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Two Under Ten

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Turn up the summer heat and hose down those costs by thinking differently about beef this season. With a little cut innovation or a twist on tradition, you can plate up a beefy banger without it costing the big bucks. We throw the challenge out to the head chefs at swanky two-hatted Bert’s and beachside beauty The Collaroy to get you started. They do say imitation is the greatest form of flattery – so what’s your beef this summer?

1.

Grilled Beef Rib

Pickled Sugarloaf Cabbage & Black Bean Gremolata

 

Sam Kane
Head Chef
Bert’s Bar & Brasserie

 

@chefsamkane

 

Sam’s dish takes on all the delicious flavour of short ribs without the long cooking time by cutting horizontally instead of vertically across the rib. The 1cm thick rib slices are seasoned then cooked above the grill until about 60 degrees, allowing the fats and sinew to gently breakdown. They are then seared over a hot grill to caramelise on the outside while remaining juicy and soft on the inside. Served with a simple pickled sugarloaf cabbage salad to cut through the richness and a black bean gremolata for added umami and complexity.

Ingredients

 

Short ribs sliced across the bone
Sugarloaf cabbage
Granny Smith
Onion
Green onion
Flat leaf parsley
Fermented black beans
Garlic
Chilli
Chives

 

Total cost — $9.25

2.

Topside Kibbe Nayeh

 

Simon Zalloua
Head Chef
The Collaroy

 

@simonz1979

 

  The late Anthony Bourdain declared kibbe nayeh to be the best tartare in the world – a claim Simon fully supports, adding that it would be his death row dish. Kibbe nayeh is his family’s celebration dish and on special occasions, they make up 2-3kgs, hand grinding the meat in huge mortar and pestles made by his grandfather who was a stonemason in the Middle East. Simon uses the traditional technique to delicately grind the beef and adds a little iced water for consistency. The beef is then dressed with oil and served with fermented chillies, spices, fresh vegetables and crispy flatbread. Scoop, eat, repeat.

Ingredients

 

Topside
Cracked wheat (burghul)
Fermented chilli
Isot pepper
Middle Eastern roast pepper blend
Flat bread
Mint
Shallot
Cucumber
Radish
Onion
Pickles
Parsley

 

Total cost — $5.40

Two Under Ten

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With Peter Cooksley, Embla
and Jasper Avent, The Town Mouse

Rising food costs and operational overheads are a constant challenge for foodservice operators and planning menus that balance expectations with budgets, to please diners and the bottom line, is no easy task. Changing the way you think about lamb – exploring different cuts, experimenting with techniques old and new and considering seasonality of accompanying flavours can help with profitability.

We threw out the challenge to Dave’s head chefs at Embla and The Town Mouse to curate a dish for under $10 using a cut derived from the lamb leg – two different cuts, two different methods, two delicious dishes.

1.

Poached lamb silverside

chicory and capers

 

Peter Cooksley
Head Chef, Embla

 

@peter_cooksley
@embla_melbourne

Occhipinti SP86 Rosso 2015, Sicily

A blend of Frappato and Nero d’ Avola that undergoes a full natural wine making process with minimal intervention. This wine has great minerality from the volcanic soils of Sicily. The wine has a great fresh acidity that cuts through the richness and a salty edge that will match up against the capers.

For my dish, I selected the lamb silverside, a set of muscles from the leg which provides a good balance of flavour and tenderness. I chose to poach the lamb to keep it light and clean. Quite often, poached lamb is served with a white sauce made with the poaching liquid and capers.

I decided on a lighter sauce for this dish, still using the poaching stock and capers, but making it more like a salsa verde. I chose chicory to accompany for its bitterness to cut through the richness of the lamb.

Ingredients

Lamb silverside
Capers
Basil
Thyme
Olive oil
Chicory
Salad onions
Sherry vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Total cost — $6.40

2.

Lamb rump

charred zucchini and olive

Jasper Avent
Head Chef,
The Town Mouse

@jasperavent
@thetownmouse

2012 Domaine Matin Calme Sans Temps, Roussillon France

This wine is a blend of carignan and grenache that is grown on 100-year-old vines at 500m above sea level. The wine has a vibrant acidity that will cut through the fattiness of the lamb. A mineral driven flavour profile will pair up nicely with the olives and Mediterranean herbs.

  I chose the lamb rump for my dish – as a working muscle it has a satisfying chew but is still pretty tender with loads of flavour and a nice layer of fat that renders and crisps up nicely.

I prepared the lamb above the fire, allowing it to gently cook in the smoke away from the fierce heat then rendered the fat in a pan.

Zucchini, green olive and oregano are pretty standard Mediterranean flavours that go well with lamb – I just prepared them in a less conventional way to make it a more interesting dish.

Ingredients

Lamb rump
Zucchini flowers
Olive plant
Charred zucchini
Garlic
Hung yoghurt
Oregano
Parsley
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt
Charred zucchini skins
Dried oregano
Vegetable oil
Reduced lamb stock
Green olive brine

Total cost — $8.23

Next Issue

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Rare Medium

 
 

Our next issue will be live and ready for devouring in May.

