{"id":3354,"date":"2015-10-24T15:48:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-24T20:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=3354"},"modified":"2015-10-24T15:48:49","modified_gmt":"2015-10-24T20:48:49","slug":"regina-gold-medal-plates-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=3354","title":{"rendered":"Regina Gold Medal Plates 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a soft spot for Regina\u2019s Conexus Arts Centre, despite its somewhat Brutalist concrete demeanour. They built it beside a lake in a rural setting on the edge of town and yesterday evening it looked splendid amidst the trees, bathed in warm prairie sunshine. We use a most imaginative set-up there, with the chefs\u2019 stations constructed on various levels of the theatre foyers and the lavishly decorated tables for the sit-down celebration placed on the actual stage. There we build a stage-upon-a-stage for our parades of chefs and athletes, our dignitaries and our auctioneer, our unflappable and hilarious MC, Curt Harnett, and of course our awe-inspiring musical show, last night starring Colin Cripps, Geoffrey Kelly and Matthew Harder of Spirit of the West, Devin Cuddy, Sam Polley and the incomparable Anne Lindsay whose violin solo in Five Days in May brought the entire crowd to its feet for a spontaneous standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Before all that, we judges mingled with the VIPs during the reception then retired to a private chamber to taste and make our deep decisions led by our Senior Judge for Regina, author, photographer, broadcaster and journalist C J Katz, together with Execuitive Chef of the Regina Legislature and captain of the Saskatchewan Culinary Team at the 2000 Culinary Olympics, Trent Brears; chef and educator Thomas Rush; writer, blogger, restaurant columnist and television producer Aidan Morgan; and last year\u2019s gold medallist, Chef Milton Rebello of Wascana Country Club.<\/p>\n

\"Leo<\/a>
Leo Pantel’s pork belly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a fine array of dishes this year, starting with ethereal Japanese flavours paired with sake and finishing with a rich harmony of chicken liver taco and mixed sweet and savoury elements matched with a hearty oatmeal stout. The dish that won the bronze medal for Chef Leo Pantel of the Conexus Art Centre was well towards the meaty end of this spectrum. It centred upon a generous slab of juicy Berkshire pork belly, cooked sous vide and then seared with a sweet crust of panko and pomegranate molasses. Two incredibly dainty rye and gruy\u00e8re crisps crowned the meat, topped with a sprinkling of red amaranth microgreens. A dark raisin sauce echoed the sweetness of the glaze, as did slivers of port-infused figs, while a piquant pickled ramp, pinked with beet juice, added crunch and sharpness. Chef Pantel\u2019s wine match was very successful \u2013 the 2012 Norman Hardie Pinot Noir from Prince Edward County, Ontario, its minerality and acid structure in lively contrast to the richness of the pork.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
David Straub’s Freshly Dug Potatoes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chef David Straub of Flip Eatery and Drink won our silver medal with a dish he called \u201cFreshly Dug Potatoes.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s a play on my growing up as a farm boy,\u201d he explained, and indeed his plating had a touch of the farm pond landscape about it. Three turned parisienne potatoes about three-quarters of an inch in diameter were placed in a pool of intensely flavourful duck demi-glace, banked around with a piped ring of goose foie gras mousse \u2013 a trio of umame-rich elements that delighted the judges. Strewn across them was a scattering of \u201csoil\u201d made by dehydrating roasted parsnip, celeriac and sunchoke, roasting them again to caramelize the surface and then crumbling all to powder. A broad green stripe of asparagus, dill and chive emulsion brought freshness to the party and the plate was finished with some perfect, tissue-thin salt-and-vinegar potato chips to use as scoops for the foie and the demi. Chef Straub\u2019s wine match \u2013 the 2014 Chenin Blanc from Quail\u2019s Gate Estate Winery in the Okanagan \u2013 was deliberately integrated into the concept of the dish, balancing the richness with a dry, grassy coolness.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathan<\/a>
Jonathan Thauberger’s Trip to the Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our gold-medal winner has won it before \u2013 Chef Jonathan Thauberger of Crave Kitchen & Wine Bar. He too had a name for his dish \u2013 \u201cA Trip to the Beach.\u201d Elegantly plated, it began with a crescent of \u201csand\u201d made with dried brioche breadcrumbs tossed with pulverized seaweed and powdered dehydrated mussels and scallops with some finely chopped chives for colour. Lying across this delicious shoreline was a piece of \u201cdriftwood\u201d \u2013 actually a crisp tempura scallion. Beside it lay some silky-soft slices of lightly poached diver scallops, their rims stained mauve with beet juice and their sweet, rich flavour sparked by a scattering of green tobiko roe. The pi\u00e8ce de resistance of the dish was a dome of jellied dashi broth, set not with gelatin but with the natural collagen of fish bones in the stock. Transfixed inside was a miniature pansy blossom and various fruits de mer \u2013 morsels of king crab, langoustines, peeled Pacific shrimp \u2013 and a raw quail\u2019s egg yolk that oozed out as a sauce when my fork pierced the dome. Beside this treasure trove were dots of \u201csea foam\u201d \u2013 in fact a tasty b\u00e9arnaise sauce dotted with dark green arugula pur\u00e9e. It was a marvellous dish, sensitively paired with a subtly aromatic, full-bodied white blend of Viognier, Marsanne and Rousanne called Ava, made by Le Vieux Pin in the South Okanagan.<\/p>\n

So Chef Thauberger will return to Kelowna next February, a very worthy local champion bearing the hopes of Regina on his shoulders. Next week, we move on to Halifax!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a soft spot for Regina\u2019s Conexus Arts Centre, despite its somewhat Brutalist concrete demeanour. They built it beside a lake in a rural setting on the edge of town and yesterday evening it looked splendid amidst the trees, bathed in warm prairie sunshine. We use a most imaginative set-up there, with the chefs\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[91,94,92,1],"tags":[938,661,660,939],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354"}],"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=3354"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3359,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354\/revisions\/3359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}