Cooking with character prelude to Christmas

Part one: An evening of Wineand food

Fourteen days to go and it is Christmas Day. We are all ready to celebrate it. As early as 8:00AM, December 2, Cebu City was right at the center of the path of typhoon Bopha (Pablo). According to Joint Typhoon Warning Center (http://www.usno.navy.mil/JTWC). We are indeed lucky for our prayers had been answered. Many of my beloved readers do remember the devastation of Cebu caused by Typhoon Ruping back in 1990 but some could not recall that event simply because they were still in baby diapers.

Thanks to the Almighty, we are still on track to celebrate His natal day. Filipinos celebrate the longest Christmas season in the world and we in the Lifestyle section of The FREEMAN do receive numerous invitations to commemorate the birth of our Lord.In fact, right after the celebration of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, e-mailed summons filled my calendar.

One of these invitations that is eagerly anticipated by your favorite food columnist, is the Final Culminating Dinner Event (Two Years Culinary Arts Chefs Programme) of the International Culinary Arts Academy Cebu (ICCAAC) at Don Gervacio Quijada Street, Guadalupe Cebu City (email [email protected] ). My good friend, Dean Jeremy Young, seems to have engraved my name in his guest list.

The ICCAAC, established in 2002 by Chef Jeremy, was the first professional culinary arts school in Cebu City. It aims to produce "highly skilled graduates who will carry on the academy's culinary tradition of excellence". What is important is that the education and training should be world-class because the world has indeed become very small due to the advent of air travel. Competition, in turn,whether for goods or services, has become very stiff.

Theme for the Final Culminating Dinner event was "An Evening of Food & Wine" and with the service of the white wine, the Bourgogne Aligote, Domaine Daniel Rion & Fils, France 2010, the following two courses were served: Russian Imperial Caviar, Potato Glass, Crème Fraiche & Chives and the Sake Cured Norwegian Salmon, Wasabi Mousse, Soy, Anchovy & Cilantro. Potato Glass is the second item I have seen that looks like a piece of glass but edible. Back in 1974, I saw cooked rice served in the first French Restaurant in Manila and it was transparent and it look like pieces of glass.

The red wine, Le Rose di Settembre, Luigi Giusti, Italia 2011 was then served with the next two dishes: Pork Pate, Dijon, Cornichon, Onion 3 ways, Watercress & Persimmon and my favourite that night, the Air Dried US Beef, Endive, Balsamic, Pine Nuts and Compressed Pears. The beef had an exquisite taste, very similar to Jamón ibérico de bellota, pata negra while the slightly bitter taste of the endive cushioned the richness of the meat and the pine nuts rounded up the finish in my palate. What a wonderful dish!

More dishes followed, like only 8 more courses and their photos are featured here. To consume all these food and drink all these wines, you need something like four hours (dinner started at 7 PM) and at by 11:00 PM, I was ready for the desserts. Not really an easy job, excuse me, for mere mortals.

I am aware that these dishes were crafted by mere student chefs and I ponder on the thought that in a decade or so, when they have reached the epitome of their careers as Executive Chefs, what magnificent dishes they could conjure.

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