Market to Market

Markets are a joy to cooks; they are a shortcut to the soul of a city. No glossy brochure or guidebook can bring a visitor so close to the heartbeat of a new destination. There is an innate simplicity to traders selling their wares side by side or on the street without the paraphernalia of corporate image to hype up a sale. Caveat Emptor-- at a market what you see is really what you get.
I have to confess that when travelling the first cab off the rank is usually taking me to a wet market at midnight or the fish market under the Brooklyn Bridge at dawn. Is it still there?
We are off to Japan in late May and I can hardly wait to see the way that the Japanese markets work.

I visit Victoria market and Footscray each week to supplement all the local seasonal specialities. I need the accents and counterpoints to complement the local and seasonal as well as what our dry garden is providing. Not only is it a joy to go shopping but a market breakfast and lunch are a highlight of the week.
The new regime of Sat and Sunday lunches and a class on Monday makes this possible.
Diane and often take our weekends in Melbourne on Tues and Wed with a market crawl on the way back early on Thursday.
This morning the markets were full the glories of autumn. Pomegranates and persimmons radicchio Treviso kohlrabi. The first of the really good chestnuts. I also scored some good sweetbreads, big turkey livers, ripe fecund figs, soft bones of pork, goat shanks.
I can’t seem to write a menu without seeing the produce first.
Some windfall local grapefruit arrived earlier in the week as well as some samples of pure Wagyu that was finished on grass from a local grower, but I still can’t finalise the menu till Saturday morning when we know exactly what’s going to be here.
I honestly think this is what keeps me going, the challenge of balancing what the garden, the markets and the back door provide.
I can’t think of another city in Australia that provides so much choice.

Whats your favourite Market?

I’m not sure if it’s wise to let this out but we are on Skype [late adopter] at george.biron
Call me old fashioned but I won’t twitt.