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Finders keepers Foraging for ingredients Pedal power Food bikes take off

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Nescafé Blend 43 www.openhousemagazine.net

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OPEN HOUSE NEWS

CEO CookOff raises over $1 million T

his year’s CEO CookOff has raised more than a $1 million, which will be shared by grass roots organisations OzHarvest, The Big Issue and ONE80TC. Held last month at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, the annual event saw some of Australia’s top chefs gather with business leaders from a wide range of fields to cook for those in need.

CEOs including Alan Joyce from Qantas, Justin Hemmes from Merivale, Terry Davis from Coca-Cola Amatil Limited, and Lynn Kraus from Ernst & Young, rolled up their sleeves and became sous chefs for the night.

Partnering with 36 of Australia’s best chefs including Matt Moran, Peter Gilmore and Guillaume Brahimi, the group created a healthy meal for close to 1000 guests.

A joint initiative of food rescue organisation OzHarvest and Qantas, the CEO CookOff aims to increase awareness of excess food which could be used to feed disadvantaged Australians, with a special focus in 2013 on women and youth in crisis.

OzHarvest founder and chief executive Ronni Kahn said funds raised will allow her organisation to deliver at least one million additional meals to those in need, on top of the six million that OzHarvest already provides each year.

Alan Joyce from Qantas; OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn and chef Neil Perry.

“The event offered business leaders the chance to cook, serve and chat with those in need,” she said. “It’s important that we as a community do not ignore the issues of food access and homelessness that our most vulnerable Australians face day-to-day.”

Unpaid work schemes targeted The Fair Work Ombudsman has announced it will educate employers and employees about the legitimacy of unpaid work experience schemes.

This follows the release of a major report, commissioned by the Fair Work Ombudsman, into unpaid work experience arrangements in Australia, including work experience and unpaid trial periods.

CONTENTS

The report, Experience or exploitation? The nature, prevalence and regulation of unpaid work experience, internships and trial periods in Australia by University of Adelaide Law School professors Andrew Stewart and Rosemary Owens, found a growing number of businesses using unpaid work schemes as an alternative to hiring paid staff. It also found young people and migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to being exploited

through these schemes.

Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson stressed he did not want to stifle genuine learning and development opportunities.

“There are many quite legitimate work-based learning programs and vocational placements which genuinely enhance the learning of participants,” Wilson said.

“But a young person who is required to work unpaid in a café for a full week to test his or her ‘suitability’ for a paid position as a barista, waiter or kitchen-hand is clearly being exploited.

“That’s the type of exploitation that will be my focus.”

Developing industry-specific education materials for the hospitality, cafe and restaurant sectors will be key element of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s response to the report.

Industry news......................................... 04

Bakery.................................................... 16

Cover story – Nescafé Blend 43............................. 06

Coffee..................................................... 18

Q&A – Oliver Edwards.......................... 08

Flavour forecast..................................... 22

Profile – Lorraine Godsmark................. 10

Editor’s word

H

ow much responsibility does the foodservice industry have to provide healthier choices for diners? It’s a question that we asked back in December, reporting on the success of the inaugural Good Food Week, and one that comes up again this month following the release of new Australian Dietary Guidelines.

With nearly a third of Australians’ weekly household food budget now spent on fast food and dining out, it’s easy to see why health experts are looking to the foodservice industry to take action, but surely, it’s up to diners to take responsibility for their own choices?

Research into the fast food industry by the Cancer Council NSW, who called for mandatory national kilojoule labelling for fast food chains last month, shows that Australians simply aren’t buying items promoted as “healthy choices”.

While there’s no easy answer to Australia’s burgeoning health and obesity problems, it makes for an interesting debate. If you have a view on the subject, you can email me at ylla@creativehead.com.au.

Ylla Wright Managing Editor @ohfoodservice

18

Foraging................................................. 20 Healthy eating........................................ 24

Sustainability......................................... 12

Cooking the books................................. 26

Origins of paella..................................... 14

Products................................................. 28

Consultant chef...................................... 14

Culinary clippings.................................. 30

Coffee.

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, March 2013 3

NEWS

Narisawa ‘Asia’s best’ T

okyo restaurant Narisawa has secured the top spot at the inaugural Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards, being named Best Restaurant in Asia. The restaurant also took out the award for Best Restaurant in Japan.

Chef Yoshihiro Narisawa is known for the championing of sustainability, and taking the environment into consideration when creating his dishes.

The awards, a spin-off of the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards, were launched “to recognise the region’s growing restaurant industry and diverse gastronomic landscape”, according to organisers.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants will be announced at London’s historic Guildhall on Monday, April 29. In 2013, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list will recognise a new individual award category, The Sustainable Restaurant Award, which will be presented to the restaurant within the ranks of the 50 Best which demonstrates the highest environmental and social responsibility rating.

Price of organics justified Australian Organic (formerly Biological Farmers of Australia) has defended the price of organic food, saying that when people buy organic food they are paying the real cost of real food.

A recent study by Suncorp Bank shows there’s an average 79 per cent difference in price between organic and conventional produce.

Dr Andrew Monk from Australian Organic says there are many reasons for this difference and like many food supply chains just a fraction of the retail price is passed onto farmers.

“Organic food is generally not mass produced and farms are less intensive than larger conventional ones, often giving them different economies of scale,” he said.

“Organic [prices] reflects a fair price for farmers who are caring for the environment while producing foods that a growing band of consumers want: foods produced without synthetic chemicals, GMOs, or synthetic weedicides.”

The Australian Organic Market Report 2012 shows price remains the main barrier to Australians buying more organic produce. Despite this IBISWorld research predicts organics will be one of Australia’s top five growth industries in 2013.

Name and Shame list tops seven million hits New South Wales’ Name and Shame register, which publicly names businesses that fail to meet food safety standards, has received more than seven million hits online since it was established in 2008.

“This sends a clear message to food businesses that consumers expect high standards and are scanning the list of restaurants and other food outlets before deciding where to dine out,” said NSW Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson.

“A penalty notice on the register not only acts as a potential deterrent to would be diners it also serves as a deterrent to food businesses against making food safety breaches.”

The most common food safety breaches under the Food Act 2003 are cleaning and sanitation (35 per cent); temperature control (13 per cent); pest control – infestations, droppings (13 per cent); hand washing offences (13 per cent); and protection from contamination – storage, personal hygiene (11 per cent).

There is some good news however, according to Hodgkinson, who said “the number of food

businesses appearing on the register has almost halved in three years which shows the campaign is having the desired effect with more food outlets adhering to the rules”.

In 2011-12, 785 food businesses appeared on the Name and Shame register (receiving 1337 penalty notices) compared to 1309 food businesses in 2009-2010 (receiving 2329 penalty notices).

100% sustainable cocoa for Nestlé Nestlé Australia has switched 100 per cent of their production to cocoa that is sourced and produced sustainably on farms with safe working conditions, as part of its Nestlé Cocoa Plan. All the cocoa is UTZ Certified as sustainable.

Nestlé Australia business executive manager confectionery and snacks, Martin Brown, said the Nestlé Cocoa Plan is helping farmers to run profitable farms, eliminate the use of child labour and ensure a sustainable supply of cocoa.

“Our work with West African cocoa farmers is helping to address the issues facing the farmers and their communities, while giving Australian consumers the confidence that the cocoa in them

Want more industry news?

For even more industry news, in-depth reports and new product information, or to sign up for Open House weekly email newsletter, visit www.openhousemagazine.net. You can also follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@ohfoodservice). Or download the free Open House iPad app, packed with additional, exclusive content and updated monthly, from the iTunes app store.

4 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

has been produced sustainably,” he said.

“It’s difficult to guarantee a sustainable supply of cocoa in the quantities we need in the challenging environment that exists in the Côte d’Ivoire, but the Nestlé Cocoa Plan is starting to make significant progress in these areas which ultimately improves the social and economic conditions of farmers and their families.”

The Nestlé Research and Development Centre in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, a country which supplies Nestlé with the bulk of its cocoa, has been central to the Cocoa Plan, breeding high yield disease resistant plants and working alongside farmers to improve their practices.

Women in business honoured Janine Allis, founder of Boost Juice, and Ronni Khan, founder of food rescue organisation Oz Harvest, are amongst the women named in the Australian Businesswomen’s Network (ABN) 2013 Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame, which was launched on Monday March 4, in the lead up to International Women’s Day, honours and celebrates Australian female business owners who have been exemplary in their industries, are trailblazers and demonstrate inspiring and aspiring business journeys.

“The ABN Hall of Fame was initiated to inspire Australian women with stories of individual success from high-achieving peers,” said ABN chief executive Suzi Dafnis. “The women we profile serve as role models and mentors for women in all business sectors, encouraging them to realise their business goals.”

Other 2013 ABN Hall of Fame inductees include Carolyn Cresswell of Carmen’s Muesli, Jacqueline Arias of Republica Coffee and Kris Lloyd of Woodside Cheese Wrights.

Australia is experiencing a growth in the number of female business owners. According to a recent report issued by Australian Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the number of women starting their own businesses has doubled since 2007 and there are currently around one million women trading in Australia.

Sydney restaurants targeted 16 Sydney restaurants are facing further investigation for potential underpayment of wages after spot-audits conducted by the Fair Work Ombudsman last month.

A total of 21 city and inner-suburban restaurants, which employ about 150 mostly migrant workers, were visited by Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors as a direct result of information received from the community about the possible underpayment of wages to staff.

The 16 restaurants facing further investigation were ordered to supply the Fair Work Ombudsman with their staff records by March 1 after failing to have them available on-site.

Four restaurants were handed on the spot fines of $550 for breaches including failing to provide staff with payslips within one working day of payment.

Fair Work Ombudsman, Nicholas Wilson, said detailed investigations would follow once the restaurants provided their records.

“It’s a legal requirement that employers maintain appropriate records of staff, hours worked and payments made and that they provide those records to Fair Work Ombudsman Inspectors when requested,” he said.

Gilmore hailed as ‘Mr Pork Belly’ Peter Gilmore, from Sydney’s three-hatted restaurant Quay, has been singled out as being the man responsible for the resurgence of pork belly at the recent 2013 Sydney PorkStar event.

Introducing Gilmore to an audience of 140 of Sydney’s leading chefs, Australian Pork marketing manager Mitch Edwards dubbed him “Mr Pork Belly”.

