Butchering Lambs

Easter is the Christian celebration of Jesus’ resurrection three days after dying on the cross. The Jewish holiday at this time of year is Passover, which celebrates the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt. An antiquated custom from this celebration was the sacrificing of a lamb, which commemorates the Israelites marking their doors with the blood of a spring lamb so the Spirit knew not kill the first borns in that house.

So, I thought it was rather apt last week when a friend invited me out to her parents farm to help process some lambs over the Easter long weekend. The lambs had been killed earlier by her father (a professional, licensed slaughterman) and had been hanging for 4 days by the time I got out there on the Monday morning.

As a chef, I really enjoy butchering. I haven’t done nearly enough over the years as I would like to, but there is something quite unique and visceral in butchering whole carcasses. For me, it leads to a greater respect and depth of emotion for the animals that are reared for our consumption. My fondest memories of butchery are from a couple of years ago when I was working at Brown Brother Epicurean Centre in Milawa. My Chef – Danny Neate – was quite a proficient butcher and there was always different animals hanging in the cool room aging. We would have goats, lamb, pigs and beef quarters in there all the time. I learnt to break down a goat with a saw and cleaver! Very fun, but very hard work (especially when I had other prep to do for a busy service!). I remember walking in one Saturday to about 20 suckling pigs strategically placed around the cool room, needing processing for a food festival!

I arrived early morning to their farm, which, as always, gave some stunning views that are so indicative of this beautiful region.

Having already made the necessary cuts to the lambs to process each one in three separate lots, we set up our little production line and got into it.

I can tell you, having a bandsaw to help but up these lambs is MUCH more efficient than using a hand saw, a cleaver and a knife steel!

While Phil carved up the lambs like a boss, myself and Ed packed and bagged. Ed is a bit of a foodie and an excellent cook, so we spent the time discussing what we were going to/could do with each cut that came through. Drooling over the thought of braised shanks, roast shoulder, butterflyed leg, slow cooked neck on polenta, grilled forequarter chops – the list went on. I can tell you I was pretty hungry by the end of it all.

After about an hour and fifteen minutes were done. All four lambs were bagged, tagged and in the freezer. Like any good country barter system, I was paid for my labour with cuts of meat. I headed home with a couple of bags of delicious, fresh, locally reared lamb.

This is what food and cooking is.

Border Brewers

I’ve been home brewing for about 2 years now. After returning from Canada, I found myself quite poor and after drinking my father in laws home brew, I decided it would be a great way to get cheap beer. After receiving a Coopers home brew kit for Christmas, I was ready to go. Now, most home brewers use the malt extract tin you find in the super market and this is how I started out. However, as a chef, I found after 2 brews that I really needed to expand what I was doing. After some questions at a local home brew shop, I was soon steeping crystal malt for colour, boiling extra hops, using specialised yeast etc. I was hooked. The next step was to go to all grain. So, for the last 12 months, I have been doing AG brewing in the kitchen. Also, when we were living in Maroochydore I was working for the Sunshine Coast Brewery bar and restaurant. I was lucky enough to be able to go along and work with Dennis, their German brewer. I learnt a lot about the brewing process. SCB put out some excellent beers, if you ever get the chance, head along to the bar and try the Rye ESB – fantastic!

When I returned to North East Victoria last year, I was keen to connect with fellow home brewers. I put a call out on the internet and was stoked to find a dozen or so local guys who brew AG. Many of them already knew each other, many had bought bulk ingredients, whilst others had never met. We decided that a get together and meet and greet was needed. So one, Saturday, we got together for a day of brewing, beers and wood fired oven goodness. We were graciously hosted by one of the guys whose forno and brewing setup was perfect for catering all of us.

We started off early with a champions breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs, and tomatoes.

