What’s New

July has come early in Quebec City: we’ve been enjoying exceptionally warm weather for the past week. Every year, I always tell myself I must not expect summer to arrive before mid-June to avoid disappointment, so I see this week as an early sunny bonus! We’ve enjoyed lazy afternoons on the terrace, bike rides, delicious barbecued meals and refreshing cocktails over the long holiday weekend. Let me just say it did wonders for our mood! I just hope this doesn’t mean July will be cold and rainy (knock on wood!).

Worth Talking About

• Looking for summer reads recommendations? T. Susan Chang has shared the NPR cookbook roundup, as well as her own recommendations with themes such as “Best Reboot-Your-Salad Book” and “Fun Trend Cookbook for Bedside Reading”.

• Are you as fascinated by the Easter Island statues as I am? I’ve always found them intriguing and mysterious. This week, I learned that some those big heads actually have bodies attached to them! Seeing the full statues revealed is actually giving me chills (They were buried by dirt and detritus washed down from the top of the island! They have symbols carved in their backs! They show trace of red pigment, which was used to paint them!) The report released by the Easter Island Statue Project is absolutely fascinating.

• Spenser Magazine has released a new issue! The May-June issue celebrates meat in Cajun country, takes on a roadtrip through California’s Central Coast, gives us a glimpse into René Redzepi’s kitchen, educates us about chocolate, and much, much more. Don’t miss it!

Just Added to My “To-Make” List

This week, I saw a flood of rhubarb recipes inundating blogs and culinary sites, and with good reason: it’s in season! Rhubarb is a very unique plant: its tartness being perfect balance to sweet dishes, but also solid flavor to savory ones. My parents used to grow rhubarb in the backyard when I was growing up, and my Mom making rhubarb compotes, crisps or upside-down cakes was always the first sign that summer was right around the corner. This year, I feel like I want to get creative with rhubarb; here are six gorgeous recipes that are inspiring me right now:

Click on each picture for recipes and photo credits.

• Sweet and Sour Rhubarb Soup
• Rhubarb and Rosewater Syrup
• Rye, Rhubarb and Beer Porridge
• Rhubarb and Almond Panna Cotta
• Rhubarb Tarte Tatin
• Roasted Rhubarb Sherbet

Have a great and delicious weekend!

Guacamole is one of those dishes so many people love, but few actually make at home. I don’t know what’s scary about guacamole but it’s a really easy dish to make, and the taste of a homemade version is light years ahead of anything store-bought. I started making my own guacamole a couple of years ago, but I don’t remember when exactly or what inspired me. What I do remember though is that it was an instant hit amongst my friends and that I’ve frequently been asked to make it again since.

The various store-bought guacamoles I tasted before starting to make my own were usually under-seasoned, pureed into oblivion mixtures with a thick, pasty texture. The one I’m making now is at the opposite end of the spectrum: it’s zesty and spicy and chunky, spiked with fresh coriander, and mixed with recognizable pieces of tomato, red onion and jalapeño pepper. It’s flavorful, addictive and good for you.

This recipe makes a generous 4 cups of guacamole, which should satisfy 4 to 6 adults. You can easily halve the recipe, but judging from the speed at which it’s ingested when I make it, I bet you’ll come back to the full yield pretty quickly. The amount of lime juice may seem like a lot, but I believe this is what truly makes the guacamole pop. Lime cuts through the avocado’s rich texture and brings all the other flavors forward. If in doubt, no worries: the recipe calls for half the juice first, and then you can add more according to your taste. Just please, never ever use bottled lime juice.

