Meaty stuff

Going "Veg" will not save the planet

2009-09-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of the more annoying topics that seems to be cropping up on a more and more regular basis. It seems like the extremist animal libbers have found something so complex that their simple babble of "go veg save the planet" cannot be undone by a simple one liner in retort which in today’s "5 sec sound grab" world means that the argument against goes unheard.
As someone who both loves the planet as well as grows and sells meat the notion that eating the product we grow and sell could cause the end of the world as we know it is something worth investigating but I didn't have to go far to basically debunk this statement.
To begin with Lifecycle analysis of the carbon emissions of fish, poultry (and locally in Australia kangaroo) show that all three have lower emissions than coffee, sugar, oils and fresh veg (Wallen et al 2004). In fact a UK study (Fray and Barrett 2007) showed that while there was a carbon emissions benefit to vegetarianism over the average British diet it was only 9% better than just swapping to a healthy locally sourced diet (think CSIRO Healthy living diet)
Compounding the myth is the fact that all these emissions are done with no offset taken into account, as the offsets in agriculture are a notoriously difficult thing to quantify at a farm level, due to measurement issues. However it is indisputable that different farming techniques can add or detract from soil carbon content - thus decreasing or increasing atmospheric carbon.
The basic message delivered here also fails to take into account the ability of developing technology to improve the way we do things. There are a multitude of projects that will reduce emmissions from ruminants that I am aware of including feeding garlic to livestock to reduce emmissions (www.mootral.com) to use of kangaroo gut bacteria in ruminants to pasture sprays to breeding specific genetic lines for lower emmisions
In addition livestock farming is one form of farming that is managed in much more harmony with biodiversity. While field crops and horticulture are grown in vast monocultures with regular sprays of herbicide and pesticide and vertebrate vermin control in general pasture based systems retain trees, shrubs and have minimal input in the form of sprays etc.
Also while we are "saving the planet" we need to ask the question of what will happen to the ungrazed grassland which would be created if we no longer had ruminants grazing them. leaving alone the increased fire risk (which we have seen the devastating consequences of in Victoria recently)the grass has to do something which is rot away - while more grass is undoubtedly grown in a grazing situation than ungrazed the grass that is left has to decompose. If this occurs in an anaerobic situation as much of it will then the decomposing grass will give off methane exactly as if consumed by a cow. More to the point especially in Northern Australia if this grass is eaten by termites then methane will definately be given off giving no benefit over ruminant grazing.
So as a grower who manages their property to increase their soil carbon and has retain large swathes of trees (on our farm we have nearly 2 million trees) and shrubbery and minimising fire risk to my neighbours am I "killing the planet" - no way. And are the "Go Veg save the planet" crew running one big massive con - you would have to say - unavoidably so - TOO BLOODY RIGHT

Sydney Royal Fine Food

2009-09-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

Once again we pitted our range of boutique meat products against the biggest in the industry and once again we have proved that our quality approach wins over quantity when it comes to the most important thing - taste,
We entered a total of 5 products ourselves and 4 of our suppliers also entered a total of 7 products in the competition.
Our haul of 1 gold (champion) 3 silver and 1 bronze medal is testament to the quality we product when our entire throughput of all meat in a week is as much as 1% of the size of some of our competitors.
Our suppliers also covered themselves in glory with 2 gold (1 champion) 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.
As such we are confident that Feast Fine Foods offers the best range of Australia's finest red meat products

Magill Estate Suffolk Loin

2009-08-27T01:05:00.001-07:00

Magill Estate was featured in the "Adelaide Magazine" today here is a shot of our Suffolk Lamb loin

SA State Sausage King

2009-08-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

Throw another prize winning sausage on the Barbie!

Feast! Fine Foods has added 2 more SA Sausage King titles to its increasing trophy case. Having won numerous awards for their premium quality farm direct meats over the past few years Feast! has now translated this success into the highly competitive Sausage King awards.

At a gala dinner, for the 2009 AMIC Sausage King, held in Adelaide on Saturday night Feast! secured the coveted gongs in both the poultry and continental categories.

The prize poultry entry is a new sausage in the Feast! range made from coarse ground premium breast and thigh chicken meat with a hint of apple and cinnamon. The continental winner was our Bratwurst sausage made with premium Angus beef and Berkshire pork.

Feast! also won a third placing in the continental section for our fresh chorizo sausage.

The success this year follows the 2008 awards where Feast! also won the Traditional Pork sausage and went on to finish 3rd in Australia.