Full and ready to go, we proceeded to get brewing. Now, there is different ways to brew all grain and the one used on the day is what is known as ‘brew in a bag’. Basically, you mash the grain in a pot in a bad, then when ready, you take out the bag, drain it and it’s ready to start the boil. We decided to put on an American Wheat. Our host had a pretty sweet mill to crack the malt, and after weighing out, it was milled down in about a minute. No mucking around. We mashed in let grain sit at about 66 degrees for an hour. Maintained the temp by using the sophisticated sleeping bag method!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the mash was done, it was time to drain the bag and get the wort (the hot barley liquor) boiling. We did a 90 minute boil with a 60 minute bittering hop addition. I love to tell you which hop, but I honestly cannot remember. I’d say it was a noble hop variety though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While this was going on we settled into trying each other beers. Throughout the day there were beers ranging from Golden Ale, Summer Ale, Harvest Ale (using home grown hops) a Coopers Pale Ale clone (much better than the original for sure), American Amber Ale, Irish Red Ale, Californian Common Ale and even a Christmas Ale (this one I especially enjoyed!). After the boil had finished, the brew was cooled with an immersion chiller and went into the fermenter. Hopefully drinking this in about a month. While we waited, we snacked on some amazing beef jerky that one of the guys had made the week before. I think this was the standout of the day. I don’t know why I didn’t get a photo, but it was absolutely delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon, it was time to get the pizzas ready to rock. I was feeling adventurous, the night before I made a big biga (pre-ferment) at home and brought it along. I made a pizza dough in the style of a ciabatta. Sounds strange for pizza but I was sure it would work. Lucky for me it did! Everyone brought along different ingredients for different pizzas. We had mozzarella and fresh picked basil, Mexican beef, kransky, salami, the obligatory ham and pineapple and many more. I weighed out the dough to 240g, rolled and allowed it to proof. We prepared our ingredients, poured some more beers and got stuck into it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can tell you these bad boys went down a treat – so tasty! In the end, we had far more food than we could eat, so I cooked off the rest of the dough into litte ciabatta loaves for everyone to take home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, the first official meet up of the border brewing community was a success. I met many new people and talked beer and brewing all day long, which, in everyday life, is rather difficult. We finished up late in the afternoon and I actually had to move house that evening. Now THAT is another story altogether.

A great day had by all.

High Country Brewery Trail

Living is North East Victoria is, without a doubt, awesome! Honestly, as an outdoor loving food wine and beer geek, being able to live so close to so many great producers with spectacular high country as the back drop is an absolute pleasure. Having 5 great breweries within an hours drive simply adds to positives.

Recently, 4 of these breweries – Bridge Road Brewers, Bright Brewery, Sweet Water Brewery and Black Dog Brewery –  in conjunction with the North East Tourism Board launched the High Country Brewery Trail – bringing together great beer and mountain bike trails.

Here’s a recent article from Rick Besserdin from Radio Brews News on the launch at The Local Taphouse St Kilda

http://www.brewsnews.com.au/2012/03/high-country-brewery-trail/

You can find the PDF of the hand book here

http://www.highcountryharvest.com.au/system/files/206/original/high_country_brewery_trail.pdf

So, grab a bike a head along to 4 great craft breweries. Make a long weekend of it, there’s a lot to see up here.

Braised suckling Rutherglen lamb with peperoncini, olives and almonds

A couple of weeks ago myself and the rest of the kitchen team at The Terrace headed on down to Rutherglen Lamb for the afternoon to check out exactly where our lamb is coming from. Head Chef Matt Wright was more than happy to share his recipe for what is by far our most popular dish out at the winery.

Now, when we get the lamb in they are whole and we braise them whole, so I’ve scaled the recipe down for anyone wanting to recreate this at home.

For the lamb: 2kg lamb (either leg or shoulder), 8 cloves garlic, 2 x fresh bay leaves, 1 onion (sliced), 5 x sweet peppers (thickly sliced), 2 anchovies, 300g diced roma tomato, 2 larges sprigs oregano, 1 sprig rosemary, 1 cup chicken stock, 1 cup good white wine, 500g potatoes, flaked almonds, a decent handful of good, local olives, one shallot, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Spread the onions and the anchovies onto the bottom of your braising dish. Cut the lamb into large chucks and seal it off in a pan. Add it to the dish with the stocks and the wine. Now add the garlic, peppers, herbs and tomatoes. Cover and braise in a 160 degrees C oven for 90 mins. After, remove the lid and cook, uncovered for 10 mins.

For any braised meat dish  (especially stews and curries), it is always better to cook and allow the meat to cool in the liquid over night. The flavour improves greatly. The next day, remove the lamb from the sauce, along with the peppers. Take the solidified fat in a baking dish. Put the liquid on the stove and bring to the boil. Simmer slowly till the liquid gets to a nice sauce, consistency. The lovely flavours will be intensified by this. Cut the lamb into smaller, more mouth friendly pieces and put aside.

