|
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Magsaysay: Devastating degustation
By Jo Magsaysay
Whatever
It is always a pleasure to accept an invitation from Jeremy Young. Not only is he such a likeable young man, shy, mannerly and really nice, he is also an infinitely creative chef, a punctilious mentor and host.
*****
An evening of "elegant cuisine", a 12-course "degustation menu"… Who can resist this seductive epicurean call - this devastating siren song to the gourmand? The fourth such event presented by the Icaac (International Culinary Arts Academy Cebu) to mark the graduation, the final culminating dinner of the two-year culinary arts chefs programme of Jeremy’s student chefs. This is also the fourth time that I have had the delightful opportunity to differentiate between the exquisitely epicurean, the truly gourmet to the outrageously, gluttonously, pigging gourmand which I am afraid I am getting to be after indulging myself too often at too many parties.
*****
It was exciting to see through the glass wall, the hustle and bustle of the graduating student chefs preparing the 12-course dinner for our sampling (degustation to the literati!). In their white aprons and starched toques Albert Abarquez, June Anthony Andrade, Marcel Antigua, Erik Enecio, Augusto Filart and Teddy Ong wielding ladles, stirring bubbling sauces, carving roasts, chopping garlic, scooping sorbets, squeezing jelly tubes while Virginia Bayo, Margarita Resing Jugador, Marianne Grace Tan, Kaye Ramas Uypitching and Ivi Villonco lent their own special feminine touches to the micro greens, fastidiously skewering corn kernels, monitoring the size of the cappuccino foam topping the squash soup, pouring the excellent wine, white Bordeaux for the appetizers, the Vouvray Champalou Sec for the butter poached prawns and pan fried salmon, the ambrosial Parinea Cabernet Savignon for the Angus beef and duck, the aromatic Shiraz Cabernet to compliment the lamb loin and the heavenly nectar Domaine Berthomieux Pacerherena du Vic Bilk for the panna cotta parfaits.
*****
A 12-15 course Chinese lauriat is a phenomenal challenge where mountains of fried rice and pancit served on enormous platters are plunked down on the revolving table, steaming bowls of birds nest or shark fin soup, perhaps fish lip soup, are scooped into wide mouthed bowls, chunks of eels, giant crabs and slabs of abalone for the diners to stab and pierce and scoop and shovel fast before the rotating table is spun off and away. When the sixth course is served, the dinner guest engorged and bloated turns away, sated, ignores the succeeding courses.
*****
A 12-course dinner with Jeremy is an exquisite experience in eating with restraint allowing the taste buds to savor the flavor of the food being sampled.
Only small portions of each course are served on small plates so artfully decorated they look like still life paintings. A square of crab cake garnished with micro greens and dabbed with red tomato vinaigrette; a dollop of Sevruga caviar, tiny glistening black pearls from the sturgeon crown, a potato blini – a crisp wafer with a meticulous fretwork of lace, a chain of pink salmon roe around it; short ribs of U.S. Angus beef with a splash of red wine meat reduction alongside a tile of ply-layered potato, carrot and camote; small cubes of roast duck, tender pink meat with a marble coat of fat, and three kinds of sweet and delicately flavored mushrooms – oyster, enoki and shitake, bitter sweet foie gras dribbled with balsamic currant sauce; a roll of lamb loin on a bed of creamy rice and red wine kalamata olive sauce to lend a piquant taste to the pungent mutton. To freshen the palate after the fish dishes, a tiny scoop of lemon sorbet on a ceramic soup spoon and passion sorbet after the meat dishes. Red fruit jellies of strawberry, cranberry and raspberry in melt-in-the-mouth parfait and finally mint ice cream cradled in a chocolate shell.
Is it any wonder that this perfect blend of food and wine mixed with delightful company, left us with a marvelous after-glow of well-being, self-satisfaction and happy camaraderie?
*****
Us? That’s Aissa dela Cruz plus the exhilarating comraderie of a couple of young married couples, Victor and Julie (Alegrado) Vergara, Raul and Marita (Alvarez) Arambulo. Sharing common interest in food production travel and resort management establishing joyous rapport among them, swapping short and tall tales, fast and funny, wise and witty, the couples’ sparkled table talk all throughout the 12 courses. I loved the laughter of Julie (of Maribago Blue Waters) her merry giggles, crisp chuckles and crackling guffaws while the more laid-back Vic (he is into soya beans and tofu) quipped asides with his wry sense of humor and timely punchlines. Hyper and volatile Raul, better known for his avocation in splendid photography than his chosen field of agriculture, is whip-smart, a perfect foil to the poise and serenity of genteel Marita of Costa Bella, the Borromeo blood line in her veins may not run blue but being my friend Mercedita’s daughter, the blood is red for nobility and gentility.
Incidentally, Marita, along with the ebullient Raul, and 27 other siblings and progeny, celebrated the golden wedding anniversary of Sitoy and Ditas with a family excursion to America, a glorious bonding together collecting memories to cherish forever. Still, Marita, as current president of the HRRAC (Hotel Resort Restaurant Association of Cebu) is all primed up for another culinary event when Cebu Goes Culinary in July. More about that at a later time. For now, allow me to luxuriate in the memory of one most delightful evening.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 8, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
