Ottawa’s celebrated chef, landlubber Matthew Carmichael, ready for seafood chowder throwdown as he’s about to board the frigate HMCS Ville de Québec at port in Cornwall.
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Ahoy! Ready or not, we arrive for a chowder chowdown
with the Canadian navy
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OCT 03 12 – 12:01 AM — Somewhere below deck in the bowels of HMCS Ville de Québec, a Halifax-class frigate and workhorse in the Atlantic fleet (arguably among Canada’s most expensive military assets), the stainless steel galley is bustling as up to 11 cooks scurry pretty much around the clock to feed a ravenous crew of 225 (including 25 women) whose appetites, apparently, know no limits.
I spotted not a single can of bully beef in this gleaming, albeit cramped navy kitchen, where seamen (and women) endlessly swab the deck and countertops to ensure everything is spotless for their boss, Guy Brideau, 47, petty officer first class and chief cook, who’s been with the armed forces almost 24 years. The place is spotless considering all the food prep and cooking goes on — it is, after all, the navy.
Above, Carmichael gets his galley briefing by Guy Brideau, petty officer first class and chief cook, aboard HMCS Ville de Québec.
“Weather is probably our biggest challenge,” Brideau says during our recent tour of the vessel, built in 1993 in Quebec City. Believe it or not, every seaman is given just 90 days to learn all 190 compartments on board — and there’s a test to ensure they do. There’s a laundromat, machine shop, desalinator to purify sea water, stores room, power plant, operations room, small arms storage, mess … a long list to learn.
“Any time you get seas over four metres, the deck becomes real slippery,” he explains.
“That’s when the pans and stuff start flying. And, any seas over six metres, well, then you really have to hold on.”
Which doubtless justifies the steel grip-bars located strategically here, there and everywhere to ensure those who are standing remain, well, standing, even in the nastiest sea. Mercifully, the St. Lawrence Seaway broke barely a ripple on our day in Cornwall, part of the ship’s summer Great Lakes tour of American and Canadian ports where the crew gets to strut their stuff for civilians to see where all those tax dollars are going. (Would you believe, at a top speed of about 30 knots/34 mph or 55 km/h the ship burns 900 litres of diesel/gasoline every five minutes? Gulp!)
Measuring 134 metres bow to stern, the 4,795-tonne warship seemed a fitting place to hook up with Ottawa’s most celebrated pop-up chef, Matt Carmichael. His mission: To participate in a cooking throwdown with cook Kurt Arnold, 33, petty officer second class, a Charlottetown native whose reputation for seafood chowder is somewhat legendary aboard the vessel.
Arnold had his secret ingredients — summer savoury and thyme — and Carmichael did too. “I’ve brought along a bottle of fish sauce,” Carmichael confided, “which I hope gives me an edge.”
Carmichael and his throwdown rival, Kurt Arnold, petty officer second class, as they prepare to make frigate chowder.
Carmichael is no stranger to kitchens, never mind wowing guests with his culinary prowess. Recall the award-winning, former executive chef at Ottawa’s Restaurant E18hteen, Social and Sidedoor created quite a stir earlier this year when he opened what was called a “pop-up” eatery at the iconic Mellos on Dalhousie Street. (He’s planning to open his own place on Elgin Strret as early as late November.)
As Brideau explains it, food is all-important to buoy morale aboard the Ville de Québec. It was Napoleon Bonaparte, after all, who once observed than an army marches on its stomach. “If we have a poor lunch then, guess what, our guys won’t be up for supper,” Brideau says.
It’s a mission taken no less seriously by the ship’s commander, Captain Steve Thornton, 40 (photo, above), born in Ottawa and now living in Halifax.
Does the commanding officer cook? Of course he does.
“At home I’m more of a baker kind of guy,” Thornton says. “My wife tells me that one of the ways I swooned her was with my baking. I make great banana muffins and Kahlua cheesecake.
“If you have great food then morale will be better, and if you have bad food after bad food that’s pretty draining. We have amazing cooks here, so the food has a huge effect on people. If you have good food then the people are happy.” And while everyone may love french fries, they’re served only once a week on Fridays, the traditional fish-and-chips day in the mess.
“Normally we’d be building (meals) for 225 people,” Brideau says. “That’s three meals a day here, but five while in transit starting at 11:15 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. Morning breakfast is from 3:15 to 4 a.m., then we start again at 7 a.m. for normal breakfast. Breakfast includes eggs any style, bacon, sausage, hash browns, beans and tomatoes. We serve pancakes one day and french toast the next.
“As for lunch, we have two hot choices that may include roast pork, mashed potatoes and vegetables, or ravioli with tomato sauce and four types of sandwiches, assorted salads and dessert. Dinner is normally a roast of beef, gravy, potatoes and vegetables, or a choice of fish, and normally we have an omelette.
“We have set menus for Thursday night, which is steak night. In fact, some guys don’t know what day of the week it is until they see steak. Friday is fish and chips, Saturday is pizza night. Normally, on Sunday we have Châteaubriand, prime rib or roast turkey. For Thanksgiving we’ll be doing 14 turkeys, each 11 to 13 kilos. Sunday prime rib could be 14 roasts, for a total 80 kilos.”
My light lunch: Chicken caesar salad.
Among other amazing foodie facts, in a typical week at sea HMCS Ville de Québec chomps through:
– 70 kg bacon;
– 900 dozen eggs;
– 600 litres 2% milk;
– 115 loaves bread;
– 110 kg flour
– 75 kg striploin.
“Everyone on board, including the commanding officer, eats the same,” Brideau says. “Our junior guys follow recipes somewhat, but once they get their feet wet they no longer need them. I don’t follow recipes.”
