Chop-chop: learn from the masters at food festival
There are two keys to cutting sushi like a master: one is to have very sharp knives, and the other is to practise technique routinely, according to sushi master Junichi Ikematsu said.
“When I was young, I used to cut for an hour every day after work,” said Ikematsu, who grew up in Kyoto, Japan, and trained in several restaurants there before moving to Montreal.
“I cut my fingers a lot when I was learning,” Ikematsu said from his Laurier St. restaurant, Jun I, recently. “I ended up in hospital a few times.”
The chef will teach cutting techniques at the upcoming YUL Eat food festival, one of many demonstrations by local chefs and food industry experts as part of the festival’s Parcours Gourmand, located in Hangar 16 in the Old Port.
While the demonstrations cost extra to attend, the festival has plenty for those who just want to pay the $5 general admission ticket, explained festival co-founder Daniel Glick.
The general admission area features a farmer’s market, live bands, a children’s section, food trucks and restaurant kiosks, themed bars and activities, like a waiter race, and a latte art workshop.
Glick said YUL Eat is a great opportunity to see the best that Montreal’s food scene has to offer.
“We’re very lucky here in Montreal to have all these people here,” he said. “It’s nice to see the industry embracing the festival and supporting us as much as we support them. It’s really fun to put together.”
Among Ikematsu’s lessons: “If you sharpen your knives often, they stay as good as the day you bought them.”
His set of knives has followed him throughout his career — they were bought in Japan and range from 15 to 25 years old, he explained as he cut a daikon into paper-thin slices and then julienned it in seconds.
Another local expert who will be speaking is Julie Audette, a wine importer for several local restaurants and wine collectors.
Audette’s Le Vin dans les Voiles specializes in finding natural wines, made with the finest organic ingredients, and prepared with care.
Her workshop will be about her recent trip to Italy, a trip Audette makes annually to visit the vineyards from which she imports.
“We’ll try to help people understand the big differences in how people can grow grapes and produce wines,” said Audette, whose clients include Jun I.
“It’s mostly to show people how winemakers work,” she said. “Because it’s not just a bottle, it’s the winemaker that is the artist behind that. All the winemakers say the same thing: 80 per cent of the (taste of the) wine comes from working in the vineyard. There’s a lot of work behind that.”
Audette takes her job seriously. That means a lot of trips to Italy, France and Greece, and a lot of drinking.
“I probably drink more than most people; we’re always tasting something,” she said, adding that she always has a few bottles on the go, even at home.
“During the day, it’s more an analytic process; we taste, we discuss, but sometimes it’s also good just to have a glass of wine at home, and say, ‘wow, that wine is really good.’ ”
She’s also excited about the new phenomenon of orange wines — white wines that have had their skins macerated with the juices, so the colour becomes almost orange.
“We love drinking that, because you get whites with a lot more personality, and you can get great pairings with that.”
For amateur wine connoisseurs, Audette recommends taking advantage of the local experts at the Société des Alcools du Québec stores, and to read up on different kinds of wine. “And don’t always get the same bottles because you’re sure you like it,” she said. “I think the best way is to just experiment. If you don’t like it, it’s fine, at least you tried something different and you opened up your palate. That’s the fun of it.”
YUL Eat runs Sept. 2-3 at the Old Port’s Quai de l’Horloge. Tickets cost $5 for general admission (kids under 12 are free), and participants can buy tickets to taste different food or participate in workshops.