Makes 4 cups

4 ripe avocados
1/3 cup [80 ml] freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 3 limes)
2 medium tomatoes (I use vine tomatoes), diced (about 1 cup)
1/3 cup [80 ml] red onion, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
½ tsp [2.5 ml] Pimentón de la Vera (Spanish smoked paprika, the hot variety) – optional
½ tsp [2.5 ml] hot sauce (I use habañero sauce, but you can use Tabasco or any other hot sauce)
1 tsp [5 ml] sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup [125 ml] fresh coriander, finely chopped, a few leaves saved for presentation

Halve, peel and unpit the avocados. Place two of the avocados (4 halves) in a large mixing bowl and mash with a fork. Coarsely chop the two other avocados and add to the bowl. Add half of the lime juice and all of the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Taste and add more lime juice to taste – you should be able to taste the fresh lime through the avocado mixture. Season with more salt and pepper if needed. The guacamole can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for a few hours before serving.

Serve sprinkled with fresh coriander leaves, along with a big bowl of tortilla chips. This guacamole is also fantastic served in fish tacos or fajitas or as a side to quesadillas.

I just realized that I’ve written very little about my trip to Japan (besides my first culinary impressions and an account of my visit at the Tsukiji Fish Market). I needed time to assimilate and understand all the new flavors I tasted while I was over there. Every day brought new discoveries, every dish left deep impressions. I have only recently started reading about Japanese cuisine again. I also did some reading before I left for Japan and I thought I was prepared, but learning about Japanese food before ever tasting it is like thinking you’re fluent in a foreign language before you’ve tried to speak with locals. Soon enough, you realize you don’t know anything, or at least, much less than what you expected.

Since I came back, I’ve had very few encounters with authentic Japanese cuisine, but one left long-lasting tasty souvenirs. Back in March, I hosted Mayssam from Will Travel for Food in my Edible Cities column. Her city was New York, and her dish was a life-changing ramen at Ippudo. I was leaving for New York a few days later, so you bet a bowl of ramen was at the very top of my priorities list. In fact, I got off the plane, dropped my bags off at the hotel, jumped on the metro, and headed straight to Ippudo.

Ippudo NY is located on 4th Avenue, a block north of Astor Place. Its exterior was the first hint that I was in for an authentic experience: the narrow, unassuming storefront with no western sign could easily be missed if you’re not paying attention. I passed the traditional noren curtains, giddy with excitement. It was still early for lunch (around 11:15 AM), which meant I didn’t have to wait before being seated. I was guided from the small entrance through a corridor to the surprisingly large dining room all the way to back of the restaurant, where I was greeted with the best “Irasshaimase” I’d heard since leaving Tokyo. If you’re not familiar with this salutation, it is a Japanese expression that welcomes someone to a place, and it’s commonly used in ramen shops. When a customer comes in, all of the staff scream Irasshaimase! at once. This tradition greatly adds to the experience of eating in a ramen shop, because it makes you feel honored and welcome, and then you hear that same salutation several times over the course of your meal. At Ippudo, where the kitchen is pretty large and there is a staff of 10-15, the call is quite impressive and it made me feel warm and fuzzy and nostalgic.

I was seated at one of the communal tables, where I had a couple minutes to admire the restaurant’s large dining room and contemporary décor, which looked very different from the ramen shops I visited in Japan (usually very small and humbly adorned). It didn’t prevent the space to feel warm and intimate; I especially liked the larger tables made out of reclaimed wood and the elegant booths, designed to reflect Japanese minimalism. I was quickly attended to and ordered the Hirata Buns with pork ($9) and the Kuro Kasane ramen ($16), a special available for a limited time only.

Service was very quick: within minutes, the steamed buns arrived. They were soft, light and pillowy, and the pork was juicy, brushed with a lightly spicy sauce. I was still busy savoring them when my bowl of ramen arrived. I was immediately transported by the soup’s aroma: the broth was every bit as flavorful as my souvenir dictated it should be. The Kuro Kasame ramen is a tonkotsu (pork bone) and chicken noodle soup, topped with chashu pork, cabbage, sesame kikurage mushrooms, pickled ginger and black garlic oil. The broth was unbelievably rich and creamy and the black garlic oil coated my mouth with deliciousness. I couldn’t stop until I (almost) licked the bowl clean. I was quickly served a cup of tea and then I left to give up my seat to one of the hungry diners that had started forming a line outside.

