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OPEN HOUSE NEWS

Concern over online restaurant reviews R

estaurant and Catering Australia has voiced concerns within the industry to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over fake reviews and lack of accountability of restaurant review websites such as Eatability, Urbanspoon and Yelp.

The ACCC is investigating whether online review platforms need to be self-regulated or regulated by the commission. The initiative will look at online reviews or testimonials that do not reflect the reviewer’s honest belief about a product or service and may be based on an ulterior motive.

The move follows concerns that fake online consumer testimonials and reviews are having a detrimental impact on the hospitality sector.

“It is most concerning that anti-competitive behaviour and misleading comments are being posted on these platforms by competing businesses,” said the association’s chief executive, John Hart.

“About 10 per cent of our members have made complaints about online review platforms, due to the fact that it is unclear whether the comments posted are legitimate and who the author is.”

New business info a click away establish their new business, according to NSW Minister for Primary Industries and Small Business Katrina Hodgkinson, speaking at the launch.

The website leads people through a step-by-step process where they click yes or no to questions about their proposed venture to determine the nature of the business and the appropriate food safety requirements. It also includes a short video on preparing and serving food safely, as well as other resources and departments that the new business may need to contact or notify as part of the start-up process.

“Starting a food business is an exciting venture, but it brings with it the responsibilities of food safety requirements and obligations,” she said.

The new “starting a food business” website means people are “just a click away” from all the information needed to

The website can be found at www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/ industry/starting-a-food-business.

CONTENTS

A new interactive webpage has been launched by the NSW Government for people wanting to start a food business in New South Wales.

“This new webpage is a helpful tool that provides information about what to consider, what to know and what to do in terms of food safety, legal, licensing and notification requirements.”

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

Asian ingredients.............................. 14

Cover story – Bulla Dairy Foods

Chocolate.......................................... 18

Real Dairy ice cream...................... 08

Pots, pans and utensils...................... 22

Q&A – Liz Prescott, Crown Perth..... 10

Food and wine matching.................... 24

Origins of bagels............................... 12

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

Consultant chef................................. 12

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

Sustainability.................................... 13

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

Editor’s word

T

he disquiet about the reliability of online restaurant review websites and their ability to damage businesses in the hospitality sector continues to grow, with Restaurant and Catering Australia last month taking their concerns to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the websites are being abused by customers, competitors and in some cases disgruntled former employees. In many cases it is impossible to see if the comments are legitimate, as most review websites don’t require commenters to leave their contact details.

Interestingly, a recent survey by www.womo.com.au, a website which allows users to review businesses nationally, found that 70 per cent of Australians who review businesses online are motivated by positive experiences not negative ones.

Unfortunately it only takes a few negative reviews to do damage to a business’s reputation. Let’s hope the ACCC comes to the party and makes these sites accountable for the opinions expressed on them.

Ylla Wright Managing Editor @ohfoodservice

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Asian ingredients.

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 3

NEWS

PayPal expands offline Food Guides in New South Wales and Victoria in September, with some saying the scheme could be seen to compromise the Good Food Guide brand.

A Fairfax spokesperson said that the scheme would have no bearing on the editorial independence of the good food guides, adding that “the reviewers and editors make their decisions independent of commercial concerns”.

The fat lady sings for Sydney icons The two-hatted Guillaume at Bennelong is to leave the Sydney Opera House after almost 12 years, with owner and head chef Guillaume Brahimi (pictured below) announcing that he will not submit a tender for the site at the end of the current lease.

Watch the video in the Open House iPad app.

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nline payments portal PayPal is expanding offline, enabling cash-less and card-less payments in Australian cafes, restaurants and bars via PayPal’s digital wallet. The new payment option allows customers to order and pay on any device.

Through partnerships with ordering websites including EatNow, Beat The Q and OrderMate, hundreds of cafés, bars and restaurants can now be accessed through the PayPal mobile application, allowing customers to “check-in” and pay by accessing their PayPal account.

PayPal has also been working with point of sale (POS) software providers such as Kounta, Island Pacific and Vend to integrate PayPal payments into current and future point of sale solutions.

According to Hill Ferguson, vice president of global product at PayPal, the technology is the “world’s first digital wallet, leveraging cloud technology to provide customers with a secure, financially independent, device-agnostic solution that provides true flexibility on desktop and increasingly on mobile devices”.

“Mobile has driven dramatic shifts in the path to purchase, providing Australian retailers with more opportunities to interact with their customers and engage with them at a number of touch points beyond the traditional storefront,” added Jeff Clementz, managing director of PayPal Australia.

“Over the last year, PayPal has been collaborating with hospitality and POS companies to provide more flexible and secure payment options for Australian consumers, making it easier than ever to pay how they want, when they want.”

OzHarvest wins UN award

Leading food rescue organisation OzHarvet has won the United Nations World Environment Day – Virgin Australia Community Award 2013.

OzHarvest has successfully implemented a program based on the concept of rescuing excess food from going to landfill which echoes this year’s World Environment Day theme of food waste and sustainable consumption.

At the same time, OzHarvest redistributes the food to vulnerable Australians nationally through more than 500 charities and welfare organisations.

Ronni Kahn, chief executive of OzHarvest, believes that the responsibility to combat food waste should be shared across the food industry, individuals and government, as well as the major supermarkets.

“We can all do a lot more to tackle food waste in our country,” she said. “Our challenge is to create a sustainable food culture that can be shared by all. This is a global challenge and one that needs to be embraced locally and globally to affect incremental change.”

Australians throw away the equivalent of $7.8 billion of food waste every year. This means that more than 4 million tonnes of food ends up as landfill, contributing to toxic carbon emissions and polluting our environment. Meanwhile, two million people in Australia rely on food relief every year.

Concerns Fairfax gift card will eat into margins Some of Australia’s leading restaurateurs have rejected a proposed Fairfax Media partnered gift card scheme saying that the requirement to cover 25 per cent of the gift card’s value was too much.

Restaurant & Catering Association Victoria president Matteo Pignatelli said that the card “eroded into our already low to non-existent profit margins”.

The gift card scheme is to be launched at the same time as the publication of the Fairfax owned Good

4 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

The restaurant space was put out to tender for the first time in a decade in May. Brahimi said that the Opera House Trust had “a very different vision” for the type of venue it wanted for the site.

“Our goal was always to run one of the best restaurants in the country, befitting such an iconic venue,” Brahimi said. “The Opera House Trust is now seeking a bistro style restaurant, cafe and bar.”

The restaurant will operate as normal until the end of the year, when the existing lease ends.

“It’s been 12 great years of my life and I’m looking forward to the next project and in the short term, the next six months of being very busy at Bennelong,” he said.

Claude’s Restaurant in Woollahra has also announced it will close its doors on September 7, after 37 years. Owner and executive chef Chui Lee Luk will move on to a new project after a decade

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at the restaurant.

In a statement the chef said that “the closure comes at a time in Sydney’s dining landscape, where people are seeking more frequent, accessible dining experiences”.

ACT’s top restaurants and caterers honoured More than 50 of Canberra’s finest restaurants and caterers were recognised at the recent 2013 Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering HostPlus Awards for Excellence at the National Press Club of Australia.

Grazing Restaurant in Gundaroo was awarded Restaurant of the Year, while Portrait Catering, in Parkes, won the Venue Caterer award and was also named the Caterer of the Year. Charlie’s Sala Thai Restaurant, in Greenway, won the Consumer Vote Award.

The winning businesses will now compete in the national finals to be held in Sydney on October 28.

Exemption for restaurants and cafes welcomed Restaurant & Catering Australia has welcomed the Government’s decision to revoke its requirement for restaurants, caterers and cafes to produce separate menus for weekends and public holidays when they may apply a surcharge.

Under the component pricing laws, the final price of a product was required to be displayed, including all fees and charges, however a targeted component pricing exemption for restaurants, caterers and cafes now allows businesses to apply a surcharge without having to provide separate menus.

Restaurant & Catering Australia chief executive John Hart said the requirement had been “putting unnecessary strain on restaurateurs, caterers and café owners”.

“This will certainly provide some relief for small business by reducing costs and complexity,” he said.

Victoria’s best named More than 160 Victorian restaurants and caterers have been recognised at the 2013 Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering HostPlus Awards for Excellence held at Crown Melbourne.

The award winners included Jacques Reymond Restaurant, winning the title of Metropolitan Restaurant of the Year; Eleonore’s, Chateau Yering Hotel, awarded the Regional Restaurant of the Year; Peter Rowland Catering – The Event Centre in Flemington, which took out Caterer of the Year;

and Captain Baxter, scooping Victoria’s top New Restaurant. Four Figs in Beaconsfield won the Consumer Vote Award.

“The winners should be proud that they have been judged and rigorously reviewed amongst about 1500 entrants in one of the most objective awards systems that looks at the entire dining experience, rather than a single food or service dimension,” said chair judge Kate McGhie.

The winning businesses will progress to the national finals to be held in Sydney on October 28.

Australian family businesses “surviving but not thriving” Australian family business owners – including those in the hospitality industry – are surviving but not thriving according to a new national survey.

The MGI Australian Family and Private Business Survey 2013, undertaken by RMIT University and supported by MGI, an international accounting firm specialising in advice to family and privatelyowned businesses, found that only 24 per cent of family business owners have experienced an increase in profitability and market share in the last 12 months, and less than 40 per cent have positive expectations of market improvement in the next 12 months.