 
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Our next issue will be live and ready for devouring in February.

 
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Our next issue will be live and ready for devouring in November.

 
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Rare Medium

 
 

Packed with all the best red meat tastes and tales from paddock to plate.

 
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Next Issue

 
 

Issue 22 drops April 2023 – packed with all the best red meat tastes and tales from paddock to plate.

 
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On The Menu

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Currently in Australia there are 17,983 lamb dishes on menus in 654 cities and towns from Byron Bay to the Bogan Shire, Nevertire to Newcastle, Gin Gin to Geelong. Traditional favourites, modern classics and impressive innovations celebrate the diversity of Australian lamb – here are six of our favourites.

Lamb Tomahawk

 

Anchovy, Richmond VIC

Thi Le

Thi’s lamb tomahawk is cut two ribs wide from the loin all the way down the rib with the belly attached. The trim is used to make a lamb fat relish which is cooked out with lemongrass, dried chilli, garlic, palm sugar, shallots, fermented soybeans, dried prawns and a tamarind dipping sauce. Cooked over the hibachi grill, the meat is continuously glazed, taking on the smoke flavour as it cooks. It’s then well rested, finished with chiffonade perrilla and served with sticky rice and spring onion oil.

2009 La La Syrahmi Shiraz, Heathcote, Victoria

A single vineyard shiraz from exciting winemaker Adam Foster. This wine is strong enough to stand up against the complexities of the dish, while still expressing its own delicate spice and velvety tannin. The wine is whole bunch pressed giving it richness and depth of flavour.

Lamb Leg Ham

 

LP’S Quality Meats, Chippendale NSW

Luke Powell

For this boneless lamb leg ham, Luke uses a brine of 5.5% salt and brown sugar – advising the sugar offsets the saltiness often attributed to cured small goods. He adds a range of spices and aromats and cures for one week. It is then trussed and hung in the fridge overnight to develop a ‘pellicle’ which helps absorb the smoke. He then smokes it at 80c until the internal temp is 70c, then shocks in ice water to reduce the temperature as quickly as possible.

2016 Paltinieri ‘Radice’ Lambrusco di sorbarei

The misunderstood variety of Emelia-Romagna home of parmigiano and prosciutto. This slightly fizzy, highly acidic variety leaves flavours of wild berry and citrus. The aromas the dish contain will be lifted and expressed greater through this aromatic wine, a great aperitif.

Braised & Grilled Lamb Ribs

 

Longsong, Melbourne VIC

David Moyle

Lamb ribs derived from the breast are delicately braised in 50/50 plum wine and fish sauce for about an hour and a half at 120 degrees. Next Dave hits them with heat, grilling over coal and glazing with the braising juices as he goes. The dish is finished with capers made with salted nasturtium buds and bitter grilled chicory to cut through the sticky richness of the ribs.

2015 Billy Button ‘The Elusive’ Nebbiolo, Alpine Valleys

A high acid and tannic wine that yearns for a rich spice driven dish. The acid in this wine should cut through the richness, allowing the tannin to leave you salivating for the delicate rose petal and herb aromatics to come to the fore.

Pickled Lamb Heart

 

Mr Liquor’s Dirty Italian Disco,

Mascot NSW

Mike Eggert & Jemma Whiteman

The lamb heart is rubbed in a sugar and salt spice rub and left to marinade for 24 hours then gently poached in a vinegar and white wine stock. Sliced thinly for serving, the meat is perfectly tender with a firm texture and a sweet flavour. Mike says it’s super lean and pairs perfectly with rich oil based dressings, aioli or herby dressings and that it loves a good pinch of salt.

Fino Inocente (Valdespino)

From the oldest Sherry Bodega, this highly complex sherry offers notes of green olive and dried hay. It has a wonderful minerality and saltiness that sits with the saltiness and intensity of the vinegar.

Smoked Lamb Neck

 

Monopole, Potts Point NSW

Brent Savage

Whole lamb necks are first brined and then rubbed with a dry spice and malt syrup before hitting the smoker. Brent says they go hard on the smoke for the first hour and then back it off for a total of about four hours – the result is a crispy, blackened outer and a succulent pink and tender centre. Served with a wakame broth that delicately coats the lamb and perfectly balances the dish.

Mars Maltage ‘Cosmo

A blended whiskey containing a single malt Scottish whiskey, is distilled in the village of Miyata by a small distillery named Shinshu. The whisky carries a slightly sweet smoky aroma and a stewed fruit characteristic. The smoke aspect pairs perfectly with the charred meat and the intensity of flavour from the smoker.

Lamb Cotoletta Arrow Black

 

Park Street Dining, Carlton VIC

Jesse Gerner

Traditionally made with veal, Park Street’s cotoletta is adapted to take advantage of the full flavour of lamb. Racks are sliced into cutlets then crumbed with a mixture of breadcrumbs and lots of fresh basil, mint and parsley. It’s then quickly fried in olive oil for a crispy outside crust and a nice pink centre and served with caper aioli and fresh lemon.

