Today to be honest I chickened out, tanked like Terry Wallace & generally lost 'my bottle' in posting my thoughts on the state of what I consider to be the general health of the hospitality industry here in Tasmania. Curiously also in today's Mercury, Hobart chef Stuart Prosser calls for a very uncompromising line when it comes to training young chefs & incited a Ramsay-esque response to addressing certain perceived shortfalls in many aspects of our hospitality delivery. Meanwhile, I am routinely swamped with opinions from industry professionals to special interest groups as to what our short-comings are & how we should, as a state rally to address them. This leaves my head generality swimming with info. Info of which I also spend an enormous amount of my own free time engaging , deliberating & enquiring of. I am also responsible for a business on behalf of at least twelve local people reliant on this business for their livelihood.
From this vantage point I have forged very robust views & my position has been well informed & illuminated by a career spanning nearly thirty years.
Although my own focused, self belief remains as my trusty sextant, experience & wisdom have also taught me that that my own one eyed opinions might also benefit from the experience of others whom have trod this path well before me.
With that in mind, I don't see the benefit in publicly criticising the efforts of those whom I might not agree with.
Our hospitality professionals in this state are a very diverse mob. I have come to see that this is our strength even though from time to time we all might have opposing views & to some people the scene here might seem clubby or cliquey at times & difficult to break into.
Listening as I do to the book show today I was intrigued by a new tome which amongst other things explores the significance of the cow in Indian culture over the ages. The book: Lanterns On Their Horns by Author: Radhika Jha uses the metaphor of cross breeding Indian cows with European stock to primarily increase milk production but at the same time also stands to illuminate the state of play between the influence of Western culture & that of the rapidly expanding Indian affluence.
I am having cow issues at present too. Mine are gluttons for hay of which we give them plenty for the record but because our ones are represented by the Uber union rep of bovine interests, Comrade Poppy, who insists on bellowing right when the RSPCA zealots are hovering, we have been on edge of late. What I have gleaned in my six year apprenticeship of land care with animals is that winter always brings out the worst in hungry animal behaviour which mostly results in three to four months of fence work. All this aside, this radio show reminded me a of an article I had penned in ‘96 in which I was trying to come across all ironic-like. Perhaps time has blunted its initial impact?
‘I have written about rare breeds before & noted that it’s a bit ironic that we spend so much energy & time to protect them in order to kill & eat them.
Wagyu or Kobe, Kurabota & Berkshire are all names that consumers are beginning to see more frequently as they appear firstly in restaurants then filter down through other retailers of fine meat.
It is with much excitement that I chanced across a new breed & feel compelled to herald the arrival of it onto the Australian culinary landscape.
It’s called ‘The Triple uddered Shropshire long-tooth’ & it is a cross between the Double uddered Hounslow Brahmin & Shropshire long tooth. The breed emerged in the last days of the Raj when English colonists pining for the old dart longed to taste a traditional Sunday roast. Near Madras, a peculiar breed of cow unique to the area with ‘three udders’ was prolific but due to local custom, locals were not permitted to eat. One keen & enterprising Quartermaster staff Sergeant, Brien O’Brien dispatched to England an order for the consignment of one Shropshire Long tooth Bull. It was with great excitement that the Bull finally arrived & the Vice Roy spared no expense to ensure it was a day for all to remember.
So began the new breed & through early generations evolved a meticulous & quirky breeding & conditioning program that still remains to this day. This program, as aficionados of the breed will attest, gives it superior marbling, flavour & texture.
The bull calf, testicles removed, plumps up a treat on a diet of high protein, the late Dr Aitkin’s would be proud! Its daily regimen includes: Hindu poetry readings, plenty of re-hydrating with orange flower water & massage therapy with jasmine scented ghee. This as breeders will attest distinguishes this breed from the herd.
Fortunately for modern breeders the arcane practice of fellating the steer before it is ceremoniously dispatched for table has long since become unacceptable for many practicing modern animal husbandry.
