By Casey Neill
David Freeman the butcher and David Freeman the chef are smoking salmon like no one else.
The father and son duo use a process that’s “completely different to what everyone else does”.
“It’s ours, nobody else’s, and we’re proud of it,” David junior said.
He set up Keysborough-based The Melbourne Pantry after spotting a hole in the smoked salmon market.
He worked under Michelin star chef Alan Garth in the UK and from him learnt the traditional smoking methods he employs today.
“We do stuff that’s more of the English style,” David junior said.
He moved to Australia from Birmingham, England, in 2000.
“My sister works in computers. She came over here before all of us. She was offered a job over here,” he said.
He phoned her one Christmas and she’d just been scuba diving and was heading to a beach barbecue.
“I’m looking out of a window in an apartment. It’s black, it’s raining, it’s cold.
“I made up my mind there and then.”
David junior worked at The Big Group for four years while developing his salmon.
“When I started to get a little bit of traction, by that point dad was over here,” he said.
They added bacon to their product offerings after David senior spat out a bite of a bacon sandwich.
“We produce the best bacon you’ll ever eat,” David junior said.
“We do it differently to everybody else.”
Another different offering from The Melbourne Pantry is smoked yogurt, developed with chef Matt Wilkinson. It’s closer to a solid than a liquid.
“Matthew does a roasted carrot salad with the smoked yogurt,” David junior said.
There’s also smoked maple syrup – used on carrots at The Independent in Gembrook – and smoked tomatoes.
“Chop them up with spring onions, rocket, cucumber – like a salsa – and put it with some swordfish,” David junior advised.
“It rocks the part, I’ll tell you.”
The Melbourne Pantry supplies delicatessens, markets and restaurants.
We’re always trying to add new products, always looking for different things to smoke,” he said.
“We’re always looking to grow, we want to grow.”
