Issue Fifteen EVERYDAY
GREATNESS

Contents

Editor’s Letter

Back to contents

Editor’s
Letter

 
 
 


 
 
 

Australian Beef – the Official Team Partner of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic teams for Tokyo 2020. Hold on. Make that Tokyo 2021. Either way, Australian Beef will be feeding the greatness of our Aussie sporting heroes when they finally take on the world at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
 
And so in this issue, we explore the theme of greatness – from one of the all time greats of the Australian culinary scene to the emerging greatness of the 2020 Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year. Innovative producers finding ways to hero their older cattle who have provided much greatness through their lives; and the everyday extraordinary greatness of Australian beef on the menu.
 
Pat Nourse profiles the great Karen Martini who has recently opened a high-profile new restaurant aptly named Hero. Pat writes “It’s not a sprint, they tell you, it’s a marathon. But in professional cooking it can be both. Starting work in restaurants when she was 15 years old, Martini was quick off the blocks, putting in the hours in one of the most demanding kitchens in Victoria, and leaping into her first head chef role at just 20. But these achievements were only the beginning of a career marked by sustained performance and a willingness to forge her own path.”
 
In our Young Guns section, I chat with Anna Ugarte, the humble 2020 recipient of the industry’s most coveted young chef award – an award that has recognised many of the greats in the cheffing community. Anna talks candidly about the challenges of her first head chef role and her journey working with some of the country’s, and the world’s, greatest chefs.
 
Mark Best delves into the emerging use of mature-aged beef. An age-old tradition in Europe and particularly the Basque region of Spain, Australian producers and chefs are beginning to see the potential of teaching an old cow new tricks.
 
Our Cut Two Ways showcases the greatness of oyster blade in the hands of Guy Turland and Tom Walton, two chefs passionately driven by the creation of wholesome, nutritious and delicious meals. The boys show us that a healthy balanced meal doesn’t have to be boring – especially when you’ve got Australian beef to play with.
 
Finally, Myffy Rigby, the fabulous food finding host of What’s Good in the Hood takes on Chatswood in a whirlwind day fueled by beef breakfast noodles, bulgogi beef banh mi, robot hot pot and much much more.
 
I hope this issue feeds your greatness with inspiration and ideas fueled by Australian beef from paddock to plate.
 

Mary-Jane Morse
 
Meat & Livestock Australia
[email protected]
@_raremedium

 

Copyright: this publication is published by Meat & Livestock Australia Limited ABN 39 081 678 364 (MLA).

 
 
 
 

People Places Plates

Back to contents


 
 
 

It’s not a sprint, they tell you, it’s a marathon. But in professional cooking it can be both. Take a look at Karen Martini’s career arc.

 
 
Starting work in restaurants when she was 15 years old, she was quick off the blocks, putting in the hours in one of the most demanding kitchens in Victoria, and leaping into her first head chef role at just 20. But these achievements were only the beginning of a career marked by sustained performance and a willingness to forge her own path, not least in choosing to open a high-profile new restaurant this year – her first major opening in two decades.

Martini has stayed at the top of the game for a long time. In fact, if you happened to be flipping through the 1996 version of Rare Medium, you could find her laying out her ideas on the topic of serious meat at The Melbourne Wine Room, the restaurant at The George Hotel in St Kilda, in these very pages.
 
 
 

“We have had a char-grilled rib-eye on the menu since we opened, and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to take it off,” says 1996 Karen Martini, pictured in one of those slightly-out-focus, on-a-tilt shots that defined food-magazine photography in the 1990s.

 
 
 
She describes a 500-gram steak that was inspired by a three-inch-high T-bone popular at a hotspot called The Tuscan Grill. “It’s a big steak, but most people get through it.” At the time Martini was serving her big steak crusted with Sicilian sea salt, and dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and lemon – a dish that went on to become a signature at Icebergs Dining Room & Bar when she made the move to Sydney to open it for fellow Melbourne restaurateur Maurice Terzini in 2002. It has graced the menu there ever since.
 
What strikes you reading this piece nearly 25 years later – apart from how perfectly contemporary Martini’s food sounds – is her focus on flavour. “I really enjoy something that does have a bit of marbling running through it,” she said back then. “I think you get a lot more flavour compared with something like a tenderloin, which I find can be a bit bland and squishy. I like something with more flavour. If I ever do use eye fillet, it would probably be something like ox, with a really beefy flavour.”

A 1996 issue of Rare Medium featuring Karen Martini and the popular 500g rib eye at The Melbourne Wine Room.

A 1996 issue of Rare Medium featuring Karen Martini and the popular 500g rib eye at The Melbourne Wine Room.

For most of the last 20 years, most Australians would know Martini best as the grounded, very approachable voice of good food on Better Homes and Gardens on Seven, in her recipe columns for Sunday Life, Good Food and Good Weekend, and in her eight (going on nine) books. You’ve seen her on TV, braising lamb chump chops with allspice, or in print slicing rump steak, laying it over a pile of Russian red kale, endive, and radicchio for maltagliati of beef. Or bringing together influences from both sides of the Mediterranean in meatballs made with both baharat and pecorino, saffron and dill.
 