Now is time to prepare the potatoes. We use desiree potatoes, but any type will do. We ‘turn’ the potatoes – it might be a bit too much for home cook, so just peel and make sure they are cut to a similar size. Roast them in the oven with some olive oil, seasoning, and lamb fat. 160 degrees C till they are golden and cooked. Time depends on how small you cut them.

Now we make a salsa with the olives. For the salsa, we use Gooramadda Olives, but any good quality olive will do. Just pit the  olives and chop finely. Add some finely chopped shallots and olive oil. That’s it. Simple. Also toast the flaked almonds either under the grill, in the over or in a fry pan. You want a nice brown colour on these.

When the sauce is ready and the potatoes are done, add the cooked peppers and lamb to the sauce. Bring to the boil and get plenty of heat into the lamb.

Time to serve. Spoon the lamb onto a plate, with plenty of the peppers and the lovely reduced sauce. Add the roast potato and spoon on some of the salsa. Finish with the toasted almonds and a good drizzle of olive oil.

 The Terrace pair this dish with the All Saints Estate 2007 Family Cellar Durif. Enjoy!

The Thirsty Crow

Being a massive fan of craft beer, and an avid home brewer, I always enjoy getting to see the workings of commercial breweries, large and small. But the micro brewery, that hand crafts its own beers, serves them onsite with the brewer not far away, always has that extra special feel for me. So it was with excitement when I headed off with a few other local home brewers for a Sunday excursion to the Thirsty Crow in Wagga Wagga. Travelling an hour and half to get there, talking about beer the whole way, we were certainly ready to try all the brews when we showed up.

Being that it was only 11am, I started with the 2.9% Red Light Ale, an English style bitter. It was rich and malty with plenty of hop character. For a light beer, it was very impressive. At 12pm, it was time for the brewery tour with Craig Wealands, the head brewer and owner of the Thirsty Crow. Craig had celebrated the Crows first birthday the night before, so it was great to be there exactly 12 months since the opening. Whilst we all settled into our tasting paddles, Craig told all in the tour about the brewing process, all about the beers and the brewing operations of the Thirsty Crow.

He fielded many questions (especially from the home brewers), more than happy to share his knowledge with all. I can definitely recommend the tour as it is aimed at broadening the knowledge of beer for all.

Soon, it was time for Craig to head off and brew another Kolsch (the best selling beer by far), so we finished up our paddles ordered some lunch. While there is an array of food available, the focus is mainly on pizza (which, as far as I’m concerned, is a marriage made in beer heaven). With pizzas ranging from blue cheese and brie to Sunday roast and Thai chicken, there’s something for everyone. We settled on the Sunday roast and Mexican beef and bacon. Both were delicious. The Sunday roast, with roast lamb, peas and mint gravy was the definite winner in everyones book.

With lunch finshed, and a few beers down, it was time for ‘dessert’. Last year, having only been open for a couple of weeks, the Thirsty Crow won ‘Best Hybrid Beer’ at the Australian International Beer Awards for their 5.2% Vanilla Milk Stout. Craig was also awarded with ‘Young Brewer of the Year’ by Beer and Brewer Magazine - a testament to the quality of beer coming out of this micro. The Vanilla Milk Stout was a fantastic beer. Rich malty, roasty flavours, vanilla and sweet from the lactose, this beer was the unanimous winner of the day.

Other standout beers were the 7.3% ‘Brown a trois’, a double American ale and the 5.4% ‘Murder Pils’. I can definitely recommend the Thirsty Crow to all craft beer lovers, pizza aficionados and anyone interested in beer. If you’re driving through, definitely stop in. Even better, stay at the motel across the road and enjoy all that the Crow has to offer, without worrying who has to drive.

The Thirsty Crow is open 7 days and the website can be found here.

Wild rabbit and pork terrine with muscat raisin puree and mustard fruit

I love terrines. Actually, I love all kinds of charcuterie, but there is something homely and accessible about terrines that make them awesome in my books., The word ‘terrine’ is used pretty loosely is regards to this dish, although it is an apt description.

Rabbits are an introduced species in Australia and anyone from a rural area can attest to how much of a pest these things really are. So, eating wild rabbit is a big yes in my book for a sustainable and evironmentally friendly meat supply.  I bought the wild rabbit from a local butcher, took it home and got started. The first thing I did was to make a brine for the rabbit. Brining a dry, lean meat like rabbit is absolutely essential in my book. Although salt extracts moisture , brining allows the protein molecules to expand, which means they can hold more moisture. It’s also a great way to add some flavour into the meat.

