CHEESE
VENUE-MADE CHEESE CHURNS INTEREST FROM BURRATA CURDS TO BLUE VEIN, MAKING CHEESE IN-HOUSE HELPS VENUES SUPPORT PROVENANCE AND ARTISANAL CREDENTIALS, AS MADELINE WOOLWAY DISCOVERS.
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rtisan ingredients are now the norm in residential and commercial kitchens around the country. For venues looking to heighten their provenance credentials, and generally up their foodservice game, there’s a renewed commitment to making much more of what ends up on the plate, in-house. As supply chains get shorter, and relationships between chefs and suppliers become more tightly-knit, whole kitchen teams are exposed to processes that were once completed long before delivery — think whole animal butchery and ageing, breadbaking, and preserving and pickling. While it might seem like an obvious addition to the list, cheese-making has yet to experience the same explosion. There is, however, a dedicated few who are forging forward. Among them is Jo Barrett, co-head chef at Yarra Valley’s Oakridge Winery. The team is known for their quest to create a menu inspired by ingredients found around the region. Taking the farm-to-fork ethos seriously means doing whatever they can to utilise whatever goods are thrown their way. And that’s exactly how they got started on the venue’s cheese program.
22 | JUNE 2019 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER
“We’ve been making cheese at Oakridge for probably about three years,” says Barrett. “We got an allocation of amazing milk we didn’t want to turn down. Colin Wood was working here at the time, and he was really interested in making cheese, so he started the program for us.” Fast forward to 2019 and Oakridge is now making two soft cheeses — a washed rind and a brie — as well as a semi-hard Swiss variety, a provolone and burrata curds. The cheese program at Oakridge is very much about honouring the venue’s relationship with their dairy supplier. “We use the same milk for all varieties during the year, but how the cows are going depends on the season,” says Barrett. “In winter, it drops down a bit and there can be a bit of a lull if it’s dry in summer because the pastures dry up and the cows just don’t produce as much milk. In spring, we get quite a glut. The dairy we work with supplies a lot of families who are the first people to get the milk, so if there’s not much to go around, we’re kind of at the end of the list, which I love.” Over in Western Australia, Shadow Wine Bar’s former head chef Sue Hutchins tells a
similar story. Before opening the venue, situated within the Alex Hotel in Perth, Hutchins found herself with a little spare time, which led to her participation in workshops.
KEEPING IT FRESH “I met Tanya Barretto who runs The Cheese Maker in the Swan Valley,” she says. “At her workshops, we learnt how to make fresh cheeses.” It was these workshops that inspired Hutchins to add house-made cheeses to the menu, and the venue now offers a range of free varieties including ricotta, mozzarella, stracciatella, haloumi, crème fraîche and mascarpone. “The list is endless and we keep experimenting and adding to our program,” says Hutchins. Like Barrett, however, Hutchins says the availability of ingredients can alter the program. “Sometimes the market dictates which cheeses we buy and make,” she says. “We can’t buy any buffalo milk in Western Australia at the moment, so we buy that from Shaw River in Victoria.” Just like a good cheese board, any pub’s in-house cheese program requires careful