Savour Stratford - Toronto Star Culinary Stage

Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival
Stratford, ON

September 21, 2013

Property of Savour Stratford

The Toronto Star Culinary Stage is an important part of the Savour Stratford experience. It provides an opportunity for festival goers to watch a cooking demonstration and ask questions of some pretty awesome talent in the culinary world. This year we had the opportunity to attend four of these demonstrations. They focused on four different world cuisines keeping in mind this year's theme of "globally inspired, locally grown". We attended the local chefs, Burmese, Brazilian and finally Trinidadian demonstrations.

All of the demonstrations were fascinating, informative but most of all fun and engaging. We really enjoyed Chef Larsen and Chef Collins' local chef spotlight which focused on local ingredients and suppliers. Naomi Duguid presented from her recent cookbook, Burma: Rivers of Flavours. Demonstrating the complexity of this often overlooked cuisine. Chef Mara Salles from Brazil was endearing and sweet. She presented as a nervous English speaker during her demonstration of uses for manioc or cassava but her English was lovely. And finally, we watched Food Network's own, Roger Mooking and his demonstration on Trinidadian cuisine. Roger was extremely fun and worked his audience like the entertainer he is.

Below, we have provided a section on each of the demonstration we attended where you can see the different chefs in action and get their recipes (we've even included a couple of extra celebrity recipes). Enjoy.

1. Local Chef Spotlight - Tim Larsen and Sean Collins

Chef Larsen and Chef Collins presented "A Bloody, Hearty Breakfast". Here is the recipe. Even if you don't want to make the blood pudding or the cured pig's heart (I totally understand - even though it was delicious), give the biscuits and Hollandaise a try.
 
2. Naomi Duguid presents Burmese Cuisine

Naomi presented several different salad recipes from her new book, Burma, A Rivers of Flavour. She supplied the "Chicken Salad, Burmese Style" recipe. Find it here.

3. Mara Salles presents Brazilian Cuisine

Chef Salles of Tordesilhas (a top restaurant in Brazil) presented different uses for manioc and prepared farofa and a crepe like dish. However, we were not able to obtain her recipes. We have however, found a recipe for farofa similar to how Chef Salles prepared it if you are adventurous enough to try.


4. Roger Mooking presents Trinidadian Cuisine

Roger Mooking presented his recipe for "Cashew Spiced Chicken" and "Broccoli Dust". Find the recipes here. We also found a great blog post about Roger at Savour Stratford in the Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/09/26/roger-mooking_n_3991211.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Also enjoy these recipes by Toronto Star Culinary Stage presenters:

Vikram Vij's - "Vij's Family Chicken Curry"

Elizabeth Rivasplata's - "Humitas or Steamed Corn Cakes"

Jordan Lassaline's  - "Egg Hoppers, Sri Lakan Pickled Eggplant and Pupusas"