New Orleans

Possibly one of the greatest cultural melting pots in America.  Food, culture, history and architecture meet to overload the senses!

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Piri Piri Clams

Piripiri clams is a Portuguese blend of many national favorites; heat, seafood and pork. Piri piri sauce can reach unbearable heats. As a national staple, piri piri is splashed on meats, used to marinate, glaze and dunk. Few households and restaurants serve this sauce with pão (jaw working bread), as a starter. Also, anything BBQ'd with piri piri will have you crying and sweating at the same time. It's a must!

Before coming to the states I was a chilli wimp, a weakling. I could not take the heat. But easing my tastebuds into Hispanic pepper based dishes has given me a HUGE tolerance. But anyway, if heat isn’t for you, watered down piri piri sauces are available everywhere, which is what I did to start with. Break the dish down with a light beet and goat’s cheese salad. The dairy broke up the heat and sweats. A side of starchy potatoes also makes as a great side.

Ingredients

Serves four

1 pound of clams

½ pound female pork belly

¼ cup piri piri sauce

1 tbsp butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Beet and Goat’s Cheese Salad

Rocket/arugula

½ cup walnuts

1 cup diced baby beats

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

Pan Fried Potatoes

1 pound red creamy baby potatoes

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp mustard powder

Directions

Female pork is better for cooking; it is less pungent than male pork. Dice pork belly and marinate in half the piri piri sauce for one hour. On a high heat, pan fry pork belly until crisp and brown. Shortly after, add the clams and remaining piri piri. Salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

 Halve potatoes and boil for 10 minutes. Straight after pan fry potatoes in butter, dousing in mustard powder, salt and pepper. Fry until crisp. For the salad, combine ingredients and add combined olive oil and lemon juice. The acidity from lemon juice keeps everything fresh and zesty.

Bobby's Chilli-Stew

I am really thankful that I have at least one non abusive crutch when I get down and stressed. Being in the kitchen and cooking comfort food will always be my go-to when I’m down and out. Today that dish was a cross between a chilli and a stew. I kind of adapted this from a Two Fat Ladies recipe that I LOVE. It was originally a peasant’s dish, throwing together a lot of cheap, accessible and long lasting meats and vegetables to feed a whole household.

Ingredients

Serves four

1 cup of diced salted and cured pork

½ pound of diced beef

2 small chorizo

5 small creamy red potatoes

1 capsicum/bell pepper

½ large onion

4 cloves of garlic

½ cup tomato paste

1 cup canned whole tomatoes

1 cup red kidney beans

1 cup black beans

2 cups of water

½ cup port wine

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp Tabasco sauce

1 tsp chili flakes

1 tsp mustard powder

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup finely chopped parsley

5 bay leaves

1 crusty loaf

Directions

Start with all of the prep work. Cut meats into small pieces, dice onions, parsley and keep potatoes whole. In a hot pan, heat olive oil and seal beef. Set aside and quickly add salted pork, onions and whole garlic cloves. Next, add port. Using alcohol will lift the flavors from the pan and using port will add warmth. Cook until brown and oily. Add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, all beans, potatoes, parsley and herbs. Stir and transfer to a large oven proof baking pot also adding beef and one cup of water.

Set aside the baking pot and char grill the bell peppers over a gas stove top or in a broiler. Sweat and peal back burnt skin. Once diced, add to pot and stir. Cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 Celsius. Be sure to stir regularly and add remaining water if liquid reduces too far.

Serve with a crusty loaf. 

French Onion Soup

The art of perfecting this dish isn't overly difficult; it’s all in the timing.

French onion soup is a dish that dates back as far as Roman times. The modern day version, as we know it came to life in France, originally as a peasant’s dish, as onions were cheap and in surplus.

Combing butter, sugar, wine, cheese and bread, this dish marries many pleasures and creates a decadent dish that nobody will ever say no to!

Ingredients

Serves four – six people

1.5 Pounds of Onions

1 Cup of Salted Butter

½ Cup Raw Brown Sugar

1 Small Garlic Clove

½ Cup Sherry

¼ Cup Bourbon

3 Cups of Beef Stock

Stale Crusty Bread

2 Tbsp Flour

2 Cups of Gruyere Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

As important as the flavors are, texture is equally important; when dicing the onions, cut them in half, the slice long ways to achieve long pieces. As the onions do soften and break down and being the only ingredient, it’s quite nice to have the longer pieces.