Feast! will now represent SA in these categories at the 2010 National Sausage King Awards to be held on the Gold Coast in February 2010.

Shiraz and the Chef

2009-07-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Shiraz and the Chef was an event held at "The Lane" vineyard in the Adelaide Hills as part of the Adelaide Hills wine regions "Winter reds" promotion.

Apart from the hor d'ouvres all the remaining courses were matched with Shiraz of one form or another.

We began the night with two neat little appetisers which were a doughy potato ball stuffed with a white anchovy (reminiscant of fish and chips!) and a risotto ball with tallegio and porcini mushrooms which was very earthy and tasty.

Next we sat down to begin the dinner proper which began with thyme cured rare duck breast served with pear jelly and a duck neck sausage. The duck breast was tender and moist yet I couldn't really pick up the thyme and the pear jelly could of done with a bit more oomph. However the duck neck sausage was sensational and a great match with the 2007 The Lane Shiraz

Next for main we had Coorong Angus Beef cheeks which had been shaped into cylinders by wrapping the shredded cheek meat with prociutto - a great look. The Cheek was accompanied with horseradish semolina and a beetroot relish. These two flavours are awesome with beef and the textures Glenn Carr and james Brinklow achieved through this combo made this a truly memorable dish. An interesting aside to this was that the presentation of the cheek was actually an afterthought as the meat had fallen apart a bit after 12 hours of cooking. Testement to the chef initiative as the resultant presentation was one of the best ways I have seen this cut plated. The cheek dish was matched with a yet unreleased John Crighton 2007 Shriaz Cabernet which was my pick of the night on the wine side of things

We finished the night with petit fours and a couple of nice cheeses a local goat milk and brie which were accompanied with The Lane 2007 "Reunion" Shiraz and 2007 Shaw and Smith Shiraz

All in all a lovely night well executed by a couple of talented chefs

The tomahawk

2009-06-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

Quay Restaurant Sydney 10 May

2009-06-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

We have been supplying Quay Restaurant in Sydney with Suffolk lamb for 12 months now and after much chiding from the better half a booking was made on the weekend we visited Sydney for the 2009 Vogue Entertaining and Travel producer awards. In the past 12 months Quay has won the Syney Morning Herald Restaurant of the Year and the Gourmet Traveller and Restaurant and Catering Association National Restaurant of the Year awards as well as being named in the World's top 50 restaurants.

As such expectations were High!

After scoring a sensational table with amazing views of both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House we took a chance to look at the menu which to be honest was a struggle - there were 4 courses and 4 choices per course and to be honest only 3 of the 16 didn't appeal to me. After much deliberation the meal began

For first course I had the Mud Crab Congee. Sweet crab with a well spiced congee and silky smooth rice porridge was pretty good start to the night but there was better to come! Next I went for the Confit of Pig Belly with abalone and cuttlefish braise. It was an subtle combination of flavours and textures all of which were smooth and unctious in their own way with the belly being cooked to perfection. The surprise in the second course was the dish chosen by Liz a Confit of shaved squid - this was sublime and like no other squid dish i have ever tasted. If I ever get back to Quay and that dish is on the menu I'm having it as 1 forkful was not enough!

At this point we were getting set for "mains" when were surprised by the kitchen with 5 textures of southern rock lobster. As a South Aussie I know that these suckers are good and Quay didn't let me down. The "plate" for this was something I'd not seen before and it came apart to reveal 2 dishes one a consomme over a mousse of lobster and the other a stack with butter poached lobster, lobster and tapioca mousseline and what I discovered later was lobster with egg whites. All in all very clever and very good.

So now time for the Suffolk Lamb - a loin with baby carrots, nasturtims, capers and tiny olives it came with a side of sheeps milk fromage that to be honest I was a trifle worried about apon reading the menu. However it worked - all the ingrediants were allowed to speak for themselves and it was testemant to the chef that the flavours were allowed to out and the fromage was wonderfully mild and complemented the unique flavour of our very special suffolk lamb.

As someone who is not a huge "dessert eater" I finished with the cheese platter which was lovely but it was now that we got our last surprise. The 8 texture chocolate cake appeared on our table. Now I have no idea of the exact 8 textures I was eating - all I can say is that this was the best cake I have ever eaten and it has ruined me for all others as now I know what is possible.

All in all a brilliant night with fantastic service and amazing food

What to do with a dry aged rump?

