NATIONAL LAMB DAY - OUR FARMERS STARTED IT - OUR CHEFS MAKE IT

This year marks 139 years since the first shipment of lamb arrived in the UK.  All 5,000 carcasses arrived intact bar one, which had to be condemned.  Not bad for a journey which took just over three months with limited refrigeration.  This journey is historic and worth celebrating as it kick started our multi-million dollar lamb export market.

Over all those years, our Kiwi farmers have been growing and refining their products.  Riding out many storms – world wars, depressions, recessions, droughts and of course a world wide Panedmic.  Through all this though, New Zealand’s primary industries have been the backbone of our country. 

Feeding the nation and the world, our farmers have done a wonderful job. They started it and luckily for us we have a wealth of talented chefs in New Zealand who know how to finish it - on the plate!

So what do our chefs find so special about working with New Zealand lamb?

Ambassador Chef, Phil Clark of Phil’s Kitchen in Auckland, says without a doubt our lamb is world class. He should know as he has cooked a fair bit in his time working and travelling around the world. Not only that, his in-laws are restauranteurs in France serving New Zealand lamb on their menu which he says really stands out.  It makes him proud when he visits their restaurant and sees how seriously the French chefs take our lamb.

He thinks chefs have a huge responsibility to tell Kiwis about what they are doing and how good our products here are. He says we should be very proud of what we produce here in New Zealand. 

Fellow Ambassador Chef, Tejas Nikam agrees whole heartedly.  He adds that it is important to celebrate the wonderful produce we have in New Zealand and to tell the world how amazing our New Zealand lamb is.  He says chefs are in a unique position to showcase our New Zealand ingredients.  Not only by getting creative in the kitchen and serving amazing lamb dishes, but by knowing where it comes from and telling the paddock to plate to story to customers.

Jack Crosti, of Mela Restaurant in Auckland, has also worked around the globe.  He says New Zealand lamb is special to him as it’s very versatile.  It allows him to use a lot of creativity with his lamb dishes knowing he is using a really great product grown in New Zealand.

Originally from Chile, chef Norka Mella Munoz has just taken up the reins as head chef at the stunning Kinloch Lodge and Manor. Norka love to use lamb on her menu and says the tenderness, the flavour and the smell when you’re cooking it, is just awesome.

Being from Chile, Norka says her first memories of lamb was as a child coming together with family and friends every Sunday to share stories and catch up. These were always big happy gatherings and at centre stage was always a roast lamb. She says the food brought us together and is a tradition our family always did when I was young.

We love the story Norka shared with us from her early days as a chef cooking in Patagonia.  She says a Kiwi couple came into the restaurant where she was working and ordered lamb.  When they asked her for some mint sauce, Norka could only offer a sweet mint sauce they used for desserts.  She was astounded when they told her about our tradition of using a vinegar based mint sauce on lamb. 

Norka promptly took her guests into the kitchen where they made the sauce for her.  She was blown away, not even really knowing where New Zealand was, but at this point she realised there was a world out there to discover and she was headed to New Zealand.

Click here for Norka’s special mint sauce for your next roast lamb and click here to read about her transition to her new job and delicious lamb recipe you can cook for National Lamb Day.

It’s easy to see then, why New Zealand chefs are so passionate about cooking with lamb. It’s been a difficult year for Hospitality but as they recover and the travel bubbles begin to open it’s wonderful to see how chefs have kept up their positivity and continued to create their mouth watering dishes for us to enjoy. There seems to be a glimmer of hope that chefs will be starting to cook for international guests again - albeit our cousins across the ditch - who I am sure can’t wait to get their hands on some New Zealand lamb!

In the meantime, the best thing we can do, if we can, is get out there and support our local eateries on National Lamb Day and beyond.