Although Ippudo’s ramen is significantly more expensive than any I had in Japan (I suspect my $30 tab would shock many Japanese diners), I would pay for this experience again and again. To be fair, I treated myself to the special soup and à la carte items, whereas most people choose the lunch set, which includes a bowl of ramen (from $14 to $17) and a rice bowl (topped with cod roe, roast pork, fried chicken or grilled eel), and a mini salad for $3 more. One can thus enjoy a generous lunch at Ippudo for under $20, which is fair considering the quality of ingredients and authenticity of the experience.

If you want to experience a truly authentic ramen and save on the costs of an overseas flight, go to Ippudo NY. I won’t ever go back to New York without paying them a visit.

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Ippudo NY
65 Fourth Avenue (Between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212-388-0088
Open Monday thru Sunday for lunch and dinner. No reservations.

Meet Shaheen Peerbhai, a food blogger and culinary student who lives in Paris. In 2011, Shaheen was awarded prestigious scholarships from The Culinary Trust and The James Beard Foundation to make her lifelong dream come true: attend the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. She soon left her office job to embark on Pastry and Cuisine degrees in Paris and London. She shares her experience, as well as delicious recipes and travel tales on her blog, The Purple Foodie. Here’s Rome, in her own words.

My Edible City

Rome. When traveling, I decide on visiting a place only if it’s home to great food. So everything I’ve eaten, be it char keow teow in Penang, paella in Spain, pintxos in Andorra, rabbit cooked in cherry beer in Brussels or scones and clotted cream in London make for food memories I deeply cherish. But if I really had to pick, my ideal meal would be dinner in Rome and and then back to Paris for dessert (because there’s just no beating the French at making great desserts). Everything you eat in Rome is just packed with flavor: be it the pizza from around the corner or the deep fried artichokes in the Jewish ghetto. Roman food reaffirms that the when the food is fresh and simple, it tastes best. Rome is dotted with family run Trattorias and Osterias that have a charm of their own. Another reason why I love Rome is for its colorful markets and unparalleled olive oil. On my last trip, I purchased check-in luggage on the Easyjet flight just so I could bring back a few bottles of olive oil with me.

My Favorite Dish

Pizza by the slice at La Renella. On my last trip to Rome, I’d eat at La Renella, a lovely little bakery in the trendy Trastevere, every single day. I’d pop in usually in the morning for my slice of artichoke and ham pizza or tomato and olive pizza fresh out of the oven, brushed with extra virgin olive oil. Then, if we weren’t rushing to go sightseeing or to check off another place on our “Must-Eat” list, we’d sit there a little longer and snack on their chocolate chip and ricotta tart, sour cherry pie or their amaretti Sardi. This lovely bakery makes some pretty amazing bread as well. I had the good fortune of visiting the back of the bakery, and here I saw them use hazelnut shells as fuel, giving their bread the characteristic flavour. It also doesn’t hurt that the guy at the counter at La Renella is utterly gorgeous.

Useful Links

• Video: All About Trastevere, one of Rome’s most atmospheric neighborhoods
• Shaheen’s guides to Rome: Eating in Rome, Gelato Tour and Campo de’ Fiori
• Shops, Restaurants, Gelaterie, Tours and More: My Favorite Addresses in Rome
• How to Make Roman-Style Pizza, at Home

Next Week on Edible Cities

Next week, Melanie Saucier, a designer and design blogger originally from Quebec City, currently living in Toronto and moving to Sacramento, CA in the next few weeks (phew!), is taking us to Capri, Italy. Don’t miss it!

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Photo credits: All pictures by Shaheen Peerbhai.

What’s New

• Dandelions are everywhere right now. That wild flower has a bad rap (people work so hard to get them off their lawn!), but I think they’re pretty, especially in such great quantity. Also, they’re edible and even good for you: half a cup of leaves contain more calcium than a glass of milk! They’re also full of vitamins and iron. You can enjoy dandelion greens in salad, or cook them like you would spinach. If you feel like you want to try them, always make sure you pick some that were not sprayed with pesticides or herbicides, of course! Have you ever tasted dandelions? I haven’t but this article makes me feel adventurous (Pickled Dandelion Flower Buds sound fantastic!).

