant years are fading. So I have decided to continue the once begun but not finished task of recording them elsewhere with stories other than just the existing excel spreadsheets of their cold calculations. Killing three birds with one stone I plan to start a recipe blog and to do this I need to relaunch my Bird Cow Fish Website. To do this I need to decide on at least 15 recipes to commence this journey. But which ones? if you have any opinion on this I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on where to start. X

20.01.2022 When life gives you lemons...yesterday a friend gave me a bag of lemons, freshly picked from his lemon tree. I was thrilled. Simon Marnie asked me to talk food ...at 11am tomorrow (Sunday) on ABC radio 702am. I was thrilled! Simon then asked me what would I like to talk about? I said lemons! What can’t you do with a lemon? Sweet through to savoury the applications are endless. Had a laugh over the suggestion by Jane Grigson from her Fruit Book Penguin, 1982, that they can also be used to whiten elbows if you rest each elbow in used 1/2 lemon ends whilst you read. See more

18.01.2022 I’m going to be @carriageworksfarmersmarket Saturday 11th May doing a cooking demo. Trying to decide what I will cook using the produce from the many wonderful stallholders...whom I always relied upon to supply our stall for the basis of our ingredients for our breakfast staples through to our pastry treats. Can’t wait to catch up with my many previous customers whom I may have missed on my many returns since whilst just doing my own shopping.

17.01.2022 I couldn’t resist:)

16.01.2022 Very much looking forward to my cooking demo @carriageworksfarmersmarket with @smegaustralia on Saturday 11th May at 10.30am. I will be shouting out cooking tips, not omelet owner names as I once did....

16.01.2022 Vale Tony Bilson. I just pulled his book from my shelf and was going to flip the pages to find my favourite recipe. But I didn’t get past his introduction. Tony... was about so much more than certain recipes. His words are humble yet speak of Craft, Generosity, The ability to delight in the pleasure of others, The importance of the exchange of ideas and lastly The importance of valuing diversity and to eat and cook the food you prefer. Written in May 1987 I can’t help but feel that Tony’s words are as relevant today as they were then. I do hope that any young chefs who aren’t familiar with Tony Bilson and his legacy, use this sad point in time to acquaint themselves with someone who has probably influenced them indirectly. See more

12.01.2022 My rather beautiful bench top Hobart N50. I don’t think they make them anymore? As I pulled together a late in the day cake bake using up left over egg whites for a White Velvet Butter Cake tonight I got to thinking about her journey. I bought her back in 1995 when I needed something more substantial than my Mum’s old Kenwood to keep up with the thousands of Melting Moments I came to supply @simmonelogue in Balmain with whilst not working, when Luke was a baby. She is still as good as she was then.

11.01.2022 Honoured to be hosting this panel discussion on Food Waste at Fine Foods on Monday. Discussing the full loop starting with how to prevent it and also what to do when you have it. Creativity and education help prevent it and if all else fails taking action to divert food waste to those in need.

10.01.2022 Äppelkaka recipe from Magnus Nilsson’s The Nordic Baking Book. Apples from @moonacresfarm via @nthsydmkts on Saturday. Raspberry and pomegranate jam glaze care of Maggie Beer. It was decidedly good.

10.01.2022 When do I bake a cake? When we have finished the last one. Apples remaining in the fruit bowl from last week’s market visit meant one thing for sure. A mixture of remaining creme fraiche, yoghurt and sour cream came together to help create this upside down apple cake. I doubled the batter mix to create a deeper cake which resulted in a deeper caramel finish top and bottom due to the longer cooking time. Pretty happy with my cake crumb too :)

07.01.2022 The lovely folk @womeninhospitality are sharing the love about my re-appearance @carriageworksfarmersmarket on Saturday 11th May for a sneaky cooking demo at 10.30am. 3 year anniversary almost to the day since I wound it up. 10 years since the inaugural market which @birdcowfish attended. A result of a life changing trip to Italy to Slow Food’s Terra Madre as a representative of @slowfoodsydney where I met Aunty Beryl who was a major part of the market origins. Aunty Beryl was working on Indigenous cuisine with her catering company at Yama Dhiyaan also @carriageworks, fostering Aboriginal talent into the Hospitality Industry. Oh what a trip it has been.

06.01.2022 I know I go on but....I did my cooking demo this morning @carriageworksfarmersmarket with @myffyrigby using some fab cooking appliances by @smegaustralia (red toaster front and centre, equally sexy red fridge out of sight). Such a joy to be back not as a stall holder, not just as a regular shopper but to be able to share the producers stories and what makes their gear so great, to an audience. I don’t think I took a breath! @myffyrigby asked many great questions some I didn’t get to answer because for example the @pepesaya butter was talking to me in its foaming butter fashion and I had to act. However on reflection my favourite question posed and one that I have never considered was when did cooking as a professional chef become instinctive? Thanks to everyone who stopped by. I loved it!