The longest running survey of its type in Australia, the research has tracked the concerns and motivations of Australian family and private business owners over the past 19 years.

MGI chairman Sue Prestney said the survey highlighted that over the past decade family business owners have progressively become more concerned about their financial performance (2003 – 27 per cent; 2013 – 58 per cent) as well as about the industries in which they operate (2003 – 15 per cent; 2013 – 55 per cent).

“Additionally today almost 60 per cent of family business owners feel that their children are not interested in taking over the family business,” she said.

Packaging plays vital role in reducing food waste In an Australian first, research conducted

by RMIT University’s Centre for Design and commissioned by CHEP Australia, shows where – and why – food waste occurs along both the fresh and manufactured food supply chain and proposes opportunities for the food industry to address it through innovative and sustainable packaging.

The role of packaging in minimising food waste in the supply chain of the future study addresses

Average spend for coffee lovers revealed Australians who routinely buy coffee from cafes spend $597 per year, according to a recent survey conducted by Harris Coffee in partnership with Galaxy Research.

The Harris Rise & Grind Survey also showed that the average Aussie drinks more than 14 coffees every week.

Australians currently spend more than $2.9 billion on coffee every year.

a knowledge gap identified by the Australian Food and Grocery Council’s Future of Packaging white paper, published in 2012, and focuses on the commercial and industrial food supply chain.

While households are the largest generator of food waste sent to landfill (2.7 million tonnes each year) the report shows that in the commercial and industrial sector the largest generators are foodservice (661,000 tonnes), followed by food manufacturing (312,000 tonnes), retailing (179,000 tonnes) and wholesale distribution (83,000 tonnes).

“While some food waste in the supply chain is inevitable – for example trimmings from fresh produce and preparation waste in manufacturing and food services – other waste is avoidable,” said Verghese.

“Our research identified opportunities for improvement where food waste is incurred through things like poor inventory management, overstocking of shelves or product damage during transport and handling.

“There are certainly opportunities to minimise food waste through packaging innovation and design, such as improved ventilation and temperature control for fresh produce, and better understanding the dynamics between different levels of packaging, to ensure they are designed fit-for-purpose.” OH

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.

6 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

Cover story

Naturally better ice cream Changes to the recipe of Bulla Dairy Foods’ Real Dairy commercial ice cream range means that even more people will be able to enjoy the great taste of Bulla Ice Cream.

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ulla Dairy Foods has been producing quality Australian dairy products in country Victoria since 1910. Run by the same three Australian families, across six generations, Bulla is considered among many in the industry to be the dairy expert. As the industry’s most award winning dairy brand, it is Bulla’s emphasis on using premium ingredients such as fresh milk and cream, and a dedication to making dairy products with care, craftsmanship and passion, that has seen Bulla experience enduring success.

Bulla currently manufactures and markets a range of quality dairy products including cream, ice cream, frozen yogurt, fresh yogurt and cottage cheese. Offering tailored products to both the retail and commercial markets, Bulla has never been a company to rest on its awards, and over the coming months Bulla will roll out changes across the Bulla Real Dairy commercial ice cream range that will make it even more appealing. While still maintaining its deliciously creamy taste and superb quality, Bulla’s improved Real Dairy ice cream recipe will soon have the added benefits of being gluten free, Halal certified and made with natural colours and flavours.

This recipe initiative from Bulla is in direct response to changing consumer preferences and allows foodservice operators to better meet the demands of those customers with special dietary requirements.

In line with these recipe initiatives, Bulla will also be updating the packaging of their Real Dairy ice cream range to reflect the new changes using easily-identifiable symbols, which adds additional convenience to foodservice operators.

Most recently Bulla has introduced a commercial range of 5 litre Real Dairy ice cream trays in the flavours of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Made using the same quality recipe as the Bulla commercial Real Dairy 10 litre range, this new 5 litre tray format has been specifically designed for professional chefs and caterers who have limited freezer storage space.

The tray format has also been launched to assist foodservice operators to deliver the perfect scoop for every application.

Bulla’s new and improved Real Dairy ice cream range will be available from November, 2013.

For more information visit www.bullacommercial.com.au OH

8 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

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Q&A

Helping hands Crown Perth recently took part in the Prepare Produce Provide project, which saw local students create meals for charity. Liz Prescott, manager, Indigenous employment program and diversity at Crown Perth, explains how their apprentice chefs lent a helping hand.

supported the students throughout the meal preparation, and encouraged them to consider a career in hospitality. They also showed them practical skills such as knife skills, cooking techniques, serving and packaging to maintain food safety standards. This was done in a friendly and supportive manner.

Q: How has the experience been beneficial to Crown’s apprentice chefs?

A: The apprentice chefs had to organise their kitchen teams at each school so they learned valuable lessons about how to give instructions to the students in a clear and positive way. They had an opportunity to show their leadership skills and some of them went above and beyond what was required of them. As an example, one apprentice travelled to a regional centre (Narrogin), in his own vehicle and while on annual leave. The project also made the apprentices aware of the Foodbank program.

Q: What sort of meals were you able to distribute through Foodbank and was nutrition an important aspect of the project?

Crown Perth apprentice chefs with Mercedes College students.

Q: What was the Prepare Produce Provide project is all about?

A: This pilot project saw Crown Perth apprentices and vocational students from 14 schools across Western Australia work together to produce more than 5000 nutritious meals for food rescue charity Foodbank. Students and apprentice chefs were also able to meet a number of competencies for Certificate I and II in Hospitality. The students, mentored by the apprentices, were provided with raw ingredients

by Foodbank, which they then prepared into meals to be distributed to disadvantaged members of the community.

The project worked so well that even though we had a goal of 5000 we ended up producing more than 6700 meals. There is strong interest in running the program again next year.

Q: How did Crown Perth become involved with the project?

A: The idea for this project started at the Mark Olive Bush Tucker dinner at Polytechnic West last October, when Tracey Ashman, Crown Perth’s apprentice chef coordinator, and Cath MacDougall, a home economics teacher at Cyril Jackson Senior High in the eastern suburbs

of Perth started talking about the possibilities of working together. In November Tracey and Cath visited me to discuss their idea of doing a project for Foodbank.

Q: Why is the partnership between schools, the industry and training partners important?

A: Industry knowledge, interaction and currency is extremely important; schools and training partners aim to deliver training that will meet the needs of industry and increase the employability skills of the students involved. By working together, the Prepare Produce Provide project was able to deliver against units of competence for both the high school students and the apprentice chefs in a way that was real, meaningful and benefited the community.

Q: How many apprentices at Crown participated and how did they mentor the students?

A: The range of meals provided was huge and included pasta, rice and curry dishes, incorporating both vegetarian and gluten-free options. Nutrition was a very important part of the project. All meals had to be designed for their nutritional value and also the balance of the protein, carbohydrate and vegetable intake of the average serve. Each school was visited by a nutritionist and was required to produce food safety labels for their meals with details of all ingredients.

Q: Did the program offer the students a good insight into the tourism and hospitality industry?

A: The students came together for a celebration at Crown Perth at the end of the project. After the formal part of the event was over, they had the opportunity to visit exhibition stalls, try out local produce and learn about specialities within their industry. This gave the students greater insight into different aspects of the hospitality industry.

Q: How important is corporate social responsibility to Crown Perth overall?

A: Corporate social responsibility is extremely important to Crown Perth and our organisation gives back to the community in many ways. Foodbank has been a long time recipient of soup and stock that is picked up daily from our kitchens. In addition, we support Anglicare, St Vincent de Paul and Breast Cancer Care WA through the “Boobalicious Ball”, Youth Focus and the Amanda Young Foundation, to name a few. OH

A: Forty eight apprentice chefs were involved in the project. From March 18, the students engaged in activities with the apprentices such as identifying vegetables and planning meals, firstly at Crown Perth and then at each of the schools involved. The apprentices shared their experiences with the Read more about the project in the Open House iPad app. students from “their school”,

10 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

origins of...

Bagels Not just another kind of bread roll, bagels have a long, cultural history, discovers Megan Kessler.

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agels are a breakfast favourite, particularly in New York City where they can be found almost everywhere. A rounded bread roll with a hole in the middle, bagels should be crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.

They are traditionally filled with a generous serve of cream cheese and smoked salmon.

king’s stirrup and called it beugal (the Austrian word for stirrup).

Another theory is that bagels were first made in Poland as a gift for women expecting children – the roundness believed to symbolise life.

Either way, bagels were popularised in 17th century Poland where Jewish bakers made them in their own bakeries due to strict dietary laws.

It is difficult for food historians to determine the exact origins of bagels. Evidence indicates that the Egyptians ate sesame seed studded rolls with a hole in the middle, which could be threaded on sticks or string to be transported.

What makes bagels different from other bread is that the dough is boiled before baking, giving them their soft, dense centre and a chewy crust. The crust also makes the bread last longer; when the rolls became slightly stale they would be dunked in hot liquid to soften.

One story suggests that the bagel originated in Austria in 1683 when a Viennese baker made the rolls as a tribute to Jan III Sobieski, a Polish king who saved the people of Austria from Turkish invaders. The baker made a roll in the shape of the

In the 1800s bagels were bought to the United States by immigrants from Eastern Europe. Jewish immigrants who had settled in New York sparked a demand for the bagels they were used to and by

Just tell the truth There seems to be this great void in reality between the large caterers and food suppliers, and those of us who produce the meals. It is an absolute myth that if a company has the best product at a realistic price they have an opportunity to supply a business.

attached to that product. If it is a chilled product, has it followed the required cold chain restrictions?

