Holy Smoker, Mannum (2026)

16/10/2026

HOLY SMOKER

ONE FIRE. THREE WINDS.

What began in Mannum as a passion for exceptional food, fresh, seasonal ingredients, fire and experimentation is evolving into something bigger.

And while we're spreading our wings, Mannum remains our home.

Here's what's happening.

BOILER — MANNUM

For the locals.

We're committed to bringing the people of Mannum the very best pizzas (and some other surprises) we can possibly make, using fresh, locally sourced and seasonal ingredients wherever possible.

Mannum already has some wonderful lunchtime offerings, but there's a real opportunity to bring something different to the evening market.

BOILER will also be our creative kitchen — a place to experiment with ingredients, techniques, flavours and ideas.

We're still looking for the right space in Mannum to make this happen. It doesn't need to be a large space — perhaps part of an existing kitchen, with an opportunity to share revenue.

If you know of somewhere suitable, we'd love to hear from you!

DRIFTER — WOODSIDE

For the visitors.

We're excited to announce that we've secured a small tenancy in Woodside.

Opening in early February 2027, DRIFTER will focus on the lunchtime visitor market, serving signature artisan baguettes inspired by the flavours of Marseille, Barcelona and Palermo.

A small space, a carefully considered menu and a commitment to making everything as good as it can possibly be.

We're looking forward to becoming part of Woodside's wonderful community of artisan producers and local businesses.

One thing BOILER and DRIFTER will share is our growing collection of house-made sauces and signature drizzles.

Developed through experimentation with ingredients and flavours, they'll bring a distinctive HOLY SMOKER character to both our lunchtime baguettes and evening pizzas.

Different places. Different menus. The same creative fire.

STEAMER — MANNUM

For everyone.

This is the big one. The elusive one. The dream.

We've designed and submitted a proposal to council for an exciting new destination venue in Mannum, bringing together local producers and creatives in a collaborative, elevated restaurant experience.

Imagine a captivating river setting where food, art, architecture and local produce come together.

This will realistically take a few years, and we'll share more as things progress.

The dream started with the whistling kites of Morgan. It was reignited by the ones in Mannum.

ONE FIRE. THREE WINDS.

HOLY SMOKER
Made in Mannum, SA.

15/10/2026

PÂTES COMME SAUCE

This one started two nights ago.

I had a whole saucepan of leftover Bouillon Clair de Porc in the fridge — the rosé, wombok, carrot, asparagus, garlic and thyme broth I’d used to poach pork meatballs.

I put it back on the stove, added a few chicken drumsticks and simmered for about an hour and a half until the meat was falling off the bone. The chicken came out.

Then fusilli went straight into the reduced broth. While the pasta was cooking, asparagus ends were blanched in the same liquid and removed.

So the fusilli wasn’t cooked in water and sauced later. It absorbed the pork, chicken, vegetables, rosé, garlic and thyme as it cooked.

The idea was to reverse the usual relationship between pasta and meat.
Normally the pasta is the soft, relatively neutral element carrying the stronger flavours.

This time I wanted the pasta to become the sauce — concentrated, fried, intensely flavoured — while the pulled chicken became the softer, lighter element that the pasta normally is.

Some of the broth-loaded fusilli was shallow fried until browned, blistered and crisp.

Then the Pear en Croûte came out of the freezer — a dessert that had originally been made from the bread removed from an orange-infused loaf, worked back into a dough, wrapped around a whole pear with butter and sugar, then baked until caramelised.

I thinly sliced some of that orange-infused casing, along with some of the pear itself, and shallow fried those until crisp too.

So now the crunchy element contained fried broth-soaked pasta, orange-infused pastry and caramelised pear.

The pulled chicken stayed soft and delicate.

The blanched asparagus was cooked further until crunchy.

All three elements — the pasta/pastry mix, pulled chicken and crunchy asparagus — were combined in a bowl, plated, then finished with grated Parmesan and EVOO.

“Nothing is finished until it becomes something else.”

HOLY SMOKER
Made in Mannum, SA.

13/10/2026

BOUILLON CLAIR DE PORC

Thai process. French flavours.

I made little pork meatballs with Dijon, thyme, garlic, black pepper, egg yolk and finely chopped date.