Bridge Rd Chevalier Saison, Beechworth, Victoria

A blended whiskey containing a single malt Scottish whiskey, is distilled in the village of Miyata by a small distillery named Shinshu. The whisky carries a slightly sweet smoky aroma and a stewed fruit characteristic. The smoke aspect pairs perfectly with the charred meat and the intensity of flavour from the smoker.

Global Spotlight

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“Sumimasen —
lamb kudasi”
“Sumimasen —
lamb kudasi”

(“Excuse me — give me the lamb”)

On an Autumnal adventure of Japan in October, I explored some of the ways Japanese foodservice are using Australian lamb on menus. From heritage and history in the north to luscious lamb takes on traditional Japanese favourites in Tokyo; Aussie lamb is the little protein that could, and by all accounts, is only just beginning.

Whilst lamb may appear to be but a small fish in consumption terms (annually per person, the Japanese eat 200g lamb, 6kg beef and 27kg seafood) – it is steadily gaining popularity amongst consumers and chefs alike. As a trusted country of origin, Australia rates second only after Japan, helping position Australian lamb as the superior choice and driving an emerging foodservice trend of Australian lamb on menu as a point of difference.

Facts

Japan

 

Japan is the largest market in Asia for Australian chilled lamb
68% of Japan’s lamb imports come from Australia
Main use of Aussie lamb is for Genghis Kahn restaurants on Northern island of Hokkaido

Conquering
Genghis Kahn

You know you’re in Jingisukan (Genghis Kahn) country when the strong, sweet smell of lamb cooking on piping hot cast iron snakes through the streets and permeates your senses in a swirl of sticky smoke.

Known as one of Hokkaido’s ‘soul foods’ and recognised as an official Hokkaido Heritage food, locals began eating this traditional BBQ style dish around 1936. Genghis Kahn takes a variety of forms but one thing is always consistent – the use of lamb or mutton; 70% of which is Australian.

Why it bears the name of the famed Mongolian ruler is hazy at best; one popular theory is that Genghis Kahn took sheep on his campaigns and sometimes used his iron helmet as a pan for cooking – as such, the modern skillets are reminiscent of an old Mongolian helmet.

Hokkaido’s capital city Sapporo hosts an annual Genghis Kahn rally in Autumn – a month long challenge to eat the dish at as many participating restaurants as possible. I hit Sapporo for less than 24 hours, experiencing my first Genghis Kahn for lunch and polishing off another three that evening. Gluttonous? Perhaps. Repetitive? Surprisingly not. Delicious? Oh, you know it.

SO, WHAT IS IT?
Genghis Kahn is essentially lamb or mutton grilled together with vegetables on a cast iron skillet at the table. There are two main varieties – marinated and non-marinated. Synonymous with barbeque in Hokkaido, it is enjoyed outside in parks, on the beach and when camping and is a family tradition at home. Whilst popular with consumers, there are also over 200 Genghis Kahn restaurants in Sapporo alone.

The custom skillets are sloped, allowing the juices and fat to pool at the bottom to cook and flavour the vegetables. Heated by gas or binchotan coal – the gas version is similar to a hot plate while the binchotan variety is more like a grill plate; allowing the juices to drip through onto the coals and the smoke to further flavour the meat.

How to Genghis Kahn

 

1. Fire up your skillet in the centre of the table

5. Add your lamb — turning once

2. Select your cuts — common cuts include thinly sliced rolled shoulder, chunks of leg and fillet

6. Eat — marinated is enjoyed straight from the skillet while non- marinated is enjoyed via a dipping sauce

3. Grease the skillet with fat — in Japan a chunk of Wagyu fat is used

7. Repeat

4. Add your vegetables — usually a selection of onion, bean sprouts, cabbage and pumpkin

The picturesque Sapporo Beer Garden & Museum in Autumn

I conquered four Genghis Kahn restaurants with my team of warriors – Ryoichi Hiyoshi from key Australian lamb importer Top Trading; Hidemi Sato from Sorachi, one of the most famous Genghis Kahn sauce companies; and Kazu Mitsuhashi, MLA’s Foodservice Business Development Manager in Japan.

Each restaurant offered a different style, and as such, was an experience in itself – but the smoke was consistent and relentless. All restaurants provide plastic bags, lockers or cupboards for coats and jackets to lessen the lingering essence of lamb that sticks with you long after you leave. To be honest, I think it’s still in my hair.


Sapporo Beer Garden

 

  • $30pp all you can eat Genghis Kahn at a heritage beer hall with 100+ seats
  • Two cuts – chuck roll which has been par-frozen and sliced paper thin and slightly thicker slices of shoulder
  • Bean sprouts, cabbage, onion and pumpkin
  • Gas fired skillet – vegetables cover the skillet and non-marinated lamb is placed on top; this technique slightly steams the lamb as it cooks
  • Served with an apple and lemon dipping sauce

Matsujin

 

  • The most famous marinated style Genghis Kahn restaurant with 90+ seats
  • Cuts include shoulder, leg and chuck roll
  • Vegetables include bean sprouts, carrots, pumpkin and onion
  • Gas fired skillet – vegetables in first with a space at the top for the marinated lamb
  • The marinade drips down the skillet and onto the vegetables resulting in delicious sticky goodness


