For the professional restaurateur and caterer Generation H

For the professional restaurateur and caterer

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April 2011

We go one on one with Hamish Ingham, the man behind the latest hot spot, Bar H

Generation H

Ten business essenTiAls To geT you on The roAd To success Masterclass with the Devonshire’s JereMy Bentleyexclusive insighT inTo AusTrAliA’s commerciAl fishing indusTry

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foodService April 2011

April 2011

features8 Hats, heartbreak and the brutal truth Commercial viability verses artistic licence is the eternal battle in every commercial

kitchen. This month, Tony Eldred pulls no punches in dishing up the brutal truth about how your business should be run.

10 Generation H As Australia’s food culture evolves, consumers are constantly being exposed to exciting

new establishments. This month, Yasmin Newman pulls up a pew with the man behind the latest path-carver, Bar H’s Hamish Ingham.

14 French connection – Australian heart This month The Devonshire’s Jeremy Bentley shows the versatility of pork under a

number of culinary applications.

26 The messy business of food Wondering why there’s tumbleweed rolling through your doors on a weekday, or why

staff make a move to your competitor? This month Anthony Huckstep and Tony Eldred deliver the top 10 business essentials to help make your business a success.

plus22 Coming up for air The business of seafood is different from every other food. It demands an approach by

the chef and restaurateur that is more dynamic, more understanding and with greater flexibility than any of the other food groups. John Susman investigates.

36 Update on the market The weather in Australia could be described as ‘feast or famine’ over the last six months

and there appears to be no in-between in many parts of the country. Jim McMahon takes a snap shot of the current market.

regulars8 management10 inside dining14 masterclass18 cafe22 seafood36 quaff34 the grill38 legal49 shopping cart50 opinion

news8 Westfield aims to be food Mecca9 Chef does Queensland proud9 Six culinary kings honoured by RCA

For the professional restaurateur and caterer

plus

April 2011

We go one on one with Hamish Ingham, the man behind the latest hot spot, Bar H

Generation H

Ten business essenTiAls To geT you on The roAd To success Masterclass with the Devonshire’s JereMy Bentleyexclusive insighT inTo AusTrAliA’s commerciAl fishing indusTry

Cover: WA Marron with roasted tomato and curry leaf butter by Hamish Ingham Photography by Yasmin Newman.

contents

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contents.indd 3 4/4/11 12:29:30 PM

from the editor

4 foodService April 2011

EDITOR Anthony Huckstep (02) 9213 8335 [email protected]

COnTRIbuTORs Gawen Rudder Tony Eldred Jim McMahon John Susman Jonathan Kaplan Yasmin Newman

nATIOnAL ADVERTIsInG MAnAGER Adam Cosgrove (02) 9213 8241 mobile: 04501 564 655 [email protected]

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DEsIGnER Caroline Milne

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Cheeks, trotters and magic memoriesBeef cheeks. No, it’s not one of my nicknames, nor is it referring to a pair of rumpy cushions at the scary end of a cow. They are in fact, those grass-munching facial cheek muscles that, if prepared and cooked correctly, deliver arguably the most rich and unctuous eating experience of all beef cuts.

The dark, tough meat requires a long braising technique to break down the connective tissue, but the reward is flesh that flakes at the site of a fork, leaving you mooing ‘til the cows come home.

Uh huh.Slowly braised beef cheeks with pickled chillies and

okra is the restaurant dish I miss most.My culinary heart skips a beat when I reminisce about

devouring it with friends over a vino and a laugh or two.For this ‘ere mug, it is one of the all-time perfect

combinations. A textural treat where a rich, earthy and warming sauce lovingly lavishes the unctuous cheeks and overwhelms all of your senses – not just a carnal need to fill your belly or sate your tastebuds.

It’s an experience, not a meal.I know, I know, I’m a tragic foodaphile – guilty as

charged. Case dismissed.That beef cheek dish is in fact achar gosht, a little

ditty by Basil Daniell, owner of Darlinghurst’s Oh! Calcutta!, a restaurant that sadly no longer warms the souls of Sydney’s food fiends.

Based on a traditional Sindhi lamb dish, this was Daniell’s clever little twist on the classic that saw punters from Natalie Nobody to Neil Perry licking their collective lips.

Alas, the restaurant closed some years back now, but for a period Oh! Calcutta! was my favourite restaurant.

Far removed from the fearful flickering neons that light the butter chicken bain maries of the ‘burbs, Oh! Calcutta! was confident and proud about giving Sydneysiders a glimpse of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in smart but casual environs.

If one were inclined you could rock in simply wearing jeans, Converse shoes and a Metallica shirt (the height of fashion) and kick back and enjoy the relaxed nature of his affable staff who took great pleasure in delivering

food that went kapow!Beef cheeks aside, Daniell was also one of the last

great, if not at times quirky, owner/operators who could spin a yarn, work the room and ensure everyone felt welcome, special and yearning to return.

I guess nothing is forever, and at some stage we all have to trot on...

Mmm, pigs trotters.The very first time I tried these gelatinous gems it

was a defining moment in my culinary education.Sure I’d suckered my lips up to plenty of feet before,

particularly those sexy, hot and spicy chicken feet at dim sum, but trotters were a new level of decadence that tickled the fancy of my devilish side.

But when pig’s trotter stuffed with veal and sweetbreads with ginger and shiitake first graced my lips, I almost wept.

Janni Kyritsis has a lot to answer for. Of course this was his signature dish at the three-hat MG Garage during the early naughties.

It was a triumph.Unctuous, buttery, rich, earthy, balanced.Seriously, stop it.Alas, just like Oh! Calcutta!, MG Garage is no longer

around to sooth our souls.Quick, someone fire up the time machine, and get

busy with a knife and fork thanks.Truth be told I could probably fill this entire issue with

restaurants and dishes that have changed peoples lives, but sadly aren’t here anymore for us to savour. No doubt you’ve a few fond food memories too.

Great restaurants may come and go, but at least the memory remains . . .

Anthony HuckstepEditor

From the editor.indd 4 4/4/11 12:30:44 PM

2011 entries are now open

why don’t you join us at the table?

www.appetiteforexcellence.com

electrolux appetite for excellence supports & develops Australia’s

young chefs, young waiters and young restaurateurs

judged by some of Australia’s culinary leaders, participants

experience unique opportunities, travel & develop career networks

to learn more and download an application form, go to

appetiteforexcellence.com

entries close 1 may 2011

FSN_ELECTRO_FP_005.indd 5 4/4/11 12:32:58 PM

news


Westfield aims to be food MeccaThe monolithic Westfield Sydney precinct has unveiled another installment of 13 premium food retailers to join the throng of stellar operators on level five.

One-hat chef Alessandro Pavoni (pictured) of Ormeggio restaurant is the latest operator to sign on and will be opening a regional Italian restaurant on level six.

Pavoni’s rustic-style restaurant will feature regional specialties including ‘spiedo bresciano’ – a regional dish of spit-roasted meats and home-made pasta.

The restaurant will seat 100 people and is set to open in August.

Meanwhile, Justin and Georgia North will relocate their award-winning restaurant Bécasse from Clarence Street to Westfield Sydney, and will open Quarter Twenty One, a precinct that will encompass a modern 70-seat European restaurant, a retail shop selling premium ingredients and take-home meals and a cooking school.

Situated next door will be the new home for the two-hat, 25-seat Bécasse and Bécasse Bakery. North’s other outlet at Westfield Sydney, Charlie & Co Burgers, opened last October.

A suite of new Asian restaurants, including Sassy’s Red from Simon Goh of Chinta Ria fame; Din Tai Fung, the world-famous, Michelin star-awarded dumpling house, Sushi Hon and Ho Chi Min City’s authentic Wrap and Roll, will also open on level five at the end of April.

These will also be joined by Thairrific, Pie by Mick’s Bakehouse, Ragu Pasta & Wine, Nine Mary’s, Spuds n Crepes, Iku Wholefood and The Snag Stand.

These food retailers join the premium operators Cloudy Bay Fish Company, EAT Deli Kitchen, Charlie & Co, Crust Pizza, Dergah Grill, Guzman y Gomez, Top Juice and Via Del Corso Pasticceria e Caffé, that opened last October at Westfield Sydney.

Wage costs riseAustralia’s restaurateurs and caterers spend 44 cents of every dollar on wages and salaries, according to benchmarking data released by peak body Restaurant & Catering Australia (RCA).

In a survey of RCA members designed to establish industry norms, the RCA found that staffing costs are the greatest barrier to business development. Costs of wages, including on-costs, have grown from 35.7 per cent to 44 per cent of turnover in the past five years.

According to RCA CEO John Hart, the increase is a result of both wage pressures brought about by skills shortages and industrial relations reforms that have seen significant increases in wage levels in the industry.

“These increases in wage costs are not sustainable when a very large number of businesses are making very slim margins,” Hart said.

“Restaurant, café and catering businesses have lost any flexibility in their employment practices and now have very few options but to cut hours or reduce staff numbers to stay afloat.”

Other data contained in the report includes:- 85 per cent of businesses are licensed, compared to 59

per cent in 2005;- Around half of all restaurants, cafes and catering

businesses are companies, with 18 per cent operating as trusts and 23.5 per cent sole traders;

- Only six per cent of businesses are franchised- 25 per cent of respondents turned over between $5

and $10 million, continuing the trend toward consolidation in the industry.

Hart confirmed that industry will call on policy makers to reduce non-wage labour costs, rather than increasing the superannuation guarantee levy, in an attempt to keep the industry sustainable.

Osborn home for awardsPerth-born chef Shane Osborn

(Pied A Terre, London) will return to Australia in August as the Guest of Honour at the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence Awards, the country’s premier hospitality program recognising young up and coming chefs, waiters and restaurateurs.

Osborn was the first ever Australian chef to be awarded a Michelin star (in 2001) setting the bar for home-grown excellence on a global scale.

With a passion for French cuisine – fanned in the kitchens of Perth’s fine dining establishments – he relocated to Europe in the early 1990s landing roles in Europe’s top Michelin-starred restaurants. Hooked on London’s vibrant restaurant scene, Osborn’s career took off working with Marcus Wareing at L’Oranger, and then at the two Michelin starred THE SQUARE, St James, before settling at Pied a Terre in 1998.

It was here in 2000 that Osborn took over as head-chef and co-owner and was awarded his first Michelin star – the first ever for an Australian chef. In 2003 he received his second star. 2007 saw a People’s Choice win in the

San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants and the opening of sister restaurant L’Autre Pied. In 2009 L’Autre Pied was awarded a Michelin star.

The Awards judging panel boasts an impressive line-up of Australia’s culinary who’s who including the recent appointment of three new judges; Simon Denton co owner of Verge and Izakaya Den in Melbourne; Mark Best (Marque, Sydney) and associate judge Warren Turnbull (Assiette and District Dining, Sydney).

www.appetiteforexcellence.com

News.indd 6 4/4/11 12:39:58 PM

foodService April 2011 7

news

Six culinary kings honoured by RCARestaurant & Catering Australia has honoured six individuals at the RCA’s annual Lifetime Achievers presentation dinner, held at Parliament House in March.

The eighth annual awards night was attended by previous recipients of the award and over forty MPs who were there to celebrate the outstanding achievements, efforts and dedication of the winners.

The recipients of the awards included:Alfredo Bovier, who opened Alfredo in

Crown Street, Darlinghurst, in 1984 (where he operated for 12 years), and opened Alfredo’s at its current location in Bulletin Place in 1994;

Andy Georges, who with his wife has owned and run Il Centro Restaurant in Brisbane for the past 19 years and has just secured a lease for a further 10 years;

Pomi and Amrik Sandhu, who operated the Jasmin Indian restaurant with their family for many years. In 1983 Pomi started the Tandoori Oven Restaurant on Unley Road in Adelaide. This restaurant became an iconic

establishment winning numerous awards during its 27 years of business, including the award for the Best Indian Restaurant in Australia three times;

Jacques Reymond, who worked at Melbourne’s Mietta’s for five years before opening his own restaurant in Lennox St, Richmond, in August 1989. In 1992 he acquired a stunning Victorian mansion in Prahran and opened the now renowned Jacques Reymond – Cuisine du Temps;

Lieta Acquarola, who in 1963 opened Romano’s Restaurant Nightclub with her family. Soon after, she and her husband Michael assumed ownership and their combination of talents developed Romano’s as Perth’s leading entertainment restaurant.

In addition, the industry recognised two young achievers, Carolynne and Hadleigh Troy, who opened award-winning Amusé in East Perth in August 2007.

All six lifetime achiever winners had been honoured at their state Awards for Excellence event in 2010 before coming

together in Canberra to be recognised at a national level.

Assistant Treasurer Senator Nick Sherry congratulated the award recipients when he addressed the audience and said that one of the defining features of modern Australia “is our world-leading, innovative restaurants, cafes and catering businesses”.

Mead takes pulpit at Church St EnotecaOne-hatted Church Street Enoteca has promoted Adam Mead to the position of executive chef, following the departure of award-winning chef Vasilios Donoudis.

With Donoudis leaving to pursue an opportunity cooking his native Greek cuisine with George Calombaris, Mead will lead the team of 11 chefs and continue the focus on Italian cuisine.

