Charcuterie Excellence Awards Judges

Born in Dublin and trained by the legendary Raymond Blanc, Colin Fassnidge moved to Australia in the final days of 1999 and started to make a name for himself throughout the early naughties.

First at The Four in Hand Dining Room, in Paddington and then in his own restaurant 4Fourteen, in Surry Hills, Colin’s creative yet refined take on the nose-to-tail food philosophy turned each venue into an awarded and celebrated dining destination, listed in:

• Gourmet Traveller’s Top 50
• Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food Guide – 2 Hats Four in Hand,
• Sydney Morning Heralds Good Food Guide 1 Hat 4Fourteen
• Australian Financial Review’s Top 100

Colin ventured back to London in 2003 for a short stint and was part of the opening team of chefs for Gordon Ramsey’s Boxwood Kitchen at the Berkeley Hotel London.

Back to Sydney – Colin’s latest venues take him back to his love of pub dining spaces and good honest no-nonsense cooking; Banksia Bistro part of the Banksia Hotel thrives as part of the local area and has become the go to place for the local community in the suburb.

Colin’s opinions and honesty led him to an 8 year appearance as a judge on Channel 7’s ratings winner ‘My Kitchen Rules’.

Adding author to his list of accomplishments, Colin’s first cookbook ‘Four Kitchens’, published by Random House, brought together his fine dining recipes from the Four In Hand – his sharing whole animal dishes from 4fourteen, casual fare from both the home kitchen and the bar kitchen.  His second book The Common-sense Cook was released at the end of October 2020 and promises to remove the stigma that cooking is hard, he keeps it simple and easy to follow for the everyday home cook.   Colin was creatively involved in all aspects of both books and both are something which he will cherish and look back to for years to come.

Colin has always believed in helping others, a tract pasted down from his parents.  He has a long standing relationship with Oz harvest, but has always done quite a bit off his own back as well.   A Saturday night tray bake was part of the prep list for chefs at both Four in hand and 4fourteen to help a local charity with their dinner program.  The start of the pandemic in March 2020 saw him create a local “soup kitchen” as he called it, for produce left over from the sudden shut down of venues, this continued weekly throughout 2020 and 21.

His profile as a no-nonsense chef keeps growing and his following expanding, again the pandemic of 2020-21 saw his business @byfassnige pivot and delve into the world of creating the @byfassnidge Cookery School, with private dining experiences and online cooking classes for both the corporate and public marketplaces, a YouTube channel where he has created a place to provide cooking advise and recipes but also some light entertainment thrown in for good measure as well.

Ralf is a fleischmeister and runs Oakwood Smallgoods butcher and charcuterie shop at Castlemaine, where he also holds workshops for butchers and farmers. Oakwood brings the craft back to smallgoods. Traditional time-honoured techniques and carefully sourced ingredients come together to create high quality artisan smallgoods. 

Now 45 years spent in the business, Ralf saw everything changing into large scale production and the idea was born to go back to the old style. Using only free range ethically sourced pork, beef and lamb the raw meat is cured with attention to detail in wood fired smokehouses or dry curing room. Using traditional methods, Ralf’s passion and driving force is to produce quality products – his mantra is meat, spices and tradition!! 

Ralf was born near Dortmund and, like the men in his family, became a butcher. In 1987 Ralf was awarded the certificate of Fleishmeister, as was his father in 1960. Look out for the original certificate in the Castlemaine shop – his and his father’s are displayed as well as a picture of the old shop in Germany. He is very proud to be 1 of only 6 Fleischmeisters in Australia. 

Nathan has over 30 years’ experience in the meat industry. Starting out as a teenage butcher and smallgoods apprentice, to then completing a Food science and technology degree at UQ Gatton. From there, Nathan has worked in product development and process improvement roles at a premix supplier, large smallgoods manufacturers and meat processing facilities.

With a skill set spreading across hands on production, as well as the scientific aspects of smallgoods manufacture, Nathan has also been fortunate to spend time working at a smallgoods plant in Austria, and throughout his career learned from some of Australia’s leading smallgoods identities.