Shirokuma

 

  • The only Genghis Kahn restaurant to be awarded a Michelin Star
  • Tiny space – sit at the bar with binchotan fired skillet in front of you
  • Skillet is more like a grill – fat and juices drip through onto the coal and flavours the meat
  • Australian lamb and chilled mutton featured and only onion for vegetable
  • Dipping sauce is more soy than fruit based – little pots of salt, garlic and chilli are also provided

Hige-no-ushi

 

  • A popular GK restaurant offering both marinated and non-marinated style
  • Menu also included grain fed lamb, lamb bacon, lamb prosciutto and lamb tartare
  • Two grills provided – the GK skillet and a grill plate, both over bincho
  • Vegetables included shallots and onion

Chef Profile

Koji Fukuda

Koji was born in Osaka and after graduating high school, commenced his culinary career at the Hilton Osaka. At 26, Koji headed to the Auckland Hilton as a founding team member of Luke Mangan’s first restaurant, White. He then went on to become Executive Chef at Otto’s in the Metropolis Hotel, Auckland.

In 2006, Koji returned to Japan as Sous Chef at Mangan’s first Asian based restaurant, Salt Tokyo, before spending time at Glass Brasserie in Sydney and at the opening of Salt Grill in Singapore.

In 2011, Koji was appointed Executive Chef at Salt Tokyo where he remained until 2015 when he left to pursue his own dream of opening a restaurant.

Terra Australis opened on Australia Day 2016 to give Tokyo a taste of Australian sophistication from paddock to plate. Drawing upon the finest local and Australian ingredients, Koji presents a contemporary fusion of styles that reflects Australia’s multicultural culture with elements of Asian, British and French cuisine.

In 2017 he opened two more restaurants in Ebisu and Shinmarunouti.

Koji has been an official ‘Lambassador’ since 2015 – a joint Government and Meat & Livestock Australia initiative that boosts Japanese interest in Australian lamb.

Koji’s Australian lamb cutlets with coconut yoghurt and jalapeño mole at Terra Australis

Quick Fire Five

 

Best thing about Aussie lamb?

It stands out for its quality and flavour

 

Favourite cut

Rack of lamb, you can never go wrong

 

Next big food trend in Japan?

Fermentation

 

Best advice you’ve ever recieved?

It’s never too late to be who you might have been

 

Your chef idol?

Marco Pierre White – he is the man!

Tokyo
Lamb Love

 

Lamb Shabu Shabu

 

Shabu-shabu translates to ‘swish-swish’ and refers to the dipping and stirring of thinly sliced meat and vegetables in boiling broth. As the name suggests, at Meri-no in Chiyoda, the order of the day is all you can eat lamb shabu-shabu. The process begins by dropping a soccer ball sized ball of spun sugar into a dashi based broth, then adding mushrooms, onion, pumpkin and shiso. Chopsticks at the ready, paper thin slices of rolled lamb shoulder are swished momentarily in the broth, swiped in your choice of dipping sauce and down the hatch it goes. Eat and repeat.

Lamb Ramen

 

Tomoharu Shono opened his first ramen shop in 2005. Extremely passionate about ramen, Master Shono now manages over nine shops in Tokyo and one in San Francisco – each with its own unique theme, menu and handmade noodles. At Mensho Tokyo, that theme is lamb. The rich, full flavoured broth is made from lamb and pork bones and topped with smoky lamb chashu. The constant line snaking out the door and down the pavement suggests that Tokyo has embraced this lamb loaded spin on one of their most famous and traditional dishes.

Lamb ramen topped with smoky lamb chashu at Mensho Tokyo

Tokyo Lamb Festival

 

The Hitsuji Festa is a festival of lamb and mutton hosted annually in Tokyo by a private organisation consisting of members who love lamb and mutton. The event introduces locals to lamb with 14 pop ups from popular local restaurants. The 2017 festival, held the first weekend in November, attracted 30,000 visitors over the course of the weekend. On the menu were cutlets and skewers artfully twisted and turned over the smoky robata grill, the northern Hokkaido dish of Genghis Kahn, lamb dumplings served in a light lamb broth and our very own Lambassadors firing up the BBQ with Aussie lamb cutlets served with a choice of sauces.

Chef Koji preparing 2000 lamb cutlets for the Australian Lambassador pop up at Tokyo Lamb Festival

On The Menu

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Summer is the official season of fun and frivolity with parties, festivals and summer sport maxing out the diary and those all-important ‘new year-new you’ vibes, FOMOs and YOLOs keeping the Aussie dream alive. We caught up with some venues that speak fluent summer to see how they’re making beef the true hero this silly season.

Summer Sambos

 

Salted Beef Bagel

 

A1 Canteen, Chippendale
Clayton Wells

 
Inspired by Brick Lane’s Beigel Bake in London, Clayton has done Aussies a favour and created his own version at A1 Canteen. Silverside is brined for four days with a range of secret spices then slowly poached with vegetables in stock. The vibrant red beef is thinly shaved and a generous amount of the warm salty goodness loaded into a soft seeded bagel – the result of many a bagel trial.

