Visiting the Sher Wagyu farm. L-R Andrew (The Woodhouse), Tony (MCEC), Nick & Vicki Sher, Julian (MCEC), Paul (The Woodhouse) and Lee (Sher Wagyu)+ dogs

Last week we rugged up in thermals (well, Tony did anyway) and drove out to visit one of MCEC’s producers Sher Wagyu in Ballan, central Victoria. Owners Vicki and Nick Sher are at the helm of this 21-year business, developing, breeding and feeding Wagyu cattle for some of the best Australian and international restaurants.

Sher Wagyu features on MCEC’s menu and our chefs  serve brisket, rump, outside flat and sirloin at our dinners and lunches, and even on some of our sandwiches.

Vicki & Nick Sher

When we arrived at Sher, Nick showed us an interesting presentation on the genetics of the Japanese (Wa = Japanese, Gyu = beef) breed and history of the farm’s breeding program.  

The Shers were the first in Australia to produce Wagyu X Holstein, the traditional Japanese F1 which yields the renowned beef with that high level of marbling. All cattle are fed on natural ingredients so they’re free from antibiotics and growth hormones.

We learnt all about beef grading and the scoring before taking a drive around the scenic 700 acre property.

Wagyu heifers (and bull in the middle)

Taking in the beautiful valley view on the farm

From their first three calves born in 1992, they now have a Fullblood herd of 750; F2-F3 herd of 2500; and Wagyu X Holstein F1 herd of 4500 across both the Ballan and Tallangatta Valley properties.  

It’s not every day you dine on Wagyu so thank you to the Shers for treating us to a lovely lunch in your home!

The Shers, Tony and Paul chat Wagyu and marble grading

Nick slices some Wagyu

Enjoying a lovely lunch (thanks Vicki and Nick) in the Sher’s home

Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld, Southern Grampians Ranges

The Royal Mail Hotel’s Dan Hunter is a hard man to tie down so our executive chef Tony Panetta jumped at the invite to visit him, catch up on the upcoming Starlight Five Chefs Dinner, and learn more about the award-winning restaurant’s approach to local produce.

The beautiful view of Mount Sturgeon from the hotel

Tony was taken on a tour of the one acre organic farm where the restaurant grows vegetables, fruits, nuts and herbs. Chefs pick their produce fresh from the kitchen garden on a daily basis. They also have four ducks that keep the slugs at bay, their own free-range chicken farm for meat and eggs, and resident bees for honey and pollination.

Royal Mail kitchen garden

A visit to the Three Chefs’ Hats restaurant would not be complete without a dining experience so Tony sat down to an incredible 13 course tasting menu.

“I also asked for a salad dish which had 58 ingredients and all produce was direct from their garden -  it was very ‘from farm to fork’ and inspiring.

“My visit was a great opportunity to catch up with Dan, see how he cooks and the personality that comes out in his food. Their philosophy around sourcing as local as possible is very similar to ours so it was exciting to see first-hand how they work with Victorian produce,”  Tony Panetta said.

Royal Mail garden salad with all ingredients straight from the kitchen garden

Before Tony headed back to Melbourne, via Green Eggs and Greenvale Farms, the two chefs did some Victorian producer number swapping and discovered MCEC and the Royal Mail already have a few in common.

Keep an eye on our blog for upcoming ‘meet the farmer’ posts. In the meantime we’ll leave you with some of dishes from Tony’s visit to the Royal Mail.

Tomato on toast, hand made sheep’s ricotta

Egg yolk and brand new potatoes, salt fish and crackling

Parsnip, apple and blueberry, fennel and crème fraîche

Alessandro's gold medal winning apricot and chocolate entremet (©Callebaut)

After months of experimentation with layers, textures and flavours MCEC pastry chefs Michael Belcher and Alessandro Bartesaghi reaped the sweets of their labour and brought home medals from the Hunter Valley’s Callebaut Chocolate Entremet competition.

Alessandro and Mike with some of their other pastry creations

Mike was awarded a silver medal and Alessandro took out a gold and was placed third overall – a huge coup for the guys who were up against 46 of the best pastry chefs and chocolatiers across Australia.

The two assembled their chocolate entremets (multi-layered mousse-based cakes) onsite and plated their creations in front of judges including pastry virtuoso Adriano Zumbo.

Alessandro and Mike spent lots of time bouncing ideas off each other and working on different flavour combinations and textural elements. And once they were happy went about perfecting every element that went on the plate.

“The difference between first and second place can be something little like a slight smudge on a plate or a small air bubble in your glaze so we had to get everything just right.

“The competition was a great challenge for us because this is not something we would do on a daily basis and was an excellent opportunity to represent MCEC and test our skills against some of the country’s best pastry chefs,” Mike said.

Despite some bumpy terrain en route to the Hunter Valley, and having to turn their hotel room into a makeshift kitchen to create delicate chocolate garnishes, Mike and Alessandro finished their cakes without a hitch. A big thanks to Newcastle Tafe for allowing the guys to prep in their kitchen!

The Callebaut Chocolate Entremet Competition was held as part of the Hunter Valley Chocolate Festival, attended by chocolatiers, pastry chefs and chocolate lovers across Australia.  The major prize winner was awarded a five day cocoa plantation tour in South America.

Cakes packaged and on the road to the Hunter Valley

 Mike and Alessandro’s impressive competition cakes….

Mike's dark chocolate mousse cake with a spiced pineapple jelly, lemongrass pannacotta, cinnamon and orange friande with coconut sable base (silver medal winner)

Alessandro's apricot and chocolate cake with a passionfruit cremeaux, apricot jelly and crunchy coconut base (gold medal winner).

