CANADA DAY COOK-OFF
Chefs embroiled in competition
Under the noon sun on Canada Day, three Regina chefs participated in a less-than laid-back holiday barbecue.
On the City Square Plaza, an attentive audience watched as the chefs had one hour to cook a from-scratch meal, which was then scrutinized by three judges.
Before arriving at the Canada Day Chefs Challenge, co-hosted by Regina Downtown and the Regina Farmers’ Market, their ingredients were a mystery.
You’d think that could be nerveracking, but they took it in stride.
“You’re only cooking four plates. Pressure is when you have a full restaurant and you have to bang out 100 plates in 20 minutes at lunchtime. This was just fun,” said Terry Selinger, head chef at the Fat Badger.
“Going in with it being a mystery box, you don’t know what you’re getting, so it’s not worth stressing about. … It’s just see what you get and wing it.”
“Prepare as much as you can, but it’s going to be a guessing game at the end,” agreed Chris Torjusen, Malt City head chef.
Flip head chef Trevor Maghoo was the third competitor in the friendly contest, the goal of which was to showcase local produce and local talent. All three chefs’ restaurants are located within a block of the market.
Hauling their own cookware, the chefs were each equipped with a large barbecue and a simple pantry of canola oil, cream, butter, red wine vinegar and nine spices. (Selinger used curry powder in his creamy smashed potatoes.)
Each had the same protein to work with: a strip steak from market vendor Reid’s Artisanal Butchery (Regina).
Their customizability was in a $100 budget, which they each spent in a half-hour of farmers’ market shopping — something they do on the regular, working within a block of the Plaza. At 11:30 a.m. during a busy Saturday market, their task was easier said than done — “a lot of stuff is gone already,” said Torjusen, who compensated for lack of amaranth leaves with radish sprouts.
But each managed to return with a good haul.
Torjusen’s ingredients included green onions, arugula, chives, garlic scapes, carrots, baby potatoes from Spring Creek Gardens (Outlook), and fresh dill and sage from Miller’s By-Gone Farm (Whitewood). Maghoo selected a cluster of oyster mushrooms from Stellar Gourmet Mushrooms (Balgonie) as the co-star of his dish, which also featured an “almost reduction” of cherryBourbon jam and prairie cherry mead topping the steak.
Stellar’s are “the best mushrooms you can get in Saskatchewan, as far as I’m concerned,” Maghoo told the crowd, as MC Bernard Fafard questioned the chefs throughout the contest.
Selinger’s grocery trip looked a little different, as he opted for spiced rum from Last Mountain Distillery (Lumsden) and an orange/lime/grapefruit juice from Thrive Juice Co. (Regina). From those, he made a gastrique (like a syrup) for the steak — and a refreshment for himself. He shrugged and smiled at the crowd as he took a swig of the just-spiked juice.
He also bought some spicy orange-coloured edible flowers, a garnish from Floating Gardens (Osler), because “most people don’t know you can just eat beautiful flowers.”
No fewer than three dozen people endured the heat and the wafting aromas to watch the chefs at work — a rare thing, as kitchens aren’t usually situated in diners’ sightlines.
With a non-CanCon soundtrack that included Psy’s Gangnam Style, Vengaboys and the Spice Girls blaring on the speaker system, the chefs prepped and created by instinct — no recipes or measuring in sight.
Torjusen combined canola oil, vinegar and a series of spices for a marinade, acid softening a tough cut of steak.
His was a simply flavoured dish that let the ingredients shine.
“I wanted to keep it light. You need to keep it light when it’s so hot out,” he said.
Torjusen’s dish was the judges’ favourite, although choosing a winner wasn’t easy — I speak from experience.
The other lucky critics of the day were Judith Veresuk, executive director of the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District, and Aidan Morgan, the most experienced judge as the Prairie Dog ’s regular restaurant reviewer since 2009.
“Eat the food” is Morgan’s judging strategy: Make sure the components look like they should, and eat the meal in the way it’s presented. Torjusen’s dish, for example, was plated as though to say ‘try the salad first.’
Torjusen could see featuring this meal at Malt City.
“We do like to keep our flavours simple, to the point,” he said, “but at the same time it’s all about the execution, the technique that goes into it. It’s all those little things that make a dish better than what most people do at home.”
At home, though, barbecuing for friends, he might have slowcooked a brisket rather than create a fancy plate: “It’s Canada Day. You just want barbecued or smoked meats and cold beer.”