Eat Up New Zealand

Filled with more than 150 recipes and ripping great yarns about New Zealand food, Al Brown’s latest cookbook is the iconic chef’s reply to the oft-asked question: “So what is Kiwi cuisine?” Is it classics such as roast lamb, whitebait fritters, cheese scones and pikelets or twists on old-favourites like chicken and chorizo pie, porcini and Swiss cheese toasties or tamarillo and pear macadamia nut cobbler? Has our love of travel, epicurious foodie globetrotting, changing attitudes to ingredients and emerging cultural influences fine-tuned and broadened our nation’s taste buds? You can bet it has and this beautifully photographed hardback book proves the answer is all of the above and is a fabulous companion to Al’s widely successful previous cookbooks, Go Fish and Stoked. Perhaps, more importantly, though, it’s as Al says, “a cookbook that you can use every day.” As a staunch supporter of keeping it local, his message is simple. Start with fresh seasonal produce, cook it simply then add flavour, texture and garnish to elevate it to something truly delicious. The culinary equivalent of adding some good old Kiwi ingenuity. With shout-outs to “wonderful, nostalgic, Kiwi-centric dishes” and a tribute to his mum’s pav, it’s destined to be a classic. Ka pai. Allen & Unwin New Zealand – $65 (hb)