The dish on this year’s Gold Medal Plates
I have decided to avoid the inclination to rant in this week’s column about the ridiculous nature of food competitions. About how subjective and unfair they can be.
This is due, in part, to the promise I made over a year ago not to rant at all in this column and also, coming so close on the heels of a food competition where my kitchen brought home no hardware, I would look a terrible poor sport.
Last Thursday we loaded up our kitchen and booth decor in a U- Haul and drove into Toronto for a second year in a row as competitors in Gold Medal Plates, a culinary competition and spectacular fundraising gala for Canadian Olympians and Paralympians. The gala features some big name performers in Canadian music as well as a host of current Olympic athletes.
The culinary showdown was among “Toronto’s top 10 chefs” and I was as chuffed this year as last to be invited as the only chef on the bill who doesn’t live or work in Toronto. Perhaps there is a victory even in that.
The basic format of the night was that each kitchen brought one dish as well as a beverage pairing and then needed to be ready to produce 880 plates over a three- hour period for guests — eight plates of which were shuttled to a judging station in the centre of the large hall and critiqued. The culinary competition is presided over and judged by a veritable who’s who of Canadian food journalists, bringing an intense level of cuisine as mention by one of these writers can be a win fall to a restaurant.
Last year we managed a bronze medal against those fancy- dancy ‘ city’ chefs — something we coasted on for a whole year. I can state with certainty that no matter how long one does this, standing in front of this panel and defending one’s dish is nerve- wracking.
By the nature of our medal showing last year, we were invited back this year to compete. And because the real win for me is the opportunity to bring eight cooks from my brigade — to expose them to such a high level event in an unquestionably well stacked food city — I was thrilled to accept. I vowed that I would make an effort to bring a completely different style of dish, to challenge my kitchen to learn through the process.
So when I looked at last year’s offering, a play on surf and turf, I knew I had to bring a vegetarian option. I knew the move to a vegetarian dish was a bold one in the face of a roomful of what turned out to be protein heavy: foie gras, lobster, bison, sea urchin …
The veggie dish had to be just as bountiful on the palate as all of those. We decided on preparing a terrine that we served warm of confit potato and smoked mushrooms, the whole bound with agar agar and sheets of nori. A rich dashi broth was used to hydrate the terrine during the cooking and to continue to promote the overall umami of the dish; the sense of richness in mouthfeel that comes from rich proteins. We topped the terrine with a heavily reduced tomato relish from our own organic garden as well as grated miso- cured duck egg. A final flourish of dehydrated nasturtiums and we felt confident of another trip to the podium.
But it didn’t come. Instead we took our victory from the guests, all of whom were able to eat our dish without need for substitution. Many of whom lauded our responsible decision to promote vegetarian options, even as rivals to traditional ‘ elegant’ proteins. Ultimately we took victory in having learned.