Tag Archives: Meat and Livestock Australia

Shameless Self Promotion Number I-Lost-Count

Posted on September 30, 2016 | Leave a comment

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Renee’s website looks beautiful. Mine is due for an update and that will be happening this fall. Bout time and I’m excited for a new look.

This beef banh mi is from Australian Meat and Livestock. It not only looked amazing, but it tasted delicious – typically not a priority and a major perk for a stylist. Thank you Chef Roy Villacrusis.

The Australians with whom we work always impress me. The stereotypes – those with which I am familiar – apply. Hooray. The Australians I know – only stateside – are fun-loving, hard-working, no-nonsense, unpretentious and know how to eat. What’s not to like? Nuttin.

Australian friends turned me on to an essential food friend – KEWPIE MAYONNAISE. How could I not know about this???  Totes adorbs and the top has a star opening that squeezes out ridged ribbons of unctuous tart mayo onto your food. Sandwiches, salads, cold meats, pizza if you are in Sweden. OH, you just want to SQUEEEEEZE it!!

Chef Roy Villacrusis Grassfed Beef Banh Mi

Servings 4

French colonists left the Vietnamese with a taste for baguettes and pâté for their sandwiches—known as banh mi. Chef Villacrusis uses Aussie grassfed steak with the surprise addition of brie cheese. Pickled vegetables and sliced jalapeños add the traditional zing.

Portion size: 1 sandwich
Alternate cuts: Ribeye

Ingredients:
1 pound Aussie grassfed strip steak
Kosher salt and black pepper as desired
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup shredded daikon
1/4 cup thinly sliced bell pepper
1 cup rice wine vinegar
Four each 6″ french baguettes, sliced lengthwise
1 cup prepared liver pâté
12 thin slices of brie cheese
1/2 cup fresh red ribbon sorrel leaves
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup seeded, sliced jalapeños
1/2 cup Kewpie mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
For the steak: preheat a grill over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. Season strip steak with salt and pepper, then cook to medium rare—about 4 minutes on each side. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing very thin.

For the pickled vegetables: Combine carrot, daikon and bell pepper in a small saucepan and top with rice wine vinegar. Cook on LOW heat for 30 minutes. Remove from pot and refrigerate until ready to use

To serve: Toast the baguette halves until slightly crisped, about 1 minute. Spread the liver pâté evenly on the bottom halves. Divide the sliced steak between the bread bottoms. Place 3 slices of the cheese over it. Add the sorrel, cilantro, pickled vegetables and jalapeños. Spread the mayonnaise on the cut sides of the top buns. Season with salt and pepper and put on the bun tops. Serve.

Chef notes: Kewpie mayonnaise is a brand from Japan that Chef Villacrusis prefers for his banh mi. It’s available at many Asian grocery stores.

 

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Shameless Self Promotion Number 1 Ton Per Hour

Posted on July 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Sriracha is the old gochujang. Beer is always the new brew.

Sriracha is being turned out at 1 ton per hour. Enough for every skunk-sprayed dog in the world to bath twice weekly for 2.3 years. Do your part and eat your share. On a sandwich.

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Photo by Renee Comet

Styling by Yours Truly
For Meat and Livestock Australia
There are loads of wonderful recipes on their site,  including the recipe for this stellar

Hot Sriracha Grass-Fed Beef Sandwich. 

Those are oven-roasted tomatoes in there. Ta-dah!

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Lambie Lambie Bo Bambie

Posted on July 20, 2016 | Leave a comment

Banana fana fo fambie
Fee fy mo mambie
Lambie!

Lambstrami is the the name of the game and, pssst, somebody needs to be talking about this sssstuff. One hasssshtag mention on the Twittossssphere, one recipe in Googleversssity, one blogpossst at MLA, dat’sss about it.

What gives? This sandwich does. It gives good. Lambstami, people!

Aussie Lambstrami Reuben - Version 2

Photo by Renee Comet
Styling by Yours Truly

This lambstrami was made in Virginia, by an outfit that is outfitted for commercial production. Can I share their information with you? No, I cannot, because I do not have it. Frowny face.

I can tell  you this: strami is a beautiful thing, created through brining and smoking, two brilliant meat transforming techniques. Good lamb/pastrami has the power to elevate one’s faith in humankind. Velvety, fatty, spiced, smoked and sliced. A slippery slope for the cheese melt. Sliver, slice, slab, slob. Lamb slam!

