BISTRO » classic pub fare

Keeping the flame alive

Bistro — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:48:28 +0000

BISTRO ask three chefs at three Aussie pubs to share with us their views on how best to keep the flame of the Sunday roast alive.

The Sunday roast has long been a meal fit for kings and we may forgive ourselves for feeling somewhat ‘kingly’ in our hungering for this splendid wintery feast. Perhaps the ‘tradition’ in our traditional Sunday roasts has been best preserved over the years by our taverns, the meeting places for both disciples and the disparate alike? Could we not well be joining the likes of Shakespeare, Jonson, Marlow—and all of history’s garrulous favourites— when we step into a pub on a Sunday afternoon to bite into our roasts along with our brouhahas?

For deep down, whether we are alone or in company, participating in this Sunday forum is as old as the gospels themselves and just as benevolent! A Sunday roast makes us feel at home with the company of mankind as much as with the company we may choose to sit next to. With so much expectation riding on this rustic yet simplistic convention, we ask three chefs at three Aussie pubs to share with us their views on how best to keep the flame of the Sunday roast alive.

The Four in Hand, Paddington (Sydney)

Head Chef, Colin Fassnidge, offers roasts “During our winter season,” he says, “and we use lots of braises along with lighter feminine dishes to balance the heartiness.” The Four in Hand’s bar menu includes Wagyu Corned Beef, 12-hour-cooked Beef Cheeks, Braised Lamb Shoulder, and Roasted Pork Belly ($18). So how does a pub make money from $18 roasts? “We have a fine dining restaurant (SMH 16/20) attached to the bar,” Fassnidge explains, “and use similar products in both kitchens. This eliminates waste and means we can buy whole animals and use different parts for different dishes, which is more economical.” What is ‘a must’ for a good Sunday roast we ask him. “Good quality meat, seasonal vegetables, and SEASONING! We also use specially-made boards to serve the roast on, which makes our customers feel a bit special.”

Stanley Pub, Stanley (Victoria)

With a growing reputation as a food destination, the Stanley is just 10km up the hill from Beechworth in Northeast Victoria, and has an exciting menu. Head Chef, Ludo Baulacky, tells us about adapting the menu to suit the locale: “Our customers are a mix of locals, regional visitors, and tourists,” he explains, “who are looking for a food and wine experience. I cook many of the dishes sous vide which is all about slow cooking foods ‘under vacuum’ to create sublime tastes and textures.”

The Stanley offers an intriguing ‘Roast Collection’ ($38), in conjunction with the ‘Put Victoria on Your Table’ initiative this month is: Wooragee Free Range Pork: roasted pork belly, pigs head croquette, and Ballotine of pork leg and shoulder. We ask what processes are behind the qualities of this dish? “Different parts of the animal have very different tastes and textures. The idea is for the customer to experience as much of the pig on the plate as possible— including head, brains, ears, and trotters. The opportunity to source free range suckling pig handpicked by Olivia Johnstone of Wooragee Quality Free Range Pork was a deciding factor.”

“The head—including brain and ears— is turned into the croquette, and the belly is slow-roasted for 10 hours and pressed. The leg is opened and flattened, then rolled and cooked sous vide. One of the most important parts of roasting is the SEASONING.”

We ask what tips Baulacky might have for others preparing such a detailed dish? “As this is a very complex dish,” he tells us, “starting from butchering the pig to preparing each component, you must work meticulously. My two main tips would be to season food as you go – every step of the dish, taste and season as you cook— and timing is also critical.”

It appears that the best tip to keep the flame of the traditional Sunday roast alive, then, lies in the SEASONING first and foremost, overnight marinating, stuffing served on the side, slow roasting— and a fancy plate where possible. Oh, and a whole animal gets you the juicy cuts!

The Coopers Hotel, Newtown (Sydney)

Karen McPherson completed her chef’s apprenticeship in Scotland working within large hotel groups, and her travels eventually led her to Sydney where she has worked for several restaurants and up-market hotels including Radisson and Four Seasons.

“The Coopers,” she explains, “is in the heart of Newtown with a diverse range of customers so I design a varied menu to suit all tastes, and offer quality meals at good-value prices. It’s up-market but casual.”

Having grown up in the UK, McPherson employs her Scottish background to turn her roasts into a special fare with Yorkshire pudding and the like. “In the UK,” she points out, “the Sunday roast is not just a meal, but a time the whole family goes out to a restaurant to enjoy dinner.

“Our roast beef is marinated overnight in Dijon mustard and our chickens in sea salt and rosemary to create that real ‘UK’ roast experience that our customers have come to love. The real secret, though, is the stuffing. We serve it alongside the meat and it is hand-made using only fresh ingredients.”

