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Horsham steaks a claim to fame ... as Home of the Florrie

Carolyn Webb
Carolyn Webb

The florrie, as interpreted by Horsham's Sports and Community Club.
The florrie, as interpreted by Horsham's Sports and Community Club.Simon Schluter

Some of the world's great cities have a signature dish. Boston has clam chowder, New Orleans has the po'boy sandwich.

Adelaide has its pie floater.

Horsham locals cherish the florrie.

Horsham resident Frank Godden has a date with a florrie every fortnight.
Horsham resident Frank Godden has a date with a florrie every fortnight.Simon Schluter
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But what IS that? Few outside the Wimmera town know.

Well, it's a flattened-out piece of steak, crumbed and folded over a slice of cheese and a slice of ham.

It's Horsham's best-kept secret, but maybe not for long.

Former chef Alfonso Baviello, aka Mr Florrie, came up with the florentina - a crumbed steak, ham and cheese dish.
Former chef Alfonso Baviello, aka Mr Florrie, came up with the florentina - a crumbed steak, ham and cheese dish. Simon Schulter

Horsham Rural City Council mayor Pam Clarke has proposed that Home of the Florrie be printed below the Welcome to Horsham signs on roads into town.

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"You've got to show off your uniqueness," she says. Cr Clarke hasn't heard of them being served elsewhere. "And if they are, they've stolen them from Horsham.''

Cr Clarke supports an idea by organisers of Horsham's Kannamaroo Festival, in November, to hold a "follow the florrie" trail – a kind of "florrie crawl", sampling bites from the town's many outlets that sell florries.

Horsham Sports and Community Club chef Gary Reudenbach serves up Horsham's 'signature dish'.
Horsham Sports and Community Club chef Gary Reudenbach serves up Horsham's 'signature dish'.Simon Schluter

"It is an institution in Horsham," Cr Clarke says. "All of our children have gone away to boarding school and university and they've all come back – it must be for the florrie."

How crazy are locals about their florries?

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Luke Morgan, of Your Regional Butcher in Horsham, sends 50 to 80 frozen florries a month, by truck, to Byron Bay, in northern NSW, to a homesick Horsham woman.

Another customer takes a batch with her on holidays to the Northern Territory every winter.

Mr Morgan's staff churn out 6000 to 10,000 of the raw form per month. He has a staff member devoted to making them, six days a week.

"If I stopped selling florries I'd get murdered, I reckon. They [customers] get cranky when they come in and I've got none ready to go.''

Karen Hickman, 71, co-editor of the Lost Horsham Facebook page, says she once took 100 frozen florries on visits to Melbourne. "For my sister, my sister's friends, my daughter, my son. They just love them."

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Hickman was recently sick in Horsham's hospital, where she was served a florrie.

When her brother Ken visited her from Buderim, Queensland last week, he didn't want her to make a fuss and cook.

"But as soon as he walked in, [after a flight from Buderim and 300km drive up from Melbourne], I said ‘you're going to have a florrie'. He said ‘bloody oath'."

Frank Godden, 82, who eats a florrie with chips and coleslaw for lunch religiously every fortnight at the Horsham Sports and Community Club, says florries are "very tasty and a nice size, not too much for lunch''.

He says they are very different to parmigianas, which have cheese and sauce on top and not the ham and cheese inside.

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Alfonso Baviello, 88, who introduced the florrie to Horsham's Niagara Restaurant 60 years ago, is hailed as Mr Florrie.

Baviello migrated to Australia from a village near Naples, in Italy, in 1956.

He didn't see his wife, Carmela, and two sons until they migrated 10 years later.

He worked on the railways before joining a cousin in Horsham. He could cook, and so became chef at the Niagara in Firebrace Street, owned by fellow Italian Pat Neri.

He says the Niagara was a hit because it opened till 3am some days and served yummy staples such as coffee, spaghetti, pastries – and the florrie.

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Baviello says it was called the cordon bleu in Italy, and made with T-bone steak. In Horsham, he made it with topside, so he named it la florentina.

Which locals shortened to the florrie. There was a secret ingredient, but he won't tell.

After 40 years being celebrated for his florries as a chef for eateries around town, he worked from home filling a non-stop stream of bulk orders for florries, from as far as Brisbane and Adelaide.

It was a relief to finally hang up his chef's hat in 2007. "It was too much worry. I couldn't sleep at night time because someone wanted 100, 50, 60."

He would love Horsham being named the Home of the Florrie and is proud of it.

"I just can't believe how popular it is, and has been for so many years."

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Carolyn WebbCarolyn Webb is a reporter for The Age.

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