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Speaking Meat

Posted on November 30, 2015 | 2 comments

The Allusionist

Here’s a game word, sponsored by Hello Fresh. Right, game as in the genre of meat is so called because it was obtained through the game or sport of hunting. This history lurks in the word ‘venison’, which evolved from the Latin ‘venari’, to hunt, through the Old French ‘venesoun’, which meant the meat of a large game animal. There’s the clue as to why the animal is called a deer until, upon the point it’s being eaten, it’s venison. Same with cows and beef, pigs and pork, sheep and mutton. The words for the creatures in their living state are the Anglo-Saxon ones; the meat words originated from French. After the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066, there came a few hundred years in which the aristocracy were speaking French, and they were the ones who could afford to eat the meat.
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Photo by Renee Comet, styling by me, for Meat and Livestock Australia

When I think of sheep and lamb I do not think of hunting. Wrong! Just look at the Wild Sheep Foundation website. Does this give me pause when it comes to eating domesticated lamb? Hell yeah it does. My conscience says, hell yeah, pause and note the life that became your food. My conscience says, if I am not taking a minute to clear my head of all else, to bow down to miracle of life, then I should not be eating meat.

This is what the WSF has to say in its mission:

Vision
To be the best managed, most respected and most influential conservation organization in the world, for the benefit of all stakeholders and wild sheep worldwide.

Purpose
To Put and Keep Sheep on the Mountain™

Mission
We enhance wild sheep populations, promote professional wildlife management, educate the public and youth on sustainable use and the conservation benefits of hunting while promoting the interests of the hunter and all stakeholders.

Values
Honesty
Teamwork
Accountability
Integrity
Positive Attitude
Stewardship
Respect for others
Respect for wildlife
Loyalty
Hunting Ethics

 Got it. Words to live and eat by. Take note of your position on the food chain. And remember, above all else, pause and ENJOY EVERY LAMB SANDWICH. That lamb gave its life for your nourishment and pleasure.

Braaaaavo.

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Shameless Self Promotion Number One Meatball

Posted on November 28, 2015 | 2 comments

“One Meatball” is a song my family sang after dinner when I was a kid, with my sister on guitar. We did that, sang around the table, which sounds so archaic now. It breaks my heart to think how earnest my parents were and heartfelt too. The folk revival took place in our house, too, with one sister playing banjo and one guitar, and with all of us singing songs after dinner – the Weavers and Josh White and Pete Seeger. It embarrasses me to think about it, while simultaneously filling me up with warmth and nostalgia.

The song, “One Meatball” seems funny, but it is not. It’s sad actually, particularly now when many who have enough have SO much and those who do not have SO little. Growing up we lived in that in-between – frugal and in lots of company. The camaraderie of it felt very safe to me as a child and I wonder, does my child feel safe that way, in this world now? I hope so, but think not.

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Photo by Renee Comet and styling by me for Meat and Livestock Australia for Home Chefs

These meatballs, should you have a piece of bread or, even better, a nice crusty roll, would make a killer sandwich. Slop the sauce all over the place. Your napkin and shirt will be wrecked and your mom will want to kill you!

The song has an interesting story and you can read about it here if you like. Put on your modest face and read. I did and am the richer for it.

Lamb Feta Meatballs with Rich Tomato & Olive Sauce
Yield: 4 servings  
Portion Size: 4 – 2 oz Meatballs  
Alternate cuts:    
     
Amount Prep Ingredient
2#   Australian Ground Lamb
3 each   Large Eggs
1 ½ cups   Breadcrumbs
¾ cup crumbled Feta Cheese
½ tsp   Red Pepper Flakes
2 each minced Garlic Cloves
2 T chopped Parsley
2 T chopped Mint
1 each zest only Lemon
TT   Salt
TT ground Black Pepper
As Needed   Olive Oil
Tomato Sauce    
2 T   Olive Oil
2 each finely sliced Shallots
4 each crushed Garlic Cloves
2# canned, chopped Tomatoes
2 T chopped Thyme
¼ cup Pitted Green Olives
¼ cup Pitted Black Olives
½ tsp   Superfine Sugar
     
Method of Preparation    
1.     To make meatballs, mix all ingredients very well until mixed thoroughly. Set aside for 30 minutes in refrigerator.
2.     Roll meatballs into 1.5 inch balls, using hands dipped in warm water to avoid sticking.
3.     Heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium high heat.
4.     Sear off meatballs in batches until browned on all sides. Place meatballs on an sheet tray and set aside.
5.     For the sauce, heat the oil in a heavy bottom pot over medium heat and sauté the shallot and garlic for 5 minutes or until the shallot is translucent.

6.     Add the canned tomatoes and thyme and reduce the heat to low.

7.     Simmer for 30 minutes or until the sauce comes to the boil, stirring constantly to avoid sauce sticking and burning.

8.     Once sauce is at desired consistency, add olives and then season accordingly and add sugar. If sauce is too acidic add a little more sugar.

9.     To serve, cook lamb meatballs in 350°F oven for 6-8 minutes or until cooked.

10.  Heat sauce and then add meatballs to sauce.

11.  Serve in pot or serving dish, garnishing with freshly chopped parsley and lemon wedges.

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