Melbourne chef Raymond Capaldi shares his delicious winter staple meals

Iconic Melbourne chef Raymond Capaldi shares his tips and tricks to surviving winter feasting — including a sweet dessert that’ll top everyone’s list.

Melbourne icon chef Raymond Capaldi’s Scottish nanna used to make a mean apple pie.

“In those days, nothing went to waste,” he said.

“She’d peel all the apples, slice them and use the pips, skin and core to make a separate apple sauce — she used every bit of the apple.”

Striking a balanced sweet and sour filling with perfected crunchy bite within a crumbly shortcrust is now second-nature to the star chef.

Capaldi, who helped build the careers of TV chefs George Calombaris and Shannon Bennett, uses the same recipe at his Coburg Wonder Pies factory.

“I’ve been using it since day one. It’s the same process as nanna used to do, but we’ve changed a few things for manufacturing,” he said.

Winter is one of the busiest times of year in pie land, as people reach for warming creature comforts such as stews, braises and soups.

Wonder Pies co-founder Raymond Capaldi with chef Anna Clemente. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Outside of devouring Wonder Pies’ cult lasagne, shepherd’s or beef, cheese and pepper pies, Capaldi said the season was ideal for home cooking.

“Supermarkets sell those big turkey legs and they’re beautiful braised in a nice tomato sauce or cream with mustard,” he said.

“Duck wings are underrated as well. There’s so much meat on them and people often throw them away.”

“I always use secondary cuts in my cooking as you always get a great flavour — plus you get to make a sauce as well. This way everything comes together nicely.”

Capaldi encouraged everyone to stewing or braising meat from scratch this winter.

“You just need a good cast-iron pot. You can put it in the oven for five to six hours, and don’t need to do much else with it. It’s always a good idea to have a cast-iron that’s heavy and protects from burning.”

As for what is on high-rotation on Capaldi’s kitchen?

Beef cheeks drowned in a bitey pepper sauce, braised lamb necks and his nanna’s apple pie.