At any rate it is worth seeking out but be prepared to shell out mightily, it retails at $900kg! Already Kylie, Bill & Neil are hacking into carcasses & hoisting them up like Semaphore’s in meat lockers around the country.
I know of only one eccentric supplier in this State, his farm is in The Tarkine Wilderness & he has conditions of sale that may suit only the keenest of carnivores. The only way to his farm is by Black Hawk with night vision glasses & one must ‘hunt’ the animal & bring it back on foot after skinning & butchering it into recognizable cuts as described by the Indian Institute of Butchery Handbook, of which the farmer is a devotee.’
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Against the odds
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks. First the movements of some of my colleagues to greener pastures which has had some of the Fooderati in a flutter, gloomily predicting that Tasmania is at crisis point when it comes to attracting, paying & retaining chefs of high caliber. Whilst this view might seem a tad hysterical, I have long held the belief that chefs here are paid in Tasmanian dollars not Australian dollars & this might go some way to explaining the current movement.The Grande finale last night of Australia’s most watched TV show, Masterchef finally crowned Julie its first winner. The result has divided many, including myself who thought there were others more worthy of the title. However the whole premise for the show became crystal clear to me as I watched Donna Hay screw her nose up at finalist Chris’s food.
‘Brown brown brown’ she lamented describing his dishes. ‘It would be very hard for a stylist to make this look good in a book’. She didn’t comment on the taste of his efforts, nor did she appreciate that he managed to get all his dishes up on time as per the requirements of the test.
So the show was really about the book & selling ‘units’ from the start! Kinda like DVD sales after a movie is retired from the cinemas, extracting every last dollar. It appears that the producers have more faith in Julie’s profile to attract cookbook buyers than they do in Chris. I didn’t watch the final in protest but the howls of frustration coming from the lounge sounded like my family was suffering death by a thousand ad breaks.
On another mater I am very annoyed that we in Tasmania are not able to get the Saturday Age in its entirety. I learnt that The Mercury distributes the Saturday Age & have decided not to continue for reasons clearer to them. This means we will not have the Domain, careers or car sections in the editions enjoyed by our cousins across the Strait. Here’s the juicy bit though, it’s still the same price! WTF!
Finally we opened the doors to the café after three & bit weeks of renovations, two weeks ahead of our predicted schedule. It has been a very taxing time.
Looking to unwind & shake off the stresses, my wife & I went for a brisk walk where we chanced upon this tree in an orchard. Make of it what you will but this image resonated within me, feelings of individualism, going against the status quo & of perseverance.
It was also very poignant reminder of the simple & unexpected beauty that can be discovered in the everyday, which we often fail to notice, tangled as we are in our busy lives.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Trouble commenting on this site?
I have been frustrated lately by a recurring problem when I try to post a comment. When I do a message pops up to say that it cannot open my blog site & switches itself off leaving a blank web page.
I have found though if you hit the top left hand arrow at the top of the page, it returns you back to the comments box & you can safely leave your massage-hope it works!
Steve
I have found though if you hit the top left hand arrow at the top of the page, it returns you back to the comments box & you can safely leave your massage-hope it works!
Steve
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The curious case of the moving chefs
'What do you do mate?'
'Oh, I’m a chef actually'
'A chef! You lot move around a lot dontcha?'
No matter how many times I hear this simple exchange it still makes the fur on the back of my neck ruffle. You see, I don’t like the assumption that all chefs are prone to impulsive, petulant & irrational behavior which seems to be the perception out there reinforcing this image that we are all bunch of hot heads, ready to spit the dummy & down tools at the first hurdle. ‘Moving around’ also implies a sense of restlessness & commitment issues, it ignores the fact that chefs take many jobs for many more reasons that those with a ‘nine to five Joe clock-punch’ mentality could ever comprehend.
When you canvas the thoughts on what people assume to be the role of the chef many say it’s about being creative, coming up with nice things to eat. Simple enough really & to a fair degree they are right. In fact many aspiring chefs commence work with this as their main focus, that elusive chance to express themselves with food. This, as many come to understand is a small part of the role of being a chef.
