Take a look in the Bishop Sessa cool room and you’re likely to find any number of beasts hanging out. Chef Paul Cooper’s reasons for bringing in sides of beef (and whole ducks and pigs) are many. It’s a more sustainable option – facilitating his nose-to-tail approach to food. It also means he can teach the kitchen team about where particular cuts of meat come from. Not to mention he gets to play with hacksaws and large knives.
“We’re getting it straight from the abattoir, effectively,” explains Paul.
“One of the reasons for doing that is it shows staff how to be a bit more creative with food and utilise different cuts and parts of the animal, and also price point.
“The eye fillet I cut off the same beast we had recently I saw for $70 a kilo – that was to to purchase for a restaurant. If we were to buy an eye fillet at that cost, we’d have to charge nearly $50 for the steak. As it stands when we put the eye fillet on we’re only charging $30-$32. So we’re able to save a lot of money by getting it in this way.”
Our restaurant manager Daniel Wooten took this video of Paul breaking down a Wagyu forequarter. Steak, anyone?