Michael Stadtl\u00e4nder came to town last night, cooking for a hundred guests under the skylight at the Wychwood Art Barns. The evening was the grand finale of this year\u2019s Salut festival and also a fundraiser for The Stop. I was lucky enough to emcee the event and arrived early to check out the venue. Michael and his apprentices were busy in the kitchen area beside the greenhouse and I asked him how things were going.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOh, not too good,\u201d he replied. The centrepiece of the menu was to be sucking pigs roasted in the Art Barn\u2019s new wood-burning oven, but it has not yet been fitted with a chimney and so could not be used. Undaunted, Stadtl\u00e4nder had borrowed a giant wood-fired barbecue from a friend up near Collingwood and his wife, Nobuyo, was driving it down in their truck that afternoon. Unfortunately a tire had burst and the truck was stranded with no spare and no cell phone.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you going to do!!?\u201d I gasped.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Michael just smiled. \u201cI don\u2019t know yet,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll think of something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An hour before the guests were due to arrive, Nobuyo and the truck finally appeared. She had found a phone and called a friend who by sheer chance had a spare wheel exactly like the ones on the ancient vehicle. The monstrous oven (it looked like an old industrial boiler on legs) was dragged into the Art Barns garden and fired up with maple and apple logs. Their sweet smell greeted the fans with a promise of treats to come.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The preliminary reception was a party in its own right. We drank 13th<\/sup> Street\u2019s merry sparkling ros\u00e9 while Adam Colqhoun from Oyster Boy shucked some splendid malpeques and servers passed by with Stadtl\u00e4nder\u2019s canap\u00e9s. Little pieces of wild perch were wrapped in speck, pan-fried and served on apple crisps. Soft, creamy fresh goat cheese from Fifth Town was rolled in lettuce leaves with masses of chives and then sliced into tiny drums, topped with shaved radish. Most delicious of all was some sliced smoked goose breast served on Stadtl\u00e4nder\u2019s rye bread and butter. Jamie Kennedy once joked that no one on earth smokes hams more slowly than Michael \u2013 just a thin line of cold smoke slowly rising inside the fieldstone smokehouse Michael built behind the kitchen at Eigensinn Farm. \u201cHams stay in there for years.\u201d (A slight exaggeration). The smoked goose was stunning, the soft flesh ruby red, its clear, succulent fat reminding some guests of pata negra ham.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At seven o\u2019clock we all sat down at two very long tables and dinner began.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first course was a soup made with white asparagus from David Cohlmeyer\u2019s Cookstown Greens. \u201cI want the asparagus to speak for itself,\u201d Michael had told me and it did, most eloquently. He had started by peeling it and using the peel to make a stock, adding a dash of cream, some pepper and nutmeg and enough egg yolk to form a liaison. He used this to bathe the asparagus spears (poaching seems too aggressive a description) and then garnished the dish with the raw asparagus tips and some parsleyed croutons made from his chewy sourdough bread. It was a geat soup \u2013 so simple but packing some surprises: the hint of nutmeg (who puts nutmeg with asparagus?) was quietly exotic while the pleasant bitterness that is part of asparagus\u2019s profile added its own dimension. Asparagus can push a timid wine around, causing dismay, which is why the Germans pair it with invincible rieslings during the endless vernal banquets of their white asparagus Sparglfest. Stadtl\u00e4nder chose a different companion for the soup \u2013 Henry of Pelham\u2019s elegant 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. Aromatically, it was a perfect match and the wine stood up remarkably well to the asparagus\u2019s juicy, vegetal advances.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Next up: an amazing terrine made from squab and foie gras. Looking back on the last 17 years of meals up at Eigensinn Farm, I was struck by the fact that Stadtl\u00e4nder almost always uses foie gras when he cooks squab. He seemed surprised when I pointed this out to him \u2013 a recurring instinct more than any kind of conscious plan. For this dish, he began by marinating the foie gras in Calvados and maple syrup then tucked it around with smoked pork back fat and cooked it slowly to create a trembling pink brick of pure deliciousness. He deboned the squab, using the bones and a little pheasant meat to make a stock which he then refined down into a consomm\u00e9 and then further reduced until it was a sapid jelly the colour of brandy. He roasted the squab breasts and laid them side by side along the top of the foie gras then poured on the jelly, turning it into a translucent matrix of flavour. Beside the terrine were two slices of fig brioche bread and a little salad of various young greens from Michael\u2019s garden.