STRING THEORY

Grilled. Poached. Pan-fried. Some people even try to cook red meat sous-vide. But roasting it à la ficelle offers a touch of MacGyver-like genius as well as a great result. A leg of lamb spinning gently at the end of a piece of twine ( ficelle is French for string) in front of the coals has been one of the most talked-about sights in the open kitchen at Fred’s in Sydney. “It hangs in front of one of our fires and if you give it a little nudge, it just gently turns and turns and cooks evenly all the way around,” says American-born chef Danielle Alvarez. We’re hooked. merivale.com.au