It’s exuberant cooking, fresh with leaves and herbs and often layered with multiple dressings. That maltagliati, for instance, is complemented with balsamic vinegar, swirled through the pan the meat’s cooked in, and also topped with ricotta. Martini has such a knack for keeping things light and fresh, and a gift for making her food approachable, it’s easy to forget that there’s a very serious chef with a very real focus on technique and consistency behind the smiling and the toss-and-scatter cooking that have endeared her to a generation of viewers and readers. Karen Martini can really cook.

Martini has a knack for keeping things light and fresh.

Martini has a knack for keeping things light and fresh.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Martini is Italian. The I on the end of her surname, the love of fresh herbs, her facility with pasta, the fact that until very recently she and her husband, Michael Sapountsis, owned a successful St Kilda pizzeria. And it was on an Italian passport that her dad, Pierre, migrated to Australia as a boy. But the Martini family comes in fact from Tunisia, and it’s in these North African roots that Karen Martini’s love affair with flavour began.
 
 
 

“My grandmother, Grace, my dad’s mum, was always cooking whenever we visited,” she says. “When we were there we were given something to do almost immediately. That sense of nurturing and family gathering around food started there.”

 
 
 
In the suburbs of Melbourne, Grace cooked okra and molokhia, she roasted peppers, fried sand mullets to serve with pumpkin, green capsicum, lemon and cumin, and stuffed fricassee sandwiches with tuna, hard-boiled egg and capers. “And that was what you had as a snack before lunch.” On special occasions, she made lamb couscous in the Tunis style, using shoulder layered with vegetables, and a complex mixture of the spices she kept in an old biscuit tin, “right down to the dried rosebuds that she’d picked from a bush in her garden”.

Martini douses bavette in a solution of tomato essence, tamari and vinegar before it hits the grill - served with Cafe De Hero butter and a wedge of lemon.

Martini douses bavette in a solution of tomato essence, tamari and vinegar before it hits the grill – served with Cafe De Hero butter and a wedge of lemon.

When Martini decided she wanted to cook for a living she figured she needed to go somewhere she could learn all sides of the job. This led her to Tansy’s, a Melbourne restaurant run by Tansy Good and her then partner and co-head chef Marc Bouten. Good and Bouten had a reputation for being uncompromising – something that is reflected perhaps in the subsequent success of people who worked there, chefs Andrew and Matt McConnell, Philippa Sibley and Rita Macali, and bar czar Gerald Diffey among them.
 
 
 

“That was the foundation of cookery for me, all the French basics,” says Martini. “I spent three-and-a-half years with them, which in that kitchen was quite a long time, like a life sentence.”

 
 
 
Tansy’s was tough, but it fast-tracked her skills, whether it was making sauces, bavarois, stocks, or pastry. “We were boning boxes of hares, we’d pluck and gut guinea fowl, and skin eels,” she recalls. Good and Bouten were every bit as particular about their red meat, too. “We had the most amazing ox fillet on the menu with a bone marrow and shallot sauce – a Bordelaise, essentially. We only used beef with a lot of flavour, which back in 1989 meant it was grass fed, the fat was yellow, and it was aged.” When Martini says “ox” she’s talking about beasts with some age on them. “These were animals that were always three, four, five years old.

Martini’s foundation of cookery came via a 3.5 year stint at Tansy’s.

Martini’s foundation of cookery came via a 3.5 year stint at Tansy’s.

“And when I say they taught me, they didn’t ‘teach’ anything,” she says. You had to be standing in the right spot with your chopping board set up in the right position so that you could work through your own prep list, which was as long as your arm, and keep your eye on what Chef was doing and maybe you could learn how to make the hare sauce. “It was punishing but I wanted the knowledge, I was hungry for it. You had to be rather tough and… stubborn.”
 
Martini started cooking for herself early in her career, landing her first head chef gig at 20. It wasn’t exactly the plan, but after she’d returned to Melbourne having spent some time travelling after leaving Tansy’s, she didn’t see a lot that inspired her. Following a trial at a Fitzroy North restaurant called Haskins, the owner asked her why she wouldn’t take the sous chef gig. “Because your chef can’t cook,” Martini told him. He fired the chef and hired Martini instead. “And that was it.” From there, Martini never looked back, on to The Kent in Carlton with Rita Macali (“that was amazing”), and, in 1996, to Donleavy Fitzpatrick and Maurice Terzini’s Melbourne Wine Room, a St Kilda restaurant that was a game-changer in its day.
 
“I didn’t actually work under many chefs,” she says. “Once I had the basics from Tansy’s, I was a bit self-taught.” But the collaboration with Terzini proved pivotal. It was Terzini, who had moved to Sydney in 1999 to open Otto in Woolloomooloo, who convinced Martini to move to Sydney herself to open Icebergs Dining Room & Bar in 2002. She turned him down at first – more than once – but he persisted. His faith in Martini paid off. Between her talent and her willingness to work 100-hour weeks, she led the restaurant to win two Good Food Guide hats straight out of the gate and its Best New Restaurant award.

Every inch the playground for the rich and famous (Prince Harry, Beyoncé, you name it), Icebergs took Terzini’s renown from national to international, and boosted Martini’s profile to the next level. It was here she got her first break writing recipes, scrawling them on the backs of invoices until her new editor gently suggested she learn to type them. At 26, she’d never used a computer, let alone sent an email.
 