Taking the title in his stride, Gilmore acknowledged he first put pork belly, accompanied by seared scallops, on his menu at Quay 15 years ago in a dish that proved enormously popular with diners and has been much emulated over the years.

Survey results called into question Restaurant & Catering chief executive John Hart has questioned the results of a study released by union United Voice, which suggested that 81 per cent of respondents don’t think restaurants should get special treatment from the Fair Work Commission when the commission sets award rates for the industry, saying that the real question was “do consumers want to pay more for their dining experience?”.

“The most popular weekend leisure activities for Australians are shopping and eating out,” he said.

“Both these great Australian activities are under threat because the cost of doing business, particularly on a Sunday, comes at a cost that is prohibitive to business operators. Weekend penalty rates are causing businesses to close on Sundays.”

“Restaurant & Catering has made a substantial application to the independent umpire the Fair Work Commission to review the Restaurant Industry Award in recognition of the impractical nature of the current Award structure that penalises businesses for trading in core hours.”

Louise Tarrant, national secretary of United Voice, said the application “by employers to vary the Restaurant Industry Award is unjustified, unprecedented and out of step with long-standing and current Australian values”.

New salmon farms given green light New Zealand’s Environmental Protection Authority has announced its final decision to grant New Zealand King Salmon four new farms in the Marlborough Sounds.

Blumenthal joins Breville as global ambassador Top UK chef Heston Blumenthal has been named global brand ambassador for Breville, with Breville Group Limited chief executive Jack Lord calling him “one of the most exciting and creative chefs in the world”.

“When we design a new Breville product, our focus is on understanding the challenges around food as deeply as possible and then pushing the creative boundaries to solve those challenges in simpler and smarter ways,” Lord said. “I can’t think of a better person to help us do this than Heston Blumenthal.”

The collaboration will see Blumenthal working closely behind the scenes with the Breville product development team.

“From conception to testing and recipe development, Heston will be heavily involved in shaping the future Breville product range,” added Breville’s general manager – marketing, Scott Brady.

He will also feature in advertising and point of sale materials across all of Breville’s international markets.

“From the history of your favourite recipe, to why drier potatoes make fluffier chips, Heston just makes food fun and exciting,” said Brady.

“We’re very happy about him bringing this unique communication style into explaining the benefits of our innovations to a wider audience.”

Blumenthal said he believes the company are “world leaders in this space” and “can't wait to get into the lab and see what other clever tools we can create together”.

Grant Rosewarne, chief executive of NZ King Salmon has welcomed the decision, saying “it will enable us to double production to 15,000 tonnes over the coming years bringing in to the country an extra $60 million a year in export income and ultimately adding much-needed new jobs to the region”.

The company has also announced that they will fund research into nitrogen levels (a by-product of aquaculture) so the Marlborough Sounds can be better managed as a multi-use area, and monitor king shag population numbers in the area. OH

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, March 2013 5

cover story

Back to the future Nescafé turns 75 this year, and to commemorate Nestlé Professional Australia has blended the old with the new, unveiling a collectible vintage-style can for Nescafé Blend 43.

W

hat did the world do before Nescafé? How did anyone get anything done without the aroma of Nescafé to wake them up in the morning?

We can thank the dedication of coffee guru Max Morgenthaler and his Swiss research team, who worked for seven years trying to figure out how to make a coffee product that could be made by simply adding water, for creating Nescafé and bringing coffee to the world in a way that had never been seen before.

Nescafé was introduced on April 1, 1938, and its simplicity and great taste soon made it a staple for everyone who enjoyed a great cup of coffee without the fuss. After sweeping through Europe and the United States, Nescafé made its way to Australia in 1948 and the hugely popular Nescafé Blend 43 was launched locally some years later in 1985.

To commemorate its 75th anniversary, Nestlé Professional Australia has unveiled its collectible

retro inspired can, invoking the nostalgia and romance of Nescafé’s early advertising, but with added modern touches. For maximum visibility, both the back and top of the can feature a quick response (QR) code that can be scanned into a smartphone, immediately linking the user to a range of web-based activities and information.

For the remainder of the year, the standard can will also carry a range of different lid designs with various promotions that can also be accessed via a QR code.

To promote the collectible can, Nestlé Professional Australia has devised a targeted campaign that includes a range of innovative activities, which started with the dispatch of a giant 75th birthday card to all of its distributors.

Inside the card was promotional and supply chain information, plus an invitation to distributors to register their interest in hosting a sampling event. A website dedicated to providing distributors with details about the consumer promotion, point of sale materials and overall

communications plan was also developed and made accessible via a QR code.

To further support the campaign, a comprehensive collateral pack has been created which can be used for a myriad of activities including exhibitions, in store promotions and meetings.

A special electronic direct marketing (eDM) newsletter and animated website banner have also been developed for distributors to use.

Telesales staff who work for distributors are also receiving information packs comprising Nescafé Post It notes, shirts, pens and Nescafé Blend 43 coffee.

When it comes to the end-user, there will be numerous opportunities to win movie tickets, Red Balloon Day vouchers and iTunes cards simply by entering online unique numbers found on lid stickers.

A Nescafé lovers’ website, www.facebook.com/ Nescafe, is also up-and-running providing consumers with promotional information, as well as the full story behind the 75th anniversary.

Add to this, a solid media schedule of advertising across key publications throughout the year and Nescafé Blend 43 is sure to be the name, as well as taste, on everyone’s lips in 2013. OH

6 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

A super chef’s secret weapon A chef’s job is always busy and at times a secret weapon to help manage the demands of the kitchen is what every chef needs. Anchor Cooking Cream can turn any chef into a super chef faster than a speeding bullet. It is already reduced, so it reaches a coating consistency at amazing speed, greatly reducing cooking time. It won’t split or separate in acid or at high temperatures and the high fat content makes it particularly suited to thick, creamy sauces. Equally impressive in preparing cold desserts, Anchor Cooking Cream is every super chef’s secret weapon.

Contact your Fonterra Rep or visit fonterrafoodservices.com.au for further information and recipe ideas.

FOODSERVICE Dairy for Today’s Professionals

Q&A

The good, the bad and the sustainable GoodFishBadFish is a website dedicated to educating chefs about sustainable seafood, providing useful guides and information to help make better purchasing decisions. Open House chatted to chef and creator Oliver Edwards to find out more. their seasonality and sustainability.

It also provides information on how to choose sustainable alternatives based on the characteristics of particular seafood products and the common cooking techniques applied to them. We also have articles, product reviews and recipes.

Q: What role does the foodservice industry play in seafood sustainability?

Q: What is the aim of GoodFishBadFish?

A: GoodFishBadFish aims to educate consumers and chefs about sustainable seafood and its related issues.

We hope to help people become informed consumers who understand the environmental implications of their purchasing decisions.

Q: How did you come up with the idea?

A: As a chef who wanted to ensure that the produce I utilised was sustainable I found myself spending long nights between shifts reading through reports by government agencies and conservation groups. I realised that collating all the available information would help others like me to make the right choices. I also wanted to present information on sustainability in way that recognises that people are interested in seafood primarily because they want to eat it!

We focus on a practical and positive message, not long lists of species that people can’t eat.

Q: What can chefs expect to find on the website?

A: We decipher the sustainability information provided by a range of stakeholders, and describe the common fishing techniques and aquaculture methods used in Australia. Our “Seafood Converter” is a guide to over 60 of the most common Australian seafood species,

A: We know that the percentage of meals eaten outside of the home is on the rise, and chefs and restaurants are increasingly influential as role models and trendsetters.

The foodservice industry is in a position to educate consumers about sustainability, while also conveying a demand for sustainable products to seafood wholesalers, fishermen and farmers themselves.

Q: You say there is conflicting advice on sustainable seafood. How does the website help to clear this up?

A: It’s very difficult to establish conclusively what species we should and shouldn’t be eating. The differing recommendations of the various conservation groups and certification bodies can seem to add to this confusion. At GoodFishBadFish we’re trying to make this task easier by putting all of the available information in one place and discussing the reasons for any differences. For example, the controversy over Blue Grenadier mainly comes down to the level of marine mammal deaths in both the Australian and NZ fisheries.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society considers the number of fishing-related seal deaths in these fisheries unacceptable, while the Marine Stewardship Council and government consider these numbers acceptable. Though it’s often not easy, people need to decide for themselves where they stand and we’re trying to

8 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

make this as easy for them as possible.

Q: Has the demand for seafood in Australia risen in recent years?

A: Seafood is an important part of the Australian lifestyle, and many of our most iconic and well-loved Australian ingredients are seafood products, such as barramundi, prawns and oysters. In Australia seafood consumption has risen from 3.9kg per person per year in the 1930s and 9kg per capita in the ’50s to around 20kg today. Seafood is now recognised as a healthy option, fuelling some of this demand. Increasingly seafood demand in Australia is being met largely by imported seafood products (we import 72 per cent of the seafood we consume in Australia), and the aquaculture industry is also expanding rapidly.

Q: How much influence can the foodservice industry have over consumers’ purchasing decisions?

A: A chef’s commitment to sourcing only sustainably managed wildcaught and farmed seafood is an important action. It demonstrates respect for the long-term future of seafood species. As we’ve seen with movements such as organics and locavore eating, the trends that start in the nation’s restaurants don’t take long to trickle down to home cooking. The foodservice industry is in the enviable position of having gained the trust of customers, and so there is a responsibility to communicate the importance of issues like sustainability.

Q: Does sourcing sustainable seafood benefit the environment?

A: Sourcing sustainable seafood ensures that fish stocks themselves remain abundant, while also protecting the broader environment from damage that may threaten our ability to eat seafood in the future.

Sourcing sustainable local seafood also supports the Australian fishing

industry, which for the most part is very well managed.

Q: What sort of response has the website received?

A: In the two years since its launch the website has received an incredibly positive response from chefs, consumers, conservation groups and seafood producers at all stages of the supply chain.

We have found that wide support for sustainable practices exists in Australia, and have especially enjoyed working closely with many chefs to improve their choices and educate their customers.

Q: How can chefs create awareness of the issues surrounding sustainable seafood?

A: Chefs can provide sustainable seafood options for their customers and promote sustainability as an issue integral to our enjoyment of quality local produce. By becoming informed themselves and furthering the discussion about sustainable seafood, chefs can ensure a continued demand for well managed and environmentally sound seafood production.

Q: Are there any segments of the seafood industry that have responded particularly well to the sustainability challenge?