Clayton says traditional bagels were a bit too chewy and hard to eat when stuffed full of beef, so this one is bagel-sticky on the outside but soft on the inside, holding everything perfectly in place. Lashings of a punchy mix of yellow American and Dijon mustards and zesty dill pickles offset the warm salty beef. It’s a salty, soft, crunchy, tangy hell of a good time.

Festival Food

 

The Manwich

 

Bovine & Swine, Newtown
Wes Griffiths

 

The sun is shining, the music is pumping and the punters are drinking and dancing up a ravenous hunger. Insert Sydney’s bosses of BBQ and you have the perfect festival hunger buster.

Juicy hunks of brisket are seasoned with flossy salt and cracked black pepper then smoked over an all-wood fire for 12 hours. The combination of rendered fats with the salt and pepper forms a semi-crunchy bark while the gentle smoke brings a smoky sweetness.

Not meaty enough? Enter the Hot Link Sausage – a hand-crafted meaty tube mincing together the brisket trimmings with pork on a coarse grind then mixed with salt, pepper, jack cheese and jalapenos and hand pressed into a natural casing.

Stuffed into a soft brioche bun and topped with house-made coffee barbeque sauce and a vinegar-based slaw – this flavour bomb of goodness will soak up the booze and keep them going well into the night.

Smoked Brisket

Hot-link Sausages

Summer Snacks & Sundowners

 

Tongue, Empanadas, Tartare & Steak

 

Asado, Southbank
Ollie Gould

 

That summer sun is turning it on and the tourists pounding the South Bank pavement have worked up a sweat, a hunger and a thirst. Asado’s big arch windows are thrown open and the smell of beef over fire is on the breeze – it’s the perfect spot to settle in and replenish. A round of signature G&Ts are accompanied perfectly with a couple of punchy pintxos. Beef tongue is brined overnight and slow cooked for 12 hours, then thinly sliced and grilled over searing fire; empanadas stick to tradition; encasing slow cooked beef mince, olives and boiled egg in flaky empanada pastry.

Next, order up a round of sangria and dig in to Ollie’s take on beef tartare – highly marbled hand diced flank steak is mixed with nine ingredients including fish sauce and Tabasco. Served with pickled mushrooms, anchovy mayonnaise, mojama and crispy potato chips – the ultimate snacking scoop. They came for the snacks but they would be mad not to stay for the steaks – grilled to smoky perfection over the custom-made charcoal parrilla. With grass and grain fed options including flank, inside skirt, eye fillet, bone-in sirloin and rib-eye; it’s a smoky, summery good time.

Beef Tongue Pintxos

Beef Tartare and Empanadas

New Year’s Eve

 

Chuck Tail Flap, Smoked Eel, Burnt Cucumber & Black Bean

 

Aria, Sydney
Joel Bickford

 

Sydney Harbour on New Year’s Eve, it’s the quintessential Sydney experience – step up the sophistication with a front row seat to the fireworks and dinner at Aria. Marble score 5 chuck tail flap takes a leisurely 2.5 hour bath before hitting the pan for a heavy char. It is then coated in fermented black bean and flashed in the oven so it sticks before taking a nice long rest.

A golden beef crumb is made by cooking down beef fat until crunchy then draining and drying slowly overnight – adding a textural element to the dish. Served with charred cucumber, compressed beetroot, smoked eel and fresh mulberries – it well and truly sets the standard for the year ahead. Cheers to that.

Summer Rooftop Sessions

 

Beef Rendang Skewers & Szechuan Brisket

 

Heroes, Melbourne
Mike Patrick

 

Colourful drinks and food on sticks – it really writes itself. Add an open-air rooftop, summer sunshine and a hit of karaoke – and you have the recipe for the ultimate summer session. From the team behind Melbourne’s best BBQ joint Fancy Hanks, comes a three-level Southeast Asian hawker inspired party palace. Head chef Alicia Choeng cooks everything to order over the custom-made charcoal grill – tender cubes of rump in rendang dry spice rub are skilfully twisted over red-hot binchotan – sending the sizzling scent of beef through the venue.

Topped with coconut curry sauce, they pack a flavour punch and the one-hand-drive makes them the ultimate bar snack. When those colourful cocktails are starting to kick in, Alicia cranks it up a notch with Szechuan peppercorn brisket – smoked for twelve hours at Fancy Hanks then diced into perfect bite-size pieces, deep-fried and served with smoked garlic puree and pickled radish. Sing it to me baby.

Summer of Sport

 

Summer in Australia sure is a lot of things – but really, summer in Australia is all about leather on willow, aces and tiebreakers, champions and chumps – we just love our summer sport. We visited two of our greatest summer sports venues to chew the fat and see how they’re keeping the punters, the public and the VIPs fed this summer.

Sydney Cricket Ground

 

Moore Park, Sydney
Stuart Webb

 

Feeding approximately 4,000 customers a day during the test series, SCG catering is managed by Delaware North and includes retail and corporate food offerings ranging from general admission and members retail offerings through to high end a la carte, cocktail chef stations, suites buffets and grazing and plated function rooms to name a few. Corporate catering includes 120 chefs across 14 kitchens servicing 10 function rooms, 73 sites, and 112 open boxes.

