Although he's entered the awards before, it's the first time the multi-award winner and 2013 Restaurant Association New Zealand Chef of the Year has been selected as an ambassador.
It's a welcome surprise and a good focus for Bracken, which he and his wife Fiona opened last year.
He always has beef and lamb dishes on his regularly changing menu, using local meat and other produce, organic where possible, he says.
His goal is to move towards tasting menus and on Saturday nights that is all he offers: three, five or eight small courses for a set price with optional wine matches.
However, he also caters for people on any type of diet such as gluten, nut or dairy-intolerant, vegetarian or vegan.
He's looking forward to creating an interesting vegan menu requested by one of his guests next week, he says,''It's always challenging. I love vegetarian food but it's hard to get good vegetarian food when you go out. Everyone seems to have the same and it's boring so people don't go for it.''
He was one of five ambassadors who cooked at a degustation lunch attended by more than 40 food writers and media in Auckland yesterday.
He cooked a dish from his menu: rose veal, mushroom duxelle with a parsnip puree, a brik pastry cigar for texture, and redcurrant jus.
Redcurrants are in season and add a little tartness and sweetness, he explains.
The veal, from free-range calves about 10 months old, comes from Origin Meats' farm at Taieri Mouth and is sold at Otago Farmers Market.
It's not the unethical white, milk-fed veal that you still find in Europe, he says.
The fillet has a delicate but defined flavour and he tries to balance the flavours in the sauce so nothing dominates but it lifts the flavour of the veal.
He caramelises the meat in a pan then cooks it slowly in the oven at 110degC with mushrooms, soy sauce, olive oil, onions, garlic and thyme to release umami flavour, then works some parsnip puree in for sweetness.
The lamb rump on his menu cooks for 55 minutes at 63degC sous-vide (a method of cooking in a sealed bag in a water bath at a low temperature) and is finished with Blueskin Bay honey and chilli.
He serves it with seasonal vegetables such as broad beans, sugarsnap or mangetout peas and baby carrots which are in season now.
The Beef and Lamb Excellence Awards, now in their 19th year, recognise restaurants across the country that produce high quality, skilfully composed and superbly presented beef and lamb cuisine.
The ambassadors are selected from chefs who display exceptional culinary skill.
Besides Ken O'Connell of Bracken, other Beef and Lamb Ambassadors are: Reon Hobson from Pescatore at the George Hotel in Christchurch; Brad King from Bistro at The Falls Retreat, Bay of Plenty; Marc Soper from Wharekahuhau Estate, Wairarapa; and Ryan Tattersall from Cobar Restaurant, Wellington.
Six others have been named as lifetime Platinum Ambassador Chefs at least four times in the past 13 years: Michael Coughlin of Pier 24, Dunedin; Stephen Barry from Mount Bistro, Mt Manganui; Brenton Low from à Deco, Whangarei; Mat McLean from Palate Restaurant, Hamilton; Rex Morgan from Boulcott Street Bistro, Wellington; Darren Wright from Chillingworth Road, Christchurch.
A list of the 162 restaurants awarded Beef and Lamb Excellence Awards can be found at:
nzexcellenceawards.co.nz.
brackenrestaurant.co.nz