A: It is becoming widely acknowledged that we need to pay attention to the sustainability of all our food systems – whether it is fresh produce, meat, dairy or seafood. The top end of the foodservice industry has been especially responsive, seeking out and promoting local products of amazing quality from sustainable producers. The seafood industry itself is working constantly with government to improve their sustainability, especially as demand from consumers’ increases. OH

profile

Light touch Renowned pastry chef Lorraine Godsmark, formerly of the Rockpool group and now part of Merivale's stable with her own shop Lorraine's Patisserie, found that being taught how to taste was the key to her success, writes Sheridan Randall.

“M

y mother couldn’t cook to save her life,” says Godsmark, who didn't start cooking until in her 30s.

Her passion had been skiing, and with that she had a job the gave her the necessary freedom, waiting tables.

Godsmark found herself working with chef and restaurateur Neil Perry,

who was to become intrumental in helping her fulfill her destiny.

“Neil [Perry] had a restaurant in Paddington called Perry’s and I was the maître’d,” she says. With a developing interest in cooking, Godsmark felt her career as a waitress had hit a ceiling.

“I wanted to carve out more of career

for myself,” she says. “I thought if I could cook then I could own a café and if the chef wanted to walk out at least I could do the cooking.”

Telling Perry of her dilemma, he offered her the next spot in his kitchen that came up.

“It was a great opportunity as you were working really close with Neil. Six months down the track he got out of that business and into a larger restaurant in Bondi, the Blue Water Grill, and that was large enough to have its own pastry section,” she says.

Metiulous and highly organised, Godsmark seemed an ideal fit, with Perry asking her to run the pastry section.

“You have to have some really boring traits to be pastry chef,” she says. “To be at the top end of the pastry realm you really have to have that desire to be meticulous. If you just want to whip up a few rustic cakes you can be a chef as well, but if you want that really fine detail you definitely have to be accurate and almost anal. And then there’s that area in pastry work that can be very playful and beautiful, and there are a lot of ways you can express yourself. It’s a juxtaposition.”

Essentially self-taught, Godsmark worked tirelessly to improve her technique.

“It’s a double edged sword,” she says.

“I think the process of learning to cook was longer as I taught myself.

The downside of that was in the first couple of years I probably paid out on myself a bit. I had no kind of restriction on me, which a lot of people in Europe have who are really shackled by tradition. It’s only in the last 10 years that the younger guys have broken out of that and technology has enabled them to do some fabulous new things.”

See recipe in the Open House iPad app.

10 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

Now running her own patisserie, Godsmark says that pastry work has “got really interesting” over the

last five years, moving beyond the staples of chocolate cakes, brulees and lemon tarts.

“The level of pastry work has risen and people are starting to appreciate it as its own field,” she says.

“We have been shackled to very basic Australian cake shops for a long time, and there weren’t really [a lot of] cake shops that were doing fine work, so it’s understandable that people before didn’t have an appreciation for good pastry work. But now people are being offered better quality all the time, even in cafes, so I think the appreciation is definitely coming, therefore the accolades.”

Godsmark says she has taken a restaurant approach to making things for her new shop, which is based in Ivy's new food hall, Palings Kitchen and Bar, in Sydney.

“I try and go for lightness,” she says. “I think because I worked in restaurants I look for balance in my food, and what people appreciate in my food is the lightness of it. I was always aware that people were eating two courses and then eating dessert so I wanted to end on a light note. I didn’t want to weigh them down with a heavy dessert.

“I’ve always used fresh fruit in my work and work seasonally, and I think Australians really appreciate that as well. I probably do use less sugar. One comment about my work is my food is not too sweet. But I think that’s because I have a trained palate and I really think about finishing off with an acidic note. I’m very aware that if you keep putting sugar in your mouth the palate goes dull and you get bored with what you’re eating.”

Godsmark credits Perry for giving her the tools she needed to be the best she could.

“That was one of the great things about working with Neil, he didn’t teach me how to be a pastry chef but he did develop my palate,” she says. “He taught me what to look for in food to get balance and I think a lot of pastry chefs don’t think about that enough.” OH

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Sustainability

On ya bike Bicycle-powered food carts are a common sight in parts of Asia, however a number of Australian foodservice operators are starting to see the advantages of pedal power, discovers Megan Kessler.

A

new not-for-profit organisation, Street Food Australia, is bringing international food to the streets with a project that helps migrants to Australia who want to own their own small business in the foodservice industry get a head start using “street food bicycles”.

The program aims to help migrants learn how to safely and sustainably sell dishes from their native culture using the bicycle-powered carts. Vendors will receive training and two years support from Street Food Australia.

The idea for the program comes from the traditional practice of bicycle driven food vending, seen in many nations around the world, and is both sustainable and environmentally friendly; bicycles are solar powered and the food is sourced from local organic farmers, where possible.

As well as being sustainable, food bicycles are being used to change the way people eat, what they eat and where they eat it. Not only do they offer a more relaxed and informal way of serving food, they are able to introduce diners to street cuisines from different cultures.

“We are all about street food, urban places, authentic regional ethnic foods, trying new things, sharing

experiences and growing as a culture,” says Helen Bird, founder of Street Food Australia.

“We are a hybrid operation, part street food cart support system and part catering operation [for festivals and events]. Our carts will be driven and owned by migrants who have food knowledge and a desire to enter the food industry.”

dishes, including the Biscuit Bike in Portland that sells vegan biscuits; Magic Curry Man who sells curry from a bicycle cart in San Francisco, and Tacos-on-the-go, a Mexican taco bike, also in San Francisco.

Street Food Australia sees the food carts as a great way for migrants to get a start in the foodservice industry that could lead to their owning their own small business. But they also hope that using bicycles will provide a new opportunity for the food industry.

“Bicycles can go more places, they are cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, and do less harm to the environment,” says Bird. “They are social vehicles and could be used much more in the business world.

Micro-businesses are well suited to being retro-fitted to a bike.”

Although there can be challenges involved providing food from bicycles, food preparation and service from the carts is straight forward and can be made to comply with foodservice regulations.

“We use commercial kitchens for all food storage, refrigeration,

The carts are ideal for use in the city, or at festivals or events, where customers want access to hot, tasty food quickly and easily.

Food bicycles are also an excellent way for foodservice businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, encouraging others to do the same. preparation and packaging,” says Bird. “There the food is super-chilled and then transferred to pre-chilled insulated compartments.

“The bikes are fitted with gas powered cook systems and service takes place from the bike. The service system is designed to pass all operational requirements under the food act, using food grade stainless steel on contact surfaces.”

The type of food served from the carts is easy to eat street food that is convenient for customers, such as Chinese dumplings, corn, marinated ribs and Korean banh mi.

Celebrity chef Luke Nguyen, owner of Red Lantern restaurant in Sydney, has signed up to help promote and support Street Food Australia, helping with events and fundraising activities.

The emergence of food bicycles is a recent, but growing, trend in Australia. Like food trucks, which now operate in Melbourne and Sydney, they provide a mobile method of serving street food in a sustainable way.

Luke Nguyen and Helen Bird.

12 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

Food bicycles have already taken off in other areas around the world.

In America there are numerous venders selling various international

One business that has already climbed onboard the food bicycle trend is Tiffins Melbourne. The business delivers home-style Indian curries to office workers in the CBD by bicycle. Customers simply place their order online, and for $12, get a freshly made, hot curry delivered to their desk. Sustainability is a key concern for the business, which has also instituted a number of other sustainable business practices.

“The tricycles help to deliver quickly in the busy CBD as well as produce zero omission,” says owner Kedar Pednekar.

“We also practice sustainability and protect the environment by implementing pre-order food service (reducing wastage), using reusable, temperature controlled Tiffin containers, and with a tricycle-based zero carbon omission sustainable delivery system.”

Bird encourages the use of food bicycles across the foodservice industry, saying they offer a number of opportunities.

“Food delivery is another area I’d like to see take off,” she says. “There are some bicycle food couriers active in Melbourne but I think it’s another exciting opportunity.” OH

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Paella One of the most popular dishes to come out of Spain, paella has come a long way from its origins, writes Megan Kessler.

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aella, the famous rice dish native to Spain, is a colourful mix of seafood, meat, vegetables and flavours. It might even be considered Spain’s national dish, however Spaniards see it as a Valencian dish, as this is where it originated.

With hundreds of varieties now made around the world, the dish we recognise as paella today varies greatly from its original form.

The original paella comes from a lakeside region in Valencia, in the east of Spain, which has been one of the most important rice producing areas in Spain since rice was introduced 1200 years ago.

In the mid 19th century, farmers and farm labourers would throw together paella for lunch, using whatever

G’day USA I have never been one to hold back on my opinion so I see no reason to start now. I have been exceptionally proud of Australian chefs and their ability to create modern flavoursome food. Well-travelled Aussie chefs who are now in their late 40s have pretty much placed us where we are today in the global culinary ladder.

But, unfortunately, I cannot agree with the younger generation bashing the American restaurant scene, as it has changed dramatically and they are just repeating old and now incorrect news.

After just finishing a tour of New York, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and some other parts of Los Angeles, I can assure you that our American friends are producing some of the best food I have ever experienced. Modern, tasty and perfectly presented, their better restaurants are full seven nights a week and you won’t get in without a booking. Gone are the days of there

ingredients they could find around the rice fields including short grain rice (known as “Bomba” rice), tomatoes, onions, snails and beans.

Rabbit or duck was occasionally thrown into the dish for special occasions, however unlike modern paellas, there was never any trace of red meat or seafood. On very special occasions chicken might have been added, as well as saffron, which gave the dish a bright yellow colour and distinctive flavour.

Traditionally paella was cooked over a wood fire and eaten straight from the pan, with each person using their own wooden spoon. The word “paella” is actually the name of the cooking pan used, which is shallow, round and usually has two handles.

Consultant chef

Glenn Austin

www.xtremechef.com.au being a void between the bottom end burger chains and top end dining; America now has a mid-range market that surpasses ours. We, especially Melbourne, were the kings of that market but not anymore.

Eating at Maestros in Beverly Hills reminded me of Gary Farrell-style cuisine, something you would not generally have found in the US in the past unless eating in a 6-star hotel paying hundreds of dollars.

This was a stand-alone restaurant,

14 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

By the end of the nineteenth century the dish became known throughout Spain and variations began to appear as it reached other parts of the Mediterranean.

