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Susur Lee and Matt Carmichael cheffing team
is the one to watch at 2nd annual Celebrity Chefs
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MAR 21 12 – 12:01 AM — Ottawa chef Matthew Carmichael remembers well his intense days a decade ago as a disciple toiling in the kitchen of acclaimed Toronto chef Susur Lee. The pace was always frantic. The hours were excruciatingly long. And his mentor had no tolerance for anything ordinary.
On more than one occasion, Carmichael recalls, the internationally renowned Lee would reprimand him — firmly, but without cruelty — in front of his peers for not making the most of prime ingredients. He taught Carmichael it’s a privilege, not a chore, to break down pristine fresh tuna that other chefs could only dream about.
Above, left, Matt Carmichael wins gold at Ottawa regtional Gold Medal Plates in 2009; later, he placed bronze in national championship. Right, his mentor Susur Lee. They’ll be reunited at Celebrity Cehfs on Sunday at the National Arts Centre.
“Susur would go by the garbage and he’d take out a lemon and give it a squeeze,” Carmichael recalls.
“If any juice came out he would stop the kitchen, ask where this came from and who did this waste. Same with the cream: If any cream came out of an empty carton, or olive oil from a tin, he’d stop everyone and say ‘you have to respect this product, you have to respect the effort and the transportation it took to get it here.’ He’d say the whole cycle is failing when you’re not using ingredients to the fullest.”
Respect for ingredients was a lesson that remains with Carmichael, 40, to this day as executive chef overseeing kitchens at three leading dining establishments in Ottawa: Social, Restaurant E18hteen, and more recently Sidedoor in the ByWard Market.
While Carmichael (above) has since earned his own culinary accolades, he appreciates almost three years of tough work (to late 2004) at the master’s flagship restaurant, Susur, which has since closed. He arrived at E18hteen in 2006.
And it is that same student who will be reunited with his mentor in Ottawa on Sunday, among nine prominent Canadian chef teams to appear at what’s billed as Celebrity Chefs of Canada, a day-long series of cooking demonstrations and gastronomic adventure set to unfold at the National Arts Centre.
For his part, Lee, 53, recalls his protégé with fondness and respect.
“I remember probably a dozen chefs who have gone through my kitchen, and Matt is among them,” Lee says in an interview (above).
“He was very dedicated, he wanted to work hard and accept new challenges. He was open-minded, and I always remember he had good energy. He was hard working, and that’s what it really takes for a chef to grow.”
Celebrity Chefs is the second annual event organized by NAC executive chef Michael Blackie introducing Ottawa food lovers to some of the nation’s brightest culinary stars, along with lesser-known regional chefs. Nine guest chefs — among them, TV’s Lynn Crawford of Ruby WatchCo restaurant in Toronto, and Vikram Vij of Vij’s in Vancouver — will be paired with local chefs such as Marc Lepine of Atelier, Jonathan Korecki of Sidedoor and Clifford Lyness of Perspectives, in a series of hourly cooking demonstrations. The event begins at noon and culiminates in a separate tasting reception and party later that evening.
“I was looking for a little challenge between the two chefs on each team,” Blackie says of his pairings.
In each case, Ottawa chefs will collaborate with visitors on dishes. Blackie will appear with Crawford, which seems a natural selection as they have worked together before and the chemistry between them on stage seems almost magic. They are both, if nothing else, master showmen steeped in the entertaining world of culinary TV.
Chefs Susur Lee and Matt Carmichael will present a version of this dish, Lobster Salad with Saffron Mayonnaise, at the demonstration kitchen Sunday.
Of course, the must-see pairing this weekend will be Carmichael working once again with the mentor who put him through so many paces. They last saw each other in 2007, when Carmichael invited Lee as guest chef for a superlative, $290-a-plate eight-course meal at Restaurant E18hteen — by any measure, a memorable meal layered with tastes and textures balancing savoury with sweet, supple with crunch, that all but pirouetted on the plate.
“He’s firm, but not in a way like Gordon Ramsay on TV,” Carmichael says of the chef he so admires.
“It’s like, you can control a dog with the tone of your voice — you can make it wag its tail without even any body language, or you can make a dog’s tail go between its legs. The thing about Susur is his energy. He never yelled, but his tone of voice told you everything. He’s totally disciplined, so if you let him down that made it even worse.
