Frank Dodd and Michael Moffatt win Gold Medal Plates regionals

TORONTO—Pork prepared three ways—hot, cold and frozen—won Frank Dodd, chef at Hillebrand Winery Restaurant in Niagara, a spot in the Gold Medal Plates finals.

During a preliminary competition in Toronto in early November, Dodd topped Lorenzo Loseto of George and Michael Steh of reds bistro & wine bar in Toronto.

This is what judge James Chatto had to say about Dodd’s dish.

“The hot element was very hot indeed, a demitasse sealed with pastry and containing a beautifully lightweight broth made from ham hocks and prosciutto with diced yellow squash adding its own earthy sweetness to the recipe,” Chatto writes.

“Beside it was a triangular slice of dense, meaty head cheese wrapped in prosciutto, the light and dark meat in attractive contrast. The third element was a bacon ice cream served on a teaspoon.”

Dodd paired the pork dish with a 2008 Trius Red, from Hillebrand Estates, naturally.  
Loseto from George took the silver medal with pork belly, baby artichokes, matsutake mushrooms and ricotta cavatelli paired with a 2008 Chardonnay from Niagara’s Hidden Bench Vineyards.

In winning the bronze, Steh from Reds Bistro used rabbit three ways.

“He made a ballontine of the saddle, stuffed with a soft spicy blood sausage, and set a slice of it on the plate beside a slice of firm, garlicky smoked rabbit kielbasa. A third ‘round’ was a confit as soft as rillettes, which he formed into a tiny puck, coated in breadcrumbs and fried,” Chatto said.

Steh selected a 2007 Baco Noir Reserve from Henry of Pelham in Niagara as his wine pairing.

The Metro Toronto Convention Centre hosted Toronto’s preliminary competition attended by nearly 800 people.

In Ottawa, Michael Moffatt, executive chef at Beckta dining & wine and Play food & wine, won his second gold medal as the city’s top chef. He also finished first in 2007.

“We really put our best foot forward with a dish that represented both restaurants very well and we are all happy and proud that the judges liked it as much as we did,” Moffatt wrote in an e-mail.

He prepared a trio of dishes for the judges that included rabbit terrine with pickled watermelon rind on a horseradish cracker, herb linguine with grilled squid and bone marrow butter and lightly marinated roast duck with garlic scape kimchi.

Caroline Ishii, owner and chef at the vegan restaurant ZenKitchen took the silver for second place, ahead of bronze medalists Ross Fraser and Simon Fraser, owners of Fraser Café.

Ishii made a polenta vegan-style, with red pepper aspic, macadamia curd wrapped in soy and topped with a mushroom, kale and chili sauce.

The Frasers cooked up a spot prawn on a cucumber salad and lingcod with a mustard curry sauce and fenugreek.

Both Dodd and Moffatt advance to the Canadian Culinary Championships taking place in Kelowna, British Columbia next February. There, they will compete against other regional winners for the title of best chef in the country.