Can I Beat A Michelin Star Chef In A Mystery Box Challenge?

Today, I’m facing off against Michelin Star Chef, Matt Lambert, in my own studio. Who’s surprise meal will win Babe and Basic Mitch’s vote in this Mystery Box challenge?

Matt’s instagram https://www.instagram.com/chefmattlambert/ (If you want any of Matts recipes, just send him heaps of DMs and I’m sure he will be happy to share them with you)

Also, just a little note – you can now listen to my video in Spanish. Simply select the Spanish audio option in the settings while watching.

Get a copy of my book here: https://cookdinehost.com/products/andy-cooks-the-cookbook

Pearl Barley Risotto with silverbeet

Ingredients
– 3 shallots, finely diced
– 1 carrot, finely diced
– 1 stick of celery, finely diced
– 3 tbsp (45ml) olive oil
– 150g (5.3 oz) pearl barley
– 1L chicken stock
– 8 sprigs of lemon thyme
– 2 bay leaves
– half a bunch of silverbeet, whites finely chopped and green shredded

Method
1. In a large pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, shallots, and carrots with a generous pinch of salt. Sauté for 4 minutes, then add the celery and cook for 1 more minute.
2. Add the pearl barley, stir well, and toast for 3-4 minutes before adding the chicken stock, thyme, and bay leaves. Stir well and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring every 5-6 minutes to prevent sticking.
3. If the barley absorbs all the liquid before it’s fully cooked, add more stock or water as needed.
4. Sauté the white part of the silver beet and a little bit of olive oil with a big pinch of salt and set aside.
5. 6 minutes before the risotto is done, stir in the finally cut green part of the silver beet along with the cooked whites and a small knob of butter, stir through well and serve.

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Director, Chef and Host: Andy
Videographer, Editor: Mitch Henderson
Production Manager: Dazz Braeckmans
Editor: Caleb Dawkins

Something very different for you today. I have my friend and fellow chef Matt Lambert here. Thank you for having me. It’s so good to have you bro. We’re going to do a mystery box challenge because I want to demonstrate how chefs are different. We’re like artists. I cook very different to how Matt cooks. We’re going to do a Mystery Box challenge, and babe is going to give us the rules. Alright. You have three hours to cook your dish. You don’t have to use all the ingredients. And we do have some staples for you as well. So you can use anything in the onion bowl over there or the couple of pantry staples like flour, milk, salt, pepper, those kind of things. Mitch and I will come in at the end to judge you guys on looks, taste and creativity. Good luck. You ready? Oh, I’m not sure. Let’s see what’s under here. Oh, a lamb rack. Some figs, these have just come in to season so that’s cool to see. Some purple carrot. Some kipflers, green beans. Wattleseed, myrtle- lemon myrtle, mountain pepperberry. What is satsuma plum? Satsuma plum jam. I thought satsuma was a mandarin. There you go. We’re learning. We’re learning.. Nice. Some sage, some rosemary, some tomatoes. Is that pearl barley? Looks like it, yeah. Finger lime. Macadamia nuts and some silverbeet. This is very interesting. I mean, my first thought is, this is the big mystery, isn’t it? Yes. Turns out I didn’t even know what a satsuma was. And these are exciting me. It’s the first of the season. Well it’s the first I’ve seen them around, so. What are you thinking bro? I’m thinking, don’t **** this up. I’m thinking don’t swear. Yeah. Okay, there we go. I’m gonna try and bang out multiple things, much to my detriment. I know it’s a bad idea, but I’m going to give it a stab, so maybe I’ll do a tartare. Okay. I think I’ll also do obviously roasted, because it’s the best way to enjoy lamb. And take it from me, my last name is Lambert. And then I want to try and do some kind of dessert thing, which I think is going to be the biggest curveball. It’s going to be the downfall Yeah. So, you know, I’ll go out on my shield, man, but we’ll see how it goes, because I might just decide actually I’m doing one of those three things, you know. You’ve said it now it’s on camera, you better do it. Nah, you just edit that out. What about yourself? I’m going to do like a pearl barley risotto, I think. And then do like a macadamia nut kind of granola thing on top. We’ll just roast the lamb rack and I’ll probably roast some figs to go on the side. So it feels like I’ve got a few less hours of work ahead of me, which I’m pretty excited about, to watch you sweat and I’ll just cruise through. Let’s get these ingredients off and get stuck in. I have an advantage because I actually know where everything is in this kitchen. I was actually going to just ask for extra time based on just like just finding stuff, you know? Now he’s blocking the fridge so I can’t get what I need. Unbelievable. I’m just waiting for Dazz to yell at one of us for using an ingredient we’re not supposed to. Yeah what is that!? You can’t use that. It’s a basic ingredient! I feel like it- No that doesn’t count. Yeah it does. I don’t think you’re going to win that argument with any chef. Yeah. It doesn’t get more basic than celery. See I’m not cheating like Matt. I’m making my own stock. I don’t know how you would regard that as cheating. I don’t even know how to use your oven mate, so who’s cheating, geez. How many of these macadamia nuts do you reckon you’re using? Is that enough? Yeah bro. Now I am intrigued. Matt just pulls out the pressure cooker and shoves a kilo of macadamia nuts