Always appealing to those who love to impress in the kitchen, and handy to those looking for a few trusty tips, this year’s Heathcote Appliances Kitchen Theatre, within Kiwi’s Best Kitchen, has something special in store for visitors.

Led by Josh Emett, the Kitchen Theatre will be a hive of activity as it showcases top culinary talent from chefs who will be tasked with entertaining and educating Fieldays visitors.

Joining Celebrity chef Josh Emett, who is performing an impressive three demonstrations a day, other foodie heavyweights; Helen Jackson, Niki Bezzant, and Gerard Perraut are also in the mix, sharing a variety of skills and themes to delight food focused visitors.

Emett, a Michelin star chef, who was brought up on a farm outside Hamilton, will be holding twelve demonstrations in the Kitchen Theatre.

“I’m very excited about doing so many demonstrations over four days at Fieldays. Visitors can expect quite a varied range of dishes – but nothing overly complex. It’s about getting tips for what you can do at home with various cuts of meat, such as duck, quail and rabbit.

“All the demos will be interactive, much like MasterChef’s MasterClass, where the audience will be able to comment and ask questions as we go along. I’m pretty free and easy. I’m sure we’ll all have a good time. It will be entertaining to watch and informative at the same time,” says Josh.

Chefs in Kiwi Best Kitchen Theatre:

Niki Bezzant is a healthy cooking expert, and founding editor of the top-selling Healthy Food Guide magazine. A passionate cook with a lifelong interest in health, Niki will be showing just how easy it is to create simple, healthy food that’s packed with flavour.

“I’ll be at the Kiwi’s Best Kitchen cooking classic Healthy Food Guide recipes. True to our philosophy, the recipes will be delicious, super healthy, family friendly and high in nutrients. There will even be a healthy, gluten free sweet treat that I’ll share which is great for those with special dietary requirements,” Niki says.

Helen Jackson is a fellow foodie who is editor of foodlovers.co.nz, cooks on Good Morning, hosts RadioLive Kitchen and Garden Show and is Food Ambassador for George Weston Foods. An advocate of the ‘keep it simple’ food mantra, Helen is excited about being at Fieldays for the first time to present her series of cooking demonstrations. She’ll be sharing her handy culinary tips including; winter warmer brunch ideas, tasty toasted sandwich fillings, hearty sandwich creations and a tasty pudding. 

“One of my favourite recipes is a Bread and Butter style chocolate pudding using Golden Scone toast, it’s a real crowd pleasing luscious winter pudding,” Helen says.

Visitors will also be able to visit the Tip Top Bakery stand for a chat with Helen.

Annabelle White will also be featuring in Kiwi’s Best Kitchen Marquee. Instead of taking part in a demonstration, she’ll be available at the Delonghi / Kenwood stand to mingle with visitors wanting expert tips on how to create fabulous restaurant quality food at home. It’s definitely worth a visit as Annabelle is always up for a chat, completely at ease with passing on her enthusiastic and infectious love of all things food-related.

Fieldays visitors can check out the programme on arrival to see when the demonstrations are scheduled. Grab a seat in the grandstand, and be ready to be wowed. Remember to get in early to avoid disappointment.

New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays will be held 12-15 June 2013 at Mystery Creek Events Centre, 10 minutes south of Hamilton. Fieldays is proudly supported by strategic partners – ANZ and the University of Waikato.

For more information, head to the Fieldays website, www.fieldays.co.nz.

MANZ Chief Executive Michael Baines

It’s time the accommodation sector had a level playing field, with sectors such as holiday homes and Bed & Breakfasts regulated and taxed to the same extent as other commercial providers, says the Motel Association of New Zealand (MANZ).

Regulation at both a central and local government level is colluding to create the uneven playing field, with the focus on the ‘traditional’ sectors such as motels and hotels which overlooks the huge growth in the use of private dwellings as commercial accommodation.

“It’s simply unfair that if I operate a motel I’m hit by a raft of taxes, levies and regulatory obligations yet if I rent out my house for short-term accommodation I can avoid all of this,” MANZ Chief Executive Michael Baines says.