The same pan I’d mixed the pork in became the poaching pot — water, rosé, finely sliced carrot and asparagus stalk, garlic, onion flakes, salt and thyme.
The meatballs were gently poached in two batches, enriching the broth as they cooked.

The broth stayed light and clear, with wombok, carrot and asparagus — essentially the structure of gaeng jued, but with a French flavour profile.
The wombok stem wasn’t wasted. I roasted it on a bed of corned beef, which became the base of the main plate.

Meanwhile, I made the finishing sauce. Some of the broth was reduced hard with more rosé and white w**e vinegar. As it cooled, I stirred through grated aged cheddar, egg yolk, thyme and ground black pepper.

The meatballs went onto the plate with asparagus and the charred wombok stem — finished with the rich French-inspired sauce, a sprinkling of parsley and a drizzle of EVOO.

HOLY SMOKER
Made in Mannum, SA.

12/10/2026

MÉMOIRE DU FEU

Four slices of chicken breast went into the same pizza-oven pan I’d already used to cook Banjo’s chicken dinner. Then finely sliced red onion and a splash of EVOO.

Once the chicken and onion had cooked, I cut the chicken thinly along the grain, diced the onion and finely diced a little fig.

In a jar I mixed:
Dijon
Crushed garlic
White w**e vinegar
Oregano
Some boiling water

Then I shook the s**t out of it.

The cooled chicken, onion and fig went into a Tupperware container, the Dijon-garlic dressing went over it - I shook the s**t out of it again.

Then I added half a cup of cooked rice, a splash of EVOO and a whisked egg. Shaken again.

Back into the pizza oven with a good sprinkling of salt and grated parmesan, then more EVOO and chopped aged cheddar. Back into the oven.

Separately, I poured boiling water into a stainless-steel cup, cracked an egg onto a spoon and held the yolk in the water till the outside sealed enough to hold its shape.

The chicken mixture was plated, the soft yolk placed on top, and the whole plate went back into the pizza oven one last time.

A warm plate and a good eat.

MÉMOIRE DU FEU.
Memory of the fire.

HOLY SMOKER
Made in Mannum, SA.

11/10/2026

FIRE BAKED MINCE & PANCETTA

I had my son over and a fire going, and it was getting late.
He wanted me to keep watching MMA with him, so I obliged — and did a bit of sneaky cooking on the side!

The plan was to cook a few things separately over the fire and let it work itself out.

Baby broccolini went into a foil parcel with a little water, salt and crushed garlic, then onto the fire until softened.

I poured the garlicky broccolini juices into a small foil pan, cracked an egg straight into them and cooked that over the grill, with the original foil used as a loose lid.

I'd set aside some of Banjo's dinner (beef mince) earlier, so I mixed that with cooked rice, onion flakes, salt, black pepper and paprika, then pasted the mix over strips of pancetta. More pancetta went over the top, then the whole thing was cut in half and cooked directly over the fire.

Meanwhile, the broccolini was finely chopped and returned to its original garlic foil parcel with basil passata and black pepper, then placed directly onto the coals until it cooked down into a sauce.

Plating was:
Broccolini and tomato sauce first.
Pancetta-wrapped beef and rice on top.
Fire-cooked egg.
Pinch of salt.

All while keeping one eye on the fights. 😄

Holy Smoker
Made in Mannum, SA.

08/10/2026

FIRE BAKED POTATO

Seems everyone's doing baked potatoes now, so I thought I'd have a crack!

Three potatoes wrapped in foil with butter and crushed garlic, cooked over a wood fire — along with a whole corn cob (on special right now at the IGA)!

Then things got decadent!

Diced bacon and figs, butter and Dijon mustard, slowly reduced in an open foil bowl over the coals, taking on the wood smoke. Added some kernels from the roasted corn, then a whole Camembert, melted into the mixture over the fire.

Smashed the potatoes open, divided the mixture between the three potatoes and put them back onto the coals.

A little salt and fresh thyme to finish.

The biggest revelation was the wood smoke. It brought these incredible honey and caramel aromas into play.

Nothing was mashed together. Every mouthful was different — sometimes potato and molten cheese, sometimes sweet corn, sometimes smoky bacon and figs.

Absolutely delicious. Made me fall in love with potatoes again!

HOLY SMOKER
Made in Mannum, SA.