Mead – sous chef at Church Street Enoteca for the past year – has a pedigree which makes him a natural fit for the restaurant, having spent two years travelling and working in kitchens in the UK

and Italy, followed by 12 months as senior chef de partie at Grossi Florentino.

A fluent Italian speaker, Mead said he was delighted to put the skills he earned working in top-end restaurants in London, Milan and Misano Adriatico into the Italian-inspired menu at Church Street Enoteca.

“With my Italian training mentality of classic recipes and classic techniques, I will work hard to ensure that Church Street Enoteca continues to shine as a down-to-earth fine dining establishment,” he said.

Bistro 80 replaces Sean’s KitchenContinuing its massive push into becoming a total food destination, Sydney’s Star City has announced the arrival of Bistro 80 in the space once occupied by Sean Connolly’s Sean’s Kitchen.

Bistro 80, named after the Star City address at 80 Pyrmont Street, will feature bistro favourites stretching from classically cooked steaks and fish with a number of side dishes to fresh and simply prepared seafood.

Manning the pans is Paul Gaspa, fresh from a stint at Crown Melbourne via the

Lanesborough in London, the Michelin-starred Conrad Hotel in Tokyo and the Al Mahara Restaurant at the iconic Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai.

“We will be doing freshly shucked oysters to order and Crystal Bay prawns, we will slow roast rumps of Victorian lamb and we will have carpaccio of tender aged beef,” Gaspa said.

“There will be a few modern twists on some dishes, but this is definitely going to be a restaurant aimed fairly and squarely at diners

who love the best produce, cooked classically and simply with delicious accompaniments.”

Bistro 80 joins consultant chef Luke Nguyen’s Fat Noodle restaurant in the current Star City, while construction continues on the new dining precinct facing the harbour. The new-look Star City will feature landmark restaurants and eateries by an impressive line-up of chefs including Teage Ezard, Stefano Manfredi, Adriano Zumbo, Peter Kuruvita and New York’s favourite, David Chang of Momofuku.

Jacques Reymond

News.indd 7 4/4/11 12:42:15 PM

management


I had an interesting lunch with one of our high-profile food critics a couple of weeks ago. This an unusual situation for me because I am not normally on the radar of the ‘foodie’ press, who are more interested in restaurateurs and chefs than management consultants.

While the conversation was quite stimulating and I valued the insight their perspective gave me, one of the comments made during a wide-ranging discussion left me a bit unsettled.

I made the comment that quite a few of my top-end clients were battling with out-of-control food and wage costs at present and that they either had to put up their prices or reduce the cost of food production to restore appropriate margins.

It was generally agreed that putting up prices in a competitive market was not the ideal choice, as main courses were at about the optimum and entrée/dessert prices were often beyond the pale. A recent disturbing memory of three scallops on a plate with a bit of shrubbery for $21 drove my opinion on this matter.

I put forward the belief that the only way out for many of my clients was to reduce the labour content of their food production by identifying common tasks that were done in small quantities very inefficiently in their own kitchens and seeing if they could buy those items in a semi-finished state at a cheaper and consistent price, and thus reduce labour and wastage.

Well, you’d think I’d committed an atrocity in church, judging from the reaction. “I expect everything to be made in their kitchens, and I would mark them down in a review if I thought they had bought an item in,” said Oh Powerful One.

Don’t get me wrong: I’d love the situation where restaurants could all afford to do everything themselves in the traditional, hand-made fashion. The reality, however, is that unless they can charge an eye-watering amount for their food, they can’t afford to do everything by hand and keep their cost within limits. Something has to give eventually, and unfortunately it is often the owner who loses out – by going out backwards.

Before you chefs reading this throw this magazine down in disgust, consider that chefs have been buying in products when it suits them for ages. Take butter and cheese, for instance. I have never seen a restaurant make either. Most restaurants buy in bread, many buy desserts, and many buy portioned meat and fish. The list goes on and on.

These are all either finished or semi-finished products. Does the customer care if the onions were peeled on site or bought in already peeled? Does the customer care if a butcher cut their steak or the chef? By the time your sous chef leisurely peels onions for half an hour while discussing the football or his latest conquest, those peeled onions have doubled in price.

How often have I been told ‘we grow all our own herbs out the back’. Yeah, and I’m the Tooth Fairy. Even I’m not stupid enough to believe that a three metre by two metre plot can produce anywhere near enough herbs to supply an 80-seat restaurant. Take basil: most restaurants would need a couple of hectares just to keep the supply of basil coming.

It’s fashionable to be green, it’s trendy to spout terms like ‘paddock to plate’. The press expects it, the public loves it. Few live up to it.

If this kind of argument was consistent, restaurants should all have 50 hectares of grape vines and a bottling plant out the back, and a further 100 hectares raising cattle and poultry, and a dam full of fish, but this is patently absurd.

The truth is that commercial cookery at any level is a compromise between art and convenience. The key question is where do you draw the line?

The root problem here is that many chefs would rather send their employer out backward than lose a hat in the Good Food Guide. They know that if they lose their current job they can get another in a couple of days given our tight skilled labour market.

This has led me to advise my clients not to pay flat salaries to key staff who control costs, particularly chefs, who control half of the money going through a restaurant. If you get the same amount of money when that restaurant is doing badly as you get when it does well, where is the incentive to manage within the bounds of commercial reality?

Chefs naturally place their emphasis where their self-interest lies. Being marked down in the Good Food Guide is more career damaging than driving your employer broke. It’s sad but true. If a restaurant gains a hat it is attributed to the chef; if a restaurant goes broke it is attributed to the restaurateur. The foodie press wants ‘artisan food’, which is very expensive to produce, and most of the chefs I deal with want to give it to them, at any cost.

I think it’s better to pay a base salary, plus generous bonuses for keeping the numbers under strict control. That way if the employer does badly, so will the chef – and vice versa. It’s the only way I know to restore the balance between the interests of the employer and the personal interest of the chef.

Mr or Ms Chef, you can do whatever art you want as long as the numbers are OK . . .

Tony Eldred operates Eldred Hospitality Pty Ltd, ‘The Hospitality Management Specialists’. He can be contacted on 03 9813 3311; or via his company’s website: www.eldtrain.com.au.

Hats, heartbreak and the brutal truthCommercial viability verses artistic licence is the eternal battle in every commercial kitchen. This month, Tony Eldred pulls no punches in dishing up the brutal truth about how your business should be run.

●

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…it’s trendy to spout terms like ‘paddock to plate’. The press expects it, the public loves it.

Few live up to it.

Management.indd 8 4/4/11 12:49:48 PM

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FSN_UNILEVER_FP_009.indd 9 4/4/11 12:51:36 PM

inside dining


As Australia’s food culture evolves, consumers are constantly being exposed to exciting new establishments that are free of pretension while remaining focused on great food and wine. This month, Yasmin Newman pulls up a pew with the man behind the latest hot spot, Bar H’s Hamish Ingham,

HGeneration

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inside dining

Marking the entry to the bar-restaurant hangs a giant letter H. H is for Hamish, Hamish Ingham tells me. He’s the chef and co-owner behind this new neighbourhood spot that has more than just locals talking.

Is the brandished H another case of a star-gazing chef? The name is eponymous, but the branding is far from self-aggrandising. Ingham is a chef with all the passion, drive and title worthy of it. He’s been cooking for over two decades and has also stood behind other noteworthy letters for years, including the B and K of Billy Kwong for over nine. But the time comes when you want to make your own mark, and thus far, it looks like Ingham could leave an indelible one.

There’s nothing new about Ingham’s Bar H per se. Its Surry Hills setting, cool vibe and all-day food and wine bar concept tend to lump it in with all the other new venues flooding the suburb, rather than differentiate it. City-wide, restaurants ride the coat-tails of produce-driven food and promise quality affordable eating. But Sydney has been crying out for a place like Bar H for years: a place that doesn’t just claim these things, but delivers.

Ingham recounts visiting Melbourne before opening the venue and taking inspiration from the city’s casual eating options. He names Andrew McConnell’s Cumulus Inc as a particular inspiration. “We just loved that idea of people streaming in all day and all night, coming back two to three times a week,” he says. “I liked that notion of people using the space.”

Today, the idea is in full swing at Bar H with a breakfast ‘til late night run, six days a

week. People can stroll in for a brioche in the morning, grab a take-away coffee in the afternoon or sit down to dinner at night with wine. Four months since opening the bar, locals have embraced the concept too.

The compact space has been given a workout by Rebecca Lines, his business partner and wife, who designed the smart interior to maximise every angle. “We re-did it all,” says Ingham of the old Wall Café site. The couple turned walls into floor-to-ceiling windows to open the place up and focused seating at bars overlooking the open kitchen and the street. “I love the interaction you get with bar seating,” he says. “Not many places have that here.” Few bars have a subterranean dining room either, which Ingham hints they’ll be opening soon as a “cellar restaurant”.

The chef says he’s always wanted to open his own place. After Billy Kwong, he freelanced at other industry stalwarts: Marque, Sean’s Panorama and John and Peter, filling in time until the right space came up. About nine months later, the place materialised, but not where he envisioned at the outset.

The couple began their search in their old ‘hood of Bondi, where a deficit in the mid range got them thinking there was a gap they could fill. “We love eating at Sean’s Panaroma, North Bondi Italian Food and Icebergs – they’re all my style of food. But who can afford to eat there every day?” Ingham mentions the tapas-style venues dotted across the suburb, but trails off, little impressed beyond a drink. “There was really nothing decent in between.” It’s been a chronic problem for Sydney, whose two

extremes are loaded with appealing options. There’s choice in the middle, but the quality of food has rarely hit the mark.

Exorbitant rent rather than trend finally led the couple inland to Surry Hills. Sydney’s current foodie postcode is typically just as expensive, but a friend offered the couple the space at mate’s rates, which they obviously couldn’t refuse. Most restaurateurs would prefer a main-strip setting, but Ingham asserts he prefers the backstreet location of Campbell Street.

“It’s too crowded [on the main strips]. And I’d always hoped that my experience and food would speak for itself.” The comment reveals Ingham as an idealistic craftsman as much as businessman.

Vision is important in the industry. For most, it begins as a dream or seeds of an idea. Ingham’s was planted back in 2004. Winner of the Josephine Pignolet Young Chef award, he was awarded a trip to the US where he staged at seminal American restaurants – Craft and Grammercy Tavern in New York, and Zunis and Chez Panisse in San Francisco. “I just loved their approach,” says Ingham, particularly of his West Coast experience, where the focus is on produce. “It’s very simple food, but it’s more natural.” He recounts planning his future restaurant similarly flowing with fresh food. Six years on, the fruits of this seed have ripened.

The experience also informed Ingham’s then-boss, Kylie Kwong. “That’s when we really started to put in place the organic side at Billy Kwong,” he says.

Ingham describes the organic scene in Australia as pale by comparison with the US, which can make quality produce difficult to

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source. “I’ll use organic if it’s a good product, but I’m not going to do it just for the sake of it,” he says. He’s not in it for the positive association: supporting the good stuff is better in the long run for the industry, too.

For the moment, he’s sticking to suppliers he can trust, organic or otherwise. Steve Feletti of Moonlight Flat Oysters from Batemans Bay is among them. Then there’s the list of suppliers he wants to try, like Tasmanian fisherman Mark Eather, whose line-caught fish Ingham describes as amazing.

He supplied Billy Kwong when Ingham was there. But quality comes at a price.

“I don’t want to start with those guys until I’m really pumping every night,” he says. ”It’s expensive product and now that I have a business I have to take that into consideration.” Ingham’s got vision, but he’s not a renegade. “I’m taking it step by step,” he says of the challenge of balancing creativity and a start-up.

Another hurdle has been staffing the kitchen. Ingham attributes it to the boom in recent restaurant openings as well as the restaurant’s limited profile. “You’ve got a bit of a disadvantage until people start to know who you are and what you do.” Ingham gives it six months before they come knocking at his door, but he’s not the only one struggling to find quality staff. He says well-known restaurateur friends are also stumped. His theory? Gen Lazy. “Young kids don’t want to work hard. They just want to be on the TV straight away!”

Ingham is the first to acknowledge the changing landscape of the industry, which increasingly involves not just culinary chops, but a media profile too. “A chef is not just a chef anymore. It’s a whole different

ball game.” But star power comes with hard work, something Ingham observed first hand with Kylie Kwong. “She strove really hard to do TV, books, the lot.” He credits the famous chef for a host of lessons learned, which he is now implementing, including pulling back in the kitchen to allow time to drive the business forward. “As a restaurateur, it’s really important to see the business as a whole and work on it, rather than get stuck in it 24 hours a day.”

Offering a more regularly changing menu will be part of this forward momentum. He also plans to be at the markets more often, sourcing seasonal ingredients to work with. “Ultimately, I don’t want to rely on just ordering something over the phone at night. I really hate that. I want to see, pick and choose it myself.”

Ingham may be anxious for change, but his current menu will satisfy diners for some time yet, with options like Western Australian

marron with roasted tomato and curry leaf butter or an earl grey-soaked prune tart. He describes his culinary approach as rustic. True, there’s a definite simplicity to it, but he’s underselling his product. There’s much more skill and refinement in his dishes for that adjective alone.

