Tagged: canadian cuisine
elements of taste, part 1
Ever have a meal so incredibly good, so well balanced, so full of flavour, such a visual and palatable delight that you knew you could never do it justice because there just weren’t enough superlatives in the language to do it justice?
I’ve eaten a lot of food in pursuit of just such a meal. Over many years as a restaurant reviewer, as a chef, and as a recreational foodie, I’ve sampled meals that run the gamut from inedible to exquisite. It’s a deep seated passion for food, a hunger for an undiscovered taste, that drives me in a relentless search for something truly amazing. Every now and then, a flash of culinary brilliance crosses my plate–a crispy roesti cooked in real butter, fresh king crab off an Alaskan fishing trawler, an incredibly light flourless cheesecake.
And just when I thought I’d probably tasted all that Halifax had to offer, I caught culinary lightning in a bottle. Outside my writer life, I work in the Food & Beverage department at the Westin Nova Scotian (the F & B director and I have a long professional history), and last year the restaurant at the hotel went down renovation road, rebranding with the concept of local flavour, global tastes, and forging a partnership with the Seaport Farmer’s Market to present a “50 mile dining” menu. And with the relaunch came some pretty talented young kitchen guns. So much so, that when looking to have a get together with good friends, we chose elements as our locale.
exterior crusty medium rare salmon w/chip
And, unlike when I was a professional restaurant reviewer, I can indulge in writing about a place where I have a personal connection–but let me be clear, that’s where the warm fuzzy connection ends. This is not an advertorial, a paid piece of writing, coerced or tied into any monetary or career benefit. If it wasn’t good, I wouldn’t write it. (And that, my friends, is how you do ‘full disclosure’).
On this particular night, the chef on duty is Jon Geneau, a young, idealistic cook with the rare combo of passion and talent (he’s got a vinegar mother growing in a cupboard in his home, how much more involved in food production can one get?)
I’ve always thought Geneau to be talented, having sampled an advanced bite or two of his daily specials, but I was curious to see if the kid has the chops to throw down and produce an entire meal that lived up to the promise of the bites.
So, I asked him to do a tasting menu for us. A couple of food restrictions (no mussels, no escargot), that was it. Free reign. Not always easy, cooking outside the comfort box of the daily menu, and not all chefs can do it.
And, with no idea that this would make it to the web, throw down he did.
salmon skin chip
Halifax Dining, 25 years ago
I found this little gem among my cookbooks; I picked it up a few years ago in a used bookstore and had forgotten about it. “Some Good! City Food” (Judith Comfort) was published in 1987–25 years ago this year.
I’ve never cooked out of this book, the recipes are in italics and not especially easy to read. But there short ‘biographies’ of the key restaurants with up-close and personal information that gives a relatively unstable business a little bit of stability and serves as a glimpse into what the dining scene was like in Halifax a quarter of a century ago. How many do you remember?
top chef canada week week 10
An alarm goes off and cheftestants wake up. Lots of morning interviews. Connie feels terrible for being on the bottom last week. You know, is there really absolutely nothing new to be said in these interviews?
Guest judge is Lynn Crawford and the in flight team from Porter Airlines! Airplane food! How can you not do well in a QF that involves making better airline food? They have to make morning and afternoon meals. Crawford tells them to be creative! Do something different! (Apparently, there is nothing new for guest judges to say either)
Something’s burning! Rob actually likes airline food! I worry about his palate.
Lots of good stuff being cooked involving smoked this and tuna that. Of course Dale has flown more than anyone–11 times to New York in a year! Well then.
Judging and there are some really good looking meals here-I doubt we’ll ever see them on any airline (except Lufthansa where the food is good but it might have been just how tired I was and how long the flight was but hey)
Chef Lynn, as Thea calls her, does not like Dustin. He had smoked trout for bfast, too strong. She did not like Andrea’s either–her lunch salmon was too dry.
She really liked Rob’s, he had a chocolate pudding. And she loved Dale’s breakfast, which looks like apple pie. But SURPRISE! She LOVED Connie’s granola and CONNIE WINS! Good for her, she looks genuinely shocked. Her prize? A trip to Chicago for her and a guest to have a culinary adventure. I’m going to Chicago in September, I am hoping for a culinary adventure too. I didn’t win the trip though (it would have been nice).
The EC involves drawing knives. Three meals that involve a day in the life of Canadian food, and they are drawing the knives for a region.
Connie–La Belle Province (she’s lost)
Rob–Ontario (he’s from there)
Dale-Interior BC (he’s from there)
Andrea–Prairies (she’s lost and can only think of ‘flat’)
Francois–Maritimes (he’s been working in BC so happy to work with seafood)
Dustin-Wild Rose Country Alberta (he’s cool and happy he didn’t get the Yukon)
Really? These are the regions of Canada? What about Newfoundland? (It’s an Atlantic province, not a maritime one) What about the territories? Oh, Connie–she did not know where La Belle Province was, Francois assures her it’s Quebec.
