By Tom Cowie
Gardens full of fresh herbs, custard made with real creme anglaise, slow cooked meat that tastes every bit as good as filet mignon.
It may sound like the menu of a hearty gastro pub but Maggie Beer believes that kitchens in aged care homes could be delivering this kind of food to residents at a cost that isn't unaffordable to providers.
Maggie Beer arrives at the Royal Commission into aged care.Credit: AAP
The celebrity cook — known for her gourmet brand of ingredients, cookbooks and television appearances — appeared at the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety on Tuesday as part of her advocacy for better food for the elderly.
The Maggie Beer Foundation runs masterclasses for chefs and cooks in aged care facilities, teaching them how to provide flavoursome and seasonal meals at a low cost.
Beer said she was moved to start her foundation after seeing the food that her aunt would eat when she was in aged care in Sydney 50 years ago.
"My aunt didn't want to eat anything, lost all the weight because the food was without a smell. It was institutionalised food in its most basic form," she said.
We need to ooomph that flavour of food in every single way we can.
Celebrity cook Maggie Beer
Poor quality meals in aged care homes were most often characterised by the smell, or lack of it, Beer said.
This was often a problem with meals that are "cook chill", food that is prepared and then cooled to be reheated later, she said.
It was important to create the feeling of home for residents, she said, and this was done best through cooking.
"If you don't have satellite kitchens with onions cooked in butter or bacon... it's lacking in scent and aroma," she said.
"They're the emotional cues, everybody wants to smell proper food."
Beer said it wasn't possible to feed people well for as little as $7 a day, as some facilities do.
"They would have to use processed foods, frozen food, frozen vegetables, fish that's frozen and imported," she said.
A minimum budget would be $10.50 a day, she said, but $14 could provide "really good food".
Another issue, aside from cost, was red tape. Beer said she encountered people working in the sector who pointed to a procedures manual as a reason why they couldn't do certain things, like building a fresh herb garden or serving soft eggs.
"We have to debunk that," she said.
"For instance, making scrambled eggs and putting cream into them instead of milk or water.
"It's that lusciousness, and putting in fresh herbs, just making a pesto. We need to ooomph that flavour of food in every single way we can."
Custard was another food that Beer said could be improved easily by ditching the packet mix and making a creme anglaise with eggs and vanilla.
Filet mignon would be too expensive for most aged care homes, she said, however secondary cuts of meat that have been slow cooked could be just as tasty.
"In the filet mignon, it's texture not flavour. It's posh, it's great for those who can have it. But with the right cooking methods, with the right ingredients, we can do things inexpensively."
Beer said her classes were teaching staff, who often had no training in cooking, to make stocks from scratch, fry ingredients at the right temperature and add lentils and beans to meals.
"Every bite of sustenance should be of goodness, but flavour first: flavour, goodness and pleasure," she said.
"Without those things in equal measure they don't have enough to look forward to to get up in the morning."