Recipe to Riches: Ep 10 recap

A sponsored post for Woolworths Recipe to Riches

Recipe to Riches is a 12 part TV series that takes loved home-made family recipes from everyday Australians and turns them into products available for sale on the shelves at Woolworths. Each week 3 contestants take their recipe to a test kitchen to try it out on a commercial scale to see if it’s viable, then 2 make it through to the next round of marketing and consumer market research and taste testing. The judges then choose an overall winner  who goes into the finals and hopefully takes out the prize of $100k and a partnership with Woolies. You can see the previous winners here.

R3

This week’s episode had the theme of Classics. A chance for people to bring their favourite classics to a much bigger audience than their families. We had three finalists:

  • Justine with her lamb shank risotto
  • Susie with her Oxtail stew
  • Andrew with his Duck L’Orange

The commercial kitchen stage saw Justine get wiped out as her vegetables weren’t cooked properly enough and Susie and Andrew through to the next round. It was interesting to watch Susie battle with the Ad exec about using the word oxtail in her marketing. He was convinced that people are unsure about it, and won’t try it because of that fact, whereas Susie was sure that people are more sophisticated and daring with their tastes these days – hence the name Butchers Secret was decided to get people to buy it. They were both certain that once they tried it, they would love the taste, it was just getting them over the line to do so in the first place. Andrew and his Duck L’Orange had a love story attached with the recipe – he and his partner ate it in Paris and he was very sentimental about both the love story and the recipe.

The judges were left a tricky decision – choose something that would be out of reach for most people due to cost with the duck – or go with a better priced recipe with an ingredient that most people would have never eaten before…tricky! After consumer testing and marketing the judges decided that the winner would be Susie with her Oxtail stew.

R1

I was keen to try this one out, I have eaten oxtail before in restaurants, but have never cooked with it before. I’ve used other kinds of similar cuts – osso buco and shanks, but never ventured to the oxtail. It’s long been used by foodies and butchers because of it’s amazing flavour and great value – it’s cheap! I’m not one to keep frozen pre packaged meals in our freezer but if I do try something that’s tasty and reasonable enough, I’ll keep it in the freezer for a night when Rob is out and I’m eating alone and can’t be bothered cooking something from scratch. We all have those nights from time to time right?

It looked good from the packet, as I would expect a slow cooked meat stew to look. You could see the two good sized portions of 2 oxtails each. You whack it in the microwave for 4.5 minutes, then let it sit for 2 mins, then open it up ready to serve with mash and greens.

R2

As soon as I peeled back the cooked cover I was instantly hit with the beautiful fragrant aroma of – rosemary, onion, red wine, stock…it smelt home-made and it smelt good and to me, it looked like it SHOULD have – a little fat on the top and good depth of colour that you get from slow cooking (the pack said it cooked for 10 hours).

R4

I served it up without mash (because I am trying to not eat so many potatoes) but it was a delicious meal. This is the kind of something I would reheat at my Mum’s place when I stopped in – she always has leftovers like this in there. The meat fell off the bone, it was tender but for me a little too sweet. The recipe says that there is orange zest in there, and I understand that as I use it in my own beef bourguignon, but it was just a little too sweet for me.

R5 R6 R7

But I did love that you could tell this was well made, home-made. The taste was rich and developed and REAL. I would whack this in my freezer for a rainy cold night (of which we have plenty) no worries.

Each packet is $10.99 and serves 2 and is available for purchase this week at any Woolworths supermarket.

You can read more about the show and past winners here.

Have you eaten or cooked oxtail before?
What would you enter as your family classic meal?

Comments

  1. I now live by myself and tend not to use oxtails or similar, but oxtails make just the best soup for a chilly winter evening. Make the stock the day before as they are very fatty. Remove fat next day and proceed with veges etc. Very hearty and filling.

    Duck may be expensive but I buy the Luv a Duck portions for myself as a treat.

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      I’ll give them a go next winter for sure. Thanks for the tip Deb! I’ve also wanted to try those luv a duck portions – they look good.

  2. Great dish for the freezer in winter. We need stuff like that for when I’m away and Mr SY is coming home after a commute … if he then started to cook dinner, it would be 9pm by the time he ate!

  3. Lisa Mckenzie says

    No I haven’t used oxtails before but I would try it and it is handy to have stuff in the freezer when you are by yourself and don’t want scrambled eggs! I usually buy the Aldi frozen Atlantic Salmon the one with two little pieces of salmon with herbs on top and I like it for an easy dinner or if I am home alone,I will get a Packet of this to keep in the freezer to try,I really like watching that show it is very interesting especially the marketing part.Thanks for the review Beth x

  4. vacationbarbie05 says

    I was born in Chicago and my grandparents were Russian German immigrants and I grew up eating Oxtails and Sauerkraut. I now live in California and I never see Oxtail in the store. I need to check with a butcher and see if they have some.

  5. Sarah Milbourn says

    It must not have turned too many people off being oxtail. My Woolworths was already sold out this morning.

  6. Mum cooked oxtail a lot when I was a kid. I was raised on cheap cuts and offal (though we came to an agreement that I didn’t have to eat offal all the time, just taste it to give it a go).

    I liked the look of the duck meal best though. You so should try luv a duck portions – I buy them to make red duck curry as they’re so easy to prepare and cook.

Leave a Reply to BabyMacBlogBeth Cancel reply

*