in there. You’re making milk or something? You’ll see, mate, you’ll see! Alright! No, I’m going to make a puree. Okay. But the easiest way to just smash them out is to pressure cook it. Cool. I feel like there’s probably something more important that I should be doing first. I’m just burning my stock, it’s alright. Good, good. This is, this will make a good little, ahh… Do I help him or do I not? Nah, don’t help me. You sure? Yeah, I need help chef. I definitely need help. See the point to point? Yeah. Arrows huh? That’s why they do that? Oh, no, you’re not wrong. It’s not. It’s not that easy, is it? It’s not. You’re on. Cool. Alright, I’m going to make a risotto. To make a risotto, you need stock. So I’m going to make a real basic veg stock. I am going to get a little bit of colour on the veggies just to get a little bit more flavour. And it’s a great time to say that there is still construction happening at the studio. So if you hear a concrete saw starting or an excavator, that’s why. Apologies. What are you starting with bro? Um, as usual, I’m all over the place, so I’m doing a macadamia puree here. And I’m cooking my barley now, so those will both, from memory, go with the roasted lamb. And then I’m going to roast my figs so I can chill them and that’s going to be for the dessert situation. Ahh! That’s what the other pot was for, nice! And yeah, just hoping this all comes together. What’s it like? It’s very jammy. It tastes like sugar. Tastes like sugar? Heaps of sugar. Not in a bad way. It just tastes like plum jam though doesn’t it? But geez, there’s a lot of sugar. I’m going to put a bit of this, a bit of mountain pepperberry in my stocks there, why not? Does smell a little bit like rosemary doesn’t it? How angry do we suppose this is going to sound? Pretty angry. We could potentially shove that outside. Ooh, ooh. We touched. A little touchy, touchy there hey. Did you feel a little bit of electricity? Yeah. Yeah, yeah little sparks. Thought it was just me? Nah nah. What’s the thing you miss most about cooking in London? Oh, that’s a good question. Not much. You weren’t ready for that were you? No *laughs*. This might be speaking out of turn, I think in general in kitchens in London, the level, or the experience level of chefs is probably higher than- I think that’s a fair statement- down under. Even in the, in the wait staff. Being a waiter in most of Europe is a profession. Yeah. Yeah. You know, whereas it’s kind of not so much here. There’s certainly some good waiters here, but. And what do you miss about cooking in the States bro? Some of the team that I had there. I love the States. New York’s a beautiful city where it feels like the capital of the world and I know if you talk to someone who is from there, you’d be like, get over it. It’s not the capital of the world, but to cook there, it certainly feels like it because you’re getting fish directly from Tsukiji market. Yeah. You’re getting premium American, sorry Australian beef. They also have really good beef themselves. You can surprise yourself, like what’s this ingredient and learn something, things like that you know? Sometimes in New Zealand it feels a little bit like the bottom of the world. And like turkey melts bro. Turkey melts? I really miss turkey melts. You married an American and you brought her back home to New Zealand? Did you drag her or was it her idea? It was a family decision. Yeah. We actually met in New Zealand before we went to the States. It’s certainly not something that I thought was going to happen. I actually, I wanted to get two Michelin stars and peace out. It turns out it’s way harder than just wanting to do it. So your restaurant, The Musket Room, had one Michelin star for seven years. It’s still there. It’s still there? Yeah. My former business partner is running it now, yeah. And they maintain the star. That’s pretty impressive. Yeah. Good on them. Yeah. Oh, and good on you for, I mean, you got it pretty quickly no? Yeah. Yeah I did, I got it in four months. Yeah. It was quite, quite crazy. I had a goal to get it within three years. Yeah right. Yeah, yeah. And we got asked for photos of the dining room and everything from the guide two months in. Wow. Oh, I was like, oh, it’s happening. Oh, wow, it’s happening. And then a lot of people told me, ‘Hey, relax, that’s not going to happen. Don’t get your hopes up.’ And then I was kind of like, who are these people telling me I can’t do it? And then it turned out it happened. So that was great. Actually, when they called the first time, I swore and said ____ off because I thought it was, do you know Hayden? Yes. I thought it was him doing a bit of a classic stitch up. Yeah. And they were like, no, no, no, it’s not him. You actually did get a star. And I said, ‘yeah, okay.’ And I hung up. Then they called back and turns out they weren’t joking. Yeah. Wild. That’s pretty cool. What are you up to, chef? So just cooking down these. I’m going to get it real tight so I can potentially- Are you going to puff it? Nah I’m not going to puff it. I don’t have time to dry it. I’ll just do a real tight sort of quenelle, so it’s semi, semi sauce, semi not. Yeah. And I’m making a bit of satsuma plum jam situation here that I’m hoping I can ice down and use as a granita with some roasted figs, which I’m umming and ahhing about putting in the oven. And then I’m just pretty much talking too much. Standard Matt Lambert. Yes, standard. So I’m going to make a little, I guess it’s kind of a, people call it like a savoury granola. I’ve never really been a huge fan of that term, but anyway, a little garnish for the top of the lamb. So I’ve got some macadamia nuts roasting, a bit of rosemary. When you make a granola, you kind of cover it in like, honey or something like that to make it all sticky and nice. I’m going to use some of this, this plum jam, and then we’ll use some of this lemon myrtle to kind of flavour it as well. But I need to kind of get this cooked and covered in that liquid and then cooled down and broken up again. So it has like a nice textural component. I’m using a bit of vinegar in this jam just to soften the sweetness because she’s pretty sweet. That’s the consistency I’m looking for. Were you one of those chefs that rocked up half an hour early to get all the good gastros? Nah man, I was there hours early, like. Hours early! I used to show up before the chef got in, so I could do a bunch of prep jobs that I know I could make really well- Yep. – that weren’t to the spec of the recipe, because he used to come in early and I knew if he got in and I’ve already got the stock boiling and everything happening, he’s just going to leave me alone all day. So it was well worth the hours of time- I don’t think. – to just get it done. I don’t think people understand how nice it is when you have like a day where you’re not the person who’s just getting beasted, you know? Yeah. My savoury muesli is in the oven just toasting off and I’m going to start slicing up some silverbeet to make the, like the veggie base for the barley risotto, which I’ll saute down with garlic and some shallots. And we’ll kind of cool that down so that when I’m making the risotto, I can stir it through. But it is really important to use some vinegar or some acid in the water when you’re doing this so that stuff doesn’t go brown and nasty. It’s also important to cook the stems and the leaves separately in silverbeet. These things that are really fibrous. They take ages to cook down. My goal is to use every pot here and so far I’m doing pretty well. What have you got going on here, Matt? Well I’m going to fry some stuff, get some some crispy action happening. Stimulate the palate. Ooh. Yeah, just a textural experience. Just a textural experience. Inspiration is everywhere. That’s it. And then, you know, come over here, pretend I’m doing something, see what you’re up to. Get intimidated. Think about throwing in the towel. Ah there it is. The towel? Literally. Yeah. What are you frying? I’m going to fry some rosemary and I’m going to fry some sage. Oh, the old fried herbs hey? Yeah. I don’t even know if I’m going to use them. I’m just like, I better look busy just talking all the, talking a lot over here. You might inspire me to steal some of your fried herbs. Inspiration is everywhere. So, you know, you got to take it and use it. So your mum was a good cook? Yeah. My mother and my grandmother are both very good cooks, and I really enjoyed cooking with them when I was a kid. So it just seemed like a pretty natural- progression- step to take, yeah. I bet you were working silly hours when you were running The Musket Room? Yeah, yeah. And it’s really weird when you come out of cooking like that for so long, and then all of a sudden you’re not in a kitchen on Friday night, you feel like guilty. You’re like, oh, no, what am I doing? And I’m like, well, normal people do this every day. Yeah, yeah. It took a really long time to get used to that initially. How’s your life changed since you became an uncle? Uncle Roger’s hilarious, right? That’s like the three Michelin stars of cooking videos isn’t it? It is, yeah. Oh, yeah. I put stuff in the oven, didn’t I? Oh, so did I. What’s been the most challenging part of moving back to New Zealand? Just adjusting. Like, I feel like I got culture shock, which is hilarious because I’m a New Zealander. I’ve gotten well used to it now. It’s really great, seeing a lot of my friends and sort of blessed to be in a situation where I have a little bit more family time than I’ve had in the past. Hanging with the boys? Yeah, just leaning into that. Trying to be as supportive as I can for sports and things, you know? I really enjoy that. And then also, I’m lucky enough with the Lodge Bar to be able to get over here. We’ve got the Lodge Bar in James Street, one coming in Melbourne, which I’m really, really excited about. One in Auckland, one in Queenstown. We’re about to redo the Queenstown one and give it a bit of new life, so that’s always exciting. You know, opening a restaurant is always like really anxious and sort of high pressure, but I really like those situations. How did that job come about, was that once you were back here or? No, so I was consulting for the restaurant in Queenstown since before it opened. From the States? Yeah and Rodd & Gunn used to do our restaurant uniforms. Yeah, right, right. The whole point of the restaurant was to showcase New Zealand. You know, I’m quite proud of New Zealand. I was really terrible at rugby. I’m not going to be an All Black, so I sort of wanted to aspire to be that level of something. And for me, it was cooking. Yeah. So I had a long standing relationship with Mike and Rodd & Gunn and it was, yeah, it was just really cool how it all worked out. Mike is Rodd & Gunn. Yeah, yeah, he’s the guy. Yeah. And he’s been really supportive and he almost sort of mentored me through a lot of stuff while I was at The Musket Room. So to be able to work with a brand that has the ability to open in multiple markets and do really cool things, like that’s something I don’t take for granted, you know? Yeah. Yeah. What am I doing? I’ve kind of freshened up my lamb a bit better. Just seen a piece that I don’t like. I’m going to season it and I’m going to let it sit and just kind of dry brine until I’m ready to cook it. It won’t take long to cook, do it in the pan and then finish it in the oven. But I’m going to keep the lamb real simple. Just salt on meat when I’m cooking it. I don’t like putting pepper on meat when I’m cooking it. I don’t like putting rubs. I just like to taste the meat. I’m 100% with you on that. I feel like the pepper just burns. 