Is the product able to be delivered when you want it? Is it packed appropriately? And is it Australian?

Some companies even have “food miles” listed on the product.

Chefs are constantly put under pressure to produce the best possible meal given the constraints of the business. To expand on this a little further, if you are tasked with having to make a sandwich for a canteen, a casserole for a football club or a restaurant meal you have an obligation to secure the right produce for the meal at a fair price and produce that meal. You should be able to source the product, not necessarily on price alone but taking into account all the restrictions

My particular issue is the amount of money that changes hands in the form of rebates. I think this is an absolute scourge on our system.

Most times the chef has no idea how much this rebate actually is, therefore they have no idea how to truly cost a dish. They also have no idea how far they can go in sourcing product. If, as a supplier, you want to supply one of these companies that love rebates you don’t in all cases know what the amount of the “usual” rebate is and this leaves you

12 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

1900 there were 70 bakeries on the Lower East Side alone.

fillings vary from jam to chicken and salad.

In 1907 the International Beigel Bakers’ Union was formed in which craftsmen were able to make bagels by hand with standard working conditions. The bagels were supplied to most bakeries in New York City and delivered to customers on strings of five dozen bagels.

In Australia, traditional New York style bagels have been hard to come by until recently, when a number of bagel bakeries and cafes have opened. Amongst these is Brooklyn Bagel Boys, where former New Yorker Michael Shafran, who’d struggled to find bagels in Sydney like they make in New York, produces hand rolled boiled bagels from a pop-up shop in Darlinghurst.

Along with smoked salmon and cream cheese, Brooklyn Bagel Boys serves flavoured whipped cream cheese such as strawberry and dulce de leche.

The bagel spread to the rest of America in the 1960s after baker Henry Lender and his son developed a way of mass producing and distributing frozen bagels. They packaged the rolls in batches of six that were sold in supermarkets alongside traditional American breads.

Since then the bagel has become popular amongst all Americans.

Bagel bakeries are owned and run by people of all nationalities and

Consultant chef

Glenn Austin

www.austinwright.com.au in a pricing black hole. Companies will often hide behind the line that they only want to deal with one main supplier. In some cases this is true but in the majority of cases the smaller supplier can’t survive paying the corporate rebate so rather than giving them some hard love and telling them, they get dicked around until they run out of steam.

Now this rebate thing is not a totally

A number of other bagel bakeries and cafes have also opened in Melbourne and Sydney, which could be a sign that the bagel craze in Australia is just about take off. OH

new concept; it’s been around for years but it’s now getting to the point that some companies don’t care as much about the food costs as they do about the rebate, because this is how they survive. I would love to see if farmers could get in on this caper; you would see some fun and games then.

So here is my slant on the whole deal: how about we level the playing field for the suppliers, farmers and the rest of us? Give the farmer a fair price for his produce (you can see the supermarkets kicking and screaming at that idea), let the manufacturer earn a price for value adding the product, and let the distributor go directly to the chef and negotiate a price for the product.

Make catering companies become competitive again, whether they are large or small, and put the focus back on food and service delivery.

That way, large and small guys get a fair go and we can all live in a winwin situation. The short answer?

Get rid of rebates.

Sustainability

Organic claims misleading The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has organisations making misleading claims about organic food and drink in their sights, discovers Ylla Wright.

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ith consumers increasingly making purchasing decisions based on claims that directly affect the integrity of the product, such as where or how something was made, grown or produced, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken a stance against companies using the word organic incorrectly as part of their marketing.

The ACCC recently announced that seven suppliers of bottled water will remove claims about the product being “organic” from labelling and marketing material. An eighth supplier has withdrawn its product from sale. The announcement followed negotiations between the ACCC and the manufacturers.

Active Organic, Lithgow Valley Springs Organic, Nature’s Best Organic, Organic Australia, Organic Falls, Organic Nature’s Best and Organic Springs have all been renamed and new bottles are making their way on to the market.

“Credence claims”, which represent that a product possesses a premium attribute such as being organic, are a priority for the ACCC. “Credence claims such as ‘organic’ can be used to justify higher prices and create a competitive advantage for the user,” said ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard. “As such it is essential that they are only used correctly.”

According to Rickard, “organic standards acknowledge that water cannot be organic”.

The word organic in the context of food and drink refers to agricultural products which have been farmed according to certain practices. As water is not an agricultural product, and cannot benefit from such practices, it is not appropriate to use the term to describe it.

“Any claim that particular water is organic would therefore be misleading or deceptive,” Rickard said.

“Consumers must be able to trust that products match descriptions on labels so they can make informed

purchasing decisions.”

While acknowledging that in this case there is no indication that consumers paid higher prices for “organic” water than regular bottled water, the ACCC says that consumers are often prepared to pay more for products that make credence claims which match their values.

Several of the manufacturers had argued that the word “organic” was not a representation but part of the brand name, a claim which the ACCC rejected.

“Manufacturers cannot hide misleading claims in their brand names,” Rickard said.

Australia’s largest organic body, Australian Organic (formerly known as Biological Farmers of Australia), has welcomed the changes, with chair Dr Andrew Monk saying they are “a very positive step by the Commission to protect unsuspecting consumers”.

Australian Organic owns the most recognised certification mark, Australian Certified Organic, which appears on the majority of organic goods. Products bearing its “bud” logo are protected by law, and are regularly and randomly audited for compliance.

Monk says, “There have been some areas, including water and cosmetics that have fallen through the cracks with the ACCC in the past.

“This move sends a clear message to unscrupulous manufacturers who think organics is nothing more than a marketing gimmick to watch their backs.”

According to Monk, chefs and

other people looking for authentic organic products should look for the Australian Certified Organic logo, or a similar government accredited logo.

availability and trust in the product being organic – have all been reported as being lesser barriers for consumers than in 2010”.

Organics is currently one of Australia’s top five growth industries, according to the latest Australian Organic Market Report, which was commissioned by Biological Farmers of Australia and released last October.

“Trust in organic certification and consumer awareness of standards and certification have increased considerably,” he said at the time of the report’s release. “Notably there has been a significant increase in recognition of Australia’s main certification logo, Australian Certified Organic, up a further 25 per cent in recognition levels from the 2010 report.”

The biennial report confirms organics is worth $1.27 billion to Australia and is predicted to grow by up to 15 per cent each year, putting it within the top five growth industries in Australia. This growth exceeds global growth trends, which are between 2 and 11 per cent.

More than one in 20 consumers are regular shoppers of organics and almost two in three have bought organic in the past year, the report found. Thirteen per cent of consumers spend between 10 and 20 per cent of their average household total food budget on organic products.

According to Monk, “three prior noted top barriers to buying organics – price, ease of access/

Women remain the main buyers of organics, citing health reasons, with fruit and vegetables being the most commonly purchased item, while non alcoholic drinks are the highest frequency purchase, highlighting the “lifestyle” products now available on the market.

The report also found that four of the five top perceived benefits of organic food revolve around what it “does not contain”. These are chemicals (79 per cent), additives (77 per cent), hormones/antibiotics in meat (64 per cent) and genetically modified organisms (62 per cent). OH

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 13

Asian ingredients

It’s soy right Tofu has a reputation for being the go-to protein for vegetarians, but this versatile soy product has much to offer all menus, discovers Sheridan Randall.

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ofu. The word itself has taken on a meaning far beyond what it actually is – a simple food made of coagulated soya milk that comes from cooked and crushed soya beans.

It has become a symbol in the West, along with Birkenstock sandals and ethnic print fisherman’s pants, for all things vegetarian.

But in many Asian countries tofu is regarded as a staple protein that is seen alongside meat and seafood on many dishes.

Chase Kojima, executive chef at Sokyo, at The Star in Sydney, concedes that tofu is for the most part “a not too popular item”.

“Tofu has that image of healthy, and not so tasty,” he says.

Featuring in Sokyo’s miso soup, Kojima prefers to keep his tofu obsession personal for the moment.

“I’m Japanese and I eat tofu every single day,” he says. “I eat tofu with

bonito flakes on it and just some soy sauce and munch it with rice. I think tofu is more of an Asian thing and is seen as a boring Asian dish. But being Japanese, tofu is a key element for high end Japanese cooking – it’s very versatile.”

Kojima is happy to sample the latest tofu selection on his visits to Japan, saying “there are always new ones, with different textures and flavours”.

For those meals where he wants tofu to be the star of the dish he makes his own, so that he “can adjust the texture and flavour”.

“For the people who don’t like tofu if they made it themselves it would give them a whole new way at looking at tofu and they would love it,” he says.

“If you want to highlight tofu as the dish, you have to be fighting at that low level of flavours and be super clean. But that’s what cuisine is changing to now – keeping it

natural; less weird flavours.”

Versatility is one of tofu’s most appealing characteristics, with an ability to be used in all sorts of dishes.

“It sounds like a cliché but tofu cheesecake is one of my killer favourites,” says Kojima.

“Blend a low fat cream cheese and make it really airy and light, then press the tofu to get the water out and then add it to the cream cheese.

On the side I’ll make a meringue, with sugar and egg whites, and slowly fold it with a little gelatin into the mix and you get this super light and delicious cheesecake.