Shopping!
This should be good.
As we go to commercial, Andrea is calling down Connie for buying a pie shell for tortiere–Andrea says she wouldn’t do it because she “would feel like a douchebag”. That’s an appetizing word Andrea, Connie has the prepared food but your dish will be associated with the word Douchebag. Good thing I’m not a judge and listening to that. I don’t think I can root for you anymore–you sisters should stick together! Boo Andrea!
They can do breakfast, lunch, dinner or lunch, dinner, dessert. They only have 3 hours, which Andrea thinks is not possible. She hasn’t been to the Prairies and is going to put Toronto into it. Hmmm…methinks the word “douchebag” may have been misdirected. She’s traveled to parts of Egypt that no-one’s heard of, but hasn’t been to the prairies.
Oh, now she’s making fun of Dale, who has to “drop food bombs on everyone” (ha!) She’s back in the good books as it’s Dale turn to reclaim the douchebag hat as he runs down everyone else.
Lots of beeps as the temperature rises and swearing goes wild.
Judging begins! Jonathan Gushue of Langdon Hall is a guest judge–he’s from St. John’s, let’s hear it for the home boy!
Dustin pulls out breakfast bison and quail eggs (good) beef stew (not so good) cornish hen (gets the dreaded banquet hall moniker)
Francois bfast brandade with quail & lobster (nope) /seafood salad lunch (really nope) /chowder supper (confused, too many products, not really east coast)
Andrea bison soup/rib eye/berry crumble (greasy, bitter, not reading prairies, she’s pretty much trashed)
Dale bfast egg (a hit!) /roast salmon (pure, delicious, smart, perfect) /venison loin and bannock (venison lacking flavour, all else fabulous)
Connie smoked trout salad (hit!) /traditional tourtiere (flavour good, but more like pot pie) /blueberry pie (delicious, but oh dear they love the pie crust and she’s gonna get busted)
Rob ham corn chowder (confused) /pickerel (gorgeous) /fresh fruit and sabayon (uh-oh, it’s classed as an afterthought)
Judges Table (it’s going to get ugly!)
My prediction: Dale for the win
Going home? Andrea edges out Francois for that dubious honor, but if the great pie crust scandal erupts, it could be Connie.
Stew room. Nobody’s saying much. Dale and Connie are called in first, so I guess they are safe. They are the top, and to Connie’s credit, she fesses up to the crust and nobody’s hard on her. Oh, I forgot they did not like Dale’s venison.
And the winner is Connie! Oh, my. That’s going to cause much mean comment backstage.
Francois and Andrea are up, as expected, as the bottom 2.
And Andrea takes a dig at Connie at the table, and the judges are unimpressed.
She looks very angry. Francois missed the east coast spirit.
They go back to stew. And Andrea is still slagging on the store bought crust, even though all of her food was bad. Andrea, you officially are out of my good books. Take that, mean girl!
And the task of packing their knives goes to Andrea. Called it! She’s not too sour. Oh, there’s some fun going on, she tells Connie she’d better “win this”. Good on you, mean girl.
Next week: Street food! Dale’s having a breakdown and Connie’s making sausage. Why Connie, why?
Culinary Heritage and Prizes
I was excited to learn this week that my cookbook, South Shore Tastes, has been nominated in the English-language Canadian Culinary Culture category of the 2011 Canadian Culinary Book Awards, managed by Cuisine Canada and the University of Guelph. The awards take place in November, and between now and then, there’ll be a short list announced for the prize. I’m under no delusions regarding winning, I’m in fantastic company.
But, as they say, it’s an honour just being nominated.
And reviewing the list of books got me thinking about Canadian cuisine–what is it?
In the grand scheme of things, Canada is a very young country, and with a still developing sense of culinary self. Ancient cuisines–Greek, Chinese, Roman are clearly defined in that if say to someone “How about Chinese tonight?”, you know what you’re going to eat. But those civilizations have been around thousands of years.
Added to our youth is the fact that Canada is a melting pot, a land of immigrants (with apologies to the indigenous peoples). Immigrants that have only been here maybe a few generations, and who still cook as they would in their motherlands.
And geography factors heavily as well. Canada is a vast country with a relatively low population, further preventing homogenization of culinary culture. We have pockets of people–Scottish on the East Coast, Ukrainian on the prairies, Chinese on the Pacific coast, and so many more. Then within each province you’ll find smaller pockets. On Nova Scotia’s South Shore there’s a heavy German influence, Acadians along the French shore, Gaelic in Cape Breton.
It would be interesting to pop back in a few hundred years, see how we’re getting on culinarily, see if the fusion of styles has created a defined cuisine.
In the meantime, I’m content to stir the melting pot and enjoy the meal.
