As part of a series of events taking place all over North America, we teamed up with our mates at StarChefs to bring the NYC culinary community together around Aussie Beef. With a rock-star cast of chefs from the 5 boroughs and beyond, there were #aussome bites abound. While a delegation of Aussie importers from Queensland mingled with a “who’s who” of the NYC culinary scene, fab drinks were poured, and everyone got down to the noshing.
Who Cooked What
Our mate and Aussie Beef Mate Chef Janine Booth came up from Miami (and brought Chef Jeff McInnis along) to share her “boomerang cut” – an Aussi-fied take on the increasingly popular tri-tip. She smoked the tri-tip low and slow, and then seared it to finish. She put a little Middle Eastern spin on it and served it with a roasted red pepper and cashew muhammara and mint chimichurri, just like you might find in Sydney or Melbourne! So good.
“I loved using Aussie Tri-Tip for my dish, it’s a super versatile cut of meat and works really well with a reverse sear method or slow smoked and then seared. Aussie farming methods are of the highest standards, so the meat is always tender and delicious and the flavor is undeniable!”
Crowd favorite Jae Lee (more from him here) crushed it with his Korean Chopped Cheese. You can see how he makes it in this video –it’s a fantastic mashup of the corner deli classic “chopped cheese” (basically a cheesesteak made with ground beef) crossed with all kinds of authentic Korean ingredients, flavor and technique. Chef uses the Korean rice cakes or tteokbokki (tuk-bow-kee) – no hoagie roll here. There’s a housemade scallion oil, a Korean miso sauce, soy-pickled jalapeños, and Korean chile flake. Only the American cheese remains from the bodega original, and when you put it together with Aussie grassfed beef, we have a winner! Chef Janine called it “moreish” as in “I want to have more of that!”
Chef Trigg Brown of Win Son took humble Xie Fan, congee rice porridge, and elevated it to the max with the “king of steaks” the Aussie rib-eye cap and a chile vinaigrette.
Rule of Thirds host chef JT Vuong taught us all a bit about yakuzen, “food as medicine” in Japanese culture. His Braised Aussie Wagyu Short Ribs, in Dashi broth with Winter Vegetables were food for the soul!
Chef Helen Nguyen of Saigon Social brought a riff on one of her famous dishes, her oxtail fried rice. With buttered Aussie Beef swapped in, she took it up a notch!
Aussie Beef Mate Jason Fullilove of the newly opened West Hollywood hotspot Norma came in and did his thing with an Aussie Striploin, grilling it simply over wood fire and serving it with hot honey hushpuppies, curried carrots and truffle cauliflower puree. We’re pretty sure some of his legendary Tumie Coco hot sauce was involved!
Photo Credit: Clay Williams (@ultraclay) and StarChefs (@starchefs)