Makes about 6 litres (210 fl oz)

Celebrating Australia’s love of rhyming slang, in Nick’s family this sauce is only ever known as ‘dead horse’. Nick inherited his grandparents handwritten cookbook and in it was this recipe, dated 1933 and written in neat copperplate. The original recipe was written in pounds and ounces and was just a list of ingredients and quantities, without a method. The Cornish pasties Steve made were also legendary, but really they were just a vehicle for his ‘dead horse’.

1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cups) white vinegar

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz/4½ cups) white sugar

200 g (7 oz) pure sea salt

6 purple garlic cloves, chopped

30 g (1 oz) ground allspice

15 g (½ oz) ground cloves

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

5 kg (11 lb 4 oz) tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) brown onions, chopped

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) green cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped

Put the vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, allspice, cloves and cayenne pepper into a heavy-based saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the tomato, onion and apple, reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring frequently until the mixture has thickened and the tomatoes have broken down. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a food processor or blender and process until smooth (or you can push it through a sieve or a mouli to get a similar result).

Return the sauce to a clean pan and bring back to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the sauce into sterilised glass jars or bottles. Seal immediately with tight-fitting lids. This sauce will keep for up to 12 months, which means you’ll be ready to make it again in time for the next tomato season.

You can serve the sauce with just about anything — it’s great with snags and eggs, but we also like it on top of grilled cheese on toast.

Makes 400 g (14 oz) drained preserved tomatoes

Choose tomatoes that are grown and ripened in dirt, that have never been refrigerated and are more fleshy than juicy, in other words, egg or roma-style tomatoes. We partially dry them, which means they don’t keep as long, but aren’t as hard or sharp as sun-dried tomatoes. If you get bored waiting for them to roast, pull them out earlier and use them quicker — more moisture means they’ll ferment quicker and start to smell like tomato wine.

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) roma tomatoes, halved lengthways

1 tablespoon pure coarse sea salt

2–3 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 handful fresh oregano, leaves picked

4 purple garlic cloves, peeled and bruised

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

1 star anise

about 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 120°C (235°F/Gas ½). Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, on a baking tray and sprinkle the salt and sugar evenly over the top. Roast the tomatoes for about 2 hours, or until they are starting to dry, reducing the oven temperature if need be — you want the tomato to retain some squidginess, without being wet. The tomatoes should be about one-quarter of their original size; try to avoid them getting too brown.

Sprinkle over the vinegar and oregano, and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes, or until the vinegar has dried off the outside. Place the tomatoes (leave any salt on the tray out) in a large sterilised glass jar with the garlic, orange zest and star anise. Press down gently and cover with enough olive oil to submerge, then allow to cool to room temperature. Seal the jar with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate. They’ll be perfect after 2 days, and should keep for up to 2 weeks if cooked properly. The preserving oil is excellent used in pasta, on bruschetta or in salads, too.

This method first appeared in Matthew’s book The Real Food Companion, but this volume wouldn’t be the same without including it.

Every Greek and Italian immigrant has their own way of pickling olives, but there are a couple of ways to get olives brined without using caustic soda. First, pick consistently coloured olives, and avoid any that are bruised or have marks. A good greengrocer will be able to get the right types for pickling for you. If you are using green olives, which are an unripe version of the black olive, hit them with a hammer to crack them or slit them with a knife (being crisper than black olives, the salt can penetrate more easily when the flesh is broken a little).

Place the whole black or slit green olives in a clean bucket of fresh water (or use a similar non-reactive container) and allow to soak. (Don’t mix up the colours — each needs to cure in its own time.) Change the water every day until they start to lose their really horrid, metallic character. Some people like to use boiling water to speed up the process. As the olives soak they are fermenting (you may start to see some bubbles form in the water) and will leach out some chemicals, which makes them good to eat.

When ready to brine (your taste buds will tell you — it usually takes 1–2 weeks for them to lose most of their bitterness, though they still won’t be delicious until brine-cured); drain the olives.

Take a separate clean bucket or similar non-reactive container and pour in enough water to completely cover the olives. Stir in enough salt so that a whole fresh egg floats readily on the surface — it’s about 1 cup of salt for each 2.5 litres (87 fl oz/10 cups) water. Submerge the olives in this brine by placing a plate over the top and weighing it down (tins of food or a water bottle are good) and then cover the bucket (to keep out any greeblies or dirt).

Leave the olives to cure for about 2 months. A cool dark place is best, to avoid mould that could grow on the surface. This white scum that forms, if you see it, should be scooped off the top to avoid it tainting the brine. Taste the olives before using.

Olives can then be stored under oil, in a marinade or left in the brine until ready to use. Drain off the brine, rinse them, and then transfer to sterilised glass jars. Top them up with oil (adding herbs if you like) or a brine solution made up of ½ cup salt to 10 cups water.

Always rinse the olives before eating, particularly if they’re bought. If they’re too salty, they can be soaked in water to reduce their intensity, though this may take a couple of days and as many changes of water.