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The dressing involved a very interesting product from Niagara called Aceto Niagara. It\u2019s made in a barn by a couple of German winemakers called Martin Gemmrich and Wolfgang Woerthle. They begin by making icewine which they then ferment into vinegar. Then they age it for years in small oak barrels, turning it into Canada\u2019s answer to balsamic. It\u2019s all natural and it\u2019s the sort of vinegar \u2013 rich, viscous, incredibly layered in terms of flavour \u2013 that you can sip at the end of a meal as a digestif. Amazing stuff.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But we didn\u2019t drink vinegar with that awesome terrine. Daniel Lenko had raided his wine library to provide a delectable 2007 gewurztraminer, all rose petals and spiced honey on the nose but with a nice suggestion of acidity on the palate and enough weight to offer perfect balance \u2013 the wine pairing of the night.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The party was in full swing as the next course appeared. Stadtl\u00e4nder had planned to cook lake trout from Nottawasaga Bay but the winds were so strong last week no fishing boats had put out. Instead, he sourced some Lake Huron pickerel and three sizeable pike from a lake near his farm. He pan-seared the pickerel in brown butter and fragrant savoury until the flesh was gloriously moist and soft. As for the pike, he filletted the fish and cubed the flesh, mixing it with egg white, salt and pepper, cream and butter (pike likes butter), shallots and a dash of kirsch, then he pressed the mixture into little dumplings which he poached in chicken stock. God, they were delectable. Everyone got two on their plates, but we all agreed we could have eaten twenty. Keeping the fish company were three fat spears of green asparagus in brown tarragon butter and a little wild rice which Michael had roasted with onions to modify its texture. We drank Grange of Prince Edward Victoria Block Chardonnay from the already legendary 2007 vintage \u2013 a rich, elegant, tangy wine that worked particularly well with those pike dumplings (moans of pleasure).<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Finally \u2013 the hour of the pig was upon us. These were sucking piglets from Eigensinn Farm \u2013 the cross of two old European heritage breeds (red wattle and black English) that Stadtl\u00e4nder favours. Such sweet juicy pork; such crisp crackling\u2026 And with it a jus reduced from the piglet bones. Alongside were vegetables from the farm \u2013 tender Swiss chard and wild burdock root. Michael has to uproot great patches of burdock each spring to stop it taking over the entire property. Rather than chucking it onto the compost he fed it to us, first cleaning and slicing the roots then roasting them off with sunflower oil seasoned with pepper and maple syrup. The firm, bittersweet little ovals were a clever contrast with the meat. Stealing the show, however, were some exquisitely soft ravioli filled with spinach and crushed hazelnuts and tossed in a pesto made from the green part of wild leeks picked from Michael\u2019s wood lot. The wild leek bulbs also appeared, roasted in duck fat with a touch of maple syrup and apple cider vinegar. To drink, the great chef chose Tawse\u2019s fruity 2008 Lauritzen Vineyard Pinot Noir \u2013 yet another triumph.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cheese came next \u2013 three Canadian beauties brought by the Dairy Farmers of Canada and introduced by Debbie Levy. One was a smooth, creamy Cru de Champlain from Fromagerie F. X. Pichet in Sainte-Anne de la P\u00e9rade, Quebec. Another was the semi-soft Fleur-en-Lait, made in a St. Paulin style by Glengarry Fine Cheese in Lancaster, Ontario. The third was a fabulously nippy seven-year-old cheddar from Pine River Co-op in Ripley, Ontario. With them we tasted a spectacular botrytis-affected riesling \u2013 the 2008 from Ravine Estates, one of my new favourite Niagara wineries.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And so to dessert, which Stadtl\u00e4nder paired with the tangy 2007 Cabernet Franc Icewine from Ch\u00e2teau des Charmes. Beneath a delicate little blanket of chocolate-flecked L\u00fcbeck marzipan lay a maple mousse on a layer of genoise, all topped with a kiss of whipped cream and a gel\u00e9e made from Waupous apple Icewine. Tr\u00e8s charmant \u2013 but a surprise lurked at the heart of that seemingly innocent mousse, a fabulously intense compote of rhubarb and sour cherry essence that took everyone by surprise.