Rick Stein’s Australia review: a perfect, simple dish

Celebrity chef Rick Stein has always had a connection with Australia. He first visited our shores as a 19-year-old in the wake of a family tragedy, spending the next few years here and in New Zealand. His cooking career didn’t kick off until he returned to the UK, but his connections here have remained strong, thanks in part to his Australian wife. Now, he’s back again to check out the food.

We’re pretty well accustomed to the connection between food and travel in this country. SBS has an entire channel devoted to it, though Rick Stein’s Australia has broken containment and will be airing on their main channel.

Stein has a unique take that makes this six-part series more than just the usual wander through some scenic locations. He’s someone internationally famous – an outsider – who also knows enough about Australia to have something interesting to say.

A very small bite of Australia

The title, however, is slightly misleading. Stein never leaves the confines of New South Wales – which is fair enough. That’s where he spent his time all those years ago, and a big part of this series is him retracing his steps. But if you were hoping for him to visit, say, the site of once-famous, now closed Geelong hot dog stand Doggy Style – or any other venue outside of NSW – prepare for disappointment.

Having spent his life outside of the kitchen on the search for ‘perfect, simple dishes’, he’s here to see how Australia and its food has changed since his teenage years. Some of the changes aren’t hard to predict: waves of immigration since the 60s have opened the door to all manner of different cultures and their food. But has the traditional meat pie also moved with the times?

Stein himself is, as he’s proved time and time again across multiple series, a charming host. When he pulls his car to the side of the road and admits he’s never known what ‘the bush’ actually means – then reads a definition out of a book – it comes off as someone trying to educate himself, not a clunky way to bring overseas viewers up to speed.

And then he goes for a bush walk, which provides some all-important nature footage before he ends up cooking a kangaroo steak by a waterfall.

Understanding culture through food

There are also some interesting cultural angles to explore. The second episode starts off with a question: has Australia’s largely outdoor culture shaped its food? We tend to think of fine dining (at least the European and American versions) as something that comes from societies where the weather largely keeps people indoors. Is it possible to create such a thing as a classy barbie?

With each episode running around an hour, there’s plenty of time to mix in a history lesson, a nature doco and a little cultural exposé, plus a few visits with local characters and a dash of NSW tourism brochure. And NSW has definitely got their money’s worth here – the whole state looks fantastic.

Stein covers everything from the lush coastline and the big city through to the dusty outback (which turns out to be a lot wetter than he expected) with constant enthusiasm and curiosity.

Then there’s the food, of which there is plenty and it all looks delicious. Stein covers pretty much everything you could hope for, from First Nations cooking to pork dumplings to outback feeds, taking in a multitude of cultures and levels of dining (campfires and fine dining both get a look in) while still finding room for a whole lot of fish both inland and ocean – sometimes with chips – and meat pies.

Taking food out of the box

A big part of the series is Stein heading home after his explorations to create new recipes based on what he’s encountered.

While there is pretty much zero chance of this particular reviewer ever making one of his recipes, they do tick all the boxes for a successful television meal: the steps are easy to follow, the ingredients make sense, and the end result looks tasty enough that if you’re not going to make it yourself, you’re going to wish someone would do it for you.

This kind of series is almost always made for external consumption. We don’t need to be sold on how good our food is – the whole point is to bring in overseas foodies with the lure of a lot of delicious stuff.

The strength of Rick Stein’s Australia is that Stein is such a gracious and engaged host that seeing our country through his eyes becomes reason enough to tune in. Plus he seems to know a bit about food, and who doesn’t like looking at a tasty meal?

Rick Stein’s Australia premieres 30 April on SBS and SBS On Demand.

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