With Newtown’s passing trade and no bookings required, we wonder how the Coopers estimate their food requirements? “We take in a variety of factors, such as bookings, regular clientele, and the weather,” McPherson explains, “In winter it’s a good guess that the majority will order Sunday roast, and we always over-cater to ensure we don’t run out, although wastage is minimal. We can incorporate some meats into other dishes too, for example, roast beef can be used as a base for a Thai beef salad.”

Sweet idea

Bistro — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 04:34:48 +0000

Away from home, one establishment has also turned its pudding trade into a lure for international travellers. Britain’s Three Ways House Hotel hosts a Pudding Club, which meets every Friday night with the sole purpose of devouring the sticky British desserts. It’s located in the English Cotswold village of Mickleton in the heart of Shakespeare Country. Founded in 1985, the club has more than 1000 members all around the world, from Italy to Indonesia. (Though, of course, they don’t all turn up on the same night!) The blackboard list of puddings ranges from old favourites, like syrup sponge and summer pudding, to the more curious items, like Eton Mess and Passionfruit Charlotte.

The rooms even have dessert-inspired themes, including the Sticky Toffee Room, the Chocolate Suite and the Oriental Ginger Syrup Sponge Room. Yum. There are rules though, including you may eat only one pudding at a time. Thankfully, the number of puddings you try in one night is not limited!

Want to indulge your sweet tooth a little further? Head to www.puddingclub.com.

Magic of pudding

Bistro — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 04:29:46 +0000

When it comes to one thick, soft dessert and its attraction for clientele, the proof is in the pudding.

While it seems the perfect way to round off a meal, dessert hasn’t always been a standard part of a Western meal.

Once just a privilege of the aristocracy or a rare treat, it wasn’t until the rise of the middle class in the 19th-century – with sugar also becoming cheaper and more readily available – that we have been able to indulge our sweet-tooth more often. The development and popularity of desserts has since spread accordingly.

And, one dessert that is particularly enticing in the cooler months is pudding – a thick, soft dessert, typically containing flour or some other thickener, milk, eggs, a flavouring, and sweetener.

The old-fashioned treat is front-and-centre on the menu at J.B. O’Reilly’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in West Leederville, near Perth, which attracts locals, as well as Irish and British travellers, yearning for the tastes of home. And, puddings certainly work a treat, when washed down with a Guinness.

BISTRO discussed puddings and all things sweet with the eatery’s Tod Gorey, who has twice been awarded Australian Chef of the Year.

Tod, what percentage of your dining customers has dessert?

I would say 40 per cent, which is up 10 per cent from 12 months ago. We have heard that customers are dining in our restaurant, so they can have a pudding they haven’t had since boarding school.

How do dessert dishes compare with the profitability of entrees and mains?

Our puddings are very profitable – simple steamed and baked puddings, presented with no fuss. Being a pub restaurant, our meals are a little more generous than most restaurants, so it is hard to sell three courses. The puddings are a high-margin item and their keeping quality is good, so there is no wastage compared with expensive meat and seafood dishes.

From your experience, please specify the type of desserts that have a higher margin?

A lot of the traditional steamed pudding recipes were created for and by households with limited means. Most consist of inexpensive and excess produce, preserved fruits purchased when at their cheapest.

Can you nominate the type of desserts that have a low profit margin?

Desserts and puddings made with good chocolate, fresh berries and nuts can be quite expensive, so we limit these to balance the menu. Our summer pudding menu will cost more with fresh, summer fruit, whereas the winter menu uses more preserved produce, reflected by the season.

Is there a reason why you would have low-profit dessert items on your menu?

To add variety to the menu. There will always be a customer wanting a chocolate dessert and, for the summer menu, fresh berries, as they are a large part of the British taste.

What are the advantages of cheese plates on the menu?

For our lunch (business) clientele, who generally don’t eat dessert, the cheese selection keeps them around for another drink and coffee. We are in the process of setting up a cheese display fridge in the restaurant to prompt sales. We have a good supply of farmhouse cheeses from the British Isles and Ireland.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of making deserts in-house as opposed to using suppliers?

The obvious advantage is we are able to use up excess and inexpensive produce. The downside is the labour cost. It is also a big selling point that all of our menu is produced ourselves, including our ice creams.

The cost of ingredients for making desserts has gone up considerably over the past year – butter is a case in point – how have you adapted?

A number of our traditional desserts are based on utilising excess produce, stale bread, suet (beef kidney fat), soft fruit, and so on. All of our bread off-cuts are used. Suet costs us half the price of butter. Fruits can be purchased at their cheapest and preserved for winter months as is the age-old tradition of peasant households.

