Annie Smithers’ charcuterie: coming to a kitchen table near you very soon.
WHO Chef Annie Smithers made her name with her eponymous bistro in Kyneton in regional Victoria before opening the French-inspired Du Fermier in Trentham. She and long-time collaborator Angus Beaumont are fiends for charcuterie, and decided to start selling their own.
WHY Smithers and Beaumont have nearly half a century of training, technique and skill between them. Working with Western Plains Pork and other local producers in the Du Fermier kitchen, the pair uses tried and tested recipes they’ve accumulated over the years to make fine pastry, and properly seasoned and mixed sausages and terrines that have excellent texture.
HOW Hot-water pastry is an art perfected in the pork pies, which are filled with delicious morsels of pork and topped with savoury jelly. The duck terrine is studded with crisp pistachio nuts, while the pork terrine is wrapped like a meaty gift in fine slices of kaiserfleisch. The entire range is beautifully packaged and presented; a must for the Francophile entertainer.
WHERE Du Fermier charcuterie is sold at the Daylesford, Kyneton and Southbank farmers’ markets, at The French Shop in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market, or it can be ordered online at dufermier.com.au for collection from the restaurant.