Not only is this unfair it also raises serious safety questions Mr Baines says.

“If I operate a motel there are a number of requirements I have to meet to protect the safety of my guests, and rightly so. It is important to ensure that the building is up to scratch through a certificate of fitness and a fire plan,” Mr Baines says.

“Yet if I rent out a block of apartments as holiday flats then I avoid all these obligations – the building could be a death-trap and no-one would know. Is it going to take some kind of disaster in which lives are lost before authorities take this issue seriously?”

“It seems that central and local government are happy to sit back and clip the ticket for taxes and levies for motels and let the unregulated side of the sector do whatever they like.”

“We’re calling on central and local government to ensure a fair go for motels and their owner-operators by creating a level playing field. Protect the quality and the reputation of the Kiwi accommodation sector by clamping down on these uncontrolled and potentially unsafe providers,” Mr Baines concluded.

Muffin Break barista Vishal Dhiman

He’s been dubbed the latte ‘artist of Albany’ by Auckland coffee lovers and now Muffin Break barista Vishal Dhiman is set to take his unique skills further afield.

As a grand finalist in the 2013 Foodco Annual Barista Competition, Dhiman will be gunning for the glory of being crowned Australasia’s best barista in Sydney next month.

To secure his spot as a finalist, Dhiman, of Muffin Break Albany in Westfield Mall, triumphed over the best baristas from Muffin Break stores across New Zealand.

Baristas from each of Muffin Break’s 37 New Zealand stores entered this year’s competition, which began with regional heats before four finalists battled it out to win a place in the Grand Final in Sydney.

At the finals, the best baristas from Australia and New Zealand will be put through their paces to test their ability to produce outstanding coffees under pressure.

Dhiman says he is thrilled to have the chance to take his love for latte art overseas.

“I want to make my mark at the Sydney final and take my barista skills to the next level. Having the opportunity to make a name for myself really means a lot to me,” Dhiman says.

“I’m really excited to travel to Sydney because I’ve never been to Australia before, and I’ve always wanted to go. I’m looking forward to competing there and making coffee in front of the judges – I can’t wait to show them my elephant latte art. It took me months to master!”

If Dhiman wins the Grand Final, he will take home a LA Spaziale S1 Coffee Machine and Grinder and an iPad Mini (valued at $3,000).

The annual event, now in its seventh year, is aimed at recognising quality and excellence in coffee preparation as well as service, rewarding the best Foodco baristas on both sides of the Tasman.

The National Operations Manager for Muffin Break New Zealand, David Drury, says he is looking forward to seeing what the finalists produce at this year’s competition.

“I feel such pride in our baristas’ high standard of coffee making in Australia and New Zealand. It is a true testament to their creativity and effective training while also proving that, as a company, we’re equally as passionate about making a great coffee as we are about delivering freshly baked products.”

The Barista Competition finals, to be judged by nine industry experts, will be held at Foodco’s Head Office Training Centre in Double Bay, Sydney on June 4^th and 5th.

For more information, visit www.muffinbreak.co.nz.

WIN - 

In its latest Music Inspires Art campaign, Beck’s is supporting an up and coming Kiwi band, Ghost Wave, for the release of its first album, called Ages.

As part of the album release, Beck’s briefed six established New Zealand designers to each put together three pieces of work inspired by music from Ghost Wave’s new album – all of which have become Beck’s art labels, and one of which will be chosen by Ghost Wave as its album cover art.

These eighteen Beck’s art labels can now be found on a limited-edition range of Beck’s bottles throughout New Zealand, and feature a visually exciting array of music-inspired designs – from Mayan figures, to pixelated hourglasses, dark clouds, photographic mosaics and polygons.

WIN Beck’s

Now here is your chance to win one of three 12-packs of Beck’s with the art lables. To enter the draw to win send your name and physical address for delivery to: editor@hosponews.co.nz.  You must be a HospoNews eNewsletter subscriber, 18 years or older and a New Zealand resident. The winners of the three 12-packs will be announced in next week’s eNewsletter (30 May 2013).

If this dish was on your menu could you describe it?