Over the course of the summer, the corporate team will serve up over 4 tonnes of beef including whole beef butts, beef brisket smoked in-house, tenderloin, beef cheeks and sirloin. Retail food offerings include 81 food and beverage locations with up to 700 game day staff and 20 different F&B concepts.

Beef Hat Trick

 
For those rubbing VIP shoulders at the cricket this summer – the boys are serving up a beef hat trick on a plate. MS6+ Tajima Wagyu tenderloin is gently sous vide then finished on a hot buttery grill and seasoned with hickory salt. It is joined by oxtail braised overnight until unctuous and crispy bone marrow pieces coated in beef fat and panko crumbs. Served with carrots, smoked potato puree, peas and stinging nettles and an oxtail reduction. Howzat?!
 
 

Butcher’s Block

 
Weighing in at around 32kgs, this whole beef butt is rubbed with saltbush and native thyme then cooked low and slow for 18 hours until reaching an internal temperature of 62 degrees. Carved at the station, this showstopper is served in a ciabatta baguette with celeriac slaw and a selection of premium condiments, sauces and relishes. It’ll knock em for six.
 

Rod Laver Arena

 

Melbourne Park
Asif Mamun

 

The Australian Open is the pinnacle of tennis in Australia – one of the world’s four grand slams and a huge drawcard on the summer sporting calendar offering $55 million in prize money. With food hospitality services managed by Delaware North and consisting of corporate, VIP, function, suites, boxes and general admission retail – over the course of the event, a huge amount of meals will be served utilising 32 tonnes of protein, 16 of which is beef.

Trio of Beef

 

Wagyu Striploin, Surf & Turf, Japanese-Style Brisket

 
Beef aces the menu at corporate catering and functions with this trio of offerings. Half-blood wagyu striploin is removed from its packaging and aged in the fridge for a couple of days to dry out and concentrate the flavour of the beef. Already rich in flavour, Asif keeps the cooking process simple, adding a touch of seasoning and grilling on a hot grill for about 3 minutes each side then serving with wasabi mousse, saffron sauce, beetroot puree, heirloom carrots and charred onions. Add a banana prawn for Asif’s take on the classic Surf & Turf. Inspired by Melbourne’s cultural diversity, Asif plays on Japanese flavours for his brisket dish. Brisket is aged in the fridge then marinated with sake, a dry rub of secret Japanese ingredients and white miso and then smoked overnight at low temperature using honey brick. Served with miso mustard to give sharpness and cut through richness, truss tomato, nasturtium leaf and sijime mushroom.

Loaded Beef Flatbread

 
For the general admission fans sweating it out in the sun, there is plenty to love about Rod Laver Arena’s retail food offerings including this flavour loaded beef beauty. Beef brisket is rested in the fridge then rubbed with a secret selection of herbs and spices before an overnight smoke on honey brick. It is then moved to a low oven and cooked for a further three hours until it is melt-in-the-mouth tender. Shredded for service, the brisket is stuffed into a locally produced pita bread with house-made tzatziki and a fresh salad of pickled cucumber and daikon, capers, dill and oregano.

Chef Handover

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Chef Editor
Handover

So we had this bright idea that to wrap up each issue we’d include a fun cultural style handover from the current chef editor to the incoming chef editor. The thought was that Dave (current) would demonstrate a traditional cooking method to Duncan (incoming) that represents his heritage.

Given that Dave is a Kiwi, we thought a Hangi would be fun. A Hangi is a traditional Maori method of cooking using heated rocks buried in a pit oven. Turns out Duncan knows more about Hangis than Dave – or maybe he just likes to talk more. Here’s what happened.

Two Under Ten

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All eyes on Ides for the Two Under 10 challenge as the boys in black whip up a couple of tasty treats for less than a tenner. We’re not sure Gary got the memo about not using a prime cut – so we’ve made an alternate suggestion for you. We blame you Peter Gunn.

1.

Glazed Lamb Ribs & Herb Salad

Henry Salt
Sous Chef
Ides

 

@henry.salt

 

Henry takes us on a juicy journey to Morocco with these ludicrously good lamb ribs. Really, there is nothing quite like the sticky satisfaction you get from getting messy with a fall-off-the-bone-tender lamb rib – or six. Bar snack? Check. Share plate? If you’re willing to share, sure. Plated entrée or main? Ribsolutely. Yeah, we went there.
 
 
 

Ingredients

 

Lamb ribs
Wild thyme honey
Paprika
Cumin
Coriander seeds
Garlic powder
Olive oil
White sesame seeds
Black sesame seeds

 

Total cost — $9.72

2.

Herb Crusted Lamb & Pea Puree

 

Gary Kim
Junior Sous Chef
Ides

 

@gary__jh

 

Why mess with a good thing?! Gary takes it back to old school with a classic crusted roast lamb dish giving it a colourful Spring twist with fresh herbs and a vibrant pea puree. While he has used loin rack, you could keep costs down by trying the shoulder rack instead. Just lower the temp and cook for longer, or sous vide first to soften before crumbing and finishing in a hot oven.
 
