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What we ate in 2014: Most popular recipes

Jane Holroyd
Jane Holroyd

Karen Martini's butter chicken was the fourth most-viewed recipe in 2014.
Karen Martini's butter chicken was the fourth most-viewed recipe in 2014.Marcel Aucar

It's been the year of chicken, lamb necks, Yotam Ottolenghi-inspired fare and the ever-contentious paleo diet. Here's a round-up of what we've been cooking over the past 12 months.

Most-viewed recipes: Chicken, chicken, and more chicken

While a vegetarian grain salad from Melbourne's Hellenic Republic restaurants was the most-viewed recipe on goodfood.com.au in 2014, chicken was by far the most in-demand ingredient. This is not surprising. Australians are among the biggest consumers of chicken in the world. According to the Department of Agriculture we consumed nearly 45 kilograms each in 2013-14.

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Its versatility was on display in recipes that sparked the most interest in goodfood.com.au readers this year. After the Hellenic Republic salad the three most-viewed recipes were Neil Perry's chicken cacciatore, Frank Camorra's chicken parmigiana and Karen Martini's butter chicken.

For her part Martini is not surprised her butter chicken struck a chord. "It's a dish that people really love from restaurants ... and [is] really achievable and quite delicious." Her pad Thai was the sixth most-viewed recipe for the year.

Trends: lesser-cuts, vegetarian and paleo

Hellenic Republic's Cypriot grain salad recipe has been a hit with readers this year.
Hellenic Republic's Cypriot grain salad recipe has been a hit with readers this year.Pat Scala

The influence of chefs on our choices was also apparent in the rising popularity of recipes featuring what were once known as "lesser" cuts. A Jill Dupleix recipe from her Hot Food column featuring beef cheeks and a Karen Martini lamb neck recipe were in this year's top 10.

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Linda Tsatsimas from Sardes Quality Meats at Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market said customers have become noticeably more adventurous with ox cheek and hanger and flank steaks, brisket and lambs necks in demand. "It's great to hear customers when they come back to tell you how they cooked a certain cut and how much they enjoyed the taste."

The most popular? "It would be a tie between the ox cheek and the hanger steak".

Pete Evans' raw carrot cake bliss balls were a hit with the paleo crowd.
Pete Evans' raw carrot cake bliss balls were a hit with the paleo crowd.Supplied

Another Martini-family favourite dinner is slow-roasted lamb shoulder with fresh pitas and yoghurt and cucumber salad. While lamb dishes remain popular with Australian home cooks at large (it was the second most-searched ingredient this year), salmon edged out beef.

Martini believes the trend away from red meat towards vegetarian eating in particular ("vegetarian" was the sixth most-searched-for recipe term on goodfood.com.au in 2014) will continue to grow in coming years.

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"Rather than a meal being protein-dominated, I can see a wider demographic embracing the notion of putting vegetables on a pedestal," she said.

No. 6 ... Karen Martini's pad Thai.
No. 6 ... Karen Martini's pad Thai.Marcel Aucar

"I think healthy dining in general will be a big focus, but not at the expense of the food being delicious and visually stunning."

Indeed, the influence of British-based Yotam Ottolenghi may go part-way to explaining the popularity of Middle-Eastern leaning vegetable dishes. Hellenic Republic's Travis McAuley says while other salad dishes come and go from the menu, the grain salad is now an immovable beast. The restaurant's three branches each sell about 100 kilograms of the salad each week and goodfood.com.au readers viewed the recipe 147,000 times, spending an average of 25 minutes on the recipe this year.

Asked what he thought was so appealing about the recipe McAuley cites its balance of flavours and textures. "It contains salty capers that are balanced out with sweet currants, freshness from the herbs, crunch from the nuts and bulked out with lentils and freekeh."

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But for those wanting to mix things up McAuley suggests home cooks try using different grains such as quinoa and barley, or roast different seasonal vegetables and toss them through the salad.

The influence of trending diets such as sugar-free and paleo were also evident, with Pete Evans' raw carrot cake bliss ball recipe featuring in this year's top 10 most-viewed. According to Google, the most-searched diet term in Australia this year was "paleo" followed by the famine and feast-style 5:2 diet, the Fodmap diet, Atkins diet and "gluten-free".

Most popular recipes: star ratings

But when it came to the recipes readers felt the need to sing about, sweet treats and pub-style dinners topped the list. The star rating function on goodfood.com.au gives readers the chance to share how much they liked a dish - scoring it out of five. The recipes below were among those that scored the highest reader rating.

Caroline Velik's flathead in beer batter with homemade tartare, Adam Liaw's macaroni, bolognese and cheese and Neil Perry's Mexican style braised beef and chicken adobo for tacos.

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On the sweet front, Frank Camorra's jaffa brownieslemon semolina biscuits won hearts. As did Dan Lepard's gluten-free chocolate rose marble cake

As for her food discoveries in 2014, chef Karen Martini cites gochujang - a Korean paste of fermented chillies, soybeans and glutinous rice - as her current obsession. "It has so many applications. I use it as the base for marinades, dressings and condiments, and it goes so well with roasted or fried chicken, barbecued fish and prawns, and so much more."

Martini has also discovered a love for raw kohlrabi. "It has been a bit of a revelation for me. I've never been a fan of it cooked, but it's brilliant julienned for remoulade, shaved or cut into thick batons for salad or grated into coleslaw."

She's also hoping to spread the word on bottarga, which "should be more widely used". "Let's say that 2015 will be bottarga's year! I can't get enough of that sweet marine flavour with its rich, velvety texture and salty, umami kick. I'm particularly looking forward to getting my hands on the best Greek versions preserved in beeswax."

Most-viewed recipes on goodfood.com.au 2014

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Most-searched recipes on Google in Australia 2014

1. Pancake recipe

2. Chicken recipe

3. Thermomix recipes

4. Slow-cooker recipes

5. Chocolate cake recipe

6. Quiche recipe

7. Scone recipe

8. Pizza dough recipe

9. Carbonara recipe

10. Paleo recipes

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Jane HolroydJane Holroyd is a writer and producer for goodfood.com.au

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