“Susur never disrespected you as a person, but he would definitely use you as an example in front of everybody. I probably did all those little things with a lemon or whatever. I think I was cleaning beef tenderloin and took off too much trim, and he said something like ‘this is my meat, you’re wasting my money and I’m working for you now.’
“There’s embarrassment, especially in front of the team,” Carmichael recalls.
“It’s a very competitive environment and you just didn’t want to let the team down, you never wanted to be the weakest link, so you really fought hard and concentrated. But when things were going right in the kitchen, Susur was a pleasure to be around, it was incredible. He would congratulate you in front of the team, too.”
Above, last year’s first celebrity chefs’ event.
Their demonstration Sunday will showcase Lee’s famous lobster salad with saffron mayonnaise. But where Lee’s original version calls for chorizo sausage to provide a toothsome, spicy balance to the sweet richness of shellfish and saffron aioli, Carmichael has substituted pork belly cured in a chorizo style with parmesan-crusted braised and seared fennel — again, presenting layers of textures, savoury and sweet, that so characterize the master and his student.
“It’s a great reunion for us,” Lee says.
“I cooked a great dinner in Carmichael’s restaurant in 2007, but haven’t been back to Ottawa since. It’s nice to see a chef you used to work with, and how he’s growing.
“People think a chef’s job is so hard and we don’t have friendships, but the community is really very tight — sharing and loving something with the passion we do. That’s the message I really want to send.
“In Matt I saw motivation, passion, commitment … Just to say you love cooking is not good enough, you have to understand the kitchen culture, you have to like and understand people, and you have to be a good team player.”
Says Carmichael: “I learned from Susur the value in not settling for anything less than your best.
“There’s a term I use — elegant urgency — where watching Susur work was very elegant — the way he moves quickly, with no wasted effort. When I was working sauce there could be four or five sauces per plate, and Susur would take one Turkish teapot in each hand and two spoons and simultaneously apply sauce on a pattern on each plate. Wow, beautiful technique!
“I like to instil that in my chefs. I tell them, there are two types of hole-in-ones in golf: One is not a great shot but it just rolls in the hole, and the other is high-arching and perfect. I ask them, ‘Which would you be more proud of?’ Of course, you’d be more proud of that beautiful shot with backspin that goes in the hole.
“So I tell my cooks it’s not the end result as much as it is how you get there. That’s one of the things I learned from Susur. When Susur and I are together on the stage, I’ll just revert back to a cook’s mentality.
“To me, I’ll not be the chef Matthew Carmichael. When I’m with Susur he is the chef, the master. Always.”
[Footnote March 23: It came to may attention today that Jonathan Korecki has been executive chef at SIDEDOOR restaurant since March 1.]
Celebrity Chefs of Canada
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When: March 25
Where: National Arts Centre
What: Cooking demonstrations and tasting reception, noon to 7 p.m. $135
Tasting reception and after-party 6:30 to 11 p.m. $85
Tickets: NAC box office, Ticketmaster, nac-cna.ca; Tasting reception and party only tickets (20% discount, while supplies last) available only at La Bottega Nicastro, C.A. Paradis
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Visiting/host chef teams on stage
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Visiting chef: Lynn Crawford, Food Network, Ruby WatchCo
Host chef: Michael Blackie, National Arts Centre
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Visiting: Susur Lee, Lee restaurant, Toronto; Zentan, Washington D.C.; Chinois Singapore
Host: Matthew Carmichael, Social, Restaurant E18hteen, Sidedoor
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Visiting: Jason Parsons, Peller Estates
Host: Clifford Lyness, Brookstreet
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Visiting: Vikram Vij, Vij’s restaurant, Vancouver
Host: Cesare Santaguida, Vittoria Trattoria
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Visiting: Patrick McMurray, Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill, Toronto
Host: Michael Blackie, NAC
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Visiting: Ned Bell, Four Seasons Hotel, Vancouver
Host: Patricia Larkin, Black Cat Bistro
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Visiting: Jeremy Charles, Raymond’s restaurant, St. John’s
Host: Jonathan Korecki, Sidedoor
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Visiting: Quang Dang, West Restaurant, Vancouver
Host: Marc Lepine, Atelier
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Visiting: Jason Bangerter, O&B Canteen, Luma, Toronto
Host: Jason Duffy, ARC The Hotel
