The Magnificent Nine

Bradford College’s Chefs’ Forum Academy played host to a magnificent group of nine top chefs on Wednesday (24) January, who got together to show off their skills at a focus group development day for Aussie Beef & Lamb UK.

Bradford is The European City of Culture 2025, so how better to show the college’s utmost respect for the faith diets of its 25.5% Pakistani local community, then to showcase top quality Aussie beef and lamb, all certified Halal with the highest welfare practices.

The Lord Mayor Cllr Gerry Barker and Lady Mayoress Mrs Jean Barker attended to enjoy a wonderful buffet lunch prepared by nine top chef with students.

Processing facilities in Australia are a serious business. Each plant operates under Federal Government registration and food safety plans. The humane treatment of cattle and sheep during the Halal slaughter process in the abattoir is paramount, as is the focus on maintaining the quality and safety throughout.

Working with specific Wagyu beef cuts such as bavette, feather blade and grain-fed Angus sirloin as well as fabulous lamb racks and lamb rumps, the chefs created new dishes with the culinary students at Bradford College to reveal the hidden depths of flavour that come from down under.

Scott Walker, Regional Manager EMEA Region Meat & Livestock Australia said

“This is a unique opportunity under our global Aussie Meat Academy programme, to showcase the best of Australian Beef & Lamb in partnership with The Chefs’ Forum. We are very excited to be here at Bradford College for today’s menu development activity. This educational programme provides an incredible opportunity for the College’s culinary students to interact with an exceptional group of professional Chefs.

“There is a great buzz about the place and the students are extremely engaged, which is lovely to see and a real testament to their college. Its great to see so many chefs who are genuinely passionate about Australian Beef and Lamb.

“We hope that these educational and hands-on experience-based programs will equip the students with knowledge, understanding and experience with Aussie Beef and Lamb growing with the new generation. We hope for and upsurge in popularity and usage for the foodservice industry.”

The magnificent nine chefs were Exose Grant (Ikaro Manchester), Caroline Martins (Sampa), Gita Mistry (Gita Mistry Food), Luciana Berry (Top Chef Brasil Winner), Darren Cooper (Chef Consultant), Jason Palin (Gourmet Gusto), Daniel Rodriguez (Fenix Restaurant), Dirk de Cuyper (Saucery UK) & Dave Lythall (Freelance Chef).

Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum, said

“This is the third menu development day we’ve done for Aussie Beef & Lamb, again in a college with a high proportion Muslim faith dietary requirements, so Aussie Beef & Lamb is perfect as its all Halal-slaughtered. It really is a brilliant way of tapping into chef knowledge and current trends. We got together in one of our Chefs’ Forum Academy kitchens, like Bradford, and each chef prepared and presented a new dish based on a particular cut.

“The result is that Aussie Beef & Lamb get to see how top chefs are working with their products in one place. Everybody had a great time and we were able to photograph everything. We curated the chefs to ensure that there were multiple international and regional styles which ensured different trend were covered. The finished dishes will be hosted on the Aussie Beef & Lamb website complete with recipe cards and the photographs can be used by the chefs of their social media pages which helps spread the word.”

What they got up to:

Exose Grant from Ikaro worked with grain-fed Angus to produce a Mini Roast Dinner
Caroline Martins from Sao Paolo/Sampa worked with wagyu bavette and made up a selection of three Aussie Wagyu bavette snacks
Gita Mistry from Gita Mistry Food used lamb racks for her chilli honey pistachio lamb chops
Luciana Berry, former Top Chef Brazil winner used Wagyu feather blade in her beef stew
Darren Cooper, freelance chef, used a lamb rump in his spiced lamb bon bon
Jason Palin from Gourmet Gusto used wagyu bavette to make a steak tacos
Daniel Rodriguez from Fenix restaurant used lamb racks to make pistachio-crusted rack of lamb
Dirk de Cuyper from Saucery cooked a lamb rump with roast vegetables, chickpeas and a red wine sauce
Dave Lythall, a freelance chef used grain-fed Angus sirloin which he served with peas, baby onions and potato crisps

Luciana Berry said

“ Australian Beef & Lamb is remarkably consistent, which is really import to us as chefs. I’m really impressed with the ratio of fat and marbling, the softness and the flavour is also unrivalled in my opinion. I recently blind-judged Aussie sirloin, ribeye and fillet as my favourites in the World Steak Challenge and they went on to win the whole competition and its clear to see why.”

Andy Bray, Chef Lecturer concluded

“This year’s cohort of students never ceases to amaze me with their talent and enthusiasm. It is really wonderful to see them all volunteering to get involved with the cooking, talking to the guest chefs and learning new culinary techniques – They are bouncing off the walls with the excitement of having so much professional talent in our college kitchens today. We’ve really enjoyed learning all about Australian beef and lamb today and really enjoy all sessions with The Chefs’ Forum Academy chefs and hope to do this again next year.”