Image: goldmedalplates.com

The Canadian Culinary Championships (CCC) 2017 were held on February 2-4 in Kelowna British Columbia. Eleven chefs (listed below) fresh off their winning regional Gold Medal Plates competitions attended. Net proceeds from CCC are given to the Canadian Olympic Foundation which supports athletes and programs such as Own The Podium which already has raised nearly $12 million. The CCC consists of 3 main competitions: Mystery Wine Pairing, Black Box, and Grand Finale. Your scribe is a Senior Judge representing British Columbia who appreciated again the culinary challenges presented to the talented chefs and offers a few personal insights from the rigorous competition as follows:

MYSTERY WINE PAIRING: Each chef is presented at the VIP Thursday evening reception with a mystery bottle of wine (with no label or other markings) to study overnight and then shop on a limited budget of only $500 to prepare a dish for 400 people the following evening. The wine turned out to be a very variety focused 2014 Unsworth Pinot Noir Reserve with good acidity that lent itself as a good pairing with diverse dishes and wine compatibility was an important 30% of our final scoring (presentation 20, texture 10, taste 30, wow factor 10). Food ranged through fish crudo, chicken livers, pasta, carpaccio, red meat, pork belly and red beets with mixed success. Your scribe felt some chefs did not place enough emphasis on trying to match the bright well defined sweet cherry fruit shown by the wine in the flavours of their dish.

BLACK BOX: This is a difficult 1 hour task of preparing a dish from 7 surprise ingredients. This year the box contained Newfoundland Salt Cod, Saskatchewan Honey, BC Quail’s Egg, Okanagan Frozen Tart Cherries, Unbaked Focaccia Dough, Whole Savoy Cabbage, Bottle of Ale. Some chefs presented excellent brandade-style dishes sometimes with less than the ideal amount of bread or potatoes available from their access pantry to soak up that excess salt. Ideally of course the recipe would have been more delicious by soaking the cod in water or milk for 24 hours if you had the time. Others didn’t recognize the fish needed any soaking at all and accordingly had marks deducted when they delivered an extremely over salted dish. Creativity accounted for 40% (followed by taste 30, presentation 10, texture 10, wow factor 10). Your individual level of salt tolerance was a factor in your ultimate scoring. Tough!

GRAND FINALE: Unlimited budget and a chance for each chef to show their unique style and talents. Judging was based on taste 40% followed by presentation 20, texture 10, wine compatibility 10 and wow factor 10.  Wide variety of dishes and wine pairings were served as follows:

1. Jesse McCleery of Pilgrimme on Galiano Island BC:  Hay-Baked and Smoked Rutabaga, Onion, Pear, Sourdough, Kelp – Sea Star 2015 Blanc de Noir (also winning best wine competing in regional Gold Medal Plates as so judged by myself with 3 other wine experts).

2. Jinhee Lee of Foreign Concept in Calgary: “Cha Ca La Vong” (“Fry the Fish”) Turmeric Fish Mosaic with Dill – Bartier Bros. 2014 Gewurztraminer Okanagan Valley BC

3. Eric Hanson of Prairie Noodle Shop in Edmonton: Spot Prawn with Plum Preparations – Culmina 2015 Unicus Gruner Veltliner Oliver BC

4. Garrett “Rusty” Thienes of Harvest Eatery and Fresh Market in Regina: Sous Vide Saskatchewan Lamb Belly & Pulse Crust, Herb & Nut “Chimichurri”, Curried Fenugreek Kefir, Pickled Fennel, Carrot Puree, Pate Bon Bon, Crispy Barley – Dirty Laundry 2014 Kay-Syrah Okanagan Valley BC

5. Scott Torgerson of Radisson Hotel Saskatoon & Aroma Resto Bar in Saskatoon: Black Trumpet Crusted Roast Elk & Cactus Lake Beef Tenderloin with Porcini & Sunchoke Foam, Broccoli Puree, Parsnip, Beef Tendon Puff, Pearl Onion, and Micro Cress – See Ya Later Ranch 2015 Unleashed Pinot Noir Okanagan Valley BC