If someone began choking in your restaurant would you know what to do? Could you describe dishes on the menu so that the guest could understand what they were, and do you know what is in each dish? How about the way it is cooked, do you know?

Following on from my column last week where I talked about the importance of local knowledge as a professional waiter. This time I want to talk about essential knowledge for within the restaurant. Essential knowledge can help you sell a menu item or a beverage but it could also save a life. I recommend that if you read this article and discover you don’t have key points of knowledge mentioned in it, you discuss it with your manager immediately and suggest further training.

We’ve stated it before but it is absolutely crucial that a professional waiter knows what they are selling. There are some very good operators who give their staff tastings of all the food and nearly all the wine, except for the very expensive bottles. Now doing that should be a given. How can you sell something if you don’t know what it is or how it tastes? A waiter must know not only how the food tastes but what it looks like.

If I am sitting at a table and I ask the waiter to explain the food or wine, I should be able to close my eyes and get the colours of this picture. When I read the menu I got an outline of the picture but the waiter is there to do the colouring. They put in all the colours to bring the dish to an image through their description. The same with the wine, I should be seeing where it comes from on a map of New Zealand. And then I should see the vineyard and then the bottle and label of the wine. And the same with food, when the waiter talks about the snapper, I should be actually seeing that fish in the sea, fresh snapper and how it would look when they catch it and how it is brought in fresh…the waiter should be colouring in my picture. So now we have the knowledge of looks and taste, next is the method of cooking.

The professional waiter should be familiar with kitchen equipment and understand the difference between shallow frying, deep frying and using a salamander. They should know the difference between poaching, boiling or using sous vide. The methods of cooking, I think should be understood because of how it affects the food through the way it is cooked? An example is steak. If you get a tough steak a lot of the toughness has to do with the way it was cooked. If the method of cooking allows the juice to run out of the steak then the heat is coming from the top, which you would get using a salamander. But if it is cooked in a pan it will be sealed through searing and then turned and seared so that the juice is trapped in the steak. The waiter should be shown how it is cooked so that they can say ‘this is how we cook the steak’. And the chef should explain the various techniques and why they use them so that the waiter has the knowledge to pass on to the guests.

Then we come to the topic of food allergies and the importance of being very knowledge about what is in the food being served.

I’m not sure what is behind the huge increase in food allergies but they have become the most talked about concern in connection with food. I don’t know whether it is our lifestyle or what, but there are certainly a lot more people with allergies and the waiter needs to know what are the most common allergies and have a clear understanding about what is in the food being served so that they can say with confidence what it is, or if someone is allergic to something, they can recommend they don’t eat particular dishes or recommend dishes that are suitable for their particular allergy. The waiter needs to question, when serving someone with allergies, ‘are we using anything like that?’.  I have seen on some menus symbols used to indicate whether the item is suitable for gluten intolerance or dairy-free and so on. And it is a good idea because whatever our personal opinion of the situation, it is our job to satisfy our guest’s concern that the food they are ordering is safe for them to eat and to react to their needs. We need systems in place so that we know what is in the food, for the chef to tell us, and that we react with this knowledge by looking after our guests.

It is a good idea to have some information on the menu and even have a sentence saying ‘if you have allergies please notify the waiter’.

On the same line is vegetarian and knowledge of the different versions of vegetarian. I’ve come across four or five different types, such as those that don’t eat eggs or dairy products or those that eat fish and so on. So I think the waiter just needs to know what the different types of vegetarian and also vegan are. What do they eat?

Following on from this I still find that there are not enough chefs that have dish specification. Dish specification is a card or wall chart that provides all the details about the dish:

1. the name of the dish
2. a picture and preparation of the dish – this is important so that consistency is maintained and returning guests get the same dish that they have previously enjoyed
3. ingredients – include the quantities used and be specific about unusual ingredients such as from other cultures
4. method of cooking
5. how it is prepared
6. how it is garnished
7. and most importantly, any information the waiter must know about the dish.

This system of dish specification is very much used in larger restaurants because their consistency has to be to a very high standard.

