New World steak claims top National Award

New World Melody’s in Palmerston North has just been crowned the retail category winners in Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s tenth annual Steak of Origin awards, beating out 73 other meat retailers who also submitted their steaks for the Best of Brand - Retail category.

Store manager Kelly Melody says it’s fantastic to see their experienced and passionate butchery team gain this level of recognition for their efforts. “Unlike many other supermarkets, we still do all our butchering in store using traditional techniques, and pride ourselves especially on the quality of our steaks and sausages.”

“Our customers and suppliers have been telling us that we have a fantastic offering for a long time, which is why we entered the awards. Our focus has always been on having the highest quality product. Every cut of Angus Pure which comes to our store must reach our very high expectations or it isn’t put on our shelves – it’s as simple as that.”

For the Melodys who operate the store, butchery is in their blood, with at least one family member following the trade in each of the past five generations. Kelly’s brother Mark has been a butcher for nine years, while Kelly’s father and store owner Kerry Melody is also a butcher by trade.

When it comes to enjoying the perfect steak, Kelly has a few tips for her customers. “When you buy steak as good as Angus Pure, it’s already been optimally aged and has amazing flavour, so we recommend doing very little to it.”

“Just put a bit of olive oil, rock salt and cracked pepper on both sides, get your pan smoking hot, and grill for two minutes on each side, turning only once for a perfect medium rare. Don’t forget to let the meat rest for three minutes, and serve with baby potatoes and minted peas – delicious!”

For the competition, each steak was aged for three weeks before being tested for tenderness, pH, marbling and percent cooking loss. The winners were tasted and selected by a panel of judges including Allyson Gofton, Sir Colin Meads and Sarah Ulmer at the Beef Expo, held in Feilding on 14 May.