6. Jesse Friesen of Pizzeria Gusto in Winnipeg: Yellowfin Tuna Tartare, Avocado Crema, Pickled Mango, Serrano Chile Hot Sauce, Unagi, Cilantro, Crackling – Quails’ Gate 2015 Dry Riesling Okanagan Valley BC

7. Amanda Ray of O & B Canteen in Toronto: Milk Braised St. Canut Porcelet with Hay Smoked Tamarack Farm Squash & Choucroute -Cave Spring 2015 “The Adam Steps” Riesling Beamsvlle Bench Jordan Ontario

8. Joe Thottungal of Coconut Lagoon in Ottawa: Kerala Spices Infuse Oil Poached Halibut + Fish Curry Crumbs, Woodland Mushroom Aviyal +Lentil Emulsion – Huff Estates 2015 Riesling Off Dry Prince Edward County Ontario

9. Sophie Tabet of Chez Sophie in Montreal: Crispy Veal Sweetbreads, Lobster Ravioli and Bisque, Mushroom Duxelle with Foie Gras & Hay Scented Poultry Jus – Vignoble De L’Orpailleur 2014 White Cuvee Natashquan Quebec

10. Ruth Wigman of Oppidan in St. John’s: Crisp Seasoned Chicken Feet, Sichuan Style Glazed Dumplings, Charred Scallion Puree, Crustacean Reduction, Mixed Pickle – Arrowleaf 2015 Gewurztraminer Okanagan Valley BC

11. Mark Gray of Battery Park Beer Bar & Eatery in Halifax: “Degustation de Cochon” A Tasting of Classic Charcuterie Preparations: Mousse of Liver with Foie Gras, Pate of Shoulder Inlay of Tenderloin with Dried Cherry, Terrine of Belly with Apple & Fennel + Accoutrements of Apple Mostarda, Sourdough Crumb, Fennel Marmalade, and Pork Demi Cracker – “A Crafted Cocktail” of Wild Nova Scotia Apple Kombucha, Ironworks Gin & French Oak, Lunenburg Nova Scotia

Ultimately the scores were added up and the “Olympic” culinary medals presented on the podium to Jinhee Lee GOLD, Joe Thottungal SILVER and Eric Hanson BRONZE. Jinhee Lee is a an amazing inventive creative inspired culinary artist hailing from South Korea who I recommend you follow and she is a most worthy winner of gold. Congratulations to all eleven of you for showing us the high quality culinary skills of our chef talent right across Canada. Check out their restaurants!

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By Joseph Temple

With winter in full swing, many of us simply cannot wait until that first backyard party or when the patio at our favorite restaurant finally opens its doors. Thinking about the warm sun beaming down sure makes you thirty for a cool and refreshing libation of the alcoholic variety. And if you’re tried of the same old drinks, why not experiment with some classic Champagne Cocktails that date back as far as the nineteenth century? Have a look below at six ideas that are sure to excite your palate as you prepare for that day when the snow finally melts.

Much like the famous Sherry Cobbler, its bubbly cousin also dates back to the mid-19^th century and is featured in the classic book The Bar-Tender’s Guide by Jerry Thomas.  Consisting of shaved ice and sparkling wine, the original recipe called for orange and lemon pieces to be used as a garnish. Topping it off with fresh berries, the cocktail is to be consumed with a straw, making it one very refreshing drink. Of course, there is plenty of room for creativity, whether it’s substituting crushed ice, adding mint leaves or choosing which berry goes on top!

Following the 1861 death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s beloved husband, a period of deep mourning was felt all across England. In fact, it was so strong that some even resorted to adding black stout with champagne to symbolize their sorrow, thus resulting in the Black Velvet. Also named after Bismarck who was quite fond of them, it is a cocktail that has never really crossed the pond. However, in the book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David Embury writes, “The champagne cuts the heavy, syrupy consistency of the stout, and the stout takes the sharp, tart edge off the champagne. Each is the perfect complement of the other.”

