Jo Barrett Is Back With Wildpie, a New Range of Pastries With a Purpose

The concept for Wildpie came to Jo Barrett long before she opened and closed her hit bowls club restaurant Little Picket in Lorne. The chef and author was living in Federation Square as part of the groundbreaking Future Food System project when she met Billy Staughton from Discovered Wildfoods, and the pair decided that pies would be the best vehicle to introduce the public to the potential of wild game.

“People’s first experience of wild game is usually an undercooked seared loin or an overcooked, dry piece of meat, but we’re trying to show how delicious it is in the pie,” Barrett tells Broadsheet. “It’s quite approachable and so Australian. And anything wrapped in pastry is pretty good.”

The ready-to-bake range includes pies filled with minced Flinders Island wallaby with black and green peppercorn gravy; chunky venison with red wine and rosemary; or diced goat with fragrant Sri Lankan curry sauce. There’s also a wild boar sausage roll with thyme and fennel, and a take on the hugely popular wild boar dim sim from the menu at Little Picket. Wild rabbit is also on the cards.

Most of the meat comes from invasive species, which are culled without their meat being used. “The idea is to create a revenue stream from an underutilised product and show there is a demand for it, and we’re not wasting any food,” explains Barrett. “[The meat comes from] where population management is in place due to an influx in numbers, because [invasive species] impact the natural environment, the flora and fauna, take away resources from our native animals, and destroy habitats or culturally significant sites.”

When the lease came up at Little Picket, Barrett and long-time collaborator Louise Daily moved four hours north-east to Beechworth to start the new business. They moved into the retro 1970s kitchen at Mayday Hills, the decommissioned psychiatric hospital that’s known for its ghost tours. “Beechworth is the pie town,” she admits, laughing. “But we’re close to where the deer are being culled and processed – and I just don’t want to live in the city anymore. After my time at Oakridge in the Yarra Valley, then living right in the centre of the city for Future Food System, I’ve realised regional is where it’s at!”

Wildpie is a joint venture between Barrett and Daily; Mark LaBrooy from the Boathouse Group; and Tara Medina, Jimmy Westley and Staughton from Discovered Wildfoods. The focus is on supplying restaurants and cafes, but the products are also available online.

“It’s a gourmet, handmade pie, we make all the pastry, the fillings are all wild, and we supply restaurants who can pop it on their menu with a garnish and feel like they’re part of the solution, and also introduce the customers to wild food,” says Barrett. “From my research and observation, people don’t feel confident cooking it or they’re a bit scared to get involved, and a pie is the best way to try it.”

The products are now available at Tanswell's Hotel in Beechworth and the Petrel Hotel in Geelong, with more to come. Visit wildpie.com.au.

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