Do you have the appetite to be the best?

August 2016

Do you have the appetite to be the best?

Silver Fern Farms invites NZ’s top chefs to take part in this year’s Premier Selection Awards

Red meat is set to star on menus of the country’s top restaurants over the next few months as chefs compete in the Silver Fern Farms Premier Selection Awards.

The awards are in their fourth year and since conception there have been over 200 entries from New Zealand’s best chefs and restaurants into the competition. Silver Fern Farms General Manager Marketing Sharon Angus says the awards provide the opportunity for New Zealand’s top chefs to showcase their talent and craft using the best quality red meat.

“We are excited about the growth of the Premier Selection Awards over the past few years and the positive feedback we have had from chefs, who tell us they enjoy the opportunity to create a new dish using Silver Fern Farms cuts,” she says.

The new categories introduced in 2015 will be maintained this year and include:

• Best Beef dish

• Best Lamb dish

• Best Venison dish

• Best Metropolitan restaurant

• Best Regional restaurant

The supreme winner will receive the title of Premier Master of Fine Cuisine.

“The awards give professional chefs an avenue to create a memorable taste experience for diners while also being recognised for their creativity and skills,” says Sharon Angus. “We want to provide them with the finest ingredients so they can harness their creativity and innovation to produce extraordinary results for diners.”

Silver Fern Farms has invited a select group of top chefs from across New Zealand to enter an original dish using cuts from Silver Fern Farms’ extensive range of beef, venison and lamb. Diners can sample these dishes on the menus at participating restaurants from 28 September to 6 November.

Dishes will be judged by a qualified judging panel lead by New Zealand’s renowned restaurant commentator Kerry Tyack. Twelve finalists will be selected to proceed to the finalist round of judging, where Kerry and Guest Judge Tony Adcock, a former restauranteur with a wealth of industry experience, will co-judge all finalist dishes. At least one finalist will be selected from the following regions:

• Northland/Auckland

• Central North Island

• Lower North Island

• Upper South Island

• Lower South Island

Last year’s winner of the Premier Master of Fine Cuisine was Stuart Rogan of Botswana Butchery in Auckland. Stuart has been delighted with the response from diners and the increase in customers who have tasted the winning dish.

“Aside from the personal and professional endorsement the award has been great motivation for the team at Botswana Butchery Auckland. We added the dish to our lunch as well as dinner menu and six months on from the award announcement it's a popular as ever and is now a signature dish. We still get lots of people coming in and asking to try it!”

Judge Kerry Tyack described Rogan’s dish as ‘consistent and faultless’. “This dish set the bar with its superb technique and stunning celebration of the art of meat preparation”.

Sharon Angus says the awards also help Silver Fern Farms to understand the requirements chefs have for premium quality red meat cuts.

“The Premier Selection Awards allow us to work alongside chefs. Past awards have taught us that product consistency is critical to chefs, and being able to deliver on this is important to us because we set ourselves high standards when it comes to suppling premium quality ingredients here in New Zealand as well as to international markets.”

ENDS:

Notes to editors:

The finalists in the Silver Fern Farms Premier Selection Awards 2016 will be celebrated by their peers and media at an awards event in early 2017, where the winners will be announced.

The Premier Master of Fine Cuisine will also receive a trip back to the source, staying in luxury accommodation and hosted by of one of our Silver Fern Farmers.

Silver Fern Farms has made a significant investment in a media campaign to promote the entrants, finalists and winner across magazine and regional press, consumer promotions, social media, online and mobile media.

Invited chefs can enter online and find further information at:

silverfernfarms.co.nz/premierselectionawards

2015 Premier Master of Fine Cuisine:

Stuart Rogan Botswana Butchery Auckland

2015 Premier Selection Awards category winners:

Botswana Butchery, Auckland – Premier Master of Fine Cuisine, Best Beef Dish, and Best Metropolitan Restaurant

Executive Chef Stuart Rogan

Silver Fern Farms Premier Selection Reserve beef eye fillet, braised short rib with parsley, mustard and horseradish crust, carrot puree, asparagus, whipped garlic, cep jus

Palate Restaurant, Hamilton – Best Lamb Dish, joint winner

Head Chef/owner Mat McLean

Assiette of Silver Fern Farms lamb with broad beans, artichoke, peppers and olives

Salt on The Waterfront, New Plymouth – Best Lamb Dish, joint winner

Head Chef Freddie Ponder

Herb crusted Silver Fern Farms lamb with smoked pepper and fennel

Pravda Café, Wellington – Best Venison Dish

Sous Chef Johannes van Kekem

Smoked Silver Fern Farms venison back strap, cured in gin and juniper with venison sweetbreads, on a celeriac, apple and walnut salad with a blood orange dressing

Pitches Store, Ophir – Best Regional Restaurant

Head chef Daniel Hill

Smoked eye fillet of Silver Fern Farms Premier Selection Reserve beef and green tea

2015 Premier Selection Awards finalists:

Plume Restaurant, Matakana - Head chef Atesh Ram

Wine Chambers, Auckland- Head chef Daniel Ellis

Mills Reef Restaurant, Tauranga - Head Chef Attila Kovacs

Muse on Allen Restaurant & Bar, Wellington -Head Chef Samuel North

Freemans Dining Room, Christchurch - Head Chef/owner Nicholas Freeman

Carrick, Cromwell - Head Chef Gwen Harvie

Wakatipu Grill at The Hilton, Queenstown -Sous chef Jaeyong Jang

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