How to keep the kitchen interesting? Change it up!

Like any job, being in the kitchen, cooking the same menu, it can get a little repititious. Sure, there are those times when 30 people without a reservation show up and you are the only chef in the kitchen that add a little spice to the work day, but it can become a little less exciting cooking the same menu day in and day out. So what do I do? I change it up! I change my menus with the seasons to keep it fresh in the restaurant and to throw a new challenge at my staff. Being a proud member of Taste of Nova Scotia, I keep the menus at Cafe 101 loaded with lots of local, seasonal products; I use it as my inspiration. The Nova Scotia produce changes each season and thus my menu changes each season. I like to play with the flavour profiles, try to mix and match flavours that most people wouldn't normally think of pairing together. For example, if asked to think of the first word that comes to mind when I shout out pork, root beer wouldn't be the first, or the second and probably not the third word, but my Meadowbrook Pork Tenderloin with Root Beer Reduction shows how cooking is a science and how you experiment with flavours to see what flavours fizzle together and which ones explode! All new menus are a way for me to challenge my staff. Everyday is a school day, and throwing a new menu at them gives me the opportunity to teach them new techniques and to help them grow as chefs. So the question I am asked most often, what is my favourite item? It is hard to be biased, but for me it is the Seafood - Sambro halibut, Comeau's scallops, prawns, yellow curry, fennel, orzo, naan bread. Comfort food to some is chocolate and to others a trip to McDonalds, but for me, its curry. Curry accents are in all my favourite comfort foods. If you happen to be on the "darkside," swing by Cafe 101 and check out my new menus.

Meadowbrook Pork Tenderloin

Atlantic Provinces Culinary Competition

I love to compete and love for competition is definitely important when you are leading a team. As captain of Senior Team Nova Scotia it is important to be excited entering competitions because my energy helps build up the energy of my teammates, and that energy was definitely needed at the Atlantic Provinces Culinary Competition. With a late start to the competition, it was important for us to pull together as a team and push through to finish on time. And that team work and passion for cooking and competition paid off with Senior Team Nova Scotia winning the Grand Prix Prize. We had a complex menu with a variety of flavours and cooking techniques and we were glad to see our hard work and ambition rewarded. The thing I learned at this competition is to know your judges. Like when I build my menus for Cafe 101, it is important that my menus reflect the clientele that I am serving. The first place finish doesn't go to the team that wows the crowd; it goes to the team that wows the judges. So, I guess we can consider the judges wowed. Another great competition by Senior Team Nova Scotia!

Menu

Beginning

Brown Butter Poached Perch
Warm Green Bean Salad

Pomme Anna

Olive Puree

Chive Sabayon

Lobster& Perch Roll

Carrot Gastrique

Cucumber Pesto

Carrot Twine

Middle

Sous-vide Pork Leg

Apple & Goat Cheese Puree

Parsley Sauce

Pork & Barley Cabbage Roll

Pickled Beets

Cranberry Drops

Butter Poached Rutabaga

Zucchini Pearls

End

Chocolate Orange Block

Roasted Pineapple Sorbet

Honey Raspberry Parfait

Banana Chocolate Fritter

Pineapple Compote

Raspberry Froth

Orange & Almond Cake

And the Winner is....

Soon to be announced and I, like any other chef at the Savour Food and Wine show, am eager to find out. On February 25th the stars and fans of NS food were out in full force. It was a packed event, with 600 guests waiting to get their fill on every dish imaginable. And Cafe 101 did not disappoint! Joined by my Sous Chef, Leslie Hull, and 3 NSCC students, John Saulnier, Dean Anderson and Keegan Goodspeed, we showed our passion for food with an innovative and modern menu. We received lots of great compliments and peaked everyone's interest with our "In a Cloud of Smoke Sous-Vide Pork Curry." How did we do it? Well, that one will have to remain my little secret;) Check out the menu below:

In a Cloud of Smoke Sous-Vide Pork Curry

Apply Yogurt Panna Cotta

Pickled Mango

Beet Cilantro Drape