Now working for almost 7 years with Chr Hansen, Nathan’s role involves working closely with manufacturers to develop and optimise salami and smallgoods products, processing and quality, allowing for exposure to many variations of manufacturing practices and finished goods.

Adam Moore is ranked among the world’s top corporate chefs with qualifications in pastry, charcuterie and butchery, food styling and food photography. 

With more than 25 years in the industry to his credit, Adam has worked in restaurants, foodservice, retail, food manufacturing, marketing and sales. In the corporate sector, past employers include Mars Australia, George Weston Foods and the multinational Campbell Arnotts. He’s currently executive chef of the Cerebos Culinary Institute, focused on consumer-led recipe development, as well as product development and innovation. 

Adam is a Research Chefs Association Certified Executive Chef (CEC) and a judge for Clubs NSW Chefs Table, TAA chef of the year, AHA Chef of the year, Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, Sydney Royal Fine Foods and more. He’s an active member of the Australian Culinary Federation and the Global Research Chefs Association. He has lectured at the University of NSW Kenvale College and is a renowned industry mentor for young chefs. 

Adam is currently working on his first cookbook, centred on his love of pork. 

Andrew Morabito started his career as a butcher in 1989, studying through Granville TAFE college. He entered state and national competitions from 1991, which was the beginning of his drive to excel in the meat industry. Andrew had his own successful butcher shop for before moving into teaching at TAFE NSW’s state-of-the-art Granville college and has been teaching there since 2008, pass on the skills and knowledge he has obtained over the last 30 years to the next generation of butchers. 

Andrew specialises in value-added and meal solutions in a meat retail outlet and in smallgoods manufacturing.  

Smallgoods has been a passion of Andrew’s since the start of his career, making smallgoods from scratch in a country butcher shop, from recipes handed down from previous generations, then in his own business following the FSANZ Food Standard Code learning all things smallgoods. Andrew also works on R&D projects with industry and food tech companies on new food trends. 

Marco began his career in butchery as an apprentice in 1981, progressing to earn a master’s degree in Switzerland and a meat technologist degree in Kulmbach, Germany.

In 1993, he relocated to Australia, applying his knowledge and skills in significant roles at major manufacturing companies. His positions included Research and Development (R&D) and Factory and Operations Manager.

In addition to his management roles, Marco dedicated several years to providing technical support for an industry supplier in Asia and Australia. Further recognising his deep knowledge in the field, he was invited to be a judge for the Sydney Fine Food Show.

Marco’s true passion has always remained in the development and manufacturing of smallgoods.

Awarded 2019 Chef of the Year by The West Australian Good Food Guide, Melissa Palinkas is head chef and co-owner at one-hatted Young George and executive chef at Ethos Deli + Dining Room, both in Perth. Palinkas shows a particular mastery in house-made charcuterie, among many other talents.

The food produced by Melissa Palinkas has been lavished with praise by reviewers who describe her food as ‘inventive, fun, smart, original and drop-dead gorgeous’.

Melissa prides herself on running a sustainable kitchen at her restaurants. Her ‘nose to tail’ or ‘root to shoot’ approach to cooking means that nothing is wasted – the trimmings of vegetables and meats are used in stock, leftover vegetables are fermented or used for preserves and spent fruit rinds are converted to cocktail bases and house made cordials.

Melissa’s first kitchen job was at the Brass Monkey in Northbridge. She worked overseas in London and Dublin then took on the head chef role at The Cabin in Mt Hawthorn for four years before setting up her first restaurant, Young George, with wife Susan.

Melissa was honoured to receive her first Hat at the 2020 Good Food Guide Awards and to be named the 2019 West Australian Good Food Guide Chef of the Year.

At the end of 2020 Melissa and wife Susan opened Ethos deli and dining room. A sustainable kitchen with an emphasis on no waste, where Melissa’s handmade nose to tail charcuterie takes centre stage.

For many people, air travel and good food are two mutually exclusive experiences. But for Richardson, it was one that led him to the other. Thankfully for Melbourne gastronomes, his dreams of becoming a pilot were trumped by the captivating chaos of the kitchen. “I started working in kitchens part-time to pay for my lessons and that’s where it sort of kicked off, I gave up the flying lessons and went back to school.” Since then he has worked in some of the most prestigious kitchens around the world. Richardson can also be found every afternoon on Ten Network’s Good Chef Bad Chef.