Global influences also clearly infuse his food, particularly Asian. He describes learning the art of Asian balance while at Billy Kwong. “I think a lot of western food is either too salty or sweet,” he says. Ingham has fun walking this flavour tightrope and his signature sashimi dish of Palmers Island mulloway with pickled beetroot, olive oil and soy proves his skill.

In person Ingham is soft-spoken, which masks his grand aspirations. Where his words are few, his food is loud and clear. He tells me of an ‘H empire’ he is building. If it continues in this vein, H will be a noteworthy letter in its own right.

I’ll use organic if it’s a good product, but I’m not going to do it just for

the sake of it.

❞

Left: Earl grey-soaked prune tart.Below: Palmers Island mulloway with pickled beetroot, olive oil and soy.

●


FoFoFoorrr dedededed tatatatatailills s ofofo uupcpcomomining g FrFrFreseseshhh AvAvAvocococadadadososos MMMasasastetetercrcr lalaassss eeveventnts,s, vvisisitit avavococadado.oo.ororrg.g.gg.g auauauauu/f/f/f/fffooooooo dsdsd ervicece

ADD AN avo TO YOUR MENU

Get your customers hooked.

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HCA0160_297X220_4C.indd 1 14/03/11 5:51 PMFSN_HORTICULTURE_FP_013.indd 13 4/4/11 1:45:55 PM

masterclass


“Our food is very approachable, modern European food,” explains Jeremy Bentley, head chef and co-owner of The Devonshire.

Having plied his trade with French technique, the humble chef spent four years at two Michelin-starred The Square in London under Philip Howard, before returning to Australia to team up with award-winning chef Matthew Kemp at Restaurant Balzac in 2008.

Just recently the two have joined the throng of top-notch restaurants in the hustle and bustle of Surry Hills with quaint but heart-warming The Devonshire.

“We just try to use the best ingredients and try to let them shine in every dish,” Bentley says of his food philosophy.

“We don’t try and change our food, we don’t do molecular cooking, we do sous vide and some modern techniques, but really we look at what’s in season, and the best technique to let that produce work in a particular dish.

“I like to present different parts of the animal on a plate so people can experience and understand the versatility of the animal.

It’s nice to get different textures and flavours as well,” he says.

Bentley’s Bangalow pork loin, belly and shoulder, pumpkin, prunes and apple displays three different techniques on three different cuts of the beast.

The pork shoulder undergoes a slow roasting technique – in the oven for 12 hours.

“At the start we crank it up to 250°C so we get the crackle then we turn it down to 110°C, let it sit and let all the fat and juices come out and break that down,” he says.

“We shred that down, and we get some of the jus, bring that down until it’s a real sticky consistency, and then we add confit onions, macerated prunes that we do ourselves here with tea, port, cognac. So you have the pork with the sweetness of the prune and the onions. And it’s all binded by the jus.”

Another cut to feature on the plate is the loin, which is roasted to order.

“You don’t have any fat in the loin so there’s not much to break down there. We take it off the bone then cook that about 130°C, really slowly, we put that on the skin side so the flesh never touches the tray.”

This is then rendered down before service.“Then there’s the belly,” he continues.

“Because you have so much fat in it you really need to salt that for a good five to six hours first. Then we sous vide that for 15 hours at 75 degrees, it’s confit, we put pork fat in the bags, cryovac it and take all the air out of it. We let it

cool and press it in the bags.“Pumpkin goes really well with pork and

in this dish you get a burst of acidity in your mouth with the apple as well. All the meats have that fattiness, so the pumpkin is there to bring in that earthiness, then you have the sharp bite of the apple and the cider we use in the sauce to cut through the fat.”

Bentley says this dish is all about displaying the versatility of pork, but he warns that timing, temperature and attention to detail are imperative in getting the dish to shine.

“Pork shoulder can be so tough – if you don’t get that right and slow roast it long enough you won’t be able to shred it. Pork especially, it’s that sort of animal where there is not much leeway. You don’t want to over-cook your loin either because there is absolutely no fat in the loin. But if you get it right, it’s hard to beat.”

This month Jeremy Bentley delivers his Bangalow pork loin, belly and shoulder, pumpkin, prunes and apple.

This month The Devonshire’s Jeremy Bentley shows the versatility of pork under a number of culinary applications.

– Australian heartFrench technique

Words and photography by Anthony Huckstep.

Masterclass.indd 14 4/4/11 1:47:45 PM


masterclass

IngredientsLoin• 1 Bangalow short loin, pork-bone in

MethodTake loin off bone, score skin. Render skin side down on low heat for 30 minutes. Cook in oven 130°C for 40 minutes.Rest before serving.

Belly• 1 Bangalow pork belly• 1 litre of confit fat

Confit salt mix• 250g rock salt• 2 cinnamon sticks• 6 cloves • 2 head garlic• bay/thyme

MethodRub flesh side of belly with confit salt mix and put in fridge. After 6 hours wash salt off and pat dry with cloth. Cut belly into 3 equal portions and place in sous vide bags with 2 kitchen spoons of confit fat. Cook for 15 hours at 75°C in water bath. Remove from water bath and press until set. Portion. Slowly render in pan skin side down and finish in oven to serve.

Shoulder• 1 Bangalow pork shoulder (bone in)

MethodScore skin and rub with table salt. Place in oven at 250°C until skin crackles. Turn oven down to 120° and cook for 8 hours. Let meat rest, when cool pick meat.

Macerated Prunes• 1kg prunes• 250ml port• 250ml stock syrup• 250ml Armagnac• 2 tea bags• Zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon• 1 vanilla bean

Bangalow pork loin, belly and shoulder, pumpkin, prunes and applesBy Jeremy Bentley, head chef and co-owner, The Devonshire


masterclass


MethodBring all ingredients to boil, take off and cover prunes.

Confit onion• 6 large onions• Brunoise onion and sweat in pure olive oil

on low heat till golden and soft.

Cider Jus• 1kg pork trim• 1L cider• 3L brown chicken stock• mushrooms• shallots• bay• thyme

MethodColour pork, mushroom and shallots, reduce cider. Add brown chicken stock and bay and thyme. Reduce to sauce consistency.

For Croustillant (spring roll)Take shoulder, chopped prunes, confit onion and cider jus, mix together. Mould into shape for croustillant. Take Tunisian brick pastry and brush with egg yolks. Roll croustillant. Deep fry at 180°C in fryer.

Garnish• Pumpkin puree and dice• ½ Jap pumpkin• 2 brown onions• 400ml cream• Sage leaves

MethodCut pumpkin into 2cm cubes. Take trim from pumpkin and finely dice. Sweat onions in oil until golden. Add pumpkin trim and cook till soft. Add cream. Cook for 10 minutes. Puree in liquidiser and pass. Take pumpkin cubes and sauté in pan with canola oil. Once coloured add butter till noisette. Add sage leaves.

Apple jelly• 1 litre apple juice• 12g agar agar• Bring to boil whisking constantly. Set and

cut into dice.

Plate up as per photographs.


FSN_ELDRED_FP_017.indd 17 4/4/11 1:52:05 PM

cafe


Most musicians tend to have an underlying earthy passion about all that resonates with their psyche. For Paul Geshos, owner of Mecca Espresso and Roastworks, the trumpet hit the right notes and saw him on a path to complete a degree in music with ambitions of writing music for a career.

“After I graduated I tried to pursue that road of, not necessarily being a musician, but wanting to write music for a living,” Geshos explains.

But while he was at university something was happening that he wasn’t fully aware of. With the need to earn a crust while studying, he found employment in bars and cafes. It was in the latter where Geshos started to fall into the grind of hospitality, and in love with coffee in the process.

“I ended up working with these guys in Manly (Ground Zero) and there was this little coffee scene opening up there,” he says. “These guys were doing things like grinding per cup, which at the time was unheard of, and even now you will walk into places and the grinder is full of coffee. These guys were making sure everything was perfect and doing latte art. This was 12 to 13 years ago, before the whole coffee boom – these guys were really doing something special.

“I got exposed to that but also got exposure to the roasting side of things and got involved in that too.”

Although his passion was the trumpet, and not one to blow his own, this humble but cunning coffee fiend was eager to search for the right coffee notes on a coffee journey that, from the outside looking in, seems to be a never-ending education.

By 2003 he had well and truly caught the coffee bug. By then he was doing regular trips to the United States, because “there

Some cafe operators are happy standing behind the counter, making coffee and counting their coins every day, but others have such fire in the belly they are literally perpetuating the coffee movement down under. This month Anthony Huckstep gets a caffeine hit from coffee crusader Paul Geshos.

Hittingthe right notes

Paul Geshos

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wasn’t really anything available in regards to education and coffee here”, he says.

“Most coffee roasters are very secretive ; there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors going on.

“Back then roasters’ blend was like this secret recipe, but look how far we have come. We show people the exact composition of what’s in the coffee, and we are very proud of that.”

Geshos is very blasé about copy cats, living by the premise of sticking to your own plan and if other people want to copy what you do, that’s fine, but it’s very difficult for them to do.

“Even if you were to copy a recipe from someone else, and you don’t have the exact produce, environment, the temperature is out by a fraction, it’s just not going to be the same,” he says.

“It’s hard enough for us to get our coffee consistent across our sites, because the environments are so different.”

As Geshos’ fascination grew, the plan was originally to start his own roaster, but as luck would have it, the retail side of things kick-started what would become Mecca Espresso.

“The idea was to set up a roasting facility and cultivating that ourselves. Instead we found a retail site in the city and started using someone else’s roasted coffee and it was about 18 months before we did our own roasting.

“Speaking to a lot of roasters, throughout my travels, there just seemed to be these old vintage throwbacks that people weren’t making anymore.

“We would just buy coffee from local brokers and they’d give you a list of what’s available, but that was not really indicative of quality,” he says.

However, as the coffee bug took over Geshos arranged a deal through some friends in the US and started buying direct from coffee producers. They were able to drill down to farm level and source quality from that perspective.

It changed the manner in which he approached his entire business, he says. Suddenly not only the

quality of bean was important, but Geshos was opened up to a whole world of coffee flavour profiles, even from neighboring microlots that share the same soil and weather conditions.

Since then the business model has been growing exponentially. Geshos has now been in business for eight years and has three Mecca Espresso cafes and his own roaster (Roastworks).

With four dedicated coffee sites, two owned by Geshos (King St, Sydney and Roastworks), and the other two co-owned with Sam Sgambellone (Harris St, Ultimo and Alfred St, Sydney), the Mecca empire has well and truly arrived.

“It’s nice to be able to do something you can get up in the morning and be excited about pursuing – perpetuating the coffee movement,” he says.

But as with everything Geshos approaches, it’s about what you do and learn tomorrow that matters most: yesterday is merely back-up information.

In more recent times global coffee pricing has all been tied to the New York Coffee Exchange. They call it the ‘C price’. The C price today determines how coffee is traded around the world, and as Geshos explains, the impact of this has been quite remarkable.

“It should be about supply and demand and other factors that come into play but right now I think coffee prices are the highest in 25 years thanks to the C prices.

“This is where the whole Fair Trade thing gets interesting. When we buy coffee [at Roastworks] it could be twice the Fair Trade price, but because we are dealing direct with farmers that money is actually being directed – it’s not being filtered through other organisations.

“The other thing with the Fair Trade prices, with the New York C prices determining the global prices, in one year it’s done more in one year for the farmer than 10 years of fair trade.”

Fair Trade essentially creates a buffer. For

Cafe.indd 19 4/4/11 1:59:39 PM

cafe


example, if the New York C price was $1.30, the Fair Trade price might be 15 cents above that on average.

“Now today, the price was quoted at $2.59. It’s gone up almost 100 per cent in a year. No certification has done that work for farmers. Coffee prices had to go up."

Geshos’ passion runs deep, whether it’s for his customers’ needs, his business needs or the concerns of the coffee farmer, but it doesn’t end there.

The focus on his staff through nurturing and sharing of coffee knowledge is integral to the success of each of his sites, but this sharing of knowledge comes from the heart, rather than simply an exercise in bolstering one’s business.

“We spend a lot of time training. Before anyone gets to do anything on a machine we do a lot of sensory training. The foundation of being able to make great coffee is to understand it from many view points. We do cupping and set up small samples of each coffee and do everything blind.

“We also train our staff to understand the coffee from a sensory level. It’s just practise. It’s not a scenario where you have to pass two modules and advance to the next level. It’s a case by case scenario and some people pick it up straight away and others takes longer.”

Then they build that up to training staff with milk, training to do the shots, correlate that with tastings and getting them confident in their own knowledge.

“It’s difficult to maintain that consistency but we provide them with the right tools to hopefully make the right judgements.

“We have a core structure for all the sites, but each of them have their own personality and customer base too.”

The brand new Ultimo Mecca Espresso is

the largest of the group thus far, and opened in January this year. It marks a big change in operation for Geshos and Sgambellone, because the site is large enough to house a big office area, large dine-in cafe space, but more importantly an area dedicated to holding coffee classes to educate keen customers and coffee geeks alike.

