SCHOOL leavers, who are uncertain of where they are heading in their careers, can take heart from one of the Southern Highlands most creative chefs.
Tim Pratt is owner and chef of the Journeyman restaurant in Bowral.
He had no idea what he wanted to do in his adult life, and dropped out of school to enjoy life playing golf by day and working in hospitality jobs at night.
However, when offered the opportunity to run a restaurant that was part of a building owned by his uncle at Berrima, Tim took on the task with no training and a simple will to succeed.
Learning from other chefs, Tim did not initially step into the kitchen, but eventually his love of food led to a mid-life career decision.
Inspired by a mother who loved to cook and owned recipe books from exotic countries, Tim began to develop the skills that make the Journeyman dining experience an exciting culinary adventure.
“Mum would serve dishes that few other Australian family would have dreamed of putting on the table in the 60s and 70s,” Tim said.
“My love of interesting food combinations began as a child and continues into my day-to-day life.
“At home we still have one of her first Gourmet magazines, which were thought of as being incredibly adventurous in those days.”
Tim said that foods of various nationalities were made in his mother’s kitchen and the family would be the guinea pigs.
“She once served up a dish which she told us was Lebanese,” Tim said.
“The family rejected it on the grounds they had never heard of Lebanese cooking before.
“The next night she served up the same dish and told us it was Chinese – we devoured it.”
The memory of his late mother’s love of great food is one of the things that keeps Tim working hard to create great food for his customers.
Wife Debbie says that Tim is obsessive, a fact born out by his fascination with food technology.
Tim uses unique and innovative methods to cook dishes and uses science as a kitchen-aid.
Mandarin and thyme, coffee and garlic are food pairings that few would attempt, but Tim’s adventurous spirit and limitless love of food, have allowed him to create dishes with these very amalgamations of flavour.
“If you look at the flavour profiles of various ingredients when measured by a gas chromatograph, you can find some remarkably successful combinations,” he said.
Other dishes are cooked “sous vide”, a relatively unknown method of slow cooking meat in a water bath.
Tim has recently introduced steaks to his menu, which he vacuum seals in cryovac bags before placing the meat in the heated water and calculates the temperature to within point one of a degree.
This cooks the meat for a long and slow period and creates a tender and juicy dish.
“I push time limits when cooking and lower temperatures as much as possible,” Tim said.
“Longer cooking time translates into more flavour and more tenderness. A steak cooked this way and finished on the grill is spectacular.”
Tim loves to experiment and is constantly ready to learn, taste and create new ideas, but conscious of keeping his cuisine “something that his clients and restaurant guests will recognise”.
“I am always searching for that new great dish,” Tim said.
“But it must have great taste and flavour and be something that diners will love”.
The menu at the Journeyman reflects Tim’s daring streak while maintaining his high standards and a desire to share his enthusiasm for food with everyone that eats at the restaurant.
Tim loves to teach and mentor young chefs, but feels he himself is still learning and that his menu is never complete.
The usual and the unusual go hand-in-hand on the menu, a testimony of the man who says that “good is not enough”.
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