Friday 26 April 2013

To market, to market, jiggity jig.


Markets, where else can you go and get such inspiration and instant information about the current produce and trends. The wealth of interesting fruits and vegetables from all corners of the world are sure to have you salivating over all the food possibilities. A place where you can get bok choy, olives and moroccan spices all in one place. Most kitchens that I have worked in have some kind of fruit and vegetable seasonal availability poster, but is there really a better way to find out what is available than getting out there and seeing it for yourself?
Why not grab a few kitchen staff and head down to your local markets. See, touch and smell the produce, look at the prices and talk about new and interesting products. By having a greater interest in these sort of things you can get greater job satisfaction, better creativity and a broader knowledge. So get out there!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of TV Cooking Shows


Like so many others at the moment, I have eagerly been tuning in to watch the new Masterchef  Professionals series. As I sit and watch, bemusing the skill and flaws of the contestants and commenting on how I would do things differently, I often wonder if we are taking the magic out of food. Is the over analysis of our dining experience ruining the simple pleasures that we can take from food? To make a simplistic comparison, magicians are wonderful to watch, but once you realise how they have done their tricks you can no longer truly enjoy them.

So exactly what are these shows doing to our industry? I'm sure that we have all discussed the exposure that the shows are giving to dining  and possibly the influx of new staff who now decide that cooking is their life long ambition. Now more than ever we also have to deal with the "informed diner" many of whom want to know exactly what cooking processes are involved in their dish and exactly where the products were sourced from. But knowledge is power and comes with responsibility and so many people who watch these shows and are starting to immerse themselves in the gourmet consumer world  are critiquing and disecting our dishes and dining experience without fully understanding all the intricacies of running a successful kitchen.
Often they lack the understanding that the foods that they are buying have to be costed and have to be financially and laboriously viable to be able to put them on the menu. If they want food with such flair and locally sourced, organic, free range ingredients and impressive plating, the cost has to match that and the restaurant also has to have sufficient customers to continue producing that food. Too often we hear people bemoan the fact that there are no decent restaurants or places to eat around, but then we see great eateries go under or change their niche due to lack of customers.
I feel that this all links back to the one central issue, the media are doing a great job of glorifing our industry and what we do but they fail to look at the viability side of it. The food we are shown is often self indulgent and not subjected to the constraints of time, customers, ingredient costs and staff ability. This is understandable because after all, who wants to sit and watch a chef cost out his sous vide of scotch with truffled celeriac puree and lobster roulade. Surely the media also has an obligation to acknowledge all the behind the scenes work that goes into making a successful eaterie and not just promote the idea that if you do good food you will be successful.

 We also have to acknowledge the great things that these shows have done for the industry. Without these shows, so many of us wouldn't have access to some great ingredients or be able to put some of the more interesting dishes on our menus. These shows drive innovation and normalise untraditional ingredients, methods and food, which allows us to diversify and experiment more on our menus. Suppliers are beginning to stock more exotic ingredients at more competitive prices and we get the benefit. 

The final gift that these shows give is a gift for our ego, we have truly been turned into the rockstars of the worker world, and rightly so! We work hard, give up so much and put all our emotions and personal lives aside to give the customer a memorable experience. We don't get to say that we save lives or keep the community safe or that we are nurturing the education of the next generation, but a piece of ourselves goes out on each of those plates, a piece of our pride and our self worth. We give these things willingly and it is nice to be acknowledged for that.  

The Rise and Rise of Street Food (Holy Truck and Taco batman)


Food trends are funny things, they grow and evolve at a staggering rate, throwing kitchens and menus around the country into a frenzy to try and keep up with the new emerging trend. These trends usually start in the upper echelon of world or Australian dining culture, white tablecloths, haught prices and a feel of exclusivity. Whether it is the rebirth of French cuisine and cookery, the fusion of Asian and European cuisine into modern Australian cuisine, the snout to tail revolution or the birth of molecular gastronomy, these trends appear and then slowly filter down from the top through to the restaurants and hotels and finally into the cafĂ©’s, pubs and catering companies.

3 years ago this evolutionary path of food was turned on its head with the rise of Street Food, it has risen from the bottom and now effects the trends of the nations finest and most cutting edge establishments. It is a cuisine forged from pure necessity, born in the ramshackle carts of South America and the market kitchens of Asia. Gritty, smoky, cheap dining that promises so little and delivers so much.