So to recap, food knowledge about nutrition, ingredients, methods of cooking and allergies is essential in hospitality. You must be able to look after the health and safety of your guests, and the most efficient way to achieve this is for the waiter to have the knowledge.

I think it is quite important that the waiter also has some basic knowledge of first aid, especially in the area of food choking, as there have been some recent situations of people choking when dining out, and it has always been said that people should have a basic idea of how to perform the Heimlich maneuver, and some knowledge of CPR. The waiter will often be the first person dealing with a health or safety issue and having that first aid knowledge will give them the ability to deal with the situation quickly and efficiently.

Health and safety should also include hygiene in the front of the restaurant, such as cutlery falling on the floor needs to be replaced, spilt liquid or someone being unwell needs to be dealt with immediately. And of course every kitchen now has all the gloves and cleaners etc to deal with these situations and the waiter needs to know what to use to deal with each situation.  So foremost, the safety and wellbeing of your guests needs to be a priority and the whole image of the restaurant should be one of cleanliness.

It’s interesting that when people survey a restaurant, the issue of hygiene and how clean the toilets are, are what people are taking notice of. If you want to assess a place, the toilet tells you a lot about that place. If it is grotty it will put people off.  So the last job of the waiter, before service begins, should be to check the toilets.

Now we’ve covered a lot of ground in this column but it is valuable information which a professional waiter should have, knowledge is essential in a professional waiter’s role.

I’d like to close now with a challenge – Put a New Zealand food service programme on TV and let’s see how professional our waiters can be!

To be eligible for entry, each dish created for the Challenge must feature readily available wild ingredients and be prepared and presented in a unique or intriguing way.

At least two of the primary ingredients in the dish must also be sourced from within 100km of the outlet to provide a distinct local element.

Adding something new to the Challenge this year is the increased number of beers and ciders on offer for matching with dishes; the Monteith’s brewing team in Greymouth has been busy creating and releasing a number of new brews including the ’Brewers Series’ range. Chefs vying for the Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge title will have an incredible 18 beers and/or ciders to choose from in seeking their perfect match.

2012 Monteith’s Wild Food Challenge winner Kane Banbury – Mt Cook Backpackers

An incentive for those who enter the Challenge, is not only the prestige of being awarded the title of overall winner, it’s also the sizeable $15,000 cash price on offer. And for those entrants that go the extra mile to bring the Challenge experience to life within their establishment, there is also the chance to scoop a $2,000 cash prize for the ‘Spirit of Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge’ award.

During the course of the Challenge, a panel of expert judges will travel the country in pursuit of the best entries. Head judge, Kerry Tyack, says he is delighted by the number of restaurants which have registered their interest in taking part this year.

“The Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge is the longest running restaurant competition in the country, and now in its 16th year is proving as popular as ever. The number of high calibre entries over the years has made this Challenge incredibly popular with chefs across New Zealand who get both enjoyment and satisfaction from the opportunity to be creative with wild ingredients and experimenting with flavours and combinations,” says Kerry Tyack.

Monteith’s Brand Manager, Sam Allen says he thinks this year’s Challenge will be the biggest and best to date.

“This year with the addition of a number of new beers and ciders which can be matched with each of their dishes the Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge has more in store for chefs than ever. Taking the total beer and cider options to eighteen variants will give chefs more to think about when designing their dishes push them to their creative limits, with their food and beverage match. Add the beer and cider options to the remarkable interest we have seen with the pre-registrations, and I think we have the elements for this to be the biggest and best Monteith’s Wild Food Challenge yet.”

So all hunter and gatherer chefs across the land are encouraged to register their wild dish with a Monteith’s pairing before Friday, May 31 at www.monteiths.co.nz to have a chance at snaring the $15,000 prize. That is if you’re game enough….

