Interview: Al Brown

Diana Wichtel talks with the chef who has just been awarded the NZ Order of Merit.

By Diana Wichtel In Current Affairs, Recipes

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5th June, 2012

"Do you eat raw?” wonders the chef. He means the oysters: Te Matuku Bay from Waiheke, sweet, super briny; Tio Point from Marlborough, crisp, with a slightly steely finish. He means clams that will remain strangers to the flame, and jewel-like cubes of kingfish with oyster cream, apple and fennel seed. “Not really,” I quaver. I like even my pine nuts toasted. So he orders oysters, clams and the kingfish. “These have just been shucked to order. They’re all live,” he raves, until he sees the look on my face. “No, they’re dead now. They haven’t got eyes or ...

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