“Our roaster [Roastworks] is just up over the hill in Chippendale, and I drive past here (Ultimo) everyday. This used to be a Gloria Jeans and I use to look in here and there were two or three customers in here at best. It’s a fantastic area – you have the university, TAFE, the ABC – and it wasn’t being used properly in my opinion.”

Geshos always had it in the back of his mind that it would be great to do something here because the potential was enormous.

“A few months later it came up for lease, but I didn’t pursue it. One or two months went by and the for lease sign went back up again and I decided to make an inquiry. We got chatting to the owner and he was enthusiastic about having us here.

“We see this site as another classroom or an extension of another faculty. It’s so much bigger than our other sites, and it is large enough to allow us to show people what coffee can be, rather than just espresso.”

It is also why they designed the cafe using school chairs and tables for a bit of a play on the education theme. Here they have the opportunity to tap into the fresh, young and interested minds of those people who may be just getting into coffee, or are eager to know more about it.

Although his heart is in coffee, Geshos realises the importance that food plays in the success of his business as well.

“Our food is very similar across our sites

because the idea revolves around coffee, so the it needs to be flavoursome, consistent food that people want from a cafe."

The menu includes sandwiches such as Smashed Chickpeas, Roast Eggplant, Tomato and Parsley; or the Beef, Onion Relish, Cucumber, Mesclun and Mint; as well as salads including Roast Beef, Cherry Tomatoes, Mesclun, Crispy Eschallots, Herbs, Honey and Lemon Dressing; or the Shredded Chicken, Walnuts, Radish, Iceberg, Parsley and Parmesan with Red Wine Vinegar Dressing.

The menu is designed for simplicity in construction, but is big on flavours to help accommodate the big coffee drive.

Geshos is refreshingly frank about the state of mind one needs to make a success in the foodservice industry.

“You really have to have an open mind and be flexible,” he says, “We came into this seven years ago just focused on espresso. We found we were learning so much and a lot of doors opened up. You taste a coffee and you have a moment where you’ve discovered something really floral or amazing fruit qualities and that new bit of information becomes a new motivation. There’s so much we still have to learn.”

• 646 Harris St, Ultimo Tel: 61 2 9280 4204• 67 King Street, Sydney Tel: 61 2 9299 8828• 1 Alfred Street, Sydney Tel: 61 2 9252 7668• Roastworks 206 Cleveland St, Chippendale

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seafood


Coming up

Unlike terrestrial proteins, seafood is highly volatile, both in availability, price and shelf life. It requires a level of respect, planning and care well beyond that required by other ingredients.

There are few foods as perplexing to cooks as seafood. There are so many unfamiliar varieties (at least when we’re lucky) that we (and to a greater extent our collective customers) tend to stick to old favourites like salmon, flathead and barramundi.

The depth of knowledge and skill required to master the category is immense – often, a technique or dish suited to one species is completely unsuited to the next. Just because one fish is fantastic raw, doesn’t mean that all of them are.

Few of us, including – regrettably – a fair proportion of fishmongers, know how to tell if seafood is really fresh and fewer still understand how to buy, store and use seafood to maximise yield, shelf life and preparation styles.

This collective lack of knowledge opens us up to all sorts of scams. Again regrettably, the seafood industry is renown for short changing customers through dodgy practices.

Traditional scams such as product substitution and short weights have been replaced by a tsunami of greenwash masquerading as sustainability and all of the inconsistencies that debate brings.

Despite all of this, seafood is unique among proteins.

Red meat is red meat – no matter what the breed of cattle or sheep. Modern poultry is the result of several hundred years of domestication and pork – well aside from a very small niche, pork remains an aberration of its former self. But seafood comes in an astounding array of flavours, colours and textures, from delicate, snow white King George whiting fillets and buttery orange ocean trout to deep red tuna.

No other protein offers the range of culinary, cultural and health benefits as seafood, but it is indeed one of the most difficult to work with, in and around.

The business of seafood is a complex matrix of seasons, regions, catching methods, handling, processing, shipping and preparation. This month, we will attempt to untangle the category with some simple background to the major issues of confusion.

Undoubtedly, the issue of sustainability has become more and more confusing, concurrent with the increasing number of agencies and people casting opinions about sustainability in the public domain.

While there is no question that seafood sustainability is an ethic, a market trend, an ideal, a movement – it has unfortunately also become the most misused buzzword in the food chain today.

In its strictest sense, sustainable seafood means farmed or wild seafood harvested without harm to its population or habitat or to any other species in its ecosystem.

As we know, translating this simple sounding concept into purchasing decisions is a tall order and is fraught with the danger of your policy being hypocritical or potentially fraudulent.

Beware of being a victim, or worse, an advocate of “greenwash”.

You simply cannot take on face value the proprietary claims of global agencies such as the Worldwide Fund for Nature or the Australian Marine Conservation Society, or ethicists, for whom a lack of local knowledge, resources or funding render global generalisations inadequate for local discussions.

Be wary of aligning yourself too readily with a group, a supplier or a product, simply on hearsay or fashionability.

If you want to be genuine about the concept of sustainability, then you have an obligation to undertake intensive and sustained investigation into the seafood supply chain that you use. In the process, ask many questions of your supplier about the farmers and fishermen they purchase from.

The business of seafood is different from every other food. It demands an approach by the chef and restaurateur that is more dynamic, more understanding and with greater flexibility than any of the other food groups. John Susman investigates.

for air

Diving for abalone, sea urchin and turban shell clams requires a high level of direct human involvement and is thus generally restricted to high value, specialised seafoods.

Seafood.indd 22 5/4/11 9:53:49 AM


seafood

Undertake to know what you’re getting, where it’s from and how it was raised or harvested.

When creating a sustainable seafood policy, make sure it is in-line with the balance of your operation – does the imported bottle of Italian mineral water carry the same values as the sustainably harvested fish you are serving? Does the 500-day grain-fed Wagyu sirloin really represent the same environmental values you demand of the shellfish you serve?

Sustainability is as complex as it is fast changing – be true to the process and undertake to buy the best culinary quality seafood you can. I find there to be a strong correlation between the producers of the best eating seafood and those with a commitment to best sustainable practice.

With sustainability, be careful about what claims you make and be prepared to be accountable for those claims.

As we have discussed previously, seafood produced in Australia and New Zealand is subject to some of the most stringent management laws in the world – laws exist which effectively prohibit unsustainable fishing and growing practices in commercial fisheries.

While it is a complex topic, a significant aspect in regards to the sustainability of wild caught seafood (arguably the most contentious aspect of seafood supply) is the method used to harvest wild seafood – an understanding of the basics is a must.

Here in Australia, many different fishing techniques are used to harvest the finfish and shellfish that come to market.

Some methods target individual species, while others are less discriminating, designed for higher volume production.

Following is a summary of the main commercial fishing methods used in Australia and New Zealand.

Purse seinePurse seine nets are constructed with mesh of a size smaller than the fish being targeted. A small dinghy anchors one end of the net while it is set around a school of fish. The purse line is then pulled to close the bottom of the net.

Purse seine nets are used to target high-volume schooling species including mackerel, trevally and some tunas, in coastal and oceanic waters.

Purse seines do not have any impact on the sea-floor habitat and by-catch is hardly an issue with this method.

Critically, purse seine fishermen are often catching large volumes of single species and often are unable to manage maximum quality.

Lampara netThe lampara net is similar to a purse seine, but it has tapered panels to give a characteristic scoop shape rather than being flat. The lampara net is set around a school of fish and when both ends are retrieved the boat tows the net forward, closing the bottom and then the top of the net.

This type of net is used to catch pilchards and anchovy in in-shore waters.

The lampara net has a limited impact on the environment with no effect on the seabed and only a limited impact on by-catch, which is generally undersized fish of the target species.

Beach seineThe beach seine net is set parallel to the shoreline, some distance off the beach, usually by a dinghy. One haul line is retained on the beach while the dinghy returns the other and both lines are hauled until the seine net and entrapped fish are dragged onto the shore.

Beach seine nets are used to catch many species, including mullet, Australian salmon, sand whiting, bream, garfish and tailor.

Beach seining is generally species-specific and can allow fishermen to handle their catch quickly, ensuring a high quality is retained.

GillnetPanels of a gillnet are set vertically in the water column to entangle fish. They can be set at the sea surface or in contact with the seabed. The size of the mesh in the net determines the size range of the species caught, as smaller fish can swim through the mesh and fish that are too large tend to bounce off.

Not to be confused with oceanic gillnetting, where up to 20 miles of net are left drifting on the high seas, the use of inter-tidal and sub-tidal gillnetting is an effective means for fishermen to target specific species.

The Marine Stewardship Council-certified Coorong mullet and mulloway are caught in this manner, as is the majority of wild barramundi and mangrove jack in the tropics.

Pots and trapsTraps are usually baited and set on the seabed with a line to a surface float. A wide range of trap designs are used to take crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs, and some species of fish.

Pots and traps are set in a range of depths from a few metres to deeper than 200m. Very little by-catch results from this form of fishing and as it is kept live can be discarded without harm.

Bottom otter trawlThe bottom otter trawl consists of a cone-shaped net, held open across the seabed by large hydrodynamic plates called ‘otter boards’. The otter boards are usually attached to the net by lines called sweeps, which are often quite long relative to the net width, and these sweeps aid in herding fish towards the net mouth.

As the net is pulled along, fish accumulate in the rear section, or cod end, of the net. Depending on the vessel, the skipper and gear, bottom otter trawling can occur to a depth in excess of 1500m, but generally in depths less than 1000m.

Opponents of otter trawl fishing claim that this method is neither selective nor good for the catch. However, it is still the principal method for harvesting a number of popular species, such as flathead, redfish, ling, John Dory and mirror dory.

Mid-water trawlThe mid-water trawl is usually much larger than a bottom trawl and designed to fish off the seabed, in the mid-water zone.

Mid-water trawl gear is used to target species such as blue grenadier off western Tasmania and Victoria, and is used extensively in New Zealand for harvesting a number of popular species including blue eye, snapper and dory.

Prawn trawlPrawn trawl nets are similar to bottom otter trawls but do not use sweeps. Chains are hung below the foot-rope to disturb the prawns, causing them to ‘jump’ into the path of the oncoming net.

A single vessel commonly tows arrays of two, three or even four such nets. Prawn trawling of this type is generally limited to waters shallower than about 80m.

Danish seineDanish seine nets are a cross between a trawl net and a seine net, in terms of shape. The line and net is laid out in a pear shape and then hauled back to the stationary or slowly steaming vessel in a similar fashion to a bottom trawl.

Danish seine gear is used on the continental shelf to target deepwater flathead, redfish and morwong.

Scallop dredgeScallop dredges are mainly box-shaped mud dredges, dragged along the seabed, digging into the substrate to collect animals on and within it. Scallop dredges are used in relatively shallow continental shelf waters, to a depth of 100m.

While the outcome of this fishery is

Seafood.indd 23 5/4/11 9:55:02 AM

seafood


delicious, scallop dredging is not highly regarded for its environmental suitability.

Pole and lineSurface-swimming schools of tuna are attracted to the fishing vessel using live or dead bait. The tuna, in a frenzy of feeding, take a barbless hook and lure and are hauled aboard using a pole and short, fixed line. This form of fishing is used for some tuna.

Pelagic longlinePelagic longlines comprise a mainline suspended horizontally by floats. Branch lines, each with a single baited hook, are attached to the main line at regular intervals. The line is allowed to ‘soak’ for several hours before retrieval. Pelagic longlines are used to catch tuna, swordfish, mahi mahi and other billfish in oceanic waters and usually hooks are set shallower than 300m. Development of this fishing method and the associated management ensure minimal by-catch and strict quotas are maintained.

DroplineA dropline is a single main line, with numerous baited hooks (usually no more than 100) attached to the bottom portion of the line. The main line is set vertically in the water, between a large surface float and a bottom weight.

Droplines are regularly set to depths greater than 500m and catch popular species such as snapper, blue-eye trevalla and hapuku.

Dropline fishing is target species-specific and generally results in fish of premium quality – often including ike-jime brain spiking and bleeding of live fish.

Bottom longlineA bottom longline consists of a mainline, with attached branch lines and hooks, which are set across the seabed. Variations can have floats incorporated to lift the baits away from the bottom. Bottom longlines are used to catch blue eye, ling and school shark among other species. Bottom longline is also target species-specific and has little impact on the environment in which it is set.

Squid jigSquid jigging occurs at night, with bright lights attracting squid to the vessel’s side. Lines with several barbless lures are ‘jigged’ up and down and squid caught on the lures are hauled onto the vessel. Most squid vessels in Australia use automated, mechanical jigging machines.

As we have discussed previously, squid are fast growing and prolific breeders – they are an excellent sustainable option and this fishing method is also species-specific.

Hand lineQuite simply, this method of fishing is as described – a single line, often with multiple hooks, operated by a fisherman who will

return the line either manually or with a semi-mechanical retrieval device.

Typically, this method is species-specific and this form of harvesting allows the fisherman to maximise the fish quality, but it does not allow for large volumes of catch.

Snapper, King George whiting, garfish and southern calamari are mostly caught using the hand line method. It is rare that this method is used in open ocean and deepwater commercial fisheries.

However, it is possibly one of the most over-used claims in fishing methods, so be careful of accepting that this method was used in the harvesting, especially of deep sea species such as John Dory.