 
 

Ingredients

 

Lamb loin
Dijon mustard
Panko
Parsley
Basil
Lemon
Olive oil
Frozen peas
Milk

 

Total cost — $9.72

Wagyu Katsu Sando: Three Ways

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If there was a sandwich Olympics – and we think there should be – surely the Wagyu Katsu Sando would take pride and place on the podium. Of Japanese origin, the Wagyu Katsu Sando was created by chef Kentaro Nakahara and first appeared as a dessert at his renowned yakiniku restaurant Sumibiyakiniku Nakahara in Tokyo.


 
Since then, iterations of this salacious sandwich have found their way onto menus around the world – as daily specials, secret menu items and as a dedicated course of a $200 tasting menu. From fine dining to fast food, customers have queued up around the block for a taste of this decadent treat and with prices ranging anywhere from $30 – $200 – it’s obviously adaptable to a range of outlets.
 
We recruited three Sydney chefs to create their own version for us – at three vastly different venues – to show there’s a wagyu katsu sando for everyone. Humble white bread meets premium wagyu beef. The rest is really up to you.

1.

THE SOKYO SANDO


 
Chef Chase Kojima
Sokyo

The Sokyo Wagyu Katsu Sando

Sokyo is Sydney’s premium Japanese dining experience – and that’s what executive chef Chase Kojima wanted to reflect in his version of the wagyu katsu sando. Chase and his team experimented with different methods before settling on sous vide the beef before frying to get the best texture for their sando.
 
Chase uses AACo’s Westholme Sirloin MS9. The Westholme cattle came to Australia from Japan more than two decades ago with strong lineage that traces back to champion wagyu bulls and cows. Westholme cattle are born on AACo’s pristine outback stations, raised on grass and finished on a specialised grain blend to achieve rich marbling throughout the cut.

The Sokyo Wagyu Katsu Sando


 

Net food cost — $19.00
Sale price — $65.00

 
 
 

Ingredients

 
 
 

Umami Chutney

 

5g karashi mustard powder
10g water
65g diced shallot
160g diced red onion
100g sugar
10g soy
12g citrus vinegar
4g kombu
10g bbq sauce
2g salt

 
 
 

Truffle Mayo

 

30g fresh black truffle
200g Kewpie mayo
50g truffle oil

 
 
 

Wagyu Sirloin Katsu
 

Westholme Wagyu Sirloin MS9+
2 whole eggs
50ml cream
2g salt
Japanese white bread

Sous vide steak seasoned with shio kombu before crumbing

Method – Condiments

 
To prepare the chutney, mix mustard powder with water and set aside. Cook shallot, onion and sugar until caramelised. Once it becomes soft and caramelised mix in the other ingredients. Mix chutney with karashi mustard.
 
For the mayo, grate the fresh black truffle with a microplane and mix with truffle oil and mayonnaise.

Method – Katsu

 
Portion sirloin into 130g slices removing the cap for an even size. Season with salt and pepper and place into a vacuum bag. Sous vide at 54 degrees for 45 minutes then chill in ice water.
 
Mix together eggs, cream and salt.
 
Remove crusts from a whole loaf of Japanese white bread then grate bread with a cheese grater. Toast crumbs in an oven at 120 degrees ensuring not to colour.
 
Season the sous vide sirloin with shio kombu then coat with tempura flour. Dip into the egg mixture then coat with panko. Deep fry at 150 degrees for 3 minutes.

Sokyo chef Chase Kojima building his wagyu katsu sando

To Serve

 
Lightly toast two thick slices of white bread, spread with truffle mayonnaise then place the wagyu katsu onto the bread. Spread umami chutney onto the katsu. Top with the other slice of bread and cut into four pieces. Place onto a plate grated with fresh horseradish.

2.

THE SANDWICH SHOP SANDO


 
Chef Faheem Noor
Mrs Palmer Sandwich

Mrs Palmer’s Wagyu Katsu Sando

The hot new sandwich shop on the block, Mrs Palmer Sandwich in Darlinghurst, takes sandwich basics seriously with their own custom baked bread – the perfect vessel to transport premium produce to your lips. Their version of the wagyu katsu sando, created by chef Faheem Noor, hits the Mrs Palmer special board with gusto using Tajima MBS7+ cube roll.
 
The Tajima brand is from Andrew’s Meats and uses specially sourced F1 crossbred wagyu. An F1 is a “first cross” – meaning a 100% full-blood wagyu bull is crossed with another breed of cow. In the Tajima case, wagyu bulls are bred with Angus cows resulting in beef that is extremely tender, yet still firm to the palate with juicy, silky and enduring flavour.

Mrs Palmer’s Wagyu Katsu Sando


 

Net food cost — $12.80
Sale price — $35.00

 
 
 

Ingredients

 

200g Tajima cube roll MS7+
Flour
Egg wash
Panko crumb
Parsley
Pepper
Fried onion
Butter
Wasabi cream
Beef jus
Homestyle white loaf

Mrs Palmer Sandwich’s custom baked bread

Crumb the steak then deep fry for 2.5 minutes. Rest for two minutes. Butter and lightly toast two slices of thick-cut loaf.
 
