From fresh black truffles and hot chicken to airplane meals, chef Aaron Turner shared with us the most important meals for him.

Aaron Turner is one of Australia's best chefs, and perhaps the most creative chef on the continent.

He first gained fame in Down Under because his Victorian restaurant, Loam, opened in 2008. Not only did he have no menu, or even a recipe, he improvised every dinner and provided whatever ingredients he got that day. A few years later, this restaurant and its outstanding chef won all possible awards. He mysteriously closed it on December 12, 2012, a very synchronized and somewhat apocalyptic date. At the same time, his marriage was dissolved.

After that, Turner went to the U.S. and accepted his friends on the sofa, which ended in Nashville. He usually walks around on a moped, eats and drinks a lot, probably because he feels sorry for himself (he didn't say it specifically, but usually hinted at this) and discovered the Nashville spicy chicken.

The last item changed his life, not only because of the incredible irritation and the resulting surge of endorphins, but also because it woke him up from a state of boredom. This dish reminded him of his meaning on earth and inspired him to return to Australia and engage in meaningful work again. After returning home, he opened two restaurants serving this dish, aptly called the "hot chicken plan." Last year, he also published a coffee table book of the same name, telling the history of the fiery sandwich and the people who created it.

"All of this, everything we did in the Hot Chicken Project, came from absolute admiration for what the founders of Hot Chicken did and what their families continued to do a million miles away near Nashville. Place," he wrote in his book. "I want to create a place that is not just a snapshot on Instagram. A place with substance, a place that can be a part of the community, a place that puts people first. Of course, somewhere, food makes Nashville so unique The standard bearers of things are proud that these things will respect such a strong legacy in Tennessee folklore now."

In 2016, Turner opened the inspiring IGNI restaurant on the water at the end of an alley in Geelong, near Melbourne. (The name derives from "ignite", which refers to the open flame he burned with the wood he collected.) The restaurant later won an award and became an international gourmet destination. When COVID allows in-house dining, he runs a superb six-course meal. They won't tell you what it will be, and some people suspect that they didn't know it before they arrived at the restaurant.

Because he said it "makes me look like I'm making a deal with their reputation", he doesn't like to talk about how he got the first authenticity in the kitchen of the two best restaurants in the world, El Celler de Experiential. Koroka and Norma.

Once I asked him what he learned from working in these two iconic locations, and he told me "I learned how to run a restaurant. This is what Can Roca does. They are very educated and kind and want to help you learn. Noma On the contrary, it is very push, push, and scream, which is more like the British model. There is pressure, and there are ways to behave under pressure. This tells me the way of learning. I am very calm."

He said that due to the deep-rooted influence of the United Kingdom, Australia's national dish is fish and chips. "Or meat pie."

Turner travels the world, an obviously restless and curious soul, these are his five favorite meals.

It was 2009, and the email read: Waiting for me at the train station at 6 o'clock in the morning. I am in the blue car and you have boots and jackets. It's cold in the forest. That's it. I feel strange. Not every day you agree to meet a complete stranger in the parking lot of the Budapest train station and promise to hunt truffles, but hey, I'm still young.

So far, the truffles I have eaten in restaurants around the world have not impressed people, and there are no promises that are said to be fulfilled. But I am a cook, so go to hell, I need to know the mystery of these expensive black fungus. I arrived at the train station at 5:45, wearing boots and the cheap jacket I bought the day before, on a wet and cold Hungarian winter morning.

Waiting for me is a clapping blue Puli with two hounds behind. I hope, barking excitedly! "My name is Ivan, get in the car, and let's go hunting," he said.

You will not come back from here. will never. Smell the truffle, dig it out for a moment, and then simmer it on a hot blood-red beef stew cauldron. It is mixed with chunks of beef, potatoes, peppers and a handful of Hungarian paprika. It is smoldered on the fire to a thick consistency. The stew, slowly cooked and drank the homemade pálinka when we were there, finishing a successful hunting victory.

A full-fed wild pheasant, simply cooked with good butter in a hot stove, its criminal partner on the plate quickly fries the winter vegetables picked and foraging from the paddock, which is located next to the village hut. A clumped and dense place. The weekend hunting began. A heavy fog enveloped the village as the hunter's horns sounded from the returning hunt. The chefs are busy preparing the day's trophy for the bar guests-a pint of hand-drawn dark beer, of course the cellar temperature, and a plump pheasant properly roasted. How could it be forgotten!

If I tell you, you won't believe it, but this dish will change you, revive you, and heal all doubts in life. In Robert's Western World (Robert's Western World) drinking whiskey, Budweiser and country music, hangover on a hot night, watching the suburbs of the city looking for a strip mall, looking for a hot spot called Prince's Chicken shop. I stopped the car, got out, and ordered under the window on the kitchen wall, next to the security guard with a holster in his waist.

Dark meat, hot fries, blue cheese. This meal changed my life and made me pursue to figure out all of this. How did they do it? The chicken is fried to perfection, crunch, spices, heat, the magic of the simple dishes of Nashville hot chicken.

Walking down the street on a hot and humid day in Singapore, looking for the market stall I described-“It’s yellow and blue, you’ll see it. The curry puffs there are you’ve never eaten before. , They are changing lives." I like a promised voice.

I finally found it, after too many wrong turns and wasting time avoiding the heat and a series of wrong instructions from passing cyclists. I stumbled upon a food center and it was there-the yellow and blue signs of promise, the holy grail of curry puffs.

I ordered the remaining two of them. One was filled with steaming potato wedges and sweet onions with rich curry powder, and the other was filled with spiced chicken with fenugreek and cumin gravy. I asked about the spiral pastry that peeled perfectly. He told me it was a mixture of fat, lard, butter and oil, deep-fried-the spiral shape of the pastry came from being rolled up like a carpet. Sitting on a plastic stool in the hot afternoon, a glass of cold beer and a paper plate with two perfectly cooked curry puffs. Perfect.

It is not charming—not charming at all. There was no choice, when we reached height, curry was pushed towards me. Board the flight last, because the flight delay means you got what you got-I spent the last 48 hours in Mumbai, and was taken hostage by a well-meaning, slender beard security guard who sat lazily on blue plastic Sit in a chair to play cricket on black and white TV. His machine gun was leaning against the wall behind him, and if it was really troublesome, he would be out of reach. My visa has been used up, my welcome time has passed, and I have been expelled from this country.

This is not how I want to end my trip to India, but sitting on a British Airways flight to London. After being trapped in the depths of Mumbai Airport for most of the two days, I only smell familiar dishes. The taste needs to calm the nerves. The rich meat is wrapped in a sauce seasoned with vinegar and garlic, and served with fragrant rice that is most suitable for meals on board. It doesn't matter, I haven't eaten for 48 hours!

My five favorite meals feature the most cherished dining experiences of bartenders, chefs, winemakers and celebrities.

The interview has been compressed and edited.