After years of writing about food, chefs and farmers in Hamilton, I finally get my first taste of a Chef’s Table. I have the privilege of witnessing the event unfold from mid-afternoon, watching the advanced students at Liaison College learn the stylized dance that will soon be second nature to them. In the kitchen here, they are not usually set to a group task where they must move to the same rhythm. Some of the students are already indoctrinated to the ebb and flow of kitchen life. The ones who are only dreaming of that day are still learning to bob, dip and weave between seven other cooks.
One chef-to-be is piping butter rosebuds onto plates. Another is balancing the bitter, sweet and sour in the salad, while his colleague works magic with phyllo pastry and goat cheese. They’ve arranged and rearranged the tables in the kitchen, trying to find the right configuration to manage the prep work, hold the empty dishes that await their course, and accommodate traffic flow as they parade from the kitchen to the classroom-turned-dining room.
The students have been amped for this day for eight weeks – since they started into their advanced classes in November. Chef Dan has led them to this day step by step, nudging them toward great things, grounded in the basics. They have developed the recipes, experimented with them, done as much prep work as possible in the days leading up to the meal.
The skills they are learning here extend beyond the stove. Each student introduces themselves to the guests along with the dish they created – no waiting behind closed doors to hear how their creation was received. The diners have a responsibility here too – to evaluate each course as it is served. Chef Bill sits amongst us, sharing kitchen anecdotes and tips on constructive critiquing, while Nicole makes the orchestration of the evening smooth as silk.
An appreciative moan resounds from the diners as the courses progress, belt buckles are loosened and we all get up to move and stretch following the mid-meal palette cleanser – a near-perfect sweet-tart lemon sorbet. Then it’s back to the table to work our way through the entrée, salad, cheese plate and dessert, jotting notes on presentation, seasoning, temperature, complexity and overall taste of each course.
By the time the students filed in to dining room to a round of applause from the table, we had talked texture, taste, temperature, preference for pink, rare or blue, tart, sweet, sour, and even touched on organic vs. natural and grass fed. With Chef's Table at Liaison College the up and coming chefs, it seems, are not the only ones getting educated about food.