Conversely if your ask most restaurant & café owners what they strive for most in their business, most will say consistency of product & service is the most critical. Now at face value this makes sense, regardless of the type of food business it might be, if it doesn’t make money it won’t last. To many chefs, being hemmed in to conform to a strict regimen is the antithesis of their sense of creativity & has been since the first restaurants opened their doors. It has also fuelled that particularly combustive dynamic between owners & chefs also. It is quite ironic then that chefs often get the job over another colleague because they have a profile, a reputation for being an innovator & this is attractive to the employer who seeks to gain & build on the currency of the chef.
What tends to happen quite regularly, after a honeymoon period of sorts, is that the owner starts to press operational, fiscal & creative directives toward the chef which causes great friction & it is why I believe many chefs begin to look around for another gig.
Like anything, if someone makes the job look easy to do, it seemingly emboldens some owner to think that they can just impose their views without any consequences & in my opinion, this rarely works. The words of my old chef ring in my ears as I write this; ‘Don’t hire a dog & do the barking yourself’.
I mean why hire someone who has strong convictions with what they do as a chef then try to change them into something that they are not? I think many employers should be honest & state that, ‘They just want someone to do as I tell them’ & dismiss all the fluff about letting them run the kitchen as it’s simply not the case.
There is also the curious situation in where the employer starts to question the validity of the profile the chef might be gleaning, feeling that the focus of it is more about them than of the establishment in which they are employed. This is tricky, how can one possibly separate the ‘face’ of the business when the business has been gaining notoriety because of that face? Many owners feel unease at this situation as they feel that that chef is becoming far too ‘integral’ to the profile of the business & strategically they might feel that this is not wise. Many feel envy & even resentment that their paid employee is getting all the attention, but really what do they expect if they hire someone with a profile? It is difficult to get the benefits of this arrangement without conceding that the very person you have hired will be building their reputation & a reputation is something that can be moved around. It also clearly state the base line of the relationship between owner & chef & this is: I have no long term commitments to the chef.
This brings me to why chefs leave. That same old chef once said to me when I asked why he was leaving the restaurant in which I was an apprentice, ‘Steve, no one leaves a job cause they are happy’. Obvious at first but the complexities unravel when you consider the numerous Pro’s & Cons. Money is an obvious one but often what leads a chef to move on is the chance to feel as though the owner understands & is willing to give them the full reign to do their job without unnecessarily interfering.
Sometimes it takes fresh eyes to really appreciate what kind of chef you have working for you, years of continued service can dull the first flush of excitement that one might have had when they first came on board & that’s the danger, and fresh appreciative eyes, might just lure them away.
'Oh, I’m a chef actually'
'A chef! You lot move around a lot dontcha?'
No matter how many times I hear this simple exchange it still makes the fur on the back of my neck ruffle. You see, I don’t like the assumption that all chefs are prone to impulsive, petulant & irrational behavior which seems to be the perception out there reinforcing this image that we are all bunch of hot heads, ready to spit the dummy & down tools at the first hurdle. ‘Moving around’ also implies a sense of restlessness & commitment issues, it ignores the fact that chefs take many jobs for many more reasons that those with a ‘nine to five Joe clock-punch’ mentality could ever comprehend.
When you canvas the thoughts on what people assume to be the role of the chef many say it’s about being creative, coming up with nice things to eat. Simple enough really & to a fair degree they are right. In fact many aspiring chefs commence work with this as their main focus, that elusive chance to express themselves with food. This, as many come to understand is a small part of the role of being a chef.
Conversely if your ask most restaurant & café owners what they strive for most in their business, most will say consistency of product & service is the most critical. Now at face value this makes sense, regardless of the type of food business it might be, if it doesn’t make money it won’t last. To many chefs, being hemmed in to conform to a strict regimen is the antithesis of their sense of creativity & has been since the first restaurants opened their doors. It has also fuelled that particularly combustive dynamic between owners & chefs also. It is quite ironic then that chefs often get the job over another colleague because they have a profile, a reputation for being an innovator & this is attractive to the employer who seeks to gain & build on the currency of the chef.