New brews for 2013 MBWFC:

• Pacific Pale Ale
• Summer Ale
• Dopplebock Winter Ale
• Monteith’s Brewers Series – Apricot Wheat, Alcoholic Ginger Beer, IPA, Double Hopped IPA, Imperial Pilsner, Barrel Aged Porter
• Crushed Summer Berries Cider

GUIDE TO THE WILD

A source of epicurean inspiration

Previous winning wild dishes:

2012 Mt Cook Backpackers (Chef Kane Bambery)

The Mt Cook Backpackers Lodge & Chamois Bar & Grill, was crowned champion, with their dish What a Pig, which was matched with Monteith’s Crushed Apple Cider. The dish was wild and deceptively complex and sublimely matched with the cider which exposed different characters with each bite.

2011 Plateau (Chef Jude Messenger)

Plateau took the with ‘Wild Pigs in the Orchard’, featuring wild pork tender loin, wild boar neck, smoked bacon, wild watercress, fruit, baby carrots, fennel, nuts, Madeira jus and hand-made pasta, all matched with Monteith’s Crushed Apple Cider.

2010 The Porch (Chef Brad King)

The Porch Kitchen and Bar won the Challenge in 2010 with a dish called ‘Boarack Meets Underbelly’, featuring a wild boar rack and slow roasted boar belly, precisely paired with Monteith’s Pilsner and served on a rustic wooden board.

Helpful Hints for Beer and Food Matching:

Serving the right combination of beer and food undoubtedly enhances your enjoyment of both. There are no hard and fast rules – most beers go with one food type or another. However finding a truly superb beer/ food match is more of a challenge. It can’t be found by simply having a bag of chips or a mince pie with a handle of draught. The approach has to be more sophisticated and involves discovering the predominant flavours of the beer, and finding food with the same, or complementary flavours.

Lagers and Lighter Ales
(e.g. Monteith’s Summer Ale, Monteith’s Radler)

Mild lagers and lighter ales are great with food with more subtle flavours (like shellfish or chicken). However, if you are looking for a contrast, try these beers with spicy foods or a good curry.

Pilsners and More Bitter Beers
(e.g. Monteith’s Pilsner, Monteith’s Single Source)

Dishes with herb flavours, tomato or capsicum sauces and those that have used smoked ingredients are superb with more bitter beers. The distinct hop aroma and flavours complement the herbal and grassy ingredients in the dishes.

Malty Beers
(e.g. Monteith’s Original Ale)

The malty flavour and well-balanced bitterness of robust ale styles are ideal for the meat connoisseur. Enjoy these with lamb, beef, veal or even roasted pork. Ales also go well with more strongly flavoured foods.

Dark Beers
(e.g. Monteith’s Black)

Dark beers are balanced by red meats in rich sauces or gravy. Try a glass with a thick juicy steak cooked to perfection on the grill, or the traditional pairing of a dark beer with raw oysters. Some of them, especially those with an identifiable fruitiness or caramel/toffee taste, also match well with desserts. Choose a dessert without too much flour, and one with flavours of coffee and chocolate.

Bangers to Bacon Jeremy Schmid

Jeremy has been experimenting with sausage making and curing meats for quite some time. He trained in charcuterie at the Culinary Institute of America in California and on returning to New Zealand launched the brand, Little Boys, a very successful gourmet sausage range.

In 2012 he released his first cookbook, Bangers to Bacon, a New Zealand guide to making and cooking sausages and cured meat, which went on to win Best Single Subject Cookbook in New Zealand at the 2012 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards and third place in the Best Single Subject Cookbook world category.

So it is fair to say that Jeremy knows his sausages; but will he impart enough information for those of us attending his masterclass to become at least confident in the home kitchen?

I’ve learned from the New Zealand Sausage Awards that there are a lot of different varieties of sausages made through a range of techniques including marinating the meat, drying or smoking the sausage and using a huge array of ingredients.

Jeremy begins his class with a taster plate of his own dried/cured and smoked meats and aged sausages and immediately we learn through taste the distinct differences. While Jeremy points out that these are his version, he explains that depending on the country and even the region, for example in his original homeland of Switzerland, the taste and colour of a cured meat or sausage will vary greatly.

This masterclass includes the use of the end product to create dishes and Jeremy sets to creating Braised Chicken Legs with Tomato, Dry-cured Choritzo and Olives. He points out that dishes like this, are a good way to use up leftover pieces of cured meat and sausages – he adds 80gms dry-cured choritzo, sliced, and 60gm dry-cured bacon to the mix before placing it in the oven.

