Over in the pastry department, five female students wearing chef's whites shared a massive marble work table while a small lake of chocolate melted in a pot on the gas range beside them, scenting the kitchen. In near-silence, one junior chef chopped a sheet of chocolate, another trimmed strawberries floating in a bowl of water the size of a baby bathtub and a third created garnishes by dipping basil leaves into a frothy mix of water and egg whites and then a crystalline coating of sugar.
"My teacher asked me, 'Would you be interested?' and then she told us who the guests would be and we were like, 'Of course we'd be interested!'" laughed Sarah Brown, a 17-year-old high school student from Mitchell, Ont., who was measuring out flour on a nearby table.
The menu for the barbecue is meant to take Will and Kate and their young guests on a "culinary journey" across Canada, said executive chef Louis Charest.
Prince Edward Island cloth-bound cheddar, Alberta yak tenderloin, Queen Charlotte Strait spotted prawn from British Columbia and sea urchin sourced from Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut, are among the stars of the culinary show.
"We always do this whenever we have a state visit or a royal visit, we want to make sure we represent the country as much as possible," he said, as a chef behind him diced red and yellow peppers into perfect cubes.
The sea urchins were harvested by an Inuk commercial diver — one of only two in the world — and arrived cool, wet and alive in Ottawa on Tuesday night thanks to the help of senior airline executives who personally escorted the cooler through the airport, said Steven Cooper, an Alberta lawyer originally from Nunavut who is acting as Charest's Arctic food consultant — or "food forager."
"They got down here and let me tell you, it was pretty anxious to open that cooler and see if they were still alive because if they aren't alive, they're like shellfish — you can't use them," he said.
Looking like greyish-green bird's nests, the urchin — known as "uni" in sushi restaurants — sat heaped on a nearby table waiting to be cracked open for their tasty roe.
"It's just a beautiful, smooth, wonderful flavour that you either love or you hate," Cooper said, laughing.
Outside, journalists swarmed over the gravel paths, immaculate gardens and rain-soaked lawn of the upper terrace where the barbecue will take place on Thursday evening.
The "viceregal dog," 13-year-old Cato, ambled between visitors until a staff member led him over to the private quarters of the grand residence and Sharon Johnston appeared at the door to collect the pooch before the arrival of her famous house guests.
"We want them to feel absolutely at home and that's what we've told the royal team," said MacIntyre. "From the very beginning, their excellencies have said, 'Our home is their home.' |
發表於 2011-6-29 19:05
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