Picture done by Ned Pratt taken In the Cabot Club in 2009.

Newfoundland takes a bite out of the big apple!!

Well here is the team of Newfoundland chef's that I took to New York last year to go to the James Beard house . I must say that we blew the competiton out of the water , what a great event and the comments were out of this world . This is the sort of events that newfoundland chef's have to continue to do , we must keep pushing the envelope andour skills to an international level.
chef's from left to right are Roger Andrews, Brian piercy, Sonia okeefe, Gil Bromley, Angie Ryan, Roary Mac Pherson and Brian Abbott Cook On.

Gold medal plates St. john's

Well St. John's hosted it's first Gold medal plates competiton , and i must say it was a terrific event. It was without a doubt the best competition that I have ever seen in the province of newfoundland and labrador. It was more like the old day's , all the people competiting were working together, there was no pressure, I really hope that it it continues it was a real great networking event.
Congrats to Ivan and I really wish him all the luck at the national competition, the dish that won him the gold was terrific and well deserved victory.

It is good to know that there is so much great competition here in St. john's , it makes me proud to be a Newfoundlander.

Presentation vs taste

Well this is a topic that I speak on often as I am a manger of the Newfoundland junior culinary team. People put a lot of emphasis on the presentation of food but this means nothing if there is no taste all the work on the presentation means nothing. allot of culinary schools put too much emphasis on presentation and then they start with the molecular gastronomy . These kids have not learned the basics and they are attempting things that are well beyond their skill levels . here are some pictures of some dishes I have done in the past. It,s time for the people that run the school to take a look at what the kids are being taught.
As a chef in the industry I would hire someone who can put taste on food over someone who could do great presentations because you can teach presentation but when it comes to flavor that is natural talent.

Culinary olympics.

This past fall I participated in the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt Germany and I must say that it was terrific , what an experience . It truly was a great culinary display . There are more and more Newfoundlanders who are participating . But we need to get more support from the community, other than a couple of articles in the local paper there was next to no recognition from the community, now we are grateful for what we got but I feel there should have been a little more support form the media. Now this does not just apply to the culinary world this applies to all ventures whether it is sports or robotics it just seems like an after thought.

Myself, Roger Andrews and Angie Ryan were there, Angie was my assistant and Roger was a support member for team Canada . I would like to send out a big congrats to those two they really did our province proud..

Till next time

Back to the topic at hand , I am putting a team together to take to Erfurt in 2012 and we will be looking for support from the community , which the last time was fantastic and we appreciate all the support.