UPDATE: Mathieu Cloutier of Montreal’s “Kitchen Gallery” won

I’ve been buried judging and refereeing the Canadian Culinary Championships for the last two days so I apologise for the lack of posts/updates. The seven competing chefs finished the wine pairing competition last night at Republic (the mystery wine being the Black Hills “Alibi”), and the Black Box competition has just finished here at The Sheraton Wall Center.

Who’s competing? Each winning chef from the seven Gold Medal Plates competitions held this Fall across the country:

Vancouver | Rob Feenie
Ottawa | Matthew Carmichael
Montreal | Mathieu Cloutier
Edmonton | Nathin Bye
Canmore | Jan Hrabec
St. Johns | Ivan Kyutukchiev
Toronto | David Lee

My friend Sid Cross and I were tasked with choosing today’s 6 mystery ingredients, and we came up with a vicious assortment: fresh fennel, dragon fruit, whole jumbo quail, arctic char, arborio rice, and bottle of R&B Brewing Co.’s “Hoppelganger” India Pale Ale. The chefs had only 10 minutes to dream up two dishes that would incorporate all of the ingredients, and then just 50 minutes to prepare them. It was intense, to say the least, and the results across the board were remarkably impressive. What’s more, only one chef was injured (a minor nick to an Edmontonian index finger). A good day.

I’ll have more on the morrow, but in the meantime I have to head back down to the kitchens to ensure the rules are being followed to the letter. I’ll be tweeting updates on my cell throughout the evening, so if you’re not yet following Scout on Twitter, please do. You’ll be among the first to learn who the new national culinary champion is later tonight.

PS. Rest assured, Video and hundreds of photos won’t be too far behind. If you have no clue what any of this is about and would like to see more, I’ve included a video that I shot from last year’s CCC, held in Banff, Alberta. Check it out after the jump…