Brine Recipe

1lt water, 50g murray river salt flakes, 25g sugar, 1/2 onion,  2 x fennel tops, 1 stick celery, few juniper berries, 2 x bay leaf, few pepper corns, a pinch of mustard seeds.

I cut the vegetable into small dice. The smaller the better, as I don’t cook the brine very long, and want the vegies to cook and extract their flavours. I combined the ingredients, brought to the boil and then let simmer for 30 mins until veg was well cooked. The water level kept fine, but if you ever make one, be sure to top it back if it reduces down. This is important as you will throw out the balance of salt and sugar otherwise. I allowed it to cool in the pot.

Now it was time to de-bone the rabbit. I’m chef and love butchery, but I always hate boning out rabbits. It’s finicky, but well worth the effort. Boning out the rabbit requires a sharp knife and a bit of common sense. If you want to try it, just remember to keep the knife running along the bones. Start at the rib cage of one side and keep going along the skeletal structure . It will eventually get there. It’s a bit hard to describe, but easy enough to do.

You kind of get the point.

Once it was fully boned, I placed the rabbit into a container and strained the cooled brine over the top. Now, there is no real set time that you can brine pieces of meat for and it also depend what you’re using it for. I was happy to brine this for only an 1 1/2 hours. That’s more than enough for this dish.

Now it was time to make the filling. I’m lucky enough to live just around the corner from Morrison St Butchers in Wodonga. I walked down and simply bought some plain pork sausages. Their smallgoods are always amazing, so I was more than happy to use them as a base for my filling. I cut the sausage out of the casings (approx 600g) and then crushed a handful of toasted almonds. I did this by putting them into a tea towel and using a rolling pin to crush them. I then added the zest of 1 orange, a pinch of nutmeg, cracked pepper, ground corriander and fresh thyme. I rolled out some Glad wrap onto the bench and then layered 7 slices of prosciutto. On went the brined rabbit, and the filling.

Using the glad wrap to roll the terrine into a tight cylinder, I tied the ends (so as none of the cooking juices escaped), then covered in 2 lots of tin foil and put into the oven. I cooked it at 220 degrees C for 15 minutes, then lowered the temp to 150C for 35 minutes. It was definitely done by that time! I allowed it to cool in the foil – cutting it whilst hot would have lost all those lovely juices.

Now it was onto the puree. This was pretty easy. I brought 1 cup of muscat to the boil, let the alcohol cook out and reduced it by 1/3. I added 350g raisins and 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, simmered it till the raisins softened, then pureed in a food processor. I didn’t need all the liquor (it would have made the puree too thin), so I kept it and poured it over my muesli the next morning (note to self, do THAT again!). I then sliced up some mustard fruits. Everyone should have a jar of mustard fruits sitting in their cupboard. If you don’t, then you should

So with that, after everything was cooled, we had this for dinner

I had a glass of hefeweizen with mine, which was a good match. I would of loved to have served it with a nice, chilled rose’, but forgot to put one in the fridge (poor form, I know).  This is a great summer afternoon dish, plus the extra terrine can be kept in the fridge for a tasty midnight snack.

 

Gluten free bread

In the last year, it has pained me to realize that I have somewhat of a wheat intolerance. Now, lucky for me I’m not a coeliac, but wheat for some reason doesn’t sit well (actually quite common in many people). Now, as i refuse to give up on delicious things like sourdough, fresh pasta and hefeweizen, I must limit my intake. So that’s why I’ve decided to make my own gluten free breads. Now, due to most in the markets being shit (and expensive) I’m planning on experimenting a bit and seeing what happens.

Yesterday I got up and mixed together 3/4 gluten free flour (I can’t remember what exactly was in it, but I’ll report back as soon as I know), 1/2 cup warm water and 1/8 bakers yeast. The plan was to make a ‘biga’ just like I would with normal bread dough. I left it for about 24 hours. Now, although it did react a little, there wasn’t the same amount of growth like in a normal starter. That was to be expected, as they are obviously 2 different products. However, that lovely ‘beery’ smell was there, so I at least got half of what I was after.

I now mixed 450g gluten free flour, 500ml warm water, a generous pinch of salt and about 4g yeast. The texture will take some getting used to! I didn’t ‘work’ the dough at all, just mixed and left to rise. After about 3 hours I returned and it had risen by about 40-50%, which, for a first go, I was happy with. I gently shaped it onto greased oven tray, trying very hard not to lose any air from the dough

Now, it obviously doesn’t look too appealing there, but hang in there

I had preheated the oven to about 200-220 degrees C. I placed the dough in and cooked for abour 45-50 mins. After this time, I removed a rather tasty looking loaf from the oven. It hadn’t really risen at all, but still looked the goods.

