![\"Ardon](\"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/mofford-small.jpg\")
<\/a>We awarded the bronze medal to Chef Ardon Mofford of Governor\u2019s Pub & Eatery in Sydney. His dish offered a lively contrast of rich and tangy flavours and a double-whammy in terms of protein with an impeccably seared scallop and a deliciously caramelized slab of slow-cooked pork belly that still retained its textural integrity. A stripe of butternut squash pur\u00e9e, spiked with maple syrup, picked up and amplified the natural sweetness of the pork and the scallop. Acidity was provided at three levels of sharpness with dots of a smoked chorizo-tomato gel, a forthright kale chimichurri and a disc of pickled candystripe beet the size of a quarter. A candied tomato chip leaned jauntily against the pork belly and the final flourishes included a scattering of pea shoots and a sprinkle of powder made from pumpkin seed and brown butter. Chef Mofford chose his matching wine for its racy acidity and citrus notes \u2013 the 2014 Reserve Riesling from Domaine de Grand Pr\u00e9 in Grand Pr\u00e9, Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n Chef Thomas Carey from Fresh Twenty One in Dartmouth won the silver medal with a dish of relatively simple but perfectly pitched harmonies. He too chose to work with pork belly, cooking it sous-vide for 48 hours and glazing it with peanut and sweet chili. A mound of crunchy white kimchee was more pickled than fermented, tart little ribbons of cabbage that contrasted beautifully with the pork. A ginger-apricot pur\u00e9e proved a gentler, fruitier condiment and the dish was finished with a dusting of onion ash and some delicious puffed pork shreds as a garnish. Chef Carey chose a Select Late Harvest wine, its sweetness working beautifully with the pork in one of the evening\u2019s most successful pairings \u2013 the 2013 Martock Select Late Harvest Vidal from Avondale Sky Winery in Newport Station, Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n The gold medal was awarded to Chef Mart\u00edn Ruiz Salvador of Fleur de Sel in Lunenburg \u2013 the third time he has won Gold Medal Plates Halifax. His was a dish of great sophistication and ambition, dazzlingly well executed and satisfying on every level. It was inspired by Chef\u2019s chosen wine, the 2013 Ancienne Chardonnay from Lightfoot and Wolfville winery in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Aged in French oak in the Burgundian style it nonetheless showed the crisp acidity and minerality of Nova Scotia\u2019s vineyards, and Chef decided to take that as his theme, bringing classic French dishes to his plate but giving them a decidedly Nova Scotian twist. There were four principal elements grouped under the title \u201cRabbit and Snails,\u201d though the snails in question were whelks from the Atlantic shore. Chef\u2019s Maritime take on a traditional French ham hock and parsley terrine used not ham but the rabbit\u2019s shoulder, brined and confited and seasoned with sea parsley, then topped with a dab of bone marrow mayonnaise and a bonnet of soft green sea lettuce. The second component was a tiny drum of the rabbit loin stuffed with whelks and shallots and wrapped in bacon. Topped with slices of rabbit kidney and toasted breadcrumbs it was served with a whelk shell used as a vessel for a sensationally delicious sauce, a smooth cream of local ceps, Dijon mustard and white wine, to be poured over the loin. The third element was a \u201ccassoulet,\u201d interpreted by the rabbit leg stuffed with a moussy sausage and dressed with a scattering of bright green edamame beans. They had been tossed with rabbit \u201clardons\u201d made by curing and smoking the rabbit bellies, cooking them sous-vide then saut\u00e9eing them. A pungent parsley root pur\u00e9e based this part of the dish. To finish, a doll-sized quenelle of rabbit liver parfait sweetened with a local apple brandy was set on a disc of apple that had been poached in wine and butter. A confit of onion, mustard seed and honey enhanced the light, creamy parfait and a tiny rabbit-suet chicharon provided the coup de grace. It was an extraordinarily complex dish, but every element made its own contribution to a seamless overall brilliance. And yes, it worked extremely well with that impressive Chardonnay.<\/p>\n So we have our fourth champion in Mart\u00edn Ruiz Salvador. Like two of our other gold medallists this year, Jan Trittenbach from Edmonton and Jonathan Thauberger from Regina, he has competed in the Canadian Culinary Championship before. Just four cities into the campaign and already Kelowna is shaping up to be a clash of titans. Later this week, Calgary and Toronto!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the remnants of Hurricane Patricia pushing us towards the Atlantic, the Gold Medal Plates team had a bumpy ride to Halifax but horizontal rain and a gusting gale couldn\u2019t dampen the warmth of our welcome. Nor did it deter the jubilant crowd who filled the Cunard Centre last Thursday night, ready to taste, listen, […]<\/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":[941,806,807,942],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3365"}],"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=3365"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3370,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3365\/revisions\/3370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>