Tuck into a movable feast of homemade specialities across summer
They’re one of the less likely duos to be found discussing the filleting of trout or basting of chicken – but Tom Keneally and Nat’s What I Reckon have all bases covered.
They’re one of the less likely duos to be found discussing the filleting of trout or basting of chicken: one swathed in neck tattoos and studded with piercings, the other a former seminarian, sporting a Panama hat and reading glasses. But when it comes to all things culinary and literary, Tom Keneally and Nat’s What I Reckon have all bases covered – on the page and in the kitchen.
When The Australian asked some of the country’s best-known novelists, playwrights, journalists and critics which recipes were most important to them and why, the pair jumped at the opportunity to be involved.
Keneally makes no bones about the limits of his culinary skills, and Nat’s What I Reckon admits he still has a few more books to go until he catches up with Australia’s most celebrated and credentialed writer, now 87.
“I’m strictly a survival chef,” says Keneally, who describes his special family recipe for ice “scream” with caramel and cherries as “childlike, undogmatic and pre-sophistication”.
“I’m quite handy in the kitchen in the sense of being able to produce meals … though I certainly don’t consider myself a Nigella Lawson or a Julia Child,” he said.
“I’ve always thought there was a curious symmetry between the act of writing and the process of creating something in the kitchen with your hands.”
For Nat’s What I Reckon, who came to prominence through his YouTube cooking tutorials and mental health advocacy, the instinct works in reverse: the food comes first, the writing second.
“I’ve just written my first book, so it’s all pretty new to me, but I love it … putting down the recipes in the way that I would do (on my YouTube channel) and pulling it together whenever I have a moment. The cooking and the writing both seem to just fit.”
The musician and comedian said his moussaka recipe should be as “therapeutic to eat as a lasagne”, but instead of being made with beef he’s substituted lamb and has layers of potato and eggplant rather than pasta sheets.
“I have spent a lot of time in therapy in my life,” he says. “It’s a bloody good thing to have the opportunity to let rip about what’s going on for you in a space that’s dedicated to exactly that.
“I find my noggin loves to look for trouble constantly, and if I don’t give it something to do then I will likely find myself in deep trouble.
“That’s why putting together a good feed is so therapeutic.”
Beginning on Boxing Day, The Way to The Heart: The Australian’s Summer Cookbook will feature a new recipe every weekday and weekend until January 18, as a cast of more than 20 celebrated writers – including Geraldine Brooks, Louis Nowra, Indira Naidoo and Anna Funder – take us inside their kitchens and tell the story behind their meal.
Across the summer, readers can tuck into a movable feast of homemade specialities, ranging from the humble meat pie and slow-cooked rabbit to the top end of haute cuisine, featuring recipes for wakame beurre blanc, creme brulee and duck a l’orange.
The only rule is the dishes must come from the heart: a meal prepared for a lover; a recipe remembered from childhood; food to sustain the soul. In each case, they tell the story of how that recipe came to mean more to each writer than the sum of its parts.