100%. But you know, hey, if that’s your thing, cool, I’m, whatever. Now I’m going to pass that stock and then I’m going to finish the base for my risotto. What are you up to chef? You’re going to prep your lamb now? Yeah I’m still, still unsure. Yeah because you’re going to do tartare? Yeah. So I’m going to get that going now. And then when you said you’d seasoned your lamb I was like, I should have seasoned my lamb the first thing I did. But here we are. Alright for my risotto base, I’m just going to start by kind of finely slicing some shallots and some garlic. And we’ll saute the bottoms of that cavolo nero off or silverbeet depending where you are in the world I guess. Is it cavolo nero in the US? No. No. Swiss chard. Swiss chard. And rainbow Swiss chard is. Yeah, it’s the fancy one. It’s the one. That’s the one you get from Erewhon. Did you, did you have Erewhon in New York? I don’t even know what it is. Oh, it’s like a fancy supermarket where everything costs like $1m. Whole foods? No, no, no, it’s more fancy than Whole Foods. Really? Yeah, bro. It’s wild. Where is it? LA. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Sounds, sounds a little bit LA, doesn’t it? Not a fan of LA? I don’t know what it is like, but you see in the movies people have like East coast, West coast beef and like I didn’t even mean to be part of it, but as soon as I’ve been living in New York for a little while, I’ll go do some stuff in California and be like, yeah, you got a beach, but it’s just not the same. It’s not the same. I like it, I’m a fan. It’s cool, but New York’s cooler. I think scientists maintain that it’s actually much better. Scientific facts. Can I get a run down of what you’re up to Matt? Honestly, I’m just kind of, chopping away and thinking while I’m doing it. But what I’m thinking is this is definitely going to be what I use for my tartare. I’m keeping the fat because I think I might render it and use that to cook this. Once this is rendered, if I can get some, you know, decent, palatable meat out of this belly, I might dice it and put it into my barley. Yeah. I’m just basically trying not to think I’m cooking and we’ll see what happens. Which is why I like cooking. What’s the roast carrot, for? I’m going to dice that and put it through the barley as well, just instead of cooking it out and then adding it, you know. Keeping myself busy. I love the way you think sometimes. I’m like, I would never think to do that. I typically wouldn’t do it either. Oh, stop it, yes you would. Yeah, I might. Yeah. Are you glad to see the back of purees in fine dining? I’m a big puree guy. You’re still a puree guy? Yeah, I like purees. Funnily enough, I have baking soda water on here to make a puree out of the Swiss chard, but I just decided against it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m not a judging you mate. Not then, a little about five minutes ago I was like, ah it doesn’t need a puree. If you have a pretty lean protein. Yeah. And you know, the puree just naturally coats it, so you got that nice- Like a bit of fattiness on it. Yeah. Basically. But rather than fat it’ll be fresh. I don’t do it so much anymore, but one thing I like to think about a lot is, you know, how everyone goes on about adding acid to everything all the time. Yeah. I like to take the same thought process, but apply like herbs and just really fresh stuff. So when it hits your palate, it’s very vibrant, but you’re not really just getting hit with acid, you know what I mean? Because sometimes it’s too much. I’m a big fan of Vietnamese cooking for that and their use of herbs, right? Yeah, it’s very cool. Yeah, I love it. I didn’t really want to clean these bones up, but I saw Andy do it, so I guess I’ve got to do it now. I can’t wait to read the comments about me in this, cleaning these bones up because it’s pretty horrendous. When was the last time you cleaned some lamb bones? Yeah, it’s been a long time, but just so everyone knows, I’m aware of it. You ready for the comments? Comments are pretty fun. Yeah, I won’t read them, but I know that there’s going to be a lot. That’s not a michelin star chef. Yeah, yeah literally. Good luck getting your michelin star in the comment section. That’s a good way to look at it. Yeah, well I know what I did. Yeah, yeah yeah. I saw Broke Boy Tacos was at your place the other day. It’s a good taco that man. He’s good isn’t he? Him and Cam from Baby G Burger. Yeah. I had said very publicly that I think smash burgers are overrated. Yeah, I remember that. And it’s not because I don’t like them. It’s just because I’m tired of everyone doing a smash burger, you know. There’s a famous burger in New York City at Minetta Tavern. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, that’s not a smash burger. And it’s very difficult to have a better burger. Yeah. Okay. So that’s my kind of reference point. But then I went to Baby G Burgers and had the best smash burger I’ve ever had in my life. Yeah. And like anything, when you have the best version. Oh, smash burgers are pretty good hey! Like they’re so simple. The technique has to be, like, on point. You need to like, know the griddle really well. You need to, like, know the beef really well. Cam really takes his time. And you get it when it’s ready. In the context of a burger, people expect it to be in like five minutes. Yeah. Yeah. It’s one of those food generalisations that won’t change, like you know. Dude the one though, the most underrated burger in the States that you never hear about and it’s undefeated is Louis’ Lunch. It’s supposed to be the original hamburger, and old mate has like a potbelly on a conveyor belt. And they just go through this and it’s charcoal and it takes a while too on two slices of white bread, cheese whiz spread, man, it’s lights out. I threw some shade on cheese whiz the other day in a video and you were pretty vocal. Yeah, I was, I was very upset, man. Like, what are you talking about? So when I first got to the States and I got Philly cheesesteaks, I would always get provolone too. Yeah, yeah. So I understand the rookie mistake you made. And all of my American mates just bashed me. They’re like, yeah, it’s not good because you didn’t get whiz. So then you updated and you get the whiz, you get the full experience. Yeah okay. That’s the one. Alright. I make whiz for family meal. Right. But it’s just bechamel no? No, no, I just use like cream, cheese and xanthan. That’s it. Yeah I see other people have a technique where they use some kind of acid maybe. Not citric acid, but something else like that. But I’m not familiar with that one. I totally forgot what the other thing I was going to do was. Me too. Yes. Ahh that’s what those were for. How you doing for time, chef? I’m doing pretty good. Well, to be honest with you, I still don’t know exactly what I’m doing, but. I’m going to start my barley now. Cool. Barley, stock, cook down. Then once it’s at a nice place, I can fold through the veg. Lots of butter. Butter is flavour. 100%. Ain’t that right? Here’s the stock that I made myself. Nice. Oh I see, I see a little dig there. How we doing for time Dazz? 1 hour 40 minutes. Alright. I reckon I can do it in 40-45? 45 sounds fair. I feel like you had this little curveball planned. So I’m just going to start my lamb rack in a cast iron pan. I’m not going to get it ripping hot first because I want to render some of that fat out. And then we’ll finish it in the oven, rest it really well, and we’ll hopefully have a nice blushing medium piece of lamb. I don’t like medium rare or rare lamb. Yeah no. No I don’t, no. There’s two proteins that you can’t mess. Well, there’s a lot isn’t there? So, start that one again. Lamb and venison. Yeah. You know what I mean. If lambs under, it’s nasty and if venison’s over, it’s nasty. You cannot, change either. No. Aren’t you about to serve up some raw lamb? Ha! He got you there. Yeah, but this, when you’re roasting it, if it’s raw lamb, it’s raw lamb. That’s what it is. What’s this about? Do you eat raw lamb? Well, I guess. Oh. Yeah, because you’re a judge. I don’t want to give you raw lamb if you don’t. I’m a little bit, a little bit concerned. I don’t know if basic people really eat tartare, do they? Feel like that’s a bit out of the box. That lamb fat smell is. Pretty good isn’t it. That’s so good. Going to have to go full cowboy. Yeah, yeah. Really didn’t cook as long as I would have liked. Now things are starting to go wrong with less time. Ah look at this. Here comes the excuses. When did this happen? Be weird if that didn’t happen. How are we going to deal with this? Looks a bit grainy chef. I didn’t put enough water in the pressure cooker. Lucky it’s on film so you’ll be able to give me crap about this forever. Come on Vitamix! You ever really ring one of these out and have to put it in the fridge so you can keep using it? Yeah. How do I save myself in this situation? Add some native spices. Just cover it. That’s not grainy. That’s the Wattleseeds. Yeah, yeah. The good thing is you’re going to have some of this to use tomorrow by the look of it. I am making a fried rice video tomorrow. Oh you are? That’ll help. This will be really weird in fried rice. It would get some good uncle Roger content though. Yeah. He will not be happy. Maybe the uncle status is like Michelin stars, where you can lose it. Yeah you can. Yeah, yeah. Oh, no. Josh Weissman lost his recently. Oh did he? Yeah. No one’s heard from him since. Do you like the way I’m just not giving up on it though, like I can do this. I saw you have Zanthan. I do. Oh tastes pretty good. I can’t see your facial expressions when you said that. So it could have been a stitch up. Some vitamin X. I don’t reckon that’s a kitchen staple. Oh! What do you reckon Dazz? That’s a vitamin. Alright. No no put it in. I’ll leave it out. Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah. I don’t I don’t want to like, you know, kick your ass and then you’re like, oh you used xanthan. I’ll be like, you used celery. I think I’m nearly there. You don’t have piping bags, do you? You’re going to pipe it? My parents had them. You know what I mean? For cake decorating and stuff. So I guess that’s a home thing. Maybe I’ll just use a Ziploc. Is your lamb in the oven chef? I’m just about to do that now. Your lamb’s in they oven hey? Yes chef. Here he goes with his roasted carrot. Nearly roasted. Seasoned well. It didn’t pick up as much of those herbs as I would have liked. I love it when everything starts to go wrong at the same time. This looks pretty sweet. Can people buy these? Ah. Soon! Nice. Oh, I kind of wanted to do something with figs. All I’ve done is slice them up like that, and I’m going to season really well with salt and just get some of that moisture out of them. And then I might dress them in a little bit of vinegar as well, but we’ll see how they taste after they’ve just had a little bit of time in some salt because they’re not super sweet, these figs, which is nice. I forgot how long barley takes to cook. It’s one of the more forgiving things to cook though, so it’s nice that- You just smash it. Pretty much. Yeah. So what I’ve got going on in this pan here is I’ve rendered some of my fat from my lamb scraps, which I’m sort of continuing to render here. Give me a little bit more roast meat flavour. So I’m searing them in that while rendering more fat out of there. Added a little bit of rosemary because it was one of our mystery ingredients, a little bit of garlic, just to get a bit more flavour into the fat. And then I just want to get a real nice golden brown sear without sort of unevenly cooking the lamb. And then I’m going to roast it on a rack in the oven as well. So we have pretty similar roasting techniques. And then at the end I’ll do a bit of the old brown butter. Some herbs. The old nappe. Yeah. Rude not to isn’t it? It is. Give it a bath in some butter. Yeah. And just wondering why I tried to do three courses when I could have just done one. Yeah. So I’m pretty much ready to put that in the oven. Let’s just try to get a little bit of that on there. What’s your go on that lamb there? Are you going on a time, you going on a temperature? I’ll go on the temp. I want it to hit sort of 52-53 in the centre. Yep. And let it rest up to? 57-58. Oh yeah. One of the things I like about cooking is when you just let the mysteries happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it’s an interesting thing on like, cooking meat, right. Like, I think the internet’s like, temperatures are kind of out. Yeah. Like, I think they’re hotter than they should be. Yeah. So people always overcook meat. You know, there’s set temperatures for medium rare. I just kind of don’t abide by it because you’ve got to take into account resting right? Yeah. And something that’s this thick verse that thick. It’s going to rest very differently. Yeah. The environment you’re in, where you put it, how you’re resting it. Yeah. So 100%. Now there’s no like way to write a recipe. You’ve kind of got to go with intuition. Yeah I always found that really annoying when people are like, oh, I need a recipe for such and such. And then how long does that take? Like, how long is a piece of string man? There’s so many variables. Is it thin? How much fat does it have in it? Like what’s going on? I think you’re right. I think the temperature when it comes out of the oven is really important, but then that’s super intricate because how hot was your oven to get it to that temperature? How fast was the fan? Where’s your probe? Yeah. In your meat. Yep. I always, whenever I have someone start on the meat section, I’m saying all this and I’m going to overcook my lamb. I always just have them rest it with a thermometer in it. For the first two weeks and have them just watch how fast it’s coming up. That’s a good way to do it. You know, the comments we often get are like, oh, a real chef doesn’t need a thermometer to cook their meat. A real chef. Imagine if that was a definition. How do I become a chef? You don’t use a thermometer. That’s it. You’re good. Are you a chef? You could be a chef too. If you’re the grill chef at Peter Lugers. Yeah. You probably don’t need a thermometer right? They have an interesting thing too where they don’t rest. No no they don’t, they just send it. Do you know, I never ate there. Didn’t you? No, that got my back up. No just the no rest. I was like I don’t like that. So you did that classic like chef thing and you’re like, instead of understanding it, I’m just going to ignore it. I’ll disregard it. I’m right. I’m right. Yeah I did do that. I think the resting part is the most crucial part of the cook. So do I. I did watch an interesting video the other that argued it, said that you don’t need to rest. People love to argue. People love to argue. That’s real weird because I’m right. Do you have any other greens? No. We got sage and rosemary. Sage. Oh, man. Sage is an interesting herb. I like sage, but you to be careful with it. Yeah. It’s aggressive. Right now, I might start to think about what plates I’ll use then. How far out are we? 25 minutes. 25? Holey. Yeah. I should probably be resting my meat by this point. Yeah, yeah. Yeah I’d love to be pulling that out of the oven about now. I might just finish it in the pan. So many options. I’m going to use your thermometer here mate, after all of that talk about mysteries, I’d rather win. What are you at chef? I’m at 36, but I feel like it’s a lie. Yeah, right. So I’m going to give it a minute longer. But I turn the oven up to 210 and you’re going to pull yours out at what temp? I’m going to go a little bit higher like about 38. Yeah. Right. Wow. You’re making me nervous. Yeah. It’s low huh? Oh right. Maybe I’m going to pull it out at 42? Not only am I using all of your pans, I’m going to use every ramekin you own. Pretty happy my lamb’s resting now. Yeah. Me too. Real, real stoked. Not happy at how slowly my barley is cooking, however. Yeah, she’s thirsty that barley hey? It’s gone quiet. Both a bit nervous hey? That tastes good. They do need a bit of acid though. Oh, she went everywhere but where I wanted it to go. Just call that a quick pickle. Oh, yeah, lamb. That old chestnut. Yours is just resting. Resting. Must be nice. Oh, okay. This is raw as. How long left Dazz? 20 minutes. 