Edible Embers Charity BBQ!

September 20th, 2011

Back for 2011 is the tastebud-tickling Edible Embers Charity Barbeque, with a new delicious twist; this year, local charities are pairing up with the chefs-in-training attending the Stratford Chef School!

Habitat for Humanity

Chelsea Gordon-Edmonds is the force behind this BBQ vendor, along with her chef-in-training Cortney Zettler.  After the success Habitat for Humanity’s sausage on a bun saw last year, Chelsea and Cortney wanted to try a vamped-up version for this year’s menu.

“My job was to think  of some creative toppings for the buns,” says Cortney. “I have created different toppings before, so I was able to use ideas from this experience and new ideas for Edible Embers.  We decided to do sweet and spicy chili and braised cabbage.”  Says Chelsea, “For me, it’s all about the chili!”  They will also be serving Sparkling Cider from Birtch Farms and Estate Winery, and fresh homemade butter tarts from Dianna’s Country Bakery.

Last year, Habitat for Humanity raised $2,200 at this event.  This year their goal is $3,000.  Chelsea, optimistic and excited for the event, says she looks forward to the weekend very much. “All our volunteers have a blast doing it – I sent out a request and by the end of the day all the slots were over-filled!”

MENU:

Char-grilled Perth County Pork Producers Honey Garlic Pork Sausage on a Café Ten bun topped with your choice of her own Sweet & Spicy Chili or Braised Cabbage & Bacon. Pair it with and a fresh homemade butter tarts from Dianna’s Country Bakery.

Lions Club of Stratford

Mathew Richards and Linda Dench of the Lion’s Club of Stratford are teamed up with Stratford Chef School student Cory Mathany.  Says Mathew of the Savour Stratford weekend, “We’re lucky to be involved.  It’s grown into a great event, we’re extremely happy to participate.  I think it’s a really worthwhile investment of our time and manpower!”  The Lion’s Club aims to heighten their profile with this fundraising, and put money back into the coomunity and the events they run.  Some of their projects include the Razzamajazz Band Boat, the Lion’s Pool, and the collection of used eyeglasses to re-distribute to those in need.  The Lion’s Club is also heavily involved in guide dog programs.

This team will be offering three unique ice cream sandwich flavours.  Says The Lion’s Club chef student Cory, “I thought that the event provided an opportunity to showcase some incredible local products in a format that many people will not have experienced…. My goal for the festival weekend is to have our ice cream make some people smile.  I think that’s really the entire point of ice cream.  If we can do that while making some money for a spectacular local service club, then I’ll be happy.”  And we’re sure his ice cream will delight whoever tastes it – Cory even grew his own lavender for this project, and that’s dedication!

MENU:

Three unique ice cream flavours, sandwiched between two yummy sugar cookies:

Creamy Honey Lavender

Caramel Apple with Walnut Praline

Strawberry with Cracked Black Peppercorns

-  By Audrey Coates, Events Committee

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Music to Start Your Sunday

September 14th, 2011

Last minute changes are inevitable when you’re putting on an event like Savour Stratford. And last minute changes usually means a headache roughly the size of the event you’re dealing with. But I’m pretty excited about the last minute changes I’m encountering right about now. And they’re all about the husband and wife musical duo who are scheduled to play on stage on Sunday, September 24th at 11am.

When I was in high school, my friend Angela Bensler played violin in my band. This is going back to ‘99. She played two gigs with us then headed out west to study Music and Religious studies. I’ve barely seen her in the last decade.

While Angela was out west she met her husband Shane Wiebe. Many Canadians know Shane as a runner up on the 2nd Season of Canadian Idol. He lost to Jacob Hoggart who went on to front the band Hedley.

On Canadian Idol:

If you think being a runner up is no big deal, think again and say two words: Justin. Bieber.

Shane and Angela have toured together all over Canada, they’ve sold more than 10,000 CDs and found a fan in Lionel Ritchie.

Shane’s not just a great singer, he’s a great entertainer and a comedian.

The Comedy Side of Shane:

I’m really looking forward to Shane and Angela’s performance and you should too. This’ll be a great way to get your Sunday morning off to a great start.

Original and Serious Side


- By Nathan McKay, Entertainment Committee

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Top Chef Canada Contender One of Savour Stratford Festival’s Culinary Star Guests

September 8th, 2011

Savour Stratford Perth County is excited to welcome Chef Connie DeSousa to this year’s festival. Connie DeSousa, is a Top Chef Canada finalist from CHARCUT Roast House in Calgary, named as one of Canada’s Top 10 Best New Restaurants by enRoute magazine. Top Chef Canada is a competition series featuring 16 of the country’s brightest culinary stars. The first season began airing in April, 2011. Connie finished third in a competition that saw her culinary dishes critiqued by head judge and celebrity chef Mark McEwan.

Prior to the CHARCUT Roast House debut last year, Connie worked at Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse in Berkley, California and has also worked in Germany and San Francisco.

Well known for her house-made sausages, Chef Connie will guide attendees through a charcuterie tasting accompanied by Fred de Martines of Perth Pork Products on Saturday September 24th.

