Throughout my life I’ve had a fairly diverse range of jobs. I’ve worked in a wood shop making high-end croquet mallets and accessories, at flea markets selling second-hand stuff and in a kitchen at a high-traffic brunch joint.
(I like to think that working at an English-language newspaper in Quebec is the logical progression of years of niche employment.)
It is fairly rare that two of my past occupations converge, so when I found out that there was a cooking class at Bryson Farms that I could cover, I kissed my hands like the Swedish Chef.
Though I don’t claim to be a great cook at home or abroad, I spent many hours in college slinging omelettes and poaching eggs. Maybe it was the camaraderie with the other cooks, the fact that I was getting paid or the 16-year-old kid in the dish pit cleaning up after me, but cooking in an industrial setting just seemed more fun.
It was with this nostalgic outlook that I headed up the 148 and down Chemin Stewart to Bryson Farms.
After turning up at the wrong address (thanks Google maps) I was greeted by co-owner Terry Stewart, who directed me to the correct location down the road.
There I met his partner Stuart Collins, a jovial fellow, and the one who had organized the classes.
Bryson Farms specializes in producing organic produce and has everything from heirloom tomatoes to lettuce and corn. They even offer a home delivery service so you can have products brought right to your door.
Collins explained that he and visiting chef Bruce Wood have been friends for 20 years. Back then, Wood was working as the resident chef at Mariposa Farms in Plantagenet, Ont. and he would come up to the Pontiac to source his produce.
“He would just come here and pick what he wanted,”
Collins said. “He’s a master of cooking classes.”
Despite these close ties to the restaurant industry, Collins said that this is the first cooking class that they’ve hosted at the farm and he seemed encouraged by the response from the public.
“I think they’re a great idea,” he said. “The classes have filled up. We’ve been contacted by other Ottawa chefs who want to do one. We’re trying to develop a theme for a children’s class as well.”
In addition to teaching cooking skills, the classes have the added benefit of getting people more in touch with how their food is grown. Prior to stepping into the kitchen, participants went into the field to pick and dig up the produce they would be using.
“We’re trying to get people involved on the farm in a safe way,” Collins said. “Bruce is taking what he needs for the luncheon.”
He added that he and Stewart have been long-time proponents of the locally sourced, organic farming movement.
“It’s challenging, very labour-intensive but worth it,” he said. “Number one, it’s healthy, number two, it’s delicious.”
With that introduction, I was guided to the kitchen where the lesson was already underway. On the menu that day was an appetizer of trout served with sweet corn, herbs, rye whisky and cream. Next was a panzanella salad with raw and chili-grilled tomatoes, herbed focaccia, feta and basil vinigarette. The main course was herb and garlic chicken thighs served with fingerling potatoes, mushrooms and honey-glazed carrots. Hazelnut crêpes with summer berries rounded out the meal as dessert.
Chef Wood, as I learned later, built his career on teaching. After coming up in the Toronto restaurant scene and working in a variety of high-end establishments, Wood arrived in Ottawa in 1992 to teach cooking lessons at the supermarket chain Loeb Foods. From there he has taught at several locations including Algonquin College and has even worked for Beau’s Brewery, writing beer-inspired recipes.
His experience in the classroom definitely showed, as he bounced around the kitchen cracking jokes and regaling the small group of participants with anecdotes from his years in the industry.
“People are becoming increasingly educated about food so people like me have had to step our games up,” he said.
While adding rye to a pan, Wood advised the class on safely cooking with fire.
“Generally you don’t want to add extra alcohol from the bottle,” he said, deftly adding extra alcohol from the bottle. “I watched a guy do that on the line one day. The flame went back up into the bottle and it shot out of his hands and shattered on the wall. We had to throw out the whole salad line because there was broken glass everywhere. ”
Later on he demonstrated how to cook perfect crêpes. He compared the correct consistency of the batter to heavy cream and emphasized how thin they are compared to normal pancakes.
“Do you see how light and delicate these are?” he said, holding one aloft for the class to see. “You could buy these at Victoria’s Secret.”
After the meal was prepared, we all filed out to the yard where they enjoyed the fruits of Wood’s labour along with some excellent wine that he had paired with the different courses.
The food was excellent, the wine was better and the fact that I got to consume both as part of my job was by far the best part. Judging by the comments around the table, everyone else agreed that the entire experience had been outstanding.