His next dish, Pork Sausage Quiche – using pork, sage and fennel sausages – shows that sausages can be more versatile than we think. Jeremy recommends using sausages that have a lot of flavour for quiches, such as chortizo.

With the quiche also now in the oven, it is time to learn the art of sausage-making.

For this masterclass Jeremy is using pork shoulder meat that has been marinating overnight. The meat has been cut into chunks and well-salted to draw out the enzymes that form the gelling agent which bind the meat. He has chosen pork shoulder because of its fat content which is about 16%. You need lean muscle meat but a good fat layer to get the right texture. If the meat doesn’t have enough fat it will be dry to taste and too much fat will make it greasy and fatty.

Jeremy uses a bottle of Luke Nicholas’ EPIC-beer in the mix

Jeremy processes 25% of the marinated meat into a smooth texture while explaining that ingredients and quantities in sausage-making are measured in percentages as the consistency needs to be very accurate. He pours liquid, this time some EPIC beer, into the processor to help with the blending and some dried herbs. “I use dried herbs for the flavour in the sausage and add fresh herbs to the dish later for colour and end taste. Fresh herbs have more bacteria on them so if you use them in the sausage mix the sausage won’t last as long. Fresh sausages with marinated meat should keep for five days in the fridge,” says Jeremy. He recommends free-flow freezing them though for convenience.

Jeremy removes the processed meat and binds it with his hands into the remaining pork pieces. The mix needs to be as cold as possible. For this stage you can use a mixer with a paddle as you need to mix it well to prevent the meat from being crumbly.  Mixing to this extent also eliminates the need for gluten as a binding agent – you are making gluten-free sausages using Jeremy’s method.

Once the meat is well combined, the next stage is using a sausage machine to fill the ‘skins/casings’ to form a long sausage. Jeremy buys his ‘skins/casings’ from Dunninghams (http://www.dunninghams.co.nz/) where there are a range natural and synthetic casings available in a variety of thicknesses. Depending on the style of sausage it will have a specific thickness of skin.

And we have a sausage

The skin has been soaking in lukewarm water and Jeremy runs a small amount of water through it to check for tears and lubricate it before sliding it onto the machine. He tightly packs the sausage mix into the machine to prevent air bubbles then begins turning the handle to feed the mix into the skin. Once all the mix is fed into the skin, Jeremy ties off the end firmly and cuts the skin. He checks for air bubbles before crimping and twisting the length of sausage into individual regular-sized sausages. “When you start making sausages, use a marker to get the same length. Then at the end put a finger up against the end of the sausage to keep it tight and tie a knot. And there you have it. Sit your sausages in the fridge to firm up or put them on a stick to dry for smoking.”

And a couple of tips to cooking sausages: “Never cook them at a high heat or they will split, instead cook over a medium heat. In the restaurant I cook them in a water bath then sear them in a pan to finish them.”

Those attending the masterclass sampled Jeremy’s dishes of Pork Sausage Quiche; Dry-cured Beef with Truffle Mash and Poached Egg; Mushroom Risotto with Crispy Bacon; Hot Smoked Pork Sausage Salad and Braised Chicken Legs with Tomato, Dry Cured Choritzo and Olives expertly matched by EPIC Beer varieties presented by Luke Nicholas, owner of the EPIC Brewing Company.

Jeremy’s cookbook, Bangers to Bacon, is available from leading bookstores.

The next taste masterclass focuses on Vietnamese cooking and will be brought to you by Jason van Dorsten from Café Hanoi on Wednesday June 5, 6.00pm – 8.00pm. Bookings are essential. To book email:jo@tastenz.co.nz or phone 09 632 1404.

Chicken Maryland

Wow, 12 weeks ago when I wasn’t studying here at NZMA I would have had a major heart attack just knowing what comes with being a chef.

It’s not all about prepping or cooking a fantastic, delicious dish for different people or learning the names and tastes of different ingredients. It’s also about FOOD COST!

