How top Melbourne chefs use Vegemite to add some zing to their dishes
IT’S our favourite thing to put on toast, but Vegemite isn’t just for the breakfast table. Melbourne chefs reveal how to make superb dishes using Australia’s favourite yeasty treat.
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IT’S Australia’s favourite thing to put on toast, but Vegemite isn’t just for the breakfast table.
Top chefs are having fun using the black stuff in all manner of ways, delivering Vegemite-inspired dishes to the best tables in the land. You’ll be served a take on a Vegemite scroll at Australia’s best restaurant, Attica, as well as in the breadbasket at Highline in Windsor.
It’s used to brush a buttery croissant served like “damper on a stick” at Vue de monde.
Young gun chef Khanh Nguyen blends it with curry oil and serves it with flaky roti at this year’s hit restaurant, Sunda, while it took chef Ashley Palmer-Watts many months
of development before he was happy to unveil his “Vegemite ice cream” created especially for the menu at Dinner by Heston.
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“The biggest fear was for us to use Vegemite in a new way and for it not to be received well by our guests,” the British chef says. “We added it to various mixes, biscuits, sponges, chocolates and caramels, noting that when it was diluted, it really showed other flavours (such as) chocolate, salted caramel and a slight fruitiness. Working it into an ice cream dish, other than just spreading it on a warm buttered crumpet has been a great experience.”
But slathered on buttered toast is how Vegemite has mainly been enjoyed since it first hit Australia’s shelves in 1923.
The loved spread is turning 95 and to mark the occasion three Aussie artists — David Bromley, Mitch Revs and Claudia Moodoonuthi — have created large-scale artworks that will adorn limited edition Vegemite jars available over the next few months.
The artists will unveil their works at a special event on Thursday held at David Bromley’s Prahran studio, where Vegemite-inspired dishes created by Charlie Carrington from Altas Dining will be served. Each large-scale piece will be up for online auction at vegemite.com.au/store, with proceeds donated to each artist’s chosen charity.
“My concept for the Vegemite 95th anniversary event showcases the six states and two territories of Australia by sourcing an ingredient from each place and pairing it into a Vegemite-based snack,” Charlie says, who has shared two of the recipes with Taste.
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Chefs like using Vegemite for the umami characteristics it lends to a dish — umami being the fifth basic taste that adds savoury to sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Think of parmesan cheese, caramelised onions, roasted tomato and shiitake mushrooms, which all add umami to dishes.
Here are great new ways to enjoy Vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea that’s sure to put
a rose in every cheek.
1 St Ali head chef Daniel Dobra is a self-confessed aficionado of adding Vegemite to dishes, using it to create vegetarian jus (“Vegemite has all the similar flavour profiles and components of a meat jus — strong, bold and concentrated”), a vegetable consommé that was used as an accompaniment to one of the first vegetarian dishes served by Dan Hunter at the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld back in the day, and even in the classic after-school snack: cheese and vegemite microwave sandwich.
2 Daniel uses it to create a powerful barbecue sauce (mix 200g Vegemite with 100g tomato sauce, 10g cracked black pepper, 2g ground coffee and 20g maple syrup) to serve with avocado on toast.
3 Melbourne chef Tracey Lister has recently returned home after spending 13 years in Vietnam, where she ran a cooking school and conducted food tours of her adopted city, Hanoi.
“The cooking centre was popular with Vietnamese school groups and I would always start the class with a blind tasting to get everyone thinking about flavours. I included Vegemite for a bit of fun and the reaction from most of the students was one of, to put it in diplomatic terms, surprise,” she says. “The Vietnamese chefs at the school would call (Vegemite) Australian fish sauce: strong flavour, salty and something you need to grow up with to fully appreciate. One chef even went as far as to suggest the addition of a small amount of vegemite to pho bo (beef pho) could enhance the broth.
4 Industry Beans’ head chef James Saunders says adding Vegemite to a beef patty adds “a delicious umami flavour” — use about 20g Vegemite for 500g beef — while incorporating it into a chilli con carne adds “delicious richness
to the dish”.
5 Rueben Davis from The Press Club says he’s a big fan of using Vegemite with fish. He suggests melting a dollop of butter with equal part Vegemite and brushing this over a fish such as rockling. Dust it in flour, dip in egg wash, flip through breadcrumbs and deep fry.
6 Use Vegemite in a classic spaghetti bolognaise recipe. “After you have finished the sauce using your go-to recipe, while it is still piping hot, fold through a tablespoon of Vegemite for that umami kick,” George Calombaris
says.
7 For a salty/sweet treat, James says Vegemite caramel brownies are hard to beat. In a bowl, combine 75g cocoa, 450g sugar and 280g dark choc. In a separate bowl combine 6 eggs and 1/3 cup of Vegemite, while in another bowl combine 75g self-raising flour and 75g almond meal. Melt 300g butter in a pan, then add the cocoa, sugar and dark choc mix and combine. Whisk in the Vegemite and egg until it becomes glossy, then take off heat. With a rubber spatula, fold in self-raising flour and almond meal until well combined. Pour into lined baking tray and bake at 160 degrees for about 30 mins or until it stops wobbling.