• We’re flying to Europe next week! E and I are leaving on a well deserved vacation together. Our trip starts in Venice, where we’ve rented an apartment located right by the Rialto Market. We’ll be sharing it with good friends of ours who love to cook and eat as much as we do, so I really look forward to grocery shopping daily at the Rialto, cooking with our friends in our adoptive Italian kitchen, drinking Spritz (our favorite Venetian drink) on sunny terraces, and getting lost in Venise’s narrow streets!

• On the second part of our trip, we’re flying over to Copenhagen. The more I read about that city, the more I look forward to be there. No, we didn’t manage to get a reservation at Noma; we’re on the waiting list, but Chef Redzepi recently tweeted that there can be as many as 1,200 names on that list, every day…! I think our chances to get in are nonexistent, but I have a long list of other amazing restaurants to try so we’ll be eating fantastic food for sure. Also, it may sound silly, but I can’t wait to have Smørrebrød in Danemark! To me, Copenhagen rhymes with innovative design, delicious food, beautiful people and gorgeous surroundings, so I can’t wait to be wander in such inspiring surroundings.

Worth Talking About

• Mastering leftovers: Most people dread leftovers, but I actually enjoy the challenge of transforming them into new dishes. This week, I mixed leftover tandoori chicken and chickpea curry together to make a soup so tasty I noted down a recipe to actually make it on purpose. I love when such ah-ha moments happen! Not convinced leftovers can be exciting? This Food 52 article provides tips to transform them into delicious new dishes, from soups to pizza.

• Do you know Chantelle Grady? She’s a talented photographer and blogger from Australia who now lives in Montreal. She’s a fairly new comer to the blogging scene, but she immediately got noticed with the gorgeous online magazine about Montreal she published early this year. This week, she launched a new site, Sourced Cities, which promises to provide inspiring guidance through the world’s most beautiful cities. The first issue is not released yet, but have a look at the blog for a taste of what’s to come: 10 Things to Do in Athens.
  

• Looking for interesting reads? Have a look at this list of links to James Beard Award-Winning Stories, or these 16 Awesome Under-the-Radar Food Magazines. 

Just Added to My “To-Make” List

Click on each picture for recipes and photo credits.

Have a great and delicious weekend!

Shortly after publishing the new Food Nouveau, I decided to fade out Just Recipes, the recipe blog I started a little more than a year ago. Now that the content is better organized and recipes are easily accessible on Food Nouveau, it feels more logical to put all of my energy and efforts into one single blog.

I know that many readers loved the easier recipes I posted on Just Recipes. They actually reflect what E and I eat on weeknights: delicious, flavorful recipes that are quick and easy to put together. They’re often Asian-inspired, sometimes vegetarian, always easy to make and always delicious. People love how-tos, but nobody wants to embark on such a lengthy project when they come back from work.

The recipes that I will publish on Thursdays are dishes that are on heavy rotation at my home, the ones we frequently come back to when the “What’s for dinner?” question pops up every night.

I’m kicking things off with risotto. WHAT – risotto on a weeknight? Yes. It’s totally doable. The only ingredients you have to prep before starting the cooking process are the first ones going in (shallots and celery), then while the risotto is cooking away, you can prepare the remaining ingredients and add them when required by the recipe. It very rarely takes me more than 30 minutes all in all to make risotto, and the process is kind of relaxing, actually. Just stir and watch one of the most satisfying weeknight meals you’ll ever make come together before your eyes.

To make sure I can whip up risotto whenever we feel like having one (it’s at the very top of our comfort foods list), I always keep Arborio rice, organic stock (frozen or in Tetra-Paks), and parmigiano-reggiano on hand. My base is always the same (shallots and celery softened in olive oil and butter) and I let myself be inspired by what’s in the fridge. Cauliflower? Add parmigiano-reggiano and chili flakes and you end up with a dish that rivals the mac & cheese in the world. Fresh corn? Throw in crab meat for a delicious, fresh summer meal.