Crumble some cookies for a base.”

For savoury dishes he likes to make a tofu paste.

“If I buy a package of silken tofu I’ll press it,” he says. “I’ll use a Japanese grinding bowl to grind the tofu, and add some shiro dashi and Japanese sugar and some sesame paste. It makes a paste that you can blend with anything. You can toss it with blanched fresh spinach. I like to make it with barbeque fresh water eel. Chop the eel up and toss it in the tofu paste

Yoshiko Takeuchi.

and serve it with some sweet eel bone sauce and some Japanese sugar corn.”

For his home-made tofu, he likes to showcase its flavours as much as possible.

“Like a tofu salad, where I slice it and put some nice ripe sliced tomatoes, some wakame [seaweed], deep fry some baby sardines and use them to season it like crispy fish flakes, and basically get some extra virgin olive oil and virgin sesame oil and make like a soy sauce with some dachi flavour from the bonito and some sea salt.”

Vegetarian staple Author of Cooking with Soy, Yoshiko Takeuchi teaches the art of cooking with tofu at her Bondi culinary school Healthy Soy Cooking.

“I am a little bit of a health freak,” she says. “Tofu is cholesterol, gluten and dairy free, which are the three things most Australians are trying to avoid. Nowadays most chefs have to know how to cook dairy or gluten free so it’s a great way to substitute it for dairy products.”

The problem according to Takeuchi is that Australian chefs are not used to using tofu and “think that tofu is

14 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

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boring and don’t want to touch what they are not familiar with”.

“Tofu doesn’t have a strong flavour which makes it very versatile,” she says. “You can make it play with so many things.”

Tofu and basil bruschetta Serves 4

Pesto 200g firm tofu or silken firm tofu 30g basil, chopped roughly ½ teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 40g walnuts, crushed or chopped roughly

She likes to look at the texture of the tofu when cooking, with many different types on offer, including silken, which is like a firm custard, hard, deep fried and shredded.

Silken tofu is perfect for dips and soups, she says.

“I like to use it for dips, because blended it has a nice, silky texture, with a little bit of fat from the soy giving it a creaminess,” she says.

“It’s also perfect for dessert where you could use it instead of cream, egg or milk.”

Garnish 4 pieces of wholemeal bread or gluten-free bread 6 to 8 cherry tomatoes, sliced Freshly ground pepper

The only issue to be mindful of when using tofu for dips is its water content.

restaurant, Takeuchi says that silken tofu can also be used a replacement for dairy products in the cuisine from other countries.

“It looks good when you first make it but one hour later the water comes out which looks ugly,” she says. “So it has to be eaten straight away, or the tofu needs to be boiled or gently pressed to release the water.”

“I used to make a spanakopita pie and instead of putting feta cheese I added tofu,” she says. “The texture is similar and then I added lemon to give it a similar taste. It was very light and nice.”

Having worked at a Greek

Describing mass produced tofu as

with Hakka’s time saving meal ingredients

quite bland, she says that made freshly “the taste is amazing, totally different”.

“If you make it from scratch it has a beautiful nutty flavour,” she says.

“But making it is a long process, because you have to soak the beans, so it’s a one day job.”

Traditional way Tofu’s origins date back around 2000 years in China, where it was a poor man’s staple high in protein. It made its way to Japan over 1000 years later, with the basic tofu-making method hardly changing over the centuries. Tofu shops, where tofu was handmade, used to be a common sight across Japan, although the tradition is dwindling, with factory produced tofu becoming the standard.

However, one such shop has found its way to Australia, with the Tofu Shop International, in Melbourne, hand making tofu in the traditional Japanese style for more than 30 years. Producing its Five Seasons Brand Tofu for distribution to a select number of restaurants and supermarkets, it also uses it in its in-house menu.

“There is so much history in tofu,” says head chef Louie Green. “Tofu dates back even further than many classic cuisines, back to the Mongols.”

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16 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

But times are changing and mass production has impacted on the production of tofu as it has on many other foods.

“Handmade tofu is hard to find,” says Green. “To hand produce tofu is hard work – one day of work in tofu production is up to nine hours.

“But the difference in texture, taste, feel and what you can do

Remove excess water from tofu by boiling or let stand with weight for 30 minutes. Put the basil, tofu, salt and olive oil in food processor and blend until smooth. Add walnuts and blend further. Do not over blend to keep a little crunchiness.

Toast the breads. Spread the pesto on the toasted bread. Arrange the tomatoes on top. Serve with freshly ground pepper. ● Recipe courtesy of New Holland publishers.

with it. It also comes down to the ingredients as well.”

The Tofu Shop uses GMO-free soya beans sourced from the Riverina, in New South Wales, and nigara (sea brine) from South Australia, as the coagulant.

“I find the coagulant has a massive outcome in the flavour,” he says. “We dilute the nigari and then add it to our soy milk and it separates the curd from the water. Manufacturers often use a calcium sulphate or GDL (glucono deltalactone), like a rock stone lime.

It often gives it a different taste.”

Despite taking a traditional path in tofu making, the Tofu International Shop is not averse to using their tofu in some less traditional recipes.

“You can make a tofu apple crumble,” Green says. “You break up the tofu so it’s a bit like ricotta and mix it with the apple. You can also puree it with stewed dried fruit and use that as a filling for cakes and you can make sweet mousses.”

Unlike many of the mass produced versions, “when you eat handmade tofu you want to be able to taste it”, according to Green.

“You need to be delicate with it when you cook,” he says. “You don’t want to overcook it so you have to be careful what you are putting it with, otherwise it will get a bit rubbery. It’s very delicate so you don’t want to manhandle it too much. I have cooked for some master Japanese tofu makers and they like very simple food because the food has to speak for itself. If you out power the flavours of each ingredient it’s like killing the dish for them. Too much soy sauce and you can’t taste the tofu.” OH

Tofu cheesecake Makes: 20cm round cake Base 2 cups cashew nuts 2 tablespoons agave syrup ½ teaspoon vanilla paste ¼ teaspoon sea salt Filling 900g firm tofu 225ml maple or agave syrup 85ml lemon juice 3 tablespoons kuzu 3 teaspoons vanilla paste 3 tablespoons neutral oil For the base, preheat oven to 170°C. Line a 20cm base spring form tin with baking paper.

Process cashew nuts to a fine meal.

Add remaining ingredients until combined. Do not over process.

You want the mixture to be crumbly. Press mixture over the base and sides of the prepared pan. Refrigerate.

For the filling, process all the ingredients until smooth. Pour mixture into the prepared pan.

Place pan on a baking tray. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until just set (cheesecake will wobble slightly in centre). Turn off oven and cool cheesecake in oven for 3 hours with door ajar.

Refrigerate overnight. ● Recipe courtesy of New Holland publishers.

See more recipes in the Open House iPad app.

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 17

Chocolate

Savoury sensation Chocolate is everybody’s favourite on a dessert menu, but it can also be used successfully in a variety of savoury dishes, discovers Ylla Wright.

L

ike cinnamon, vanilla and star anise, we tend to think of chocolate as a sweet ingredient,

but just as those ingredients can all be used to great effect in savoury dishes, unsweetened, semisweet and Chef Adriano Zumbo.

bittersweet chocolate varieties can complement savoury ingredients such as game meats, beef, beetroot, chillies, balsamic vinegar, saffron and foie gras. So why are so few chefs using chocolate outside of their dessert menus?

“Blending chocolate into savoury dishes is a real art form,” says Gary Willis, national sales and marketing manager – chocolate division at F.Mayer Imports, which distributes Callebeaut and Cacao Barry in Australia. “It’s very hard to do it successfully. It takes somebody with a real understanding of flavours, and how to balance flavours; someone who understands chocolate and understands savoury components, to be able to pull it off.”

Willis nominates high-profile Sydney patissier Adriano Zumbo and Anna Polyviou, executive pastry

18 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

chef at Sydney’s Shangri La hotel, as two chefs who have mastered the art of using chocolate in savoury dishes.

“Both of them are chefs that have a very good understanding of flavour in everything they do,” he says. “Anna has done a few degustation menus where there has been chocolate in every course of the menu. Some of the things she’s created, you wouldn’t even know chocolate was in there, but it gives a beautiful depth to the flavour.

Finding the right balance Polyviou believes the secret to successfully using chocolate in savoury dishes is finding the “right pairing” between the flavours of the chocolate and other ingredients being used.

“I think often people will use

chocolate without actually tasting it and thinking about the flavours they get from it. For example Cacao Barry’s alto el sol [from Peru] has a winey, fruity flavour, so we’ve used that with meat dishes.”

Higher percentage dark chocolate generally works best, according to Polyviou, although she has worked with chefs who’ve paired fish with white chocolate.

“The lighter your dish, the lighter the chocolate you’re going to go with,” she says. “You’re not going to do a beef dish and use a white chocolate with it. You’d use a bitter chocolate. With quail, you might go with a milky flavour, or a lower percentage of chocolate.

“Mexican cuisine has used chocolate in savoury dishes for hundreds of years, in their rich, dark moles,” he says. “Modern day perception has pigeonholed chocolate as a dessert or confection, but remove that preconception and try to think of it as you might think

of butter or balsamic, you start to realise its potential as one of the great culinary finishers.

“The raw form of chocolate, depending on the cocoa content, is actually quite bitter in taste so it can work with quite a lot of different foods. Its beauty is in how it can

balance a dish, or enhance the flavours with the earthy, bitter, fruity or nutty qualities of the chocolate.

