The Melting Pot: in conversation with David White

Like most British chefs, David White was classically trained in the fundamentals of French cuisine. Before his move to Australia, he’d check the Bible of French cooking, Repertoire de la Cuisine, to confirm he was following the recipes to the letter...

So, working with Australian chefs who threw those conventions out the window was a real eye opener.

‘In my age group, we were all classically French trained. The theory was, if you know how to cook French, then technically you can cook anything. But Aussies weren't trained like that. They had a broader understanding of world cuisine because they’d grown up with a melting pot of cultures,’ David says. ‘I’d never really come across that blending of East meets West sort of flavour. I thought that was a big no-no, you couldn't do those sorts of things. So, I really learned from the Australians.’

The grandson of pub owners, David trained as a chef with the idea of one day owning his own hotel. But, he soon fell in love with cooking and, not long after, an Australian waitress. Long story short, after years of experience as a chef in Michelin-rated restaurants, David is now based in Melbourne as Simplot’s Culinary Innovation Manager and Executive Chef. Having lived in Australia longer than the UK, David now considers himself to be an Australian chef and has embraced the freedom of experimentation that he first recognised in Aussie chefs all those years ago.

‘We've got such a mishmash of different cultures here...that we are okay to blend them. In Europe, fusion is a bit of a faux pas. You can't mix your French with your Italian. Whereas here it doesn't really matter. If I want to put some coriander in my tomato sauce, I'm going to do that - and they actually go really well together. Who knew?’ David laughs at the reaction his former peers would have to some of the other ways Australian chefs break conventions, like snapping pasta to make it easier to cook in a pot.

‘The Italians would tell you they make it that length for a reason and it's not to be messed with. The same with pineapple on pizza – they just wouldn't do it. But if you look at their pizzas compared to ours, they're much more about the bread or the base, and the tomato and the cheese are just kind of facilitating that really nice bread. Whereas Australian pizzas are about a mountain of toppings to make it a meal.

‘Egg on pizza? They wouldn't do that either. That’s very us; that uninhibited approach to cooking that we have here versus that rigidity from Europe.’

David says Simplot products, such as Leggo’s Napoli Sauce make it easier to for Australian chefs to take a traditional recipe and customise it. ‘It’s about as good a base sauce as you can get. You could eat the sauce straight without doing anything to it, but you can also take it and add some salami and a dash of cream and, for not a lot of effort, very quickly make it your own pasta sauce.‘You haven't had to actually cut tomatoes. You haven't had to sauté the onions. You haven't had to put the garlic in. That part's all done. You've got the fun bit at the end left to do and, within 15 minutes, you've got something that's uniquely yours and you've saved yourself an hour.’

Whilst European chefs would see that as being ‘a bit naughty’, David says it’s that experimentation that makes Australian cuisine unique.

‘We're different and I think that's what makes our food great. ‘People come to Australia and say, “You know what? The food was fantastic.” It's because we do those things. We have great produce to start with, and then we are a bit more prepared to ...blend and use what we've learned from different cultural groups.’

Cheeseburger and fries combine as one great meal...

Cheeseburger Loaded Fries

Ingredients:

• 500g beef mince

• 2kg frozen Edgell 10mm Ultrafast Chips

• 250g grated American cheese

• 250g 1mm diced onion

• 300g 1mm diced dill pickle

• 100ml tomato sauce

• 100ml American mustard

Preparation Instructions

1. Brown mince. Season.

2. Cook frozen Edgell Chips following packet directions.

3. Place the fries in a serving dish, sprinkle with cheese, mince, onion and pickle.

4. Top with tomato sauce and mustard. Enjoy!