The Bistro Red Spice Baste

07 377 3111 | info@thebistro.nz

17 Tamamutu St, Taupo, NZ

About the Restaurant

The Bistro was built with a desire to be accessible to the community. We love that we are able to provide Taupo locals and visitors alike with a European style dining experience at a price the average Kiwi can afford.


The menus at The Bistro are created out of an appreciation for the ever changing seasons. As new ingredients become available our dishes take new shape and evolve simple clean flavours and 

honest tasty food from fresh local produce. We pair our integrity in the kitchen with relaxed, non-pretentious service to provide our guests with moments that last a life time.


I love to cook over charcoals, the flavour is amazing, there is something very primal about fire. The Red Spice Baste we use at The Bistro has become our go to seasoning for anything that is cooked over the coals, including all of the grilled vegetables, fish & red meat. I especially love the Red Spice Baste on charcoal grilled sweet corn in the summer time. Be sure to use lots of baste and let the oil drop on the coals to increase the production smoke. Happy grilling


Keeping it simple but nice.....


About the Chef

Jude & Tiffany Messenger - Owners of The Bistro Taupo


Jude has spent time in various demanding kitchens both here in New Zealand and abroad, including Taupo’s Huka Lodge, and he was Head Chef at the award winning Bach Restaurant. In the USA he was at the Multnomah Athletic Club, an exclusive members only club in Portland Oregon, then on to Peter Gordon’s Sugar Club in London.

It was a cooking scholarship over 20 years ago that was to springboard Jude’s overseas work experience, which took him to the USA where he met his wife Tiffany, then off to the UK together. Now living back in Taupo New Zealand the couple have six children together, you may recognise the old    er ones in the kitchen washing dishes, serving tables in the dining room or making cocktails in the bar. 


As well as cooking simple tasty food on the charcoal grill at the restaurant or bbq at home Jude & Tiffany are very passionate about giving back to the community, be it coaching sports teams, contributing to fundraising efforts or attending school field trips, they love to get involved, but above all family is what drives them and that is what keeps them grounded.


Owner and Head Chef Jude Messenger

This tasty Red Spice Baste to use for your next BBQ

Serves:

10+

Ingredients

Red Spice Mix

(Store the remaining spice mix in an air-tight container for next time)

¼                                        Dried red chilli

¼                                        Cinnamin quill

2x                                       Star anise

2x                                       Clove

4 tbsp                               Coriander seed

2 tbsp                               Cumin seed

¼ tsp                                 Ground Ginger

2 tbsp                               Smoked paprika


Red Spice Baste

(Store any leftover in the fridge, covered in oil for the next BBQ)

Small handful of         Thyme (fresh)

Small handful of         Rosemary (fresh)

3x                                       Bay leaves (fresh)

4x                                       Cloves of garlic (peeled & germ removed)

2 tsp                                  Flakey sea salt

2 tbsp                              Red Spice mix (use more if you prefer a more fragrent blend)

                                           Olive oil (enough to reach desired consistency)

Method

  • Red Spice Mix

-   Lightly toast the first 6 ingredients separately until they smell fragrant, and the seeds begin to pop.

-   Pound the toasted ingredients to a powder using a mortar and pestle then add & combine the ginger & paprika.   


Red Spice Baste

-   Make a paste from the garlic and salt using a mortar & pestle.

-   Wash & pick the herb leaves from the stems & add them & the bay leaves to the mortar.

-   Continue to pestle the ingredients to form a fine paste.

-   Add the red spice mix & continue with the paste.

-   Work in enough oil to form the consistency you prefer.


“This recipe is just a guide to point you in the general direction, I change the herb mix deending on which herbs are looking good in my garden & the oil depending on the ingredients I am grilling. This recipe can take more salt & less garlic, just play around and experiment until you get the baste you like”


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