When her contract with Icebergs was up in 2004 she moved back to Melbourne. She and Sapountsis maintained their interest in the Wine Room, selling out of it in 2011, and in Mr Wolf, which they ran until this year. Martini didn’t down tools over these years. “I wrote, cooked and directed 250 menus at the Wine Room, and ran Wolf for 16 years, and none of that happened at arm’s length,” she says. She and Sapountsis also opened a venue in Ibiza called Cala Bonita in 2014, where they fed “every famous DJ on earth”. But over these years her focus broadened to include a lot more time outside the restaurants, raising her daughters, Stella and Amber, developing recipes for print, and working in television.

After learning the basics at Tansy’s, Martini was mostly self-taught and landed her first head chef gig at 20.

After learning the basics at Tansy’s, Martini was mostly self-taught and landed her first head chef gig at 20.

And so things went, happily, steadily, until the opportunity to run the food at a Melbourne landmark came along. The Australian Centre for the Moving Image – ACMI for short – is a museum dedicated to film, television and video games. ACMI is the centrepiece of Federation Square on the banks of the Yarra, in the heart of the Melbourne CBD, and reopened this year after a five-year, $40 million renovation. Martini, along with Sapountsis and caterer Michael Gebran, a partner in Hospitality M, their new boutique hospitality group, is across all of ACMI’s food, from the sandwiches and (excellent) popcorn through to its 150-seat flagship restaurant, Hero.
 
In opening Hero, Martini found herself reckoning with the stresses of the pandemic, but also with the more personal question of whether the city would show up for her. There are plenty of examples, after all, of good prime-time ratings being no guarantee of a busy restaurant.
 
 
 

“The pressure I felt was in not having opened anything for such a long time,” she says. “I just didn’t know how we were going to be received, especially in the climate that we’re in.” Hero opened nonetheless and received a hero’s welcome. “So much better than it needs to be”, said one key review.
 Hero - the new flagship restaurant at Melbourne’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Federation Square.

Hero – the new flagship restaurant at Melbourne’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Federation Square.

Just about everything about running a restaurant is more challenging now, Martini says. The margins are slimmer, customers are more demanding, competition is huge, and skilled staff are almost impossible to find. And yet despite all these things, and despite not having opened a restaurant in nearly 20 years, and despite the unique challenges posed by COVID-19, here she is again, on the tools at a buzzy, well-reviewed restaurant. How does she make that happen more than 30 years into her cooking career? How do you sustain that sort of performance at the top of your game?
 
 
 

“You stay true to your focus and beliefs about food and hospitality,” she says. “You don’t stray from what you know and love, and don’t get too caught up in the trend or the fad of the time.”

 
 
 
The pursuit of flavour is still what drives her. “My food has always been robust and honest: traditional techniques and Mediterranean flavours.” It’s still all about flavour-first now, she says, but the years have given her different ways to distil that flavour. That could mean jamón in the pan when she steams clams, or using black garlic and parmesan rinds to make an infusion. Fermented, pickled and preserved ingredients play more of a role in her cooking now, sometimes next to the fresh version of the same ingredient.

Martini says success comes from not straying from what you know and love.

Martini says success comes from not straying from what you know and love.

The red-meat hero at Hero, meanwhile, isn’t a big rib-eye, but a bavette. A 420-gram piece of steak that Martini douses in a solution of tomato essence, tamari and vinegar before it hits the grill, with the intention of making a very full-flavoured piece of meat even more flavoursome.
 
The thrill of cooking for people, the inspiration is still there, she says, whether it’s in the season or in the markets, or just looking at a really nice piece of fish or meat. “It’s a weird love affair, but as a chef you’ll stay focussed if you stay close to what you love.”

The pursuit of flavour is what drives Martini’s cooking - robust and honest food using traditional techniques and Mediterranean flavours.

The pursuit of flavour is what drives Martini’s cooking – robust and honest food using traditional techniques and Mediterranean flavours.

Spotlight On

Back to contents

OLD COW, NEW TRICKS

 
  

In Europe, mature-aged beef has long been tradition, particularly in the North of Spain where cattle live a full life up to 18 years before being processed as beef. Revered for its rich depth of flavour, increased marbling and yellow hued fat – Galician beef has found favour on the grills of restaurants like Asador Etxebarri in Spain’s Basque region and piqued the interest of chefs around the world.

 
 
From a production sense, mature-aged beef doesn’t make much sense – specifically growing out animals to a mature-age to achieve enhanced flavour would be an extremely high cost, low return process. But, when positioned as a value-adding opportunity for producers for their older cows no longer fit for breeding, an opportunity begins to emerge.

A Vintage Beef Co rib set from retired beef cows aged on average 5-9 years.

A Vintage Beef Co rib set from retired beef cows aged on average 5-9 years.

In Australia, beef and dairy account for two of the three largest rural industries with approximately 21 million beef and 2.4 million dairy cattle in our national herd*. Of these herds, approximately 13 million are breeding cows – producing calves on an annual basis to replenish the herd or to be grown out as beef. Most cows have a breeding lifespan between 5 – 12 years – so what happens when a cow passes her calf-bearing years?
 
Traditionally, a cull-cow is destined as manufacturing beef – comprising of mince and other processed products. However, here in Australia, opportunistic beef and dairy producers are identifying a new premium market for their older cows – and in doing so, providing chefs with a unique beef product.

I spoke to a range of producers playing in this space – growing out mature-aged beef from retired dairy cows like Jerseys and beef specific breeds like Wagyu and Angus – to dual-purpose beef and dairy breeds like Fleckvieh.
 
