Hero in the making

BEEF + LAMB NEW ZEALAND

MY HERO: A tasty lamb dish.

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Rural rivalry is set to reignite as farmers begin planning for the 2010 Glammies.

As the tinseltown event of the lamb industry's calendar, the annual Golden Lamb Awards (aka Glammies) are expected to attract entries from sheep farmers around the country, vying to be named producer of New Zealand's most tender, tasty lamb.

From the arrival of spring and the lambing season, farmers will be carefully selecting their best animals to be put to the test at the Upper Clutha A & P show in Wanaka in March 2010.

In its fourth year, the challenge run by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, on behalf of Meat & Wool New Zealand, and proudly sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health involves each entry undergoing rigorous analysis by Carne Technologies in Cambridge.

Each leg of lamb will be tested for tenderness and yield (the amount of lean meat compared to bone and fat) to gain selection for the March final and a taste-test by a panel of discerning judges.

CEO of Meat & Wool New Zealand Scott Champion said "This is a great opportunity for one of New Zealand's premium products to be showcased. As the previous two years have demonstrated, the quality of lamb produced in this country is phenomenal and deserves recognition by way of an annual Awards event".

The competition is supported by meat plants around the country, including Alliance Group, Ashburton Meat Processors, Blue Sky Meats, Cabernet Foods, Land Meat NZ, Silver Fern Farms, Taylor Preston and Wilson Hellaby.

Let's not forget the 2009 Glammies Grand Champions were Ken and Joss Taylor of Otautau, with their Textra lamb processed at Alliance Group, Mataura.

And while our farmers are busy preparing for the Glammies, hundreds of chefs from North Cape to the Bluff have been serving New Zealand beef and lamb dishes to their guests while being anonymously assessed on the standard of the same, hoping to achieve the highly regarded New Zealand Beef & Lamb Hallmark of Excellence Award.

It is also the time of year when chefs and their trusty assistants are on the job of finding different ways of preparing and presenting New Zealand beef and lamb dishes

The challenge these days is to find a way of turning a secondary or less expensive cut of beef and lamb and making it the "hero" of dishes – often the start of new trends.

Speaking of current trends I was fortunate enough recently to catch up with some of my international colleagues in Kuala Lumpur during Culinaire Malaysia, so took the opportunity to enquire what the trends for preparation and presentation of beef and lamb were elsewhere in the world.

It would appear the chefs of the many countries who use our top quality beef and lamb are following very much the trends we enjoy here in the land of the long white pavlova, the common denominator being the noticeable increase in demand. Wet cooking styles are very much to the fore with beef cheek, beef shin, beef short rib along with lamb shoulder and lamb neck, not to forget the world's favourite comfort food, lamb shank.

The trend of utilising both a primal and secondary cut in the same dish has also become very popular internationally. Even more interesting to note was to see the expanded use of beef and lamb throughout the Asian region being presented in western styles. With the transient habits of young chefs these days that trend should extend itself for some years yet with our Asian colleagues extremely eager to learn more about the ways of handling our beef and lamb especially slow, wet cooking styles.

It was also interesting to note that the young chefs I was judging on a daily basis in the individual live kitchen cook-offs had a choice of presenting a dish of either beef, lamb or poultry. With up to 60 competitors competing each day in this section there were only one or two who chose poultry as an option, further confirming their preference to presenting beef and lamb.

Some years back I spent time with beef and lamb personnel demonstrating the use of the seamed cuts from a rump of beef. I would be talking at least 10 years ago and while some chefs did pick up on the fact that the cuts from the rump are far more flavorsome than the primals of eye fillet, strip loin and cube roll, they do require a little more care in preparation and presentation.

Each day during the competition in Kuala Lumpur butchery personnel were busy demonstrating to the chefs how to seam a rump and utilise the fabulous cuts from that. What was even more pleasing was the response they were getting from the young up and coming chefs who showed great interest in utilising these much cheaper and far tastier pieces of beef.

I also learned that further to the East and throughout Europe, beef from Brazil and Argentina is around half the price of that from New Zealand, yet it doesn't appear to have had any effect on people preferring to use our quality product.

Internationally, chefs are learning more about handling the secondary cuts, which will give us a much better approach in selling the entire carcass rather than the primals, which only make up somewhere around 10 per cent of the carcass weight.

It appears the slow, wet cooking methods will continue in their popularity with potato (sweet and normal) continuing to be a firm favourite as an accompaniment, as in mashes, which will become a little more exotic with the addition of leek and feta cheese as an example.

One would think at this time of the year we would be looking at using the BBQ to cook our delicious lamb but the way the weather is instead let's cook up a delectable lamb green curry.

Ingredients for four servings

• 800g diced lamb (see cook's tips)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green chilli, seeded and chopped
• 2 Tbsp green curry paste
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock
• 400g can coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 500g pumpkin, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Steamed jasmine rice to serve

Method: Season the lamb with salt and pepper, add a little oil, and mix well.

Heat a large heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat. Brown the lamb in 2 or 3 batches. Remove each batch and set aside.

Add the onion to the pan and cook until soft. Add the chilli and curry paste. Stir for 2 minutes and pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to simmering point.

Return the lamb to the pan, simmer for 30 minutes. Check the dish simmers gently during the cooking time. Stir occasionally and adjust the heat if needed.

Stir in the coconut milk, sugar and fish sauce. Add the pumpkin cubes and cook for a further 20-25 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked and the sauce has thickened.

Stir in the frozen peas during last 5 minutes of cooking.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Bon appetit.

COOK'S TIPS
The best lamb cuts for wet cooking are: diced lamb forequarter, forequarter chops, shanks, frenched shanks, neck chops, lamb topside, diced shoulder.

Don't rush the initial stage of browning the meat. This will make this dish rich in colour and flavour. Brown the meat in small batches over a medium-high heat.

Simmer the dish gently and taste it to see if it's ready. Stir occasionally and adjust the heat as it cooks if needed. When it's done the meat should be tender enough to fall apart easily with a fork.

A dish will keep for up to 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. All wet cooked meat dishes should be refrigerated immediately after the steam from cooking has evaporated. Place the hot casserole into a shallow container in the fridge so it cools quickly – do not leave it to cool completely on the bench. To serve, bring it slowly to the boil over a medium heat, reduce heat and simmer for about 3 minutes, or until the meat and sauce are both thoroughly hot.