Since its inception six years ago, the PorkStar moniker has come to represent the highest standard in both the quality and creativity stakes when it comes to putting pork on menus. As Australian Pork Limited’s (APL) dedicated food service program, the PorkStar title and roaming events hosted annually in capital cities were created to recognise those chefs whose love of pork shines through in their dishes, and also as a way to bring the industry together to be inspired by such porcine prowess. Since its inception, the PorkStar caché has grown to rock star proportions to be one of the professional food industry’s calendar highlights. Each PorkStar event is designed to showcase the pig in all its multi-cut glory and at its absolute best – and this year’s circuit has passed with flying colours.
The PorkStar crew last checked in at Beluga Claremont with local chefs Peter Manifis (PorkStar veteran and executive chef of two of Perth’s finest restaurants, Beluga Claremont and Incontro) and Chris Cheong. The PorkStar tour heralds the arrival of Australian PorkFest in April – a month long celebration of the world’s most widely consumed protein.
Perth’s best and brightest culinary stars were greeted with canapés of pork and olive croquettes, pickled pork slaw and a selection of charcuterie and handmade pickled vegetables. Lending itself to the convivial atmosphere was the menu comprised of shared dishes, with entrées of Caesar salad with crispy pork ear, smoked pork ribs peach chutney and the chefs’ take on ‘hams and clams’; followed by mains of milk poached pork rib eye, boneless pork knuckle with apricot sage stuffing as well as suckling pig and juniper gnocchi ravioli with apple vinaigrette. Each course were matched with wines from De Bortoli, Logan, Rogers & Rufus, Turkey Flat and Château de Sours as part of the Rosé Revolution.
All this pork fancying aims to have chefs amped for April’s Australian PorkFest – a month for restaurants and their clientele to indulge in the bumper crop of winter born pigs hitting the market at that time, when the meat is at its most plentiful, as well as at its best quality and selling for the best prices. Chefs can register their featured PorkFest dish and go in the running win a trip for two to New York City with five nights accommodation; with a meal ticket to dine at Momofuku, with the chance to meet with the legendary prince of pork (buns) himself, David Chang. Retailer and butcher awareness programs combined with consumer TV and radio media campaigns alerting PorkFest to customers commence March 25 to provide a week lead-up to April and will be sure to have diners in a ‘get some pork on your fork mood’. Every venue that registers for PorkFest will be promoted on the popular Australian Pork consumer website which will provide potential customers with ready access to find a PorkFest establishment to indulge their pork lust.
To REGISTER provide your:
• Restaurant or establishment name
• Chef name or nominated entry contact
• Restaurant address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Dish name and pork cut you will be featuring on your menu for the month of April. This can be a dish already existing on your menu.
Finally, email your registration through to Porkstar and you are set to go!
For more information, please click here.
PorkFest Registration Now Open!
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