 

Melt the butter into a pot, once heated, cook onions and garlic for 15 – 20 minutes. The onions must be well browned. Do not add salt at this point, there is enough in the butter and despite much debate about the pros of sweating the onions, it’s better for a long cooking process for them to retain as much juice as possible. After this add the sugar and caramelize the onions. Onions have a naturally occurring sugar and caramelizing with brown sugar adds a wonderful mellow flavor that pairs well against the saltiness of the remaining ingredients.

Once caramelized, add both alcohols and cook for 5 minutes until the initial alcohol has cleared. After, add the flour to the onions and cook through to remove the taste of flour. Once done, add the beef stock and stir well and leave to stew for an hour on a low heat. This is one of the most important things to pay attention to, the soup flavors need to meld and good soup takes time.

Grate the cheese and slice thick pieces of crusty bread. Gruyere cheese has the consistency of mozzarella with the taste of a full bodied cheese; it’s a win-win. If you don’t have Gruyere, mixing mozzarella with a strong cheese of your choice is a perfect substitute. Next, toast the bread until it is crisp.

After an hour of cooking, the soup should be thick and rich with texture and taste. Add salt and pepper to taste then place the soup in soup ramekins that are oven friendly. The soup should be thick enough to hold the bread and cheese on top. Once dished, melt under a grill or broil until the cheese is well browned and melting ridiculously over the edges.

A Berry Special Spring Salad

The salad is best served with crisp white wine and fresh cold prawns on a spring day.

When I arrived in NYC last year, the Chelsea Food Market was one of my first culinary discoveries. A huge space dedicated to the freshest of produce, seafood and sweets galore. I wanted make a salad that was completely inspired by spring time in New York, with ingredients that I didn't often cook with.

A good salad should always leave your taste buds confused or weeping with joy. I wanted to use vegetables and fruits, as well as the sweet and savory elements of a regular salad. Using gorgonzola cheese in this salad heightens the contrast in sweetness the fruits offer. 

Ingredients

1 cup pearl couscous

1 small eggplant

1 cup of black berries

1 cup of cherry tomatoes

¼ cup of pomegranate seeds  

½ cup of gorgonzola cheese

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Slice the eggplant lengthways and sweat out bitterness with salt. Cook the pearl couscous and set aside to cool. When the eggplant has sweated juices, pat dry with a paper towel and grill press them quickly to score the outside with heat. In a bowl, combine the couscous, eggplant, berries, tomatoes, pomegranate and gorgonzola, tossing lightly. For the dressing combine Dijon mustard, lemon juice and olive oil. Splash liberally. 

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Braised Hanger Steak Parcels

Braised hanger steak parcels rolled with roasted eggplant, thyme and mustard.

Served with pureed cauliflower and eggplant on pan fried polenta cakes

This warm meal is one of my many favorite braising recipes; it blends a lot of wonderful flavors and textures. For winter, with a bottle of wine and friends, you can’t go wrong.

Ingredients

Serves Four

8 pieces of Hanger Steak

1 large Eggplant

½ Cauliflower

1 Brown Onion

1 Carrot

4 Cloves of Garlic          

2 cups Heavy Cream  

1 cup Madeira

1 stick of Butter

8 cups Beef Stock

1 cup Polenta

½ cup of Dijon Mustard

1 tbsp Chilli Flakes

½ cup Cheddar Cheese

Salt and Pepper

Method

Take the hanger steak and place cling film over each piece as you flatten it with a clever. Slice eight thin slices of eggplant and half roast with salt for the parcels. Also roast the remaining pieces. While roasting, dice carrots, onions and garlic roughly and place in pot with madeira and beef stock. To assemble the parcels, place one slice of eggplant over the steak, place a few sprigs on thyme longways, smear with mustard and sprinkle chilli and pepper. Roll from one end, tightly and tie with cooking string. In a hot pan, melt butter and brown all eight parcels evenly. Place parcels into pot with a knob of butter, a heap of mustard with salt and pepper to taste and cook for three hours at 400F degrees.

Boil cauliflower and follow by pureeing with remaining eggplant, one garlic clove, olive oil, half a cup each of heavy cream and cheddar cheese. This should have a smooth consistency yet firm enough to hold two parcels when plating. Set aside for flavours to meld.

