In a first for the Queensland Country Life and Beef Australia 2018, preparations are underway to livestream the highly popular Nose to Tail Dinner from its Rockhampton venue into restaurants around Australia.
Taking place on Sunday, May 6 at the Sidney Kidman Pavilion in the heart of Beef 2018 headquarters, people dining out at Melbourne’s Steak Ministry restaurant, Adelaide’s A Hereford Beefstouw, Sydney’s Porteno, A Touch of Salt in Townsville, and the Port Office Hotel in Brisbane will be dining on similar cuts to those being served in Rockhampton, all while watching the running commentary from Blair Angus and celebrity Sydney butcher, Matthew Papandrea.
It’s an innovative way to share the message of the secondary cuts that add value to a carcase with a much wider audience, according to the head of Australian Community Media’s agricultural publishing branch, John Warlters.
“We want to educate more consumers that these cuts are easily prepared and extra tasty, and beaming the message directly into these restaurants on the night is a significant achievement,” he said.
Helping to share the message will be one of Sydney’s top butchers, Matthew Papandrea, who learnt his trade from his father, who hails from the small southern Italian town of Gioiosa Ionica.
Matthew said he hadn’t looked back from his first job as a butcher in Smithfield, NSW, when he arrived in Australia 48 years ago, owning six shops since then.
”Being raised in the business and growing up in an Italian family we ate a lot of meat and enjoyed our food,” Matthew said. “I wanted to be a part of it.”
His passion for butchery and creating beautiful tasting food was fostered by his father, who taught him how to prepare meat and make a variety of products, and was then enhanced by butchery competitions entered as part of his TAFE apprenticeship.
His greatest achievement was winning the National World Skills in 2012, which took him to the UK on a butchery study tour.
“I had some great work experience in different butcher shops in the UK and Denmark,” he said.
“After this I was selected to be one of six Australian butchers at the World Butcher Challenge in 2014/2015.”
These days Matthew manages the family’s large traditional butchery in Sydney, giving customers access to a wide variety of meat cuts, including dry-aged beef and pre-prepared take-home meals.
It also incorporates a burger store that gives customers the chance to try the products instore, much as Nose to Tail Dinner patrons will be doing around Australia shortly.
Restricted to 400 patrons, tickets to the event can be purchased through the Beef Australia office, while the individual restaurants are handling their own bookings.