Originally created by Felix Kir, a former mayor of Dijon, France, the original intent was to make a cocktail that would simply blow away any visiting dignitaries, who in a state of euphoria (mixed in with a healthy dose of inebriation) would easily succumb to his every demand. While the original Kir recipe used white wine mixed with a black-currant liqueur, the champagne version consists of framboise and lemon twists, giving it a more majestic taste.

Fans of Ernest Hemingway will appreciate this concoction, which shares the same name as the author’s 1932 book about Spanish bullfighting. In a collection of cocktail recipes published three years later, Hemingway instructs us to, “pour 1 jigger of absinthe into a champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink 3 to 5 of these slowly.” Supposedly created during his time on the Left Bank in the 1920s, the book also warns us that “after six of these cocktails, The Sun Also Rises.”

In an elaborate hoax that fooled nearly everyone, Adam Seger, then the restaurant director at the Seelbach Hotel in Lousiville, Kentucky (a hotel mentioned briefly in The Great Gatsby) claimed to have “discovered” a recipe that was supposedly created during the pre-Prohibition era. Legend had it that a New Orleans couple celebrating their honeymoon got their drinks mixed up, which caused the hotel’s bartender to experiment with different formulas, eventually leading to a legendary cocktail bearing the hotel’s name. Consisting of bubbles, bourbon and Peychaud’s bitters, this incredible tale was reprinted in several books until the fall of 2016 when Seger admitted that he made the whole thing up. But hey, don’t let the facts get in the way of a great story – or a great cocktail.

Named after the French 75-mm field gun that became a mainstay during World War I, this cocktail usually consists of gin, lemon juice, Cointreau, and chilled brut champagne that is then topped off with orange slices and maraschino cherries. And like many other drinks, the origin of the French 75 is clouded in mystery. While the original owner of Arnaud’s restaurant in New Orleans claims to have invented the cocktail, books from the same period also make mention of a “’75 Cocktail” or a “French 75.”

Sources:

DeGroff, Dale. The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks. Berekeley: Ten Speed Press, 2014.
Haigh, Ted. Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Beverly: Quarry Books, 2009.
Mariani, John F. Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.
Rathbun, A.J. Champagne Cocktails: 50 Cork-Popping Concoctions and Scintillating Sparklers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.

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Question: I decant a lot of my wines. Never sure whether to put the stopper back into the top of the decanter after pouring out the bottle. Your thoughts?

Answer: I also decant most of my wines at home. Young whites and reds usually are helped from the aeration of the act of pouring itself and I leave the stopper out for even more exposure and help open the aromas. Particularly good for screw top closures to help get rid of any reductive issues that may show up initially in the wine. For older whites and reds the decanting is an important procedure to get a clean clear wine off the tartaric acid crystals or sediment that may have resulted from time in the bottle and freshen it up. Be careful. In those cases it is preferable not to aerate too much so put the stopper back in to avoid extra airing and the loss of the delicate bouquet. Stopper is also good protection if you are dining outdoors or there are any insects around. Use your own good judgment on the stopper based on how the wine is showing while you are decanting it.

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Lots of buzz out there these days on what is the preferred vessel to be used for producing wine. Stainless steel and oak continue to lead the way but lots of support is growing for amphora (clay/terracotta), concrete both in vats and egg-shaped, glass, fibreglass, or plastic carboys – well maybe not plastic! The 5th Grape Debate (an educational joint project of @alumniUBC, @dineoutvanfest & @winebcdotcom) was held last week with a lively discussion on the pros and cons of all vessel types. Check back to the UBC site later on for the video presentation of it. Your scribe participated again for the fifth time on the side in support of the more traditional stainless steel and oak being introduced this year with the appropriate music playing of Tony Orlando’s Tie a Yellow Ribbon ’round the Ole Oak Tree!