Polenta always intimidated me, but not surprisingly, it was quite easily cooked. Start by brining two cups of water and one cup of heavy cream to boil. Add polenta and reduce and stir constantly for twenty five minutes, or until quite firm. Add butter, salt and pepper and mix in well. Follow by placing into a tray and sit aside to solidify further. 

Just as the meat is nearing melting point, cut polenta cakes and fry with butter or olive oil until well browned. Make sure the pieces cut are large enough to support the cauliflower puree and two parcels.

Once all is cooked, reheat cauliflower puree. Start plating with polenta cakes, making a diamond shape. Follow with a smear of the puree and place parcels on top after removing string. The thyme is more for visual presentation so feel free to remove after serving.

Drizzle with carrots, onions and remaining broth from the juices.

Free Range Bird is Always Best for Roasting

A simple winter roast to warm even the coldest of hearts.

I've been getting well into bird bastin’ and roastin’ this season. I’m pretty sure this is the coldest I've EVER been in my life and it’s been a great time to get back into the kitchen. I always remember thinking growing up how ‘meh’ I felt about roasts, the only thing I truly loved was the leg of the chicken, the soft tender meat! And maybe a spud. Now I’m experiencing a renaissance of passion for a good roast.

Rule # one: Always use a free range chicken at the very least. Caged birds never roast as nicely. Free range is generally more robust in size and flavor.

Rule # two: Keep the sides simple. Chuck your favorite winter vegetables onto a tray with some olive oil, salt and pepper herbs of choice and call it a day.

Rule # three: Get the butter involved. Butter brings a lot to the table. Place inside the chicken, between the skin and meat and even over. This creates a wonderful flavor all over and you can keep the juices for accompanying gravy.

Rule # four: Always make your own gravy!! 

Gatherin’

1 Large Free Range Chicken

Carrots

Baby Beets

Parsnip

Mixed Baby Potatoes

Onion

1 Lemon

1 stick of butter

Thyme

Garlic (lots)

Rosemary 

Cookin’

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Let’s start with the bird. The skin, like the meat are both make or breaks so I like to start by separating the skin from the meat by stuffing with butter. This moistens the meat and makes it super juicy and tender. Don’t be too aggressive, just slide between gently. If you've been given the insides to the chicken, keep them inside the chicken, stuffed with garlic, a halved lemon, thyme, rosemary and butter. For the skin, coat in butter with salt & pepper and chopped thyme and rosemary. Don’t be afraid to use your hands! Place in oven and cook for one hour and thirty minutes at 400 degrees.

For the vegetables, a rough peel and wash will suffice. I placed them on a separate tray, but some like to roast together. Splash liberally with olive oil, herbs and cloves of garlic. Remember to salt and pepper.  Cook for forty five minutes, give or take to your liking. Be sure to rotate once or twice.

Keep an eye on your bird and baste half way with butter and some cider if you’re keen. After the chicken has roasted and the meat has been cut, you should be left with a surplus of juices. To this, add a little salt and pepper, a splash of cream and some flour to thicken into gravy.

Eatin’ 

Brand Power Versus Celebrity Power

The importance of mapping endorsements against a broad brand lifecycle. What is the dollar value versus the brand value?

Endorsements are a given, nothing new to the market, but still remaining a huge influence as brands close in to marry their product to a personality, an aspiration. Chain stores and luxury brands alike are becoming increasingly interested in the dynamics between the celebrity and the consumer.

H&M launched the face of H&M Winter 12 campaign with Lana Del Ray, relatively new ‘all-American’ music success. The advertising budget was a significant spend, and also an investment to draw in sales for the last quarter for 2012, just before Christmas sold the product itself. David Beckham, a key fashion sex symbol has gone from Armani to H&M. The question here is not just what this endorsement has provided in dollar and branding value, but more interestingly, what has been the market response, second time round for Beckham as an underwear ambassador? Has his time with Armani diminished or heightened his presence as at H&M? Recycling endorsements must be a very mindful manoeuvre. The chain store champion knows itself and its scope to procure correct endorsements that match the brand fit. Dollar value aside, it’s aligning value to its brand, equally.

