Beefing It Up With Canadian Gastronomy: A Chef’s Table Event
The Embassy of Canada in the Philippines, in partnership with Canada Beef International Institute (CBII) and Pillitteri Estates Winery, recently hosted its first Chef’s Table event last August 8, 2019 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza. This was inspired by the Chef’s Table events of the LTB Chefs Association Philippines and aims to feature the wonderful flavors and dishes that can be prepared using Canadian Beef.
The Hungry Kat was invited to be one of the guests of this unique gastronomic activity which features the culinary expertise of Chef Mathieu Paré, Executive Director of Canada Beef Center of Excellence. The special six-course dinner was paired with a selection of award-winning wines from Pillitteri Estates and also highlighted Canada’s rich multicultural cuisine.
His Excellency John T. Holmes, Ambassador of Canada to the Philippines, opened the program by welcoming everyone to the evening’s Chef’s Table event including guests from the hotel and restaurant industries, foodies, media, and LTB Chefs which comprised almost half of the attendees. The LTB Chefs Association Philippines is the premier chefs association in the Philippines and is a member of the World Association of Chefs Societies. Their officers and directors include notable names such as James Antolin, Fernando Aracama, and Carlo Miguel.
Chef Mathieu Paré discussed some of the outstanding features of Canadian Beef and why it continues to be one of the most premium and high-quality beef products in the world.
So what makes Canada Beef exceptional? They say that it is Canada itself - the land where the cattle is raised and its cold climate, rich grasslands, fields, and stunning landscape which makes it highly-suitable for farming. Canada is a sprawling land that stretches over more than seven time zones and is one of the leading beef-producing nations in the world. It is their community of farmers and ranchers who tend to the cattle with values and respect that make the quality of their beef outstanding.
Chef Mathieu then helped Ambassador Holmes prepare and plate some of our appetizer courses. Everything looked good so the guests were all eager to start their journey into Canadian Beef.
A welcome drink was first offered to the guests, the sweet and refreshing Maple Mango by the Bay. This beverage captures our appreciation of Canada’s welcoming and multicultural society as it includes a healthy dose of maple syrup, local fruits and bay leaves.
The first course was an assortment of Canadian Beef appetizer concepts. These began with some pass-around starters like the Rocky Mountain Sushi made with thin savoury strips of Canadian Beef, together with Klondike Nuggets.
Once everybody was seated, they served the next set of appetizers which Ambassador Holmes helped to prepare earlier. These were the Fire Cracker Crispy Dimsum and the Grand Maman’s Tourtière Slider. Both were made using savoury Canadian Beef.
All the courses were perfectly paired with glasses of red and white wines from Pillitteri Estates Wines, an award-winning, family-owned winery in one of Canada’s popular wine region, Niagara-on-the-Lake. Our appetizer course came with Pillitteri Gewurztraminer Reisling VQA 2017, a sweet and light white wine. Pillitteri Estates Winery is also the world’s largest estate producer of icewine and have won over 1,000 international wine awards.
The next course was the Japanese Cowboy Tataki using thinly-sliced Canadian Beef marinated and slightly seared. This was enhanced with Canadian prairie togarashi and calamansi.
The third course is an intercontinental combination from the sea and sky. The Canadian Surf ‘n Turf Mac & Cheese is a solid, lobster-filled mac and cheese that is quite filling. It came with generous amounts of beef and lobster inside a creamy and cheesy bowl.
For the main course, Beef on the Barbecue was definitely the highlight of the meal. This Canadian classic rib roast was doused in a centennial celebration rub and served with summer vegetables and mashed potatoes using locally-harvested table potatoes grown from Atlantic Canadian seed potatoes.
The savoury slice of beef was perfectly cooked medium, with big portions of fat hanging on to the steak, giving it an even more outstanding flavor. The beef was paired with glasses of Pillitteri VQA Exclamation Reserve Merlot 2015.
Would you believe the desserts were also prepared using Canadian beef? The Pouding Chômeur is a dessert that was created by female factory workers early during the Great Depression in Quebec. This traditional French-Canadian upside-down cake is drizzled with pineapple caramel and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Then we had the Beef Fat Mignardises, a set of small pastries including the Brownie, Blondie, and Nanaimo Bar which were baked using beef fat instead of butter. These were all paired nicely with the Pillitteri VQA Reserve Vidal Icewine 2013 which is a sweet dessert wine that puts a perfect ending to a perfect meal.
Congratulations to the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines and Ms. Angel Cachuela for a successful event. You can download The RoundUp App from Canadian Beef on the App Store and on Google Play if you want to know more about the products and the different types and cuts of Canadian beef.