Although there are hundreds of variations on paella, it is said that there are some basic rules to follow when preparing the dish. Firstly, it should never be stirred once the rice is added; only the required amount of liquid should be added; it should be cooked over an open fire; and it should be rested for five to 10 minutes before serving.

A sign of a good paella is for the rice to stick to the bottom of the pan, forming a crispy, caramelised crust called a “soccarat”.

As paella is served from the pan, it

packed to the rafters and serving fantastic starters between $12-$18 and mains from $28-$47.

The Main Street Kitchen in Santa Monica served the best Italian and pizza since Lanzafame in Sydney.

I have pretty much forged the pizza industry as we now know it in Australia; moving from the “one with the lot” concept to the more refined, thin crust, gourmet pizza we now have the pleasure of experiencing in our mid- to high-end restaurants. The crust I ate at the Main Street Kitchen was like biting into crisp, tasty, fresh air; I have never experienced better.

If I think long and hard about what impressed me the most, overall it would have to be the service.

Most of the wait staff were young caucasian Americans. I point this out as most people seem to think front- and back-of-house runs on Mexicans. I know damn well there are a great percentage of Mexican cooks supporting great food coming from the kitchens, but in my experience, young Americans ruled the floor and they were doing

is usually made in large quantities, making it the perfect communal dish. In Spain it is eaten by large groups at restaurants or during family gatherings where men will often cook the paella, much like a BBQ in Australia.

Paella remains a hugely popular dish and it can be difficult to find an authentic Valencian version outside of Spain. Many chefs have their own way of making the dish with ingredients including chorizo, chicken, vegetables and seafood.

One of the most common variations of the dish is seafood paella; ingredients include mussels, prawns and scallops. A mixed paella usually contains a combination of meat, seafood and vegetables. OH

an exceptional job. Happy to have the jobs, they turn up as regular as clockwork, have learnt to speak clearly, up sell and provide overall service that we can only dream off here. I spoke with many employers who assured me that sick leave and poor attendance was almost a thing of the past; these guys and girls are leading the way in global customer service. I cannot think of another country that is providing better service than the US currently. Well done, and Aussies, pick up your act.

It is not only our service that we have let slipped. I can give another example: I was recently given approximately 30 kilograms of product to review, of which I needed only one kilo to do the task required.

Rather than waste good food I rang five chefs in my local area that I know well enough to call and offer product to, and only one had the brains to take it and turn it into dollars – I’ve mentioned him before, Kieran from One Up Bar & Bistro in Mooloolaba. He’s a great young operator. Seriously, who would knock back free food in a restaurant?

bakery

New tradition For Australia, getting in the top seven at the recent Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie 2103 means more than just a guaranteed place in the 2015 finals, it’s the start of a new tradition in pastry cooking in Australia, writes Sheridan Randall.

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glance at the wiki entry for pastry chef gives some indication of the banter and rivalry that goes on between the different sections in a kitchen.

Andre Sandisan (left) and Barry Jones prepare the ‘Great Barrier Crunch’ cake.

“It’s definitely a world apart in the kitchen with a completely different skill set, but pastry chefs are just as reliant on cuisine chefs in terms of how menus are driven and it’s very important to have a good relationship,” says Andre Sandison, head culinary teacher at Le Cordon Bleu Sydney and Australia’s team captain at the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie 2013, held in January in Lyons, France.

Jones, who had just 12 weeks to prepare for the ice carving competition, knew full well that preparing for the unexpected was just as important as the gruelling training sessions.

“We got there and found that the tables were 2cm lower than they said in the rules and we couldn’t fit our racks underneath,” he says.

“On the day you just think what a nightmare, but it’s how you overcome those things that counts.

We had been told to expect the unexpected, and how you deal with that makes the difference.”

Australia, an outsider in the high pressure world of international pastry cuisine, surprised everyone, except perhaps the team itself, by placing seventh, guaranteeing Australia at place at the next Coupe du Monde in 2015.

Sandison compares the training to that of an athlete.

“On the day there were a number of issues that hadn’t happened in training or in any of our experiences working with sugar prior,” he says.

“It was like, ‘that’s new territory what’s the best way to cope?’ What really prepares you is doing your training and repeating things over and making you understand the variables and how to minimise it.

That’s a really good foundation for a competition like that.”

“There’s a lot of fantastic pastry chefs here in Australia, and we were just the lucky few who had the opportunity to pull of what we did,” says Sandison.

One aspect of pastry cooking that sets it apart from the rest of the kitchen is the precision needed to make a recipe work, according to Barry Jones, the team’s pastry chef and ice competitor, and technical adviser at Euro Chef Australia.

“With a pastry chef there are several elements which go towards one dish,” Jones says. “To make a single cake you can be using 10 different recipes. It’s more of a science, as your measurements have to be exact, you can’t use a handful or sprinkle. Even the base ingredients are important. Getting the right flour, sugar and butter is important.

They have different moisture and fat contents.”

The artistry and creative showpieces grab most of the attention on the day of competition,

orange, mandarin or caramel, the overall taste has to be of chocolate.

You have to be careful you don’t over power the chocolate but rather enhance it.”

See recipe in the Open House iPad app. but the flavour and texture are “an equal if not larger component of the judging and scoring criteria”, says Sandison.

“The core of the competition is about flavour but the irony is that you spend a lot of time on the showpieces and the things that people can see,” he says. “It really all comes back to flavour.

It’s all about classic techniques and classic flavours and how they

16 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

are interpreted and how they are presented.”

Balancing the different ingredients without overpowering the main theme is also critical, according to Jones.

“With the taste you try to get the notes to come through,” he says.

“You have to have texture, crunch, a certain amount of sponge, a mousse layer. If it’s a chocolate cake, even if you have raspberry,

Beyond the pressures of competition, one of the most distinguishing features of competing in France was the level of respect the team received.

“I was treated like a king,” says Jones. “It was amazing to see. You felt like you were something special, but here [Australia] you’re not thought of like that at all. It’s a 100 per cent different [in Europe] but it’s changing [here]. I teach as well, and the students that are coming through are much more respectful and want to do it more. It used to be the option you chose because you did badly at

Dean Gibson, Barry Jones, Justin Yu and Andre Sandison.

mechanisms are, just go with your instincts and push it, push it, push it really hard’. If you go really hard, the confidence will come out and people will see it and marks will come from that.”

The showing at the Coup du Monde has shown the world that “Australia is a threat”, says Gibson. “We are building a fairly strong reputation, and the Coup du Monde is winnable. What we learned are the changes we need to make to climb further. We’ve got those individuals and skill base in this country now and that’s a very positive thing.”

The long hours and dedication needed for this level of competition require a special type of person.

school, but now it’s the trendy thing to do. It’s a lot more creative as well.

Gordon Ramsay started out as a pastry chef, and lots of the best chefs did as well, and that helps with their creativity.”

de la Patisserie 1999 and judge for many international competitions.

Sandison notes the strong culture of professionalism in France and how that sets Europe apart from Australia, citing the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (MOF), which was created nearly a century ago to help preserve the quality of French artisan trades.

“The agenda for Team Australia was about lifting the profile and status of pastry chefs in this country. We did a lot of really cool stuff, it was lots and lots of work, and we all put ourselves under enormous amounts of pressure, but in doing what we did I think we were successful. I hope we can start promoting the high end of the profession at a level that is the same all over the world.”

“We just don’t have anything like that in Australia,” he says. “It’s really an elite club that you can be a part of and you have to continue to give back to industry in many ways.

For example all the people who were stewarding for the Pastry Cup were MOF pastry chefs, and that was great because you are surrounded by people of that calibre. Having them encourage you and giving you positive feedback at the end is really enlightening and makes you realise you really are working at a world class standard.”

Sandison laments the lack of a similar culture here in Australia, saying “it’s really hard to distinguish identities in our profession beyond media coverage”.

“To work really hard and produce a standard of excellence, that’s an incredible recognition and feedback to the profession we don’t have here,” he says.

Dean Gibson, from the Hunter Institute of TAFE NSW, was the team coach, bringing with him invaluable experience as both a former competitor in the Coupe du Monde

“It’s very difficult to compare Australian pastry with Europe as we just don’t have that culture in regards to pastry,” Gibson says.

about what we do but we are not tied into any cultural cringe and that really allows Australia to come up with some very innovative ideas.

“I think I would say to those going back again [in 2015] ‘mate don’t get locked into some of the judging

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“It was never about one little small group of elite pastry chefs,” says Gibson. “It needs to be a new bunch of people for 2015.” OH

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“I did my apprenticeship 37 years ago in an Aussie cake shop and I really love traditional Australian stuff and I think we should really hang on to that part of our heritage,” he says.

“The chocolate showpiece [which won third pace] was all about Sydney Harbour, so if you lived in Sydney you would readily pick up the iconic features around the Sydney harbour,” he says. “One of our cakes was called the Great Barrier Crunch, which again we were being quite playful with. We used macadamia and Australian indigenous ingredients but also built something that had really good flavour and textures and a good balance. We’re very serious

But for these three men, the baton is to be passed to the next generation.

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Noting the influence France has on the pastry world, Gibson says that Australia’s lack of tradition can also work to our advantage.

Sandison agrees, saying “you can kind of say ‘let’s just do it this way and keep moving it along’”.

“People say what do you outside of work? If you look at all the guys in the team this is what we do. None of us go bungy jumping or water rafting. This is our kick.”

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COFFEE

First crack There are many elements that go into a fine cup of coffee, but the alchemy of roasting is a highly refined skill that can bring out the best in any bean, writes Sheridan Randall.

W

hen you heat a green coffee bean, the gases expand inside the shell until the pressure becomes too much for the husk, and that’s when it cracks. That sound is one of many signs that indicate the bean is on its way to becoming a great cup of coffee. The individual responsible for bringing the best out of a bean is the master roaster – part alchemist, part scientist, they oversee the almost magical process of bringing the bean to life.

Di Bella Coffee in Bowen Hill, Queensland, roasts each batch to match a pre-determined flavour profile.

“It’s really important to understand what happens in the roasting process, just as when you are making a cup of coffee there are so many different variables that will affect the end result in the cup,” says Mina Ali, director of market development at Di Bella Coffee.

“We start with the end in mind,” she says. “We have 11 different blends that we offer and each of those blends, although we follow a very similar roasting process, will all

have a very unique characteristic in the cup.

