Trying to Cook in NZ

I have a few more thoughts on food here in New Zealand. Previously, I commented on the overly sweet ketchup they have here. It seems that people’s tastes here focus on the sweet and not the salty. Everything is a little sweeter and (except for the fish and chips) is poorly seasoned with salt. That being said, I am kind of getting used to the strange ketchup and kind of like it on certain things now.

The meat situation here is also a bit odd. For an island containing over 40,000,000 sheep, beef is the dominant protein here. But it is not like you would recognize in the US. At work the other day, I created a meat (as opposed to fish) special utilizing some of the 20kg case of lamb rump my boss keeps ordering. Now this cut is from a very small lamb, the pieces are each a little smaller than a tennis ball. While one of the servers was writing down the daily specials, she asked, “Rump? Isn’t that steak?” Because she grew up in New Zealand, she believed that steaks came from the rump. That is very very sad. They have different names for the cuts, but you can kind of figure those out. Scotch Filet is a rib eye, Porterhouse is New York Strip. The problem is that there are two grades of meat, export quality and other. The most common is other. I still don’t know what the exact legal definition export quality and what something has to be to not make the grade, but I do know that Rump steak is very popular. The other problem with their meat selection is that they are all sold cut thin as “pan fried” steaks. It is impossible to sear them without cooking them through. It is crazy.

I had whitebait for the first time last week. I described the tiny fish in a previous post. They really are tiny, it takes about 60 to make an ounce, and one portion has about 200 of the little fishes in it. The national obsession for them is cool, however they don’t do them any justice when the cook them up. The most popular way is in fritter form. The fritter is really just a brown, dry omelet with tiny fish cooked into it. It doesn’t taste like fish; the only way you can tell they are there is the slight crunchiness they add. I dredged them in flour one night and deep fried them into little “fries” and they were very good, crunchy and a bit fishy.

I have recently tried a couple of “ethnic” places for lunch. The first was Go Mexican!, a burrito place owned by an Indian family. I had to try it to see what exactly Mexican food is like here. I looked at another place that had a Mexican/Mediterranean menu. That sounded too wierd, so I went to the burrito place. The menu looked just like one from Chipotle, so I was hopeful. Unfortunately, it was a bit dissapointing. The burrito was filled with refried beans, “mexican rice”, a little chicken and some very bad salsa. It was spiced with sirrachi and black peppercorns. It was spicy without flavor and sour for some reason. Three doors down was my next stop. It looked like little falafel place. They had the spit roasted meats and the other accoutrements. It turned out flavorless, dry and wrapped in a tortilla. So, I am now batting 0 for 2.

Beer in New Zealand is a pretty sad affair. The market is dominated by national brands that cost $13NZ-$18NZ for a 12 pack. There are brands like Tui, DB Bitter, Canterbury Draught, Export Gold and Speights. They all taste similar, and are all bland equivalents of what they are supposed to be. They are also 4% alcohol. A few years ago the government decided that 330mL of 4% beer is one standard drink. That means that a bottle of PBR is 1.3 New Zealand Standard Drinks. The next level of beer is the national micro brew. These include Monteiths and Mac’s. They are $10NZ-$12NZ for a six pack and they are pretty good. They have full flavor and are usually between 4% and 5%. And then there is the actual microbrew. Nelson is the microbrew capital of New Zealand with four, there are also a few more in the wider area. You can’t buy these beers in stores; you have to go to the brewery bar or store. Nina and I have tasted a few of these at the Nelson Beer Fete, it was a lot of fun and raised my opinion of the New Zealand beer community.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.