My opening thoughts were that as a wine consumer like most of the audience I didn’t really care what vessel was used. I compared it to the popcorn that was served on arrival at the event. We aren’t analyzing whether it was air popped or micro-waved aided by more or less butter, or olive oil, caramel or sea salt. The question is “How does it taste”? Stated that I was really from Missouri and you had to show me what worked best. My own experience has been that the wine treasures I have enjoyed from around the world usually have some wood used to provide complexity, improved stability of colour and clarity with benefit of wood tannins, and smoother deeper textures and improved aromatics from controlled slow oxygen infusion. Also provides a lot of subtle seasoning elements from vanilla, coconut, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, caramel and the like. Of course the age of the barrels, their size, their level of toasting and the type of oak are all important. Recalled how Lucien Lemoine using very fine oak with slow toasting from Jupilles forest for all his Burgundies but adapted each year by ordering late to suit the vintage’s cru specific flavour definitions from the grapes. Also in Chablis with lower Ph and higher acidity levels similar to the stats in the BC northern Okanagan extra dimensions can be obtained for the wines from being in used oak with 2012 Christian Moreau Le Clos & Vaillons Cuvee Guy Moreau good examples of this. Poured for tasting in support of my argument the 2013 The Waltz pinot noir Naramata Bench from Foxtrot Vineyards (www.foxtrotwine.com) as an example of a wine that was improved by 20 months in Francois Freres oak (50% new, 50% second & third use) with malolactic fermentation in cask. Wouldn’t be the same made in concrete or clay!

Lots of good arguments raised on the other side. Stainless steel is inert and can be reductive We argued that concrete is not flexible and can be attacked by the high acidities of the fermenting musts plus are very difficult vessels to keep clean. Terracotta eggs have attracted the interest of Michel Chapoutier and even Screaming Eagle & Harlan. The stable temperature without the need for refrigeration is helpful in the cellar and some wines result in a better mouthfeel. Told the story of my visit last year to Frank Cornellisen on Mt. Etna with his unique terracotta in ground volcanic rock for Magma from Nerello Mascalese that results in an excellent earthy elegant red. Final opinions were divided with most people feeling oak suited cabernet well while gamay prefers a clean fresh vessel. Maybe they do have a better use than just for large clay flower pots.

Have your tried wines made in stainless steel, oak, clay, concrete…? Do you have a preference?

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By Joseph Temple

Beginning in 1967 when over 60,000 fans paid an average ticket price of nine dollars to watch the Kansas City Chiefs face the Green Bay Packers in the first ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game, the Super Bowl has morphed from an experimental football endeavor pitting rival leagues against each other into a must-see extravaganza.  And over the decades as television screens have gotten bigger and bigger, so has this annual spectacle, which is watched in over 100 million American homes.  In fact, the festivities have become so huge that several petitions have been launched to make the following Monday a national holiday.

But how can you talk about the big game without mentioning the pivotal role that food plays?  After all, Super Bowl Sunday represents the second largest day for food consumption in the United States, second to only Thanksgiving.  As one author wrote, “Unlike Thanksgiving … it’s all about football and food.  Thanksgiving may go food, then football, but Super Bowl Sunday is simply eat food, watch football while you eat food, and then eat more food.”

So in honor of the big day, here’s a spin on ten classic dishes that no Super Bowl party can go without.  Enjoy!

1. Chili (for a spin on the classic, skip the habanero and add some spicy smoked sausage)

2. Pulled Pork Sandwiches (for something fun even the kids will like, try slow cooking pork in root beer)

3. Hamburgers (jazz up a traditional burger by making them into bite sized sliders – try different cheeses too like pepper jack or smoked Gouda for something special)

4. Pizza (for a crispy and smoky crust, grill your favorite pizza on the BBQ)

5. Bean Dip (for a healthier alternative, mix in some veggies like fire roasted corn and peppers)

6. Pigs in a Blanket (don’t limit yourself to tiny franks – see what your guests think of duck or chicken sausage)

7. Nachos (for a low carb option, replace tortilla chips with zucchini medallions)

8. Chicken Wings (for a more exotic flare, bake in a curry sauce and serve with a cool yogurt dip)

9. Meatballs (buns, sauce, cheese,
veggies…presto! A meatball sub bar!)

10. And of course, you can never go wrong with a football shaped cake and team themed cupcakes

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