“For example, our Premium blend is full bodied with a medium acidity, while our Felici blend, which is also full bodied, has a dark chocolate undertone with a beautiful lingering aftertaste. Different regions will have different characteristics and even within those regions on the same plantation they can be growing coffees that have different characteristics. It is really important to know what you have before you even start the blending.”

content of the green bean is and the size of the roast,” Bettles says. “No two roasts are exactly the same.”

the same, the role of the master roaster is integral to getting the desired result, according to Ali.

Belaroma Coffee uses a computer automated roaster, which “takes a lot of the guess work out it”, says Bettles.

“Different green beans have different sizes, different levels of pH and different densities, so it’s really important to understand all of these factors at a green level,” she says. “Once the coffee is sourced and we have decided what sort of characteristics we are wanting for our profile, we will go through a cupping process. We isolate each characteristic in the cup and give each one a numerical value. Once we understand what each of the origins’ characteristics are we can then blend to an outcome rather than just a recipe. Just like wine, green bean flavour characteristics can change from each crop and harvest. That’s why it’s important to have that ongoing connection with the farmer. The master roaster can then blend to profile.”

Coffee from a particular region or estate that has been roasted many times before may yield different results every time it is roasted.

“But you’re still looking at every roast you do, and taking a sample from each and analysing it under a colour metre,” he says. “Essentially we are taking a sample and analysing the temperature to 0.1 per cent of a degree. If there is one degree difference in temperature or a five to 10 seconds difference in the drop out time of the roast it can have a significant effect on the coffee. You can put a batch of coffee to be roasted but if it falls outside of a particular tolerance in terms of colour it will taste completely different. The skill of roaster is to maintain that consistency day in day out so that you can maintain that consistency for your customers.”

“It is still going to roast differently depending on what the ambient temperature is, what number roast of the day it is, what the moisture

The chemical reaction that occurs within the green bean upon the application of heat is what produces the flavour, but with no two crops

One of the ways a coffee company can differentiate itself is by the quality of its roasting technology and the experience of its roaster, according to Richard Bettles, channel manager at Belaroma Coffee.

18 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

Sydney-based boutique roaster Whitham’s Coffee roasts to order and ships to its customers within 24 hours. The challenge is to maintain a consistent product.

“With our big blends, which tend to go into cafés that want a really consistent product and are not trying to sell a different variation from origin to origin, you will find subtle variations from season to season in the blends,” says Lance Witham, founder of Whitham’s Coffee.

consistency and patience, according to Witham, who has been roasting for 22 years and says he still feels he has more to learn.

“You get so many guys out there that have made cup of coffee and then they buy a roaster and they’re roasters but they’re not journeymen, they haven’t done their 10,000 hours,” he says. “They haven’t got the feel and that takes time. I can teach anybody to roast, but Andrew, who has been roasting for me now for around seven years, and myself both freely admit we are still learning.”

“For example about 18 months ago a lot of Columbian coffees had a really hard edge to them, so you had to massage the blend slightly to compensate for that. In order to achieve consistency there’s a lot more monitoring and human intervention particularly towards the end of the roast. And that’s where a little bit of alchemy comes in. You can roast to highlight the best features in a coffee. So if you do get something that you don’t want to highlight in the cup you can certainly roast to compensate for that.

“When we trial a new coffee we would roast a batch two or three times and then at two or three different levels and then sample immediately, and then after two days and so on. That way you start to learn about a coffee, its nuances and what you can achieve with it.”

Australia is at the forefront of coffee development, and has been gaining increasing respect for its talent globally for some years.

To get the perfect outcome, all the variables have to work together, according to Ali. “It takes a high level of expertise and instinct,” she says. “With larger volume roasts there is a higher

chance of things going wrong. Husks fall off the green beans so there is a higher chance of fire happening.

This has to come through a lot of time and experience.”

Becoming a master roaster takes

“We have some fantastic talent in roasters in Australia and that’s indicative of how many boutique roasters are out there producing some great coffee,” says Bettles. “Australia has the broadest choice of roasted coffee than any other country per capita. We are producing some of the best roasted coffee in the world, which means we must have a lot of good roasters out there who know what they’re doing.” OH

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, March 2013 19

Photo by Richard Cornish.

FORAGING

Dandelion.

Nettle.

Left: foraging expert Doris Pozzi.

lot of salads,” she says. “They’re really easy to spot and really high in omega-3, so instead of buying fish oil you can forage for this instead.”

Plants gone wild A forgotten tradition in Europe, foraging has had a spectacular resurgence over the last few years thanks to the success of Denmark’s René Redzepi and a host of local chefs who have put the humble weed back on the menu, writes Sheridan Randall.

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weed used to be a plant that had the audacity not to grow in rows, and for it troubles was either pulled up or sprayed with herbicide by enthusiastic farmers and gardeners. How things have changed. Denmark’s Noma, Melbourne’s Attica and Hobart’s Garagistes have all grabbed the headlines for their innovative approach to foraging their menu staples, while many Lebanese and Italian restaurants have been quietly doing it for ages without making a fuss about it.

Melbourne-based Doris Pozzi, author of Edible Weeds and Garden Plants of Melbourne and foraging expert, grew up in an Italian household “where foraging, as well as growing our own food, was very much what we did”.

“What we think of as weeds are really a mixture of introduced and native plants,” says Pozzi. “In urban areas probably about 80 per cent of what we see is introduced, but as you go further out you get more bush foods.”

It didn’t take long for introduced plants to get a strong foothold in Australia following the arrival of the First Fleet, with some seeds coming by accident on people’s clothing and cargo, and others being deliberately introduced.

Pozzi regularly conducts foraging tours, including one for the front of house staff at Attica, where she introduced them to the delights of plantain, a plant that grows wild in between the rows of vines at the One Thousand Candles organic vineyard in Victoria.

“Plantain is long and thin and with this limp sort of leaf and doesn’t really look like anything else,” says Pozzi. “It’s a lovely green that you can put into salads, but it is unusual because it tastes a little bit like raw mushroom.”

Purslane is another weed that is becoming more common on menus.

“It’s really succulent and green and can used in a

20 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

When it comes to finding the right place to forage, Pozzi says caution needs to be taken, especially in public areas, with councils often spraying the well-trodden areas with herbicides and pesticides.

“Outside the city is best but if people are foraging in a city I just encourage people to get off the main paths to areas that look a little unkempt,” she says. “It tends to be the main places that people are walking on that the councils want to keep manicured and hence use a lot of herbicide on.”

Many plants considered weeds were actively eaten in the past or are still used today in other countries as a staple ingredient, with purslane featuring regularly in Lebanese restaurants and mallow featuring in Egyptian cooking.

“I was in Egypt recently, where they use mallow just a normal vegetable,” she says. “Here mallow is considered to be one of the most common weeds that people are always pulling out of their garden.”

The irony of all that effort being expended to pull up so many edible plants in a frenzy of weeding is not lost on Pozzi.

“Purslane would grow in massive ground cover mats all over my garden, and I would pull it up and grow iceberg lettuce which has almost no nutrition at all,” she says. “It’s crazy – we have so much to learn.”

Supply and demand With so many high end restaurants now regularly using wild plants on their menus, a number of suppliers have appeared to fulfill the demand.

Native Oz Cuisine is an Australian Indigenous owned and run company that has foraging teams working weekly to cater to restaurants such as Circa and Vue de Monde, with samphire, sea blight, coastal saltbush, bower spinach, Warrigal greens, purslane, sea lettuce, rivermint, wild thyme, native pepper and paper bark among the many plants collected.

Glenora Heritage Produce also supplies a growing number of restaurants and chefs with wild

Bonetto’s pick of wild plants in Australia Amaranth – leaves in soups and casseroles, seeds in breads and cakes Fat hen – leaves in stir-fry, seeds as flour for bread Dandelion – leaves in salad, roots as coffee substitute Wood sorrel – leaves in salads, flowers as garnish Chickweed – young leaves used in salads or as garnish Mallow – young leaves in frittata, seed pods as finger food Wild fennel – young fronds as herb, seeds as tea Nettle – young shoots in soups and tea Rambling dock – leaves as pot herbs and baked with fish Scurvy weed – young shoots in casseroles and risottos Warrigal greens – leaves and stems in curries and as a pot herb Sowthistle – young leaves in salads or sauteed in oil with lemon For more information visit www.weedyconnection.com and www.edibleweeds.com.au Wild fennel.

plants, such as wood sorrel, fat hen, nettles and purslane, that grow nearby their organic heirloom farm in Tooborac, north of Melbourne. Owner Andrew Wood, along with his business partner Jill McCalman, used to weed them out of their herb garden “without realising what they were”.

After some research they concluded their energy might be better spent collecting them. Chefs coming to the property became intrigued and started to take various wild plants back to “play with”. Since then, weeds have become a substantial part of their business, so much so that they forage beyond their farm to keep up with demand. However, they have no intention of trying to cultivate them.

“We know that nettle season is winter and spring and they’ll just come up,” Woods says. “The thing about weeds is they are such a nutrient product because they are opportunistic, as they grow in the right season in the right conditions. I reckon if we started to cultivate them you would lose a bit of that.”

People have been eating stinging nettles in Europe for hundreds of years, particularly as they were one of the first plants to appear after the winter snow.

St John’s wort.

generation,” Bonetto says.

When not conducting foraging tours, Bonetto collaborates with chefs who want to work with forgaged ingredients on specific occasions.

“What I teach is just recycled information already,” he says. “It’s knowledge that our ancestors knew by heart, but got lost during the industrialisation of food and agriculture.”

The good news is it doesn’t take long to rediscover, according to Bonetta, but adds as an aside that there are some common sense rules necessary when foraging.

I collaborate with a lot of indigenous people and they say once you do the story you own it, but you need to do it first. It’s not enough just to read about.

The smells, the colours, the colony and how they grow in conjunction with other plants – all these details help you identify species with confidence.”

Rule number two is to forage in your own backyard.

“Especially in urban environments where you don’t know what’s safe, what pesticides have been used, and what the history of the ground is where they are growing. In your own backyard you know what’s happening,” he says.

The third and final rule is simply tread lightly.

“Firstly, positively identify everything,” he says.

“Don’t just go around with a PDF you printed from the internet trying to guess which are the plants.

It’s pretty hard to get food poisoning but it’s not impossible. Many taste bad so you wouldn’t eat them anyway, but in terms of mushrooms you can pay with your life if you don’t make the right decision.

“Never over harvest,” he says. “Be sure you don’t crop all of the flowers and all of the seeds so it is there for you to come back to.”

