What is it?

Trans Tasman cuisine is an infusion of Aboriginal and Maori indigenous herbs and extracts. These cross over ingredients are used with regional and seasonal produce to create modern day dishes.
Ingredients like kangaroo, ostrich, barramundi, yabbies (mini lobster), NZ crayfish, NZ baby paua, NZ green-lip mussels, NZ Waikanae crab, eel, NZ venison, beef and lamb are used.

How does it work?
I take ingredients like Maori horopito pepper and balance it out with Aboriginal alpine pepper which is usually found all over Australia.
This cross over flavour will then be used to create indigenous flavoured salt, vinegar, oil, chutney, rubs, ice cream and so on.
It will also get used as pepper in the kitchen instead of the traditional pepper everyone else uses.
I do this with a lot of the other different indigenous ingredients and I am enjoying developing new products.

What Indigenous ingredients can I use?

Australian/Aboriginal
Ingredients like lemon myrtle (citrus), alpine pepper, rosella (raspberry & rhubarb), forest anise (aniseed), forest peppermint, wildfire spice (tastes like Cajun spice), munthari (apple), yakajirri (native bush tomato), mintbush, fruitspice (stone-fruit flavours), wattleseed (chocolate & coffee), paperbark (smoky flavours), rainforest spice, lemon aspen, desert limes, illawarra plums, quandongs (apricot flavours), gunleaf extract (spearmint & peppermint) and riberry (cinnamon & clove).

New Zealand/Maori
Kawakawa, horopito, flax seed (harakeke), karengo (NZ seaweed), avocado oil, manuka, seakelp, piko piko (native NZ fern), NZ horseradish, Titoki liqueur, kawakawa beer, macadamia products, honey products, nasturtium, lavender and many other kiwi ingredients are used to keep this cuisine exciting.

Why?
The main reason why I like using these ingredients is the fact that every single ingredient has many different flavour profiles and this, in turn, makes it easier for me to come up with new recipe ideas.
My passion for food drives me to think outside the square and to strive to be innovative.
I like to be doing something very different from the guy next door.
When I first arrived in New Zealand in 2000 I was excited to discover ingredients that were new to me and my creative juices were set alight.

By 2005 my Trans-Tasman Cuisine was born…