By Sue Fea

Queenstown’s Mediterranean Market has launched a fresh butchery in the resort, after growing demand from a whole new genre of cook that is emerging.

Mediterranean Market has employed a full-time specialty butcher, Karl Wilkins, a Brit, who has been working in Rangiora, near Christchurch. “It’s becoming very, very apparent that people want knowledge, they want to know where their meat came from, if it’s free range and they want quality,” says co-owner Angela Imlach.

“They want to know about any additives and what’s in their food. They’re more educated about what they’re after, adventurous, knowledgeable and passionate, and they want to entertain at home.”

She likes to source New Zealand product and has been offering free range where possible for years, but in vacuum packed form.

Med Market now sells its free range Havoc pork cuts from Oamaru, Leelands lamb from Southland and Fare Game venison from the neighbouring Cardrona Valley, near Wanaka, alongside Hereford Prime Southland beef cuts in fresh butchery cabinets.

Their beef, supplied by Invercargill’s Bowmonts, is dry aged for two weeks then wet aged for three weeks before arriving in store for a further week of aging. The likes of Cardrona merino is still offered in the vacuum pack option. “We’re bringing in pigs and lambs whole – we buy in a whole Denver leg of venison rather than vac pack now.”

Imlach says it is becoming so expensive for suppliers to hire labour to portion cut and vacuum pack meats and to trim them properly.

It is cheaper for her business to bring in the whole or half beast and pay a butcher on site, that way there is no wastage and every piece is used. “These last few years the only jobs for specialist butchers have been in supermarkets, but demand for their skills is returning.”

Unfortunately their central Queenstown site doesn’t have the storage space for whole cattle beasts, but Wilkins says he predominantly orders in hind quarters. “Part of the art is to know how to get the most out of it and reduce any wastage.” He says the reaction has been “unbelievable.”

“Someone came in and said, ‘oh my gosh, real meat in Queenstown at last’ – it’s as if Queenstown’s been vegetarian for years,” he laughs.

With the arrival of two new supermarkets in the resort in the 1990’s, the resort’s only specialist butcher soon closed – the nearest butchery a retail/wholesaler on the outskirts of Arrowtown, 21kms away.

He believes the rising costs of dining out are encouraging this new generation of adventurous home cooks, happy to eat in at home with friends for a fraction of the cost.

There’s also demand from growing numbers of private chefs catering for in-home dinner parties.

Wilkins has experimented with some great Kiwi flavours – using native New Zealand herbs like horopito, kawakawa and piko in his sausages, as well as combinations like merlot and cracked pepper, garlic and sweet chilli, chardonnay and French herbs, and Chinese ginger and shallots. He has also introduced his famous British recipe for a more coarse peppered steak and onion sausage. But when it comes to meat patties on the barbie, he’s finding Kiwis like to stick with the true meaty, traditional flavour. Nothing “weird and wonderful” required.