The last big party of the 2013 Gold Medal Plates campaign had been the first to sell out and anyone who thought Ottawa on a Monday night was going to be a tough crowd had their mind changed last night. It was a brilliant affair with a full roster of Olympians, eloquently bilingual emceeing from Sylvie Bigras and a blazing performance from our musical stars Jim Cuddy, Anne Lindsay, and Spirit of the West’s John Mann and Geoffrey Kelly.
The gathering of chefs was also notably strong, with two of them proving something we have noticed across the country – that this is the year of the rabbit, gastronomically speaking. And they gave us some other fascinating dishes, most memorably lamb neck in a mole sauce garnished with maguey worms from René Rodriguez of Navarra Restaurant. It was the first time we have served worm at a GMP event and they were crispy, spicy and delicious. More importantly, last night female chefs outnumbered male on the podium – for the first time in Gold Medal Plates’s history.
So the judges had lots to think about and discuss and I was fortunate to have such a dazzling group beside me, led by our Ottawa-Gatineau Senior Judge, author, editor and the city’s finest restaurant critic, Anne DesBrisay, together with author and tv star, Canada’s culinary ambassador, Margaret Dickenson, author, food stylist, teacher and culinary columnist, Pam Collacott, culinary guru and owner of Thyme and Again Creative Catering, Sheila Whyte, culinary Olympian, Chairman of the Canadian Culinary Federation and Executive Chef at the House of Commons, Jud Simpson, and of course last year’s gold medal winner, and silver medallist at the Canadian Culinary Championship, Chef Jamie Stunt.
We awarded the bronze medal to Katie Brown Ardington of Beckta Dining and Wine. Her elegant dish consisted of three major elements and she instructed us in the order in which we should eat them so that flavours and textures would build from delicate to intense. The first figure was a sleek block of ahi tuna sashimi crowned with a black crust of salty pork bone ash. The tuna sat on a bed of finely minced grilled leeks in a porcini vinaigrette. The central component was a stack of firm, glossy slices of king eryngii mushroom that had been poached in a pork demiglace. They were strewn with threads of crispy leek and pork rind and on either side were dots of crème fraiche topped with golden whitefish caviar. Part three was slices of a dense, soft-textured lobster sausage, spiced as powerfully as any chorizo with paprika and cumin and set over a dab of red-eye mayo (mayo with espresso and pork fat). Pickled shimiji mushrooms were the tart little garnish, together with a crisp, strongly seasoned potato and lobster chip. A scattering of lemon balm leaves finished things off. The whole dish was a clever and delicious weave of seafood, pork and mushrooms with its own strong sensory narrative and it worked well with Chef’s chosen wine, the dry, sparkling Dolomite Brut from Cave Spring Cellars in Niagara.
We gave the silver to Jonathan Korecki of Sidedoor. Escorting his dish to the judges’ table, he explained that it was a play on a Singaporean laksa soup with all that traditional treat’s intense features transformed on our plates. Three seafood elements served as protein anchors to the idea – a tender cured spot prawn, a perfectly bronzed scallop and a similarly sized piece of arctic char, cut on the bias, its postage stamp of skin crisply intact. Lapping all three was a rich laksa foam (like a sort of coconut béarnaise) and some ramen noodles that Chef had made himself from parsnip. Partially dried wands of green dinosaur kale added colour and a vegetable component while halved sea buckthorn berries brought a tart acidity. Tiny slices of red chili added further excitement while Chef finished the dish by grating on an XO dust made by drying a paste of scallop, prawn and char soaked in fish sauce. The judges loved the bold combination of flavours, the texture of the seafood and the wine match – Megalomaniac Wines 2012 Sparkling Pinot Noir from Niagara.