DivingPredominantly used for the harvesting of abalone, sea urchin and turban shell clams, diving requires a high level of direct human involvement and is thus generally restricted to high value, specialised seafoods.

As the value of other species such as scallops become more recognised, diving will become more used in other fisheries.

As you can see from the above fishing methods, the wide range of formats and gear currently used in the Australian fishing industry comprises both discriminatory and some less discriminatory methods. It is fair to say, however, that contemporary fisheries management is trending in favour of targeted fishing.

Inevitably, a fishing method that allows the fisherman to target a specific species results in a higher quality catch.

While single species harvesting is generally better for the fish and the environment, remember that domestically produced, sustainable seafood comes at a price.

Fishing is a wet, cold and a life-risking job. Fishermen are away from home often weeks on end and with a limited social standing, the commercial fisherman is one of the more underrated members of the contemporary food chain.

Comparing the cost of running a restaurant in Sydney to that of running a restaurant in Bangkok is a futile exercise, and so too is comparing the cost of producing seafood in Asia to producing seafood in Australia. There is not only the massive difference in labour cost, but also the compliance costs fishermen face here to ensure that what they catch is safe, sustainable and good eating.

The business of seafood is complex at every level, but demand continues to surge. What’s the simplest solution?

Let’s celebrate the quality, versatility and value of Australian seafood, and enjoy it for what it is. You know it makes sense. ●

Seafood.indd 24 5/4/11 9:57:17 AM

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FSN_PACIFIC WEST_FP_025.indd 25 4/4/11 2:08:56 PM

business essentials


Choose your location very carefullyToo many restaurant operators succumb to the temptations of cheap rent in sites that are destined to fail. The common reason why they fail is because they are in a somewhat remote location.

Tony Eldred says: “Often they’re in a location that is not easily seen. They lose out on the natural marketing that comes from passing traffic and passing pedestrian trade because they may be in

an alley or down in a basement, or they are up on the first floor.”Another common problem is if they are in an area like the

financial district of a big city where the offices all empty out at 5:30pm and there is no dinner trade – only breakfast and lunch – which typically has lower average customer spend.

“The big killer interestingly is the lack of parking, particularly when you get out of the CBD,” Eldred says.

“People really won’t walk more than a very short distance from car to restaurant, and we’ve got precincts all over Australia where you can find yourself driving round and round in circles for an hour trying to find a parking spot. That tends to really put people off. The other issue is if there is parking around but it is very expensive and can end up adding up to 50 per cent on a restaurant meal because of the high prices in a city car park.”

This means consumers would perceive the experience of going to a particular restaurant as much more expensive than it should be because of the added cost.

“The restaurant also has to be a viable size,” Eldred says. “It’s getting up to about a 100-120 seater as being a viable establishment, unless of course the tables can be turned on numerous occasions in every night - but those restaurants are few and far between.”

Wondering why there’s tumbleweed rolling through your doors on a weekday, or why staff move on and work for your competitor? This month Anthony Huckstep and Tony Eldred deliver the top 10 business essentials to help make your business a success.

The messy business of food

1

Business Essentials.indd 26 4/4/11 2:28:02 PM


business essentials

Do not overcapitalise the physical side of your business

There’s a tendency to try to compete with the big subsidised restaurants when it comes to restaurant

fit-outs. For example, restaurants in Crown Casino or Star City where they are prepared to and can afford to spend an

eye-watering amount of money on the decor because there is an ulterior motive – to attract people to the

casino precinct.“When you get a number of restaurants in a capital city

that have spent $6-7 million on their decor, it then becomes an expectation that restaurants will become

grandiose,” Eldred says. “The fact is you have to sell an eye-watering amount of meals and beverage to pay that

kind of expenditure up-front.“I often see restaurants where if you do the sums they are not going to pay back their establishment costs for seven or eight years. My attitude is what’s the point in

opening the restaurant?”Most consumers would choose a venue with

cracking food and value for money over grandiose decor. Interestingly some of our more successful

restaurants haven’t spent a lot on decor, like Cumulus Inc in Melbourne and Bodega in Sydney.

“You don’t have to spend a lot of money on decor for it to be a great restaurant.”

2Often operators spend an inordinate amount on the physical side of the business and then end up with Faulty Towers internally because they don’t invest properly in the human side of the business.

“There is a reason for this happening,” Eldred says. “Often accountants will advise you to spend on the physical side because it shows on the balance sheet of the business as an asset, whereas if you spend money on your staff it is seen as a cost. Accounting practice can work against the good operation of businesses in some instances because they can’t take into account something which is intangible on paper.”

The view here is a perception of ‘Where do you get the return when you spend money on your staff?’ A smart operator knows they will get a return, but how do you quantify it so the accountant will be satisfied?

The first thing to do is invest the money to find good staff.“We often get desperate restaurateurs ring us wanting a

restaurant manager or a head chef,” he says. “They’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because they’ve had people in those positions that don’t know what they are doing. We say sure we will find you a good one but it might cost you $10k to find them. They say no that’s too much and then they go off and recruit an idiot again who squanders hundreds of thousands of dollars. In a typical commercial kitchen it is the head chef that controls the largest amount of money, when you add the food costs and their wages together, and yet a lot of business owners put a good cook into the kitchen who has no concept of managing the money going through the kitchen.

“Chefs these days have to manage people, food and stock, which is why a lot of operators are having problems in the industry because the chef training levels haven’t caught up with the economic need.”

Restaurant managers are different to what they used to be as well. They are no longer a glorified waiter; they have to manage a sales team rather than a service team.

“They have to manage wages and beverage percentages tightly while maximising average customer spend,” Eldred says.

“Fifteen years ago it was ‘send customers away happy’ as a goal of the front of house manager. Now it’s ‘send customers away happy with maximum average customer spend’. That second one has increased the complexity of the job significantly. If they are not used to recruiting good staff then they need to use outside assistance, which is at first glance expensive, but in the scheme of things is quite cheap.”

The premise here is if you recruit a dud head chef you’ll lose a lot of money. So paying somebody – and there are professionals in each of our major cities that have the skills – to

find the right staff for you may not be as expensive as you may think,

comparatively.

Invest generously in the human side of your business3


business essentials


Almost 90 per cent of restaurants close their doors before two years of trade is up. The importance of a business plan should not be underestimated. Most operators run their business day to day, week to week, without any real vision of where they want to get to in the future. As a result they remain small businesses until either the owner gets sick of it or the business collapses.

“Running a restaurant is terribly hard work,” Eldred says. “My point is why bother doing it unless you are going to dig yourself out of the business and still have a viable successful business. That means the business has to grow, and you have to step from being a small business to a medium-sized business and into a large one. Otherwise you are giving yourself a life sentence of horrific working hours on all nights and all weekends and it results in fractured marriages and the rest of it that affects your whole life.”

When you start a restaurant the first aim is to make it successful and profitable. The second aim is to get other people to run it for you so you can step out and develop the business further.

“If you don’t get it to the point where you can step away from it you have bought yourself a prison,” Eldred says.

“How do I hand down what I’m doing to subordinate staff so I can free myself to develop the business, or develop a bigger business or a new business?”

In 90 per cent of cases the small-minded operator that doesn’t really get it is the problem, interfering with the success of a business.

“They think it’s all about setting up camp behind the cash register and making coffees, rather than actually devoting themselves to working on the business rather than in it.”

“You need to train your staff to be able to run the restaurant successful without you there, and you have to be systematic to be able to hand your business over like that. You have to set up a system of reporting so you know what’s going on in the business without physically being there.”

This includes a recruiting system, a training system, a stock control system, and monthly profit and loss statements.

“Everything needs to be on a time line and ticked off one after the other. That’s what we call working on the business rather than working in it.”

It’s important to get the right chef, culinarily speaking, but also to get them the right training to manage wage and food costs.“Chefs aren’t trained to do this under normal

circumstances. Management of wage and food costs is reasonably complex and it’s something that you could learn by trial and error but you would lose thousands of dollars over 20 years to do it.

“It’s one of those things where reading and being educated in this area will save you a fortune in the long run.”

While looking at avenues like having some product prepared off-site, and understanding how to use every bit of produce to the nth degree, the most important thing is to have a ticker-box system in place from the back door to the plate.

At its simplest level you are running a food manufacturing factory in a commercial kitchen and you have lots of different stock items that are all expensive and deteriorating and decomposing at a different rate.

“The problem with managing it as it goes through is you need to be very well organised and have a great system. And importantly you need a very timely alert when things are wrong.

“The main issue is not doing stock take and stock reconciliation. A full food stock take should happen once a month and reconciling that against what they sold.”

In other words, most restaurants don’t do stock counting: they work out their stock not by counting it but by what they have purchased.

“Those systems don’t allow you to track where you have got problems. You could have someone walking out with 20kgs of fillet steak every week and you would never know where that problem was. The only way to narrow it down to what items you are having problems with is to narrow it down to stock reconciliation on a monthly basis.”

Ideally the industry norm is for food costs to range from 25 to 35 per cent, but it is a case by case scenario.

“I start to get nervous at anything above 33 per cent,” Eldred says. “To give you an example, none of the hatted restaurants I have dealt with are coming in anywhere near 33 per cent; they are all sitting on 40-41 per cent and they wonder why they aren’t making any money.”

Culinary art and retaining a chef’s hat is seen as more important than making

money, but employing someone to send you broke has never

made much sense.

Strictly manage wage and food costs

Have a two-year business plan


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business essentials


Measure the sales results of each front-

of-house staff memberWaitstaff need to be very carefully trained now in

order to be able to sell without appearing to be pushy. The good operators pay their good waitstaff a lot of

money and for good reason.“If you have a waiter that consistently brings in a much higher

average spend than their peers, you are very foolish to pay them equal wages to their peers because they will just go to the next hot restaurant and chase the tips, whereas you should pay them according to their efficiency at bringing revenue in.”

For example, a gun waiter might be able to earn $30 to $35 an hour because the customer average spend is high enough. If you are paying your good staff according to their sales results it makes it very hard for the business down the road to poach them.

“That pre-supposes that they have the measurement systems in place through POS, which is quite sophisticated management.

“This means you need to know who your good waiters and sommeliers are, not by watching them because often it’s a slow-moving one that is selling the most, but by measuring it objectively rather than subjective judgements on your front-of-house staff.”

Essentially you have a food factory with a sales team attached. The food factory has to produce efficiently and the sales team has to sell it effectively.

“Setting up your point of sales so you can measure sales of each staff member is more complex but much more effective.

“Also, flat salary systems just don’t work for key staff such as head chefs and restaurant managers. Their fortunes should wax and wane with the business’s. Whereas if they get paid the same each month whether the business goes broke or not they don’t have any real incentive to save or make the business money.”

Recruit skilled, effective key staffAs mentioned before, some operators keep recruiting chefs on their culinary skills alone. They also recruit restaurant managers on their waiting skills, without recognising that is not the job that they really have to concentrate on.

“The culinary skills can be present in a mixture of people throughout the kitchen but the person at the top of the pyramid needs to be able to manage it all properly,” Eldred says. “It is no longer just food prep, it’s managing stock and people and with front of house they have to manage sales.

“Often waiters that move to restaurant managers are no good at maintaining the discipline from their staff. If you’ve been a waiter for 10 years, you’ve learnt to say whatever you can to make people happy, then you are suddenly in a leadership position where you have to front people and tell them what’s desperately going to make them unhappy. A lot of them can’t do it.

“Finding a restaurant manager is a much harder problem then finding good head chefs. Often waiters are running away from waiting, rather than running towards management. A good manager should be superbly organised, very assertive and thinks ahead.” 6

Measure customer perception objectively and react to feedbackOften the owner’s perception of their business is vastly different to their customers’ perception. That’s because a small percentage of customers “piss in the pocket” of the owner because they want the recognition, but meanwhile you probably have a steady stream of people walking out without being thrilled enough to lock into repeat trade with you.

“Most restaurants spend money on marketing and that money is grossly misdirected and a total waste if there are internal issues in the business and it is not running smoothly enough to lock those customers in to repeat trade,” Eldred says.

In other words, you buy a customer using marketing money, they come in and try you once but never come back again. They walk in the door owing you money because you’ve spent money to get them there, so you don’t make any money on the first transaction and unless you give them a reason to want to come back, the whole exercise becomes a charity for the dining public, rather than building the business.

“There’s a two-step process in restaurant marketing. Firstly you need to internally measure customers’ perception and correct anything that is getting up people’s noses, and then going out and shouting the word.”

Running a restaurant is not so much about managing reality but managing perception. It’s theatre if you like, and you need to understand how people view your pricing, your food quality, service standards, the cleanliness of your toilets. Sending in mystery diners on a regular basis (once a week or fortnight) is a great way to measure this.


www.moffat.com.au

FSN_MOFFAT_FP_031.indd 31 4/4/11 2:26:49 PM

business essentials


2011 entries are now openwhy don’t you join us at the table?www.appetiteforexcellence.comelectrolux appetite for excellence supports and develops Australia’s young chefs, young waiters and young restaurateurs

judged by some of Australia’s culinary leaders, participants experience unique opportunities, travel & develop career networks

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entries close 01 may 2011

Apply modern methods of marketing and merchandisingGeneric marketing doesn’t work for restaurants. There’s no point

putting an ad in the local paper saying “Fred Smith’s restaurant is open seven days a week”. All that will

do is get people in on a Friday and Saturday when you are already full.

