Page 20 - foodservice magazine September 2019

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TPRAODFEILTEALK
RICK SHORES’ RICK’S FRIED BUG ROLL – BRISBANE/GOLD COAST
Brady credits the dish for keeping the coastal restaurant busy all-year round, something quite rare for a venue of its kind. “It’s a major reason why we have a wonderfully consistent trade,” he says. “Normally you get massive highs and lows, but we are super lucky.”
The bug roll was created by the original head chef Jake Pregnell, who’s now head chef at Little Valley in Brisbane – owned by the same team behind Rick Shores. Since then, the recipe has changed little.
The Moreton Bay bugs are sourced from northern Queensland, and the brioche buns are baked off-site. As Brady needs 1800 buns per week to ensure 100 per cent consistency.
The buns are split horizontally, buttered, and lightly toasted in a frying pan. The bun base is layered with bug mayonnaise (made with poached bug meat, spices and lemon juice), gem lettuce, and then crowned with a beer-battered bug tail. Brady likes to use a mid-strength beer as the lower alcohol content creates a crispier batter. Lastly, Sriracha is squeezed over the bug, before the bun top is placed on.
“We often get people buying rounds,” says Brady, laughing. “We don’t realise that someone has eaten four or five to themselves because they’ve been ordering them one-by-one.”
By Elliot Baker
One of the city’s most iconic sandwiches isn’t actually found in Brisbane, but many locals would agree the one-hour drive down the M1 is worth it for a Rick’s Fried Bug Roll.
Since Rick Shores opened at Burleigh Beach in early 2016, the Moreton Bay bug roll has unquestionably been the most popular item on the menu. Head chef James Brady says they sell around 200 per service. Once, they recorded 1,100 rolls over two hot
AFRICOLA’S TEA SANDWICH – ADELAIDE
By Tomas Telegramma
While there’s a lot to love about Adelaide’s inimitable Africola, the tea sandwich is perhaps its most recognisable dish. Leading the fancy-sandwiches-in-restaurants charge since its birth three years ago, around 75 serves now hit the pass nightly.
The sandwich was created out of necessity for a hungry friend. When S.C. Pannell winemaker Stephen Pannell went snack-hunting after a day of wine judging, Africola head chef and co-owner Duncan Welgemoed reached for a loaf of Wonder White set aside for staff meals and some hot drippings from his signature peri peri chicken. Pannell insisted it go on the menu.
“We couldn’t just serve bread and drippings,” Welgemoed says. So chicken skin became the star. “We scrape off all the fat so it’s completely clear, then we put it between two very, very heavy metal trays and cook it for two hours until all the fat is rendered,” he adds. It has to be ultra crisp. Once it’s cooled, two layers
summer days. “Everyone who comes to work for us can’t understand how we are selling so many,” Brady says.
So, why is it so popular? Brady puts it down to approachability (“it’s not too big and not too small”), minimum fuss, and the restaurant’s location. Overlooking the beach with waves crashing metres from the closest tables; there’s no better place to bite into a fresh bug roll.
are topped with flat-leaf parsley (dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and salt) and a peri peri mayonnaise made with Africola’s signature hot sauce, Mpumalanga Fire. It’s then encased in two slices of super-soft, crust-less Wonder White, true to its inception. “You don’t
want to do posh bread with it, the sweetness [of Wonder White] balances the salt and acid,” says Welgemoed. Alongside is a bowl of intensely flavoured hot drippings for dipping, which have been refreshed with an extra hit of lemon, chilli and garlic.
Beyond the sandwich’s inherent Insta- appeal, Welgemoed wagers its unexpected success lies in the delicate balance of flavour – it’s an all-bases-covered snack. “A little bit dirty but also fresh; not like a big, fat fried- chicken sandwich you eat once and can’t eat again for six months,” he says. It’s perfectly sized, gone in a couple of bites, and leaves you primed for the meal ahead.