“Best of all go with someone who knows. Foraging is something that you learn through action so you need to be taken to see what it looks like in its environment and get to familiarise with the plants.

“We are not talking about survivalist skills, we are talking about gastro entertainment and enjoying something new and something special,” he says.

“It’s not about surviving the apocalypse.” OH

So does this spell the end of farming as we know it, with chefs simply gathering what they need for the day from the side of the road as they come to work? Bonetto thinks not.

“They would go nuts on nettles and get this amazing boost of vitamins and minerals after months of not having anything green,” he says.

Glenora has built a loyal following for their nettles at a weekly farmer’s market.

“There’s another one we’ve started to harvest called fat hen,” he says. “It’s like a small shrub, and the leaves you treat like silver beet, you can just break them and cook for 10 minutes or so with garlic and pancetta and that sort of stuff.

It’s very high in nutrients and is quite delicious.

Summer purslane is starting to get a bit of a following as well, which is direct result of seeing it on other menus.”

Foraging club Sydney-based foraging expert Diego Bonetto was involved in last year’s Wild Chef Challenge, part of the Sydney Morning Herald Crave Sydney International Food Festival.

“I grew up on a dairy farm in Italy and foraging is something everybody does from an early age, knowledge passed on from generation to

Andrew Wood and Jill McCalman of Glenora Heritage Produce.

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, March 2013 21

Flavour forecast

Trends to watch McCormick’s second global Flavour Forecast reveals the international flavour trends the food manufacturer expects to emerge in years to come, discovers Ylla Wright.

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cCormick & Company has unveiled its McCormick Flavour Forecast 2013 to an audience of industry insiders at an event at the Sydney Opera House.

Now in its thirteenth year, the report is an annual spotlight on the food trends that the company expects to see emerge over the next few years.

In its second year as a global report, the Flavour Forecast was developed through a year-long consultation process with food experts including chefs, dieticians, sensory scientists, food technologists and trend trackers from 100 countries around the globe.

Alan Wilson, chairman, president and chief executive of McCormick, believes the forecast allows McCormick’s to lead the way in “identifying flavour trends that serve as catalysts for innovation in many favourite retail brands and restaurant menus, including our own products”.

Michelle Thrift, a senior home economist with McCormick Foods Australia, has been involved in putting the forecast together from the

start, travelling to London early last year for a “global summit” which saw experts from around the world come together to discuss local and regional themes, and those which transcended borders.

“For Australia we had some key regional influences to consider; health and wellness, brand heritage, an ageing population and technology,” she said. “We also discovered some key trends; indulgence, elaborate products and services, elaborate ingredients, and personalisation.

“Key flavours were boutique spirits, salted caramel, cider apples and charcoal wood smoke, and you’ll notice some of these did get through to the forecast this year.”

With the broad themes indentified, a series of flavour combinations and recipes illustrating them were developed and fine-tuned over the course of the year. The result is five trends that McCormick’s believes will drive new product development and innovative menu additions over the coming years,

and 10 accompanying flavour combinations that illustrate how these trends come to life.

According to McCormick executive chef Kevan Vetter the results showed a “fascinating collision of tradition and innovation”.

“Authentic, real ingredients are still at the core – though now they’re being enjoyed in unique, updated ways that reflect a much more personalised approach to cooking and eating,” he said.

Amongst the featured trends is “Global My Way,” which describes how people are discovering formerly “ethnic” ingredients beyond their traditional uses and incorporating those flavours into everyday eating.

“Don’t be surprised if in the next few years Japanese Katsu, a tangy cross between barbecue and steak sauce, and cajeta, a Mexican caramel, gain the broad appeal that once-regional tastes like Asian hot chilli sauce have achieved,” said Vetter.

Other trends identified were “No Apologies Necessary” which pairs sumptuous flavours such as

bitter chocolate, sweet basil and passionfruit for the “gratification of a momentary escape”; “Personally Handcrafted”, which favours a rustic hands-on approach combining ingredients such as smoked tomato, rosemary, chilli and sweet onion to energise handcrafted ketchup,

‘Empowered eating’: Dukkah crusted fish with broccoli & red lentils

Makes: 6 servings

Dukkah enhances white fish with Middle Eastern spice and texture.

Served on a bed of Chinese broccoli and red lentils, this dish is high in fibre and flavour.

See more recipes in the Open House iPad app.

22 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

250g red lentils 250g Chinese broccoli, broccoli rabe, broccolini or other broccoli variety 6 firm white fish fillets (125g each) ½ cup Dukkah Spice Blend 3 tbsp olive oil, divided 1 cup finely chopped shallots 2 tsp grated lemon peel ½ tsp McCormick Mint Flakes 2 cups quartered grape or cherry tomatoes ½ cup (125ml) unsalted vegetable or

artichoke, paprika and hazelnut.

Don’t expect to see these combinations on menus immediately though; Thrift says there is a “flavour acceptance curve”, which means that emerging trends identified now will start appearing in the next couple of years and becoming mainstream within five.

Certainly many of the unfamiliar ingredients identified in past reports have now entered the mainstream.

When chipotle (smoke dried jalepeno chillies) was featured in the Flavour Forecast 2003, it was virtually unknown amongst consumers, however since then, the number of dishes on US menus mentioning chipotle have increased by 214 per cent, according to a Mintel Menu Insights report. Sweet potato, which was mentioned in the 2008 forecast, has also taken off, with McCain’s recently releasing sweet potato wedges.

“Already with the 2012 [predictions], we’re noticing a lot of eggplant and harissa dips, and more vanilla butter products coming out,” says Thrift.

sauces, jams and more; “Empowered Eating”, which creates health and wellness through mixing unexpected ingredients, flavours and textures such as broccoli and Middle Eastern dukkah; and “Hidden Potential”, which looks for new combinations of familiar ingredients such as

chicken stock ¼ cup lemon juice ¼ teaspoon McCormick Sea Salt Soak lentils in cold water 20 to 30 minutes. Drain. Bring 1 litre of water to boil in a medium saucepan. Add lentils and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.

Trim tough bottom stems of Chinese broccoli. Coarsely chop stems and leaves. Set aside.

Moisten fish fillets lightly with water. Coat 1 side of each fillet generously with 2 teaspoons of the Dukkah Spice Blend. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in large nonstick frying pan on medium heat.

Add fish, spice blend-side down, and

With the McCormick’s team looking forward to seeing how their predictions play out over the years to come, Thrift believes the forecast highlights the importance of “elevating authentic ingredients through individualised inspirations, a modern sensibility and innovative techniques”.

The report can be found at www. mccormick.com.au/flavourforecast. OH

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cook 3 to 5 minutes per side or until golden brown and fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fish to serving platter. Keep warm.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in same frying pan on medium heat. Add shallots; cook and stir for 3 minutes or until softened.

Add Chinese broccoli, lemon peel and mint; cook and stir for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, lentils, stock, lemon juice and salt; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until most of liquid has been absorbed and Chinese broccoli is tender yet still crisp. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the remaining Dukkah.

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www.nafdarewards.com.au

To serve, spoon Chinese broccoli mixture onto each plate. Top with fish fillet. Serve with remaining Dukkah for sprinkling, if desired.

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, March 2013 23

Healthy eating

What’s healthy now?

The subject of healthier eating is on everyone’s lips, with the release of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s new Australian Dietary Guidelines, writes Ylla Wright.

T

he National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has released new Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG), to clarify what Australians should be eating to maximise health and wellbeing.

With good nutrition contributing significantly to maintaining not only a healthy weight, but also good physical and mental health throughout life, resistance to infection, and to protection against chronic disease and premature death, the guidelines are aimed at helping reduce people’s individual risk of developing diseases such as heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.

Alarmingly, poor nutrition is implicated in more than 56 per cent of all deaths, according to Australian Health and Welfare Institute figures. Australia also has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, with 61 per cent of Australian adults either overweight or obese. Current trends expect to see that percentage to increase to about 70 per cent by 2020.

With many Australians relying

too heavily on high energy, low nutrition foods, a key problem is that there is so much conflicting information out there, that many consumers – and chefs – are confused about what actually constitutes a healthy diet.

The result of a review of around 55,000 pieces of peer-reviewed scientific research, the NHMRC guidelines aim to cut through that confusion.

Reflecting the expert dietary modelling of around 100 dietary patterns based on nutrient requirements, cultural acceptability and Australian consumption patterns, the guidelines reflect stronger evidence that Australians should eat more fruit and vegetables, wholegrain cereals and reduced fat dairy foods, while limiting their consumption of energy rich, nutrient poor “junk” foods.

The total diet approach of the guidelines reflects information about helping Australians eat the right foods for health, with an energy (kilojoule) intake to help achieve or maintain a healthy weight.

24 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

“To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, Australians need to balance physical activity with amounts of nutritious foods and drinks that meet energy needs,” said NHMRC chief executive Professor Warwick Anderson. “We all need to limit energy rich, nutrient poor ‘junk foods’ that are high in saturated fat, added salt or sugar.”

Heather Yeatman, president of the Public Health Association Australia (PHAA) and associate professor of Nutrition at the University of Wollongong, has applauded the new guidelines.

“The public needs to know this is the place to go for good, authoritative dietary advice,” she said. “The challenge for many Australians is that there are so many myths, confusing pieces of advice and falsehoods perpetuated by so-called gurus. The work of the NHMRC is strongly evidence-based and can be relied on by health, medical and education professionals and everyone in the community.

“The PHAA is pleased that the guidelines focus on the types of

food to eat for health rather than specific nutrients and the messages are very clear about avoiding sugars. In the new ADG there is a clear distinction between added sugar (such as found in carbonated soft drink) and where sugars are eaten as part of a whole food such as an apple.”

Mark Wahlqvist, emeritus professor of Medicine, Monash University and former president of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, believes the new guidelines “must now rank among the world’s best and most significant”.

“They are comprehensive in their regard for the underpinning of food and nutrition science and its application to the health of all Australians, whatever their background or age,” he said.

“Very importantly they [also] tackle the growing imperative for a sustainable and secure food system.”

Practical measures for a more sustainable food culture suggested include avoiding overconsumption, minimising food wastage,

considering how you buy, store, prepare and dispose of food, and minimising and recycling the packaging of food.

While the PHAA doesn’t believe the guidelines go far enough in this respect, with chief executive Michael Moore saying “if we destroy the environment that sustains our food supply we will not be in a position to produce good nutritious food and such advice will become redundant”, most experts believe that the NHMRC guidelines represent a balanced way forward.

