I was born in the UK, but most of my family lived in Australia. In my mid-twenties I took the leap (and flight) to spend some time staying with them in Perth, Western Australia.
Working as a chef in the UK was hard. Especially in London.
Having worked in a Gordon Ramsey restaurant it was clear the competition to get ahead was tough, and I didn’t fancy endlessly chopping carrots for the entirety of my career.
I landed in Perth in May. It was colder than I thought… until one November morning when I walked outside the house and praised hallelujah to the beautiful warmth of the sun!
That summer I bought an old wagon and set off on a trip around Australia. There began my love of the Outback, Outback culture, and the culinary delights of rural Australia!
The concept of CookOutback.com.au began not long after I left Perth, when I had a conversation with the chef working at the restaurant at the New Norcia Benedictine Monastery a couple of hours north of Perth.
A story of an Outback Chef!
The New Norcia chef explained how, as a late-teen, said farewell to his Mum in Perth and went on an adventure to Darwin in the Northern Territory.
He planned to stay a few weeks, experience the humidity, see some crocs, and drink some beers.
When the time came to hop on a train and start making his way home, he struck up a conversation with another guy at the train station – a chef.
The chef explained he was heading back to Katherine, a rural Australian town, where he had been working as a chef. The pub he’d been working at were looking for another chef to join the team, and the opportunity sounded appealing.
Skip to my conversation with Mr New Norcia Chef in New Norcia WA, four decades on. He never went back to Perth to live – only to catch up with Mum. He had spent four decades travelling around rural Australia, working as a chef where he could, or living the Outback life cooking with a camp oven.
If I were to cover some of the stories he told me that day, this page would turn into a book. All I can say is he had lived a fascinating life, and a happy one at that.
I was inspired!
Working as an Outback chef
I spent 10 years working as a chef in the Outback. I travelled to many places, met many interesting people, learned many fabulous recipes, and most of all – got to spend real quality time with my Border Collie Archie (my first dog).
One highlight was working in Blinham Hotel in the Flinders Ranges (it’s a tiny township not many Aussies have heard of!). The annual Camp Over Cook Off was such a special yearly event. It won’t mean much to you, but all I can say is there are experiences to be had in the outback!!
These days I’m more settled, and I live back in Perth around family and with a family of my own. We have our Border Collie Jack, and a tabby cat called Bernard.
During my decade cooking in the Outback I kept a book where I would jot down all the recipes I discovered or conjured up. I fell in love with cooking in a slow cooker, which may sound surprising, but was the perfect “magic cauldron” for my way of life.
It’s not as if I could carry a cooker in my wagon (Old Toyota Land Cruiser), but I could easily carry a slow cooker.
Wherever I would stay, I could quickly throw in a stew or soup, and leave it bubbling away slowly for when I came home from a hard day at work. This became my habit, and even in these days of air-fryers it has to be said a hearty Outback stew or fresh loaf of slow-cooked bread is simply delicious and so much better and more fulfilling than a burnt steak from the air-fryer!
CookOutback.com.au
My aim with CookOutback.com.au is to share my experiences of cooking, both from my experience and passion of being an Outback Cook, but within an urban home as well.
I hope you enjoy my recipes!
Linda D’Angelo x