It’s also a textural tool; it thickens, binds and finishes sauces with a luscious silkiness.”

Favouring “dark, pure chocolate, high in cocoa solids, low in sugar”,

Spin to

“Chocolate works particularly well with game meats because they are so heavy and rich, and the bitterness of the chocolate gives it that cutting edge you need.”

Zumbo agrees that finding the right balance is the key to using chocolate in savoury dishes.

“Chocolate is such a rich and bitter ingredient,” he says. “The accompanying components and textures need to balance well to cut through and blend well with the chocolate. I think where most people go wrong is that they tend to overuse the chocolate or mismatch flavours.

“I believe you can make any chocolate work in any circumstance, as long as you understand the flavour profile of your dish and how to use the chocolate to end with the right balance.

“If the dish is rich and bitter you would use a slightly more sweet chocolate to offset the dish. If you use a rich and buttery meat, a nice bitter chocolate marries well with the rich fatty meat and takes it to another level.”

Zumbo uses Cacao Barry chocolate, which “is punchy and a truly strong chocolate” and offers more than 30 different varieties to choose from. He has also had two chocolate blends custom-made for him by the company.

“Having such a wide variety of chocolates means matching flavours becomes a lot easier,” he says. “You can trial many different chocolates to achieve the desired flavour profile. I have it used it to match with herbs, vegetables, pigs blood, meats and fish, just to name a few.”

Hugh Gillard, executive chef of Bayleaf Catering, is another advocate of using chocolate in savoury dishes. www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 19

he is currently experimenting with Cacao Barry chocolate.

“Typically you want to use a pure chocolate around the 75 per cent cocoa range,” he says. “Single origin cacao producers are ideal. Like wine or coffee, it’s important to know where the base product comes from and how it is cultivated as these factors affect the final product.”

Get to know your chocolate If you are interested in experimenting with using chocolate in savoury dishes, Polyviou suggests speaking to your supplier first.

“They know more about their product than you do,” she says.

“There are so many different varieties of chocolate these days and

hence so many different flavours,” adds Willis. “With the majority of the top end brands, all of their chocolates have very different flavours, whether there’s a spicy undertone, fruitiness, bitterness or acidity. Some chocolates have banana flavours; others have nutty flavours. When you investigate and understand those flavours you can

work out what to mix them with.

“Probably the best to use in a savoury dish would be an origin specific chocolate, as it’s those chocolates that have those unique flavours. For example, with Callebaut, you wouldn’t use our standard chocolates for that sort of thing because the main flavour in there is ‘chocolate’. The single

“Barry” chocolate chilli pork ribs 2 large American pork rib racks ½ cup Barry cocoa powder (100% cocoa) 1 cup soft brown sugar 1 large beetroot bulb that has been juiced 3 whole star aniseed 2 sticks of cassia bark 2 tablespoon black mustard seeds 2 tablespoons smoked pimento powder 3 dried habanero chilli 1 tablespoon fresh ginger 4 cloves crushed garlic 3 tablespoon Maldon sea salt 1 tablespoon fresh cracked pepper Place pork ribs in a pot of salted water and bring to the boil, simmer for 20mins, remove and allow to cool.

In a mortar pestle place chilli, star aniseed and cassia bark, pound together until well broken, mix together the rest of the ingredients, coat the rib in the marinade and place in vac seel bags, seal bags and allow 2 days to marinate (if you don’t have vac seal bags you can marinate in an air tight container).

Place ribs on a shallow baking tray with the marinate from the bags and slow cook ribs for 6 hours on 120°C, turning them every hour.

With 15 mins to go turn the oven up to 190°C and allow the outside of the racks to caramelise, making sure to keep an eye on this process as they can burn very quickly.

Cut the ribs into 4 rib portions and can be served with a beautiful radicchio and heirloom tomato salad and salt roasted, new season kipfler potatoes. ● Recipe courtesy of Hugh Gillard, Bayleaf Catering.

20 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

origin chocolates – and we do one from Grenada, Tanzania, Madagascar and so forth – have really definite flavours outside the chocolate flavour.”

And you don’t have to stop at chocolate; there are other products derived from the processing of cocoa that are ideal for cooking such as cocoa nibs (roasted, hulled and crushed cocoa beans).

“Cocoa nibs would give a slight bitter taste and crunchy texture, without giving too much of an overbearing flavour of chocolate,” says Willis. “So, if you had a savoury dish that maybe had a bit of sweetness and you wanted to give it a bitter, acidic hit, and you wanted to incorporate chocolate, you could certainly use cocoa nibs just as they are.”

Cocoa butter, while not having any flavour of its own, can also be used in many dishes in place of butter or oil.

“It doesn’t have any flavour but it gives a very different finished result to whatever you’re cooking,” says Willis. “If you’re cooking steak for example, the cocoa butter isn’t absorbed as much as if you were cooking in butter or some sort of olive oil. It also seals the piece of meat a lot more effectively, so you don’t lose the

juices from that piece of meat, and because it’s not absorbing the fat you use much less.”

Spice up your life When looking for possible flavours to pair with chocolate, spice expert Ian “Herbie” Hemphill from Herbie’s Spices suggests seeking inspiration in Mexican cuisine and its famous mole poblano, a chilli sauce containing chocolate and most often served with chicken.

“The story behind the mole poblano is that a monk was due to arrive at a convent and the nuns had no idea what to cook for him, so they basically got hold of everything they had in the pantry and made this dish,” Hemphill says.

Hemphill’s recipe for mole poblano includes cinnamon, onion, paprika, aniseed, black pepper, coriander, cloves and oregano, as well as Pasilla and Chipotle chillies.

“The Pasilla is the very dark black chilli that has a very fruity, raising, sultana profile,” he says. “It’s not terribly hot. It’s probably only a four or five out of 10. Along with the other two dark ones, the ancho and the molato, they are the best ones to use with chocolate.

“It always surprises me that all of the people who are doing a chilli chocolate are using the red ones, when in my opinion these dark chillies have a far more compatible flavour profile with chocolate because of that fruitiness.

Photo courtesy of Barry Callebaut.

“And the chipotle chilli is a smoked jalapeno, so you get a lovely smokiness coming through.

“Mole poblano is a really great example of how well chocolate will go with spicy flavours.”

Above all, adds Polyviou, keep tasting different types of chocolate, because there’s always that moment “when you taste chocolate and you go, oh my god, you know what would really work with that?” OH

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When the mixture cools to 34°C incorporate the softened butter. Fill pre manufactured milk truffle shells and crystallise the ganache overnight. Seal the truffle shells with Callebaut Milk Couverture 823 and before the chocolate sets place lollipop sticks into the truffle. Allow to set. Enrobe the prepared lollipop by dipping in Callebaut Milk 823.

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www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 21

pots and pans

Alchemy in the kitchen Cookware comes in a variety of metals, with each one bringing its own unique properties to the stove, discovers Sheridan Randall.

L

ook into most commercial kitchens and it seems like there is a sea of stainless steel cookware sitting on the stove. It makes sense, as any pot or pan needs to be built tough to withstand the rigours of life on the culinary front line. But what other options are out there?

“Restaurateurs tend not to have a lot of money, so buy something once and forever is their motto,” says Leigh Hudson, from The Chef’s Armoury in Sydney.

“Cast iron lasts for a very, very long time. So with cast iron, you’ll only have to buy it once. Secondly it has incredible heat retention. What is does on the cooking surface, especially for vegetables and proteins, is you get this great caramelisation on the outside and a good retention of juices on the inside.”

All metals have different properties, but one of the most important when considering a metal for cooking is its heat conductivity. Chefs will say that a good pan needs to heat across the entire surface and evenly if it’s

worth its salt.

“Let’s say you use a very thin pan, put it on the heat and it gets hot very quickly but in spots,” says Hudson. “It would have a hot spot where it touched the ring, but where it didn’t it wouldn’t be hot. Cast iron works differently; you put it on the flame and the whole thing heats up and spreads from the heat source to the rest of the product very well.”

The downside to cast iron cookware is that it can rust, which means it needs to be regularly seasoned, or oiled, to maintain the integrity of the surface.

“The disadvantage is with wet dishes, which tend to strip the seasoning out of it, so you have to season afterwards,” he says. “But certainly for any grilling or frying

Molten solution Copper keeps absorbing heat at a very fast rate and if lined with tin cannot be heated beyond 232°C or the tin will melt. This is rarely a problem with saucepans as they have liquid in them, but frying and sautéing pans often just have oil which will keep absorbing the heat.

But if the worst happens and the tin melts all is not lost as it can be returned to its former glory without the need to be sent to the repair shop.

22 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

technique it’s fantastic.”

The Chef’s Armoury stock a range

by Japanese manufacturer Oigen, who have been perfecting their craft for 150 years, and Naked Pans, who kiln-fire their pans until an oxide forms, giving them a non-stick surface.

“There are chefs in Japan that I know

The first step is to clean the pan all food grease and fat once it has cooled down enough. Put the pan back on the hotplate and turn the heat on high. After a while the tin will became liquid.

At this point sprinkle on a little of Bakers or Johnston soldering fluid (available from most hardware stores) and lightly move the pan about so that all the unevenness disappears. Use a brush with natural bristles to brush very slightly to even out the bumps. Turn off the heat and let the pan cool.

have thrown out their copperware and replaced it with cast iron,” he says. “One chef says the best thing to cook in cast iron is vegetables, which caramelise perfectly.”

