Palate cleansers like the locally grown and pickled kamo kamo, apple, mint and fennel slaw and a house-baked cornbread with dry-cured wild bacon helped balance the sweet, salty and tangy flavours.
The ingredients were not ones Smits often takes into the kitchen.
“It’s been a really cool challenge for us to really take hold of some of those concepts and integrate them into what we do on a daily basis in the restaurant.”
A common thread among the judges picked for the evaluation – chef Ben Bayly, West Coast Pie Co founder Emily Lucas and spear fisherman and photographer Sam Wild – were that all had a love for wild game.
Lucas, whose premium pie shop in Westport sells wild meat flavours ranging from wallaby pepper steak to cumin-spiced wild Himalayan tahr, told the Herald she was looking for “a lot of originality and creativeness” in the finalists’ dishes.
Bayly, the owner of five restaurants and a familiar face on TV, said he’s a “big advocate for eating wild meats and placing them on our menus”.
His Queen St restaurant, Ahi, paid homage to the challenge with its own West Coast-inspired Wild Food dish in May – comprising venison, porcini mushrooms, black pudding, Westland cranberries and sweetbreads.
With other game meats featuring across his restaurants’ menus, Bayly said judging the event was a “natural fit” for him.
“We’re such an amazing country for growing wild game but it’s not often in the mainstream, and I think that needs to change.”
Jono Alve – publican of Kirwee’s Thirsty Acres in the Selwyn District – and head chef Thom Dunbar presented an ox heart before judges as “the inspiration” behind their dish’s name.
Fittingly called “The Beating Heart of the Beast”, it involved Dunbar mincing ox heart and hanger steak together to create a delectable tartare with a gently poached egg yolk resting on top.
With a confit sliced ox tongue and fried oxtail croquettes joining it on the plate, Bayly dubbed it the “bravest dish on the menu” for the day.
Meanwhile, Black Label Barbecue co-owner Shaun Branson and head chef Mithila Kaluarachchi created a Wild Wapiti Burger dish that used a “pest” – the Fiordland wapiti (deer) – to create a double-patty burger finished with blue cheese aioli and pickled wild rocket on a brioche bun with a side of kūmara chips.
Christchurch Casino chef Richard Hingston made their “Ka Pai Tahr Pie” with tender wild tahr in a dark gravy sauce, paired with some perfectly fried potatoes.
Saints Hanmer Springs owners JJ Sandall and Mel Elliot created their own venison burger for the competition by taking suggestions from their punters and the local hunters and farmers.
The result was a house-made venison patty (also in a brioche bun) with fresh rocket, smoked cheddar, gherkin and a sweet cherry sauce that used locally grown fruit.
While some may be intimidated by the idea of hunting and foraging, Bayly said it’s all about researching what you may come across and “getting out there” to find it.
“Wild food is free, and often the animals that are living in the wild [are] introduced species.
“You’re doing a good thing by harvesting them.”
Tom Rose is an Auckland-based journalist who covers breaking news specialising in lifestyle, entertainment and travel. He joined the Herald in 2023.
