the cooks is probably the most important role on the property at times
you could have that good tucker to keep your staff up and running keep them happy
in april two chefs traded retirement for an outback adventure their friends called crazy
[Music]
brisbane couple anita and jens steffen drove nearly 2 000 kilometres north to
take up the cook's job on a cattle station in queensland's gulf country
there were lots of of course wallabies and we saw our first broga marching along the
road that way and the cattle it's a good introduction to outback life
at just under half a million hectares abingdon downs is one of the larger
developed stations in the gulf running sixteen thousand brahmins [Music]
the stefan's job was to feed station owners campbell keough and anita ganza
ten staff visiting contractors the workers children and governances
and they had to get it right the cooks is probably the most important role on the property
at times that got a good target to keep your staff up and running and keep them happy
anita ganza admits she took a punt on the 74 year olds who weren't typical station
cooks in terms of age or experience have you had some duds yes that was quick wasn't it
it's hit and miss i do find it quite difficult to get good station cooks and p and ones that
actually enjoy what they're doing and have you know a clean hygienic and all that sort of stuff
anita and yen's ran their own restaurants catering companies and a butchery in scotland germany and
the us before moving to australia a decade ago to these suburban new australians being in the
far north of queensland was like being in another country different climate customs and taste buds
we really wanted to go to a remote area and a rural area and we 50 years ago in scotland
we lived in a very rural area and so we thought we'd try it the other side of the world [Music]
the hours are long here four in the morning till eight at night five days a week they
cook breakfast morning and afternoon smoko lunch and dinner as well they prepare the
tucker for the ringers who work away for weeks at a time at the station's two mustering camps
the stefans brief nourishing wholesome food and lots of it
they really want to steak an onion gravy once a week and they love shepherd's pie
and then roasts of course those are the most popular of them all [Music]
the biggest surprise for staff was fresh bread every day
anita happened to mention to me that she makes her own sourdough and ciabatta bread
and i love ciabatta bread and sourdough and i mentioned it in passing that i like it
and the next day came down about three loaves of bread this big the following day just in
case i hadn't had finished all of that i had another two loaves come down and i was like oh
look at those beans look they're in flour already with the nearest big town atherton four hours
drive away fresh veggies were not easy to get so jens and anita spent a lot of time in the
vegetable garden well everything that we grew the beautiful beans and peas and courgettes and
and pumpkins that are coming on so it because we're restricted in the amount of vegetables
and especially herbs it was very useful to be able to grow our own anita ganza is a bit of
a foodie and enjoyed meals like the stefan's spicy vietnamese beef soup with fresh herbs
from the garden campbell who ventured way out of his comfort zone discovered a love of chilies
as far as protein goes here it's beef beef or beef from the station's own herd
campbell keo says in the old days you couldn't get a job as a cook
if you couldn't do basic butchering but until this year he'd never had a cook who could do it
that usually gets left to our staff to do you might get a piece of steak
where it starts this thick one end and might be that on the other or
previous cooks served the station's beef shortly after slaughter
which isn't ideal if you want to serve tender beef the stefan's hung and stretched it for five weeks
yesterday said that she'd never had such a wealthy but
and i think possibly that can only come from the hanging and stretching those two things because
the animal is always the same the stefans wasted nothing this is beautiful meat took since ashamed
bones are a gift used to make stocks which are the base for soups and sauces and so we can chop them
up and get rosemary bone rosemary is very good yeah so your gravy is not out of the packet no
no no absolutely not no greenbox i could not do it when there's so much goodness [Music]
smoko is a ritual on stations german borneons didn't know what it was once they'd worked
out it was morning and afternoon tea their chefing skills came to the fore
their smoko spreads became legendary a big hit was a lemon cake with an outback touch rum drizzle
yens's elegant fruit platters increased fruit consumption
before whole fruit was laid out but little was eaten now it all goes
anita ganza was surprised by the chef's attention to detail i'd be mesmerised watching anne's when
he'd played up the salad like the meat platter for lunch and every slice had to be that far
apart from each other or lay it over and if it wasn't he'd adjust it and you know painstakingly