With its rich, developed beefy flavour, mature-aged beef suits those looking for a unique eating experience. For me, the selection of product we sampled is some of the best beef I have ever eaten. In addition to its unique eating, repurposing retired breeding animals has an ethical element to it – elevating the end use of an animal that has provided throughout its lifespan.
 
Luke and Jess Micallef both graduated with Agricultural Science honours from Sydney University before pursuing careers in the dairy industry and setting up Camden Valley Farm, 60km west of the Sydney CBD, in 2011.
 
Here they run a small herd of Jersey cattle, the smallest of the dairy breeds. However, they are not producing milk for human consumption, focusing instead on producing milk fed veal and a retired dairy cow beef product.

Luke with some of the girls at Camden Valley Farm.

Luke with some of the girls at Camden Valley Farm.

“Over the years the herd grew but with only a small herd supplying a milk company was not viable. We began rearing our own dairy bull calves and purchasing additional bull calves from local dairy farms to raise as veal and marketing them into Sydney butcheries,” Jess said.

 
 
 
Their Jersey cows usually retire between 8-14 years depending on the production capabilities and traits of the individual cows. With the help of Vic’s Meats head butcher, Darren O’Rourke, they identified an opportunity to value-add to the retired cows and together with Darren developed their ‘retired’ dairy cow line of beef.

Jersey cows at Camden Valley Farm usually retire between 8-14 years of age.

Jersey cows at Camden Valley Farm usually retire between 8-14 years of age.

The first time Darren experienced aged beef was in the UK about seven or eight years ago.
 
 
 

“It was between Spain and Sweden where I first saw the whole concept of letting an animal live longer. Seeing what they did with their old dairy cows, particularly in the Nordic countries – that sort of lit the fire for me and I wanted to try and understand how and why they did it.”

 
 
 
“I actually knew Luke and Jess through selling their pasture and milk fed Camden Valley Veal. After the success of their veal and the relationship I had developed with them – I finally had someone that I could talk to about this concept of aged beef and the program started from there,” Darren said.
 
The first cow they trialed was 10-12 years old and had just finished milking – neither Luke nor Darren understood the importance of the pasture conditioning process at the time and Darren recalls the first mouthful reflecting the general perception of old cow – tough.

Vic's Meat head butcher Darren O'Rourke with a Camden Valley rib set.

Vic’s Meat head butcher Darren O’Rourke with a Camden Valley rib set.

“I dry-aged this cow for three weeks and it was really good – the texture wasn’t there yet and the first mouthful was quite tough but it was so deep flavoured and I was convinced we were onto something. After that first trial, we did more research and developed the product together. We started pasture conditioning for 12 months and between that and the dry ageing process, we came up with Camden Valley Dairy Beef,” Darren said.

 
 
 
“With a retired dairy cow, it’s all about the beefy flavour developed after 8-10 years eating grass. The beta-carotene consumed in her lifetime on pasture also produces a yellow fat and one thing we have noticed with the Jersey cows is that they are predisposed to producing a yellower fat – an iconic trait when it’s sitting on the shelf,” Luke said.
 
Generally, dairy cattle are a lot leaner than beef cattle and have a different composition meaning the shape and size of their muscles vary – posing some challenges at the processing end.

“Beef cattle have been bred over many years to produce a consistent size and quality product and marbling. This hasn’t been the focus in the dairy industry so there can be a fair bit of variability in the product itself. With things like marbling, we really don’t know what we are going to get until we have processed the animal – it’s primarily a genetic trait and it’s not something that has been studied in the dairy industry yet,” Luke said.
A Camden Valley Retired Jersey rib eye.

A Camden Valley Retired Jersey rib eye.

HW Greenham & Sons is an Australian family owned meat processor procuring livestock from some of the best beef-producing regions in Australia and behind renowned brands such as Cape Grim, Bass Strait and Robbins Island Wagyu. In 2018, they launched their take on Spanish Galician beef – aptly named Vintage Beef Co.
 
The beef industry already has in place a stringent eating quality grading system – Meat Standards Australia (MSA). The model is the world’s leading eating quality grading system and was the catalyst for Greenham’s move into mature-aged beef when they noticed that many of their older cows were receiving high eating quality scores.
 
 
  

“The MSA model balances the traits found in the older cows such as more marbling, resulting in increased flavour, and as such they are achieving high eating quality scores. Those carcases that grade to a high eating quality are now packed under the Vintage Beef Co. label.”
Greenham’s cull beef cows were scoring high on the MSA grading system.

Greenham’s cull beef cows were scoring high on the MSA grading system.

“The meat from older cows would have traditionally gone to commodity beef markets like Korea, Taiwan and Japan and some would also be used for manufacturing meat. We saw there was the potential to offer a unique beef product from older cows with high eating quality and label them under a brand,” said Group Marketing & Communications Manager, Jelena Radisic.
 
Vintage Beef Co comes from British breed beef cows aged on average 5-9 years or from Wagyu beef cows ranging between 9-15 years old. It is graded into three categories based on marbling scores – Reserva MB 1-2, Galiciana MB 3+ and The Matriarch – sourced from the breeding stock of some of the finest Wagyu in Australia.

Vintage Beef Co Rib Eye on the Bone. Credit: Tim Grey.

Vintage Beef Co Rib Eye on the Bone. Credit: Tim Grey.

