Stratford looking for a few good apprentices

By Chris McGregor

STRATFORD—In the last quarter century, the Stratford Chefs School has lunched the career of many of this country’s top chefs.

To mark its 25th anniversary, the school is looking for Canada’s best 25 apprentices to receive further training in the culinary arts.

“Send us your best chefs and we will send them back better,” said the school’s executive director, Kimberly Payne.

Half of the spaces in the two-year program are already filled with applicants based on a 1,000-word essay on how they see the Stratford Chefs School advancing their culinary careers.

“We created this to reach out as a whole across Canada. It’s a celebration but it also raises the bar a bit,” Payne said.

Most of the selected participants are from Ontario, Payne said, but there are some from out west, while applications have come in from across the country.

If selected, the apprenticeships receive up to $1,000 in gifts, including a chef’s jacket and shoes, among other items. The application deadline is June 30.

They also get the chance to work closely with the school’s celebrity chefs in residence, whose most recent ones include London, England based chef Nuno Mendes and Michelin one-star chef Alexandre Gauthier, owner of Auberge de la Grenouillere in France.

Gauthier spent five days at the school and assisted second year students with the preparation of dishes available at his restaurant. Each course was matched with French wine.

Food writer James Chatto was the school’s first Gastronomic Writer in Residence, a program created in 2007.

Payne said the Stratford program excels through its 16-week apprenticeship program, compared to the 12-weeks offered at other schools. The school accepts just 74 students per year.

Alumni of the Stratford school include Geoff O’Connor, chef de cuisine at Nota Bene in Toronto, Carolyn Reid, sous chef at Toronto’s Scarmouche, James Walt, executive chef at Araxi in Whister, B.C., and Carl Heinrich, sous chef at Db Bistro Moderne in Vancouver.