What tends to happen quite regularly, after a honeymoon period of sorts, is that the owner starts to press operational, fiscal & creative directives toward the chef which causes great friction & it is why I believe many chefs begin to look around for another gig.
Like anything, if someone makes the job look easy to do, it seemingly emboldens some owner to think that they can just impose their views without any consequences & in my opinion, this rarely works. The words of my old chef ring in my ears as I write this; ‘Don’t hire a dog & do the barking yourself’.
I mean why hire someone who has strong convictions with what they do as a chef then try to change them into something that they are not? I think many employers should be honest & state that, ‘They just want someone to do as I tell them’ & dismiss all the fluff about letting them run the kitchen as it’s simply not the case.
There is also the curious situation in where the employer starts to question the validity of the profile the chef might be gleaning, feeling that the focus of it is more about them than of the establishment in which they are employed. This is tricky, how can one possibly separate the ‘face’ of the business when the business has been gaining notoriety because of that face? Many owners feel unease at this situation as they feel that that chef is becoming far too ‘integral’ to the profile of the business & strategically they might feel that this is not wise. Many feel envy & even resentment that their paid employee is getting all the attention, but really what do they expect if they hire someone with a profile? It is difficult to get the benefits of this arrangement without conceding that the very person you have hired will be building their reputation & a reputation is something that can be moved around. It also clearly state the base line of the relationship between owner & chef & this is: I have no long term commitments to the chef.
This brings me to why chefs leave. That same old chef once said to me when I asked why he was leaving the restaurant in which I was an apprentice, ‘Steve, no one leaves a job cause they are happy’. Obvious at first but the complexities unravel when you consider the numerous Pro’s & Cons. Money is an obvious one but often what leads a chef to move on is the chance to feel as though the owner understands & is willing to give them the full reign to do their job without unnecessarily interfering.
Sometimes it takes fresh eyes to really appreciate what kind of chef you have working for you, years of continued service can dull the first flush of excitement that one might have had when they first came on board & that’s the danger, and fresh appreciative eyes, might just lure them away.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Around my table
There are few things I enjoy more that getting friends & family round our table to share a meal, conversation & some laughs. Over the years our old kitchen table has hosted many, many wonderful meals, some that I will always remember & cherish & conversely some I would hope recede into the pea soupy mire of the past.
At risk of sounding conceited, I have often thought about our table in the context that if it were a receptacle of deliberation, contemplation, inspiration & ideas, it would be so crammed with theoretical goodies that K.Rudds ideas summit would have not needed to be held, such would be its harvest of concepts. This, I will add as a disclaimer, says more about the currency of my dinner guests rather than their host, my wife excluded of course!
When we were setting up home we would frequent many antique shops, daydreaming of a home kitted out in period furniture & one day we chanced upon a large, very old Barossa vintage kitchen table. Although funds were tight, we had to have it. To this day it has received countless guests over many meals, numerous celebrations & a few very sad occasions. I like to think that all these experiences accumulate like an energy of sorts, not unlike one feels when they enter a new house for the first time, you know when you like the ‘feeling’ of one house over another? The negative feelings I have had over the years have when looking at prospective houses have greatly influenced my decision not to buy them & settle on the ones that feel ‘right’. Perhaps it might be the negative energy that might still resonate within the walls, who knows but the flip side is that I feel very strongly about the positive houses I enter & they put me instantly at ease. Am I sounding too New-Age for you yet? Simply put, some of us are more intuitive, which I explain as listening to ones ‘gut-feeling’to this phenomenon, than others.
Over nearly twenty years, this table has been set for meals in Nuriootpa, Gawler, Port Adelaide, Stepney, Camberwell & Coburg but now rests in Cygnet. Who knows in how many other towns or cities it has carried the rituals of dinner on its broad expanse of weathered timber & for how many other people? I wonder if my own kids as grown ups might continue to use it as we have & will it bare witness to their own unfolding lives long after we have shuffled off? I ponder all this after giving the old thing a spray of Mr. Sheen & slowly wipe away the remains of yet another pleasurable lunch enjoyed with a gaggle of lovely people, family & friends, whose presence yesterday added yet another patina to its already rich history.