Vintage Beef Co’s farmers turn retired breeding cattle out to pasture where they feed only on grass. The cows further mature in the paddock and are not processed until they are at least five years of age – more than twice the age of regular beef cattle.
 
 
 

“Traditionally older meat has been viewed as lower quality. The MSA grading system allowed us to identify older cows that grade well under the MSA model and market it as the high eating quality product that it is. Because the cows are older, the meat has a rich, developed grass fed flavour alongside superb marbling,” Jelena Radisic said.

 
 
 
Husband and wife team Josh Butt and Jyoti Blencowe manage 150 acres of land in South Gippsland where they run a herd of around 60 primarily dual-purpose heritage breed cows. The wanted to pursue a beef operation that was interesting and unique as well as one that felt ethical and environmentally conscious.

 Josh and Jyoti with some of their retired cow herd in South Gippsland.

Josh and Jyoti with some of their retired cow herd in South Gippsland.

“We had read about Txuleta beef from Spain and the amazing feedback it received. We also understood that some European dairy cattle were starting to be retired for beef to meet demand for mature meat in the UK. Given we are located in a dairy region of Victoria, retiring dairy cows seemed like an appropriate choice,” Josh said.

 
 
 
“Our main breed is Fleckvieh, a dual-purpose breed originating in Central Europe and used for both beef and milk. Dual-purpose cattle have a similar frame to beef cattle. Our Txuleta 1882 cattle are a lot heavier with a live weight around 800-900kg however the yield is probably slightly lower than a beef animal with more genetic and size variability,” Josh said.

Txuleta’s main breed is Fleckvieh - a dual-purpose breed used for both beef and milk with a similar frame to a beef animal.

Txuleta’s main breed is Fleckvieh – a dual-purpose breed used for both beef and milk with a similar frame to a beef animal.

“We buy our cows directly from local dairy farmers when they are at the end of their milking life. We seek cows that are dual purpose or rarer breed that have good characteristics for mature beef. This often involves visiting the dairy farms, hand selecting appropriate cows and getting a sense of the farming operation that they come from. They retire on our farm for at least one year to gain optimum condition before being sold for beef.”
 
 
 

“We have been selling our beef through a small number of butchers that practice whole animal butchery. Ideally, the rump, loin and rib sections are dry aged for 4 weeks, which really brings out the flavour and texture of the beef.”

 
 
 
“Financially, the results have been variable with the current high price of cattle making finances more difficult. We have taken risks in embarking on this business model, although the uniqueness of this beef and the holistic social, environmental and ethical benefits currently outweigh the financial vulnerability,” Josh said.

Txuleta 1882 rib eye from a 7 year old Fleckvieh cow, dry aged for 8 weeks at Emilio's Specialty Butcher.

Txuleta 1882 rib eye from a 7 year old Fleckvieh cow, dry aged for 8 weeks at Emilio’s Specialty Butcher.

Nick Venter immigrated to Australia from Johannesburg in 2015 with a firm resolve to retire after a successful career in corporate finance and venture capital – however his general enthusiasm for new ideas and a formidable entrepreneurial spirit meant he was soon looking for opportunity.
 
“In 2016 I purchased a hobby farm with a view to bring highest quality meat to the Australian market, at a reasonable price. After reading an article on the consumption of older animals in Spain, an idea started to form and that idea became Copper Tree Farms,” Nick said.
 
In 2017, Venter approached Quentin Moxey of Australian Fresh Milk Holdings, a large Australian dairy producer. AFMH milks 13,000 Holstein Friesian cows across multiple sites, producing around 200 million litres annually.
 
 
 

“I approached AFMH and offered them a premium price for their retired dairy cows and we struck an offtake agreement for the 5-8 year old cows and Copper Tree was born. The cows are in such good condition that we didn’t feel there was any need for pasture conditioning. Once we had refined our dry ageing process, I knew we were onto something,” Nick said.

 
 
 

A range of retired beef and dairy cow rib eyes showcasing the variation in shape, size and colour.

A range of retired beef and dairy cow rib eyes showcasing the variation in shape, size and colour.

Venter approached some of Sydney’s leading chefs Lennox Hastie, Neil Perry and Sam Cain with the product and their initial response was very positive. The product is now on the menu of many top restaurants around Australia.
 
The quality of the product these forward thinking operators are producing is exceptional – however, there are still challenges in the marketing of mature-aged animals as beef. One is the perception that the meat from older animals is tough and the concept that flavour may be more important than tenderness is still a challenge. Another is the variability of the product – particularly in the dairy breeds where eating quality has not been a focus for the industry and there is such variation in size and structure of the animals.

Camden Valley Retired Jersey rib set at Vic’s Meats in Woollahra.

Camden Valley Retired Jersey rib set at Vic’s Meats in Woollahra.

“Sure, there is a chew factor but that is where the dry ageing comes in and is effective in tenderising some of those muscles – so it’s not as tough as some might perceive it to be. It’s about encouraging people to try it, to have it be prepared properly and to realise what value that product can have,” Luke concluded.

* Figures from ABS for the period of 2019-2020 financial year

What’s Good in the Hood

Back to contents

Each issue we explore a new neighbourhood with Myffy Rigby for the best eats and treats in the local community.