06/10/2026

PIZZA OVEN FRITTATA

The dishes on the sink STILL haven't been washed, so the brief was simple: make a good feed with almost no washing up, using a small electric pizza oven.

Equipment:
Disposable foil bowls.
One chopping board.
One chef’s knife.
One teaspoon.
One electric pizza oven.

That’s it.

I started by cooking some diced pork steak for Banjo directly on the hot steel. Once his was out, baby broccolini went straight onto the same surface with nothing but the remaining canola oil and pork juices.

Then middle bacon. Chorizo. Pork loin steak. Sliced fresh tomato.
Everything was roasted separately, using the fat and flavour left behind by whatever had cooked before it.

Then I started building the little foil bowls.

Roasted tomato, pork and aged cheddar — back into the oven.
Finely chopped roasted broccolini heads, strips of bacon laid across, and a little mound of finely chopped chorizo — back into the oven.

The softened broccolini stalks were wrapped tightly in prosciutto, with the prosciutto fat laid over the top — then back into the oven again.

Every ingredient added. Every layer roasted.

Anything left over was finely diced into another batch of foil bowls, with a heaped spoon of parmesan and two eggs, then roasted until set.

No frying pan.
No saucepan.
No mixing bowl.
Not even a fork. 😂

Seasonal food, leftovers used, proper roasting and barely any washing up.

I made six serves and ate four of them straight from the foil bowls with the little teaspoon!

I could get used to this. 🦅

Holy Smoker
Made in Mannum, SA.

04/10/2026

MICROWAVED CHICKEN

Tonight I had no gas. No hot water. No oven. A bench full of dishes.

So here were the rules:
One bowl. One chopping board. One knife. One fork. One ol’ microwave.
One ingredient at a time. Microwave bursts. Record everything.

Timeline:
- 00:00 whole chicken breast
- 01:00 carrot added
- 03:00 two whole mushrooms added
- 04:30 bacon added
- 06:00 four cherry tomatoes added
- 09:30 sliced chorizo added
- proteins removed and rested
- Dijon stirred through the vegetables and juices
- egg whisked through and microwaved
- mature cheddar melted over the top
- chicken, bacon and chorizo sliced and returned
- parmesan added
- final 60-second cook
- black pepper to finish

No saucepan.
No frying pan.
No oven.
No gas.
No problem.

HOLY SMOKER
Made in Mannum, SA.

03/10/2026

Breakfast pizza anyone?

The sauce started with mashed baked beans, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, crushed garlic, Worcestershire, salt and black pepper.

Then mozzarella, sliced smoked bacon and chorizo, mushroom and cherry tomato.

Beaten egg went over the lot, followed by parmesan, then into the oven until the egg set through the toppings, the cheese melted and the tomatoes started to blister.

Keep your eggs peeled! 🍳🍕

Holy Smoker
Made in Mannum, SA.

30/09/2026

QUACK POT

This one follows on from my two previous dishes using local pork-and-duck salami and duck Marylands from a friend.

There was half a salami stick left, a cold roasted duck leg in the fridge, and a pile of fresh (but cheap) carrots and onions.

The next move involved making focaccia bread. I wanted to make a duck casserole and eat it using torn-off pieces of focaccia.

It baked a touch flatter than I wanted and caught pretty hard underneath, so I decided to wing it. I sliced the base off, hollowed it out, and turned the top into a bread bowl.

Then I built the filling.

A load of chopped onion and carrot went into the pan after the pork-and-duck salami had rendered — then Sauvignon Blanc, fresh orange juice, crushed garlic, thyme, oregano, chilli, salt and black pepper.

The leftover duck leg, as well as some smoked Mt Pleasant ham, was sliced, added and warmed through.

Then I stopped deglazing and pushed the whole mix hard in the pan until it dried out, caught, darkened and became almost hash-like.

The bread I’d removed from the loaf was still warm, so I crumbled it into the mix, soaking up all the duck, salami, ham, w**e, orange and onion flavour.

Everything was packed back into the bread shell, topped with a little mozzarella, then returned to the oven until hot and melted.

Holy Smoker
Made in Mannum, SA.

Holy Smoker

16/10/2026

15/10/2026

13/10/2026

12/10/2026

11/10/2026

08/10/2026

06/10/2026

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03/10/2026

30/09/2026

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