Five minutes with Jordan Brogan, Pickled Poet

In a nutshell, who is Jordan Brogan?

I’m the head chef and co-owner of Pickled Poet with my partner Stephanie. I guess we’re what you would call “lifers”. I’ve been cheffing for 16 years and Stephanie has worked in hospitality since she was 16.

What is Pickled Poet?

We’re a small deli and wine bar where you can come with your friends, have a wonderful time and make connections. We like to use local stuff where we can, like spirits from Mittigong and Seeker Brewing beers. We also have our own retail line, which you can find on our retail wall along with a selection of other hand-picked goodies.

We have a strong focus on sustainability, particularly when it comes to using all of our ingredients. For instance, when we make our chilli syrup for our chilli margaritas, we dehydrate the leftover chilli and blend it with salt to create the salt rim.

Pickled Poet is a very community-oriented business. I would say at least 50 per cent of our clientele are regulars. We’re also doing events now to really foster that. We just did a 515 DJ event with 100 people out in the back courtyard. We’ll do a few more of those sorts of cool, vibey events to bring people together over the summer.

What’s Pickled Poet’s signature dish?

Our focus tends to be on share-style plates – grazing boards, charcuterie boards, cheese plates, hummus and labneh, that sort of thing. A lot of it is made in-house – as much as we can.

At the moment I would say our most popular dish is the beef ragu with house-made gnocchi. It’s really tasty. We have a staple menu but then like to change it up with specials fairly regularly, depending on the weather and what’s in season.

What’s your favourite cuisine?

I suppose you’d call it modern Australian. I like quirky places that try new things. For instance, I actually quite like kangaroo. We don’t do it much here, but that’s my kind of vibe.

What’s the one ingredient you can’t live without?

At the minute I’m using celery salt in a lot of stuff. Give the dishes a nice earthy kind of flavour.

What’s inspiring you right now?

The weather! I think I’ll get a nice spring/summer menu ready, using some of the lovely green vegetables coming into season. I’m probably going to do a nice spring green risotto.

There are so many good wines coming out at the moment as well. We deal with Vinopenny as a wine consultant, she works with a lot of places in the Illawarra and helps them with their wine lists. She always brings in winemakers; we do tastings to help choose our wines. Hopefully we’ll get some winemaker dinners organised for summer as well.

Where in the area is your go-to for dining out?

Debutant. I used to work in a steak house and I love my steaks. They have these rare dry-aged steaks that are excellent, so that’s my go-to.

Favourite bar?

The Black Cockatoo in Wollongong. It’s this small, cosy bar with a very nice cocktail list and every time I’ve been there, the bartenders have been friendly. It has a nice vibe and that makes all the difference.

What’s your go-to coffee?

The Timbermill Cafe. They’ve just reopened and a French pastry chef has taken over. They do their own sausage rolls, which are delicious, and the coffee is excellent. We’re also lucky to be located next door to Black Market Coffee who make delicious specialty coffee.

What’s your favourite cookbook?

Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat. It’s not a cookbook per se, but it dives into the nitty-gritty of certain recipes, techniques and elements. For example, a teaspoon of salt can have a massive difference in a dish depending on what kind of salt you’re using, its strength and its weight.

What’s your top cooking tip?

Don’t rush things. Take a step back, read the recipe from start to finish and watch what you’re doing at each step so you can get it right the first time. And just have fun.

Pickled Poet is located at 368-370 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul and is open Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 10 pm.