Chef Shane Chartrand of Sage takes top honours
Chef Shane Chartrand garners gold at Edmonton’s Gold Medal Plates Culinary Competition.
A sold out crowd of 770 welcomed the Gold Medal Plates competition back to Edmonton. It was an energetic night with beer tastings, a silent and live auction, entertainment and athletes adding to the competition.
Ryan Hotchkiss of Bündok took the bronze medal with a raw fish dish, sea bream crudo, elegant and flavourful with a delicate texture. Chef Hotchkiss’ wine, the 2016 Lake Breeze Vineyards Spice Jar, was an inspired and somewhat unusual choice, which picked up on the sweetness of the fish in a delicious and balanced way.
Steve Buzak, exec chef at the Royal Glenora Club garnered silver with a sophisticated rendition of meat and potatoes with a clever (and crunchy) translucent potato chip, along with toothsome lamb from Tangle Ridge Ranch and a croquette made with Winding Road’s RDB cheese, mushroom and taro. His wine choice, the 2015 Meyer Family McLean Creek Road Pinot Noir, had the right amount of weight and depth of flavour to work with the dish.
Shane Chartrand, Sage, is the gold medallist. His dish, the unanimous first choice of the judges, was alive with texture, taste and masterful use of ingredients with just the right amount of complexity. It was a work of art. Dots of red plum sauce, with larger dots of a rich and creamy parsnip-almond custard, along with delicate balls of red-wine-poached pear and coins of salted and beet-stained rutabaga nestled on the plate with a square of pheasant breast terrine and little drums of fois gras, coloured red via a mixture of beet juice and cognac and topped with a lacy biscuit that looked like red coral and tasted a little bit like bannock. Each mouthful was a delight. His wine choice, the 2015 Tantalus Pinot Noir, was perfection with the dish, and also garnered the Best of Show wine award.
This was chef Chartrand’s first gold medal to add to his collection of silver and bronze. Congratulations to all the competitors.
Gold Medal Plates has raised over $12 million for Canadian Olympic athletes. The competition continues across the country, culminating in the Canadian Culinary Championships in Kelowna in February 2018, goldmedalplates.com.