Birmingham Chefs’ Aussie Beef & Lamb Menu Development Day at SCCB

Take eight top chefs across various sectors and thirty enthusiastic students from South and City College Birmingham and you have a brilliant focus group and a recipe for a massively productive day of menu development.

Not only was this a fantastic opportunity for the chefs and students to learn about the provenance of Australian Beef & Lamb, but it was also a brilliant day of creating wonderful dishes showcasing the quality of various cuts of Aussie Beef & Lamb.

It was so rewarding to see how the chefs wholeheartedly embraced the challenge, each paired with a student, to create their signature beef or lamb dish.

Adam Porter, Head of School: Hairdressing, Barbering and Hospitality & Catering was delighted to host the industry experts and showcase the students and world class facility, he said

“We were delighted to welcome the guest chefs to our training kitchens and restaurant and it was amazing to see how engaged the students were and how much they enjoyed the day.

We were also very impressed with the quality of the Aussie beef and lamb and the wonderful range of dishes created. We have a high proportion of staff and students at the college who follow the Islamic faith, myself included, so it was fantastic that all the beef and lamb is Halal-slaughtered, so everyone could join in and taste all of the finished plates in an excellent buffet-style lunch, accompanied with delicious fresh juices kindly sponsored by Frobishers Juices.”

Talking about the menu development day Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum, said:

“We love introducing top quality produce to chefs and students, educating them on provenance and traceability, while teaching students new cooking styles and techniques. We also had the FlashGRILL and Cooktek double induction hobs from MCS Technical Products to ensure the meat was cooked to perfection. The training kitchens were buzzing with a brigade of brilliant chefs and keen students helping out – Now Meat & Livestock have a brilliant set of recipes with stunning food photography for their website and the students have an excellent day of curriculum enrichment and some excellent work experience offers as a result.”

Stephen Edwards, UK Business Manager of Meat & Livestock Australia, said:

“This was a truly great event for us to orchestrate in partnership with The Chefs’ Forum Academy. Not only was it a perfect showcase of Aussie beef and lamb but it was thrilling to see it being enjoyed by so many top chefs and culinary students from the Midlands. Aussie beef and lamb is world class and Jack’s Creek have just won the World’s Best Sirloin Steak in the World Steak Challenge 2023.”

The cuts on offer:

Jack’s Creek 180-day grain fed Angus Rump Cap
Westholme Wagyu Ribeye
Jack’s Creek Sirloin (World’s Best Steak 2023)
Aussie Lamb Racks and Chumps from JBS

What was on the menu?

Mark Walsh – Executive Chef – Hogarth’s
Wagyu sirloin, celeriac fondant, carrot, oyster mushroom and red wine jus

Exose Grant – Executive Chef – Ikaro
Terriyaki glazed Aussie lamb rack

Dirk De Cuyper – Chef Consultant/Owner – Saucery
Australian wagyu ribeye steak, infused ginger and lime sea salt, Asian fused basmati pilaf rice, Shiitake mushroom, green asparagus points and Saucery katsu curry sauce

Richard Wainman – Chef Patron at Dick’s Smokehouse
Texas grilled Aussie rib-eye steak, truffle & stilton croquette, celeriac remoulade, black cabbage and sauce bordelaise

Simon Bishop – Group Executive Chef at Lexington Catering
Pan-roast tandoori Aussie lamb rack, split pea dhal, onion bhaji, puri and carrot brinjal