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It reminded me that Stadtl\u00e4nder had started his career as a pastry chef before coming to Canada in 1980 to open Scaramouche with his friend and co-chef, Jamie Kennedy. They introduced Toronto to the precepts of European nouvel cuisine and also to the idea of the celebrity chef. Young Canadian cooks hung on Michael\u2019s every word \u2013 how did he cook green beans? How did he decorate a plate? Why was he smoking eels in the bushes below the restaurant? Never mind that Michael was only 21 years old.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since then, for 30 years, Stadtl\u00e4nder has been a major influence on the way we think about food \u2013 sometimes as a distant, eccentric figure, more recently as the fearless leader of the local-seasonal movement, as the rest of us finally came panting up behind him to admit that everything he had been saying since 1980 was true.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In that time, he has given us the bold improvisations of his dinners at Stadtl\u00e4nder\u2019s, on John Street; the wild shore-and-garden cuisine he offered at Sinclair Philip\u2019s Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island; the amazing two-year series of nightly art at Nekah \u2013 still one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. Michael\u2019s food there was amazing \u2013 a meticulous technique somewhere between European nouvel cuisine, contemporary North American cooking and Japanese kaiseki \u2013 all informed by an aesthetic that seemed New Age but was really closer to German Romanticism. If I close my eyes now I can still see the final presentation of exquisite petits fours served on a cold granite stone, scattered with calendula petals.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And then, for the last 17 years, there has been the deep magic of Eigensinn Farm. I still can\u2019t get away from describing it as Prospero\u2019s Island \u2013 with Michael as Prospero, a magician and impresario creating culinary theatre that leaves susceptible people like me simply gobsmacked. The special events are particularly memorable \u2013 those hot summer days of wonder where we walk across the wildflower meadows and through the forest from one improvised cooking station to the next, charmed by music or actors or dancers or Sheldon Jafine\u2019s conjuring tricks until the sun sets and the geat bonfire is lit \u2013 multi-media performance art of the highest calibre. I swear I once saw Michael control the weather, warding off an inopportune rainshower with a discreet gesture.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Last night we brought him off his 100-acre stage, forbad him magic and drowned all his books except for his talent for cooking. Michael\u2019s food is simpler now than it was at Nekah. The Asian and Japanese inflections have slowly faded over the years \u2013 though I still think the influence of kaiseki remains in the structure and progressions of a Stadtlander dinner. The plating has become less precise, more natural. The importance of using local, seasonal produce from his own or his neighbours\u2019 land has grown increasingly insistent \u2013 with some perennial exceptions such as Quebec foie gras and Adam Colqhoun\u2019s oysters.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That bioregional integrity where ingredients are concerned lends its own rigour to Michael\u2019s art. It imposes limitations that he can use as a structure, letting his imagination scramble all over it like a child on a climbing frame. It also gives him an incredible understanding of those ingredients, because he has watched them grow \u2013 seen them in all their seasons from seed to fruit \u2013 knows the weather they have lived through and the other plants that flourished beside them. When you feed your own pigs with fruit from the wild apple trees that grow in your own hedgerows, you build up a marvelously instinctive knowledge of what goes with what and an amazing awareness of terroir. Michael proved that again last night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Michael Stadtl\u00e4nder came to town last night, cooking for a hundred guests under the skylight at the Wychwood Art Barns. The evening was the grand finale of this year\u2019s Salut festival and also a fundraiser for The Stop. I was lucky enough to emcee the event and arrived early to check out the venue. Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[108,91,94],"tags":[16,15,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2144,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/2144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}