 In a paper published by the University of Arizona, ‘Economic Value of Celebrity Endorsements’, author Kevin Chung concludes that endorsements have a positive effect on profits if the company is mindful of the allocated endorsement time frame and behavioral evolution of the celebrity, making reference to Tiger Woods and the decline in Nike’s profits after his 2000 scandal.

To a lesser extent, Tom Ford pinup boy Jon Kortajarena was snatched up by Kenneth Cole in an attempt to resuscitate its lost brand personality and image. Kenneth Cole was viewed by many as on the decline and has since announced a move back to the premium clothing market. Giving a personality to your brand and marrying an endorsement to it does entail more carryover than acquiring the latest model, it requires a strategic shift in branding, an upheaval. These two cases really show the short shelf life endorsements have with a brand; the difference is who creates the stronger resonance? Tom Ford, at the height of global popularity launched with a personality before the model and the brand wore Jon. Jon wore Kenneth Cole for a campaign. Two separate markets to be sure, but Cole’s Winter Campaign spoke very little to the consumer of the brand and more of a popular face of the times.

No endorsement, no matter the scope or size, is ever long lasting, without a gamble. Revision is a must. It should always be periodic and mapped to the DNA of the brand at one given time. The key is to understand the power of the brand versus the power of the endorsements. You must be aware of each value and to play them with strategy. Mapping a brand life cycle against endorsers and understand that at each phase an endorsement can mean many different things and leave varying impressions. 

Brand Protection and Retail Promotion Damage

It is late December and Barneys has already emailed consumers reminding them of a final 60 percent off international designer. It is January and Mr Porter has announced a final 80 percent off. Why would you go to a boutique and pay full price when it’s available in department stores or online at more than half the price at an earlier, more convenient time?

Mr Porter Final Sale

In a great effort to combat the ever expanding digital market, sale monopolies and to stand against the sluggish economy, many retailers are falling victim to ‘promotion addiction and dependency’.  A universal truth is that the market is more unpredictable than ever.

With such instant access to cross price checking online, cheaper substitutes and increased suppliers, the retail sector has no chance of coordinating sale seasons and commanding power over consumers. Consumers today hold more power than ever and retailers now must be in the bid to equal out the playing field. Falling into a cycle of constant discounting and price cutting is perceived as unavoidable by many retailers today. The only benefits are short term and the damages are all long term.

Walking through New York, a supposed fashion capital, a supposed fashion bubble economy, evidence of an aggregate fail can be seen everywhere, from luxury to lump sum chain stores, end of season sales are starting earlier and heavier. Signs of little growth over the last year are omnipresent and this conditioning exercise is training consumers to wait for sale season. What a brand is essentially doing by folding to sale earlier is diminishing a respect for the brand and its price points. Why would you pay full price when you can wait to get it half price or more. Department stores holding the monopoly on sale movements will suffer the most, but will also cause a domino effect, forcing all housed brands to match tactics or suffer. Any retailer should not bank on majority profits received from sales mark downs; it will only hurt the brand.

With such little coordination or an unspoken agreement for appropriate sale time frames, consumers have retailers cornered and margins will be the least of retailer’s worries in the long run. To resonate during sale time, retailers are aiming to leave greater impressions with heavy additional discounting; ‘save an additional X %’. This is now a widespread tactic and is loosing impact.

Leading Australian retailer Saba is a key example to the case at hand. Since the GFC and many earlier internal changes, the company has been a market leader in many ways but also an advocate for promotions that have diminished all brand value. The brand once held a premium positioning, it now is known for sales and repeat designs. Saba have a very active marketing team and are moving paces with their digital marketing and community building, but are still falling short of the legs needed to stand in an unstable market place, a heavier investment in branding needs to be understood as priority and key to business and brand longevity. A market with consumers that have little respect for a brand means no brand value and a dead brand.

Full priced season for Saba is aided with weekly discounts, spend drivers and gift with purchases. They were at one point buying Facebook likes with vouchers; you cannot buy consumers or a community. While the promotion mix is strong, there has been a heavy decline in full price customers over many years.

‘It will probably be on sale next week, I’ll wait until then’.

A middle ground solution is to invest priority in shifting the fashion seasons, moving them forward as many retailers have started rolling out with the ‘pre-collection’ movement. An earlier start to the season and a quicker finishing time to keep current and profitable. Keeping up with the Kardashians of retail will, like in real life, get you nowhere fast. Abstinence from regular discounting is the only real way to beat the addiction.