Paddock to plate and nose to tail - that's the ethos that underpinned a 'celebration of beef' dinner at the Talbot Provedore and Eatery recently.
The face of the dinner was chef and one of the co-founders of Provenir, Christopher Howe, who is passionate about red meat and wanted to give the product ,and the people who produced the meat, due recognition.
The dinner was also a way of celebrating the successful use of the company's mobile abattoir and the investors and supporters of the project.
Mr Howe and partner and co-founder Jayne Newgreen, said the use of grass fed, grass finished beef, killed on-farm via the mobile abattoir was key in planning from the start.
The dinner itself was a major logistical exercise with 450 plates from a seven-course degustation menu to be served in three hours.
Mr Howe said the mobile abattoir provided the essential provenance and traceability.
"We gather a lot of data post slaughter which we can feed back to the producer to enable them to make smarter decisions and better choices about genetics, feeding regimes, slaughter-age, handling, etc," he said.
"We see it as collaboration and a way of encouraging producers to do the best they possibly can."
Beef for each dish was sourced and killed on two properties in southern NSW - Peter and Bundle Lawson, Gundillawah, and Nick Austin, Mundarlo.
Mr Howe, in conjunction with head chef, Stephan Zimmermann, developed the menu to showcase Provenir beef.
"It's very much about 'nose to tail' eating. There are a lot of items on the menu that people may not expect," he said.
"We like to challenge people a bit and not take the obvious path."
"So we take those secondary and tertiary cuts and we invest time and effort and expertise in making them something exceptional."
Beef was showcased on every dish, including the desert.
"We want to extract that unique flavor that is beef and celebrate that," he said.
The menu included a consume of beef compiled using beef bones, beef sweet breads, bone marrow, tongue, slow cooked ox tail, a carpaccio using eye rounds and a filet.
"We use a lot of offal. In Australian cuisine, at home at least, has been lost," he said.
"Tongue and marrow have been taken out of common cuisine and I think there is a place for it and I want to encourage that."
The dishes were matched with wines from Dog Rock winery at Crowlands.
As well as Mr Balazs, Mr Howe and Ms Newgreen, co-founders of Provenir were Phil Larwill and Merissa Martinez.
The Provenir business model was an "acquisition" model, where each animal was purchased at the point of processing.
The product was also marketed to high-end restaurants as well as through selected outlets.
Mr Howe said the cost was increased because of the bespoke nature of the product.
"By owning the entire value chain you can create the value at one and realise it by selling it direct to customers at the other end," he said.