Targeting fast food Hot on the heels of release of the new dietary guidelines, the Cancer Council has released its own report, Fast Food: Exposing the Truth, which aims to tackle the impact that fast food and the fast food industry has on chronic diseases and obesity rates.

The report reveals major inconsistencies in the availability of nutrition information in fast food outlets across Australia, with certain states and fast food chains providing kilojoule labelling in-store whilst consumers in other states are left in

either overweight or obese,” she said.

the dark about the energy content of their food.

“We are now choosing to eat out more often and spend nearly a third of our weekly household food budget on foods we eat away from home.

Unfortunately much of this is fast food and convenience foods that are laden with saturated fats, added sugars and salt, and loaded with kilojoules.

Current legislation in South Australia, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory requires fast food outlets to display the energy (kilojoule) content of foods and drinks on menus, while major food chains including Subway, Domino’s, McDonald’s and Hungry Jacks now voluntarily display energy content on their menus.

Acknowledging that Australians’ “busy lives mean that we are eating out more often and relying on take away and convenience foods”, Hughes believes that “new measures need to be introduced to make it easier to choose healthier foods when we are eating out, and to gradually reduce the levels of kilojoules, fats and salt in fast food”.

The report also revealed the need for reformulation targets to be established to reduce the amount of saturated fat, salt and sugars that are found in fast food menu items.

“Mandatory kilojoule labelling has already been introduced in NSW, and this is a step in the right direction.

But it needs to be introduced across Australia, with more detailed information also available in store.”

Clare Hughes, nutrition program manager at Cancer Council NSW, has called for the Federal Government and the fast food industry to introduce mandatory reformulation targets and energy labelling across the country and tighten existing initiatives to reduce the unhealthy impact that fast food has on Australian’s health.

Using the example of nutrition information panels on packaged foods which help shoppers identify healthier choices in the supermarket, Hughes maintains that people “also have the right to be informed when we’re eating out”.

“More than 60 per cent of Australian adults and almost a quarter of Australian children are currently

Guidelines to healthier eating There are five principal recommendations featured in the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

1. To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drinks to meet your energy needs.

2. Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious

• fruit

foods from these five groups every

• grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties, such as breads, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, polenta, couscous, oats, quinoa and barley

day: • vegetables, including different types and colours, and legumes/ beans

• lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans • milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives, mostly reduced fat (reduced fat milks are not suitable for children under the age of two years).

3. Limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol: • Limit intake of foods high in saturated fat such as many biscuits, cakes, pastries, pies, processed meats, commercial burgers, pizza, fried foods, potato chips, crisps and other savoury snacks. Replace high fat foods which contain

predominantly saturated fats such as butter, cream, cooking margarine, coconut and palm oil with foods which contain predominantly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as oils, spreads, nut butters/ pastes and avocado • Limit intake of foods and drinks containing added salt. Do not add salt to foods in cooking or at the table • Limit intake of foods and drinks containing added sugars such as confectionary, sugar-sweetened soft drinks and cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin waters, energy and sports drinks • If you choose to drink alcohol, limit intake. For women who are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.

4. Encourage, support and promote breastfeeding.

5. Care for your food; prepare and store it safely.

The new dietary guidelines can be found at www.eatforhealth.gov.au. OH

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, March 2013 25

cooking the Books

A good looking Italian As thoughts turn to wintery braises, roast meat and other hearty fare, Guy Grossi from Grossi Florentino in Melbourne shares one of his favourite pasta dishes.

Bigoli pasta with duck sauce Serves: 4

B

igoli is special northern Italian pasta. It is similar in shape to spaghetti, but slightly thicker. Unlike other forms of pasta, it includes butter in the dough.

35g dried forest mushrooms 1 × 2kg duck 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 2 sticks celery, finely chopped 2 carrots, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped 3 tablespoons chopped sage leaves ¼ cup (70g) tomato paste (puree) 1 cup (250ml) red wine 3 cups (750ml) chicken stock sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for 2-3 hours.

Drain well.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 3. Place the duck in a roasting tin and roast for 1½ hours or until golden. Remove from the oven.

When the duck is cool enough to handle, shred the meat. Discard the skin and bones.

4. To make the bigoli, place the flour on a clean workbench and sprinkle with the salt. Gently rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and milk, then knead for 10 minutes or until smooth. Roll the dough into 3 or 4 sheets about 3 mm thick, then cut into spaghetti-like lengths using a pizza cutter. Spread the bigoli on a floured baking tray and cover with a clean tea towel until ready to use.

5. To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a heavybased saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, chilli and sage and saute, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until the vegetables have softened.

6. Add the soaked mushrooms and tomato paste and stir well. Cook for 2 minutes, then increase the heat to high and pour in the wine and stock, stirring to remove any pieces stuck to the base of the pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour or until the sauce has thickened.

7. Add the shredded duck, season well with salt and pepper and cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until a rich sauce has formed.

8. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a rapid boil. Add the bigoli and cook until al dente, then drain. Add the bigoli to the sauce and toss to coat.

Serve immediately with some extra sauce on top.

Recipe and image from Lantern Cookery Clasic: Guy Grossi by Guy Grossi.

Bigoli 2 cups (300g) plain flour, plus extra for dusting pinch of salt 100g butter, chopped 1 egg ¼ cup (60ml) milk

Photo: Sharyn Cairns.

26 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

What’s on shelf this month?

Sicily (Phaidon, $45) The sun-drenched island of Sicily has a long, rich history which influences its cuisine even today. While the Greeks bought olives, pomegranates, grapes and honey, and the Romans brought wheat, Arab conquerors bought a sumptuous array of produce such as eggplants, citrus fruit, apricots, saffron, rice, dates and watermelon, which thrived in the Mediterranean climate, as well as new ways of preparing food. The result is a regional cuisine that combines colourful fresh ingredients, simply treated, to create rich, complex flavours that never fail to excite. If a fact-finding mission during the Northern summer isn’t on the menu this year, this book is sure to have you saving up for next year.

Flavours of urban Melbourne by Jonette George (Smudge publishing, $70) You don’t have to live in Melbourne to appreciate this gastronomic journey through the best restaurants, cafes and bars of Melbourne, but if you do this is a great way to check out the competition. Showcasing venues such as Cutler & Co, Radio Mexico, Builders Arms and The Commoner, this coffee table book goes behind the scenes with stories from the owners, as well as recipes of the dishes that sum up their culinary philosophy. There’s also historical and demographic information about the inner suburbs which might be of use if you fancy setting up shop there.

Lantern Cookery Classics by various authors (New Holland, $19.99) The second set of Lantern Cookery Classics is released this month, featuring a hand-picked selection of the very best recipes from Penguin’s leading chefs. Readers can discover the secrets to Christine Manfield’s infamous Gaytime dessert along with other dishes inspired by her passion for food and appetite for travel; take a peek inside Manu Feildel’s French bistro kitchen; and share in the treasured family recipes of Melbourne-based Italian chef Guy Grossi. Presented in the iconic Penguin Classics livery, each Lantern Cookery Classic features more than 60 recipes, all photographed by leading food photographers. OH

Get ’appy Penguin Group has released a new recipe app, The Best of Kylie Kwong, for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The new cooking app features chef Kylie Kwong, owner of celebrated restaurant Billy Kwong in Sydney, arguably best known for her six cookbooks and accompanying television series, guiding users through a feast of her classic recipes.

The app is in addition to The Best of Gary & George app, featuring popular MasterChef judges, chefs George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan, which was released earlier this year, and The Best

of Maggie Beer.

Each of the apps includes easy to follow, step-by-step recipe instructions for 50 classic dishes; exclusive videos; a one-touch function to create instant shopping lists; the ability to search for recipes by phone; a photographic glossary of ingredients and kitchen tools; and the ability for users to share their favourite dishes via Facebook, Twitter or email.

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, March 2013 27

products

Saved by the bell For busy restaurants it can be difficult to answer the telephone and take bookings during peak service times, which is why online reservation company Dimmi is offering a telephone overflow service.

The service allows telephone bookings to be made out of hours and during busy peaks, without taking restaurant staff away from their key role of looking after diners.

To use, restaurants simply set their phone to switch to the Dimmi overflow line after a certain number of rings. Customers will be put through to a professional reservations team who will ensure the phone is never unanswered and no bookings are missed.

Premium crab cakes &T Trading have introduced three new frozen crab products to their foodservice range which are all made from quality Blue Swimmer crab meat.

A

of tamarind. They can be served as an entree or as an addition to a main meal. ● www.attrading.com.au

The Premium Crab Cakes are handmade and mixed with lemon juice, paprika, mustard and onion, while the Tapas Chilli Crab Cakes are a blend of cheese, jalapeno peppers, chilli and spices coated with a light crumb. Both products are perfect for entrees, tapas platters and functions.

Seasonal ciders

The Crab Backs are Blue Swimmer crab shells filled with diced red and green peppers, parsley, lemon rind and crabmeat with a touch

The Franklin Cider Co. has recently launched their home grown premium cider range with Frank’s Summer Apple and Frank’s Summer Pear. The range is a collaboration between leading wine maker Julian Alcorso and the Clark family who have owned Woodside Orchard in Tasmania since 1836.

The ciders are made with premium, seasonal fruit from the Clark family’s orchard and only natural, pure ingredients for the best taste.

“Our no-concentrate ciders are an experience since they deliver a very distinctive just picked fruit taste, testing extremely positively amongst our target audience,” says Alcorso.

Frank’s Summer Apple has a medium sweetness that is light and crisp while Frank’s Summer Pear is sweet and refreshing. Both drinks were awarded the bronze medal at the 2012 Australian Cider Awards. ● www.frankscider.com.au

The One expands bread range Tip Top Foodservice has added two new products to their range of healthy breads; The One Wholemeal 28 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

and The One Omega.

The varieties are a great option for customers looking for more nutritious bread as they contain extra fibre for digestion, added vitamins and minerals. They are also a lower GI than most bread, providing a fuller feeling for longer and lasting energy.

National business manager for Tip Top Foodservice, Brian Esplin said “The One has proved to be a highly successful bread range in the Australian Foodservice sector, so much so that there was increasing feedback for new wholemeal and Omega-rich varieties.” ● www.tiptop-foodservice.com.au

Dimmi chief executive Stevan Premutico says that the service could be useful to restaurants during tough economic times, as they can keep staffing levels low.