Adelaide is embracing this trend more and more each day. The imposing line up of office workers and locals infront of the Burger Theory Truck or La Cantina every lunch time is a true testament to the food that they prepare. Restaurants can boast all they want of modern decor and funky art work, but can they truly compete with scoffing a blue cheese, pancetta and Angus beef burger while sitting on the grass in the sun? But as we watch the pubs and restaurants begin to embrace this style of food, we have to wonder, is the point of street food lost when we sit in a leather dining chair surrounded by Italian designer lighting. In these establishments, street food is being chained to all the constraints of other restaurant cuisine that should have never be applied to such a free spirited genre. The soul and theatricality of the food is being lost while it is put in the wrong environment

Finally, I could not write this without failing to mention one of my favourites, Lucky Lupitas. They are one of the restaurants promoting street food in Adelaide who is getting it all so right. From the mismatched glasses and crockery to the rickety tables and casual staff in jeans and non matching T-shirts, everything is perfect. There is no overstated pomp or intricate plating and you won't walk out with an empty bank account, it is a constant buzz of chatter and laughter and the smells that waft from the open kitchen send a promising hint of what is to come. Smoked corn cobs that are chargrilled, spread with chipotle mayonnaise and sprinkled with parmesan, this is what I dream of and Lucky Lupitas delivers. They harness exactly what makes street food great, they embrace the noise, the smoke and the grit and with that acceptance comes the soul of street food. They pay homage to the roots of their  food and remain a shining example of the unstructured love, chaos and passion that is at the very heart of this cuisine.


Lucky Lupitas on Urbanspoon

Food Identity, Food Tourism and the Importance of Utilising Local Produce

Supporting and using local produce in the kitchen has always been a niche market, but as the industry and our customers become increasingly savvy and better informed, it is becoming a concept that should be embraced throughout all kitchens in SA. I thought it might be interesting to have a look at some of the aspects and impacts that using local and artisan/ boutique ingredients and produce can have compared to buying imported and mass produced items.
 Firstly  I think we have to address the obvious, it often just isn’t cost viable or diverse enough to run a kitchen on entirely local produce. There are always going to be products that the local market are just unable to produce, keep up with demand on or have the attributes that a chef might be looking for.
In a perfect world we would all be buying only local produce but the demands of a modern kitchen dictate that this is usually not possible. Constraints like budgeting, deliveries and initial sourcing / exposure to the products are all major barriers to using local produce. However using local produce also has many amazing benefits. These benefits are why we should all strive to incorporate more local, boutique and artisan produce on our menus and in our dishes. So let us discuss those benefits.
Food Identity. South Australia is a great food (and beverage) producer and over the last 20 years an astronomical amount of time and money has been spent on promoting the Food Identity of the State. From the lamb and Wagyu on the Limestone Coast to the Wines of McLaren Vale and Barossa, Cheeses from the Adelaide Hills, seafood and grains on the Eyre Peninsula, beer in the Metropolitan, the list is ever growing. All of these regions have been heavily promoted to the rest of Australia and the world. This creates an international image of the state as having a strong food identity, it highlights our region as a great place to indulge and experience a wide range of culinary delights. A tourism market has been forged for the state that revolves around amazing produce and passionate driven food producers so we as the chefs, business owners and apprentices need to harness and embrace that marketing that has already been done for us. By utilising and further promoting local produce we add to this food identity, we endorse it and we claim it as our own.
By using local, artisan or boutique products you are tapping into this food tourism market, you are justifying slightly higher charges on your menu by promoting your use of a high quality localised ingredient. The support and relationships that can be gained from buying from these small producers go a long way to ensure that you have more unique menu items and a greater understanding of how those produces are made. Buying local also has a great effect on sustainability of produce and food miles / carbon footprints of our foods. All these things are becoming ever important to the modern customer.
By supporting South Australian produce you also ensure that SA will continue to have a strong food identity into the future and that we continue to attract a growing number of food tourists to the state. Talk to your local producers, see how they make their products and discuss ways that you maybe able to cross promote each other and forge strong partnerships. Supporting and utilising these products is investing back into our industry and State which is in turn supporting your business.
For these reasons and so many others that I haven’t even mentioned it is imperative that we incorporate an increasing amount of localised produce and products into our menus and businesses in the future.