This week, I had peas and shrimp in the freezer. Knowing that it’s a common flavor combination in risotto, I searched online for inspiration and liked the addition of saffron for a Spanish-inspired twist. Purists say that no cheese should go in seafood risottos, but the salty and briny nature of pecorino-romano pairs exceptionally well with shrimp. You can leave it out completely if you don’t have any on hand.

With that, I leave you with the recipe. Try making risotto on a week night – you’ll love it.

Shrimp & Pea Saffron-Infused Risotto

Serves 2

Ingredients

2¼ cups [560 ml] fish or seafood stock
1 tbsp [15 ml] extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp [15 ml] butter
2 shallots, chopped finely
1 celery stalk, chopped finely
1 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp [pinch] saffron threads
¾ cup [80 ml] arborio or other Italian risotto rice
¼ tsp [1.25 ml] salt
½ cup [125 ml] white wine
½ lb [225 g] peeled and deveined raw shrimp (16/20 count), chopped
½ cup [125 ml] frozen peas, thawed
1 tbsp [15 ml] grated lemon peel
1 tbsp [15 ml] freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about ½ lemon)
Freshly ground pepper to taste
½ cup [125 ml] pecorino-romano cheese, divided

Method

Bring stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cover and reduce the heat to a minimum, so it remains steaming, but not simmering.

Heat oil in a large, shallow, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low heat. Add shallots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and saffron and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add rice and salt and stir to coat. Cook the rice until it looks translucent (the inner grain will remain opaque), a minute or two.

Stir the wine into the rice. Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue to cook on medium-low heat, adding hot stock in ½-cup [125 ml] increments, and stirring frequently after each addition, until most of the liquid is absorbed. With the last addition, stir in shrimp and peas. Stir until the liquid is almost completely absorbed and the shrimp is just cooked through, about 4 minutes. The risotto is done when it looks creamy and just tender.

Remove from the heat. Stir in grated lemon peel, lemon juice, pepper and most of the pecorino-romano cheese, keeping a little just to sprinkle on top of each serving. Serve immediately in warm bowls, sprinkled with the remaining cheese.

Recipe Credit: Adapted from Eating Well Magazine.

Meet Sandra Harris, from Vancouver, Canada, who writes about living a creative life at RaincoastCottage.com. Sandra’s blog is filled with the discoveries and projects that inspire her – and will inspire you too, I’m sure. Here’s Whistler, in her own words.

My Edible City

Whistler, BC. I love the big city and all that it has to offer in terms of the arts and culture. In fact I visit NYC twice a year – once with my family and once on my own for the museums, theatre, galleries, restaurants and just walking around. But I also love getting away to the outdoors and doing something physical. I have my summer sports and my winter sports. My winter sport is snowboarding and I am lucky to live near one of the best spots for snowboarding in North America – Whistler, BC.

Being an international ski resort destination, there are world-class restaurants throughout the village. But the Whistler that I know, the Whistler that I experience is the one that I met years and years ago before the world discovered this wonderful place.

And that is what I love about Whistler – it’s an upscale, world-class resort and it’s also a low-key, small town. After a day of some of the best snowboarding anywhere you can choose which Whistler you want to experience – it’s all here.

My Favorite Dish

Cinnamon Buns. When fueling up for a day of snowboarding, I need my carbs. And nothing goes better with my morning cup of coffee than a cinnamon bun. Not any cinnamon bun but a cinnamon bun from Ciao Thyme Bistro. Like cookies and muffins and other baked goods, cinnamon buns SEEM like they would be easy to make but in fact they are easier to make poorly than to make well.

They need to be baked all the way through – ever bite into a cinnamon bun that was still yeasty and unbaked in the middle? They need to have just the right proportion of cinnamon and gooey goodness to bun. And for my taste, they need to have toasted pecans sprinkled on top. Icing? I can do without – it takes the sweetness quotient over the top.

