Mark Olive has been championing native ingredients for decades. The Bundjalung man has whipped up dishes featuring everything from saltbush to crocodile on TV cooking shows such as The Outback Cafe, and published a cookbook full of quintessentially Australian dishes. Last year, he opened his own restaurant – Midden, at Sydney Opera House, which puts Indigenous flavours front and centre.
Like many of the other celebrity chefs who have featured in this column, Olive says a good set of quality knives is essential for every kitchen. But there’s another, much cheaper item that he relies on even more. Here, the food figure tells us about the $6 cooking tool he can’t live without, and shares the stories of two other important objects.
What I’d save from my house in a fire
My schoolbooks. I was one of those kids who hoarded everything, so I’ve still got them tucked away in a box somewhere. I’ve got all my report cards right from primary school onwards as well. We’ve got a school reunion coming up, so I’ll be taking them with me and letting people read them.
Things like that really hit a [sentimental] note with me. It’s a bit historical too, to look back and see how things change. In some of my old English books we had to do exercises on slang language. And this was in the mid-70s. Back then, it was your words like “Barry”, which was just an idiot. “Gumboot.” “Spoonhead.” The kids today would laugh!
My most useful object
Knives are important, but for me, one of the most important things is a good veggie peeler.
There are all these different ergonomic ones now, but I just like the plain Woolies brand called Culinare. They’re easy to use, comfortable to hold and what I grew up with back when I was doing in my apprenticeship. You know those Y-shaped ones you’ve got to hold and go down in strips? I hate them – they’re useless. They’re like tits on a bull.
It’s all about how you use your hands. If you hold your knives too tight, you’re going to get RSI. It’s the same with a veggie peeler. You want a peeler that’s comfortable in your hand and not going to put you in a position where you’re straining your forearm.
The item I most regret losing
Look, I’m one of those people who loses shit, so there’s a lot. But the worst is some books that were stolen in a house robbery that I haven’t been able to get again.
There were some biographies from the 80s of people like Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger. A lot of old books from the 30s and 40s. And there was also a recipe book from the early 1900s – inside it had recipes using hair! Plus recipes with liver and brain, and one for kidney pies.
They were all together in a box, so the robber must have just picked up the box and taken everything. There was real sentimental stuff in there. But thank God they didn’t get my schoolbooks.
• Mark Olive is hosting two dinners at the Sydney Opera House on 8 & 9 August as part of the Chefs of the House dining experience
