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!

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!