And with this yummy cinnamon bun you need a piping hot mug of coffee. I do like my latte but with this tasty a cinnamon bun, it’s a filter coffee for me with milk. So when you are next in Whistler, stop by Ciao Thyme Bistro for a cinnamon bun but get there early before they are sold out!

Useful Links

• Whistler’s official tourism site
• Whistler hosted many sporting events and competitions during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Read all about it!
• Don’t make the mistake of thinking Whistler is only a winter destination! There are tons of amazing activities to do over the summer.
• Care to make your own Cinnamon Buns? Try this fabulous traditional recipe, or this quick yeast-free version.

Next Week on Edible Cities

Next week, Shaheen Peerbhai, a food blogger and aspiring chef currently studying at Paris’ prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, is taking us to Rome. Don’t miss it!

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Photo credits: All pictures by Sandra Harris.

Here’s a little tour of Food Nouveau’s new home:

• Top menu: Provides access to the site’s main sections.
• Destinations: A drop menu which allows you to browse my posts by city or country. These categories include city guides, restaurant reviews, and recipes that are truly anchored in a particular cuisine.
• Recipes: This menu provides easier access to the recipes, which were hard to find in my old blog layout. The drop-down menu contains links to the most popular categories (like How Tos, and All About Macarons) as well as general recipe categories which should make it easy to find culinary inspiration.
• About: New Q&A topics!
• Where am I going next? My past and future travel plans.
• Press: A list of my contributions to other projects or sites, and the publications in which Food Nouveau had been mentioned. (I’ve wanted to put this one together for so long!)
• Advertise: New venture! I’m now accepting sponsors and advertisers on Food Nouveau. Details here.

In the right-hand column, you’ll find:

• Links to my RSS feed and, of course, the social networks you know and love.
• A search box to quickly find what you’re looking for.
• Clearly marked “Sponsors” areas.
• A “Quick Links” column that provides access to more popular pages and categories, such as Edible Cities, conferences, and my favorite sites & blogs.

All in all, I hope I have succeeded in making the site feel lighter and less cluttered. If you previously linked back to a particular Food Nouveau page, those links should still be active since the structure of the site hasn’t changed. (If you stumble upon a broken link, please do let me know!)

In case you’re wondering which platform and theme I’m using: I’m still on WordPress.org, but this time I’ve created my own theme. I spent a lot of time looking for a theme that would be a perfect fit for my blog, but something was always bugging me (requiring hours of custom coding to modify it). I ended up figuring it would be easier and much more satisfying to just build my new site from scratch and I’m really proud of it. Being a graphic designer, I’m used to creating websites, but working for myself is always hard (I’m a tough client to please!).

So now, I’ll let you explore. I hope you like my new digs, it sure feels a lot like home to me.

This is an express version of Happy Fridays, because I’m very busy finalizing my new blog design. Actually, the design is done, but I’m tweaking each and every last detail to make sure everything will be perfect once my new blog goes from the staging process to being live on Foodnouveau.com. I’m really happy with the new look, and I hope you’ll be too. I should be able to go live over the weekend (most probably on Sunday), so come back to see what’s new!

On with one important announcement:

“Ripe” Giveaway Winner
The winner of a signed copy of Cheryl Sternman Rule’s “Ripe: A Fresh, Colorful Approach to Fruits and Vegetables” is: Mindi! Congratulations! I just emailed you to tell you the good news. Please reply with your mailing address so I can send you the beautiful book you just won!

Just Added to My “To-Make” List

This week, I felt inspired by Asian flavors. Here are three of the recipes that caught my eye this week. If you want to see more, have a look at my “Food on My “To-Make” List” Pinterest board.

Click on each picture for recipes and photo credits.

• Because I never can resist crab cakes {and the mayo-free sauce sounds especially great} : Asian crab cakes with avocado-wasabi sauce
• For a brunch with international flair: Vietnamese Eggs
• The perfect last-minute pantry dinner {I’d eat that every night} : Black Sesame Otsu Recipe

Have a great and delicious weekend!