05.01.2022 Roast chicken. Once a delicacy in Australian homes. But then came fast breeding, making it one of our cheapest meats (and still is per kg , apples for apples) and this resulted in increased demand and unfathomable inhumane treatment of the animals. When I worked at the Pheasant Farm I was taught to cook the pheasant frames separately to the legs. This was to achieve the best results from both very different sections of the bird which require different cooking times when roast...ing to achieve perfection. This principle also applies to using your bird at different times for different purposes or meals. I had a whole chook tonight, more than we needed so breasts only roasted on the bone, which is always the best way if you can with legs and wings saved for another completely different meal. Meanwhile this carcass will make a beautiful stock. There is another meal right there! PS. Don’t forget to turn your breast frame over to rest after you take it out of the oven so that all those resting juices flow back through the breast meat. See more

05.01.2022 Looking forward to co hosting this event at the end of the month on Monday 29th July in Sydney at Randwick Racecourse with Ken Burgin. Some great panels have been assembled to discuss a varied range of topics which affect the Hospitality Industry and I will be chatting in two separate Q&A sessions with Christine Manfield and Nadine Ingram from Flour and Stone.

03.01.2022 At about this time on. Friday night up until 3 years ago I could be found posting pictures of my up and coming treats for my @carriageworksfarmersmarket stall by @birdcowfish breakfast and stuff. 3 years gone and many Saturday replenishment visits back to this market on every occasion I always stop by Carmel and John’s @zavagliasgourmetproduce stall to collect a miriad of divine treats from broad beans, their leaves, a delicious variety of peppers and their zucchini flowers.... Carmel without fail asks me every single time when are you returning to run your stall Alex I always have to say I’m not. But with a twist I will be back there tomorrow to present a free cooking demo at 10.30am and I could not by pass using @zavagliasgourmetproduce zucchini flowers for my very simple but delicious cheese on toast. zucchini flowers stuffed with @willowbrae_chevre_cheese chèvre on @sonomabakingco sourdough #goodsimpledelicious #knowyourproducer plenty of juiciness there for @myffyrigby to quiz me about :) See more

02.01.2022 Fantastic Fundraising event this Sunday organised by @jacqui_challinor and @nomad.au . I’ll be bringing along freshly baked short crust quiche for those that wi...sh to grab something to Take Away from the Bake Sale. #repost @jacqui_challinor Join me and a whole host of Sydney’s finest for brunch this Sunday! After feeling completely helpless for weeks and contemplating what kind of a difference I could make, I realised that as a community working together we could have more of an impact than I ever could alone. After receiving such an incredible response from our friends in the industry, what was supposed to be a simple brunch has grown into brunch and bake sale with all proceeds going to the @redcrossau We are also setting up an online auction for restaurant vouchers and private dinners if any of you chefs out there are willing to auction yourselves off?? If I’ve missed anybody off the list and you’d like to get involved, please shoot me an email [email protected] We’re aiming to raise $100K, c’mon Sydney, we can do this!!! Bookings available via the @nomad.au website or swing by and grab a sweet treat from the bake sale! Big thanks to all the superstars below who have already jumped on board @jamesvilesbiota @alexpavoni @afropunkoz @_nic_wong_ @chefsamkane @cheftravharvey @jayjaewalsh @andybowdy @birdcowfish @martinboetz @palisaanderson @chefstefano @jasonwhite91 @tioscerveceria @happyagave @chefgraemejh @michaelnicolian @aaronward88 @coreycostelloe @alexsprichard @cfassnidge @michaelrantissi @chefjoelbickford @sujetspiceiamfarm @daniellemariealvarez @ibrahimkasif @chefhamishingham @brindles_beard @maax.smith @mikemcenearney @julianvcincotta @sharonsalloum @csalloum @federicoz80 @chefgannon @guillaumebrahimi @rhiannmead @somersivrioglu @stuarttoon #cookforthebush

01.01.2022 Simon Marnie has been hosting the Chefs Challenge on ABC radio 702am for yonks. Bringing together the sage advice on what’s in season from various Providores an...d asking Chefs to suggest dishes for this seasonal moment. Simon has asked me to do this again tomorrow morning (Saturday) at 8.30am. Here we are LIVE down at the now no longer Pyrmont Growers Market from many years back discussing broad beans. To peel or not to peel after removing from the outer pod. Some things don’t change. Others do. I still like my broad beans skin on. See more

01.01.2022 Thank you @sharon__flynn from @thefermentary for bringing @sandorkraut to Australia. Wonderful collaboration this Sunday past @cooksco_op with @kristenallanchee...se @martinboetz supported by @hollydaviswholefood really inspired me to get back to this ancient practice. Came straight home and fed my ever faithful but neglected 23 year old sourdough starter and hatched plans for more other delicious projects. Sauerkraut was made of course, draining kefir, goats cheese in fig leaves, whey drinks and of course delicious food for lunch. Using everything #nowaste #deliciousfermentedfood #foodculture @ The Cooks Co-op See more