CHATSWOOD NSW

 
 

Whilst overseas travel may currently seem like a long lost luxury – and even interstate travel can be thrown off kilter at a moment’s notice – the good news is that there are plenty of suburbs bursting with flavours from around the world right here in our own backyard.

  
15 minutes north of Sydney’s CBD is Chatswood – a bustling retail district built around the train station and main thoroughfare of Victoria Avenue. With multiple shopping centres – including a mammoth Westfield; commercial developments, high rise business and residential towers – the food options in Chatswood are multiple and diverse.

 
 

Myffy hits the streets of Chatswood to find What’s Good in the Hood.

Myffy hits the streets of Chatswood to find What’s Good in the Hood.

A suburb greatly influenced by an influx of Chinese immigration during the 1980-1990s, the most common ancestry in Chatswood is Chinese while 73 percent of the population had both parents born overseas.
 
When it comes to food in the area you can expect a bountiful range of authentic options including Cantonese, Taiwanese, Northern and Western Chinese and Hong Kong alongside Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and more. And you’ll find it in all manner of executions – from high end diners to mall markets, food courts, street stalls and back alley hole in the walls.

Chatswood is brimming with an incredible array of cuisines.

Chatswood is brimming with an incredible array of cuisines.

 
We took an adventure through a maze of punchy aromas, hand pulled noodles, wok fried wonders and high end haute to sample but a handful of Chatswood’s culinary offerings.
 
Here’s What’s Good in the Chatswood Hood.

1919 LANZHOU BEEF NOODLE

 
In a tiny unassuming food court under the train station you’ll find a hole in the wall noodle shop churning out up to 800 bowls of noodles a day – and it’s no surprise with handmade noodles stretched to order and a secret soup recipe devised over 100 years ago. Excellent chewy noodles, aromatic soup, tender beef and house-made chilli oil – what’s not to love?!

BANH AND BOBA

 
Dedicated to creating the best modern banh mi and boba tea while maintaining a traditional touch – Banh and Boba cleverly infuses cuisines and flavours with a focus on natural ingredients and making from scratch. House baked bread is the crunchy vessel for a range of banh mi options like Bulgogi Beef – marinated in-house using grandma’s secret recipe and cooked fresh to order.

HAIDILAO HOT POT

 
If robot servers, complimentary manicures and noodle dancers aren’t enough – fortunately Haidilao Hot Pot can back up the theatrics with a quality hot pot experience. Start by choosing up to four hot pot soup bases then go wild with an array of meats from premium marbled wagyu to tongue, tripes and marinated lamb – and don’t forget the Laopai dancing noodle live performance – at Haidilao Hot Pot it’s all about playing with your food.

AMAH

 
Meaning ‘grandmother’ in Teochew and Hokkien, Amah is the latest offering from the Ho Jiak group with head chef Hun Loong and executive chef Junda Khoo bringing a sophisticated take on Malaysian cooking to Chatswood. A huge space located in the District Dining precinct above Chatswood train station, Amah is centred around an exposed central kitchen serving dishes inspired by the recipes of Loong’s late grandmother.

CHINA CHILLI

 
Just across the way from Amah, you’ll find China Chilli – a fiery journey for your tastebuds straight to the unique flavours of China’s Sichuan province. Here you’re hit with bold and spicy flavours from a liberal use of garlic, chilli and sichuan pepper – play it safe with crowd favourites like the spicy lamb ribs or push yourself and find new favourites like the beef tripe and tongue in chilli sauce.

KURO SAKURA

 
Just out of the hustle and bustle of the main drag you’ll find Kuro Sakura – a side street haven serving up authentic Japanese BBQ – yakiniku. With premium wagyu specifically sourced and prepared for yakiniku – at Kuro Sakura you get the real deal nose-to-tail experience from skirt steak and oyster blade to wagyu tongue and intestines and everything in between.

Cut Two Ways

Back to contents

THE CUT

OYSTER BLADE

 
 

The oyster blade is a muscle just below the shoulder blade bisected by a long line of connective tissue. It can be roasted whole, cut into steaks, thinly sliced or diced – or further prepared into flat iron steaks by removing the silver skin. Flat iron steaks are lean, juicy, tender and full of flavour.

Oyster blade is prepared from the Blade primal - derived from the shoulder area of the animal.

Oyster blade is prepared from the Blade primal – derived from the shoulder area of the animal.

THE BUTCHER

Ryan Watson

The Fairlight Butcher

 
 

When Sydney boy Ryan finished school in 2003, he decided to head west and take up a jackaroo position on a sheep property in Warren NSW where he stayed for four years. With a first hand understanding of the production end of the supply chain and keen to stay within the industry, he returned to Sydney and took up a butchery apprenticeship in 2007 at The Fairlight Butcher – which he then purchased in 2016.

Butcher Ryan Watson spent four years as a jackaroo before taking on a butchery apprenticeship and purchasing his own shop in 2016.

Butcher Ryan Watson spent four years as a jackaroo before taking on a butchery apprenticeship and purchasing his own shop in 2016.

Passionate about connecting the country to the city and to demonstrate a point of differentiation, Ryan decided to start showcasing his producers and sharing their provenance stories through a series of ‘Meet the Farmer’ nights. Covering topics like regenerative agriculture, the information nights are a way to communicate all the good things happening in agriculture that don’t often make it to the customer. He also works closely with chefs like Lennox Hastie and Tom Walton to showcase the full paddock to plate spectrum and ensure his customers are engaged through the whole process.

