{"id":3152,"date":"2014-11-09T21:53:05","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T02:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=3152"},"modified":"2014-11-09T21:53:05","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T02:53:05","slug":"saskatoon-gold-medal-plates-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=3152","title":{"rendered":"Saskatoon Gold Medal Plates 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"On<\/a>
On the podium! Left to right, silver medalist Darren Craddock, gold medalist Christopher Hill and bronze medalist Simon Reynolds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Winter finally caught up with us in Saskatoon\u2026 A sky of cloud-blurred sunshine like a Turner painting but snow on the ground and a cold breeze stirring the surface of the river. But nothing could deter the amazing crowd of 500 who showed up at Prairieland at dusk to revel in the party atmosphere, rocking it up and dancing in front of the tables to the brilliant music of Jim Cuddy, Danny Michel and (hip hooray) the incomparable Anne Lindsay on violin. Michelle Cameron Coulter (Olympic gold medalist in synchronized swimming) was our eloquent MC and Olympic diver Marie-\u00c9ve Marleau interviewed a score of other Olympians on the stage. Bidding was delightfully enthusiastic during the auction and the party continued late with a local glam-rock band channelling a vibe I haven\u2019t seen since the early \u201980s.<\/p>\n

On the culinary side, each of the ten competing chefs brought their A-game, raising the bar for Saskatoon yet again. Discernible themes emerged from several of them \u2013 an affection for the superb local bison and for clever interpretations of First Nations food. It was a difficult task for the judges to decide between the best four or five dishes. Our Saskatoon judging panel is now led by Senior Judge, author and food writer Amy Jo Ehman, joined by writer and blogger at amazoninthekitchen.com Noele Chorney, restaurateur and all-round gastronome Janis Hutton, pastry chef, journalist and blogger at sweetsugarbean Renee Kohlman, poet, chef-restaurateur turned author and culinary activist dee Hobsbawn-Smith, and last year\u2019s Gold Medal Winner, Chef Trevor Robertson. When the discussion ended we were all very happy with our conclusions.<\/p>\n

\"Simon<\/a>
Simon Reynolds won bronze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We awarded the bronze medal to chef Simon Reynolds of Simon\u2019s Fine Foods who created an umame-bomb of a dish based upon superb Canadian lamb. He presented two little drums of the sirloin, cooked sous vide with thyme and a hint of truffle and topped each one with a finely minced tapenade of green olive and anchovy. Beside them he set a miniature spring roll with the lightest and crispest of wrappers, filled with moist, rich pulled meat from the shoulder. A smooth carrot and fennel pur\u00e9e lay beneath the sirloin and he added a sweet prune compote as a condiment. Perfectly textured haricot beans were a nice, earthy touch, paddling in a suave lamb jus and half a dozen crisp fried capers brought yet another flavour to the plate. All the elements worked beautifully together, producing innumerable permutations of flavour and texture. Chef\u2019s wine was the marvellous 2011 Cabernet Franc from Lailey Vineyard in Niagara, a Cab that successfully bridged the divide between the fruit and the olives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Saskatoon<\/a>
Saskatoon silver for Darren Craddock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The silver medal went to chef Daren Craddock of Riverside Country Club, our gold medalist in 2012. He gave us a generous tranche of bison striploin, letting the meat speak simply for itself then used the tongue and cheek to create a dazzling terrine that fell apart at the touch of the fork, revealing a heart of foie gras as rich and firm as butter. Over this he scattered a crumble made of dried wild blueberry pemmican with some puffed wild rice for crunch. Two sauces were paragons of intense but lucid flavour. A green dandelion pur\u00e9e spoke of the wild prairies while the smoked corn emulsion was so good I could have eaten jars of it. Chef\u2019s sauce was a reduction of the bison\u2019s jus spiked with wild blueberry vinegar and a foie gras poivrade. His wine was the deep, dry, sophisticated 2011 Merlot from Dirty Laundry Vineyard in Summerland, B.C.<\/p>\n

\"Gold<\/a>
Gold for Christopher Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And the gold? Standing on the top of the podium when all was said and done was chef Christopher Hill from the Delta Bessborough hotel. He described his dish as a reflection of his Saskatchewan childhood, using \u201chumble ingredients,\u201d but there was nothing humble about the visual elegance of his presentation. He cooked lamb sirloin sous vide to the point of tenderness and created a \u201cpliable sausage\u201d from other parts of the animal, rolling it out until it was as thin as a fruit leather and cutting it into dainty ribbons. Tucked between the meats was a tiny carrot and some slices of ruby radish. Two green moments of pea pur\u00e9e made their own contribution while more peas had been transformed into a shard of pea wafer that rose like a dorsal fin from the structure. Chef\u2019s sauce was a lamb jus sweetened with a sour cherry reduction and there was a spoonful of pickled mustard seed to provide tangy contrast. Microgreens (celery and radish sprouts) and bright yellow mustard flowers were the finishing garnish. The wine match was impeccable \u2013 the lamb and cherry flavours linking arms with the soft tannins and blackberry-cassis flavours of the 2012 McWatters Collection Meritage from the Okanagan.<\/p>\n

So now we are more than halfway through the campaign and the line-up of chefs who will be heading west to Kelowna in February is a roster of formidable talent. Next week, Toronto and St. John\u2019s!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter finally caught up with us in Saskatoon\u2026 A sky of cloud-blurred sunshine like a Turner painting but snow on the ground and a cold breeze stirring the surface of the river. But nothing could deter the amazing crowd of 500 who showed up at Prairieland at dusk to revel in the party atmosphere, rocking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[91,92,1],"tags":[902,674,830,903],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3152"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3157,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3152\/revisions\/3157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}