Roam Join two chefs on a Canadian foodie road trip
Two chefs, an RV and Canada in all its diverse culinary glory
tHEY FISHED. They foraged. They harvested rice the old-fashioned way – with two sticks out of a canoe. And they cooked. The they are Chuck Hughes and Danny Smiles. Hughes is co-owner and executive chef of Montreal hot spots, Garde Manger and Le Bremner, and known to TV audiences for Chuck’s Day Off, Chuck’s Week Off and Chuck’s Eat The Street. Smiles is chef at Le Bremner and was first runner-up of the 2013 season of Top Chef Canada.
Collaborating with local chefs and food experts on every stop on Chuck & Danny’s Road Trip, Hughes and Smiles cook up new favourites and challenge the definition of Canadian cuisine. Rather than back bacon and poutine – not that we don’t love ’em – the guys find themselves making Baba Ghanoush with locally grown eggplant and mixing fresh figs, a Mediterranean favourite, into muffins (recipe, next page) and firing up the grill to bake them. You can’t get much more Canadian than that!
Tara Losinski: How does our cultural diversity impact being a chef? Danny Smiles: It’s really the key to successful cooking – it broadens your horizons as a chef. I try to incorporate as many Canadian-produced ingredients as possible. But this was the first time that I got a chance to get up-close-and-personal with so many of these amazing foods. TL: What was the most interesting ingredient to which you were introduced? DS: I would have to say the bullhead seaweed in Victoria – that was completely new for me. I am looking forward to getting some into the kitchen at Le Bremner. TL: What was your favourite experience?
Chuck Hughes: I would have to say it was in Victoria when we were out at sea and eating sea urchin right on the boat, fresh out of the ocean. DS: I loved Salt Spring Island. It was different from anywhere I had been in Canada. TL: Did you find one thing to be universal about Canadian cooking? CH: Everywhere we went, every farmer or fisherman or forager was incredibly passionate about the quality of his or her food. TL: What is your favourite food – to eat and to cook? DS: It would have to be Arabic food. My father is Egyptian, and growing up with all those spices and flavours – it still just gets me every time. TL: How do you describe Canadian food? DS: In three words: honest, fresh and diverse. Follow their adventures on Food Network Canada’s Chuck & Danny’s Road Trip, which begins airing March 3 at 9 p.m. ET