Robert Meitzer, Executive Chef of Forest Lake Club (right), worked with James Patterson, Corporate Executive Chef of McConnell Golf and Executive Chef of Porters Neck CC (left), to create three dishes using Aussie beef and lamb cuts at a culinary immersion event this past year.
As a 100-year-old club with 1,100 members and a seven-year waitlist, the pressure’s on to push the envelope at Forest Lake Club (Columbia, S.C.) while appealing to a diverse membership base.
“[Forest Lake] has a generational membership,” says Executive Chef Robert Meitzer, CEC, AAC, who was named one of the Club + Resort Chefs of the Year at the 2022 Chef to Chef Conference in Nashville (See C+R Chef of the Year Profile: Robert Meitzer, CEC, AAC. “It’s a mixed group.”
This can make menu planning a challenge. But Australian lamb, Meitzer says, appeals to all palates.
Lamb rack, in particular, is a must-have at Forest Lake, but the club also features lamb chop, shepherd’s pie, lamb ribs and lamb pastrami across its five dining outlets.
“The lamb rack has been on the menu for two years,” notes Meitzer. “It’s one of those items that we can’t take off; members expect it in some variation, whether as marinated chops or as a whole- or half-rack.”
It only made sense for Australian lamb to make an appearance at Forest Lake’s 100th-anniversary celebration in January, too, where most members were in attendance.
“We made a braised lamb ragu with shell pasta using our pasta maker,” says Meitzer. “It was one of our most popular action stations.”
In the Outback
Forest Lake’s members love the mild, quintessential flavor of Australian lamb’s cuts, says Meitzer, and the size is just right: “not too small like a little New Zealand lollipop and not too big like some of the domestic lambs.” The price is right, too.
“We can get Australian lamb for about $19 [per pound],” he notes.
Meitzer also appreciates the sustainability factor. Because they graze on pure, natural grasslands throughout their lives, Australian lambs are lean and low in cholesterol compared to other animal proteins—yet full of flavor.
While Meitzer’s been in the culinary business for over 30 years, he began working with Australian lamb about 15 years ago while teaching at Johnson & Wales University.
The school utilized Australian lamb across all campuses, creating a competition called The Taste Down Under. Meitzer competed twice.
“The first time [I competed], I took second place. The prize was four days in Australia, cooking dinner at the Australian embassy,” he says. “The second year, I won the competition—and the prize was two weeks paid in Australia. So I cooked dinner in the Outback in Alice Springs, Australia, for a group of dignitaries.”
He’d planned to make them a Texas brisket but encountered a language barrier.
“I realized their definition of ‘barbecue’ and my definition were very different,” Meitzer says. “I was expecting a cold smoker kind of a barbecue, but in the Outback, when you say ‘barbecue,’ it’s a flat-top. I should have realized when the butcher gave me a strange look.”
Still, he says, “it was an eye-opening trip and a great learning experience.”
Aussie Academy
This past year, Meitzer participated in another Aussie event when Meat & Livestock Australia’s Aussie Beef & Lamb brand invited chefs from clubs across the country to participate in a two-day learning, networking, and culinary immersion event hosted at Ansley Golf Club in Atlanta, which culminated in a cooking challenge.
Meitzer was paired with James Patterson, Corporate Executive Chef of McConnell Golf and Executive Chef of Porters Neck Country Club (Wilmington, N.C.), to craft several dishes using different Australian beef and lamb cuts.
“That was a cool opportunity to bring different chefs together and into a kitchen,” says Meitzer. “There were some guidelines, but we had a lot of freedom to play around with the product and utilize cuts of beef and lamb that people aren’t as familiar with.”
The two created a tandoori ribeye with root vegetable curry and mint salad; a Thai lamb salad with ginger-carrot dressing and pickled mushrooms; and charcuterie with tartare, carpaccio, sausage and air-dried beef (pictured above).
“Lamb isn’t often thought of on a charcuterie board,” Meitzer notes, but the dish was well-received by Ansley’s members.
Meitzer says the tandoori dish was inspired by what he foresees as a major culinary trend: Indian-inspired cuisine, which Meitzer predicts could begin to overshadow other consumer favorites like Thai.
At a recent board dinner, he crafted 15 different South Indian dishes, including a lamb vindaloo.
Ultimately, Meitzer’s all about exploring global flavors and cuisine, demonstrating new and innovative ways chefs can showcase a member-favorite ingredient like lamb.
And while lamb might traditionally be considered more for fine dining, Meitzer’s been incorporating cuts like lamb shoulder or leg into more casual dishes, including a gyro pizza at Forest Lake’s pool area.
“I added a bit of mozzarella, tomatoes, black olives, and I flash-baked the pita with the gyro meat,” says Meitzer. “I topped it with tzatziki and chopped mint when it came out. The members loved it.”