The outside of the bread was very crunchy (in a good way) which was excellent. The actual bread seemed a little dense, which is common with GF breads anyway. I think I can get it fluffier with practice. The flavour, for what it was, was very palette friendly. For a first test, I’m pretty happy with the result. In the next batch, I will probably incorporate more water and yeast into the both the biga and the bread dough. I’ll also be having a crack at a gluten free sour dough some time soon. Now, off to enjoy some of this bread with my home made jam.

Rutherglen Lamb

Today, myself and the kitchen team from the Terrace Restaurant at All Saints Estate headed off to visit the lamb supplier. Matt, the head chef has been using Rutherglen Lamb for the last couple of years and decided it was high time we headed on out to check them out. We headed out in the afternoon, and were met by Jenny Anderson out the front of their lovely old house on the property.

Jenny’s family has been farming on this property since the 1860′s. After spending 20 years in Tasmania farming pigs, peas and poppies, Jenny and her husband returned to north east Victoria took on the family sheep property. First things first when we arrived, was to head inside for a cup of tea and some cake.

I went back for seconds and thirds. That passionfruit sponge cake was awesome!

We then headed out to check out the lambs on the property. First up we were greeted by these little guys just outside.

                                      

Obviously a little while before we’ll be seeing them, we left them to play in the backyard. We drove around to another paddock to check in on some lambs that will be ready very soon. Into the paddock we went for a look

                                       

We were then visited by the 2 two llamas Jenny has in the paddock. She became slightly concerned by their interest in us (as they can become aggressive) so it was time to retreat to the fence line and head on back to the winery.

Although we would have loved to spend more time there, the Saturday night service called for my work mates (I had a glorious Saturday off!) It was still great to get down to the farm and see animals that we use first hand. Rutherglen Lamb is available via online ordering or calling Jenny direct.

Stay tuned for chef Matt’s recipe for ‘Slow braised Rutherglen lamb with peperoncino, almond and olive salsa’

Strawberry Vanilla Jam

So when I found strawberries super cheap at the local fruit market, there was only one thing to do – make a shed load of jam! I bought about 8kgs of strawberries, took them home and dehusked them straight into the pot.

I added about 6kg raw sugar and 2 vanilla pods. Now, 1 pod would probably be heaps, but I love vanilla. I also added the juice of 2 lemons and about 150g pectin powder. This allowed the jam to set a bit, but still soft enough to spread without being that hard jelly like substance you buy commercially (if you want to be 100% natural you can make a pectin stock. Google is your friend). Now it was time to bring to the boil

CAUTION: Pay attention to your jam. Being a dumb arse, I got distracted and walked back in to a nice jam boil over! Took me about 10 minutes to clean it up. Respect the boiling sugary stuff!

While all this was going on, it was time to wash the jars. Making sure they were perfectly clean, they were drained onto clean tea towels.

The jam boiled away for about and hour. Although well cooked, there was still some lovely chunks in there. When it was at a point I was happy with, I turned down to a simmer and placed some jars in a 200 degree C oven for approx 20 mins. This will sterilize the jars and kill off any nasties. It also allows me to fill the jars straight away, as hot jam will smash cool glass, which you definitely don’t want. Now taken out of the oven, I added the hot jam (be careful if doing it this way, as the jam starts bubbling away in the jar. It’s safe, as long as you show caution). I didn’t have a sugar thermometer, but I’d say the temp was – VERY HOT!

As you see, the jam is bubbling away. You can also see where the jam boiled over earlier! While I was filling, my wife brushed the transperent preserve covers with white vinegar and placed them vinegar side down over the opening. She quickly put a rubber band over each on. The air seal was made straight away. No air keeps a lot of nasties from growing, and then heat, sugar and acid (vinegar + lemon juice) keeps some really nasties from growing.

We repeated this a few times until all the jars were done. Ended up with quite few.

This should keep us out of trouble for a while.

This was how my Nan taught me how to make jam may years ago and has served my well. As stated before, caution is required with the hot jam. There are many other ways – boiling in a sealed jar etc. Find a way you are comfortable with, and go for it! You won’t be disappointed.