Emu and Eggs

The seasons of Makuru and Djilba were the traditional times of the year when Noongar people would hunt and eat Kangaroo, Emu and Emu eggs, possum and bandicoots, to name just a few. They did not farm raise animals or cultivate the land, but instead followed the six seasons carefully and took cues from the land with regards to food sources and land management. 

Emu was an extremely valuable source of food for aboriginal people and it required a huge amount of skill to hunt them........... have you seen an Emu run?! Once caught, it was skinned, feathers saved, and roasted on the fire or under coals.The fat from the intestines was considered a delicacy.  

Perfect when cut across the grain and grilled medium rare, a beautiful piece of emu fan fillet still features prominently on menus throughout Australia. Marinate a nicely portioned piece of fan fillet in wattle seed, garlic and rosella juice before quickly pan-searing. Emu is extremely lean and high in iron, protein and vitamin C. Over-cooking the meat will therefore draw out all moisture and juiciness and leave your fillet tough and very 'gamey' tasting. The emu drums and rump fillets can also be slowly braised to create a succulent wintery meal.

Another beautifully rich treat is Emu eggs. They do take some time to cook and one emu egg is the equivalent in size to about 20 chicken eggs, so be sure to have at least five people around for frittata! They taste quite mild, less rich than duck eggs, but also have a higher content of oil than chicken eggs. 

In some areas of Australia the eating of emu eggs was in fact forbidden, such as with the Walgalu people of the Tamut Valley in NSW, where the emu population was sparse and over exploitation of any animal when it came to hunting was strongly discouraged for fear that it would become extinct.

Observing seasonality and sustainability with regards to all food sources, especially emus and their eggs, was of great importance to the aboriginal people. They only took from the fat of the land and nothing more. Try emu and emu eggs when in season for a truly delicious and nutritious meal and consider seasonality. Emu recipes are welcome.........

Celebrating Djeran - An Urban Pop up

It was with gusto that we all readied the beautiful space at Salt and Company Cooking school in West Perth for the very first RiverMint Dining pop up.  The menu and the evening were inspired by the Noongar season of Djeran, and the images presented by Salty Wings complimented the colours of the orange berries and banksias in season which were displayed around the room. The season of Djeran is also known as the Season of Adulthood and falls in what the western world regards as Autumn. A change in the wind can be felt, and hot nights are replaced with cool evenings and dewy mornings. Here we see the Marri blossom in full flower and Banksia flowers line areas such as the Roe highway and Herdsman Lake in abundance.

Djeran is also the time when the emus are fat, so an emu flat rump was featured on the menu. This cut was marinated for 48 hours, cooked sous vide and then seared for service and served with a warrigal greens dumpling, fresh charred corn, rosella flower, pink berries and a game jus. Djeran is also the season of the salmon run, so it seemed only fitting to serve herring, after which the salmon run, as part of the canapés service. Combined with a native spice mix and potato, the herring potato bites were served with black garlic and ruby salt bush. We also featured crocodile which was served at room temperature with a spiced rhubarb puree and gwarl berries from the Kimberley region (also known as White Berry Bush).

Many greens were foraged for this pop up and included succulent pig face leaves, WA Samphire, dune spinach (also known as Crystal Ice plant) and sea rocket. These paired well with the seafood dish of smoked Kingfish, seared bush grapes and pepper berry and the zing of a favourite ingredient from Marvick Native Farms, fingerlime, cut through the smokiness.

It was with pleasure that the River mint from our garden became a sorbet in between courses. The evening ended with a bavarois made using Pandanus nut, with Davidson Plum and Northcliffe Blood Plum. This was paired with Garbin Estate's Muscat. A tea made using Marri blossom flowers and Southern Forests Honey alongside WA Sandalwood nut bites completed the evening.

We received plenty of feedback with regards to our first pop up and will endeavour to take all comments onboard when preparing for our Makuru pop up. Most importantly we learned a ton about the ins and outs of running a pop up restaurant and had fun in the process. If anything I would have liked to have spent more time outside of the kitchen and inside the dining room chatting about the ingredients that we should be celebrating as Australians.

Thank you to all our suppliers for some great produce and to those that attended. We look forward to cooking for you all again soon and will announce our next pop up in the weeks ahead.