Jimmy Barnes and Jock Zonfrillo are on a quest to make a Scottish “delicacy” our next food obsession
It’s somewhere between a sausage sizzle and a hamburger and Jimmy Barnes and Jock Zonfrillo are keen to make a new fast food work in Australia. LISTEN TO HIS PODCAST
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It’s somewhere between a sausage sizzle and a hamburger and Jimmy Barnes and Jock Zonfrillo are keen for Glasgow roll to become the next big thing in homemade fast food.
The Glaswegian “brothers”, who have bonded over their passion for food since meeting at Zonfrillo’s former Restaurant Orana several years ago, have been competing to perfect the revered Scottish sandwich.
Zonfrillo has spent a year working on the recipe for the bun and “square” sausage combination which is wildly popular in their native Glasgow, sharing the results on his social media last month.
At least count, he had tested 44 different recipes for the roll alone.
“I’ve just spent the best part of a year trying to perfect how to make a Glasgow roll and square sausage,” Zonfrillo says in this week’s episode of the Story Time with Jimmy Barnes podcast.
“It’s a morning roll, a bread roll but it’s extremely particular; the inside of it has got like a chew and the top of it is crispy. It’s not crunchy like a sourdough, it’s got this crisp top and the inside of the crumb has this elasticity, a chew that you don’t get in a normal bread roll.
“And then a square sausage is essentially sausage put in a terrine bowl and then they cut it. There’s no skin on the sausage and it fits perfectly into the bread roll.”
The bromance between the rocker and the chef has extended to a big boy’s toys competition to get the latest and greatest grills, smokers and other kitchen tools.
They often spend a week holidaying at each other’s homes with their families, with food at the centre of their gatherings.
Zonfrillo is obsessed with replicating the Thai dishes Jane Barnes has made famous with fans via social media and which will feature in a cookbook she plans to release with Jimmy next year.
“Jane is an epic cook and I love learning recipes from Jane when I come up to the house,” Zonfrillo says.
“The last time we were up there we were filming Jane’s green chicken curry. It’s a basic recipe for her – she’s like ‘oh nobody’s going to be interested in that.’ Ah, trust me.”
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Of course after a hard night of communal cooking and feasting, the rocker and the chef spend the rest of the evening singing and laughing over nips of whisky.
“We have music everywhere. I like music when I’m eating, when we’re preparing … if you’re getting a bit tired, you change the playlist and it gives you a lift,” Barnes says.
“And we’ll sit at the end of the night – we’ve both bought shares in a couple of whisky companies – and we’ll sit and laugh and tell jokes and have a whisky.
“The other thing that really annoys me about Jock; he doesn’t get hangovers. He’s a superman, a super Italian from Glasgow.”
During one late night session when everyone else had gone to bed, Jane introduced Zonfrillo to another one of her “special” meals which sounds like part practical joke, part childhood fantasy.
The chicken sandwich without the chicken.
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“Jane said when we she was in boarding school and they were hungry in the middle of the night, they’d get fresh white bread with butter, salt and pepper and if you closed your eyes, it tastes like chicken,” Barnes explains.
“We made one for Jock and he goes ‘tastes like bread and butter.’
“So he gets into the kitchen and starts designing the gourmet bread and butter sandwich. He’s making up his own salts and chopping things and Jane’s going ‘It’s getting too professional.’
“For a minute there, we nearly had him convinced.”
While Zonfrillo has added to the Killing Time author’s recipe repertoire, the chef disputes he can carry a tune despite the pair sharing a few singing sessions online.
“You’re a sous singer,” Barnes quips. “A couple of more songs, you’ll be doing an album before you know it.
“Eighteen months ago, everywhere we went we had pipe bands. And Jock and I would be up singing Flower Of Scotland. When you’ve had a couple of whiskys after a show and there’s bagpipes, nobody gives a s... how you’re singing.”
THE BOOK
Get your copy of Killing Time by Jimmy Barnes, published by HarperCollins Australia.
THE PODCAST
Join Jimmy and family for Story Time with Jimmy Barnes wherever you get our podcasts — plus exclusive behind-the-scenes content at storytimewithjimmybarnes.com.au
Originally published as Jimmy Barnes and Jock Zonfrillo are on a quest to make a Scottish “delicacy” our next food obsession