We awarded the gold medal to Marysol Foucault of Edgar, in Gatineau, by a unanimous decision. She introduced her dish to the judges by first enthusing over her chosen wine, a big, rich 2011 Chardonnay known as ‘The Brock’ made with Niagara River fruit by Closson Chase of Prince Edward County. “I’m so in love with this wine,” she explained, “I wanted to build a very earthy dish around it, a dish that also expressed the terroir of Quebec and Ontario.” Her answer was to begin with wild boar belly, cured for 24 hours and then slow-cooked sous vide for 24 more before a final crisping. We each had two succulent pieces and sandwiched between them we found a juicy piece of rabbit loin, cooked separately sous vide. The meats sat on a rich, loose-textured mousse of rabbit liver and brown butter and there were two sauces in play, one a soft chestnut purée seasoned with espalette and lemon, the other a beautifully judged beet gastrique. Pure white dice of pickled turnip brought the necessary sweet acidity to cut the boar’s fattiness while beside them Chef had placed a beignet made with a dough formed of parsnip flour and fried to a golden crust. She garnished the dish with a single nasturtium leaf and a crispy hank of lichen cured in sortilège maple whisky.
Chef Foucault was a popular winner. She is also a writer, visual artist and competitive gymnast, talents which may or may not be of value in Kelowna next February when she competes at the Canadian Culinary Championship. Now we have one last champion to find, two weeks from today, in Montreal…
And now, here is the Ottawa event wine report from GMP’s National Wine Advisor, David Lawrason
A Sparkling Finale in Ottawa
by David Lawrason
The 2013 Gold Medal Plates season came to an end in Ottawa on November 19 with a sparkling evening at the National Arts Centre that saw three chefs pair with Ontario bubbly. One waltzed off with the Best Of Show Wine Award, and two were swept onto the podium with their respective chefs.
The Best of Show Award went to Cave Spring 2009 Dolomite Brut, a razor sharp, tingling, classic Niagara sparkler named for the genre of limestone that underlies the Niagara Escarpment. It also was matched to the bronze medal seafood dish by chef Katie Brown Ardington of Beckta. The Dolomite narrowly squeezed by runner-up Tawse 2010 Grower’s Blend Pinot Noir, one of the better balanced and structured pinots of the 2010 vintage. Third spot went to Lailey 2011 Brickyard Chardonnay, an elegant yet fulsome wine.
The Best of Show Wine Award is a judging of all the wines in each city to recognize the generosity of the Canadian wine industry, which each year counts over 60 wineries as donors. The winning wineries have increased odds in a draw to spend a week at Borgo San Felice in Tuscany.
Two of the three judges who joined me in Ottawa are good friends and partners with me at WineAlign.com. The third, our guest judge, is Canada’s only elected wine expert. Michelle Rempel MP for Calgary Centre-North is the Minister for Western Economic Diversification and a graduate of the Advanced level of the International Wine & Spirits Education Trust.
Janet Dorozynksi is the Global Practice Lead for Foreign Affairs and International Trade, helping stock Canada’s embassies and helping Canadian wineries promote and sell their wines abroad. Call her Canada’s Chef de Mission du Vin. She is also a veteran wine competition judge with the National Wine Awards of Canada.
And Rod Phillips, is Ottawa’s long, and still standing, and still feisty wine columnist for the Ottawa Citizen.
But back to the podium, where Closson Chase 2011 The Brock Chardonnay, took top culinary honours when matched to a wild boar belly by young Gatineau chef Marysol Foucault. Closson Chase rep Keith Tyers was present in Ottawa, and said the victory was no fluke. He revealed that he had made four trips to Ottawa to discuss and tweak the match. As a reward, both are off to the Canadian Culinary Championships in Kelowna.
Silver medal winning chef Johnathan Korecki of Sidedoor chose Megalomanic 2009 Sparkling Pinot Noir with his seafood medley.
Other wines poured this night included an impressive pair of reds by Thirty Bench, a winery more recognized for its riesling and chardonnay. The Thirty Bench 2011 Red is an impressive, firm, cellarworthy blend of cabernet and merlot, while the Thirty Bench 2011 Small Lots Pinot Noir is a surprisingly big and firm pinot that also needs some cellaring time. Thirty Bench is owned by Andrew Peller Wines, our National Celebration Wine Sponsor, who generously donated Wayne Gretzky 2012 Cabernet Merlot and Trius 2012 Sauvignon Blanc to the Ottawa proceedings.