The Fairlight Butcher is focused on ethical production and showcasing its producers and their provenance stories.

The Fairlight Butcher is focused on ethical production and showcasing its producers and their provenance stories.

Keeping it ethical is one of the biggest priorities for Ryan and he focuses on showcasing grass-fed, pasture-raised and ethically produced livestock that in turn provide a nutritionally dense product for the end customer. Stocking producers such as biodynamic farmer Charlie Arnott’s lamb and pasture-raised and finished Tasmanian or Clare Valley beef.
 
Nothing goes to waste at The Fairlight Butcher where Ryan takes whole lamb and beef carcases as well as additional cartons of primal beef cuts to keep up with the traditional demand for loin cuts. Ryan says that using whole carcases ensures limited waste and is the ultimate respect back to the animal through the nose to tail philosophy. He also hosts butchery classes on Saturday afternoons to demonstrate the benefits of utilising the whole carcase to his customers.

The Fairlight Butcher team outside the shop on Sydney Rd in Fairlight.

The Fairlight Butcher team outside the shop on Sydney Rd in Fairlight.

For Cut Two Ways, Ryan selected the oyster blade from grass-fed and finished beef out of a biodynamic farm in Robertson NSW. Traditionally slow cooked or minced, Ryan says when prepared and cooked correctly, the oyster blade is well suited to faster cooking styles – particularly when broken down into individual flat iron steaks.

CHEF ONE

Guy Turland

Bondi Harvest + Depot Cafe

 

Braised Oyster Blade with Sweet Miso, Mushrooms & Black Rice

Bondi boy Guy Turland has paved his way through the foodservice sector – training at some of Sydney’s best restaurants including Est, running local Bondi favourite Depot with his family as well as starting Bondi Harvest. Bondi Harvest is an international food, lifestyle, and cafe brand sharing Aussie beach vibes and nutritious Australian wholefood dishes with the world.

With cafes in Bondi, Los Angeles and Milan, cookbooks, media and recipes, Bondi Harvest strives to inspire and build a healthier, environmentally conscious community of food lovers with inspiration from the laid back, sun-drenched essence of Bondi Beach. Guy is passionate about championing local produce and creating seasonal, wholesome and nutritious recipes.

Guy preparing ingredients for his one-pot wonder.

Guy preparing ingredients for his one-pot wonder.

For his dish, Guy was inspired by in season-foraged produce including pine mushrooms and nasturtium flowers in a simple, delicious and nutritious one pot dish. The oyster blade was seared off then slow-braised with pine mushrooms and sweet red miso until fall apart tender and served with blanched spinach and black rice salad. The ultimate one pot wonder, winter warmer and all round crowd pleaser.

CHEF TWO

Tom Walton

 

Grilled Flat Iron with Shio Koji, Smoky Eggplant & Bambino Cabbage

Award winning chef and restaurant entrepreneur Tom Walton lives and breathes his passion for health, fitness, lifestyle and wellbeing – philosophies closely reflected in his cooking. Tom’s cooking career started at age 17 at the then 2-hatted Blue Mountains restaurant Darley’s. In 2005 he represented Australia in the WorldSkills International cooking competition in which he finished third against 24 countries before a six year stint as head chef at 2-hatted Bistro Moncur. In 2011 Tom opened ‘The Bucket List’ in Bondi before branching out to open Deus in Camperdown and poke takeaway eatery Nudefish.

Shio Koji - a natural tenderiser for steak which also imparts rich umami flavour.

Shio Koji – a natural tenderiser for steak which also imparts rich umami flavour.

Tom’s dish embraces everything he loves about food – fresh, nutritious and delicious ingredients prepared simply to let the produce shine. The flat iron was marinated in Shio Koji – made from a simple combination of rice inoculated with a culture called aspergillus oryzae, water and salt and left to ferment for two weeks. When applied as a marinade, shio koji imparts big umami flavours balanced with a delicate sweetness and saltiness while the enzymes work to break down proteins and naturally tenderise the flat iron.

Accompanied by grilled bambino cabbages, smoky eggplant and a charred shallot and walnut dressing, it takes the simple concept of steak and salad to a whole new level.

Tom seasoning his smoky eggplant to accompany the flat iron.

Tom seasoning his smoky eggplant to accompany the flat iron.

Young Guns

Back to contents

IF THE SHOE FITZ

Anna Ugarte

 
 

Anna in the upstairs brasserie at The Old Fitz.

Talking to Anna Ugarte, you get the impression that she is a girl on a mission. The accomplished young chef has taken up her first head chef role at The Old Fitz in Woolloomooloo where she is rolling with the punches of global pandemics, people management and figuring out who she is as a leader.

“My first head chef role has been a wild ride. It’s a lot of responsibility and learning how to manage the cooking part – which is what you’ve spent years doing – and the management part of looking after staff and working a lot more closely with front of house.”
 
 
 

“It has been a very steep learning curve, more like a cliff than a curve and the first two months were definitely the hardest of my career. At the same time it’s been really fruitful and I feel like I’ve come out the other side in the past few weeks. I feel a lot more collected and that I can actually do it. We are doing it,” she said.

 

Anna says her first head chef role has been more like a cliff than a curve of learning.

Anna says her first head chef role has been more like a cliff than a curve of learning.