You’re all probably wondering what food cost has to do with working in the kitchen. When becoming a chef, it’s your responsibility to learn how to deal with food cost such as budgeting.

Food cost is how much a dish, or plate of food costs you to produce, in terms of what the products cost.
You then divide the cost by what you are selling it for to get your Food Cost %.

To tell the truth, I could smell my hair burning from all the hard thinking I had to do in class when we were taught how it all works. I’ll give you a little example:

• 8oz (226gms) fillet steak (at $15 a pound – 500gms) $7.50
• Sauce $.50
• Mashed Potatoes $.50
• Vegetable $.35
• Total cost of product =$8.85
• It costs you $8.85 to put the food onto that plate. That is your food cost.
• Selling price on menu $24.00
• Your food cost % =36.88% (8.85 divided by 24 =.3688 or 36.88%)

You may have instantly got it but it definitely took time for me to understand.
It still is a bit of a mission to fully conceive but it’s something we all need to be aware of when running a busy kitchen.

Besides, from all of the calculating and frustration that comes with this course,
we have made it happily to Module C !! Meat dishes, my favourite.

Thursday and Friday have been kitchen days, and you know what that means? Feed the family time.
Thursday we made… Poached Mustard Chicken with Steamed Rice and Grilled Teriyaki Chicken on Skewers.

They were so damn good and easy to demolish… exactly what my class did to my dish.
On Friday we made…Chicken Coq Au Vin and Chicken Maryland.

I ran down to the locker room where there was no one there so I could gobble it up on my own.
Looking at my recipe sheet now for next week, I see that Braised Lamb Shank, Ratatouille and potatoes are on the list. I am so damn excited, I can barely wait. Week 12… Here I come !!

Vegetable manchurian from Jai Jalaram Khaman

Have you sampled idli? Did you know fresh turmeric, okra and a huge range of exotic peas and beans are available in Sandringham, Auckland?

When I heard a couple of dedicated foodies talking enthusiastically about taking part in a spice tour, I envisaged them trekking through India, Sri Lanka or even Morocco. But, that spice tour is right here in Sandringham near the heart of Auckland and it’s been so successful organisers have had to schedule more dates.

Sandringham is vibrant melting pot of many cultures, religions and races. It is renowned for its cluster of ethnic shops, cafés and restaurants – all with delicious and exotic aromas (and often equally exotic, soulful music) emanating from their doorways.

Lisa Loveday, is a chef, food technologist and author of three cookbooks, who lives in the suburb and launched the Sandringham Food & Spice Tour in August 2012 working with Anita Totha, the programme co-ordinator at the Sandringham Community Centre. Lisa also works on the Sandringham Farmers’ Market held at the centre the second Saturday of the month.

Lisa explains: “I left corporate life to live more simply and became involved in working with the local food and produce scene as well as doing some voluntary work with the community centre here.”

“Anita and I together came up with the idea of the spice tour to highlight the area’s wonderful ethnic eateries and shops and we have had very positive feedback. We have now held six tours and there has always been a waiting list for people wanting to take part in the two-hour tour on a Saturday afternoon. We were holding them bi-monthly but had to schedule them monthly due to demand.”

Puri filling at Mumbai Chaat

Some of the businesses involved in the event include: Mumbai Chaat, Bawarchi-The Indian Cook, Khyber Spice Market, Jai Jalaram Khaman, Valley Fruit & Vege Market,Taste of Sri Lanka,Top-n-Town Takeaways, Top-n-Town Market, and Paradise Indian Food.

Lisa and Anita both accompany the tours (limited to 20 participants) where local restaurants offer small tasters of their dishes, which will often then be discussed by the owners or the chefs. At the ingredients shops, Lisa explains the uses for the many different spices, chutneys and exotic vegetables many Kiwis have never seen before, yet alone cooked with.

Anita also believes the tour concept has been a great way of linking the Sandringham Community Centre with the local businesses and building relationships.

Moving on from butter chicken - daily selection of curries at Bawarchi

“While many New Zealanders enjoy Indian and Sri Lankan food, often they stick to the tried and true (such as butter chicken) rather than going for the unusual items on the menu. This tour also highlights just how the food varies from the different regions e.g. an Indian restaurant specialising in Gujarati food has a very different menu from another Indian restaurant with Hyderabadi food,” Lisa says.