“Any initiative that increases restaurant revenue whilst reducing overheads can only be positive for the industry,” he says. ● www.dimmi.com.au

Italian coffee collaboration Chef Stefano Manfredi, renowned in Australia for his Italian cuisine, has teamed up with master coffee roaster Wayne Archer to release a range of blends for Espresso di Manfredi.

The duo has come together again after the successful launch of their Classico Italian blend in 2000 to launch new blends Audacia and Chiaro.

suction and greater air flow.

There are four models in the Vegas range including the dry 17 litre tank, the wet and dry 18 and 27 litre tanks and the 62 litre tank which has a twin motor and trolley mount. ● www.kerrick.com.au

One of a kind cheese Third generation French cheese maker Matthieu Megard is partnering with the Organic Dairy Farmers Australia (ODFA) Co-operative to create a new range of hand-crafted cheese.

Audacia has a rich, tangy taste with notes of dried fruit. It is made from a blend of Sumatran and Indian Arabicas beans and a touch of darkly roasted Kenyan.

with their new sweet potato wedges.

With their bright orange colour and ridge cut, the wedges are visually appealing as well as tasty.

Megard believes that organic milk has a huge impact on the quality of cheese, which is why he has decided to use it for the range of semi-hard mountain-style French cheeses.

OFDA chief executive Bruce

Symons is positive about the partnership, saying “just as the quality of grapes and the types of grapes can impact on a wine, we truly believe that the quality of milk is no different, and by putting our milk in the hands of someone like Matthieu, it can produce incredible products”.

The new range of cheese will be available early this year. OH

Chiaro is more citrus based in flavour, with notes of honey, chocolate, vanilla and orange peel, balanced with a cherry taste to finish. It is made with lightly roasted Papua New Guinean coffee.

Along with the coffee blends, Espresso di Manfredi have developed a collection of coffee cups

by Ceramica di Manfredi that will be supplied to cafes. The beautifully designed ceramic cups come in four warm, earthy colours that compliment the coffee blends and can be mixed and matched. ● www.espressodimanfredi.com

Worldwide oils For that extra special touch when plating a dish why not finish with a drizzle of olive oil from the new range of Eliunt Extra Virgin Olive Oils for the foodservice industry?

The range of Eliunt Extra Virgin Olive Oils are a unique mix of flavours from 10 regions around the world including Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Lebanon.

Each oil has an individual flavour depending on the region it came from. Some are strong and bitter while others are soft and subtle.

The oils are ideal for enhancing the flavours of any dish, whether a canapé, main or even dessert. ● www.eliunt.com

‘Sweet’ snack McCain are offering foodservice professionals a versatile menu item

The thick, uneven cut of McCain wedges gives them a superior crunch unlike other potato wedges and prevents them from going soggy when cooked. Simply deep fry from frozen for a couple of minutes and the result is a crunchy, sweet potato snack.

McCain sweet potato wedges can be served as a side dish with dipping sauce, in a salad or accompanying a main meal. ● www.mccain.com.au

Supreme clean

Full of flavour

Kerrick Industrial Equipment has recently released the Vegas range of vacuum cleaners for the ultimate clean kitchen. The vacuums are ideal for the foodservice industry as they are heavy duty and designed to last.

Single Origins Coffee Cups are unique glass cups which allow drinkers to experience the full flavours and individual characteristics of the coffee depending on where the beans came from.

The high performance range of vacuum cleaners feature fold down handles, low noise, a furniture bumper base and an on board tool caddy for convenience. They are strongly constructed for powerful

The innovative coffee cups from Luigi Bormioli are designed to enhance and heighten the aromas of various coffee beans more than traditional coffee mugs. They are made from doubled walled

borosilicate glass which offers heat retention and does not produce condensation which can lead to coffee rings.

There are six designs in the range to suit single origin coffee beans from Brazil, India, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Costa Rica and Colombia.

Each cup is a different size and shape to bring out the individual notes and aromas specific to the origin of the coffee beans. ● www.crowncommercial.com.au

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, March 2013 29

CULINARY CLIPPINGS

New beginnings I

n an historic meeting held at Ryde TAFE in Sydney on March 4, the New South Wales chapter of the Australian Culinary Federation (ACF) was reunited with its members. In the company of over 50 per cent of current members and several sponsors the meeting was conducted with fantastic enthusiasm creating a platform to push forward with a new strategic plan and value proposition that will attract members both new and existing for the long term.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Peter Wright Australian Culinary Federation (ACF)

The purpose of the meeting was to establish a new chapter, making history and a new horizon for the ACF, washing away any stigma from the past and rebuilding the goodwill in NSW. Neil Abrahams impressed the group as he presented the interim committee to the members, with the newly formed NSWACT & Region chapter accepted unanimously by the members.

For me personally this is a major milestone as the president of the ACF to fulfil my commitment to create a united and powerful

organisation. I can now say out loud that all chefs of Australia are united by a common bond without boundaries. Collectively we have again proven that we are a strong developing organisation with strong membership and sponsorship growth. Hats off to all the chefs who have patiently supported and assisted the rejuvenation of the NSW chapter.

Around the rest of the country, I had the pleasure of attending the Queensland Awards of Excellence dinner in Brisbane, an event attended by over 150 chefs and major sponsors, representing all regions of Queensland, who enjoyed a wonderful meal cooked by the brigade at Royal on the Park.

In Melbourne, we supported the Fonterra Proud to be a Chef with 32 apprentices from all parts of Australia treated to three days of master classes from Teague Ezard (Ezards), Leigh Power (Gingerboy), Scott Pickett (Estelle), George Calombaris and Shane Delia (St Katherine’s), Lieutenant Commander

Murray McAuliffe (Royal Australian Navy), Debra Smith (Delaware North, Etihad Stadium), Steve McFarlane (ACF), Kate McGhie and Lisa Morrison (William Angliss College). Congratulations to Fonterra Foodservices and all the contestants for their culinary commitment to our magnificent industry.

And finally as part of our certified chef program we have certified three chefs, all from Victoria in the past month. Congratulations go to Mathew Maslak – Certified Professional Chef; Debra Smith – Certified Chef De Cuisine; and Walter Schlumberger – Certified Master Chef.

To get involved with the ACF is easier than ever. To keep up with the ACF follow us on Twitter “ACFThe1” and Facebook “Australian Culinary Federation”.

We have almost 1000 followers on Facebook which is a great tool to give you up to the minute culinary news and highlights.

Peter Wright National President Australian Culinary Federation peter@xtremechef.com.au www.austculinary.com.au

Baker’s dozen achieve excellence Chef Herbert Franceschini was honoured as the 2013 Award For Excellence Winner at the Australian Culinary Federation Queensland Gala Dinner held at Royal on the Park last month.

Thirteen nominees from across the state were recognised for their outstanding commitment to quality, passion, dedication and service to the hospitality industry.

“The Award For Excellence represents a moment in our industry where we pause and honour our fellow colleagues for their regard for our industry,” said Bruno Gentile, president of Australian Culinary Federation Queensland.

From left: Bruno Gentile, Herbert Franceschini, Peter Housecroft, Peter Wright and Brian Down.

30 Open House, March 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

Vic apprentice Proud to win top spot Victorian apprentice chef Jacob Hoskin was awarded first place in the 2013 Fonterra Proud to be a Chef program at a recent gala dinner at Ezard in Melbourne.

Hoskin, a Victoria University apprentice who studies at the Sofitel Academy, walked away

with an international culinary sponsorship tailored to his personal aspirations as a chef.

Hoskin, who was previously named Australia’s top apprentice chef in the 2011 Australian Culinary Federation Awards, submitted an original recipe for crispy scaled barramundi with avocado mousse, verjuice butter, radish and wild sea vegetables that contributed to his win.

Jacob Hoskin with Peter Wright.

Australian squid, steamed garlic custard, shaved breakfast radish, porcini mushroom broth and wild rocket samphire.

The finalists, who included second place winner Josh Skipworth from Western Australia, and tied third place winners Daniel Garwood from Tasmania and Wingo Lam from New Zealand, had the opportunity to attend master classes

by Teage Ezard, owner of Ezard and Gingerboy, Leigh Power, head chef at Gingerboy, and Peter Wright,

Junior Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge 2013 launched This year’s Junior Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge (JSSCC 2013) is underway. A cooking competition for year 10 students studying Home Economics or Hospitality at high school, the Challenge will see pairs of students will represent their school and battle it out against some of the most talented and brilliant young cooks in Queensland.

Run and organised by the Australian Culinary Federation Queensland, the JSSCC 2013 will

Junior Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge Champion at the Brisbane EKKA show with purpose-built kitchens and spectator seating.

Each of the regions in association with the Australian Culinary Federation Queensland will host their own Junior Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge. The first and second place winning teams from each region will then compete at the Grand Final Cook Off for the prestigious Queensland

With over $4000 in prize money, medals and the trophy for the Australian Culinary Federation Queensland Champion Junior Secondary School Challenge up for the taking, this competition will heat up. For more information on the 2013 JSSCC contact the regional co-ordinator in your region. OH

MANAGING EDITOR Ylla Wright Journalist Sheridan Randall Sales & Marketing Manager Jo Robinson Regional Account Manager Leah Jensen

Official organ for the Australian Culinary Federation; Association of Professional Chefs and Cooks of NSW; Professional Chefs and Cooks Association of Queensland Inc.; Academie Culinaire de France; College of Catering Studies and Hotel Administration, Ryde, NSW; Les Toques Blanches, NSW Branch; Australasian Guild of Professional Cooks Ltd. Subscriptions: 1 yr $99; 2 yrs $174; 3 yrs $261 (incl. GST and surface mail).

ISSN 0312-5998

DESIGN/PRODUCTION Bin Zhou ADVERTISING CO-ORDINATION megan@creativehead.com.au

“Fonterra is proud to support these bright Australian and New Zealand apprentice chefs and offer them this unique opportunity to enhance their careers and learn from some of the industry’s top icons,” said Carolyn Plummer, Fonterra Proud to be a Chef co-ordinator.

OPEN HOUSE FOODSERVICE is proud to be a diamond sponsor of the ACF.

incorporate Gold Coast, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Redcliff, Caboolture, Cairns, Brisbane North and Brisbane South regions.

PUBLISHER Alexandra Yeomans

national president of the Australian Culinary Foundation.

For information on ACF, visit www.austculinary.com.au, or contact the ACF National Office via acfnationaloffice@austculinary.com.au or (03) 9816 9859.

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