A full plate of new ventures

BENGALURU: A brand new book, a new podcast... it’s safe to say that Australia’s most adored chef Gary Mehigan has got quite a lot on his plate. In good news for those who have been missing seeing Mehigan every week on the popular show- MasterChef Australia, he is conducting a session called The Baker’s Workshop, on October 3, held by Conosh, an online food curating website. 

Ask him what we can expect from the workshop, and he says it’s going to be all about baking and lots of tips and tricks. “I have been baking a lot during the lockdown, so I will be sharing my tried and tested sourdough and starter recipe and a decadent French classic called Apple Tarte Tatin with a simple eggless caramel ice-cream,” says Mehigan, which he guarantees will, possibly, be  the best apple pie one has ever tasted.

Mehigan is currently working on the new book, which is a compilation of ‘must-have’ recipes, everything from the perfect chocolate cake, homemade cheese and bread to some of his favourite Indian and South-East Asian dishes that he makes at home. Apart from that, he is also releasing a new podcast on ‘A plate to call home’ every fortnight. “It’s an entirely different pace to television and allows me to have in-depth conversations with some of our very best chefs, producers and foodies,” says Mehigan.

He had several trips for work planned this year to India, Sri Lanka and Japan, which were put on the back burner due to the pandemic. It’s hard to imagine Mehigan loving anything else more than the cooking, but his next love to food is his motorcycle. But since he can’t ride in the current situation, he has been gardening. “I’ve planted lots of fruit trees, apple, quince, yuzu, lime and pear to name a few, and tended a growing vegetable patch. Life has been pretty good. Cooking at home has been an unexpected pleasure too,” he says. 

Nobody could have imagined what Masterchef Australia would be like if one of the judges from the original tri- Mehigan, George Calombaris, Matt Preston, were not a part of the show. But it came as shocker for many when their journey ended. Yet people still associate them with the show. “I think Matt, George and I will always be inextricably linked to MasterChef, it’s part of our DNA and vice versa. It was time, however, to move on and I have no regrets,”adds Mehigan, who has been a frequent visitor to Bengaluru where his favourite Indian dish is biryani. “I love biryani whether it’s pakki, kachi Hyderabadi, Thalassery, Andhra or Awadhi,” says Mehigan, adding that making the perfect dosay is also an art.