At risk of sounding conceited, I have often thought about our table in the context that if it were a receptacle of deliberation, contemplation, inspiration & ideas, it would be so crammed with theoretical goodies that K.Rudds ideas summit would have not needed to be held, such would be its harvest of concepts. This, I will add as a disclaimer, says more about the currency of my dinner guests rather than their host, my wife excluded of course!
When we were setting up home we would frequent many antique shops, daydreaming of a home kitted out in period furniture & one day we chanced upon a large, very old Barossa vintage kitchen table. Although funds were tight, we had to have it. To this day it has received countless guests over many meals, numerous celebrations & a few very sad occasions. I like to think that all these experiences accumulate like an energy of sorts, not unlike one feels when they enter a new house for the first time, you know when you like the ‘feeling’ of one house over another? The negative feelings I have had over the years have when looking at prospective houses have greatly influenced my decision not to buy them & settle on the ones that feel ‘right’. Perhaps it might be the negative energy that might still resonate within the walls, who knows but the flip side is that I feel very strongly about the positive houses I enter & they put me instantly at ease. Am I sounding too New-Age for you yet? Simply put, some of us are more intuitive, which I explain as listening to ones ‘gut-feeling’to this phenomenon, than others.
Over nearly twenty years, this table has been set for meals in Nuriootpa, Gawler, Port Adelaide, Stepney, Camberwell & Coburg but now rests in Cygnet. Who knows in how many other towns or cities it has carried the rituals of dinner on its broad expanse of weathered timber & for how many other people? I wonder if my own kids as grown ups might continue to use it as we have & will it bare witness to their own unfolding lives long after we have shuffled off? I ponder all this after giving the old thing a spray of Mr. Sheen & slowly wipe away the remains of yet another pleasurable lunch enjoyed with a gaggle of lovely people, family & friends, whose presence yesterday added yet another patina to its already rich history.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Why I love condiments
I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for condiments & I cant get enough of em. In fact I could almost say all foods are merely ‘condiment delivery devices’ to pinch a phrase from Dr Wigeland, former tobacco whistleblower.
I know that last statement is a big call but nothing gets my appetite stirred quite like the site of one of those condiment baskets on a Formica table in Victoria St Richmond where a role call of condiment greats stand tall: Hoi sin, chilli, soy, plum but to name a few.
Aah the wonder that is the Condiment Caddy, official name & receprical of the sauces that transport the most prosaic of menu items to the ambrosial, no matter the generic qualities of the sauces in question.
To me condiments are all about freedom. They are like a muscled Harley for the menu constrained, a shiny red sports car for the middle aged menu crisis or the buffed trophy himbo boyfriend for the taste-bud inhibited.
Not for me the dictates or constraints of the cook or the chef, let me freely embellish or adorn my plate with the free spirited zeal of a Daubist.
Before you start to picture me as someone who will just dump the chilli sauce or salt or mustard on anything before I taste, you are wrong. I always taste first. However if these little puppies are placed in the caddy before you what is the establishment saying? They are saying, ‘Knock your self out & start glugging those condiments’. Maybe a part of their appeal is that they appear to be an added bonus, a freebie of sorts? Perhaps they might appeal to our sense of table aesthetic? I mean who doesn’t love the Zen like Yin & Yang symmetry that the little red & green Tabasco sauce bottles exude? Even the humble Aussie table of old has been canonized in art & literature by a Cardinal of Tomato sauce, a Bishop of Lea & Perrins & a Pastor of malt vinegar, with their collective flock being represented by a stack of white bread & a slab of butter.
The notion of free condiments appeal to me not just cause I don’t have to pay, after all I’m sure canny operators build the cost into there offerings, but because they seem ‘thoughtful’ & even ‘considerate’.