25. 25 minutes. 25. No, it might be good. Hard to say. What didn’t we use? So I’ll put it in there now. The kipfler. Potatoes? No kipfler, no green beans. Oh, I could do potatoes. Alright. Fingerlimes. Yeah I’ve got finger limes. Got one. Got one? Yeah. Well how many finger limes do you want? Where are you putting fingerlimes? In my tartare chef. Oh, oui. I like it. A little pop of flavour if you will. Like caviar. Didn’t she say eggs? Yes. What is caviar if not an egg? Do it, do it. Smoked. So that’s just, I think that’s oscietra. You know, it’s a big old tin of caviar, some salmon. Is that the good stuff? Yeah. That’s the good stuff. Do you have a mandolin? No one’s cut themselves yet in this video so I thought you know, it’s the least I can do. Oh there’s some coriander in here from yesterday’s shoot. Can I use that? Yeah I think that counts. You were very quick to a yes on that and I’m going to bring up the celery again. You making chips bro? A potato chip. I would though bro. But I only eat plankton. Who invited this guy? I’m getting real nervous about this lamb. Are you getting nervous about this lamb? Your lamb? Yeah. My lamb, I’m alright. No. Not you. Oh, duck. Yeah. He looks nervous. He’s like, that’s not how dad does it. Got to say a prayer to the temperature gods on this one. Oh! Watch out. The boss is here. Matt’s struggling. You just missed a full fledged panic attack. If you want to use this barley, you’re welcome to. Probably won’t taste as good, but. At least it’s cooked. That is a positive. I’m just going with it. That’s good. I had the macadamia moment, you were having a barley moment. When are you gonna start plating? At the last minute? Well, because I feel like I can buy myself some time no? Because I’ll give you the first course. You’ve got to eat it. Then I can do that. What do you reckon? No, no, no, they got to be up at the same time. Alright cool. Another curveball. Let’s go. Ten minutes. When am I going to start plating? Pretty soon. Yeah, well, I might even start plating. Right. Right now. Ten minutes. Ten minutes. Yes, chef. Yes, chef. Actually getting a bit stressed out over here. We’ve got the potatoes now. So what else didn’t we use? Did we use everything else? And celery. It’s a basic. It’s not a basic. That is not a staple. Celery? Celery? That’s not a staple. A pantry staple? Yeah that’s part of mirepoix. Matt used caviar. You’ve got greens. You’ve got plenty of greens, you don’t need celery. Cool. They don’t understand the fundamentals of cooking do they? Mate. I don’t even know what’s going on. So there we go. We’ve got our finger limes. There it is. Hey. That’s a speciality item that. Mixing, mixing. That looks pretty good. Come on risotto. 8 minutes. I’m ready to go. Dude. Your timing on this barley I think is going to be remarkably accurate. I’m not happy about it. We’ve got six minutes by my count. I better hurry. On the pass. Heard that. It actually does taste pretty good. I think macadamia was supposed to be in this. Oh, that would be nice on the top. Like a little bit of a. I got crispies. Oh, you got crispies? Yeah, but I like the way you’re getting inspired. I am. It’s almost like it’s everywhere. In goes my whites. Fold that through, some butter. Well, at least I’ll get this one up. One out of three ain’t bad chef. I’m only doing one. 5 minutes. Usually I like to go, like, with lots of herbs and some flowers and whatnot. Yeah, yeah. Celery leaves would have been the one hey. There’s some in the fridge chef. Yeah, I know. Knock yourself out. I’ll just put some of that and some caviar on it. He’s just going to flash his lamb in the pan is he? I am. I’m going to give it a quick finish baste. I feel like I’m missing something but I can’t remember what it was. Did that say fried herbs? You did fry some herbs. I thought that was for the lamb though. Says fried herbs but then I did the chips. Lamb’s going in, last flash. So conflicted. Alright. Cool. That’s good. I’m going to get this going. Two and a half. Your butter’s burning chef. Right where I want it, chef. Alright, that’s good. I’ll finish it with. One of those done. Let’s see if I’ve cooked this lamb alright. Can you smell that? Smells like inspiration. Smells like success. Well, we’ll see in one minute. I don’t have time for that. Oh lamb’s cooked nicely chef. Thank you chef. 20 seconds. Oh come on with your 20 seconds. Let’s make it one minute. Oh come on. Alright. Oh. Hey hey hey. Stop it. Let’s just do that then. 10 seconds. I’ll go. I’ll wash my hands and then I’ll give you, I’ll give you a bro tap. Five. Thank you man. That was fun. We got spare time. Count it down. 3, 2, 1? Well, that was a lot of fun. That was hectic. So I have made a little roast leg, legs? It’s not a leg. It’s a roast rack of lamb with a little pearl barley risotto, some silverbeet, a little crumbed macadamia on the top and some salted figs. Chefs gone above and beyond and made three dishes. Try to make the most out of my opportunity to be here, mate. Yeah. I’ve made a lamb tartare. Got a little bit of a quick pickle on the heirloom carrots. Yeah. Made some chips out of the potatoes. I’ve got a little bit of raw beans cut real fine. Just sort of make it a little bit more fresh. We’ve got my macadamia nut puree and some macadamias, and it’s just lightly seasoned with the lemon myrtle and also- Pepperberry? Wattleseed. Wattleseed. Yeah. So yeah, that’s that one. Then I’ve got the roasted rack here. Barley, that has roasted carrot and a couple of other things in it and