On Sunday, September 24, have Breakfast with Connie and listen to her dish the dirt on Top Chef Canada. At 1:00 pm enjoy Chef Connie’s cooking demonstration on the brand new Culinary Stage at. And if that weren’t enough, Chef Connie will judge and present for the Savour Stratford Tasting awarding honours to the top five dishes, a first for this year’s festival.

At Chef Connie’s side will be her sous-chef Kris Schlotzhauer (above), a Stratford native. Kris has been at CHARCUT Roast House since it opened its doors in February, 2010. He started in the restaurant industry in Stratford and is excited to return to his hometown for this year’s festivities. Kris also unknowingly served as the inspiration for the chef’s figure in friend and artist Jack Dylan’s culinary festival poster. View the poster on our Savour Stratford blog.

Limited edition, signed copies as well as unsigned posters are available at the Stratford Tourism Alliance office (47 Downie Street) and may also be purchased during the Savour Stratford weekend with proceeds going to cover the operational costs of the festival.

Be sure to get your tickets for your chance to spend some time with these two talented culinary stars as they share their love of food.  For more information and to purchase tickets visit: www.savourstratford.com

-       By Emily Chandler, Savour Stratford Perth County

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A Community Party In The Square!

September 6th, 2011

Isn’t the best part of summer those heat-shimmered late afternoons flowing into late evenings spent outdoors surrounded by friends, family, a few lazy drinks, with a barbecue sizzling in the background?

Savour Stratford one last time before fall settles in!

Join us Saturday, September 24th for Ribs in the Square, a southern BBQ rib dinner in the heart of historic Market Square, downtown Stratford. Everyone’s invited to our huge communal table to celebrate the quintessential flavours of Perth County with a harvest dinner.

Enjoy a cold Creemore (it comes with the meal!) while you wander the square – and yes, that’s right, you don’t have to stay inside a beer tent! Creemore experts will masterfully pair the beer selection with the menu.  But there’ll also be iced tea made from local ingredients and Harmony Organic milk for the kids.

Who’s doing the cooking? Multi-award-winning Boss Hog’s BBQ, that’s who! They’re “Ontario’s Best Ribber” and current defenders of the “Best Canadian BBQ Team” title!  Can’t you just taste how succulent the local pork is going to be?

And to make it a true party, The Blurry Pickers, self-proclaimed “misfits in bluegrass,” will fill the Square with their music.

This event is a fundraiser for the Stratford Perth Museum and Savour Stratford, and we thank the generous support of Scotiabank, the event sponsor.

Thanks to Perth County Ontario Pork Producers for providing the pork and Harmony Organic for providing the milk.

Menu

Perth County Ribs with Boss Hogs’ own awarding winning BBQ sauce

Homemade coleslaw

Southern-style baked beans

Fresh baked bun served

Draft beer from Creemore Springs Brewery

Harmony Organic milk

Local Iced Tea

Details

Saturday, September 24,

3:30 pm

Market Square, Stratford

$25.00/per adult plus HST.

$10.00/per child (10 and under) plus HST.

-       By Audrey Coates, Events Committee

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New Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival 2011 Poster Unveiled!

August 16th, 2011

We don’t think it’s possible to get a more authentically Stratford-influenced work of art to represent our award-winning culinary festival than the one created for us by Toronto based illustrator and artist Jack Dylan.

The influences of Jack’s boyhood in Stratford, including his favourite haunts as well as his friends are part of the wonderful poster he’s created for the Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival.

Jack was born and raised in Stratford; he knows his home city intimately, still has friends here and soaked up the poster culture that’s part of Stratford’s art scene.

“I grew up in Stratford and lived along the Avon River, on William Street,” said Jack in a recent interview. “I wanted to show York Street and I was also thinking about Tom Patterson Island and the wonderful willow trees. Even the chef in the poster was inspired by a friend of mine who’s now a chef here in Stratford.”

Jack’s clients include The Globe and Mail, Maclean’s Magazine, Toronto Life, The Walrus, New York Press and Las Vegas Weekly to name a few.

- Maureen Argon, Savour Stratford Perth County Communications Committee

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The Tasting Tent: Tasting Workshops

July 27th, 2011

By Audrey Coates, Events Committee

Educate your taste buds!

Knowledge is the key to deepening the enjoyment of all your favourite food & drink.

Feed your inner foodie the sustenance it most craves: knowledge!  An educated tongue appreciates good food all the more, and we know where you should begin that education.  A fantastic line-up of tasting workshops, held Saturday, September 24 of the Savour Stratford Festival, will allow budding food-lovers and veterans alike to deepen their understanding of a range of marvelous gourmet topics.

Back to Class

Join Mirella Amato for Beerology 101 and Beerology Advanced Stylistically Speaking; after these two workshops you will undoubtedly know more about the subtleties of beer than you imagined possible.

Beerology 101: Learn the basics of beer through a guided tasting of seven contrasting Ontario-brewed craft beers. Find out about the four beer ingredients and how these ingredients affect flavour. Start zeroing in on flavour vocabulary and identify which flavours and styles you enjoy best!

