Beef Extravaganza

Hi all,


Firstly, I would like to thank all of you who have left lovely comments on my Facebook page, and sent me emails with feedback on my blog and custard bun recipe. I appreciate all the feedback, and hope you will continue to follow me on my food journey. I will do my best to incorporate some of the changes that you have suggested!!! I just bought a new camera on Monday, and will be playing around with it on the weekend, and hope you will see improvements on photos for my next recipe on Sunday. 


I have recently undergone a detox that focused on no red meat, no alcohol, no sugar and no processed food. I enjoyed the food  on the detox and can definitely see the merits in cleansing your body of toxins for twelve days.


But the whole process made me think of whether red meat is bad for you or not? I am far from an advocate for eating red meat every day, but also felt great after twelve days of no red meat at all. However, I am a firm believer in having everything in moderation, hence I decided to treat myself to a beef night at one of my favorite restaurants. 





The "Beef and Barossa Wine Extravaganza" night at Balzac Restaurant was an absolute winner, and we had a fantastic night of great food, wine and lovely company at a communal table they had set up. There is nothing better than getting to know new people over a lovely meal and nice glasses of wine. The menu  at Balzac consisted of seven courses that all had elements of beef in it, and that was paired up with wines from the Barossa Valley in South Australia. 


Balzac restaurant have been hosting monthly theme nights for a while now, and for Sydney based followers of this blog I can highly recommend it. It was an absolute fantastic experience for my palate, and it was also a very educational night, were the chef and owner Matthew Kemp introduced all the dishes and provided us with a taste of both corn-fed and grain-fed beef. 


Some of the food that he shared with us was bacon larded sweetbread, classic tartare, corned bavette, braised short rib with bone marrow and a spotted dick and custard for dessert. Although the latter dish has a somewhat rude name, it is a traditional English steamed sweet pudding. My favorite was the braised short ribs with bone marrow, although the bone marrow was too much on the salty side for me and a bit too out there for my liking in terms of texture and taste,  I am glad that I gave it a go as the short ribs tasted absolutely amazing!! What made this dish complete though was the wine that sommelier Guy Collins had paired up with it, a 2008 First drop 2% Shiraz from the Barossa Valley, which was a divine shiraz with earthy dark berry fruits. I am normally not a big red wine drinker, but enjoyed every drop of this wine! Matt Gant, one of the founders of the First Drop Winery was named the Wine Society's Young Winemaker of the Year in 2004 when working for St. Hallet, and after tasting the wine I can see why.


That is all for now, and look out for a new recipe on the weekend. 


Linnemoren