A panel of New Aotearoa's top chefs is gearing up to decide on the country's most delectable, tasty steak at the 2017 Beef + Lamb New Zealand Steak of Origin competition.
Chief Executive Sam McIvor says the ultimate decisions made will be the right ones as some of the country's top chefs including Michael Meredith from Meredith’s restaurant and Ben Bayly from restaurant’s Baduzzi and The Grove will be a part of the panel.
“This competition celebrates New Zealand’s high performing beef industry – both the people and the product,” says McIvor.
The competition is open to all New Zealand beef farmers, retailers, wholesalers and foodservice suppliers. It awards a Grand Champion along with the top three finalists from each of the eight classes - six farmer classes and two brand.
The steaks being judged are in the top 20% of all entries as determined by Carne Technologies based on tenderness, cooking loss in weight, marbling, colour, water binding capacity and pH. The panel of judges will determine which steaks are awarded a class placing and decide on the top entry in each farmer class to progress to the final excluding lifestyle.
Chef judge, Ben Bayly is looking forward to sitting on the judging panel alongside some of New Zealand’s best chefs.
“Finding the country’s best tasting steak is a job I’m sure any Kiwi would love. I have no doubt that the quality of the steaks we will be tasting will be extremely high, an element that is so important to us chefs,” says Bayly.
The chefs’ scores will contribute to 40% of the overall score, with the tenderness result contributing to 60%. Judging criteria of the cooked steak includes; aroma, taste/flavour, tenderness, juiciness and texture.
The judging is being held on 12 July at Auckland’s University of Technology (AUT). Winners will be announced at the Steak of Origin Awards Dinner in Auckland on Thursday 20 July.