FINDING HIS SPECIAL PLACE

This article first appeared online in the Otago Daily Times on 07 June 2023.

A young Dunedin chef is making waves at a national level but credits his time in his home city as giving him the skills and vision to achieve. Nic Kearney talks to Rebecca Fox about his journey.

Nic Kearney in action at the Beef + Lamb Young Ambassador Chef Competition.

His nana might have warned him against being a chef but it was she who instilled in Nic Kearney an interest in cooking.

He was raised by his mother and his nana, a home economics teacher, for seven years in Oamaru and spent many hours after school helping his nana bake and cook.

But it was nearly by accident that he headed down the cheffing path as a career.

"I always had a passion for cooking but never pursued it."

The family moved to Dunedin and when he finished King's High School the plan was to go to university but he decided to take a year out, earn some money and "see where my head is at".

So he got a job in the bakery at a local supermarket and then at the end of the year got a job at St Clair restaurant Salt washing dishes. It was his first taste of kitchen life and he began to think it could maybe be for him but giving himself options he applied for both building and chef courses at Otago Polytechnic as his nana always encouraged him to get a trade rather than becoming a chef because of the "hideous" hours they worked.

"I loved the atmosphere of the kitchen and I've never looked back."

He got accepted to the level 4 cooking course first, so he took that as a sign and enrolled. A job as a commis chef at Salt followed. When chef Hannes Bareiter opened Titi, Kearney got a job as chef de partie in the fivecourse degustation restaurant.

"It was amazing — I went from cooking fries to cooking classical French techniques. It was like starting fresh all over again."

He credits Bareiter and his sous chef Nico Parry for really igniting his love of cooking and especially the art of fine dining.

"Before that I'd never thought twice about it. I started to buy cookbooks, I wanted to learn more about cooking and I realised there was so much more to learn."

It also opened his eyes to a career path and the opportunities available in Auckland. He was lucky enough to secure a job at Josh Emmett's Auckland restaurant Onslow last year.

The past 10 months has been quite a journey for the young chef, who started out in the larder section preparing salads and cold fish courses and has since moved into the pastry section due to his experience at Titi.

"I love it. There is so much room to grow in a kitchen this size too."

He has been amazed by the experiences he has had catering functions for premium consumer brands such as Prada and Aston Martin as well as then prime minister Jacinda Ardern.

"That was a different experience. She got to eat my truffle — it was part of a petit four board."

So when a fellow chef suggested he enter the Beef and Lamb Young Ambassador Chef competition — which aims to provide an opportunity for young chefs to showcase their talents, elevate their profiles in the industry and inspire excellence in their kitchens — he thought back to watching the previous competition.

"I never thought I could get into it but I thought I'd give it a go," Kearney said. The competition requires young chefs to submit their best main-course beef and lamb dishes, using both prime and secondary cuts of beef and lamb. Kearney made the finals along with two other chefs, Jacob Aomarere-Poole from The Strong Room in Feilding, and Max Loh, an alumnus from Le Cordon Bleu in Wellington, and was invited to Peter Gordon's Homeland in Auckland for a live cook-off. With 90 minutes on the clock, the chefs had to cook their two dishes. He selected to cook stuffed lamb saddle with kawakawa, parsnip and lamb neck beignet, and steak and mushroom pie with sirloin and bone marrow butter.

"I felt happy with my dishes as a concept— it was Kiwi."

The lamb dish was inspired by his nana's Sunday roast and included a nod to his new home in its use of kawakawa, an ingredient he had heard of but had never seen grow until he moved to Auckland. The beef was inspired by Kiwis, especially those in Otago and Southland, the love of a good pie and his experience making them at his first job in the bakery at New World.

"I wanted to put a fine dining take on it. I thought steak and onions or steak and mushrooms. Steak and mushrooms sung out to me a bit more."

His time at Titi secured him a sponsor in Greenstone Creek for his beef and he trimmed the fat and sinew from both meats in front of the judges during the cook.

"I was the only one that ran over the clock and I was a lot more stressed out. I thought I'd lose points. I think I was the only one who broke down the meat. I thought they wanted it demonstrated to show the skill."

It felt surreal to win after after all the hard work leading up to the competition, he says.

"I can now see the value of the practice and attention to detail I put in and it feels like it's all worth it now."

Judging the competition were the senior Ambassador Chefs, MacLean Fraser, brand ambassador for Lumina Lamb; Andrew May of Amayjen The

Restaurant in Palmerston North; BJ Sebastian of Plume Restaurant in Matakana; and Cameron Davies from The Fat

Duck in Te Anau. The judges were unanimous in their decision to pick Kearney as the winner. Fraser said what left a lasting impression on the judging panel was how well Kearney showcased his exceptional culinary skills.

"From the way he handled the beef and lamb products he chose to work with — right through to his methodical approach in executing his dishes with a keen eye for detail. And of course, both his dishes were absolutely delicious."

As part of his prize, Kearney gets a trip back to Otago to visit the Provenance Lamb farm in the Maniototo, which he is looking forward to. Inspiration comes from Bareiter, top British chef Marco Pierre White and his senior colleagues at Onslow, who are happy to help.

"I can bring an idea to them and talk about it."

The competition has further whetted his appetite to travel to Australia and Europe for more work experience as he is aware there is a "whole different culinary world" out there. However, he plans to stay in Auckland for at least the next year to continue absorbing as much as he can from his work at Onslow.

"Ultimately, I'd like to come back and settle in Otago."

Nic Kearney (left) was the only finalist to prep his protein in front of the judges. From left, senior Beef + Lamb Ambassadors, Andrew May, Cameron Davies, MacLean Fraser.