So as a result of the spice tour, Kiwis should have more confidence to be more adventurous when eating out and local pantries should contain more unusual, exotic ingredients.

“For example, not many of us have tried idli, which is a South Indian bread made from ground rice or rice flour mixed with ground urad dal, salt, methi (fenugreek seeds) and water.  It is absolutely delicious and on sale in the Sandringham shops.”

Indian desserts kheer and halwa from Paradise

“The people who go on the tour cannot believe the value delivered for $30 and say it’s the best money they have ever spent. And those planning to book and join a tour, please don’t have lunch beforehand. The business-owners here are so generous, most participants leave practically exploding.”

For info on future tours contact the Sandringham Community Centre sandringhamcc@gmail or Phone  846 6649.

Over the last two months industry workers, owners, chefs, waiters, bartenders, baristas, suppliers and sales rep’s have nominated and then voted for who they think is the MOST OUTSTANDING in the 15 award categories.

Organisers, Food Hawke’s Bay, a membership organisation for food businesses in the region, are once again delighted with the response to the event.

Food Hawke’s Bay manager Vicky Rope says: “This year has been the biggest crowd to attend this event yet, we have been delighted with the response from the industry, they all come along to support and recognise each other and then have a great chance to catch up with colleagues.”

Rope says: “Gaining recognition for those glamorous and some not-so-glamorous jobs in the industry makes it all worthwhile for these people, the winners should be congratulated on a job well done.”

This year, Food Hawke’s Bay took a different approach to the Outstanding Supporting Chef category, it was by application only. The finalists produced videos that were viewed by Ben Bayly from The Grove Restaurant in Auckland.

This is what Ben had to say: “This year, in the Outstanding Supporting Chef category there were five worthy winners and great supporting chefs – I would have any of these guys in my kitchen! However, it is a difficult award to judge, because it has many dimensions to it. There are some that are young and up-and-coming stars of the future like, Sam and Simon. Ivan, Nathan and Paul are three very talented sous chefs. They lead their respective kitchen teams when their head chef is absent. But I had to choose one winner and it all came back to that one word ‘supporting’.

“Nathan Beilby has worked at and supported Pacifica since the day it opened seven years ago – that time period of loyalty, commitment and support in hospitality is very rare, and today that is what got him over the line. Nice one Nathan!

“Well done to everybody! And thanks to NZ King Salmon for supporting the Supporting Chefs!”

The winners were announced in front of a sell-out crowd of 330 hospitality industry staff at a glamorous awards ceremony at the Municipal Theatre, followed by an industry party at East Pier,
Ahuriri.

The winners of the 2013 Hawke’s Bay Hospitality Awards are:

• Sacred Hill Outstanding Chef
David Griffiths, Mister D

• Eftpos Specialists Front of House Personality
Kim Davis, Deliciosa Tapas & Wine Room

• EIT Outstanding Front of House Team
Mission Estate Winery Restaurant

• Foxton Fizz Outstanding Café Experience
Mister D

• Toops Outstanding Ethnic Restaurant
Indigo – Napier

• Origin Earth Outstanding Barista
Jordan Barraclough, Hawthorne Coffee

• Orton Catering Outstanding Winery Experience
Clearview Estate Winery

• East Coast Packaging Outstanding Local
Puketapu Hotel

• Grande Gourmet Outstanding Restaurant
Ten Twenty Four

• PBT Outstanding Supplier/Sales Rep
Steve Olley, Trinity Hill

• Restaurant Association Outstanding Winery Restaurant
Clearview Estate Winery Restaurant

• Steinlager Pure Outstanding Establishment
Emporium Eatery & Bar

• Regal Marlborough Salmon Supporting Chef
Nathan Beilby, Pacifica Restaurant

• Clearview Estate Best Ambience/Style
Mister D

• Dhall & Nash Outstanding Wine & Beverage List
Deliciosa Tapas & Wine Room