“Marketing for a restaurant has to work backwards from your unprofitable days. Let’s say

Wednesdays are unprofitable because it’s quiet. You target Wednesdays and when trade is up to potential

you move back to Tuesdays and target that day.“Try creating an event at the time when there isn’t naturally a lot of

customers. You could contact local businesses to have meetings there, or target a doctors’ lunch with all the medicos in the area for a weekly or monthly contact-building lunch. Get creative.”

In other words, identify the times when you’re trading below break-even and they become your primary marketing targets.

“I would recommend you have variable pricing according to the popularity of your restaurant at different trading times. It’s like the yield management in an airline where if you want to fly to Sydney at 5am it’ll cost you $79 but if you want to fly at 9am at peak time it’s $650.

“If you have queues on Saturday night, make it more expensive to cull the queue a bit. If you haven’t got enough customers on a Tuesday night give them an incentive to come on Tuesday.”

Merchandising doesn’t sell well internally in most restaurants. Many operators don’t understand that the eyes buy more than the ears do. Anything written is an oral learning process through the ears. When reading a menu you are actually talking to yourself.

“Many operators don’t use visual marketing means. It was quite common some years ago to wheel dessert trolleys through and that sort of thing, but we’ve lost those visual selling techniques now.

“If I was running a fine dining restaurant now I would have a photo of all of the dishes, not like a McDonald’s menu, but a nice textured menu and a dish to each page with a really nice layout to show people what the dishes look like.

“If I was writing a wine list I would have facsimiles of the wine labels rather than just the description of the wine. If you watch people in a bottle shop they walk around until they see a label that they recognise.”

Unfortunately, however, the attitude of most restaurateurs is that they would rather go broke than experiment with visual merchandise. The perception is that you’re trying to turn it into a fast food outlet.

“If you went to a graphic designer and said I own a two-hat restaurant and I want to produce a menu that is both pictorial and descriptive and I want a dish to a page can you come out with a really tasteful layout and design for me. No one in fine dining has attempted this but operators in the mid-level market have experienced sudden sales leaps when it has been introduced.”

The sales leaps in fast food are always to do with visual merchandising. In that environment, there are no photos of the products they make little margin on. It’s about the meal deals, because they make their margin by combining products in a package.

“Number one is getting the customer in, then it is about effectively vacuuming purses and wallets, but doing it in a way that sends them away with a perception of really good value.”

Perception of value is not determined by how much you pay – it’s determined by how much you pay and what you get in return for it. And that can be either product or human.

Keep up with modern technologyThere are systems which, if used properly, will enable you to keep records on all of your customers, what they like, dislike and allow you to customise an experience and thrill somebody. There are a number of software packages that can manage customer service and food costs, and making use of them is mandatory these days if you want your restaurant to be tightly run.

“Equipment saves a lot of money,” Eldred says. “Like for instance a cutlery polishing machine. The average

restaurant spends 20 hours a week on some university graduate wiping cutlery, which is a stupid use of resources.

“Most restaurateurs I know don’t get out and go to the trade shows to find these new technologies that can in fact

save them time, labour and money. They become insular within their own four walls and don’t get out and about to see what other businesses are doing. The larger kitchens that are well managed will make use of a lot of modern equipment, things that dice and slice and make life easier.

Technology on the marketing side of things is important now more than ever with email, SMS and social media like Twitter and Facebook having a huge impact on one’s business. “A lot of operators like to run their businesses in a traditional manner and they won’t look outside the square, they don’t keep up with the times.”

With social media you can build whole communities online and speak to thousands of potential customers instantaneously.

“The chef might get a load of Piedmont white truffles and instantly tell his customers via Twitter ‘if you’ve never tried these, they’ll be fresh for a week and why don’t you come on in and try them’. There’s an instant communication that you’ve never had before.”


Contact Gawen at [email protected] now for details

Gawen Rudder writes for foodService and consults on products and trends, speaks at food conferences and gatherings ... but most of all,

he loves to paint and draw images of fine food.

Imagine ... your carefully created dishes and selected ingredients painted to order with love, framed and hung on your walls.

Commissions taken for menu and cookbook illustrations.

FSN_GAWEN RUDDER_FP_033.indd 33 4/4/11 2:32:41 PM

the grill


The foragerFor our first installment of ‘The Grill’, Baroque’s Peter Robertson opens up about foraging for wild produce, vacuum evaporators and lighting fires at The Fat Duck.

How would you describe your food?The food I serve at Baroque is based on classical French techniques with a modern edge. The food is ‘pretty’ without being pretentious and the menu is designed to remain affordable as a French bistro should always be. A huge focus for me is on using fresh, local produce, hence why our menus evolve seasonally to reflect the best of what is available.

What is your favourite protein?I think pork has to be the go to protein – there is so much you can do with it, from charcuterie to roasted whole cuts. I think each part of the animal lends itself to different cooking techniques, but I think the confit of pork neck is a good one, low temperature so you are doing the confit in its own fat as it renders down – delicious.

Who or what inspires you and your approach to food?I seem to draw inspiration from various sources – the cookbooks I collect, my experiences with the passionate people in previous employment, my travels, and of course my wife. If I had to pin-point one person, it would be Michel Bras from Laguiole for his adoration of nature and the way he brings it to your plate.

What is your favourite vegetable?Anything wild. After the rains, we have an abundance of wild garlic, sorrel and parsley flowers which I pick up from my garden and use in some of the dishes at Baroque. I don’t mind a bit of foraging...

You worked at The Fat Duck and Tom Aikens. Tell us what you learnt.Both of these experiences undoubtedly instilled in me an appreciation that nothing less than perfect is acceptable!

A salad of winter and preserved fruits, bay bavarois, verbenaBy Peter Robertson, head chef, Baroque

For the bavarois• 330g milk• 20g fresh bay leaf• 3 gelatine sheets• 110g egg white• 50g castor sugar• 35ml water• 230g whipping cream

(whipped to soft peaks)

The grill.indd 34 4/4/11 2:34:03 PM


the grillWhat is the biggest issue in the industry? I think its is sustainability, in all areas but specifically in seafood. I was fortunate enough to work at C restaurant in Vancouver and through that I became actively involved with the Oceanwise program, which promoted sustainable seafood through well-managed fisheries and sustainable fishing techniques. Upon my return I have found it very difficult to find consistent information on our local/national fisheries due to a lack research on fish populations.

How would you go about solving it?There is a program being started up by the Australian Conservation Foundation that has started to gather information on a few species as a pilot program. Although it is still in infancy I am confident this program will grow to be a very useful resource, and after seeing the impact Oceanwise has had in a few years, Baroque will support it.

What’s your favourite new technology?We have the equipment needed for what is considered contemporary cuisine at Baroque but I think that this technology is not exactly new – cooking under vacuum (sous vide) has been around since the ‘80s in restaurants. My prediction is we will start to see freeze driers in restaurants along with vacuum evaporators; again not new technology, just new in restaurant applications. My favorite piece of technology in the kitchen is a gram scale – we cook everything with it.

What is your favourite cooking technique?Cold poaching is my favourite. We do a dish with stone fruit, yoghurt and elderflower, then freeze a raspberry meringue in nitrogen. I know it will soon become one of those fads that people roll their eyes at, but I still think its fun!

How do you go about creating new dishes?Definitely seasonal, then it’s a matter of texture, acidity and balance. A good friend created a dessert of blueberries and pine, it was amazing. I asked him how he came up with the combination; he told me that when he went picking wild blueberries in the forest there was always the aroma of pine so he just wanted to recreate the experience on the plate. Every great dish has a story like this.

Have you had any disasters in the kitchen you can tell us about?I think the most memorable was during my stage at The Fat Duck. I was in the pastry kitchen plating the fourth dessert course which meant blow-torching a violet tartlet. The torch was difficult to light and by the time it lit the flame was much too large to work with so I put it out and moved it away from the bench top and pointed it towards the floor, re-lit the torch to finish the tart then moved the torch back towards the floor as the flame died down. It is really hard to say if it was accumulated gas that pooled under the fridge or some flour and dust that ignited down there but there was certainly a large amount of flames from under the fridge. After the fire extinguishers were put back and desserts made it to the customers, slightly delayed (delays NEVER happen at The Fat Duck), Jocky the head pastry chef could see that I was harder on myself than anyone else could be and he said to me, “don’t worry about it; it happens”.

What are your top food books?In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan and Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky.

What is the best dish you’ve ever eaten?Spit roasted lamb, flat bread, tsaziki, fried potatoes – it was at a barbecue with a group

of friends. I don’t think any restaurant can compete – food should be a convivial experience, the best are in comfortable familiar settings with friends and family.

What are your top five restaurants in the world from your dining experience? Michel Bras, Lagioulle – it is classical, regimented French cooking and presentation with a focus on local, using wild herbs and flowers from around the hills. Alinea in Chicago, Per Se in New York, Kikunoi in Kyoto, Mugaritz in San Sebastian,

What is your least favourite food trend?Plating consistency, the concept that every plate should look the same – I don’t agree! I think it should have the same elements, but there is natural variation in produce and I think that should show through. If I see another plate with the protein dead centre and the garnish arranged around it like a clock, I’ll shit a chicken!

MethodIn a blender, blend the milk and bay leaf for 20 seconds, pass through a fine chinois. Bloom gelatine, add to the warmed bay milk, chill on ice stirring consistently. While the mixture chills make Italian meringue. Once the milk has set to the consistency of the cream (soft peak) fold all three elements together, set into a deep container and chill.

For the fruits• 1 purple carrot• 10g freeze dried raspberry • 10g freeze dried plums• 1 bunch rhubarb• 1 Cox’s orange pippin apple• 40g verbena• 1 orange

MethodShave the carrot and store in a light sugar syrup. Peel the rhubarb, cover with enough sugar syrup to submerge it, strain, bring the syrup to a simmer and pour over the rhubarb. Once cool, cut the rhubarb into batons. Cut the apple into eight large sheets, store in a lemon syrup. Pick the verbena and segment the orange.

For the blueberry meringue• 150g sugar• 50g water• 250g blueberry juice• 35g egg white powder• 25g freeze dried blueberry powder

MethodIn a large mixer, whip the blueberry juice and egg white powder to soft peaks. In a separate pan take the sugar and water to 116°C, slowly pour over the meringue while beating, continue to whisk slowly as the mixture cools. Once cool fold in blueberry, chill the meringue.

To finishDress the plate with the meringue and arrange all the elements on top of the meringue, spoon out the bavarois into bite-sized chunks and finish with fresh verbena leaf.

●

The grill.indd 35 4/4/11 2:34:29 PM

quaff


Update on the market

All the bad weather we have seen in the eastern states both before and after the Christmas period has added to the woes of many grape growers. Do they pick their grapes at a loss or do they leave them on the vine to rot and drop?

In many wine-growing regions the cost of production has far outweighed the prices offered for their grapes. The wet and damp conditions are further adding to the misery due to a fungus called downy mildew, which is brought about by warm, wet conditions and has to be fought off with fungicides, yet another cost. The cost of spraying must be passed on to the wine companies and in turn, you the enterprise. I know of many growers who have been offered $150 per tonne for some grape varieties and yet the cost of production is twice that or more. You have to ask yourself what you would do in their position if faced with the same dilemma.

There are many growers who are just packing up and walking away, selling everything at knockdown prices including vineyard equipment – not to mention their homes – and leaving the grapes to rot. This in turn creates another problem of diseased grapes rotting on the vine. With no one tending to them, the winds can spread pollens and disease to neighbouring vineyards.

The total tonnage from the last vintage in 2010 was 1.9m tonnes, and this year it is expected to come in at 1.7m tonnes, but who knows what the final tonnage will be until the vintage is underway and the crop is finally brought in. In New Zealand this year they’re expecting a bumper crop, not something they want and not something which is going to help their market either domestically or internationally. New Zealand is in the same boat as us: too much of a good crop and no market willing to buy it.

They’re still sending large shipments of their Sauvignon Blancs to Australia and have now branched out to making Sparkling Savvies, which is something that is not done here in Australia by our winemakers. I read recently that some wineries are offering (for special Kiwi events only) ‘Savvie Slushies’. What next? The Americans (Californians) on the other hand have recently completed their 2010 vintage, which was up on 2009 and came in at 3.58m tonnes – not something anyone wants to hear, least of all the Americans. By the time this magazine hits the streets our vintage will be coming to a close and we’ll know if our forecasts are right or wrong.

On the domestic front, things are bobbing along with sales increasing markedly with a lot of entry point wines and clean skins giving the market some bounce. There appears to be plenty of competition domestically between the independent chains, supermarkets and on-line retailers. It is common knowledge that the big retail supermarkets are squeezing many wineries not to sell to their competitors, especially those competitors who sell on-line. Recently, Woolworths bought Sydney-based mail order wine business Cellarmasters, which in my view does not augur well for either the wineries or the consumer.

Those wineries that can’t get shelf space on retailer shelves had another avenue through direct mail order.