2008-05-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting question as while we as Aussies love rump (or top sirloins as the Yanks call it) but we only really love it off the small and young domestic beef we do for the supermarket and butcher trade here.

We don't love big rumps as they have a small problem which is due to the fact that as the animal gets older the connective tissue "calcifys" which means gets harder and gristlier.

Now the rump consists of 4 muscles (see pic) all of which are covered in silverskin and there is a little bit of gristle around the place as well. So as a piece of meat it can suffer from the impression of being tough despite it not being the meat but the connective tissue that has caused the problem.

Now there is 2 ways to deal with this problem

1) trim every skerrick of connective tissue off

and

2) get the temperature of the connective tissue above 65 deg C at which point it will go soft so long as the cut in question is from a well fed and reared beef animal not some broken down old cow.

On the weekend I used both methods

Firstly and simply I made a version of steak tartare with completely denuded rump tri tip and eye of rump side. I made a spice blend with cinnamon, allspice, black and white pepper and salt. I then got some fine bulgur and washed it then pulsed it in a blender with a dash of olive oil till it was a fine paste. I pulped a few slices of red onion then blended my rump again to a paste like consistency.

I then worked the bulgur, red onion and meat paste together by hand adding the spice mixture as well. This was served with oven toasted pita bread

The remainder of the rump once trimmed was liberally doused in olive oil, scored and had salt rubbed into the fat. This was placed in a weber well stocked with real charcoal.

Set and forget and 3.5 hours later - it doesn't get any better than this

Wine Underground Chefs Table

2008-05-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

Another chance to see the amazing stuff that a great chef can create with secondary cuts of beef and lamb.

The use of these cuts is a passion of mine and I strongly subscribe to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's philosophy of eat less, eat better and eat it all when it comes to meat production. The full thought process behind this is something for another day but in this instance all I can say is that if you don't eat lamb breast or beef brisket or neck or shin you really are missing out.

The lunch consisted of 5 entree portions all featuring cuts you do not see routinely on fine dining menus (at least here in Adelaide)

We began with a traditional steak tartare which used dry aged rump for the meat instead of the traditional cut used in this dish of fillet. The rump had oddles of flavour and more than held it's own with the accompaniments which were chopped through the beef including, anchovy, worcestershire sauce, cornichons, capers, brandy and shallots. The chopped up mixture cocooned a quail egg yolk and was served with french fries on the side

The next dish was breast of lamb that had been slow cooked in a gastrome for 6 hours. The breast was rubbed in a complex mix of 11 spices then laid on a bed of onions and carrots with verjiuce poured over the meat and vegetables to provide the cooking moisture. The lamb was weighted after this while it cooled to enable a continuation of the fat rendering process. This dish was topped by a single pice of smoked tomato that left me wishing I had a little more as the combination of the smokey sweetness of the tomato with the rich earthiness of the lamb was a well thought out match.

The lamb breast came out at the same time as my highlight of the lunch which featured poached beef shin. A whole shin was again slow cooked for hours once cooled the individual muscle bundles were seperated out and fried in a tempura batter. This was then serves on a radiccio salad with crumbled roquefort cheese and crispy fried duck crackling. A truly surprising and delicious take on beef shin which is so often served as a rich and gelatinous type of dish this was crisp, bitey yet still had the fullness of flavour than shin delivers so well.

With no rest for the wicked the next two entrees soon joined us as did some 3 Rings Barossa Shiraz which complemented the fantastic flavours we had beef experiencing.

The 4th of our cohort of dishes was a dish that the Wine Underground had served at the Clare Gourmet weekend just the day before our lunch. It was described on our menu as Slow Beef Neck cooked in shiraz juice served with parsley dumplings. This was much closer to the traditional take on a secondary cut with rich luxurious beef flavour from the beef neck coupled with a light fluffy mash in the dumplings. the shiraz jus left from the cooking process was rich, sticky and full flavoured - this was the perfect winters dish.

The team at the wine underground humoured my inner chef with the last dish which is one that I invented though I have to say they did improve it somewhat from the version I passed on. The description is Slow roasted Coorong Angus beef belly with mung bean salad and is a combination of asian flavours with a hint of Texan bbq brisket. The belly was marinated for 12 hours in a mix of thai influences seasonings then slow roasted under light weights for 6 hours in a low oven. It was then topped with a mung bean salad with some sliced shallot, coriander and mint leaves. The dish was then dressed with a chilli spiked vinegar which cut through the richness of the beef and lifted up the cripy herbal salad. Not bad if I do say so myself

To complete a great lunch we had a selection of cheese from The Bruny Island Cheese Co which is owned and operated by Nick Haddow who I went to school with many moons ago. To me the 1792 washed rind was a highlight and something I had not tried before but will definately be on future cheese plates served at the gunner house

Bon Appetite

By the by NEXT time I will remember to bring a camera so you can all see these wonderful dishes in the flesh so to speak!