Cutting edge Regular non-stick pans are often coated using chemicals such as polytetrafluoroethylene and fluorinated ethylene propylene, which offer great non-stick properties while new, but over time get rubbed off making the pan useless.

“There was a time when people lost confidence in non-stick cookware,” says Anna Millington, marketing manager at cookware wholesaler VGM International.

“With non-stick in general it works really well in the beginning but it just doesn’t last long. But if you spend the money to buy a good pan, the cooking performance is really good.”

Millington says that things have come a long way in terms of the technology used to create the nonstick surface, with VGM stocking the Woll range of non-stick cookware from Germany. Like the majority of non-stick pans Woll use aluminium as the base metal for its heat conductivity properties.

“Woll uses a special technique called squeeze casting, which means the pans are very lightweight, but

the heat distribution is still really good,” she says.

“We do two ranges, Diamond Plus and Sapphire Light. With both ranges the respective minerals in their names to create a very hard non-stick coating.

“In a commercial setting no nonstick pan is going to last forever.

For commercial situations it really depends on how they are used.

They could last up to five years in a commercial setting, as long as it’s treated well.”

As well as being able to withstand metal tools, the Woll range can also handle high heat – up to 450°C. And having a detachable handle means they can also be used in the oven.

Traditionalists Copper has long been a staple in many professional kitchens, due to its excellent heat conductivity properties.

It also looks great, which is handy if you’re serving dishes in the pan.

Lara Copper Cookware, in Tasmania, has been manufacturing copper cookware for around 20 years. Run by husband and wife team Ludwig and Kim Engler, the pans are all handmade, with each one hand spun on a lathe and lined with tin manually.

“If you want to make a sauce which needs to be slowly cooked, it needs a low heat and an even heat,” Ludwig Engler says. “There’s

nothing better than that.”

And that’s why copper is so favoured, as it absorbs heat at a very fast rate and spreads it evenly across its surface.

“With copper there are no hard spots, while stainless steel can have hard spots where the heat is uneven depending how much carbon is in the stainless steel,” he says.

The downside to that excellent conductivity is that copper cookware can overheat if not used with care – if it gets above 232°C the tin will melt. This is not the end of the world, as it can easily be fixed, but it wouldn’t do the food much good.

Each element offers its own magic, and brings to the stove something unique. As Engler says, at the end of the day “it is horses for courses”. OH

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“Considering that deep frying is around 170°C, unless you want to burn a steak you don’t need to cook at high heat,” he says.

Copper cookware is ideal for precision cooking, but it is also very robust.

“If you drop a tin lined copper pan and dent it you can take a hammer to it and beat it out,” he says. “If it is stainless steel lined and you drop it the steel will delaminate from the copper and you’ll have to throw it away. With tin lined copper cookware you can reline it [when the tin wears out] and you have a brand new pan.”

Many restaurants come to Lara Copper with specific requests, especially with smaller items such as soufflé pans and frying pans.

Paella pans are also popular, as they

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www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 23

wine

The perfect pairing The story of food and wine is the story of the birth of civilisation itself, but although we have been matching our wine with food for many thousands of years it is still an art not widely understood, discovers Sheridan Randall.

A

great meal is only half enjoyed if it isn’t paired with a perfect wine. For many diners the two are simply inseparable. But is it enough to simply have a couple of bottles of red and white on the menu to cover your bases or do you need a cellar full of stellar vintages from across the globe, with prices to match, that show diners you are serious about food and wine pairing?

“Price is no guarantee that you will enjoy your wine more,” says William Wilson, sommelier at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre (SCEC).

“It will only guarantee that you have burnt a hole in your pocket.

In Australia there are very few bad wines. Even the cheap wines are still pretty good.”

Wilson manages the SCEC’s wine stock of around 15,000 bottles with more than 200 different wine varieties and reluctantly concedes that it is the food that dictates the menus and not the wine.

“The head chef dictates the menu

– I hate to admit it but they do choose the food first,” he says.

in the world. Occasionally I’ll just say have a glass of beer instead.”

more established grapes, according to Wilson.

Working closely with executive chef Uwe Habermehl, the two will sit down with a selection of wines and “and chat about their flavours and characteristics”.

The tried and tested rule of serving red wine with meat and white wine with seafood and chicken is a “pretty good guideline”, but that doesn’t mean it is set in stone.

“I don’t just do it myself as my palate is a certain way,” he says.

“You’ll find it’s great to get someone else’s opinion on it as well.

“Tuna, which is quite flavourful, put that with a nice earthy Pinot Noir, it works better than a white wine.

If you have béarnaise sauce with a nice piece of red meat, with the lemon and creaminess, you put that with a good Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay and it works better than a full on Cabernet Sauvignon.”

“Riesling and Chardonnay, which had a big backlash, those are the noble grape varieties and they make great quality wine,” he says. “Some of the alternatives are a bit all over the place.”

“The secret in matching wine and food is making sure they don’t clash. If the food overpowers the wine or the wine overpowers the food that’s a disaster. Whenever I see the chef putting tarragon in anything I always say ‘no…no’ it clashes with everything.

“Tomatoes are actually really bad as well, as they tend to flatten wines, so you need something with citrus in it, like a Semillon with a lot of that zestiness to work with that tomato sauce. If you go with red wine it will often overpower a lot of tomato based dishes. It’s a tricky one as it is one of the most common ingredients

24 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

Beyond flavours in the food, wine trends are often dictated by what types of food are popular.

“As trends go, Mediterranean alternate varietals are big,” he says.

“You go back five years, Pinot Grigio, no one had ever heard of it.

Now I sell more Pinot Grigio than I do Sauvignon Blanc.”

However, some of the newer varietals lack the consistency of the

A balanced approach “You need to have a good understanding of what the chef is doing and know what type of customer the restaurant is aiming to attract,” says Franck Moreau, group sommelier from the Merivale Group and winner of the Best Sommelier of Australia 2012 award.

“Then I try to find a balance between commercial producers who people can recognise the name and small producers as well, something new and interesting for customers to try. It’s a balance between what is interesting and what customers want.”

With a lot of customers knowing

The wine cellar at Momofuku Seiõbo.

years, Moreau says that he has seen a “massive” rise in wine appreciation.

“People have more questions and people want to drink better wine now,” he says. “There is also much more wine from overseas coming to Australia. You can see all the top producers, which makes people more aware of what’s happening around the world.”

With Australian wine becoming more “balanced”, with less oak and a move towards more refined wines with lower alcohol, Moreau says that the local vineyards are not afraid to embrace change, unlike many of their more traditional European counterparts. Organic and biodynamic wine “is a big trend at the moment” while South American wines are also on the up following a wave of interest in South American cuisine.

But for those smaller operators without the deep pockets of the larger restaurants, the best way to establish a solid wine list is “start small”.

what they like, Moreau says it is his job to introduce “something they may not be familiar with” that is in the same style.

“I always try to make people try something new,” he says. “It’s why they go out.”

“There is no point arriving with a 300 bottle wine list and you don’t know anything,” he says. “Start out with 50 to 70 wines and look to see what will sell the most, and do a good margin on those that sell the most and maybe do a little less margin on unusual grape varieties and that way you can balance both.

See how the customer reacts and then buy and change. I think it’s better to have a small wine list that changes all the time. It’s more exciting for the customers and the people selling the wine.”

Going with the flow Planning a menu months in advance is one thing, but what if the venue

Having been in Australia for nine

“

There are so many different ways of matching wine with food, but the most important thing is harmony.

you are working in doesn’t have a set menu and instead prefers to work with whatever is seasonally available? That is the case for sommelier Richard Hargreave at Sydney’s three hatted Momofuku Seiõbo, who says he has “to be ready for anything”.

“We don’t have a set menu, just the one menu that we serve on the night,” he says. “You have to be quite spontaneous. The chefs might say that they are changing something and give me an hour’s notice. It all comes down to having a wine list that is appropriate. Everything I put on the list by the bottle I just need to know that it is a food friendly style that I can draw on.

With a wine cellar of only around 50 bottles, small by the standards of many of Australia’s top restaurants, Hargreave says that it is vital the wines can handle all styles, flavours and combinations.

“That is almost more of a skill than having a 500 bottle wine list,” he says.

Hargreave favours smaller wine producers over the larger, more well known vineyards, as they “offer care of handling of the vines and grapes”.

“If you have 150 hectares of vines and grapes there is no way you can give them the personal love and care you can with a smaller producer with five hectares that they can farm themselves and bring in the grapes by hand,” he says. “That’s extremely important as the larger ones tend to machine harvest which lowers the quality of the fruit they bring in. It is little processes like that.

“We have a broad focus and try and feature the smaller Australian guys when we can, that have a hands off approach to wine making, but I’d say France is probably our main focus.”

In terms of trends, Momofuku Seiõbo prefers to set its own course.

SCEC sommelier William Wilson.

“I don’t follow any trends in Australia and don’t pay any attention to what other people are doing,” he says. “That’s a

”

philosophy of food here, as we are very keen to do our own thing and not be looking over our shoulder at everyone else.”

At the end of the day though, it all comes down to taste.

