FOUR CHEFS, FOUR CUTS, ONE KITCHEN
Following on from a day out on a farm and a tour through a processing plant with ANZCO Foods, our Ambassador Chefs set about cooking their signature dish using a different cut of beef and lamb.
BJ Sebastian is head chef at Plume Restaurant in Matakana and has worked all over the world. He describes himself as a nature-to-plate chef and loves nothing more than foraging for local ingredients and fermenting up a storm.
He says, “as a chef I am proud of cooking New Zealand beef and lamb - we have some wonderful produce in this country. It was incredibly insightful being on the farm and in the processing plant and seeing the effort that goes into looking after the animals to give us such amazing produce to cook with.”
BJ used lamb rump to create his signature dish. He prepared the rump by trimming and wrapping it in kombu to impart a delicious umami flavour. Using a sous vide he cooked the rump before pan searing it to finish and accompanied it with eggplant two ways, Lions Mane and Pioppinno mushrooms and an elderberry jus.
Umami infused ANZCO Foods lamb rump with charred eggplant, elderberry, and mushrooms. Photo courtesy of ANZCO Foods.
Cameron Davies is co-owner and operator of The Fat Duck in Te Anau. He said, “kiwis are passionate about food and love to know where it comes from. The experience of meeting up with farmers makes it easier to tell that story to our customers – it is an invaluable experience.”
Cameron showcased the versatility of lamb shoulder by using it in three different ways. Firstly he took out the eye fillet from the shoulder blade which he cooked using the sous vide method. He also made lamb bacon and then braised the rest of the muscle to create a hot terrine. Cameron accompanied his lamb with some spring carrots, watercress gnocchi, fresh peas and pea pesto, finished off with goats’ cheese and a brown butter crumb.
ANZCO Foods braised lamb shoulder terrine, lamb bacon, grilled lamb shoulder fillet, watercress gnocchi, spring carrots, goat’s cheese, green pea pesto & brown butter crumb. Photo courtesy of ANZCO Foods.
MacLean Fraser is a chef who likes to keep his dishes simple, allowing the meat to shine as the hero. He used beef fillet to create his signature dish and says because it’s a very tender cut, you don’t need to do too much to it. He describes his dish as essentially meat and three veg although visually it seemed so much more! MacLean accompanied his beef fillet with a bit of truffle mascarpone to bring in some earthiness along with caramelised onions, vegetables in several different ways and a bit of tarragon mustard to add some piquancy.
The ‘icing on the cake’ was the addition of some beef snow - which he says is just a made-up cheffy word for beef fat infused with aromatics and dehydrated with maltodextrin. In line with his philosophy as a chef, he likes to use all parts of the animal, and so he makes this by rendering down the trimmings of beef fat infused with some aromatics before dehydrating it. MacLean says with the leanness of beef fillet, this is a great way to add extra flavour.
ANZCO Foods beef fillet with baby veg, caramalised onions, tarragon mustard, truffle mascarpone and beef snow. Photo courtesy of ANZCO Foods.
Chef Andrew May’s restaurant is based in the Manawatu which is a large farming community, so he sells a lot of beef and lamb dishes. His signature style of cooking is using a prime and a secondary cut which is perfect for his rural-based guests. He showcased this style of cooking using beef rump as the prime cut and a braised beef short rib as the secondary cut. He broke down the beef rump pulling out the middle part which he cooked using sous vide and and braised short rib. Andrew accompanied the beef with a bacon mash puree and fresh asparagus and added a bit of a Kiwiana twist to his dish, using locally foraged nasturtium and kawakawa to create a salsa verde and kawakawa jam.
ANZCO Foods middle rump with braised beef short rib, bacon mash, new season asparagus, nasturtium & kawakawa salsa verde. kawakawa jam, shallot petal, split rich red wine jus. Photo courtesy of ANZCO Foods.
To be able to finish off the ANZCO Foods chef’s tour by cooking a signature dish each, was a great way to showcase the talent and creativity of the Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chefs. With the added knowledge and experience of the previous day’s visits, they felt proud to be cooking with product knowing how well it is looked after on its journey from the farm to the fork.
Photography courtesy of ANZCO Foods.