Photograph: Westmedia/Nieuw RuinPhotograph: Westmedia/Nieuw Ruine all love a kitchen comeback. Think the return of meatloaf, or when, inexplicably, prawn cocktail got its groove back. Chefs are skilled at trawling the depths of nostalgia, from the trope of “I learned to cook this dish at my nana’s knee”, to mining collective food memories.
“Traditionally it’s made with tinned, preserved herring, and then it’s layered with cold vegetables,” she says. “I guess to make the herring a little bit more appetising.” Young uses monkfish from Scott Reef off the north-west coast of Western Australia. It is a by-catch, which she says has a “beautiful vegetal flavour” reminiscent of leeks when slowly confited.Phil Wood, chef-owner at Ursula’s
While flummery’s English cousin is centuries old, the Australian version of flummery was born out of post-war necessity, says Wood. The original recipe combines packet fruit jelly and evaporated milk. The evaporated milk must be “made really cold, and when you whip, it whips up like fake cream”. The fruit jelly is left in the fridge until almost set. Then you “fold those two things together, ending up with this flavoured mousse”.