I was recently lucky enough to be invited to Corner Inlet for the first of many more to come gatherings supported by GoodFish (Sascha Rust) and the Australian Marine Conservation Society. It was a wonderful opportunity for conversations between chefs and the fishers of Corner Inlet, where commercial fishing has been carried out with integrity since the 1840s. The fishers from this area are fourth and fifth generation and maintain a handshake agreement not to overfish the waters and they work in with scientists to keep an eye on seagrass stock and the rise of sea urchins in the area. The chefs went out early on the boats with the fishers and over lunch, it was clear to see the impact this had on them. Sous chef, Nic Backhouse of The Stables at Stones of the Yarra Valley quickly took to his Instagram to express some interesting thoughts and I sat down to have a chat with him about the sustainability of the waterways as well as his own thoughts on the sustainability of chefs in general.
Nic, I just read your latest Instagram post having been out on the boat. Have your thoughts changed since being on the boat or have the ideas you mentioned been floating around for a while?
It has been a problem for a long time and Sascha (Rust) has been a blessing for me. In London this wasn’t a problem, it was more transparent. I think chefs in general are in big trouble. The chefs are my first priority and a day like today is an avenue to fix lots of problems and it will help.
Are you talking about resources disappearing?
First and foremost it’s our apprentices. We are losing apprentices because businesses can’t afford to keep them on. The times are different now. It used to be that big chefs and restaurants would thrive off stagiaires who valued knowledge, which was worth more than money. Stages aren’t even legal in the country anymore. We still do it, but very few of us are prepared to do it now.
As far as the seafood goes, the distributors are the only source we have to get eyes on what's available. I found Sascha through Tass at Red Coral Seafood and it has been fantastic from there. We are in constant communication. Our menus change every month and he really is the only way we can have contact with the fishers. I wish I could have direct contact with the fishers and buy from them.
I was just talking to Sascha about the fact that it is so much easier to work out provenance and conditions of meat and vegetables and it is so much harder with fish. I heard about a farmer who will only kill a goat to order. He doesn’t kill it and put it in the chiller and then hope to sell it. We don’t do that with fish, because it’s a lot harder.
But it is important to only take what we need. At the Stables, the menus aren’t meat heavy and I don’t believe they have to be. We have a beautiful local farm called Timbarra Farm and they have amazing produce; organic. Their property is in the middle of the forest, it’s awesome.
We don’t even have very much fish. We have one fish on the dinner menu and two on the lunch menu. But we want to do the right thing. I had to admit to the guys out on the boat that I was a bit vague about it. We got out there and they threw out the net, and I was like, “…a net!” The media portrays nets as evil and the fishermen have to fight for the right to even be on the water; it’s disgusting.
It seems to have become recreational fishing against commercial fishing. And commercial fishers are portrayed as bad, whereas the fishers at Corner Inlet are all about sustainable.
People need to be better educated. What I was talking about in that post was, that for years and years I had chefs I looked up to and I would wish I could experience just a day in their lives and I am never going to get to do that.
It’s a lot of work, but hospitality is built around caring for others. There is no more humble beginning than that.
Why is that? What do you mean?
Marco Pierre White is the way he is through years of slaughter and abuse and no one wants to do that anymore. I will never be as great as them but a challenge has now presented itself that I don’t think has ever been put on chefs before. We are no longer just cooking anymore. If we don’t put more effort into our juniors, it’s over. I won’t talk about the wages thing, but there is no economic sense in hiring an apprentice anymore. So that means for someone to be a chef now, they have to just go to school and any chef knows that someone who has just been trained on the books really can’t survive in a kitchen. So it’s down to us to inspire and put energy into the next generation. I feel as though my generation barely got in as it was.
That’s why I needed to go to England to get some training and a taste of what things used to be. Australia has moved for the best in many ways and the guys further up the food chain have done the best for quality of life, absolutely; everyone should have a fair work-life balance but they’re not cooks and they couldn’t foresee the effect that would have. We’re in trouble. We are a dying breed. No one wants to do 90 hours a week. That was the awesome things about England and going into Michelin restaurants; the minority are there doing it and they are doing it for pennies. I’m not saying that’s sustainable or a good thing…it’s a hard one.
I’ve spoken to numerous chefs who agree with Fair Work but also acknowledge that any skill-building requires that you put on the hours…
Yeah, and work with great chefs.
How long have you been a chef?
I’m 23…I started at 16…so 7 years. I know it’s not long. I always get worried when people ask about my age. I’m very blessed with my position at The Stables; with our monthly menu change I get a lot of input to the point that two weeks ago they put my name on the menu and it was such beautiful day for me to see my name there. I was so excited.
So you are part of this younger generation…
I still go on stages and try and get into other restaurants, but it’s a bit hush-hush. I’m so happy to just go and spend a week somewhere and work for free and by doing that and by eating out, you see the standard of the juniors and those who are putting the work in and we need to put a lot more energy into them.
What is it about being a chef that for you keeps you in there and that you love?
Any chef that wants to be a great chef has to read a wonderful book by Anthony Bourdain called Kitchen Confidential. If you read that and you still love it, then being a chef is for you. It’s a lot of work but hospitality is built around caring for others. There is no more humble beginning than that. The love in the real kitchens…we got absolutely torched in England, but we got torched together. I love my siblings, but I had a very special relationship with the chefs I worked with. They are an amazing family and I wish I could take the Australian lifestyle and their work mentality and put it together. I wish the dairy farmer wouldn’t have to be hassled by law to pasteurise all his dairy…I wish we could just do our thing out of passion.