Today, head chef Matt Harrison steps outside his busy kitchen to offer readers insider tips on how to throw the tastiest summer barbecue with the juiciest cuts of New Zealand meat.
From garden pests to treats from the sea, Botswana Butchery's new menu has something to tantalise everyone's tastebuds.
After a fire in the kitchen of the Queenstown restaurant in October forced it to close the doors, the lakefront premises is now back in business, with delicious delicacies ranging from scallops and whitebait to steak tartare, devilled kidneys and snails on offer.
The Botswana $15 express lunch menu makes a welcome return too, serving a wide range of exciting dishes including Vienna-style schnitzel, tuna nicoise, shredded duck salad and West Coast whitebait.
The menu overhaul is a mouth-watering reminder to any Queenstown food enthusiast and discerning visitor why Botswana Butchery is a renowned quality restaurant.
Head chef Matt Harrison said a tasty cut of steak needed to have a generous amount of marbling, or fat veins, running through it.
"Choosing lamb with a large fat cap or covering is an insider's tip to achieving a really succulent result.
"Usually, people are put off by this appearance but in fact it really helps to lock in moisture and flavour."
The next secret was to "throw away" the marinade recipe and instead opt for a "smidge" of olive oil, garlic and rosemary rubbed into the meat.
"Just throw it on the barbie.
"What you really want is to just appreciate the meat's flavour and all its natural juices.
"Never cut the meat, because it's simply scarring it and leaving the way open for juices to run out and lose flavour.
"Lamb cooks better on the hot plate because it's quite a thin meat, compared to steak, which should always be cooked on bars.
"No piece of meat should be subjected to a scorching, so keep it simple and sear it for about 2-3 minutes either side," he said.
Mr Harrison said the "finger test" was the best way to estimate the cooking stage of the meat - feel the base of your thumb (the fleshy part) and press your thumb to your fingers to compare your desired cooked level - thumb to forefinger for rare, thumb to little finger for well done.
"Always season with salt and pepper but let your barbecue handiwork do the talking and serve it on its own, or with a good dollop of Botswana horseradish."
Botswana Butchery's horseradish sauce
INGREDIENTS
1 tin of condensed milk
1/2 cup of white wine vinegar
1 tbsp hot English mustard
1 tsp of salt
Grated fresh horseradish to taste
METHOD
Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for 24 hours before use.
To make the horseradish sauce into a pouring sauce, simply thin the original recipe gradually with cream or more condensed milk.
