{"id":54755,"date":"2025-09-12T08:38:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/?p=54755"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:51:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T23:51:22","slug":"appetiser-meat-the-expert-asian-masterpiece-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/blog\/appetiser-meat-the-expert-asian-masterpiece-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Meat the Expert: Asian masterpiece cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Meat expert Tom Cooper spends much of his time on the road talking with chefs and butchers, seeing firsthand how beef is evolving on modern menus. While diners still crave steak, he\u2019s noticing more chefs turning to Asian classics to deliver value, flavour and creativity. From slow-cooked short rib rendang to rump in Thai salads and wagyu shin in Penang curries, Tom shows how smart kitchens are transforming everyday beef into Asian masterpiece cuts.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In my work, I\u2019m often on the road speaking with chefs and butchers. I\u2019m in their shops and eating in their restaurants. I\u2019m seeing some interesting trends around beef. Customers are still asking for it \u2013 but more often in the dining room than the butcher\u2019s shop. And while a sizzling steak remains a go-to dish on a night out, diners are looking for greater value.<\/p>

I\u2019m seeing a lot of smart chefs putting beef on the menu while keeping food costs down by drawing from the canon of Asian classics. On a recent trip to the Sunshine Coast, I visited Rice Boi<\/a>, a hugely popular Asian-fusion restaurant. When I dropped in, they had a dish featuring Bounty Premium beef short rib \u2013 normally seen smoking away in an American pit BBQ \u2013 slow-cooked for 10 hours in a rendang-style, coconut-rich sauce. Served with rice, it was a rich dish, all about layers of flavour and the succulence of the beef rather than sheer quantity of protein.<\/p>

The curries of Southeast Asia are a great way to transform value cuts, from chuck to blade, into exotic, craveable meals. Massaman is a Royal Thai curry that takes hours to gently cook down chunks of shin or shoulder, allowing the spices and coconut to slowly meld. Then there\u2019s kaeng phet nuea, Thai red beef curry, slightly spicier than massaman, made from a paste of blended red chillies, garlic, shallots, galangal, lemongrass, shrimp paste and salt. Filipino food is really taking off here now. This winter, I tasted a delicious kare-kare, a braise of oxtail or other flavoursome cuts, slowly cooked in a sauce made from pounded roasted peanuts, onion, garlic and shrimp paste.<\/p>

Another thing I love is how chefs find clever ways to make the most of rump. It\u2019s a well-priced cut with a beautiful balance of flavour, tenderness and value. There are five muscles in the rump, with the prized rump cap on top. I visited a restaurant recently that used high-quality rump with a good marble score. It was sliced finely and evenly, with the skill of a surgeon, almost translucent. The slices were seared briefly in a hot wok until just warmed through and lightly charred, then served with loads of fresh broccoli, bok choy and green beans, and slathered in a sticky, hoisin-style sauce.<\/p>

In New South Wales, I tried a fantastic Thai take on rump. There, the chef grilled moderately thick slices of rump (rosbif-style) to get a good char and bar marks. These were sliced and served with a salad of mint, coriander, bean shoots and lemongrass, finished with a tangy dressing. While beef remained the hero ingredient, the portion wasn\u2019t oversized. Served with a bowl of sticky rice on the side, it was a well-balanced dish.<\/p>

Then there are dishes like Vietnamese b\u00f2 l\u00fac l\u1eafc, or shaking beef \u2013 cubes of rib eye marinated in oyster and soy sauce with loads of minced garlic. They\u2019re seared in a super-hot wok and served with a salad of lettuce, watercress, tomatoes and cucumber, plus a dipping sauce of salt, pepper and lime juice on the side. Or a classic like pad kra pao, where minced beef is fried in a hot wok with holy basil and loads of chillies, then served on rice with a fried egg on top.<\/p>

One Sydney spot I always look forward to visiting is China Doll<\/a>. I absolutely love it. They make an excellent Penang curry with wagyu beef shin. Now, shin isn\u2019t the most premium cut but because of the grade of wagyu, it brings deep, rich flavour to the dish and elevates it. If they used scotch fillet, they\u2019d price themselves out of the market. Shin is perfect for slow cooking with coriander root, galangal, lemongrass, chillies, shrimp paste and makrut lime for that exotic aroma, plus coconut cream for richness and palm sugar for sweetness and stickiness.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Find the recipe <\/span>here.<\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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As seen in spring 2025<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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From Thai massaman curry to Filipino kare-kare and Vietnamese b\u00f2 l\u00fac l\u1eafc, meat expert Tom Cooper explores how chefs craft Asian masterpiece cuts from value beef, delivering bold flavour, balance and value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":54757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-54755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-trends","tag-appetiser"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54755"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55123,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54755\/revisions\/55123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}