lamb
Raising the Baa New Zealand Lamb ticks all the boxes for what diners are looking for. Rich in taste and texture, and flavourfully lean and tender, you – and your guests – will love it. With little-to-no bone, and well-trimmed of fat and waste, there are economic advantages as well.
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ew Zealand lamb has gained a worldwide reputation for being the best and you will often find it on menus in top restaurants across the globe. Kiwi chefs acknowledge that New Zealand’s sustainable farming, clean pastures and climate makes a big difference to the quality of the meat. This is what locals and visitors alike expect when dining and it’s important for chefs to feel confident in serving up an authentic taste of New Zealand on a plate. Not only does New Zealand lamb taste delicious but with a huge range of versatile cuts available, it’s easy for chefs to get creative in the kitchen and showcase the different flavours of Aotearoa. Knowing that our lamb is reared to the highest standards, right on your doorstep, is vital for chefs to confidently tell that paddock to plate story to their customers. In May, National Lamb Day was celebrated to commemorate the day in 1882, when the first shipment of frozen sheep meat
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arrived in the UK aboard the Dunedin. The shipment was organised by two entrepreneurs, William Davidson and Thomas Brydone and left New Zealand on February 15th from Port Chalmers, Otago. That historic journey of around 5,000 carcasses was the beginning of what is now a multibilliondollar industry. The Evolution of Lamb on the Menu New Zealand lamb has come a very long way since that first shipment. New Zealand lamb is now widely used in restaurants around the globe. Beef + Lamb Platinum Ambassador Chef, Michael Coughlin has been serving New Zealand lamb in restaurants for more than thirty years and in his current role as chef advisor for Provenance Lamb, he is at the forefront of the paddock to plate story which today’s chefs and their customers are eager to hear. When Coughlin started his cooking career, he said the only Spring Lamb that was available
to chefs was frozen, pre-cut export grade lamb destined for the European Market. It was mainly racks from the middle of the saddle which were not Frenched or whole legs. This meant that chefs needed to sharpen up their butchery skills or have a good relationship with their local butcher to trim down the cuts for their menus. Some years later the likes of Gourmet Direct started up which gave chefs more of a variety with vacuum packed individual cuts. This opened up creativity for chefs and by the early eighties
the Lamb Cuisine Awards were introduced by Beef + Lamb New Zealand to entice and reward chefs for having creative lamb dishes on their menu. A new generation of chefs are embracing and learning about the farming practices that are being used to create the exceptional flavour and texture that New Zealand lamb is renowned for. Nose to tail dining has also become very popular over the years with chefs opting to use the whole carcass. For chefs it’s not just about meat and three veg anymore but a very fine-tuned approach to honouring the protein on the plate and the story of where it comes from.