Tartare sauce with fish & chips, obvious. Tom sauce with a pie. Hello? Soy with a Dimmy, come on!
Why then do some Jurassic places still cling to the archaic notion that a small sachet of condiment will a) coat the whole item of food adequately or b) that you as consumer will be happy buying 30 or so sachets just to lubricate said item?
I have taken an unprecedented step that causes much derision, bemusement & mild embarrassment from my family & friends. Because I am frequently disappointed by the condiments on offer at most bakeries & being partial to a pie or particularly a pastie, I have carried a bottle of tomato sauce in my Ute’s glove box for the past six years.
Is that obsessive behavior I hear you question, yes quite possibly? In fact I have been known to take my own home made Tartare sauce to the local chippie after one day cracking it as the condiments were over priced & to meager for the job. I have also left the eggs sizzling, the toast warming & the bacon in the pan & legged it down the road after discovering to my horror that we had run out of tomato sauce. I simply won’t eat my favourite meal if all the pieces are not in order, condiments being a cornerstone to my enjoyment. This influences me professionally of course& that’s why my sauce dishes are positively brimming with good cheer, at heart, a statement of understanding & I guess generosity.
I know that last statement is a big call but nothing gets my appetite stirred quite like the site of one of those condiment baskets on a Formica table in Victoria St Richmond where a role call of condiment greats stand tall: Hoi sin, chilli, soy, plum but to name a few.
Aah the wonder that is the Condiment Caddy, official name & receprical of the sauces that transport the most prosaic of menu items to the ambrosial, no matter the generic qualities of the sauces in question.
To me condiments are all about freedom. They are like a muscled Harley for the menu constrained, a shiny red sports car for the middle aged menu crisis or the buffed trophy himbo boyfriend for the taste-bud inhibited.
Not for me the dictates or constraints of the cook or the chef, let me freely embellish or adorn my plate with the free spirited zeal of a Daubist.
Before you start to picture me as someone who will just dump the chilli sauce or salt or mustard on anything before I taste, you are wrong. I always taste first. However if these little puppies are placed in the caddy before you what is the establishment saying? They are saying, ‘Knock your self out & start glugging those condiments’. Maybe a part of their appeal is that they appear to be an added bonus, a freebie of sorts? Perhaps they might appeal to our sense of table aesthetic? I mean who doesn’t love the Zen like Yin & Yang symmetry that the little red & green Tabasco sauce bottles exude? Even the humble Aussie table of old has been canonized in art & literature by a Cardinal of Tomato sauce, a Bishop of Lea & Perrins & a Pastor of malt vinegar, with their collective flock being represented by a stack of white bread & a slab of butter.
The notion of free condiments appeal to me not just cause I don’t have to pay, after all I’m sure canny operators build the cost into there offerings, but because they seem ‘thoughtful’ & even ‘considerate’.
Tartare sauce with fish & chips, obvious. Tom sauce with a pie. Hello? Soy with a Dimmy, come on!
Why then do some Jurassic places still cling to the archaic notion that a small sachet of condiment will a) coat the whole item of food adequately or b) that you as consumer will be happy buying 30 or so sachets just to lubricate said item?
I have taken an unprecedented step that causes much derision, bemusement & mild embarrassment from my family & friends. Because I am frequently disappointed by the condiments on offer at most bakeries & being partial to a pie or particularly a pastie, I have carried a bottle of tomato sauce in my Ute’s glove box for the past six years.
Is that obsessive behavior I hear you question, yes quite possibly? In fact I have been known to take my own home made Tartare sauce to the local chippie after one day cracking it as the condiments were over priced & to meager for the job. I have also left the eggs sizzling, the toast warming & the bacon in the pan & legged it down the road after discovering to my horror that we had run out of tomato sauce. I simply won’t eat my favourite meal if all the pieces are not in order, condiments being a cornerstone to my enjoyment. This influences me professionally of course& that’s why my sauce dishes are positively brimming with good cheer, at heart, a statement of understanding & I guess generosity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)