Prohibition Smokehouse
Dunedin’s Prohibition Smokehouse is serving up dry-aged meat to offer diners a fresh experience, reports Maria Hoyle
For Andre Shi, the decision to open a steakhouse in Dunedin’s Octagon was easy. Shi’s AND Hospitality Group owns Asian fusion restaurant Vault 21, Asian street food-inspired Déjà Vu Eats and Catacombs nightclub; he knows a good business proposition when he sees one. But the Prohibition Smokehouse? “I’m a big steak fan!” Andre says. Simple as that. In 2016 Prohibition began serving southern-style barbecued meat hot off the grill. Then in 2019, they started experimenting with something Andre had seen in the US: dry-ageing their meat. “A lot of proper steakhouses in the States have a dry-ageing room,” says Andre. “You can taste the progress of the meat at 30 days, 40, 60, 80, 90; the longest I tried was 300 days. The flavour and texture changes depending on how long you age them for.” But while the restaurant model is imported, the produce itself is firmly local. “All our restaurants use locally caught fish, organic pork from Havoc Farm Pork, salmon from Ōra King in Nelson, beef from Silver Fern Farms, and veges from local farmers.” The dry-ageing lockers have a consistent air flow and temperature, and salt blocks to soak up the meat’s moisture. “We check the slabs fortnightly, the ph levels and the temperature of the fridge, to reach optimal ageing.” And while the meat languishes in those lockers (similar to chillers) for a fair spell, that doesn’t mean you can throw in any old cuts and hope for the best. For a quality result, you have to start with the best cuts. “Silver Fern Farms hand-pick reserve-grade tomahawk slabs and send them to us as a special order to ensure the quality of the steak,” says Andre. “It has to be fresh to dry-age properly.” Dry-ageing offers “phenomenal” possibilities. “We did lots of research before we imported the dry-ager from Australia. We spoke to the producer there to get all the knowledge from them and we talked to a lot of butchers. It’s a long process to learn. The chefs have had to be very patient and passionate about it. We’re constantly experimenting with different techniques; for example, you can wrap the beef in butter, beef dripping and even beeswax, and age it like that.” They’re also experimenting with dry-ageing salmon, which is processed separately. Dry-ageing also ticks a box that’s front of mind for hospitality right now: offering an unparalleled experience. So what experience can we expect at Prohibition? First, it’s an open kitchen; and if you want to get closer to the action, you can sit at the servery bench and chat to the chefs as they grill your meat on the robata over charcoal. Chris Will, executive chef of hatted restaurants such as Auckland’s Masu and The Sugar Club, will soon join the Prohibition team and further develop the dining experience. The kitchen team also cold-smoke their meat, alongside smoking flour and oil to portray the true flavours of a smokehouse in their finished dishes. Then the key question: What will your chosen cut taste like? “Up to 90 days the aroma is almost like blue cheese,” says Andre. “The texture has changed too, it’s a lot more tender. At 160 days plus, the flavour is intensified.” You’ll soon be able to get your steak ‘custom-aged’ too. Buy a slab of, say, 9kg and they’ll manage the process for you, cutting the meat at the 30-day mark, for example. You simply go in and eat it. You then make another booking at 90 days and so on. Andre’s ultimate aim is to develop the food scene in Dunedin and showcase the city as a destination for foodies, showing it’s as much a foodie city as Wellington or Auckland. And he’s turning to the past to propel that ambition forward. Because while he took inspiration from the US, dry-ageing is as old as the hills the cattle graze on – except it was cold barns where carcasses were stored and exposed to humidity and optimum air quality. A centuries-old technique paired with good old-fashioned hospitality. That certainly has a potent whiff of success about it.