On November 3, Granville Island Brewing and the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts held their first annual “Winter Ales and Fare” cooking competition on Granville Island. Four teams, consisting of one culinary and one pastry student, worked together to each create an entrée and a dessert using GIB’s Lions Winter Ale.
“We’re excited to be partnering with our neighbour, Granville Island Brewing, for this great competition promoting their seasonal beer. As a culinary school offering a part-time beer course, we recognize the importance of not only pairing wines with dishes, but everyone’s favourite barley juice as well,” says PICA Executive Chef Julian Bond.”
Competitors had $20 and 45 minutes to gather core ingredients from Granville Island Public Market; one more hour for cooking, preparation, and mise en place; and 15 minutes to bring all the necessary elements to the GIB Tap Room for final presentation to the judges. Judging the competition was Bond, GIB brewmaster, Vern Lambourne, Chester Carey, Canada’s first Certified Cicerone, and Barry MacDonald from The Team 1040.
“Our Lions Winter Ale is definitely the local’s favourite winter beer, and I’m excited that we have this opportunity to showcase the versatility of the beer as a unique ingredient, ” said Vern Lambourne. “All of our competing teams crafted mouthwatering entrees and desserts that can be enjoyed throughout the winter season.”
^– Winter Ales and Fare cooking competition winners, Felix Maristany and Jazmin Villarreal with GIB’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Walter Cosman, and PICA’s Julian Bond.
In a close competition, the winning entries were:
^– Lions Winter Ale Beer & Dessert Risotto Crumble by Jazmin Villarreal.
^– Granville Island Winter Ale Gumbo by Felix Maristany.
Jazmin and Felix will have their Lions Winter Ale creations featured on the PICA restaurant menu and in the bakeshop. Each winning team member received a prize pack of GIB goodies for their efforts. For recipes of the gumbo and risotto crumble, see the Love Good Beer blog.
~ RG
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That battered and deep-fried cheesecake was stupid good. And eaten so fast that no photograph evidence was possible.
Managed to get a photo before the plates were passed around: http://ow.ly/i/6ZK