Butter bread with wasabi cream then place the rested steak onto bread. Add fried onion and drizzle with jus. Slice and serve with fried lotus chips.

Sliced wagyu katsu layering onto thick white bread

3.

THE STADIUM SANDO


 
Chef Martin Dulke
Venues Live – ANZ & BankWest Stadiums

Stadium Sher Wagyu Sando with furikake dusted chips and whisky pickle

Venues Live chef Martin Dulke thinks it’s time to kick the hot dog to the curb with the ultimate in game-day satisfaction – whether your team is on top or not. This hot-in-the-hand stadium showstopper is set to hit the menu at ANZ Stadium in Sydney – with a whopping 90,000 capacity – and is adaptable across both the corporate suites and general retail menus.

 

Martin prefers Sher Wagyu for his sando – an award-winning brand of wagyu based at Ballan in central Victoria. Since 1991 the Sher family have been producing full-blood and crossbred wagyu and managing all stages of the production process. Their cattle are pasture-fed until 18 months of age and then grain-fed for 400+ days.

Stadium Sher Wagyu Katsu Sando


 

Net food cost — $10.65
Sale price — $25.00

 
 
 

Ingredients

 

150g Sher Wagyu Rib Eye Roll MS8
2 slices white bread
½ cup tare sauce
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1-2 tbs water
1 cup fresh panko breadcrumbs
Sea salt

Your steak should be about the same size as your bread

Trim the ribeye roll into a 2cm thick, 12x12cm square portion – or roughly the size of the bread.
 
Whisk together eggs and water in a mixing bowl. Prepare bowls of flour and panko ready for breading.
 
Season steak with sea salt then dip in flour, egg and then breadcrumbs.
 
Preheat a fryer to 180°c then fry the steak for 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Remove and test using a digital thermometer – ideally, the internal temperature should be 52°c.
 
Rest the steak for 6 minutes on a rack in a warm place while you prepare your other ingredients.

Crumbing the steak for the Stadium Sando

Pan fry bread slices on one side until golden brown then brush the tare sauce on the untoasted side of the bread. Place the rested steak on the sauced bread and close the sando.
 
Using a serrated knife, cut the sando into halves or four squares and serve with furikake-dusted, hand-cut fries, a Yamazaki Whisky-infused dill pickle and pickled daikon.

At ANZ Stadium, the sando will be served in wooden boxes for corporates and a similar shaped cardboard box at retail

 
 

Two Under Ten

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What’s your beef? It’s Automata vs A1 for this issue’s Two Under 10 challenge and let’s just say that the boys have done very Wells indeed. In keeping with our focus on whole carcase utilisation, James at Automata has whipped up a tasty tripe pasta while Scott has gone full A1 style with a salted beef bagel.

1.

Buttered Beef Tripe Pasta

James Tai
Sous Chef
Automata

 

James channels his Cantonese heritage and gives it an Automata edge – taking a brown butter pasta to offally-good new heights.

 

Tripe is the edible lining of a cow’s stomach and can be prepared in a variety of ways – it can have a chewy texture and like other offals, be heavy in minerality which should be considered in its preparation.

 

To reduce minerality, James blanches the tripe in ginger and water and then braises with browned butter and a marinade of spices, salt and sweetness. Tossed together with fresh made pasta, seasoned with lemon juice and finished with shaved macadamia – it’s tripe done right.

 
 
 

Ingredients

 

Beef tripe
Ginger
Tamari
Soy
Five spice
Cloves
Coriander seed
Apple juice
Onion
Garlic
Butter
Pasta
Salt
Lemon juice
Macadamia

 

Total cost — $4.65

James serving his braised and marinated tripe and beef pasta.

2.

Salted Beef Bagel

Scott Eddington
Former Head Chef
A1 Canteen

 

If A1 is known for anything, it’s for their tasty AF sandwiches – and this one is definitely a crowd favourite.
 
Inspired by the 24-hour mayhem of Brick Lane’s Beigel Bake in London, a toasted seeded bagel is loaded with warm slices of silverside that has been brined then slowly poached, tangy pickles for a contrasting crunch and lashings of violet mustard – mustard cooked down with red grapes.
 
Can we all please just take a moment to appreciate the humble sandwich – and let’s not forget the salty satisfaction of silverside – it’s simply one of the best things you can put between sliced bread.

 
 
 

Ingredients

 

Beef silverside
Seeded bagel
Butter
Salt
Onions
Celery
Bay leaf
Peppercorns
Parsley
Kosher dill pickles
Red grape mustard

 

Total cost — $5.70

Slices of satisfyingly salty silverside stacked with kosher dill pickles on a seeded bagel.

Next Issue

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Issue 21 drops January 2023 – new year, new you?

 
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Issue 20 drops October 2022 – just in time for silly season and packed with all things festive and fun.

 
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Issue 19 will be making its way to a device near you in July 2022.

 
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Issue 17 drops January and will share the love of LAMB from paddock to plate.

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

 
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