2019 Edmonton Winners
Canada’s Great Kitchen Party celebrates excellence in Canadian food, wine, sports and music. The main event of the evening is the chef’s competition where nine chefs vie for the opportunity to compete in the national Canadian culinary competition. This year there was only one newcomer to the competition and five previous podium finishers. Chefs chose to work with duck, scallops, salmon, no meat at all, lamb, sweetbreads and pork. No beef!
Bronze
Doreen Prei from Zinc created a delicious ode to fall and sustainability—plump and tender squash dumplings with pan-seared maitake mushrooms, crispy discs of sunchoke and smoked pine nuts along with a dribble of carrot butter. It was woodsy and delicious with a variety of pleasing textures. Evidently the audience agreed, voting chef Prei’s dish the People’s Choice. Chef paired it with the 2015 Stoneboat Rock Opera Pinotage—a terrific match.
Silver
Serge Belair from the Edmonton Convention Centre had me at the perfectly seared duck breast slice, meltingly tender and flavourful. (As it should be, after being dried in the ECC’s special meat aging cabinet.)
Accompanying it was a small drum of confit duck meat, pulled from the leg, compressed, then wrapped in wisps of kataifi pastry, like a bijou gift in raffia. Then came the coup de grâce: a large sphere of pomme soufflé cradling a liquid foie mousse that tasted faintly of pumpkin pie. The dark and delicious sauce was made with the duck bones, with subtle hints of maple syrup. For contrast to the sweet, a tiny bit of pickled pumpkin. It was a crazy delicious dish which partnered beautifully with the 2018 Dirty Laundry Dangerous Liaisons Malbec blend.
Gold
JP Dublado from SC at River Cree’s dish was a riot of colour and ingenuity. Clever, playful and delicious, the dish worked on several levels. A sublime terrine, like stained glass, made with char sui (roasted) foie gras, layers of truffle and cured duck egg yolk exploded with flavour alongside an odd-looking cone. It was a dumpling made of ube (purple yam) stuffed with toothsome chicken rillettes. Alongside were puddles of yellow purée (parsnip, carrot and brown butter); pearls of calamansi with verjus and green tea; white fois gras powder like a dusting of snow; tiny drums of kiwi fruit adding a fresh note and addictive soy-pickled baby chanterelles. It was enchanting. Each bite was a revelation of flavour and texture. The 2018 Howling Bluff Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon enhanced the vegetal notes and played off the richness and had the requisite acidity to work with all the varying textures and flavours of the dish. A well-deserved first place.
Of note: Ryan Hotchkiss’ (Bündok) lamb dish; Scott Downey’s (The Butternut Tree) introduction of carpenter ants to our palates (for the acidity) and Spencer Thompson’s (The Marc) sweetbreads.
Canada’s Great Kitchen Party supports Community Food Centres Canada, which helps at risk children learn about healthy eating and food careers, provides musical instruments for 20 children each year through MusiCounts and creates funding for elite amateur athletes and their coaches via the sports non-profit, B2ten.
JP Dublado will compete against other regional winners at the Canadian Culinary Championships in Ottawa in January. Go JP!