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13 October 2009
Posted in
Fall Guide '09 Contributors-LINKS
('edited' - without meat prep reference)
The beautiful part of this time of year is the overlap between growing seasons. Most people think of butternut squash, pumpkins, corn, and apples when they think of the fall harvest. From Thanksgiving onward restaurant dishes tend to “warm up” and become richer and more fulfilling than lighter summer fare. For me this time of year has the best of both worlds with ingredients sharing space in the garden like late field tomatoes, zucchini squash, swiss chard, beets, turnips, pumpkins, and even sweet basil.
In Nova Scotia the onslaught of so many apple varieties ready for the pickin’ is as exciting for many as all the pumpkins in Linus’ patch. At Orchard Oaks, my family’s orchard in Port Williams, they are very busy monitoring which varieties are ready the come off the trees, which ones should be left a little longer, and which ones can be taken for juice. My father is beginning to grow more and more heritage apple varieties such as King, Bishop Pippin, and Cox Orange, along with the modern retail favorites like Honey Crisp and Jona Gold.
The restaurant menu reflects the various types of apples in Dad’s orchard by including them in new ways, not only in desserts but also as interesting savory elements and accompaniments to appetizers and main courses. Cooking with apples is always a challenge in the restaurant environment as everyone always has a favorite way to enjoy apple pies, crisps, and cobblers, and those ways are most undoubtedly their mother’s ways. Regardless of the stiff competition, the apple harvest is one of my favorite times of the culinary year. More than any other ingredient in Nova Scotia (with the possible exception of various berries) it is easy to interact with apples. Apples are everywhere and accessible during a weekend hike, along the side of a golf course, and of course at the many U-picks found all over the Annapolis Valley. Nearly everyone who has grown up in Nova Scotia has a childhood memory of going apple picking on a Sunday in September or October. Perhaps those excursions ended with a picnic or by enjoying the last ice cream cone of the summer holiday year. However the memory exists, apples are a special ingredient in Nova Scotia.
Of course that is not to say that my home province is the only place to have fallen in love with the apple. During my apprenticeship in Switzerland I discovered new ways to use the fruit. One interesting story comes to mind.
In Switzerland, as in many countries in Europe, the rules that govern restaurant and food service are more relaxed. One example of this is in the Swiss love of wild game. It is perfectly acceptable to serve those animals taken in the wild by private citizens. In the autumn of each year hunter’s dress in traditional uniforms(?) and search the countryside for pheasant, deer, and chamois (wild boar).
The owner of my hotel in Brunnen, a beautiful little village along Lake Lucern, was a passionate sportsman. He had actually spent many weeks on several occasions hunting in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Newfoundland. I found him to be a fascinating man, and his perfect grasp of the English language allowed me to, from time to time, communicate in my mother tongue. The fact that Herr von Reding owned a hotel with no less than three restaurants within its walls was all the incentive he needed to hunt on a regular basis.
(‘edited’ portion) “One day, I was to see something I had never seen before. Herr von Reding and his wife, both dressed in traditional costume, brought in a chamois.”
The meat was tied in a roll and slow roasted, as a prime rib would be in North America. The pan drippings were reduced with apple cider and the resulting jus was served alongside the roast at the table. The parallels to the flavors of roast pork and applesauce were obvious to me, but this dish showed a level of sophistication that I had not seen before. I remember thinking at the time that this was a perfect example of the type of cooking that excited me, blending simple and even familiar flavors in ways that paid attention to tradition, the seasons, the ingredients, AND challenged the skills of the cook and the palate of the diner.
Back in Halifax, ten years later, my fall dishes not only include those ingredients which are always associated with the cooler time of year but many remnants of the summer. Items such as fennel, plum tomatoes, globe artichokes, and eggplant, which remind one of hot summer antipasti dishes of the Mediterranean, are still readily available in Nova Scotia. It is also the time where cooler waters produce in-shell bay scallops, halibut, and lobster.
Autumn continues to be my favorite time of year to be a chef and cook. More than any other season, I feel a strong need to be in a kitchen, pureeing squash soup or making ravioli. The warmth of the food is enticing and addictive, and I am a happy and proud addict. I encourage you to get to a farmer’s market this fall and see what you can find. Invite some friends over, buy some German wheat beer, and kiss summer goodbye.
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