Posted by The Globe Mail, Canada on July 09, 2008 at 11:20:24:
Clear the table for the kitchen Olympians
B.C. shines as Canada's top restaurant talent prepares to take on the world this October
FIONA MORROW
July 9, 2008
VANCOUVER -- 'After October, the whole world will be serving lobster balls!" exclaims Bruno Marti, owner of La Belle Auberge restaurant in Langley, B.C. Mr. Marti is speculating on the influence of the International Culinary Olympics - a cooking competition featuring teams from more than 36 countries. In October, Team Canada will travel to Germany to pit their skills against the rest of the world.
"These chefs deserve the same recognition as the Olympic skiers," says Mr. Marti, one of the team's coaches. "They are working as a team, committing many hours of their time and making sacrifices in their work and home life to represent Canada."
Canada has competed in the culinary Olympics since 1972, winning twice - in 1984 and 1992. Mr. Marti was a member of the 1984 winning team, invited into the House of Commons afterward by former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The chef has remained involved ever since, first cooking and then becoming a mentor and coach. He was awarded the Order of British Columbia this year - the first chef to receive the honour.
He's hoping the award will bring credibility to the culinary Olympics, a competition overshadowed somewhat by the international cooking contest for individual chefs, Bocuse d'Or.
Canada's current lineup of five top chefs boasts some serious culinary chops. Although it is a transnational team, this year's members are mostly from British Columbia: Tobias MacDonald, chef de cuisine at La Belle Auberge (team captain); Scott Jaeger, chef/owner of the Pear Tree in Burnaby; Hamid Salimian, executive sous chef at the Westin Bear Mountain on Vancouver Island; Mickey Zhao, pastry chef and owner of St. Germain Bakery, with branches across the Lower Mainland. Only Cameron Huley hails from outside the province - from Winnipeg's St. Charles Country Club.
"There's something about the B.C. chefs," team manager J.C. Felicella says. "They are competitive, but it's not all about their ego."
Today the team is doing a timed practice of their hot entry menu at a West Vancouver country club. They haven't been in this kitchen before and it's tiny. For Mr. Felicella, it's a deliberate move to challenge the chefs, who must serve 120 people three courses in just five hours. The kitchen is surprisingly quiet, with concentrated frowns and increasingly red faces the only sign that the pressure is on. They are working to competition rules: up to 80 per cent of any component can be brought premade, but the other 20 per cent must be prepped and cooked from scratch.
The menu has been a work in progress since August, 2007. At one point, almost all the protein was being cooked sous vide - vacuum-packed and immersed in a water bath of constant temperature - before the chefs decided that was too safe. (You can't overcook sous vide.) Now the tenderloin of beef is prepared "old school" - roasted in an oven. It's also larded with truffles and served with a heart, sweetbread and skirt terrine, and a foie gras sauce.
When it comes to ingredients, money is no object. "We'll use $1,000 worth of truffles, $1,500 worth of beef, $1,100 worth of lobster," Mr. Felicella said. By competition end, he estimates, this year's entry will add up to $750,000, all financed through fundraising and sponsorship. The payoff is the positioning of Canada as a culinary world leader.
Right now, Mr. Jaeger is impatiently waiting for his domes of lobster bisque to set, so he can turn them into ravioli for the fish appetizer. Molecular techniques are key in this dish: balsamic "caviar," a tomato gel that holds its form when heated and the famed lobster ball - the meat cooked sous vide then "glued" back together with the enzyme product, Activa.
These are not simple dishes and serving them banquet-style does the team no favours. Fifteen chefs and students line a long table in the dining room, each responsible for some component in the dish. Unfortunately, the meal is cold by the time it reaches the guests, and careless serving renders much of the precision plating pointless. Still, the ravioli is declared a success, as is the sablefish. The lobster's resemblance to a bloodshot eyeball is rather too close for comfort for many diners.
"I think they're trying to impress European tastes," one guest suggests.
Mr. Jaeger is sanguine. "It's a work-in-progress and it's gone okay considering it really isn't conducive to this service." In Germany, he notes, the dishes will be finished to order as in a restaurant setting.
"The dessert was all wrong - the orange cake tasted like Play-Doh," Mr. Felicella rails. "Damn that oven."
He's aware that he can't blame the equipment for all the issues.
"Sometimes we have brilliant practices, sometimes we don't. We have two more full hot practices before the Olympics and I've told the team that if I'm still not satisfied with the final run, I will schedule another one the day after - even if it means grabbing people off the street for a free meal."
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