Irish Queenslander photographer Jeff Ram and teammate Monika Courtney took part in the Great Australian BBQ recently, with judges including Northern Ireland’s Alastair McLeod, and its going to be televised on Saturday, May 3 at 12.30pm on 7mate. From the four burner learners, to the flame grilled elite. The Great Australian BBQ is a cooking competition with flare, six teams step up to the plate in an attempt to seal the title of Australias Greatest BBQer. The steaks have never been higher. Brisbane butchers wife Monika Courtney from Courtneys Quality Meat teamed up with a customer, Jeff Ram, photographer, and Justin Pickering, butcher, to enter The Great Australian BBQ competition. A brainchild of Simon Dell and Emma from Two Cents, the competition was formulated to bring Awareness of Meals on Wheels Activities. Meals on Wheels not only provide daily meals to the elderly, but recipients include people with disabilities and those returning home from hospital. Their clients not only receive their nutritious, balanced meal, but a daily knock on the door and a friendly smile from a volunteer, sometimes the only friendly face theyll see that day. We spoke to the team, starting with Monika, about how they got involved. Well, theres a movement going round now, pay it forward, like when you go to a coffee shop, someone has paid for a coffee to treat a stranger, so I figure if we do the same for Meals on Wheels, someone who is struggling this week will receive the same surprise and feeling that someone cares. And also, I love a challenge. How did you come about choosing your team? “Justin was an obvious choice, as he loves cooking and coming up with new ideas in the shop (Justin works as a fully qualified butcher with us), his enthusiasm and excitement definitely fitted the bill. We have many customers that love cooking and would have been great for the team, so when Jeff walked into the shop, I asked if he would be interested in joining our team.” How did you come up with the recipes you would use? “With a mixture of family cultures and ideas, we came up with our signature dishes! As the rules changed, the pressure grew. What started out as a BBQ cook-off at Southbank, with six teams and judges, turned into a television production. “Reality hit, I planned a schedule, wrote lists, and we had some joint practices with a panel of friends for opinions. We chose recipes we thought interesting, local and with a twist! All used local Queensland produce. “Our Signature dish for Seafood was Queensland Bush Tucker with an Asian Twist. Judge Alaistair McLeod asked: ‘Why are you cooking something youve only cooked twice?’ My response was: ‘We wanted to do something different.’ Im not giving away our other signature dishes, as youll need to watch The Great Australian BBQ airing in April on 7 Mate.” What were the judges like? Absolutely wonderful, Queenslander Billy Moore, complimented our food, critiquing with good honest opinion. Dominique Rizzo was gorgeous and an amazing lady, epitomizing The Taste of Sicily, and the charming Alistair McLeod was full of great tips. The Hosts Mark Goldman and Liz Cantor were very funny, and made the day. The crew from Light & Shade Media production team were extremely professional. We asked team member Justin if anything significant stood out during the day of filming? “Well, I was sidelined during the cook off and I overheard the assistants from the other teams talking about how shocked they were that our team brought tubes of crushed garlic, ginger and some other herbs, but I came to the defense, saying our team are actually preparing those ingredients fresh.” We asked Jeff what stood out in his mind about the day and if there were any disasters? “The biggest problem we had was our missing firewood which I had been soaking. When the time clock started, it was too late to soak more timber and this caused a temperature problem, but we seemed to manage to finish our three recipes to a satisfactory level. We asked Monika how the team handled the pressure. We set off as planned and prepared the ingredients as planned, grating ginger, crushing garlic, coriander, marinating the meats, but when I turned round to grab my utensils, theyd been moved. So I dived under the table to find them, but I couldnt waste any more time, so I had to make do with some forks we set aside for tasting. Anyway, I just had to wash my hands and the knife I used constantly. And how would Monika sum up the day? “Its unanimous, we had a fantastic day on set, it was a long day of filming, but we enjoyed the experience. Now Im just wondering how we will look on the show, when it airs in May. “Im hoping the viewers will get behind our Team, for the Viewer Choice Awards and support us with donations to help Meals on Wheels! To donate, go to greataustralianbbq.au
Posted on: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 22:41:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015