However, if Woolworths gets the nod from the ACCC, then Woolies could pull the pin on those wineries it doesn’t want to deal with and the winery has no shelf space or mail order outlet and could go out of business. I have read in the newspapers that the ACCC is keeping a close watch on this practice. After all, several Australian wineries went down this path with many of the large UK supermarket chains like ASDA, Tesco, Morrison’s and Marks & Spencer to their cost. Just like their grapes, they were squeezed in margins until there was nothing left to squeeze. The UK chains then decided they would look to other countries with a low cost base such as Chile, Argentina and South Africa.

Internationally, Australian wine export approval for the year to December 2010 saw a slight increase by two per cent to reach 781m litres, valued at $2.1 billion. This was largely driven by growth in bulk wine exports which was offset in a small decline in bottled exports. It is no secret that many large wine companies and smaller family-owned companies ship their branded wine in bulk (mainly to the UK but not exclusively so) for packaging offshore. The share in bulk exported wine has increased from 39 per cent to 46 per cent, an increase of seven per cent, while the share of bottled wine exports fell to 53 per cent. There was some growth in red wine exports which was offset by smaller declines in white and sparkling wine exports. As a result, the share of the red wine in the export mix increased by two per cent to 60 per cent, while the white wine share fell by one to 37 per cent and the sparkling wine share fell marginally to two per cent.

Australia’s top five export markets by volume did not change from 2009. They were, in order, the UK (up four per cent to 272m lt), the US (down 15 per cent to 206m lt), Canada (up 195 per cent to 56m lt), China (up 36 per cent to 55m lt) and Germany (up 22 per cent to 36m lt).

The recent bad weather experienced around Australia and the trend in both domestic and international sales will have an impact on the domestic market. While there will be plenty of entry point wines and clean skins to be had throughout 2011, expect to see a proliferation of “home brands” both on the shelf and via mail order by the big retailers.

The market is expected to correct itself in 2012/13 when the grape glut should be at an end and other wine export countries, as well as Australia, grub up vines to help with declining sales. Hopefully, the GFC will be a thing of the past for our major markets such as the UK, US, Canada and Germany. Take advantage of any wine offers available to you if and when they arise. Plan ahead and stock up on many of your favourite styles excepting Savvies, Rosés, unwooded Chardonnays or Pinot Grigio as these styles do not keep, but nearly everything else will. Drink up to another year. Source: Wine Australia Export Approval Report Dec 2010

Australia’s weather could be described as ‘feast or famine’ of late with no in between in most parts of the country. Jim McMahon takes a look at the current market.

Jim is available to help compile your next wine list – wine2000@optusnet. com.au.

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Two big brandsjoin forces.

Foodservice

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legal


Something fishy about wages

A recent report in the Sun-Herald got me thinking again about the hazards of running a business when making cash payments “off the book”, and in that way obtaining some commercial benefit or perhaps even facilitating a benefit for others, though acting illegally.

The report involved a sushi restaurant chain which admitted to the newspaper that it had paid some foreign staff as little as $9.00 per hour (in cash, as alleged by some employees), which is effectively around half the minimum $19.01 to $20.26 wage under the Restaurant Industry Award 2010.

After being contacted by the newspaper about the claims, a director of the chain acknowledged that they had “mistakenly” been paying an incorrect rate due to a “misunderstanding” with some of the managers, but that the payment structure had been “revised”. He confirmed that all affected would receive compensation.

The situation is very much a Catch-22. Foreign employees on a working (or student) visa often encounter difficulties obtaining employment as international students. They are then “forced” to accept lower paid jobs with low wages paid in cash.

This seems to be borne out by statements from UNITE, the union that represents fast food and retail workers in Victoria, which visited Melbourne’s famous Brunswick Street cafes in a name-and-shame campaign after having received complaints against business owners over the past six months. It was alleged that one business owner was paying as little as $7 an hour!

According to research published by Monash and Melbourne universities in 2008, 60 per cent of international students were working below the minimum wage.

So, the temptation is there for both employers – and for employees unable to find more rewarding employment. Where does this leave you and what are the obvious dangers?

When the Australian Tax Office introduced the GST, it had hoped that it would be more difficult for non-compliant business owners in the so-called “cash economy” to operate on the same basis as they had pre-GST. It has become harder for them but there is clear evidence that the hole has not been plugged. In fact, it seems to be leaking like a sieve.

In order to consider the legal risks and consequences, we need to take a look at the circumstances in which cash might be used to pay wages and in that way highlight the apparent dangers.

I used to own hospitality businesses and often had mates look at me with some kind of envy as an owner of a “cash business”. They made it sound quite appealing, but when I explained the legal and commercial consequences of “pocketing” cash or paying so-called “cash in hand” for wages or stock, I saw them nodding in agreement like a toy dog’s head in the rear window of an old Volvo.

To run an efficient business it is essential to be able to compare operational percentages and ratios on a monthly basis, and by ripping cash out of the business, performance cannot be accurately tracked or shared with key staff. The hospitality industry is tough enough, and finding the time to ensure that proper records of all your normal business transactions are kept is hard enough, let alone trying to cope with keeping other records to reflect the “real” position.

Let’s look at some specific circumstance that might attract the attention of the ATO if you were to be audited.

By paying “cash in hand” you are avoiding PAYG withholding obligations and depriving the ATO of its entitlement.

If the employees are paid cash or partly paid in cash you may not be covered by Work Cover should an employee be injured at their place of employment. Although benefits payable to an injured employee are guaranteed by the Work Cover Authority (in Victoria), the costs of the claim may be recovered from the uninsured employer, not to mention the heavy penalties for not properly covering the particular employee by paying the appropriate premiums.

I am unaware of any public liability insurance policy that affords cover to an employer where the employer could, as a matter of course, have obtained Work Cover insurance. So, where there is a serious injury, you could also be financially ruined.

This month resident legal guru Jonathan Kaplan puts the magnifying glass on the ramifications of wage cash payments “off the book”.

Jonathan Kaplan is a consultant solicitor with Meerkin & Apel Lawyers in Melbourne and is a NMAS accredited mediator. Jonathan can be contacted on (03) 9510 0366 or 0418 588 855.

The advice and information contained in this article is of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute or replace professional advice.

Legal.indd 38 4/4/11 2:39:29 PM

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legal


By paying cash or partly cash to an employee you would be avoiding liability for superannuation contributions on the cash component paid. Should that be discovered, you would be liable for the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) which includes an interest component plus administration fee in addition to any shortfall. If the shortfall is as a result of making a false or misleading statement, the penalty amount that can be imposed is 75 per cent of the shortfall plus the shortfall itself. The penalty for failing to keep adequate records is also significant. If you enter into an arrangement to avoid liability for the SGC, you may have to pay the charge avoided and a penalty of 50 per cent of the avoided amount. All in all it’s a nightmare you could do without.

In any employer and employee relationship you need to be able to exercise proper authority over your employees. Apart from the illegality of doing so, by paying “cash in hand” that authority is severely limited and the ability to deal with that employee objectively would be seriously compromised. In other words, if that employee is guilty of serious misconduct, how would you deal

with it bearing in mind the potential for blackmail due to “cash in hand” payments?

Paying “cash in hand” also has other wide range implications, such as the subtle effect of pushing up wages. For example, if a wage of $500 per week would yield $400 net of tax to an employee, by paying the employee $450 per week cash would mean that both parties are better off. The result is that you are not paying $100 per week in PAYG. The employee is getting $50 more than he would have received and you are paying $50 less than you would have paid in respect of PAYG.

When the same employee applies for

another job paid “on the books”, he or she would have to be paid closer to $575 to realise a net of $450 (previously paid in cash). On the assumption that no one wants to contravene the law, if the employee is suitable for the position the new employer would have to pay that amount for fear of losing him in a very difficult employment environment! So the more wages in cash being paid in the industry the more the expectation is of a net wage rather than a before-tax wage. Achieving that by paying cash is an extremely risky business.

Whether or not the sushi restaurant chain had made a mistake or not is irrelevant. The message is quite clear. Apart from the distortion of the financial statements of the business which would affect you when trying to sell the business – which is an issue I constantly have difficulty getting potential sellers to understand – the stakes are high when it comes to illegal practices of paying wages in cash. If you fall into this category it’s not too late to revert to conducting a best practice business and to hop off the treadmill of cash wages. You could save yourself many sleepless nights – and probably your business too!

The advice and information contained in this article is of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute or replace professional advice.

C

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CM

MY

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CMY

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Pura Tuscan Food Service Ad.ai 14/2/11 12:12:54 PM

❝

❞

In any employer and employee relationship you need to be able to

exercise proper authority over your employees. By paying “cash in hand” the

ability to deal with that employee objectively

would be compromised.

●

Legal.indd 40 4/4/11 2:39:43 PM

Visit our website for recipe ideas www.groenz.co.nz New Zealand 04 568 2687 Australia 07 3393 5562

FSN_GROENZ_FP_041.indd 41 4/4/11 2:43:10 PM

sauces


3/47 Taree Street, Burleigh Heads Qld 4220Ph: 07 5568 0500 | Fax: 07 5568 [email protected] | [email protected]

At Bone Roasters we pride ourselves on producing pure foundations from classically crafted stocks, providing chefs with a natural consistent foundation for all their sauces.

Chef Phillippe Mouchel has worked closely with us to develop a Jus for his new Restaurant PM24 in Melbourne and we are proud to be one of his trusted suppliers.

Bone Roasters Stocks and Jus is all we do.

Chef Phillippe Mouchel

a: Sensient Australia is a leader in the development and manufacture of natural colours, natural flavours, specialty syrups and sauces and powdered seasonings. With a team of highly trained and skilful creation and application food technologists based in our local innovation centre in Melbourne, we provide outstanding technical support, development of innovative solutions and continuous product training to our valued customers. From our production facility in Melbourne, Sensient Australia manufactures a range of food service products including liquid sauces, dry stocks, soup and gravy, tea/coffee flavourings and sweet toppings. With onsite sensory evaluation capabilities, pilot plant and global quality systems such as FSSC 22000:2010 in compliance with ISO 22000:2005 and PAS 220:2008 Sensient Australia can add value to your food service business with both local and global culinary expertise. Enquiries: t: 02 96726655; e: [email protected]

b: Birch & Waite’s Rib Sauce is a welcomed addition to its food service range. Complementing its already broad range of salad dressings, mayonnaises, accompaniments and desserts, Birch & Waite’s Rib Sauce will enhance any menu and keep your customers’ mouths watering and coming back for more. The newly developed Rib Sauce has a deep rich smoky flavour using superior quality ingredients. The Rib Sauce is perfect for finishing beef, pork or lamb ribs or use as an accompaniment to steak. The Rib Sauce is a time-saving solution for restaurants, offering chefs the confidence and convenience of using a superior quality brand. Available in 2kg pouches, three per carton with a 12-month shelf life from manufacture.Enquiries: t: 02 8668 8000; w: www.birchandwaite.com.au

c: Bulla Cooking Cream has been specifically created for trouble-free cooking. Developed in conjunction with chefs, Bulla Cooking Cream withstands high heat and can be mixed with acidic or alcohol-based ingredients without curdling, rapidly thickens to the perfect consistency, and is delicious straight from the pack on desserts. Product features include a rich, smooth, creamy texture for all cream-based cooking; quickly thickens to always provide ideal consistency; specifically created for trouble-free cooking; pasteurised fresh (not UHT).Enquiries: w: www.bulladairyfoods.com.au

a b c

Sauces.indd 42 4/4/11 2:45:46 PM

For foodservice, it makes sense to purchase prepared and

specialty sauces in 4 litre containers. But up until now, it’s

been almost impossible to decant sauce from a large

container into condiment bottles without spills, waste or

mess. That’s why the design of Fountain’s new

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• The new smartPOUR™ bottle features a vented tube

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• A second handle designed

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reduce residual sauce

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customers’ dietary requirements.

So now you can quickly and easily share your favourite

sauces with your customers without spills, waste or mess.

And that’s got to be good for business.

For foodservice, it makes sense to purchase prepared and

specialty sauces in 4 litre containers. But up until now, it’s

reducing the glugging and sudden sauce surges that

bottle. 12 of the 13 sauces in the range are

This bottleis about to start asmart revolution

Gluten Free

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ARM0255 Fountain Flyer_220x297.indd 1 18/3/11 11:58:24 AM

FSN_CEREBOS_FP_043.indd 43 4/4/11 2:50:02 PM

sauces


we always sayAt Kikkoman

NFor further information contact Gary Ward, Kikkoman Australia, Phone (02) 9923 2533 | Email [email protected] www.kikkoman.com.au

NO genetic modification

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chemical preservativesNONO cchemical p

d: Indonesian cuisine is fast becoming a favorite among Aussies. A melting pot of various cultures, its cuisine is influenced by both the Dutch and the Portuguese in the west and by the Indians, Chinese and Thai in Asia. A signature ingredient used in most of its cuisines is an Indonesian soy sauce sweetened with palm sugar known as kecap manis. ABC Kecap Manis is Australia’s number one selling sweet soy sauce. This thick and dark sauce is sweet and savoury. It can be used in a wide variety of dishes from authentic Asian cuisines to Western fusion dishes. It is perfect for marinating meats, barbecue grilling or stir-frying.

