A delicious beef encore

Whenever the Embassy of Canada calls, I answer. Having lived in Vancouver for almost a year and receiving my culinary training there, I’ve always felt a kinship to the country, so I’ve worked with them on several projects over the past seven years. When they called about this latest project, I was doubly excited, because it was the encore I was waiting for. Let me give you a quick background.

Last year, the Canadian embassy approached me about doing a television special to help celebrate Canada 150. There were multiple activities around the world organized to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, and I was so honored when they asked me to be a part of it. I was, however, nervous about it. They asked me to work with chef Quentin Glabus, a chef of First Nations (indigenous Canadian) descent and together, we would conduct master classes to students of Enderun, using Canada beef.

I always feel a little nervous whenever I work with other chefs. You never know how your personality and cooking styles would go together, but that soon proved to be an unfounded concern. Chef Quentin was cool as a cucumber throughout the shoot despite our long (and tremendously hot) working hours and, as it turned out, he was as curious a chef as me. We found a lot of similarities with each other, from being proud of showing our heritage in our food, to being excited about teaching future generations of chefs. When we wrapped up the TV special, we both said that we looked forward to working with each other, and when we said that, we really meant it.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when chef Quentin and I were back working together with Canada beef. To help promote the beef in the Philippines, we were asked to create a dinner menu recalling the food we did for last year’s TV special. Now, creating a menu where three of four courses are beef is a tricky situation; a good menu is always about balance. To make sure we got that, we needed to make sure to use different cuts of beef, as well as use flavors that put the different beef cuts in their best element.

For the first course, I suggested a carpaccio. What better way to highlight the flavor of Canada beef than by serving it rare? Chef Quentin came up with a classic and delicious crust of Dijon mustard, crushed peppercorns, thyme and rosemary, while I complemented that with a salad of Filipino greens like alugbati, talbos ng kamote and arugula. To finish, I made my signature “Sawsawan” dressing: an egg-based dressing that features all the flavors of your “sawsawan,” like calamansi, soy sauce and the like. I know plenty of people are skeptical about fusion cuisine, but when we tasted this dish, it truly made sense. This dish was our nod to the friendship chef Quentin and I forged while working together.

Ambassador John Holmes and wife Carol Budjeau, the students of MIHCA, chef Quentin Glabus and author Sharwin Tee

For the second course, I wanted to give a nod to Filipino cuisine and since a lot of my family is from Mindanao, I made sure to make a dish inspired by the region. I also wanted to give a nod to Canada, so it was an easy choice for me to serve a dish like Pate Chinois (Canadian shepherd’s pie) but with a meat element like a beef Sinina. Having learned this Maguindanoan dish a couple of years ago, it has become a favorite of mine to cook (and eat). I used beef short plate, a particularly fatty cut of beef that is excellent when stewed. I stewed the beef with my version of palapa, a flavoring agent of ginger, turmeric, green onion, burnt coconut and labuyo chilies, together with soy sauce and coconut milk. Instead of just stewed potatoes, I turned it into a mash while mixing in steamed and mashed ube. What resulted was a mash that was slightly sweeter, which is a great backdrop for the strongly flavored beef.

For the third course, chef Quentin worked with the rib eye and what a job he did! He used cocoa and espresso (both indigenous ingredients in Canada) to coat the steaks and he complemented that with a sunflower seed (another indigenous ingredient) puree and, as a nod to the Philippines, created a fresh corn polenta. It was such a delicious dish that I made sure he made extra so I could sneak a few bites in before we started the dinner. The slightly bitter cocoa and espresso rub and the sunflower seed puree made the sweetness of the beef really stand out.

For dessert, we combined our skills again as we gave a nod to our hosts. Ambassador John Holmes and his wife, Carol Budjeau, some of the biggest foodies I know, are such great people who are supportive of our work and chef Quentin and I are proud to call them our friends. Since Carol is from Quebec, we figured a Tart Au Sucre would be best. Translated as “sugar tart,” chef Quentin used both maple syrup and local Filipino honey as the tart filling. I then made a compote of Canadian blueberries and combined that with local Philippine mangoes and dragon fruit.

At this point, it would be truly an injustice if I led you to believe that the success of this night lay only in chef Quentin’s and my skills, because it did not. In fact, at one time during the night, he looked at me and laughed at how clean my apron was. It was true; we barely did any hard work as the entire team performed amazingly well. Canada Beef’s Daisuke Shimojima and Deanna Ko were so generous with their time and resources that we never felt like we lacked for anything.

The staff of the Embassy of Canada, led by Angel Cachuela and Fe Asuncion, handled all of the logistics, even grocery shopping, leaving us free to worry about the kitchen. The staff at the official residence, led by Manang Paz, made sure we were always fed with delicious staff meals and, in an important side note, I got Manang Paz’s secret cheddar biscuit recipe (which is delicious!).

We received a ton of help in kitchen prep and table service from the excellent students of MIHCA. I’m glad chef Quentin and I were able to take different moments to give them a few pointers on both cooking and service, but they more than made up for that with their outstanding work. Ambassador Holmes and Carol also made separate trips into the kitchen to chat with the students and that went a long way towards the students’ morale and encouragement.

I was glad the night went swimmingly. Among our guests were some of the luminaries of the local culinary world and the best and biggest suppliers, and I’m honored that we helped a quality product like Canada beef make a great impression. I did make a joke about how chef Quentin and I would take a traveling buddy chef show on the road soon, but seriously, this encore was fun. Now that we’ve had a smashing sequel, shouldn’t a trilogy be in the works?

* * *

Follow Sharwin’s food adventures on IG and Twitter @chefsharwin and for recipes, questions or column ideas, contact him at www.sharwintee.com.