8 “My first memory of Vegemite is mum using it in a glaze and spreading it onto her meat loaf,” says James Cornwall from Footscray’s Victoria Hotel. He suggests making an Aussie croque madam by smearing Vegemite to taste on sourdough topped with ham and béchamel made using a good aged cheddar. Pan fry in butter until crisp, top with more béchamel and grated cheese and grill until golden. Finish with a runny fried egg.
9 “I once made a Thai red curry but didn’t have any gabi (fermented prawn paste) so I substituted Vegemite as it has similar characteristics — salty, strong, bold and punchy,” Daniel says. “I haven’t looked back since. It’s in all honesty one of my finer cooking moments
at home.”
10 Telina Menzies from Trinket uses Vegemite in an ice cream parfait that she serves with salt and vinegar chips on brioche.
“As a kid in school I used to put crisps in my Vegemite sandwich and this brings back so many good memories.”
Whip 300g whipping cream with 1 tbsp Vegemite until soft peaks form. Set aside in the fridge. Separate 4 small eggs and beat the whites until it stands in firm peaks. Mix in 150g sugar and a dash of vanilla and continue beating with a whisk until it’s smooth and shiny. Fold in the egg yolks, then the whipped cream. Fill a takeaway container and freeze for at least 5 hours.
Remove from freezer 5 mins before serving. Slice thickly, add to a slice of brioche along with some salt and vinegar crisps. Fold in half and enjoy.
“Trust me, you will love it,” Telina says.
11 “A friend of my mum’s swears by rubbing an eye fillet with Vegemite before it goes on the barbecue, it’s actually delicious in all its salty yeastiness,” says Sophie Cookes from Cookes Food catering. “And maybe this is boring but a macaroni and cheese jaffle with a generous schmear of Vegemite on the inside of both bread layers is definitely the hangover cure I turn to when life seems hopeless.”
12 “A favourite for me is when making a trusty mushroom stock a touch of Vegemite just nails the umami, giving that yeasty edge,” says WonderPies’ Ray Capaldi. “Or for those who are handy with desserts and know how to handle a souffle, add a touch of Vegemite to the chocolate and yours will stand out from the rest.”
13 “My Vegemite escargot walks out the door,” says Lisa van Zanten of Mill & Bakery. “Although the home cook may not make the pastries from scratch, picking up your favourite pastry and dousing it in cheese and splashes of Vegemite and then baking it off til crispy with a cup of hot coffee … YES!”
14 Barbecue pit master Mike Patrick from Fancy Hank’s slow roasts mushrooms with some Vegemite until soft and browned, and then uses these to create a vegan risotto. “It’s so rich, it really doesn’t need any animal products.”
15 Gerard Phelan from Montalto says dehydrating Vegemite and turning it into a salt is an innovative way to add interest to breakfast. Spread a baking sheet with Vegemite and dry in a low oven (60C) overnight. “Once it’s dry I blend it with some coarse salt flakes — Vegemite salt for your smashed avo on toast. Your hipster mates will love it.”
16 Dani Zeini from Royal Stacks says making a Vegemite fondue is fun and easy. Place some Pure Dairy American sliced cheese in saucepan with a bit of hot water and simmer. Stir frequently until cheese is melted and add a little Vegemite. “Dip some fries in it for Cheesy-mite fries,” he suggests.
MACADAMIA, CARROT & VEGEMITE BUTTER
Serves 6. Recipe: Charlie Carrington
Ingredients
300g macadamias
50g flour
75g Vegemite
75g softened butter + another 25g
6 carrots
1/8 bunch chives
1 medium shallot
Juice of one lemon
Method
1: First, wash the carrots and rub them very lightly with vegetable oil.
2: Place them in a pan and cook them on the lowest heat possible. This should take about 2-3 hours. They’ll start to cook then begin to dehydrate and have a chewy exterior and a crunchy interior. Chop into small pieces, then give them a rough dice and place them back in the pan with 25g of butter, the juice of one lemon and salt. Keep in a warm place.
3: Next, blitz 220g of the macadamias with flour and water. It should come together like a semi wet dough. Place it in between two baking sheets and roll it about 2mm thick. Then, quickly pull off the top sheet (some will stick to the top sheet) but you will be left with a textured cracker. Bake at 170 degrees for 20 minutes.
4: Using a small whisk, combine butter and Vegemite together.
5: Using a mandolin, thinly shave the remaining macadamias so they curl, or use a Microplane to shave them over the cracker. Heat the carrots with the chives and shallots to just above room temperature.
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6: Break the crackers into random shapes that will fit easily into the mouth.
7: Place a small amount of the Vegemite butter onto the cracker followed by the carrot mix and then the shaved macadamias on top.
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