Beerology Advanced: Learn about common beer styles and brewing traditions through a guided tasting of seven contrasting Ontario-brewed craft beers. Hear about the development of the beer styles in different regions throughout history and learn what distinguishes these styles from one another. All this information comes in handy when navigating a beer menu!

One is a lonely number

Experience cheese paired impeccably with its soul mate of a wine at the wine & cheese tasting workshop. Delight in rich Chateau des Charmes wines paired with the cheese of Monforte Dairy; your experience will be of a complex and satisfying match, deepening your enjoyment of these two simple pleasures beyond the taste of one alone.

There’s more

Learn how local wines stack up against imports during the Ontario vs. the World Wine Tasting with Jamie Drummond.

Interested in becoming your local chef garde manger ? The Craft of Charcuterie with Connie Desousa and Fred de Martines of Perth Pork Products (producers of heritage breed pork as well as wild boar) is your first step! Charcuterie is the branch of cuisine dedicated to prepared meat, such as bacon, ham, sausage, and the more unusual terrines, galantines, pâtés, and confit. Top Chef Finalist Connie Desousa is Co-Executive Chef and Co-Owner of CHARCUT Roast House in Calgary.

Widen your perspective of food and learn something completely new, or expand on your knowledge of an old favourite. Look forward to many more experts’ tasting sessions and be sure to keep checking www.savourstratford.com for updates on more tasting workshops!

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Monforte Dairy Sponsors the 2011 Kids’ Tent

July 11th, 2011

by Kristin Wammes, Kids Tent Committee

We’re so excited to announce that Monforte Dairy is back on board this year as sponsor of the Kids’ Tent at the Savour Stratford Culinary Festival.

Last year Monforte’s “I scream for Ice Cream” food demo blew the roof off the kids tent! In response to the overwhelming excitement from Stratford’s finest little foodies, Monforte Dairy is extending their ice cream workshop this year to an all-day event, every hour on the hour! See how fresh ice cream is made with salt, ice, fresh milk and sandwich bags.

If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard of Ruth Klahsen and Monforte Dairy, you simply have to check out this amazing woman and her cheeses –some of Ontario’s finest.

Before striking out on her own with Monforte Dairy, Ruth was a veteran chef whose cuisine was well-known to patrons of Stratford’s stellar restaurants Rundles and the Old Prune. A graduate of the inaugural class of ’83 at the Stratford Chefs School, Ruth is past chef at the Stratford Festival’s Green Room restaurant, simultaneously teaching at the Chefs School. Check out more about Ruth Klahsen and Monforte Dairy by visiting her website at www.monfortedairy.com or stop by the store at 49 Griffith Road, Stratford.

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Savour Stratford Farmers Market Returns!

July 11th, 2011

By Brendon Lyoness, Market Committee

The Farmers’ Market is an essential part of Savour Stratford. Maybe it’s even your favourite part. This is the place to explore the produce and wares of Perth County. Come and meet Perth County’s food producers and taste freshly picked fruits and veggies, sample preserves, grilled meats from pork and beef to bison, duck and lamb, cheeses and breads and pies, and honey and fritters… the list goes on and on. And that’s just the food!

And then there are the artisans and crafters with their array of pottery, painting, candles, music and much, much more. And it’s all in one place.

New this year is the Slow Food Section of the Savour Stratford Perth County market offering you an  opportunity to experience local foods that follow the Slow Food ethos of “Good, Clean and Fair”.

Stay tuned for updates on the market festivities. We look forward to any questions or comments you might have about the upcoming culinary festival season….

Savour Stratford Market Participants for 2011

Neubrand Country Produce, Thames River Melons Ltd. Mapleton’s Organic Dairy, Chocolate Barr’s Candies, Scotview Orchard, O’Shea’s Farm Fresh, Koert Organics, Blanbrook Bison Farm, Let Them Eat Cake, The Gentle Rain Natural Food Store, Downie Street Bakehouse, Wild Violet Pottery, Soiled Reputation, Kawthoolei Farm Organics, Dianna’s Bakery, Helma Luyten, Lindsay’s Bakery, Caveman Crops, Perth Pork Products, Nancy’s Fancies, West’s Corner Candle Company, Janssens Farm, How & Ann Produce, Pat’s Apple Frits, Windy Lane Acres, Logan Produce, Pickles Eh!, Vernon Farms, Erbcroft Farms, DeWetering Hill Farms, Loco Fields organics, Savvy Chef Inc., Harwill Farms -  and that’s just the beginning….

“Once again the Savour Stratford Perth Culinary Festival was a great success. I thoroughly enjoyed the event. By participating in the event it allowed me to showcase my product, and interact with many new and existing customers.. Well done!” Shawn Vernon – Vernon Farms

“The Savour event was well worth the time and a great business decision for us. There is no doubt we will be attending this festival next year.” Andy Williams – Harwill Farms

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July 5th, 2011

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July 5th, 2011

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