Winter Menus; Comfort food and the newest secondary cuts

Winter is fast approaching and the menus (if not already) are about to change. Gather your bay leaves and mirepoix, give your brasing dishes a dust off and order in your hard herbs. But the question remains, what will be the next "rebirth" in secondary cuts to be used. Shanks, Oxtail, beef cheeks and now pulled pork shoulder have all had their time in the sun but what will be next? Maybe we will move towards the roasted pork knee of the Czech Republic or the hunter style braised rabbit from Europe, or maybe we will continue on the Americana theme and push brisket and thick smoky sauces ? Several restaurants around Adelaide are focussing much more on Offal and off cuts, for examples have a look at the menu at the Daniel O'Connell or see the pig's head terrine at Elbow Room. The meats are the driving force behind winter menus and I can't wait to see what is brought into the spotlight next and what will be the winning vegetables that will accompany it! In the past years Celeriac, parsnips, beetroot and heirloom vegetables have all featured heavily on winter menus. Kale, cavalo nero and brussel sprouts have been trying to push their way in and I wonder if this will be their year. I am a great fan of broccoli rabe and would love to see it more widely used. What are your favourite winter ingredients and what are your predictions for this years big winter breakthroughs!

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 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 café’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.

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.

The rants of a Hospitality Mentor

Well here it is, our first official blog. By now I hope that anyone reading this will understand exactly what the program is here for and about so lets delve straight into some of the things that we as hospitality workers and particularly chefs are coming across in the last few years. Over the last 10 years, as budgets have become tighter and as products have become more accessible, there has been a quite prominent move away from doing some processes in our kitchens. We are quickly moving into a day and age where it is easier to order in pre-prepared products instead of doing it ourselves, for example often meat is no longer even portioned in restaurants. The worst thing about this is that it makes perfect sense, why risk the wastage and inconsistencies when you can do precise costings and get consistent products by having some of the prep done offsite (say at the butcher) . The problem that occurs though is that after these sort of services are used for a long time, that skill for the chef can be lost. This also means that the skill will not be passed on to future chefs. In this way we are effectively deskilling the future generations of chefs and ourselves in one foul swoop. We all need to make a real effort to pass on our skills to anyone in the kitchen who is willing to learn them, even if the skill isn't utilised in the daily kitchen prep. If we only teach what we absolutely need to learn then we limit the growth and creativity of the workplace. So have a think about a skill that you might be able to pass on in your workplace, and be open to others trying to pass on their knowledge and skills, I'm sure it will make a more enjoyable and interesting workplace for everyone and we will retain those skills that are quickly being lost!