some chiffonade of the Swiss chard. Roasted Swiss chard in the basting liquid, a little bit of lamb fat, little bit of butter, pretty good stuff. And then this one here, I have roasted figs. They just have a little bit of rosemary, salt, wattleseed, honey. And then separately, I made a granita. Queensland’s pretty hot. There’s been photos. It’s not his fault. Yeah. Which is made from the satsuma plum, a little bit of lime zest. Couple of other things in there. Alright. Our job’s done. It’s over to Babe and Mitch to taste, see who takes this out. Yeah. Ooh. You ready Mitch? I’m ready. So should we judge Matt’s first for looks? Yeah. He’s walked away, he can’t deal with it. He’s left the room. Oh, look, it’s very nicely plated. That’s beautiful. Tartare’s, tartare’s not normally my jam, but that looks incredible. Plated beautifully. Yeah. I’m gonna give you an 8 overall Matt, for the looks. I think I’m going to go even higher than that. I’d bump up to an 8.5. If I got served any of these dishes in any restaurant, I’d be. Impressed? Incredibly impressed so. Alright, are we going to judge Andy’s for looks now? I think it looks nice. I mean, the figs bring a bit of colour, which is nice. And is this the toasted macadamia? Yes, chef. Okay. You’ve done well, chef. So you’d say nine? I’m going to, no I’m going to give this an 8.5. Yeah. I think I just like it’s, it’s classic but it has lots of colours going on and I don’t know. I’m just going to give it slightly higher. Sorry Matt. It does look like a pretty cool dish to me. I’m going to go the opposite end of the spectrum to Katelyn. I’d say maybe a 7.5. Not that it doesn’t look great, but- It’s a bistro dish. It is like a bistro dish. So I’m going to give it a 7.5. That’s my favourite kind of food so I think Andy played to his strengths there. Going for taste. I mean, a year ago I would say this is a dangerous dish to serve Mitch, but his taste buds have definitely come a long way. I like that. Honestly, I was nervous when he said he was doing tartare. That’s delicious. Yeah. It’s a really nice dish. Very impressed. That’s a good way to eat greens. Lots of butter. Lamb cooked very well as well. I really like the crispy sage leaves on top. Taste. That’s an excellent three course meal for me. I’m gonna say that’s a, that’s an 8.5. Okay. I’m actually gonna go 9. I thought it was really tasty. I mean, there are some of my favourite things in this three course. And I mean finishing with a nice classic sort of dessert. Yeah. A little sweetener. Let’s move on to the next one shall we? Bit of lamb, bit of fig, greens. That’s delicious. The little macadamia crunch is so sweet. All of those paired together in one mouthful. I think that flavour combination is probably the winner for me today, so I would, I’d give that a 9, a 9 out of 10. That was really good. It’s really. Yeah. It’s delicious. I’m going to go a 9 as well. Ahhh! I think there’s lots going on, but it all works together. I’d absolutely demolish this. I could just go to town on this all day long. Should we just stand here and finish this dish? Creativity. I think Matt was slightly more creative. There’s lots of creative elements on this dish as well. I’ll give Matt a 9.5. Yeah. Yeah, I’m actually going to go a 9.5 as well. You know you’ve got a time limit, what you’re doing, you’re making tartare, you’re frying his own chips. The way that it was presented, everything that was involved, I think, yeah, 9.5 well-deserved. Yeah. Andy’s, the flavour won for me. Matt takes the cake for the creativity. I think Andy’s taken a bistro dish and sort of- Elevated it. Yeah. Yeah. Creative elements to it. So I’ll give Andy an 8.5. Yeah. I’d go with an 8, an 8 for Andy’s creativity. Okay. So I guess we tell them who the winner is. We don’t know who won, but I want to taste this first. Sorry. The trucks are really loud right now. Apologies. Is the barley cooked alright? It is. Cooked great. These did come out really good. Damn you. The texture on those figs is real good. I feel like it’s a handheld meat, right? Like you got to just. Just smash one. Lamb lollipop. Yep. That’s good. Well, tartare’s the winner for me. Tartare’s often not textural enough. Yeah. I think it was the carrot in there that kind of really, or the beans maybe. The beans are like good because it’s like subtle and refreshing but not overly. But chips man, can’t go wrong. You can’t beat chips. I think, when you hear that. Yeah. That’s when you know, yeah, that’s the one. This is delicious. Thank you. Not that it’s a competition. So the winners are on here. Are you ready? Not really. One. Two. Three. Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah. Oh, no, I’m ready. Yeah. Matt took it out. Seven years with one Michelin star. I’d be very surprised if I won that. Bro, thank you. Wow. I really didn’t think that was going to happen. What have we got here? Oh, you beat me on taste. Yeah, but you got creativity by far. It’s because inspiration is everywhere. What happened was I went back when no one was looking and got all of the recipes for this out of your book. So go buy the book. Go buy the book. Matt, bro, it’s been a pleasure. Pleasure’s all mine. Thank you brother. Thank you. And thank you guys for watching. It’s probably a longer video than we normally do. So thank you for hanging out to the end. Like this video if you took anything from it, even if you took something from Matt. Subscribe if you’re not. And we’ll see you next week for another recipe. But Matt won’t be here, unfortunately. Maybe we’ll get you back. I would love to come back. Peace.