How often do you update your dessert menu, and how do you find new items to include?

We change our menu with the main seasons, summer and winter. I research old books and learn more from occasional trips to the UK. We also listen to our customers, who love to tell us about the food of their youth.

Any tips on up-selling desserts?

We find that if the customer knows exactly what pudding is available when ordering their meal, they are more likely to ‘save some room.’ This is done by displays on the table, with the pudding menu attached to the main menu. We sell a few less ‘starter’ courses, but the puddings are a lot higher profit.

Can you explain more about The Pudding Club at J.B.’s?

Our clientele is largely Irish and British, who come here for the traditional food and beers. It was natural to offer them what we call ‘boarding school puddings’. They became so popular that we expanded to the 10 puddings on our current winter menu. We really captured the imagination of our diners, with the atmosphere of the roaring fire on a winter’s night. Eating an old-fashioned pudding . . . so many tell us it feels just like home!

Any last culinary tips?

Some advice I can give is to keep to the style of the establishment. For example, don’t try to incorporate Asian flavours into an Irish pub. You need to create a style and atmosphere that reflects your customers’ tastes. All of the food we produce is designed to complement our large range of beers, ales and ciders.

Burger it!

Bistro — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:17:33 +0000

The classic pub fare of a patty, sandwiched between two buns, has never looked so good, with the burger undergoing a modern twist.

The humble burger is a staple of Aussie pub fare. It has a diverse appeal, with variations now ranging from the traditional hamburger style to bacon, fish, chicken and even tofu burgers.
Although it’s generally an inexpensive item on the menu, the staple can also do up-market, with top eateries like Rockpool Bar and Grill dishing up Wagyu burgers.
We asked chefs from two pubs – known for their tasty burgers – to provide their take on the quintessential pub food.

Wide appeal
Sean Donovan is a co-owner and Head Chef of The Station Hotel in Footscray, Melbourne. Having worked in some of the best kitchens around, including the Michelin-starred La Tante Claire in London and Georges Blanc in France, he knows a thing or two about how to sate people’s appetites.
Donovan says classic staples, like burgers, help venues cater to a broad demographic – his heartland, Footscray, particularly, attracts a diverse clientele, traditionally being an industrial area, with a migrant population, and now, having young professionals and families pouring in.
“Most of our customers represent the newer community of the inner West and seek a relaxed, more accessible, affordable place to dine, without compromising on the quality of produce or cooking technique,” Donovan says.
The hotel’s menu is modern European in style, with a heavy focus on steak, oysters and premium seafood. Then there’s the popular Station burger. “The burger is the most inexpensive main course on the menu, yet all the components are made in-house,” Donovan enthuses. “It is a classic combination of beef, bacon, fried egg, red pepper and mustard seed relish, and aioli, garnished with a little salad, hand-cut chips and fried, beer-battered onion rings.”
Donovan makes the brioche and sesame seed bun himself and seasons the beef mince with Dijon mustard, tomato sauce, cooked onions, garlic and a blend of herbs, including parsley, tarragon and rosemary. Yum!
The chef says mains dishes at pubs, like the Station burger, should be able to satisfy a patron’s appetite in one course. And, Donovan advises, “make sure the quality of produce and cooking technique is the best it can be”.
Going local
Adam Hodge is the Head Chef at The Bellum Hotel – a traditional country pub, surrounded by lush farmland in South Australia’s Limestone Coast region.
The clientele is largely farmers from surrounding towns, like Mount Gambier and Port MacDonnell. And, Hodge says: “They get a thrill when they see their produce on our menu and that’s one of the reasons (behind the hotel’s) success in the past year.”
Not that the farming clientele is afraid of straying from the traditional. “Although our lamb burger is seen as quite conventional, we still incorporate items not usually seen on a pub burger, such as goat cheese aioli, pancetta and caramelised onion. It is something a little different,” Hodge says. Indeed.
Award-winning taste
The modern tweaking of the pub staple has obviously worked well for the hotel, with it winning the AHA SA’s ‘best pub burger’ gong last year.
On the concept behind the burger, Hodge says: “I wanted to use something local and, with the (hotel) owner’s family having an adjacent sheep and cattle farm, lamb was the obvious choice.”
Hodge says the local lamb is just fantastic. “We have prime farming land all around our hotel and you can taste the difference. I went for (burger) flavours that naturally go together and, as I’m a fan of Mediterranean cooking, it was easy to find ingredients that blend together.”
In designing such fare, Hodge says: “I learned that there needs to be three or four main components, but they must come together as a whole.” Burger-licious, really.

BISTRO, May 2010