you know putting it all together and then piping like just watching this this creamy mashed potato
come out of a pipe in little dots or yeah just we usually have lumpy mashed potato you know
having fine dining chefs on station wasn't without its hiccups though
they were trying to accommodate everybody's needs and wants and dislikes and in the end it all got
to a point where it's like well let's just go back to the start we'll chuck out the dislike list
and we'll concentrate on the like list because we're sort of like
a family kitchen where it's like mum dad and the kids and this is what you're getting for dinner
it took the chefs a while to adjust to their customers palettes i think they
were surprised how plain meat and three veg holbrook sauce salt and pepper from that to
oh food names i don't even know
corned beef as you know it is really a staple and i was so pleased of having
loads of herbs in our garden and so i made a white sauce with every witch herb in it
and they scraped it off they didn't like it and another time i made
mashed potatoes and peas and put mint in it and i was told the following morning that
they would need it well it was a learning curve i tell you but yet i was disappointed but then
we've we've learned and they have learned as well too so we've come together [Music]
big hits chocolate mousse pies and sausage rolls with homemade pastry
english muffins enchiladas quiche and fluffy lump free mashed potato
and curries with coconut milk they like that they probably hadn't had that before because they
i brought ground spices with me indian spices and i think they had only had
keens so it was a different flavor you know but they were good they ate it all
they are exceptional i'm having to go on a diet now their pastries are just
to die for and temptation is just too much for me this morning is a typical example
i mean little whatever they call them pulled oh the pulled pork sliders pork sliders
and just you know them sausage rolls that they make up when it's all made by them the whole it's
all memorable really though the all-time station favorite crumbed steak had both anita and yen's
flummoxed we don't speak about crumb stick i never heard of it actually clump steak crumb
schnitzel and and this sort of thing you see the chicken breasts but never a steak
so what did the staff think and i didn't think coming on to a station it would be this good but
it's pretty amazing the food that's coming out jan's cooks are mad t-bone are the best t-bones
i love their quiche their quiche and the anzac biscuits are by far my favorite it's kind of like
a restaurant but you have to do your own washing it i've put on two kilos since i've been here so
that's it that's a bonus
during this day the couple found plenty of interest outside the kitchen
begins it was the animals especially the horses and chickens how are you today yes jen's visited
a mob of station horses every day i didn't need the hay he just wanted a pat and a chat go out
of the way the baby wants a bit of bread come on darling and i really enjoyed with the horses
they come running towards you and it's really enjoyable and when you see a fool and the mum
is really nice his interest was a bonus for campbell
it meant he could leave for a weekend confident the horses were in able hands
i keep all the fools or do you cell phones people mainly as a station station horses
the couple spent their weekends exploring they were fascinated by the station's wildlife
especially this bower bird's courting bower come on jokes but for yen's time girls was a highlight
feeding time okay guys late afternoon he amused all with his chicken pie piper routine
look at this come on come on girls lots of carrots and things and goodies
we got 15 out of 18 eggs enough for breakfast tomorrow morning ok
the couple say they weren't bothered by the isolation or the heat they didn't mind not
having a tv limited internet access or getting a newspaper once a week [Music]
yen says there are plenty of jobs out there and urges retired chefs with some cooking left in them
to consider an extreme tree change we are both 74 we're most people sitting and watching television
i think there's a lot of scope for a retired chefs to come out here and really enjoy
this sort of life because there isn't the pressure that there is in the restaurant
scenario anita stefan says she and jens loved every minute of their station posting i could not
think of a single solitary negative aspect about being here in aberdeen for the last six months
at all it's just been heaven because it's not just cooking what you're doing you're looking you're
looking after a group of people like a family you know and i think that's an enjoyable part of it
not long after our visit anita and yen's headed home but before they left they
gave the staff free reign to pick their last five favorite dinners the winners
crumb steak and chips sausages and mash steak and wedges curried sausages and shepherd's pie
[Music] and good luck finding a cook how hard is that going to be do you want the job [Music]
you