Oh, and for the record: Wine is served with steak on Thursday; crew members are limited to two beers a day — Molson Canadian, Coors Lite, Labatt Blue or Alexander Keith’s. No liquor, sorry. And, definitely, no rum ration.
Above, top: Leading seaman Aja Wyrozub dips dessert fruit into chocolate for a reception that evening.
Carmichael says he’s pretty impressed with the ship’s kitchen galley, as tight as it is. “It’s not like a big hotel or restaurant where you have to run 50 feet to get anything,” he says. “And they’ve got a very serious Hobart mixer on board.”
Carved melon to decorate the reception table. Hmm, what would Admiral Horatio Nelson think?
I wonder, could Carmichael prepare restaurant-quality haute cuisine at sea? “Most certainly, yes,” he says without hesitation.
Yes, Carmichael put me do work doing mise en place.
And, after looking in the pantry I’d agree: For the chowder itself, Carmichael and Arnold together glugged through litres of 18-per-cent table cream, butter, maybe a dozen cans of clams, sea scallops, some five pounds of lobster meat, 25 pounds or so of fresh P.E.I. mussels, a splash (or two) of white wine. (Carmichael put me to work de-shelling mussels and peeling potatoes, oh my.) And, for the pièce de résistance, Carmichael reached into a crate in the cold room for a jar of caviar — just in case he wanted a pretty garnish for the soup (he didn’t use it, however).
Above (bottom frame), petty officer 2nd class Kurt Arnold, chef Matthew Carmichael, petty officer 1st class Guy Brideau.
And while we were making chowder, others in the kitchen were preparing sushi, chocolate-dipped fruit and stuffed cream-puff pastry, among various nibbles for an on-board reception with visiting dignitaries that night. “I’m very surprised by how much they can do here from scratch,” Carmichael says. “The kitchen culture here is the same as you’d find in a regular restaurant with high-octane music going on during food prep, people come and going. The pace is brisk — and I love it.”
As for the task immediately at hand: “When it comes to the chowder, I’m thinking they want something sustaining, something substantial, something to fill you up. So I’m pretty confident I can make a good one, along with my secret bottle of fish sauce.” The recipes from Carmichael and Arnold appear, here.
Oh, and for inquiring minds, it must be said the chowder showdown was a tight contest with Carmichael and Arnold both pretty evenly matched in the opinion of a dozen or so sailors who sampled. In the end, however, Carmichael won by a single vote that was cast by Mike Janseen, petty officer second class, who felt Arnold’s contained a “bit too much thyme” and not enough seafood flavour. “But they’re both great, Janseen decided.
Both recipes appear here …
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Carmichael’s On-board Seafood Chowder
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Serves 30
– 10 large baking potatoes, peeled, medium dice
– 1/2 bunch celery, diced
– 4 large onions, diced
– 5 bay leaves
– 1 lb (450 g) butter
– White pepper, to taste
– 3 cups (750 mL) cooked bacon bits
– 1 whole bulb garlic, peeled and minced
– Four 142-g cans clams, drained (discard liquid)
– 1 1/2 pounds (680 g) cooked lobster, large dice
– 1 pound (450 g) large tiger shrimp, deveined, shells removed and sliced in half lengthwise
– 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) flour
– 2 cups (500 mL) white wine
– 1/4 cup (50 mL) Viêt Hu’o'ng brand fish sauce, or to taste
– 10 lbs (4.5 kg) fresh mussels
– 3 L 18-per-cent table cream
– Tabasco, black pepper, to taste
1. In a large, heavy-bottom stock pot, melt butter, add white pepper and sauté celery, onion until translucent but not browned. Add bacon bits, garlic, potatoes and continue cooking, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching, about 5 minutes.
2. Sprinkle in flour, stirring to coat. Add wine, fish sauce and cook 10 minutes, sitrring to avoid scorching. Add mussels just long enough to cook, open shells and release liquor within; remove mussels, cool slightly and de-shell, reserving meat. Add cream, bring to simmer. Add Tabasco and black pepper, to taste. Simmer 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender, then turn off heat, adding seafood to cook in residual heat.
3. Taste, adjust seasoning as necessary, and serve immediately.
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PO2 Kurt Arnold’s Maritime Chowder
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Serves 10 to 12
– 1/2 lb (225 g) butter
– 1/4 lb bacon, diced
– 1 large onion, diced
– 2 stalks celery, diced
– 1 tablespoon (15 mL) garlic, minced
– 2 tablespoons (25 mL) dried summer savory
– 2 teaspoons (10 mL) dried thyme
– 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) flour
– Two 142-g cans clams, drained (reserve juice)
– 1 L whole milk, plus extra if needed to adjust consistency
– 4 large baking potatoes, peeled and diced
– Salt, Tabasco sauce, to taste
– 1/4 lb (115 g) each, sea scallops and fresh salmon chunks
– 1 lobster, meat only, bite-size chunks
– 2 cups (500 mL) 19-per-cent cream
1. In a 6-litre saucepot, melt butter, add diced bacon and sauté on medium-high heat, then add diced onion, celery, minced garlic and continue cooking until onion is translucent but not browned. Reduce heat to medium and add savory, thyme, flour; stir well to combine and cook 3 minutes.
2. Add reserved clam juice to pot, along with milk and diced potatoes. Simmer, adding more milk if necessary to thin to desired consistency as potatoes cook until tender. Season to taste with salt, Tabasco.
3. Just before serving, add all seafood and 18-per-cent cream; bring just to simmer, about 2 minutes, and serve.
L-R, Petty Officer 2nd class Kurt Arnold, Commander (Captain) Steve Thornton, chef Matthew Carmichael, Petty Officer 1st class Guy Brideau.
Twitter: @roneade
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