Culinary at BRC

Our Team

 
Our Culinary Team is led by John Felesina, who joined us in 2014 as Head Chef before becoming Executive Chef in 2019. 

He has a wealth of experience, working as a chef in hotels, fine dining, banqueting, conferencing and conventions, and has also worked within food service seafood trading, product development and manufacturing.

Brisbane-born to Italian parents – his dad hails from a town near the Swiss border and his mum from Sicilian islands – John also spent time at a decorated hotel in Como, Northern Italy, following his chef’s apprenticeship. There’s a nod in our menus to his Italian heritage, with dishes such as Nonna’s cannoli proving among the perennial favourites.

Working with John is Culinary Administrator Sharyn Provost, Executive Sous Chef Mark Haygarth, and a core group of chefs including Peter Jacobson, Kathryn Tan, Rhian Stanton and Alan O’Brien, with the team expanding to as many as 70 chefs on a major raceday.

Culinary Excellence

Whether it’s preparing meat pies to be enjoyed with a beer on the racecourse lawns or a bespoke menu for a sit-down function, our Culinary Team always seek to deliver food of exceptional quality, that tempts both the eye and the palate, and is an important and integral component of providing a memorable event experience.

This commitment to excellence and delivering a premium product extends to all aspects of our team’s approach, from relationships formed with supply partners to ensuring guests’ dietary needs are catered for.

Menu offerings are continually reviewed and selections of lifestyle choices are expanded.

Fresh, Seasonal and Sustainable

Our team’s food philosophy is quite simple: use what’s fresh, flavoursome, the best quality, in season, locally produced and sustainable.

Many relationships have been established with smaller, boutique-style providores who are passionate and proud to grow produce specifically for BRC.

In line with our Club’s Sustainability strategy, the team use products from local regions such as cheeses from the Mary Valley, sow-free stall pork from Kingaroy, wild-caught ocean king prawns from Mooloolaba and Noosa, and yearling beef from Kilcoy and surrounding areas, to name a few.

The team also uses a range of compostable and biodegradable single-use disposable products, such as corn starch cutlery and pressed sugarcane and banana leaf flatware.

The Star Stradbroke Season

 
The Star Stradbroke Season is the premier event on BRC’s racing calendar each year. Over six Saturday racedays in May and June at Eagle Farm and Doomben Racecourses, our team prepares delicious dishes for tens of thousands of racegoers.

During the Season they will serve up as much as:

16,500 hand-wrapped spring rolls
8000 peeled fresh Noosa prawn tails
750kg whole, large ocean king prawns
200kg barramundi fillets
800 dozen fresh oysters
250kg sliced cold smoked salmon
50kg picked sand crab meat
7500 export-grade fine-dining lamb cutlets
250kg poached chicken breast for ribbon sandwiches
350kg shaved leg ham
300kg Kenilworth vintage cheddar cheese
150kg Belgian chocolate

Recipe of the Month

 
CHOCOLATE FONDANT

INGREDIENTS

100 g unsalted butter, plus extra, softened, to grease moulds/ramekins
Cocoa powder, to dust moulds/ramekins
100 g dark, bitter chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), in pieces
2 X large eggs
2 X large egg yolks
120 g caster sugar
100 g plain flour, sifted
Vanilla ice cream or cream, berries to serve

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 170C. Heavily grease 8 X Dariole moulds or ramekins, then place in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Heavily dust the moulds with cocoa powder. Place back in the fridge.
Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water or in a double boiler. Stir until smooth. In a clean bowl, whisk whole eggs, egg yolks and sugar until smooth and thick. Fold in the melted, smooth chocolate mixture, then fold in the plain flour.
Divide the chocolate mixture evenly among the moulds. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Allow to stand. Turn out chocolate fondants, dust with fine powdered sugar, serve with ice cream or double cream and raspberries or other berries.