{"id":35077,"date":"2014-10-17T01:20:53","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T14:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/au\/articles\/shane-delia-creating-wedding-feasts-with-heart-and-pizazz\/"},"modified":"2021-11-10T03:27:57","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T16:27:57","slug":"shane-delia-creating-wedding-feasts-with-heart-and-pizazz","status":"publish","type":"au-article","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/articles\/shane-delia-creating-wedding-feasts-with-heart-and-pizazz\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Delia: creating wedding feasts with heart (and pizazz)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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He\u2019s travelled tens of thousands of miles cooking hundreds of dishes with dozens of chefs in most every continent on the globe, yet the biggest cooking lesson celebrity chef Shane Delia has learned isn\u2019t the secret to whipping up the perfect Bombe Alaska or a genuine French macaron, it\u2019s that a meal, made for and shared with family and friends, is the highest form of respect you can show those you love.<\/p>\n

Shane, who has traversed the world as part of his hit SBS cooking show Spice Journey, says that this life-changing discovery, about the true meaning of hospitality, has shaped the way he cooks \u2013 and caters \u2013 especially when it comes to weddings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we think we\u2019re hospitable, try walking down the street of a tiny, dirt poor village and, despite the fact the locals have little money and even fewer resources, they\u2019ll always invite you into their home, to sit amongst their children and parents, \u00a0and they\u2019ll share whatever little they have to cook you a meal,\u2019\u2019 says Shane.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s pretty humbling and it\u2019s taught me a lot about the importance of cooking for others, especially at weddings where someone is asking me to come into their circle and cook a celebratory meal for their most beloved family and friends on the most special day of their lives. \u00a0It\u2019s an honour, and I try never to forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being best known his work on Spice Journey and his ownership of Maha, a popular Melbourne restaurant specialising in modern Middle Eastern cuisine, Shane is a classically trained chef, who started his culinary life cooking authentic French cuisine. He says he\u2019s cooked everything from a notoriously fiddly Boeuf Bourguignon to \u201cmore croissants than I could even begin to count.\u201d<\/p>\n

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His extensive culinary experience and creativity caught the eye of catering giant Peter Rowland<\/a> who recently signed him up to head their innovative new project, The Chef Collective, which calls on some of Melbourne and Sydney\u2019s top culinary talent to cater for major events such as the Grand Prix and Spring Racing Carnival and, now, weddings.<\/p>\n

If one cooking superstar isn’t enough,\u00a0Peter Rowland<\/a> clout is such, they can pull in multiple chefs from across Australia to be part of the project.<\/p>\n

The aim of the Chef Collective is to curate custom menus for events big and small, including 50th<\/sup> birthdays, and even the odd celebrity wedding (but also many more \u2018normal\u2019 weddings, Shane adds).<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless a couple specifically request it, I like to try to steer clear of the traditional sit-down, very structured menu,\u2019\u2019 says Shane. \u201cIt can be cold and boring, two things a wedding and wedding food should never be!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWeddings are about love and passion and excitement, and through my work with the Chef Collective<\/a>, I really try to bring that same passion to your wedding reception food because now, I can just call up the best chef in any type of cooking and get them to help me make the meal even better, more genuine and more of a truly one-off culinary experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shane says that, as a the result of the Chef Collective collaboration, his culinary offerings are more authentic than if he were to cater an event as a single chef, a particularly delicious proposition for die-hard foodies wanting to create the perfect wedding day menu.<\/p>\n

\u201cI now have so many more resources and avenues to explore, so If I am cooking an Indian themed wedding reception, I\u2019ll ring up the best Indian chef in town and we\u2019ll source the spices from where they buy their spices,\u2019\u2019 adds Shane whose attention to detail even extends to ensuring the waiters\u2019 shoes are polished and choosing the exact style and pattern of plates used at an event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf couples prefer something more simple, like a piping hot meal of steak and chips, well, the team will do a great steak and chips using a beautiful scotch fillet with hand cut chips fried in duck fat,\u2019\u2019 he says adding that the power of cooking as a collective, often, changes the way something as simple as the sourcing of the meat or vegetables being used for a meal happens \u2013 for the better.<\/p>\n

While most caterers typically source ingredients from their everyday suppliers, working as a collective brings further expert knowledge into an already well-oiled team.<\/p>\n

Since each chef has his or her own suppliers and their own knowledge of the market, \u201cInstead of just heading to, say, my local butcher for that beautiful scotch fillet, one of the other chefs in the collective might know of some gorgeous Tasmanian grain-fed beef that is about to hit the market and that may be a better option for the final dish.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shane says that for a recent event, the couple they were catering for talked about a particular dish they loved at their favourite local restaurant, so \u201cwe called up the chef, found out how he cooked the dish and made it just the way the couple liked it \u2013 and, naturally, they were thrilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s so clever about cooking as a collective, you\u2019re able to get input from your fellow chefs, each of whom has their own specialty and expertise, and the result is clients who are truly satisfied \u2013 and very, very full. It\u2019s a really clever idea, bringing together multiple chefs to put together a single event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his already extensive experience as a chef, Shane says his collaboration with\u00a0Peter Rowland<\/a> has further expanded his culinary vistas, affording him the opportunity to work with some of Australia\u2019s best culinary wizards on events ranging from a mere 50 people to a whopping 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that I could be working on a small, intimate wedding one day and a major international event the next,\u2019\u2019 says Shane, whose Rowland by Shane Delia\u00a0 menus and The Chef Collective services are available exclusively through\u00a0Peter Rowland<\/a>, \u201cbut, as a team, we honestly do try to approach every event\u00a0 – and every meal we cook, especially for weddings, which are all about family, remembering that this couple has \u00a0chosen us from thousands of other caterers to cook this very special meal for their family and their friends on this most special of days.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we do. We cook for them, like we\u2019re cooking for our own family and friends\u00a0 – and that\u2019s the highest form of respect we can show them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on Rowland by Shane Delia and The Chef Collective, visit Peter Rowland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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