It was a fantastic opportunity for our food and wine team to work alongside some revered chefs and wine personalities in town. Here are our highlights from the festival, photos and some great feedback from those we cooked and shared our kitchen with.

• Nigella Lawson, who took a liking to our Sunnyridge Strawberries and ice cream machine
• The quirky London jellymongers Bompas and Parr who crafted their amazing edible jelly creations right here in our kitchen
• Geoff Lindsay who worked with our food and wine team in preparing dishes for the Spice and Wine matching event, along with our friend and wine guru Roy Moorfield
• Adrian Richardson whose whole suckling pig left nothing to the imagination in his Perfect Match: Red Meat and Big Reds session
• Andrew Blake with Eric Walters, from the award-winning Grand Ridge Brewery (and MCEC’s chosen beer supplier), along with Kirrily “Beer Diva” Waldhorn
• Michelin starred Spanish chef Elena Arzak who impressed with her fractal fluid demonstrations and monkfish ocean creation
• Not to mention Australian chef Anna Gare who fancied our chefs’ hats so much, sous chef Tony Panetta gave her three to take home.

 Roy Moorfield: “Both Geoff Lindsay and I were very impressed by how well our session went and how perfectly the recipes were prepared by the MCEC kitchen. They were punctual and stuck to the plan. I know Geoff {Lindsay} was impressed, and the skills and attention to detail in kitchen was very refreshing. Everyone had the same comments: the kitchen system works so well, the staff are friendly and nothing is too much trouble.”

Geoff Lindsay: “I’ve been involved with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (MFWF) since its inception and I’ve cooked in all sorts of bizarre places, but the MCEC kitchen is by far the easiest and most well-equipped kitchen I’ve ever worked in at a MFWF event. It’s a world-class set-up which makes me feel insanely inadequate in my own little environment.”

London jellymongers Sam Bompas and Harry Parr:
“It’s the quality of the ingredients on offer – that’s what’s been amazing. The enthusiasm of staff and the level of detail behind what’s been going on this week is so slick, you don’t realise the hard work that goes into it – it appears as if by magic. The thing we find incredible is the fact there is  so much going on; you’ve got three different conventions happening and no manicness in the kitchen. And that to us is so impressive.”

We hope you like jamón, too

This jamón (the Spanish word for ham) is sliced from the bone at MCEC lunches and canapé events using the below traditional jamóneros or ham clamp. We source the dry-cured ham from Istra Smallgoods; a family owned business in Daylesford where the Jurcan family have produced quality cured meats for the past 14-15 years.

We love this jamón and the fact our guests can experience an authentic European tapas offering with local Victorian produce and ingredients. The jamón bears a distinct nutty-salty flavour and is served on our fresh sourdough bread, baked daily in-house, and accompanied by Saluté Oliva Oil – a cold pressed extra virgin olive oil –  from Boort in the Mallee Region.

Hailing from Istra (funnily enough) on a peninsula off the northern coastline of Croatia, the Jurcans have brought their traditional European style of curing meat right here to Victoria. Bernie Jurcan of Istra Smallgoods gave us a quick rundown on the  salting, ageing and curing process: “Basically, the ham legs are salt cured for an average of two to three weeks, then they are washed off and air-dried for 9-12 months.”

So perhaps we’ve inspired you to jaunt off to Europe for a taste of this delicacy, but for now maybe you can settle for some locally sourced jamón served right here at MCEC. Que aproveche!

Our ham man, Sham Maudhoo in action, serving the jamón here at MCEC

The salty and nutty flavoured jamón, freshly baked sourdough and Saluté Oliva Oil – deliciously simple and authentic tapas

Here is a historical tapas fact for you…
Tapas derives from the word Tapa which means “lid” or “cover” in Spanish. Historically the slices of bread or meat, like ham or chorizo, were considered as the actual tapas. Andalusian drinkers used to cover their sherry with the bread/meat in between sips to prevent fruit flies from hovering around or diving into the fortified wine. The salty meat made for thirsty patrons, and bartenders and restaurateurs began serving the tapas to increase their alcohol sales.

We went along to visit the Yarra Valley Gourmet Greenhouse back in September 2010 to see what they were growing and how they were doing it.  The sustainable boutique vegetable farm was founded in 2005 by Meagan Bertram and Steven Briggs, and we’d been wanting to learn a little more about their operation for some time.

Based in Mt Evelyn, the two person operation is a sustainable horticultural haven with a philosophy that fits really well with our own, and a shared passion for good, quality, ethically grown produce.

Steven and Meagan are producing some exceptional organic herbs including basil, coriander, garlic, chives, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage purple, sage silver, thyme, Vietnamese mint – pungent and flavourful – as well as beautiful zucchini flowers, baby radishes, nasturtium leaves and nasturtium flowers.

The summer break saw the return of sweet, juicy heirloom tomatoes of all colours, shapes and sizes which we’re currently using exclusively in the MCEC kitchen, and will be until they go out of season around March.

They have that old-fashioned, intense flavour; they’re not genetically modified in any way; and they’re so much more delicate than any of the commercial varieties.

The farm’s herbs and various other organic vegetables are being produced throughout the year, allowing us to draw on what’s fresh and seasonal for all of our menus.

Read about Meagan and Stephen’s Yarra Valley Gourmet Greenhouse story at www.yvgg.com.au

Meagan Bertram, Stephen Briggs and their little one, Alice

Zucchini flowers and some of the unique herbs from the Yarra Valley Gourmet Greenhouse