Kasey and Karena: Meat and greet (+recipes)

Pork, mash, brussels and apple sauce. Photo / Michael Craig

We all need protein so go for the best our country can offer.

How amazing is it to live in this country? We feel so blessed to come from a place with clean water, fresh air and rich soil.

One of the things we love most is that you can see the cows and sheep roaming the open paddocks when you are driving through the countryside. We are proud to come from somewhere that has such high-quality meat and knowing where it comes from makes it even better.

We were brought up in a carnivorous family and have always enjoyed protein, whether it be mum's roasts or meat-heavy barbecues. We crave meat if we haven't had it in a while and we love to cook it. A great piece of meat cooked perfectly is something we consider to be one of life's simple pleasures.

Our first recipe uses free-range New Zealand pork. We love pork and it is great to see free-range pork is becoming more available.

The more people make the effort to buy free range the more common it will become. We love this served with our chunky apple gravy. It goes excellently with the succulent meat and we love eating this with Brussels sprouts and creamy mashed potatoes. Don't be afraid to serve your pork still blushing pink. Good-quality pork is delicious served medium.

Grilled lamb chops are one of the best things our Mum would make for us.

We would love to listen to the pops and crackles of the chops while they were cooking in the oven. We like eating ours with sauteed leeks, sweet peas and tangy balsamic beetroot. Grilling the chops under a super-hot broiler makes the fat go nice and crispy and ensures the meat stays beautiful and rosy.

Lastly, we have venison. We are lucky to have beautiful venison meat dropped off to us from local hunters but, these days, venison is readily available in most supermarkets.

This rich, gamey meat is popular and we love using strong flavours with it. For this recipe we made thyme potato rostis, honey-glazed carrots and our rich cherry sauce to go alongside.

Our top tips for cooking meat

• Always take the meat out of the fridge before cooking it. Make sure the meat is at room temperature before cooking as this ensures even cooking and that the outside won't dry out before the inside has a chance to cook.

• Always dry your meat. This means the heat sears the meat rather than steaming off the excess moisture.

• Meat loves salt.

Try the delicious recipes from Kasey and Karena Bird below at bite.co.nz

• Venison with Cherry Sauce
• Pork Steaks with Chunky Apple Gravy
• Spiced Lamb Chops with Balsamic Beetroot