Well, Quebec City has finally had its first major food event. Sure, there are a few tradeshows that take place every year, but we had yet to host a fully fledged conference with chefs, and demos, and tastings, and networking opportunities—and fun!

It was called FoodCamp Québec, and it all happened thanks to the determination of one of Québec’s foremost bloggers, Francis (Tranche de Pain). I truly admire people who stop wishing and start doing. I mean, I’ve been wishing for a conference to happen in Québec, like those I fly miles to attend, but truthfully, I never even thought of organizing one. Why not? Francis created the event he dreamed of attending (and he had never done anything like this before). I have to say, he and his team did a fantastic job. The events ran smoothly, the sessions were unique and interesting, the food was fantastic, and the crowd was delightful. I cannot begin to tell you how great it felt to spend the day with people who share this deep, overwhelming passion for food; chat with some of Quebec’s most influential chefs; and indulge in such flavorful local cuisine.

The event’s organizer, Francis Laplante.

FoodCamps are a relatively new type of conference. There have been some in Italy, a couple in France and another in Copenhagen, Denmark–organized by René Redzepi, no less. They evolved from the BarCamp concept, which is an “international network of user-generated conferences” (source: Wikipedia). BarCamps are about technologies and software development. The first one was held in Silicon Valley, California, in 2005, and it has evolved to become a worldwide phenomenon (with BarCamps having been held in over 350 cities worldwide since then). The format has now been used for a variety of other topics, including—you guessed it—food.

The goal of a FoodCamp is to gather chefs, artisans, and producers to highlight the cuisine of a particular region. In Denmark, Redzepi’s MAD FoodCamp celebrated the country’s seasons, harvests, and foods, which all together define what Nordic cuisine is. In Quebec City, seven of the province’s best chefs partnered with terroir producers and wine makers to create recipes they demonstrated on stage. There were also exhibitors who provided tastings, which we could enjoy during breaks.

Food conference attendees love cupcakes and cookies, of course.

It was a delicious and inspiring day, and I loved the opportunity to see where our chefs are heading in terms of flavors and techniques. Some of them love basic, comforting (but reinvented) dishes and classic techniques, while others steer toward the modernist movement. I noticed a growing popularity of the up-and-coming “Cuisine boréale,” which seems to be Quebec’s answer to Nordic Cuisine (using ingredients foraged from the province’s boreal forest).

Here are highlights from the conference. I’m already counting the days before next year’s edition, hoping it’ll last two days (with hands-on workshops on the second day!) One cannot be too demanding, right? I will, for sure, offer my help to Francis; I have a feeling that with this year’s success, he’ll need it.

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Chef François Blais / Bistro B, Quebec City
About Bistro B: A laid-back modern bistro with an ever-changing seasonal, terroir menu.
Cooking with: Émeu de Charlevoix and wine from Vignoble Ste-Pétronille.
We ate: Emu tartar (made with cranberry seed oil, shallots, raisins, dried cranberries and lemon juice) over a Mistelle jelly.

Chef Frédéric Laplante / La Tanière, Quebec City
About La Tanière: An institution located on the outskirts of Quebec City, the restaurant used to specialize in wild game, but has taken a turn towards the modernist movement in 2002. They now serve “avant-garde cuisine”, tasting menus with 10 to 20 courses that feature the very best local ingredients. They are amongst the leaders of the “Cuisine boréale” movement (the phrase is actually the restaurant’s tagline).
Cooking with: Hen from Domaine de Lavoye and wine from Vignoble Carone.
We ate (and drank): Hen liver mousse, dipped in cherry jelly (thanks to liquid nitrogen), and served with quinoa, endives and garlic powder. The wine was a surprisingly delicious Pinot Noir (a grape that is very rarely grown in Quebec).

La Tanière’s Chef Frédéric Laplante and partner-owner, Karen Therrien.

Playing around with liquid nitrogen.