Christmas Ham

2007-12-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

Had something pretty special for Christmas dinner - it was a test drive of a product we hope to be able to offer next year.

It was a brandy soaked, hot smoked and roasted over redgum free range berkshire ham on the bone. The pig was sourced from a local grower and the entire process was done by hand

Given this year our major food retailers plumbed new lows in their abuse of the Australian consumer it was good to see how great a ham can be.

Worst ham product of 2007 would have to go to KR Castlemaine's gut turning recreated bone in ham - in response to educated consumer avoiding boneless ham as most of it was imported. The "smart" people at KR Castlemaine decided to wrap imported pork around an Australian bone thereby circumventing the consumer backlash against the imports.

I can hear some people saying surely you can tell the difference as the imported product would be labelled as such - no fear - the imports are labelled "Made in Australia" so the consumer has to be doubly aware as the dinkum stuff is labelled "Product of Australia" A subtle but important difference when "complying" with Australia's weak as water food labelling laws.

Why does this matter? - our local industry is suffering through some of the hardest times with drought and a high Australian dollar - it's the final straw for many to see our shops awash with tonnes of subsidised ham and bacon.

Chefs Table at Claudes 29/11/07

2007-12-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

Wow what a dinner

8 meaty courses featuring Coorong Angus beef and Pure Suffolk Lamb. 14 guests ranging the gamut of Sydneys restaurant scene and a great set of matching wines and spirits from Pernod Ricard.

Entrée - Accompanied by Mumm NV Champagne

Kibbeh Nayeh of Coorong Angus Beef Fillet

This dish was amazing light as air yet still with a real beefy zing to it. Basically a paste with subtle herbs and seasonings and served on crunchy flatbread

Spiced Pure Suffolk Lamb Sausage & Rock Oyster

The lamb sausage was made from some of the meat from the leg and shoulder and was presented as quite large chunks. The sausage was topped by a single pickled Sydney Rock Oyster which the vinegary richness contrasted with the rich spicy sausage

Braised Coorong Angus Beef Brisket in Suet Pastry

The pastry for this was amazing - they were tiny little brisket pies with the fully on beefy flavour wrapped up in a suet pastry which was light and rich and just awesome - couldn't have just one!

Deep-Fried Coorong Angus Beef Short Ribs

Close to the highlight for me yet a more simple dish than some. The rib meat had been diced into approx 1.5cm cubes and the ribs had been cooked through and had a sticky sweet sauce coating each little morsel which it really was impossible to stop eating until the whole lot was gone!

Pot-Sticker Dumplings of Pure Suffolk Lamb Leg Filling - accompanied by a Pinot Grigio

The first of the mains was a chinese style dumpling filled with shredded Pure Suffolk Lamb meat

Beef Consommé, Jellied Shin and Sirloin - Morris of Rutherglen - Amontillado

The jellied shin was a thin sliced of shredded shin set in a jelly made from the shin itself was accompanied by 2 thin sliced of raw Coorong Angus Beef sirloin completely denuded of fat. The two cuts of meat then had a beef consomme poured over them which ever so slightly cooked the raw sirloin and melted the jelly around the shin setting slivers of slow cooked beef shin loose to float throughout the consomme.

Roast Rack of Lamb, Jalapeno Dressing - accompanied by 18YO Chivas Regal Scotch

This was amazing a single cutlet of Pure suffolk lamb along with a denuded slice of the Pure Suffolk striploin. The jalepeno dressing also contained some roasted lamb round meat was cleansing with the well flavoured lamb the Chivas Regal was an intriging match

Poached Sirloin of Coorong Dry Aged Angus - accompanied by Orlando Centenary Hill Shiraz

Wow - the beef was tender and succulent served wrapped around some sensational baby vegetables and with a rich beefy sauce - went so well with the full bodied red

Avocado Pear Blancmange

Who would of though Avacado for desert - simply said this was a triumph - an amazing desert - blowing up preconceptions and doing a great job to boot a great end to a great night