Culinary Explanations for the New Menu (Glossary)

GLOSSARY of Culinary terms;

Bordelaise sauce; red wine sauce with garlic, shallots & bone marrow.

Bresaola; is air-dried salted beefeye that has been aged about 2-3 months until it becomes hard and a dark red, almost purple colour. It is lean, has a sweet, musty smell and is tender. It originated in Valtellina, a valley in the Alps of northern Italy.

Capers; are the salted and pickled immature flower bud. The grown mature fruit of the caper shrub is also used, and prepared similarly to the buds to be used as caper berries

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Wagyu Beef on the Menu in Yeppoon

What is all this about wagyu beef? Well lets clear up a few things straight away. Wagyu beef is not just a fancy name used to beef up the sales of beef in the market place. Wagyu beef is not massaged either. And no it’s not cheap. Wagyu directly translates as Japanese or Japanese style Wagyu and Kobe, the term “Kobe beef” is an appellation given to Wagyu beef that is raised or finished in Kobe in Japan and can only be used for beef finished in this way.

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Horseradish

Recently I ordered some Fresh horseradish. I wanted it so I could grate it over one one of my dishes on the new menu instead of using the bought processed product and getting an inferior outcome. Having never had the pleasure of this fresh product in my hands in Australia before now I was very pleased to receive it, only to be amazed at the price. $44- for this amount. One kilo. We all joked about setting up a horseradish farm and then got back to work.

Technorati Tags: Fresh, horseradish.

Food Guides

I came across this website/blog today Gold Coast Food Guide, what a great blog it is. It gives an unbiased review of eateries in the area. The site was created by a young lady that having lived in Melbourne (arguably the food capital of Australia) and reading the generous supply of food guides, looked forward to trying out new restaurants recommended by the Age and other guide books which helped to discover some fantastic restaurants, cafe’s and providers throughout Melbourne. Once back on the Gold Coast and after discovering a lack of unbiased restaurant reviews she set up the Gold Coast Food Guide. Something that she mentions on her site is quite relevant, quote “It seemed the local press only ran reviews when a restaurant placed an ad in their paper” and there wasn’t a dedicated Gold Coast food guide book. I hope that you follow the link to this site and have a good look around. Maybe this might become a site that you look to before heading down the coast to the so called great dinning experiences that you long for but supposedly don’t have up here. Well come on out and try the places that we have and go and compare. Here are just some of our local eateries; (alphabetical) Beaches, Lagoon, Marsden Tavern, Megalomania, Michaels, The Shore Thing, Waterline cafe, and others that I haven’t mentioned. Maybe food lovers can share their honest dining experiences and together we can discover some fantastic restaurants and eateries on the Capricorn Coast.

Fifteen Melbourne

Jude back from Fifteen Melbourne. Our top waitress Miss Jude visited ‘Fifteen’ in Melbourne last week and came back with the signed menu from some of the original crew. Many thanks. Fifteen in London and now they are in Cornwall UK, Amsterdam and Melbourne the first one outside of Europe. They are all called Fifteen because the first group in London were 15 young people, (they take 20 trainees each year). The restaurant funds itself with the help of donations and sponsorship, and 30% of the profit goes back to the Fifteen Foundation Australia. Quote Fifteen is about more than just cooking. is about giving troubled young people the chance to get out of the rut they’re in and break the cycles that are holding them back, and to show the world how amazing they can be! So now to the dinner and menu. Entrees from $ 16 - $19 mains from $36 - $40 desserts from $14 - $20 The prices are certainly up there when you consider that you have twenty young apprentices cooking for you!!! From this kitchen

Marco Pierre White Autobiography

I had been inching to read this book White Slave by Marco Pierre White his autobiography ever since it was in my hands some weeks ago.

I ordered it for a friend of mine and as I glimpsed into it I immediately wished that I had ordered two copies. I had to order it from Brisbane as not one book seller in Yeppoon or Rockhampton had it. They could get it for me but it would take a few days at least. So I called Borders book sellers and they express posted it overnight for me. I was in a rush to get it the next day for certain reasons. That was a few weeks ago…..

Dinner with friends-Goosehorn by Night

Last evening Moni and I met up with friends and decided spur of the moment to go out for a meal rather than cook. We headed over to the Marsden Tavern, only to find 6 people in there and as we found out from the man behind the bar that on Sunday night they only did roast. We decided that was not for us so the four of us made our way to the Goosehorn. The place was full with only a few seats for us which the waitress put together. This was another opportunity for me to see the Goosehorn by evening. The first thing that we all agreed on was that the neon lights were far too overpowering and defiantly did not fit a wine bar, more so a night club maybe…. We were given the menus and asked for drinks. We ordered 4 Coronas with lime. Two minutes later the waitress informs us that they only had 3 left and would someone like a different beer. OMG you have run out of Coronas well!!! What can I say? I choose a Pure Blonde and we waited for our drinks, no problem. Then the waitress arrives at the table with three Coronas poured into glasses without any lime either. Well what can I say again? They were returned to the bar, by this time the boss walked in the front door with a carton of Coronas and we gladly pointed out to him that we would like our beers in the bottle with a lime wedge and not in the glass, he said that it was the way they served the beers in a glass at the Goosehorn. Surely not a

Weekend Herb Blogging-Portobello Mushrooms

This week’s entry for Weekend Herb Blogging founded by Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen is Portobello mushrooms. My recipe for these huge mushrooms follows. You can catch all the WHB entries this week hosted by Susan at foodblogga .  Onto my information about these mushrooms. Portobello or Portebello either way, or sometimes called Flats or Field Mushrooms range in size from 4 - 6 inches in diameter.

They are very meaty ( a great substitute for vegetarians ) and lend them selves too many methods of preparation. Frying, baking, grilling, stewing, smoking. They can be used in simple dishes like sandwiches or burgers, onto risotto, individualy stuffing, serving steaks on and more. Today I will go through the process that I use to marinate overnight then cook on a low temperature for 30 mins.

Goosehorn Coffee & Lunch

Another Monday is here and in town I was with Monica, so we headed straight for the Goosehorn for a coffee and a bite to eat. A bite it was. Recently opened in the old premises of the KFC after some refurbishing.

In we walk and first of all I am greeted with a smell that I cannot put any other way than cheesy. After a while it went or maybe we just got used to it. Could have been the new chairs and tables. Anyway we chose to sit inside, at a table by the window with view to the beach and the street. Also with view of any of the 4 flat screen TV’s on the walls.

Red Onion Confit

This is my second entry in Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this time by Chris from Mele Cotte. Chris you do have lots of entries I am going to need a holiday to get to see them all. Sorry that I missed out last week with the founder of the Weekend Herb Blogging event Kayln hosting.

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