Despite his early stint in aviation Richardson had “always been around good food, from day one” admitting “I didn’t know what “bad” food was”. Growing up in a household with “a mélange of North African, Middle Eastern and Italian cuisine” Richardson’s heritage definitely helps explain his enthusiasm for quality food that’s packed with flavour. What his heritage doesn’t help explain is his interest in all things blood and guts, given one side of his family, are strict vegetarians.

Nevertheless, when it comes to meat Richardson wrote the book on it, literally, MEAT was released in 2008 and provided readers with a simplistic guide on how to buy, cook and enjoy meat.  At his restaurant, La Luna Bistro, every cut has been dry-aged, on the bone for 7 to 8 weeks and is butchered on the premises, “we actually use a lot of cuts that aren’t mainstream, so we’re using the whole animal in our own particular, strange sort of way.” He encourages people to “eat good meat, sustainably produced if you can, grass-fed, animals that live a healthy life”.

His second book, The Good Life, is a throwback to his younger years. Influenced by memories of times spent cooking at home “the book is about, just enjoying food with your family and friends and taking it easy and making some things at home. It’s a simple pleasure, it’s not rocket surgery”. Richardson’s philosophy on food has always involved unabashed enjoyment, “a lot of chefs make really fine, pretty, tiny, beautiful food and that’s great, but for me, I’m more about family and getting together and sharing things”.

Adrian & produced and hosts ‘Secret Meat Business’ on the Lifestyle Channel, in which Adrian explores cooking all things meat, from every corner of the planet & ‘Richo’s bar snacks’ on SBS, a show full of fast & entertaining recipes & tips for cooking bar snacks & party food. Adrian is the co-host of “Good Chef Bad Chef”, which airs on Network Ten. In 2007, Adrian co-hosted with friends Gary Mehigan, Manu Feildel and Miguel Maestre in the hit series “Boys Weekend”, which airs in over 110 countries.

Adrian Richardson is the owner of the successful and bustling La Luna Bistro in North Carlton, Melbourne’s iconic meat destination, where he has been serving up clean, fresh, bistro-style food made with love since 1998. In 2016, Adrian opened his second venue, Bouvier Bar and Grill in Brunswick East, a New York-style bar with a focus on cocktails and bar food inspired by his travels.

Richardson has also developed the new look-upmarket dining experience at Marvel Stadium for the Medallion club members and their guests, called ‘Gallery Restaurant’ by Adrian Richardson, and opened his third restaurant in Brisbane with partners Chris Higgins and Liam McMahon BOS in late 2022.

Michael studied Food Science and Technology, graduating with Honours at Victoria University, and has worked in the Australian Food Industry for more than 10 years in technical and development roles.

Joining the team at Chr. Hansen in 2015, Michael has worked extensively across Australia and New Zealand, supporting NPD and troubleshooting with salami and smallgoods manufacturers.

His active participation in Chr. Hansen global meat networks enable him to bring cutting edge solutions while unlocking the power of good bacteria to the ANZ industry. Chr. Hansen fermentation cultures combined with the strong technical support are highly regarded and new culture solutions allow spoilage reduction and pathogen protection.

In his spare time Michael indulges in his passion for all things meat and low and slow BBQ, using some of Australia’s finest products, gratefully enjoyed by his family and friends.

Rob Warman has a notable career spanning nearly half a century in the meat industry. His journey began with him owning and operating his own retail butcher shop for a decade. This shop specialised in high-quality small goods, garnering him numerous awards and recognition in the field.

In addition to his retail experience, Rob also has a wealth of knowledge and practical involvement in the wholesale sector of the industry.

For the past 10 years, Rob has further contributed to the industry by serving as a judge in South Australia. His role has allowed him to evaluate entries in both regional and city-based small goods and Sausage King Competitions. His keen eye for quality and his extensive experience in the field have been crucial to his judging role, enabling him to provide balanced, informed assessments of the competitors’ offerings.