Series 3: Episode 7
On the ocean off Central Coast New South Wales, we’re at the 80 metre water depth line with Oceanwatch Master Fisherman Mitch Sanders and his crew. Today’s job is to retrieve 30 traps Mitch has had sitting on the ocean floor – and hopefully filling up with lobsters and fish – since the day before. With owner/chef Scott Fox from Pearls on the Beach restaurant just down the coast at idyllic Pearl Beach, we see first hand how fast and furious the deck work can get on a busy trapping boat. And we learn how well this coean fishery is managed, discovering details of the catch restrictions and scientific tagging programs which are all part of Mitch’s standard working day.
On the dock, chef Scott cooks a quick and tasty lunch ofSnapper Acqua Pazza with Sea Water, Tomatoes, Olives and Chilli – an Italian’s fisherman’s dish which translates as “crazy water”. At his restaurant in Pearl Beach, he prepares Leatherjacket with Seaweed Butter, Beach Greens and Wild Rice Furikake.
Scott Fox
My love of food & cooking started early when I realised doing home economics at school meant a cooked breakfast every Wednesday morning surrounded by all female classmates. The other option of splinters & hammered thumbs in woodwork with the rest of my male mates seemed a little less attractive.
Casual teenage employment at the golden arches furthered my interest, along with nearly every other teenage kid in my small country home town, Muswellbrook.
Through more study at school I developed an interest in the science side of food. I moved from the country to study Food Science & Nutrition at university. At this time I gained a casual job working for a catering company to pay my way through uni. As it so happened I was enjoying the cooking more than the study, so I made the decision to leave my studying to undertake a commercial cookery apprenticeship at the ripe old age of 20.
Most of my junior cooking years were spent in the kitchens in and around the Sydney CBD, Rozelle & Balmain. None of my former employers are still operating so we won’t mention names; maybe I’m the death nail, Hope that’s not the case!
Being a country kid at heart the move out of Sydney was an inevitable one. We moved to the central coast midway through 1999. We had spent many weekends away when living in the rat race, enjoying the serenity the coast provides.
I sent my resume out to what I believed were the best restaurants on the coast, to my surprise Pearls on the Beach was one to reply. The restaurant had just sold and the new owners had organised a new head Chef, from Balmain!
He had then changed his mind about a sea change, step in one very keen Scott Fox. Timing in this industry is everything, mine happens to be very good at times.
18 months as head chef at Pearls... all is going swimming, then, one day the owners ask if they can speak to me in the office. We all know how these things normally go... thanks for your time and effort but we want a new direction. Well so I thought, but I was shocked when they offered me first dibs on buying the business. The thought is always present in every good chef’s brain, wouldn’t it be lovely to be making money & working hard for your own profit and not for someone else.
I went home and debated the pros and cons of the venture with my wife and we decided to go for it. We maxed out all financial avenues, house as security, cashed in all investments, both families invested & put houses up for security, we did everything that you shouldn’t do, we put all eggs in one basket but the business was ours.
17 ½ years on, we have a few state and national awards, hundreds of weddings, thousands of happy customers, tens of thousands of meals prepped, cooked and consumed. All in all, the gamble has & is paying off.
Thank God!
This Episodes Featured Recipes
