Presented by Fair Seafood

The Art of Seafood is a series of cooking demonstrations designed to help home cooks understand seafood rather than simply following a recipe.

Christmas is a wonderful time to let seafood take centre stage. Rather than one large recipe, this workshop explores several ways to prepare seafood that can be made ahead, assembled simply or served with very little cooking at all. Geoff will take you through a selection of dishes designed for a summer Christmas table — from dry-aged gravlax and fresh scallop crudo to prawns and an abalone salad. Each preparation demonstrates a different way of treating seafood, from curing and raw preparation through to very gentle cooking. The emphasis is on freshness, texture, timing and presentation, but also on making Christmas entertaining easier. Some dishes can be prepared well ahead; others take only minutes to finish. Geoff’s dry-aged gravlax is a good example of how curing can transform seafood into something that is ready to slice and serve when guests arrive. You’ll leave with ideas rather than a single recipe — ways to build a seafood table around what is fresh and available. A relaxed Australian Christmas, with seafood at the centre of the table.

About the series

Across four seasonal workshops, expert home cook Geoff Staples will explore the decisions that make seafood work: how to build flavour from the parts that are often discarded, how gentle heat can transform fresh seafood, how to cook a larger piece of fish for the table, and how raw, cured and lightly cooked seafood can become the centrepiece of a summer celebration.

Each demonstration is built around practical cooking, real ingredients and techniques that can be taken home and used in your own kitchen. The emphasis is not on complicated recipes or expensive equipment, but on understanding what is happening to the seafood as it cooks — and learning to recognise the visual and textural cues that tell you when it is ready. Working with Fair Seafood‘s range of traceable and responsibly sourced seafood, the workshops will also reflect the reality of buying seafood: species and availability change with season, weather and supply.

From Goolwa Pipis and poached fish to seafood stock, baked fish and a Christmas table of gravlax, crudo, prawns and abalone, each workshop offers a different way to look at seafood.

Understand the ingredient. Understand the heat. Let the seafood tell you what it needs.