Pastry Chef Sébastien Camus / Hôtel Château Laurier, Quebec City
About the performance: The chef plated six spectacular desserts made with blueberries and chocolate, accompanied by dubstep music and lighting effect. All of the desserts used the same basic components but they were organized differently to create each dessert. It was quite a mesmerizing and magical performance, unlike any cooking demonstration I had ever seen before.
We ate: A miniature dessert, featuring all the key components used by the chef (blueberries, crumble, chocolate and coulis).

A video of the performance (filmed with my iPhone). Pastry & dubstep! Who knew?

The performance ended with a giant blueberry (made out of sugar) sent floating over the stage.

Chef Camus assembled the desserts on a large, round, rotating glass surface (the music scratched when he turned it between each plating). 

One of the desserts, up close. 

Chef Danny St-Pierre / Restaurant Auguste, Sherbrooke
About Restaurant Auguste: Danny St-Pierre drove all the way from Restaurant Auguste in Sherbrooke (about 2.5 hours South of Quebec City, in the Eastern Townships). He has lots of fans in the online food community because he’s very active on Twitter – and because he’s funny and accessible. Auguste serves reinvented classics (including the famous “inverted poutine”), an effortless and comforting cuisine that I wish I’d get to enjoy more often (I’m sad Auguste is so far away from home!)
Cooking with: Chicken. The session was called “My friend the chicken”. Chef St-Pierre demonstrated how to make the most of a whole chicken and turn it into many different dishes: in an hour, he made a blanquette of chicken, a grilled breast with perfectly crispy skin, a pot-au-feu and a chicken cassoulet.
We ate: A to-die-for Kiev chicken croquette. The Kiev chicken mixture was frozen, cut into squares, dipped into egg and panko crumbs repeatedly and then fried, so that the exterior was very crisp but the interior was melted to its original state. The croquette exploded in savory deliciousness – it was one of the best surprises of the day.

Raw chicken on 20-feet screens, courtesy of Chef Danny St-Pierre.

Blanquette and cassoulet on the way.

Chef Phil Viens / Restaurant DNA, Montreal
Cooking with: ”Boreal terroir products” from Société Orignal
We ate: A “baloney” sandwich. Yes, you read that well! Of course, it was a gourmet version of the sausage, homemade with mustard seeds and a touch of spiciness. It was delicious and satisfying (I kind of hope they would commercialize it!)

Left: Chef Phil Viens of Restaurant DNA in Montréal, with a representative of Société Original.
Right: Chef Viens’ “Baloney” sandwich.

Chef Christian Lemelin / Toast! and SSS (Simple Snack Sympathique), Quebec City
About Toast! and SSS: Toast! is a gourmet restaurant housed in a boutique hotel, in the city’s most charming neighborhood, the Old Port. Their specialty is foie gras, and they just changed their menu to serve small dishes, which you can assemble to create your own tasting menu.
SSS, located a short walk away from Toast!, is a chic bistro that serves accessible but sophisticated dishes. It’s a popular spot to have an after-work happy hour or grab a late-night snack.
Cooking with: ”Boreal terroir products” from Société Orignal. Chef Lemelin also demonstrated how to make your own foie gras au torchon (cloth wrapped duck or goose liver), including how to devein and season the liver before wrapping it into cloth.
We ate: “Mauvaise herbe” goat cheese, cooked sous-vide in a water bath until warm but still holding its shape, then drizzled with Volte-Face sunflower oil and sprinkled with sunflower seeds.
Also: Moutain Alder-infused Panna Cotta (set with agar-agar) with an orange emulsion, candied pecans and an exceptional maple syrup, the “Chasse-Gardée”. This syrup is boiled to 72°C (instead of the usual 60°C), which means that more liters of maple sap are required to produce the same amount of syrup. It’s a gourmet version of maple syrup, probably the finest most of us in the room had ever tasted (and believe me, we know our maple syrup).

The FoodCamp’s host, Chef Marjorie Maltais, and Chef Christian Lemelin.

The cheese course, as plated by the chef, and as it was served to attendees.

The panna cotta, as plated by the chef, and as it was served to attendees.

Aren’t all those dishes making you hungry?