Chefs urged to insist on quality from suppliers
Delegates attending the third annual British Meat Chefs' Summit staged two weeks ago at London's Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre were urged by a panel of experts that included Gordon Ramsay and Michael Caines to be uncompromising in demanding quality produce.
"Just because you're working for the NHS doesn't mean that you can't have quality," commented Caines, head chef and co-director of two-Michelin-starred Gidleigh Park in Devon, who is one of the seven chefs on the NHS national menu advisory panel. He added: "At the moment we've got different standards across sectors, but basic standards should be good across the market."
Caines was responding to a query from a member of the 300-plus audience regarding the hanging of meat. "All meat should be hung to make it more tender and give it more flavour. Pork should hang for a minimum of seven days, beef and venison for four weeks - all in low humdity," advised Caines.
He conceded that achieving an adequately hung end product in mid- and low-cost sectors of the industry was problematical. "If you can go direct to the farmer, you stand a chance of getting what you want," he said. "If you have to use a big wholesale supplier geared more to supermarkets, it's very difficult. But it's about education and it's achievable if everyone demands it."
Fellow panellist Jim Macaulay, a farmer and chairman of the Pork and Bacon Promotion Council, commented: "Chefs have to make their supply network know exactly what they're after. It's important that the food production industry, from the farmer all the way to the kitchen, gives you exactly what you want. If you want more hanging time, for example, we've got to give it to you."
Richard Lowe, marketing director of British Meat - who, together with Mark Sargeant, head chef at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at Claridge's, and John Cross, chairman of the Beef and Lamb Promotion Council, completed the panel line-up - remarked on the fact that food purchasing in large contract operations or restaurant chains is often done centrally by someone not directly connected with the kitchen.
"Get the guy into the kitchen and show him the quality of the end product you want to put out, because without an understanding of that they don't know what food to accept and what food to reject," suggested Sargeant.
Earlier in the question-and-answer session, Ramsay was quizzed on menu creativity and construction at his restaurants. "The most important things in putting a dish together are the flavours. For me, eating today is about eating blindfold - the most exciting thing is to remember the flavours. There's nothing more frustrating than seeing something that is over-fussy and overworked. Execution and presentation of a dish is always the last thing I think about," he said.
