Celebrating produce

Cool, quirky Agnes is an archetype. An exemplar of creative re-purposing and out-of-the-box thinking in a city that tends to value destination dining in modern builds and the safety of conformity. 

Inhabiting the oddly shaped wedge of an historic building dating from the 1800s, the restaurant which opened in 2020, has, over its lifetime, been a dairy, a smokehouse and a print works.

“It’s sort of like stepping into a portal to elsewhere - you don’t really feel like you’re in Brisbane,” executive chef Ben Williamson says.

Recently, this celebrated restaurant played host to a very special Audi experience, where more than 50 Audi guests experienced an extensive menu specially created for the evening by Executive Chef, Ben Williamson.

Aside from the calm focus emanating from staff in the open kitchen, what’s immediately striking on entering the poetically moody Agnes, is the evocative smell of woodsmoke, open flame being the only form of heat used in cooking.

“Because of the beauty in the age of the building, it made sense to do an older style of cooking and while a lot of people would baulk at the idea because it seems labour intensive and difficult, I didn't want to make it easier,” Williamson says.  

Fire, according to Williamson, is capricious. “If the wood’s damp or it hasn't been aged the same way, it burns at a different temperature. It can take longer to burn and the smoke's more intense, so you have to constantly adjust. And you end up cultivating better cooks from that because they are forced to cook intuitively day to day.”

Part of the integrity that Williamson espouses, is a commitment to sustainability – from sourcing produce to realising its full potential.

“We make everything we can here and we try to buy all of our animals whole where possible. Because our menus are so flexible, we can use all kinds of different cuts, not just the primal ones.”

Williamson seeks out producers who share his values, including Schultz Family Farms, a free-range pork farm outside Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. 

“They're so good at what they do and their pork is incredible,” Williamson says “They really care about the welfare of their animals. The pigs are free range and the pens have mud baths and shelters where they can go and lie down.” 

They were also the inspiration for the Audi experience dinner, sparked by the long relationship Williamson has cultivated with Vaughn and Jade Schultz, across more than a decade.

“I knew it was a challenging time for them with the conflict in Europe affecting the prices of grain they use as feed, so I reached out to Vaughn to see if there anything we could do to help. And he admitted, he was finding it very challenging.  So we decided to go and select one of his beautiful pigs for our Audi experience dinner – the idea being that this one animal would feed everyone and be present in every aspect of the dinner from start to finish.”

The aim was to grow the pure Berkshire pig out over four months, feeding it a rich diet of barley from the farm, puffed organic grains from Kialla, legumes, fish meal from bycatch and macadamias from a local farm.  

“It was important that we use every single bit of the animal,” Williamson says, “and to showcase the versatility over a 14-course menu. We got it a month before the dinner, so would could age everything suitably in the dry-age cabinets and produce some charcuterie from it as well.”

The back fat was turned into lardo to be used in a custard for a tart to finish the meal, as well as in the two initial snacks that kicked it off.

“The scallops and betel leaf snacks incorporated the cured pork back fat which created a highlight of sweet silky, suppleness in the background with the lighter fresher seafood flavours,” Williamson says. 

The betel leaf dish was made from pickled leaf rolled and filled with pork and prawn cooked over flame, served with an onion cream. The scorched scallop with lardo came with green almond and pickled green plums and buttermilk, ‘for a nice acidity and interplay between fatty and the milky and the creamy characteristics that come through the scallop’.

Shoulder was used in a sobrassada, scorched and served with hot mussel escabeche and a pop of crunch with pork skin chicarrones. 

The following three courses included a boudin Basque, made from the blood and head, while the shoulder and one leg was made into a ‘txistorra’, a type of scrolled chorizo, brushed with cider and a sweet pepper glaze, cooked on the flame and served with quince paste and gordal olives.

“We also made bacon from the belly and tail, which we braised down with ears and trotters and snout in a sauce made from the bones and a mix of local chicory, kale and cavolo nero to a sticky, saucy side reminiscent of collard greens,” Williamson says.

“For mains, we utilised the primal cuts – tenderloins and loins cooked in the hot smoker, ribs, rib eye and leg slowly roasted over the fire and served with a house made piccalilli, smoked mustard and pickles.” 

Anything remaining - pork trim, the livers and kidneys were made into what Williamson describes as a 'cross between a rustic country pate and a traditional stuffing but boozy with cognac and fortified wine'.

And then there was the dessert. 

“Cooking with pork fat and chocolate, caramel and fudges and things like that – I think it's been done to death and it's too much of an easy option,” Williamson says. “So we looked to a Neil Perry classic custard tart with spiced dates in the bottom of it. Danny, our group pastry chef and I thought that incorporating pork fat into it would bring a bit of that luxurious soft mouth feel.”

So what was the diners’ reaction to their nose-to-tail, entrée to dessert pork feast?

“It's always challenging for people – some parts can a bit confrontational, so we were surprised and pleased to see most of the plates coming back to the kitchen clean,” Williamson says. 

“I think in the end, the diners really understood and connected with what we were trying to do.”