Enquiries: t: 0412 680 202; w: www.oriental.com.au

e: Bone Roasters began in 2007 with the vision of creating a range of quality Stocks and Jus for the Foodservice Industry. Owner/Chef Conrad Brown has a no compromise attitude to Bone Roasters products. “The fact that we do nothing but make Stock and Jus means we can absolutely guarantee a consistent standard of product. A properly made Jus is expensive to produce , made more so in the event of burnt or otherwise wasted effort occurring in a hectic kitchen. Having a guaranteed quality Stock/Jus at

your fingertips in the freezer is a cost effective and efficient way to keep your kitchen at it’s best."Enquiries: boneroasters.com.au

f: Up until now it’s been almost impossible to decant sauce from a bulk container into condiment bottles, without creating a mess. But now, thanks to its revolutionary design, Fountain’s new smartPOUR four-litre bottle lets you share your favourite sauces with your customer without spills, waste or mess. Ergonomically designed with a centre grip handle that makes it easier to hold and reduces wrist strain, the smartPOUR bottle

d e

Sauces.indd 44 4/4/11 2:46:33 PM


sauces

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Sensient Australia specialises in the development

and manufacture of high quality food service products. Our range includes Liquid Sauces, dry

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Sensient can bring life to your food service range by developing products to meet your require-

ments and specifications. We are able to manu-facture and package products under your brand name using our Local and Global culinary expertise.

Find out how Sensient can add value to your business by calling Don Helaratne on +61 2 96726655 or email us at [email protected]

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Dive into the real flavours of Sensient

features a vented tube that lets air into the bottle while decanting, greatly reducing the glugging and sudden sauce surges which leads to spills and mess. There are 13 sauces in the Fountain smartPOUR four-litre range of which 12 are gluten-free, making it easier to meet your customers’ dietary requirements. Some of the gluten-free sauce flavours include Tomato, Barbecue, Sweet Chilli, Soy, and Mustard. Enquiries: t: 1300 365 865

g: Renowned globally amongst foodservice professionals as the brand that sets the standard in mayonnaise Hellmann's is made to an authentic recipe using quality ingredients like canola oil, egg yolks, lemon juice and mustard oil. Hellmann’s brings out the best in your culinary creations. Hellmann’s is an ideal substitute to scratch-made mayonnaise, delivering quality and consistency you can depend on. It’s extra thick and creamy consistency makes

Hellmann’s mayonnaise perfect for spreading on your favourite burgers and sandwiches, or as the base for your signature dips and dressings.

f g

Sauces.indd 45 4/4/11 2:47:38 PM

pos


1 PocketMate is Ordermate’s third generation and latest wireless handheld ordering device. Busy 300+ seat Bondi Pizza in Sydney uses eight PocketMate devices on the floor so staff can instantaneously get food and beverage orders to relevant preparation areas. The success of PocketMate comes from the fact that they are ultra-easy and inviting to use so staff embrace them. They are also the fastest ordering device for restaurants today because of the way they have be designed for operation. Other much smaller restaurants and cafes have also benefited from implementing PocketMate. During busy lunch and dinner periods staff costs on the floor have been reduced by 20 per cent, then there is also the added benefit of turning over tables faster. Once operators had done the maths and worked out how inefficient walking from the customer’s table back to an ordering terminal to enter into the POS one single order, they soon release there are significant dollar savings. Enquiries: t: 1300 667 067; w: www.ordermate.com.au

2 Many companies are now using their POS solution for more than basic transaction processing; they are using them as strategic business tools. With this in mind Fedelta Point of Sale recently launched a new customer loyalty module that provide clients with the

necessary tools to effectively communicate with their customers via email and SMS using their POS system. Communication can be easily tailored to address customers’ individual needs, interests and purchasing patterns. With Fedelta, loyalty programs are all controlled centrally via Backoffice utilising customer information captured at the point of sale. Loyalty programs can also be automated by using marketing campaigns that target customers based upon predetermined criteria. Highly effective automated campaigns include birthdays and customer upgrades. Overall, Fedelta’s loyalty module enables clients to draw closer to their customers, build powerful brand awareness, and increase customer traffic and spend, leading to increased profits and customer loyalty. Enquiries: w: www.fedeltapos.com; t: 1300 652 029

3 Leading POS vendor RedCat has just launched a new integrated mobile phone application designed specifically for the hospitality industry. It allows hospitality outlets to have their own branded iPhone application as well as working as a web application on other mobile devices. Once registered, members can access their points balance, member status and a barcode that can be scanned for rewards. Customers can also search for their nearest site by using the integrated GPS or postcode

search function. It also offers the ultimate in convenient ordering, allowing customers to prepay and pre-order food at their desired time directly from the application. Purchases can be paid for using points, pre-paid gift cards or credit card. Orders will be sent direct to the point of sale at the store and print out automatically, all without the need for any interaction by the staff. The application can also be configured to be used as a self-ordering kiosk at store level. Not only will it streamline the ordering process, it will allow you to take advantage of the dramatic increase in popularity and profitability in coupons. Research shows that globally, mobile coupon redemptions will exceed $6 billion by 2014. Hospitality outlets can also use the application to deliver targeted and relevant advertising offers directly to their members which can be redeemed and tracked seamlessly through the RedCat point of sale system. Enquiries: w: www.redcat.com.au

4 The KS6815 from Goodson is a new fan-free, splash-proof (IP44) touch screen system which fits perfectly in a wide variety of hospitality POS applications. It uses the new low power consumption Intel Atom processor and can be fitted with an optional Raid function with second hard drive. This machine also features a spill- and heat-resistant design, optional MSR, two-line pole

1 2 3

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pos


display and second LCD display and a 160 GB hard disk, perfect for harsh conditions and hospitality environments. It uses sleek cable management, has space saving features, can be pole-mounted and has an attractive price tag all to suit your business and customer needs. High quality, sturdy build and excellent design with ease of maintenance and serviceability are all included in the construction of this technologically advanced system.Enquiries: w: www.goodson.com.au

5 Touch Screen Point of Sale or POS as it is commonly called has come along way over the last 5 – 10 years. It used to be the case of ‘the big boy’s’ and venues that could afford the sometimes extreme expense to install these sophisticated pieces of ‘touch screen’ equipment. With the increased competition in POS world this has driven costs to implement systems down, and made them a much better ROI and warranted investment for business hours both small and large. These systems are able to control your business effectively and efficiently and over the last several years have become incredibly quick and easy to use – one system provider ImPOS is pleased to be recognized a leader in this field. We reviewed the latest release of

ImPOS software via a detailed presentation of the new features comprising Version 4.3 and were suitably impressed. The development team at ImPOS have been busy working on the top 15 requests that we received from clients last year, each request scoped for benefits to existing clients and then given a priority ranking. They achieved all of these requests in the latest release of ImPOS being Version 4.3 which was released March, 2011. Sean O’Meara, CEO of IMPOS ‘We are now focusing on introducing social media, text messaging and further online services to our product range. With the increased awareness of social media and the online space such as ordering, integrating payment gateways and membership systems using mobile phones the POS space is set to become diverse in its offerings in the future.’ ImPOS has grown astronomically since its inception in 2005 and is now running over 1200 terminals across Australia & NZ. The company is attributing the majority of its continued success to its dedicated services it provides as well as on-going development and innovative technologies.Enquiries: w: impos.com.au; t: 1300 780 268

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shopping cart

a ba: In recognition of increased demand from the foodservice market, OILSTREAM will be available to foodservice operators across NSW from May. Covering everything from cooking oil delivery through usage, storage and environmentally friendly disposal, OILSTREAM makes the whole process of managing edible oils hassle-free. OILSTREAM customers have the choice of either the SMARTCUBE or SMARTFLOW systems – the latter offering a fully automated built-in system which pipes oil directly to and from your fryers from internal/external storage units, and has been designed for businesses with large-scale cooking oil requirements.Enquiries: w: www.oilstream.com.au

b: To make the Tiger Coffee experience even more accessible, Tiger Coffee’s new premises at Crows Nest in Sydney and Eagle Farm in Brisbane are set to feature innovative and exciting facilities. Opening in May 2011, the new Tiger Coffee head office at 64 Alexander Street, Crows Nest, will include a Tiger espresso bar for professional product demonstrations and fabulous coffee. Foodservice operators and other interested professionals can come along to taste Tiger Coffee for themselves, see the equipment in use and learn more about the “Tiger Coffee experience”. Tiger Coffee also has a new training and equipment facility at 9/43 Links Avenue, Eagle Farm. Open since February, this dedicated centre for excellence in equipment and service is centrally located, close to Brisbane airport, and includes a 100sqm training facility which features product demonstrations, equipment training and barista classes for Tiger Coffee end-users and other interested professionals.Enquiries: w: www.tigercoffee.com.au; e: [email protected]

c: Award-winning FLAT is set to a revolutionise the hospitality industry and solve the age-old problem of wobbly tables once and for all. Its state-of-the-art levelling and stabilisation technology is elegant and simple, and fits seamlessly into countless products which in the past have been challenged by uneven surfaces. Each point of contact with the ground has its own hydraulic cylinder fitted within the leg, and all the cylinders are interconnected via fluid hoses. When the first leg makes contact with

the ground, the fluid in that cylinder is forced out through the hoses and into the other legs. This causes the other legs to extend outwards. Once the final leg makes contact, the weight of the application is transferred through the fluid, triggering the locking mechanisms in the cylinders or hoses, depending on which system is appropriate for the particular application.Enquiries w: www.FlatTech.com; e: [email protected]

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opinion


Everything old is new again...

For me, a little Peck’s did go a long way. Unlike our editor’s professed love for those hairy, fishy, salty little numbers that haunt pizza, salads and avocado toast (See ‘The Pecker and the Anchovy’ February 2011), which went a long way towards putting me off anchovies for life.

Memories of breakfast, like those of Huckstep Senior, include bread and milk with white sugar. But a stronger taste memory, and one I can still recall, is the thin film of fat lining the roof of my mouth after bread and dripping. Yes, bread and dripping. A chunk of white bread. Lashings of beef dripping. A snowfall of salt. All this before we’d heard the word cholesterol, or the invention of Lipitor in 1988, which at $US1.9 billion became the biggest selling prescription drug in the world. (My, we Westerners must be eating bad fats!)

But I digress. Under the heading of everything old is new again, I return to Noma in Copenhagen only to discover that Bread, Butter and Fat is served first up to accompany the rest of the molecular meal that follows. That’s right, Bread, Butter and Fat. The bread however is baked-in-the-kitchens sourdough. The butter, the palest of pale Swedish goat’s butter. And the fat, ground pork rind, smoked pork fat, garlic and apple aquavit, blanched onion, a little plain flour and fried-up potato.

If today’s world’s best restaurant starts the meal with bread and fat, what did we finish the meal with yesteryear? Trifle, that most wonderful object of culinary art. Referencing my well-thumbed Oxford Companion to Food: trifle is a traditional English dessert. The essential ingredients are sponge cake soaked in sherry, rich custard, fruit or jam, and whipped cream, layered in a glass dish in that order. The cream is often decorated with slivers of almond, glace cherries, and angelica. The word ‘trifle’ derives from the Old French trufe (or truffle), meaning something of little importance. The first known recipe was way back in 1596, but it was not until the mid-18th century that something like the modern trifle began to emerge. Biscuits wetted with wine, placed at the bottom of the bowl, with custard on top, with whipped syllabub froth (that would be ‘foam’ in today’s food-speak) poured over the lot. And according to my Companion: “When this froth was replaced by plain whipped cream, the process of evolution was virtually complete.”

Virtually, but not totally. It has now been re-invented and popularised as Eton mess. And don’t the desserterati love it! This not-too-distant cousin of our beloved Australasian icon of sweetness, the ubiquitous pavlova, is of English origin. From an Eton College tuckshop treat in the 1930s, it is still traditionally served at Eton’s annual cricket match against Winchester College.

As kitchen chemist Heston Blumenthal puts it, “There is something unashamedly wicked about this dessert. An interesting aside is that the seeds of the strawberry (i.e. the ones visible on the outside of the fruit) are, in fact, the fruit itself. The red-fleshed berry is not the true fruit of the plant.”

So, after that useless piece of information, here is the master’s recipe for a variation on strawberries or raspberries. “Banana (and make sure you support our Queensland growers by buying only from them.) Mash up half a banana per person with 1 tsp of lime juice. Very lightly whip two tablespoons of cream per person. This is important: you should still just about be able to pour the cream. Now fold it carefully into the mashed banana. Break up the meringue: the quantity is up to you, but make sure the bits are quite big, and that there’s quite a bit of it – meringue provides the sweetness in the pudding. Mix together the meringue and banana cream. Grate a generous amount of lemon zest over it. Now slice the rest of the bananas and stir carefully into the rest of the pudding. Transfer the whole lot to a bowl and tuck in.”

Sorry Heston, but the strawberry version is more attractive to paint!

This month Gawen Rudder reminisces about flavours of the past that have been reborn in modern cookery.

Gawen Rudder is a writer and raconteur with a background in food and beverage advertising, marketing, research and trivia. He speaks at industry conferences, seminars and dinners. Contact via [email protected]

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