Camel meat on the menu at Adelaide restaurant Henry Austin
WOULD you try a camel steak? The meat may soon become more common on SA menus if an experimental run at one Adelaide restaurant is successful.
GANGLY, famously misshapen ships of the desert may soon find a more common berth on South Australian menus if an experimental run at one Adelaide restaurant is successful.
Max Mason, owner of the innovative Henry Austin, describes the new-age, young camel meat, rarely used in SA as “rich, dark, and not gamey at all”.
He is looking for feedback on his chefs’ experimental camel dishes, believing the meat “is everything you want in a steak”.
“We char it on an open fire and serve it off the bone, with heirloom carrots, ice plant and macadamia cream. And we are also trialling a camel tartare, which is an even better way of getting the true camel flavour.”
Themeatis supplied through Something Wild in the Adelaide Central Market where owner Richard Gunner says a “happy accident” is delivering a much more tender product than some people may have experienced before.
“Due to size restrictions and freight costs (from Central Australia) we’re bringing in young camel meat,” says Mr Gunner.
“It is from animals up to five years old. The younger meat is much more tender, and tastes like a cross between beef and goat.”
For home cooks, it’s about $15 to $30kg, depending on the cut. Mr Gunner says the cooking methods are similar to beef and goat.
You would slow-cook the shoulder, but a scotch or strip loin would be grilled just like beef, he says. The main difference is in the “bizarrely constructed camel hump”.
“It’s a unique thing, and prized in Arabian countries,” he says. “It’s a lump of fat but has an unusual structure, with protein (not actual meat) holding it together.
“It is used more for curing and lardons, or you render the fat and add it to the camel meat, which is otherwise very lean.”
Camel steaks are part of a $65 banquet menu at Henry Austin.
