Love of cooking seared into chef’s soul

Internationally acclaimed chef Mike Reid is passionate about beef – cooking it, eating it and showcasing the best Australia has to offer.

And that’s exactly what he will be doing when he appears at Moreton Bay Food + Wine Festival for the first time this month.

Mike will be working his magic with premium Australian beef, bold wine pairings and fresh regional produce during cooking demonstrations in The Kitchen, presented by Augbuild, on all three days of the festival.

“I’m basically going to be showcasing Australia’s best beef. I’ve made my name around cooking some of the world’s best beef in the UK. I’m definitely going to be bringing some rare and unusual beef combinations to the festival,” he explains.

Born in the UK, Mike’s culinary journey has taken him from the prestigious kitchens of Le Gavroche and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London to Australia’s most celebrated dining rooms, including Attica, Cutler & Co. and Vue de Monde.

He’s appeared on Ready Steady Cook, BBC’s Great British Menu, MasterChef UK and Netflix’s Five Star Kitchen. He’s also a regular on Everyday Gourmet and Saturday Kitchen.

The Melbourne-based chef is looking forward to his first trip to South East Queensland and being part of Moreton Bay Food + Wine Festival.

“It’s got such a great reputation. It’s a real foodie festival, obviously supported by some amazing wineries as well. It sounds like a great event from those chefs who I know who have done it in the past. I’m genuinely excited to be a part of it,” Mike says.

“I’ll be showcasing beef and there will definitely be some beef from Queensland.”

He’s hoping festival audiences will take away fresh ideas and a greater appreciation for sustainable, regenerative beef.

“Beef has had a lot of bad press in the last few years. My philosophy is very much … as long as we’re consuming good quality, then it’s OK … everything in moderation,” he explains.

“There are so many farmers, especially in Australia, leading the way with regenerative farming. I really want to showcase some of the best and taking that, almost guilt, away from people so they can enjoy a good piece of beef.”

Mike wants more people to understand the benefits of eating regenerative beef for consumers, the planet and farmers, and knowing what questions to ask when buying it.

“It’s arming them with the right tools to be able to go and source good beef wherever they’re from,” he explains.

Mike says he’s had a love of food for as long as he can remember.

“My earliest memory was around four or five and I was obsessed with sauces and stuff that went with food… gravy… I grew up with such a love of eating which turned into a love of cooking,” he says.

“As a chef, one of the things I’ve always loved is teaching, training the next generation, getting the message of what good food should be and that it doesn’t need to be fussy and complicated.

“It’s just about the passion and the love that you put into it, obviously, with an element of skill. Getting that message across is a joy to me – both in kitchens and now on TV, reaching more people.

“It was just what I was meant to do. I was just obsessed with food. It wasn’t even that anyone instilled it in me … it was just who I was. It’s who I am. I just love eating. It’s that simple.”

Mike Reid: How to cook the perfect steak

• Start with a good piece of beef – that’s the key

• Make sure it is at room temperature before you start to cook it – minimum of half an hour out of the fridge (I always say an hour).

• Salt. Season your steak. Don’t be afraid of salt with your beef. It needs a decent amount to really bring out the flavour.

• If it’s a fattier steak, like a rib eye or scotch fillet, you cook it a little bit harder on the first side and then a little bit less on the second side. The leaner it is, the more 50:50 it becomes in terms of cooking it – first side and second side

• Turn it just once unless it is Wagyu, which has a higher fat content and will caramelize quickly, so it needs to keep moving.

• Rest the steak for as long as you’ve cooked it. If you cook it for 10 minutes, rest it for at least five minutes.

See Mike Reid in The Kitchen presented by Ausbuild

Friday, August 22: 1-1.45pm

Saturday, August 23: 1-1.45pm

Sunday, August 24: 11-11.45am