Anna was awarded the prestigious Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year in 2020 – an award that always loomed large in her periphery and yet, in winning it, she remains graciously humble.
 
 
 

“I always thought that’s the award you win and you can say – I’m a good chef now. It has given me the confidence to know that I can do this. It’s such an important award and it feels really good to be recognised but at the same time it doesn’t make me think that I am a better chef than everyone else.”

 
 
 
Anna didn’t start her cooking career until 22, which she considers quite late for a chef – but it certainly didn’t hold her back. Her impressive resume has seen her working alongside some of the world’s best chefs at acclaimed restaurants both at home and abroad.

Anna’s resume includes Firedoor, Hubert, Lyle’s, Noma, Relae and Momofuku Seiobo.

Anna’s resume includes Firedoor, Hubert, Lyle’s, Noma, Relae and Momofuku Seiobo.

“I got pretty lucky, my first chef job I worked for Matt Stone and Jo Barrett and that put me in the right direction. I then worked at Firedoor and Hubert before going overseas where I staged at Lyle’s in London then Noma and Relae in Copenhagen.”
 
 
 

“That staging period of my life was probably a pinnacle in my career because it really opened my mind to what the rest of the world is like in kitchens. You can travel and eat in all these amazing restaurants but seeing how the kitchens actually work on a day to day level was pretty amazing. I also got to be at Noma for the opening of Noma 2.0 which was incredible,” she said.

 
 
 
On her return to Australia, Anna worked for three years as a junior sous chef at the now closed Momofuku Seiobo – which cemented everything into place for her.
 
“Every head chef you work for, you take something with you and everyone I’ve worked for has been really important in their own right. I learnt so much from Lennox and Dan and Paul but it’s also the people that I worked with on a day to day level that taught me so much. I’ve really loved working with and learning from so many talented individuals over the years,” she said.

The Old Fitz has a reputation for pub food - but not as you know it.

The Old Fitz has a reputation for pub food – but not as you know it.

The Old Fitz has been feeding, watering and entertaining the community for anywhere between 150 to 200 years. It has had many people pass through its doors and head up its kitchen and in recent times was brought back into repute as a destination for serious pub food under chef Nicholas Hill.
 
With Anna now at the helm, the venue continues to offer elevated pub dining along with a more formal brasserie upstairs. Its linen draped tables, chandeliers and eclectic collection of crookedly hung artwork adorning the walls – makes you feel immediately at home while impatiently anticipating the good things to come. As the bell rings out to call theatregoers back to their seats and the buzz of pub patrons creeps up the stairs – the afternoon sunlight filters through the windows. You feel an overwhelming sense of community and the comfortable weight of history. You know it’s a place that caters to many – and, quite literally it does with lunch and dinner service seven days. In Anna’s words it is ‘quite an undertaking’.

Steak frites – hanger steak with a choice of herb butter or liver butter and plenty of fries to go around.

Steak frites – hanger steak with a choice of herb butter or liver butter and plenty of fries to go around.

The menu changes often but sticks to a classic European style – with influences from French, Italian and Spanish – without focusing too much on any one in particular. Upstairs is classic brasserie style with entrees, mains and desserts lending from the classics but still managing to feel fresh. Downstairs is more of a bar menu with all sorts of snacks to satisfy – it’s pub food but not your classic parmy.
 
 
 

“Me and the chefs all know what we like to eat and we kind of just spitball as to what we want to put on the menu. When we opened we weren’t too sure of the exact direction we were going to go but what we did know is that it would change based on what felt right.”

 
 
 
“I often think of a meal centering around a steak and we’re always going to have steak on the menu here. At the moment I am enjoying working with several smaller butchers that are working closely with producers and finding some really interesting cuts and different styles of preparation and ageing.”

Anna works closely with butchers to find interesting cuts or preparations.

Anna works closely with butchers to find interesting cuts or preparations.

“When it comes down to it – food needs to be delicious. If people don’t enjoy eating it then what’s the point? As a chef, I am interested in the classics and classical cooking – I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel but I am interested in pulling ideas from the past. I’m just trying to make sure the food is delicious, everyone is enjoying it and that I’m enjoying cooking it,” she said.

 
 
 
Anna doesn’t necessarily believe in always having something that she is aiming for. For her, the drive is to always be learning – always striving to be better. Her advice for young chefs is to figure out what you want to learn and then find the people that can teach you.

Lamb ribs glazed with salted plum in the upstairs brasserie.

Lamb ribs glazed with salted plum in the upstairs brasserie.

“As time goes on, the things that you are interested in change and the things you want to do in your career change. I would like to go and work at a really crazy restaurant overseas and go through another really steep learning curve of becoming a better chef – but that might change. All I know is that I want to keep learning how to be better.”
 
 
 

“It’s important to know what you like and to eat out as much as you can. As time went on, I made a few decisions about who I wanted to work for based on what I wanted to learn. It is a really good time at the moment where you can get jobs at really great restaurants as a junior and there are a lot of great people to work for. Find the right fit for you and learn as much as you can,” she said.
18 month old Angus sirloin dry aged for 4 weeks and served on the bone.

18 month old Angus sirloin dry aged for 4 weeks and served on the bone.

Next Issue

Back to contents

Next Issue

 
 

Issue 16 drops October and will focus on one of our all time favourite pastimes – the pub.

 
Don’t forget to subscribe (it’s free!) and share with your friends and colleagues.