Kangaroo & Giuness Stew
Ingredients:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1kg diced kangaroo
200g speck, cut into lardons
1 onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves, minced
200mls Guinness
1 tbsp treacle
1 tbsp vegemite
500ml vegetable stock
1 bouquet garni (thyme, parsley, bay leaf
4 carrots, peeled & cut into 2cm rounds
Parsley, finely chopped to serve
Method:
Heat oil in a heavy-based casserole pan & add the kangaroo, sear the dice in batches & set aside. Saute the speck, sliced onions & minced garlic until aromatic.
Return the kangaroo to the pan with any juices. Season with salt & pepper & add the tomato paste & cook until meat is evenly coated before adding the Giuness, vegemite & treacle. Bring to simmer & reduce by one third..
Add the vegetable stock, bouquet garni & carrots & return to a slow simmer. Cook for 2 hours or until the kangaroo is tender.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat & vegetable & arrange on a platter.
Reduce the sauce to the desired consistency, adjust seasoning & pour ove meat & carots & serve with a creamy potato mash & garnish with parsley, either finely chopped or sprigs.
Guinness is a dark & rich stout ale that has a distinctively creamy & smooth texture. Its flavour profile is dominated by coffee & chocolate notes from the dark roasted malt, along with a hint of bitterness from the hops, thus the reason we have introduced a small amount of treacle to the recipe to balance this bitterness.
The roasted barley contributes to its unique taste, creating a delightful sensation on the palate. Overall, Guinness offers a medium body & a relatively low nitrogen carbonation, resulting in a silky mouthfeel
Kangaroo & Mushroom w/ Summer Bright Beer Pie
Ingredients:
⅓ cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
200gms field mushrooms, chopped
150gms button mushrooms, sliced
6 garlic clove, crushed
800gms diced kangaroo
2 tbsp tomato paste
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp vegemite
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soya sauce
330msl Summer Bright Beer
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tsp lemon thyme leaves
50gms butter
4 gelatine sheets, bloomed
1 egg/50mls milk, beaten, to glaze
Method:
Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced).
Heat half the oil in a medium non-stick saucepan over medium-low heat.
Add onion & sauté in a heavy based Dutch oven to caramelize. Set aside. Add mushrooms to release water content, add garlic & cook until aromatic. Remove both mushrooms & onions from Dutch oven & set aside.
Add remaining oil & increase heat to medium-high, evenly brown the diced kangaroo in batches to maintain a consistent heat. Set aside after each batch.
Add to the Dutch oven tomato paste, vegemite, soy & fish sauce & simmer until fragrant while deglazing the base & sides of the Dutch oven. Add the Summer Bright beer & vegetable stock & continue to degaze ensuring that you have released all the enriched goodness from the pan.
Maintain a slow simmer & reduce liquid by one third to concentrate the flavours & increase the intensity of the stock. Remove from heat, cool & run through a chinois lined with cheese cloth. Once complete, reserve stock & set aside
It’s appropriate to summarize exactly what we have achieved in the procedures we have applied to date:
• We have caramelized the onions & cooked the mushrooms to extract all the water content to add the the flavour profile of the pie. With the addition of the garlic, this only enhances the complexity of the dish. Six cloves may seem excessive but this will not dominant the pie mixture in any way, guaranteed it will blend with the other competing ingredients harmonously.
• The original recipe called for beef stock as a liquid; I have substituted with vegetable stock as I don’t want the gameiness of the kangaroo to complete with a rich beef stock. In this instance, a beef stock is inappropriate & would not complement the dish.
• As in previous dishes, I have used vegemite, soy & fish sauce to add unami, quantities are small but all three will enhance the end produce without confusing the flavour profile.
• The addition of the carbonated beer add a different profile to the completed dish; importantly, Summer Bright is definite not a Giuness & will not dominant the kangaroo flavour, it’s incorporates an earthiness to the dish which is appropriate in this instance Being PNG’s number 1 selling imported beer, I cannot think of a better wa to increase sales of a Kangaroo & Mushroom pie
• To deglaze & remove the golden fond from the base & sides of the Dutch oven is a basic principle in the art of cooking. You are extracting so muchnatural flavoursthat will only add to you finished product. Deglazing is what “mother’s milk” is to a new born baby!
Return the kangaroo, mushroom & onions to the Dutch oven with the reduced stock, & slowly bring up to a slow simmer & continue to cook for 1 hour, adjust seasoning throughout the cooking process & add 20-30gms of butter to layer a fat component; necessary as we are working we an extremely lean meat & we haven’t got the luxury of the extent of connective tissue or collegan that beef, lamb, pork & goat have to offer.
Add lemon thyme, culinary cream & bloomed gelatine to the sauce & continue to cook on a slow simmer until meat is fork tender; all the while as you slowly achieve a natural reduction of the stock to desired consistency & the lemon thyme permeates the meat & the sauce. Adjust seasoning as required & remove from heat & allow to cool; refrigerate if necessary asa cold pie filling is easier to work with than a hot filling.
“I have included no other herbs & spices in this recipe as I do not wish the lemon thyme to compete against other aromatics. I want the lemon thyme to shine all by itself” & enrich the pie with it’s unique lemon &-lime flavour.
For the Pastry: I have applied the “KISS” principle to the pastry & used store bought shortcrust for the pie bottoms & ½ puff for the pie rounds.
Roll the shortcrust pastry to a thickness of 5mm & line 8 ½ cm round pie tins; evenly divide kangaroo mixture between the pie cases & brush the edges with the egg glaze; top with the ½ puff rounds & crimp the edges with your fingers to seal.
Cut a small vent in the top of each pie to release steam as the pie mixture heats & brush with egg/milk glaze.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until pastry is golden & serve with green peas & mashed potatoes.