KIWI BUTCHERS TAKE PART IN COOKING CLASS AT HOMELAND

Last week, New World and PAK'nSAVE butchers travelled from Whangarei, Auckland and Hamilton to Homeland, restaurant and food embassy, to enjoy a bespoke cooking class led by decorated chef, Peter Gordon and his team.

The butchers were greeted with a batch of Homeland’s famous, warm from the oven, triple cheese scones. But the purpose of the day wasn’t only to wolf down delicious savoury treats (although this was certainly a central theme); as Beef + Lamb New Zealand representative, Lauren Shamy shared in her welcome, the goal of the day was to ‘equip butchers with extra cooking knowledge to ensure their customers get the best in-store and product experience’.

Who better to pass on this knowledge than Peter, his head chef Anna Weir and Homeland’s resident ‘beef-man’ Billy Cosgrave.

Butchers listened intently as Peter explained the kaupapa behind Homeland and began to demonstrate his professional tips and interesting titbits on marinades, rubs and meaty cooking techniques, such as smoking and slow cooking. Food items new to the butchers were also introduced, such as our native kawakawa and miso.

Then the fun really began!

 Masterchef-style, teams were assigned and split into workstations with the Homeland team challenging them to use their new learnings to prepare a meal to share.

Each group selected their hero proteins – lamb fillet. chicken breast or beef bavette (flank steak) and chose from an array of seasonal fruit and vegetables to accompany their dish. With produce this good, a superbly equipped cooking station and creative imaginations it quickly became evident what a talented group of foodies had gathered, but when it was announced that the Homeland team would be judging the final meals and awarding a prize, everyone visibly stepped up a notch. Already a competitive bunch, many of the butchers had previously taken part in the national Butcher of the Year competitions and were seasoned (no pun intended) professionals at performing under pressure.

Winners on the day went left field and used their exceptional knife skills to finely chop raw beef, flavouring it with a rub and finely chopped onion to create a steak tartare. Whilst the runners-up focused on side dishes to compliment the meat, producing fresh colourful salads and serving their array of proteins alongside tamarillo salsa boats.

Andy Hayward, Business Manager at Foodstuffs reflected after the awards ceremony ‘It’s fair to say our butchers really enjoyed the day. They’re already asking me when the next one is!’

Thanks to the whānau at Homeland for making this experience such a memorable one and for sharing their knowledge and kai! We’re excited to visit the butchery counters of those in attendance and see the inspiration taken from the afternoon in their stores and work is now underway on organising the next session.