“There are so many different ways of matching wine with food, but the most important thing is harmony,” he says. “They need to work together and cannot be fighting each other. Sometimes they can be the same flavour with the same flavour, but then you can do contrast, such as a really savoury dish can be balanced by the sweetness in the wine. There are no set rules to matching which is why it’s so exciting, there are an infinite number of things you can do, but it’s about finding that balance.”

Hargreave says that working at Momofuku Seiõbo has introduced him to working with sake.

“The sake and food combination is really exciting especially with the style of food that we are doing,” he says. “It just seems to be really sympathetic to the flavours. Dishes with a lot of umami tend to work well with sake.”

Admitting that he and head chef Ben Greeno “sometimes bang heads” over the menu, Hargreave says it is more about the position of the dish in the menu rather than what wine to pair with it.

“For the people doing the matching, it’s about the flow of the wines,” he says. “Getting the flow on the menu can be a bit tricky sometimes.”

And with so many wines on offer throughout the set menu, Hargreave says that the customer really isn’t interested in all the jargon.

“I really try and keep it as simple as possible,” he says. “They know what they like and they just want advice on the best of the bottles.

Again that comes down to the skill of the sommelier, knowing when people want to talk and when they don’t.” OH

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 25

cooking the Books

Dishes for diabetics Food for those living with diabetes doesn’t have to be dull, as new book At My Table, a collection of chefs’ recipes released last month to coincide with National Diabetes Week, proves. Here, Stefano Manfredi shares one of his creations.

Roast rabbit saddle with bread and sage stuffing and braised lentils Serves 6

1 onion, diced 4 garlic cloves, crushed 100g butter 2½ cups (150g) fresh breadcrumbs 50g Italian mustard fruit, thinly sliced ¾ cup (100g) parmesan cheese, grated 4 tbsp chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley 4 tbsp chopped sage leaves Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 8 slices prosciutto 2 farmed rabbit saddles (approximately 1.5kg in total), each carefully boned as one whole piece 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Braised lentils ½ celery heart, finely chopped 1 carrot, finely chopped 1 onion, finely chopped 1 leek, sliced into half rounds about 5mm (¼-in) thick 2 garlic cloves, minced ¹/³ cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil

4 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley 1 rosemary sprig, chopped 1 thyme sprig, chopped 500g Puy or tiny blue-green lentils, washed well 4 cups (1 litre) vegetable or chicken stock 200g tomato passata (puréed tomatoes) To make stuffing, lightly fry onion and garlic in butter until soft but not coloured. Take from heat and add to breadcrumbs, mustard fruit, parmesan, parsley, half the sage, salt and pepper. Mix well and let it cool down.

Lay prosciutto slices flat on a clean board or kitchen bench in two sets of four so each slice is slightly overlapping previous one.

Put one rabbit saddle on first set of four prosciutto slices and other saddle on next set.

Distribute stuffing evenly in middle of each saddle, making sure stuffing is just enough to roll (too much will be difficult to hold). Roll up so that prosciutto covers rabbit completely in a tight sausage. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and set in fridge for 2–3 hours.

26 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

An hour before serving, take rolled rabbit out of fridge to reach room temperature. Preheat oven to 200°C. Remove plastic wrap and lay rabbit rolls in a roasting tin. Sprinkle olive oil over surface of each roll. Add remaining sage leaves, season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15–20 minutes.

Test by inserting a skewer into centre of roll.

Rabbit is cooked if juice flows clear without blood.

Remove from the oven and rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving with braised lentils.

For braised lentils, in a large saucepan lightly fry vegetables and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes without colouring them.

Add parsley, rosemary and thyme and continue to cook for another minute or two.

Add lentils and stir. Add stock and tomato passata till lentils are covered. Simmer for 30–50 minutes till lentils are tender. Add more liquid if they are too dry as they cook. Season with salt and pepper to taste. ● This is an edited extract from At My Table edited by Amanda Bilson and Janni Kyritsis (Allen & Unwin, $39.99). OH

What’s on shelf this month?

Fired up by Ross Dobson (Murdoch Books, $34.99) Who said grills were just for cooking meat? Barbecue aficionado Ross Dobson turns his hand to creating flavoursome vegetable dishes on the grill, drawing on culinary influences from around the world including South East Asia, India and the Middle East. While written with the home cook in mind, Dobson’s innovative use of flavour, colour and texture are sure to provide inspiration to chefs looking to jazz up their vegetarian menu offerings in time for spring’s warmer weather.

7000 Islands: a food portrait of the Philippines

by Yasmin Newman (Hardie Grant Books, $49.95) With Filipino food relatively undiscovered in Australia, Australian-filipinio food writer Yasmin Newman seeks to strip away the mystique as she takes readers on a culinary journey through the Philippines. Featuring more than 100 authentic Filipino recipes, this book tells the story of the island nation’s food through its unique cultural context and culinary influences including Spain, China and Mexico. Dishes range from adobo (the country’s national dish and its most popular) to “party food” such as Lechon liempe (Lechon-style roast pork belly; this dish is a favourite with chef and food writer Anthony Bourdain), and desserts such as bibingka (coconut and rice cakes).

More bums on seats by Howard Tinker (Restaurant Profits, $29.95) With clients including Pilu at Freshwater, Catalina, La Scala on Jersey and Mumu Grill in Sydney, and the Queensland franchise for Outback Jack’s, restaurant consultant Howard Tinker knows a thing or two about running a successful business. In this self-published volume he reveals the essential marketing ideas and strategies needed to ensure “more bums on seats” and higher profits. Written specifically for the restaurant industry and packed with real-life examples of clever marketing strategies, this book is an easily approachable and entertaining read which may also have tangible benefits.

Get it while it’s hot!

Open House is now available as an iPad app, offering even more ways to enjoy industry news, views and feature stories on the key issues and trends affecting the hospitality industry.

This exciting free app is packed with bonus extras including recipes, behindthe-scenes videos and interactive features.

Updated monthly, the Open House iPad app is available to download free at the iTunes app store or www.openhousemagazine.net.

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 27

Products

Wake up with yogurt are a cost effective option for hotels, pubs, bistros, cafes and canteens. ● www.inghams.com.au

Go caffeine free Cafes, bars and restaurants can now offer customers a fruity, caffeinefree alternative to coffee or tea.

Fruitbroo is a brand new drink range for the foodservice industry that is now available in Australia.

Four years in development, the drinks have been well received in the UK where they were recently launched.

Fruitbroo is made from 100 per cent fruit, herbs and natural spices, sweetened with only natural fruit sugars. The drinks contain no preservatives, additives or caffeine.

Just add water and serve hot or cold.

The wide range of flavours including Rhubarb, Apple and Cinnamon, Banana and Coconut, and Peppermint and Elder Flower offers something for everyone. ● www.fruitbroo.com

G

et the day’s trading off to a good start with Five:am organic yogurt, made from only organic and natural ingredients. The range of yogurt is ideal for the foodservice industry and can be served with muesli or poured over fruit.

Five:am yogurt is handcrafted in small batches with fresh organic cow milk that is delivered daily; the result is a thick creamy yogurt that is naturally sweetened using raw cane sugar. Flavours available in the range include Natural, Greek Style and Vanilla Bean.

The Five:am organic Vanilla Bean yogurt won the Dairy Industry Association of Australia’s Best Organic Dairy Product 2013. It contains fresh ingredients including real organic vanilla bean, organic milk and probiotic bacteria cultures.

The Dilmah tea pods are available in two Single Region Selection varieties: Earl Grey and English Breakfast. Both are handpicked from a specific region in Sri Lanka for a unique and strong flavour.

Chicken range goes gluten-free Inghams have made their popular chicken products available to customers who are gluten-intolerant.

The poultry supplier has introduced gluten-free versions of their nuggets, tenders and schnitzels.

A specially formulated crumb has been developed to ensure that the products are free of gluten without compromising on flavour or crispness.

All products are made with 100 per cent Australian chicken breast and

The Natural and Greek Style yogurts are versatile options; as well as being ideal for breakfast they can be added to curries and desserts to make them extra thick and creamy.

The yogurts are gluten-free, contain no gelatine, preservatives or starches and are free from artificial colours, flavours and sweeteners. ● www.fiveam.com.au 28 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

The tea pod is compatible with all coffee capsule machines and works the same way to produce consistently high quality cups of tea. Like the coffee pod, making a quick cup of tea that leaves no mess or waste is as simple as inserting the capsule into the machine.

Celebrate with tea pods Iconic tea brand Dilmah is launching an innovative new product in Australia to celebrate their 25th anniversary – the tea pod.

The Single Region Selection tea used in the pods is crafted in the traditional style which Dilmah has been using for the past 25 years. ● www.dilmah.com.au

Natural milkshakes With the launch of Edlyn Foods’ natural milkshake syrups, cafes and restaurants can now offer customers a healthy milkshake without sacrificing any of the flavour.

Edlyn Foods has developed the range of syrups as a healthy alternative to traditional milkshake syrups. The natural syrups have natural colours, flavours, sweeteners and have up to 40 per cent less sugar than traditional milkshake syrups.

The syrups are also double strength concentrated so only half as much needs to be used for the same delicious flavour. For this reason, the syrup is packaged in a 1.5 litre bottle rather than three litre container so it will take up

Top performance dishwashers The Winterhalter PT Series is a new range of dishwashers designed for the foodservice industry that delivers fast, efficient and top performance cleaning.

