Tassie fine food awards remind us how lucky we are to have such wonderful produce
The Royal Agricultural Society’s fine food awards have revealed the best dishes Tasmanian producers have to offer. See the yums that made the list >>
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Life as a semi-professional eater has seen me in some strange circumstances – for example a full cheese degustation with matched drinks before sitting down to a multi-course Spanish meal, in Hong Kong.
Enjoying a wonderful Thai dinner in Bangkok that was followed with a second dinner at midnight.
Or eating grilled lamb chops that were still attached to the lamb just moments before, at an isolated Moroccan truck stop.
Last week I had another interesting, food-related experience.
In the course of an hour, and all before lunchtime, I ate items including but not limited to: a sausage, an oyster, some white bread, a choc-orange shortbread, a scoop of ice cream, a clove of black garlic and a pizzaiola cracker.
I also drank a nip of hazelnut oil, some pure cream, a small glass of mead and a cappuccino. It was quite the gustatory line-up and was part of my role as one of four judges for the Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania’s Richard Langdon Trophy.
Think of this as a “best in show” situation – all 20 of the items on the judging table had previously won their class at various events throughout the year and now it was time to pick the champion.
It’s not easy comparing apples and oranges (or in this case, oysters and chocolates) but we broke the score up into categories including taste, visual appeal and market appeal, donned our hair nets and began tasting.
Royal Tasmanian Fine Food Awards ambassador, chef Peter Kuruvita, was one of the judges and, with his four decades of culinary experience as a chef and restaurateur, I was keen to ask him his opinions. However, we were under strict instructions not to discuss our scores, with stewards present to make sure we stuck to the rules. Executive chef Paul Forrester – who consults with the awards as well as hospitality venues around the state was another judge, along with Elaine Reeves, long-time food writer, former Mercury sub-editor and columnist, and co-author of A Table in the Valley. I was in esteemed company.
All the products we tasted are commercially available, although any branding was well-hidden, making it a truly blind tasting.
There was water, plain crackers and apple slices for when we needed a palate cleanser and yes, after eating a clove of black garlic, I did! Once the tastings had finished and the stewards had collected our scorecards and tallied the results, we had to sit tight and find out the winners at that evening’s gala dinner.
The chefs at the Grand Chancellor had been tasked with using as many of the products as possible, along with other honourable mentions, to create a menu for almost 300 guests.
Producers, growers and manufacturers from around the state, and the mainland, gathered in the ballroom for a three-course meal and the big announcements.
This year’s winner of both the Richard Langdon Trophy and Best Tasmanian Exhibit was Hazelbrae for their hazelnut oil.
This was quite a thrill for me too as this product had been a real standout when I tasted it that morning. Michael Delphin and Christie McLeod of Hazelbrae, in Hagley, were thrilled with their win.
“The oil is actually a by-product,” says Christie.
“We needed to do something with the nuts that were too small for retail sale.”
The pair purchased the farm in 2014, and 17 years after planting the 5000 trees they put in over 18ha, the nut trees are now reaching maturity. The oil is smooth with a distinctive hazelnut flavour without any bitter aftertaste – I can imagine using it in a dressing over a beetroot, walnut and feta salad.
The Minister’s Encouragement Award, from the Minister for Primary Industry and Water, went to Daly Potato Co. for their ready-to-eat mashed potato with gravy. The Daly family has been growing potatoes overlooking Marion Bay for more than 30 years and this new addition to their offering would be the perfect accompaniment to a roast or even by itself as a little comfort eating in front of the TV.
At the awards dinner it was transformed into a crumbed croquette served with a smoked chicken breast.
While the finalists included foodstuffs from the mainland, there were plenty of Tasmanian tastes on offer too – Van Diemens Land Creamery pepperberry and leatherwood honey ice cream was packed with complex flavours and deliciously creamy, while Australian Honey Products honey was used to create a honey sponge topped with an Oomph! coffee and Ashgrove cream parfait for dessert.
And of course there was wine, with the family-owned Gala Estate collecting numerous gongs – in particular for their point noir.
Barely a week goes by when I don’t consider myself fortunate to be living in a place with such wonderful produce and this event was a celebration of much that Tasmanian producers have to offer.
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