Stuart Oldfield, Hand Made Catering

Stuart Oldfield grew up on a property in rural NSW and dallied oh so briefly in accounting. He moved to the Barossa in 2004 after spending years as a chef in some of the top restaurants in the world. He launched Hand Made Catering five years ago and has been in demand for his range of menus from degustation to barbecue.

1. Favourite autumn ingredient(s): mushrooms and game (pheasant, guinea fowl, etc)

2. Wine to pair with that: One of the luxuries of using game is the flexibility to explore lesser-known varieties. For example St Hallett and Tsarchke make interesting wines with grapes like Touriga Nacional and Montepulciano.

3. Best autumn meal you have ever eaten: A five-course meal I ate last year at the Clooney in Auckland, New Zealand. A highlight of the meal was duck with cacao nibs and red fruits. It was the best meal of my life.

4. Favourite places to find ingredients: From smaller producers because they spend more time on product refinement and are more flexible in meeting what you need.

5. Grower(s) you keep dialled into your phone: Margy from AMJ Produce.

6. Go-to cookbook(s): I have nearly 800 cookbooks, but the go to one is Larousse.

7. Dusty cookbook on the shelf you want to revisit: The other 799! Specifically, though, it would be “Pork & Sons” by Stephane Reynaud.

8. Mettwurst: plain or garlic? plain

9. Rotegreutze: revelation or revulsion? revelation – in its own way

10. New autumn idea: Muscovy duck with pickled cherries and five spice

11. Wine to pair with that: a Grenache blend. The 2009 St Hallett GST is a cracker.