Available in three different sizes depending on the space available and size of items, the dishwashers are able to fit large dishes, pizza trays and pans and come with a choice of programmes that can

be set to wash dishes, glasses or cutlery. Washing pressure can also be varied, which helps to deliver perfectly clean and hygienic results whilst ensuring items aren’t damaged.

The machines help to cut operating costs as they reduce rinse water usage and save on chemicals and energy. ● www.winterhalter.com.au

Sweet sensations

Vegetable Gumbo. The Southernstyle Gumbo flavour will bring a new variety to the existing range.

Add a touch of sweetness to your menu with handmade French caramel from Carameliscious, an Australian family-owned business that has released a range of caramel for the foodservice industry.

The Spicy Vegetable Gumbo soup has a hearty and home style flavour that is perfect served as a starter or main during winter. It has a thick, wholesome texture and includes generous servings of high quality freeze dried vegetables.

The soup comes in a pouch for the foodservice industry which makes up to 4 litres of soup or 15 servings.

It is also a cost effective, easy to prepare take away solution that can be served with a bread roll. ● www.nestleprofessional.com/ australia/ less room on counters and result in less waste.

The versatile natural syrups can also be used to make rich hot chocolate drinks. They are available in five flavours including Chocolate, Vanilla, Caramel, Strawberry and Banana. ● www.edlyn.com.au

Adding some spice Maggi has introduced a new flavour to its Premium Soups range, Spicy

French born owner Remi Tremsal is passionate about producing caramel using a traditional recipe which has been handed down over five generations. It is handmade in small batches and slow simmered to create a soft, rich and buttery result.

New napkin venture

in several pre-folded options to suit cocktail, lunch and dinner styles.

They can also be custom printed to suit various foodservice businesses such as pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants and care facilities.

Tailored Packaging has recently launched their range of Alfresco White Napkins to the foodservice industry. The range includes a variety of sizes and styles to suit all food outlets from canteens and fast food to fine dining.

This is the first time Tailored Packaging has entered the napkin market so they have spent 12 months developing an affordable, high quality product to suit foodservice needs. ● www.tailoredpackaging.com.au

Carameliscious use the finest and freshest ingredients to create caramel that is free from preservatives, artificial flavours and colouring, and also gluten-free. There are four flavours of caramel in the range; Cocoa, Cocoa and Hazelnut, Vanilla, and Salted Butter.

The caramels can be served on crepes, pancakes, brioches or grilled bread and can also be used to sweeten coffee, yogurt or decorate any dessert. ● www.caramelicious.com.au OH

The Alfresco White Napkins are highly absorbent and are available

www.openhousemagazine.net Open House, August 2013 29

CULINARY CLIPPINGS

Let battle commence T

he Australian Culinary Federation (ACF) will host the Battle of the Chefs at this year’s Fine Foods event which will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre on September 9-12. Chefs and apprentices will have the opportunity to pit their skills against each other and against the clock, competing for a share of up to $15,000 in cash and prizes.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Peter Wright Australian Culinary Federation (ACF)

This year the extensive competition programme will include the “Fonterra Food Service Battle of the States Restaurant Challenge” where we will see once and for all which state or territory actually has the best chefs. There will also be several live cooking categories including the rare to medium veal and lamb main course, the independent fisheries seafood main course, poultry main course, authentic Asian section, Nestlé Professional desert live challenge, the Tabasco hottest chef and the best chef open and apprentice categories with over

$5000 in cash and prizes to be won.

To enter simply go to www.austculinary.com.au and complete the entry form for the “Australian Culinary Challenge NSW 2013”. Entries must be submitted with full registration costs by Wednesday August 28, 2013. The acceptance of entries will be on a “first come first served” basis for all live events including the “Fonterra Foodservice Restaurant Challenge” due to kitchen availability and the scheduling.

This year at Fine Foods Sydney chefs, cooks and foodies will be provided with additional attractions at the Chefs Theatre.

Coordinated in conjunction with the ACF restaurant of champions culinary competition, the Theatre will showcase workshops, master classes and demonstrations for the four days of Fine Foods. Every 30 minutes the topic will change and will be delivered by an expert panel of chefs and cooks. The Theatre area

will work on a first come basis so make sure you schedule your visit early. Hot topics include sous vide cooking, working with chocolate, Australian Emerald Valley beef and lamb, Australian seafood, chefs careers, further education, Australian dairy, equipment and innovation, working with sugar and current food trends.

Workshops and demonstration will be between 10am to 2pm each day followed by the Australian Barista competition. The Theatre will be a fully interactive area so come along and get involved in the activities or use our chef’s lounge and business centre to network and conduct business.

In addition we also have the national final of the Nestlé Professional Golden Chef’s Hat on September 10 following the state and territory heats. We look forward to another exciting event that highlights the development of all young chefs in Australia.

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

Big things for small school Gold for Holmesglen cookery Two students from Penola High, in Victoria, have won the right to compete against culinary students from around the world at the International Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge. They will also be flown, with their teacher and a chef mentor from the Australian Culinary Federation, to Japan where they will compete in September.

Ashley Sullivan and Taylah Trantor from Penola High School competed against senior secondary students from across the state, producing a gold medal standard dish. Each team of two students were required to produce four identical plated dishes using lamb rump.

The competition was held at the Regency International Centre and judged by World Association of Chef’s Standard.

Each student received a certificate of participation and if they received the requisite points, a medal. The winning team received a chef’s knife each from Victorinox, and an Olympus camera for their school, from Nestlé Professional.

30 Open House, August 2013 www.openhousemagazine.net

A team of Holmesglen apprentice chefs proved they were the best in Victoria at the 2013 VICTAFE Cookery Challenge – Apprentice Cooking Competition.

Elena Yahnova, of Crave Catering, Woody Chet, of Coda Bar and Restaurant, and Hoang Le, of Dandelion, won the best main course, a gold medal, and the coveted best overall team award against all other participating Victorian TAFEs, winning the Dura Wear Club Chef perpetual trophy.

Western wonder Kevin Senjaya, from the Windsor Hotel, was crowned Western Australian Apprentice of the Year, held at Challenger Institute. Kevin will go on to represent WA at the national finals in October in Canberra.

Golden effort continues Valley braised roasted, butter rested, balsamic glazed and leek-ash dusted beef silverside, allium, mustards and peppers. For dessert the duo created a “splitz” of chocolate, banana, strawberries and nuts.

President of the Australian Culinary Federation, Peter Wright, said the standard at the cook-off was “exceptional”.

VIC Four more regional teams of apprentice and junior chefs from New South Wales, Victoria, The Northern Territory and Queensland have battled their way to the national final of the 2013 Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award in September.

“The dessert courses in particular were some of the best I’ve judged at any culinary competition,” he said.

“All the chefs really brought their best game and should be very proud of themselves for their efforts.”

In Victoria, Zackary Furst, chef at Persimmon Bistro, and teammate Matthew Moffatt, 3rd year apprentice at Society Restaurant, won a silver medal overall

Best mates Rhys Connell, commis chef at Sepia Restaurant in Sydney, and Oliver Ferguson, chef de partie at Novotel Newcastle Beach, won gold overall in the NSW final.

Connell is one half of the 2012 New South Wales national finalist team, having narrowly missed out on winning the respected national competition along with teammate chef Alex Hunter last year.

Connell said he was “absolutely stoked we’ve won” and was determined “to bring that trophy home this time”.

“The other teams put up some amazing food today, but I’m so proud of us winning and for me having another shot at the title with Oli on-board is incredible,” he said.

Held at William Angliss Institute Sydney kitchens, the three-course culinary challenge saw the pair go up against 24 other talented chefs.

Connell and Ferguson’s winning menu was an entrée of snapper, blue swimmer crab, fennel, oats and egg. Main course was Emerald

to win their regional cook-off.

Competition director Deb Foreman, of the Australian Culinary Federation, said it was “a fiercely contested” competition.

“Not only did we see every competing team achieve a medal for their efforts today, a very rare outcome, of these nine were silver

medals,” she said.

Furst said the win “feels amazing”.

“We hoped to come away from the experience having learnt some new skills and just put ourselves up to see how we rate against other chefs at our level,” he said.

Two rising stars of the Darwin culinary world have progressed to the finals, with second year apprentice chefs Courtney Cameron and Kevin Khun, who work together at The Waterfront Bistro, achieving a gold medal overall.

“This was my second time in the competition so I was determined to do my best,” said Cameron.

Held at Charles Darwin University kitchens, Cameron and Khun’s winning menu was an entrée of gold band snapper and bug tortellini with leek béchamel sauce, zucchini and seafood bisque with a crisp Lavosh. Main course was Emerald Valley lamb rack duo; lamb and zucchini wellington served with thyme infused jus and a braised lamb rack served with glazed carrots, sweet potato, roasted onion, tomato and a spinach puree.

For dessert the young chefs created a chocolate fudge cake with a white marble chocolate teardrop, orange candy, chocolate crumble, strawberry salad, caramelised banana, served with a strawberry coulis.

Young chefs Cobi Riethmuller and Matthew Clark, from The Walnut Restaurant, Royal on the Park, have also progressed through to the finals in September after winning the Queensland South regional heat. OH

PUBLISHER Alexandra Yeomans MANAGING EDITOR Ylla Wright Journalist Sheridan Randall Sales & Marketing Manager Jo Robinson 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).

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

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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Opinions expressed by thewww.openhousemagazine.net contributors in this magazine are not the opinion of Open OpenHouse House, August Letters to the editor are subject to editing.

2013 31

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