Put those New Year’s resolutions to lose weight on hold!
The 2012 Cayman Cookout starts this week, and the culinary delights are just too delicious to pass up.
The Caribbean’s premier food and wine festival gets off to a delectable start on Thursday, 12 January, with the Tour de France Charity Wine Auction Dinner Presented by Jacques Scott.
The dinner will offer an odyssey of French culinary traditions prepared by noted chefs who have earned the prestigious designation of Maîtres Cuisinier de France – Master Chefs of France.
“The Tour de France dinner will truly be a matchless experience,” said Frederic Morineau the executive chef of The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, who himself earned the envied Maîtres Cuisinier de France title last year. “We have gathered six of the world’s finest French chefs – all whom have the distinction of Maîtres Cuisinier de France – to come together to produce this impressive menu. It should be entertaining to say the least to have all this French talent in one kitchen.”
Each of the six chefs will create a course for the dinner.
Chef Morineau will start things off wonderfully during the Roederer Brut Premier Champagne reception. His inspired array of French cuisine-inspired passed hors d’oeuvres will titillate taste buds with such delights as frogs legs with parley puree; Coquille St. Jacques with pomegranate mojo; Kumamoto oysters; Maine lobster with avocado Napoleon; brown butter cauliflower mousse with paddlefish caviar and stone crab tempura.
The subsequent four courses will feature a different protein – Iberico ham, walleye pike, black cod and Certified Angus Beef tenderloin – prepared by top French chefs including Eric Branger, the executive chef of JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton LA Live; Jean Louis Dumonet, the president des Maitres Cuisinier de France USA/Canada; Bernard Guillas, the executive chef La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club in San Diego; and Xavier Salomon, the executive chef of The Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay near San Francisco.
Each of the courses will be paired with a selection from Jacques Scott’s extensive collection of French wines.
Kristian Netis, head sommelier at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman said he enjoyed picking the right wines to go with each course.
“It was fun to sit down with the wine experts from Jacques Scott to select the fine wines we are serving at this dinner,” he said. “It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to pair wine with such authentically impressive French cuisine.”
The wines being served with the savoury courses included Trimback Pino Blanc from Alsace; Louis Latour Meursault from Burgundy; Bouchard Pere et Fils Gevrey Chambertin from Burgundy; and Chateau Cantemerle from Bordeaux.
After the fourth course, Stephane Cheramy, the executive pastry chef at The Ritz Carlton Grand Lakes Orlando will sweetly finish things off with a trio of desserts that will be paired with Château Coutet, a Sauternes-Barsac from southern Bordeaux.
Auction
The Tour de France Charity Wine Auction Dinner also has a purpose beyond just satisfying the desires of guests for great French food and wine. Eliza Osborne of Sotheby’s will return again this year to auction off some fine wines and art, with the proceeds being split between two great causes, the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands Building Fund and The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman scholarship for a Caymanian chef mastering the culinary arts.
Peter Dutton, managing director of Jacques Scott Group, said the central theme of the auction will be fine, interesting and rare wines.
“As before, there are some large format bottles from various suppliers in France, California, Italy and elsewhere. Some of these will be sold on their own and some as a package with some interesting add-ons. There will also be some artwork courtesy the National Gallery’s supporters.”
Jacques Scott chooses a different charity cause each year to which half of the auction proceeds are donated. This year, it chose the National Gallery, which is scheduled to move into its new building on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway early this year.
“Jacques Scott has long been a supporter of the Gallery,” said Mr. Dutton. “This is a tangible and successful project, and we want to play our part in seeing it finished and opened.”
Mr. Dutton said this year’s auction was the sixth or seventh Jacques Scott – which will celebrate its 50th year in business in 2012 – has hosted.
“We were the first company to bring fine wine wines to Cayman,” he said. “Our board and shareholders have from the beginning insisted that we put something back into the community, what better way to do it than by leveraging our considerable contacts in the wine world? This is an event that is close to my heart; it will also be a delicious dinner and will be an entertaining evening.”
Mr. Dutton added that The Ritz-Carlton has helped take the Wine Auction Dinner to a completely new level, and for its part, The Ritz gets to choose a cause close to its heart to which the other half of the auction proceeds are donated: The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman Culinary Scholarship.
Marc Langevin, general manager, The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman talked about the wide scope of scholarship programme.
“Having such a great selection of island restaurants our guests can choose from gives our resort a competitive edge over the other five-star hotels in the region,” he said. “We have an obligation to contribute to Cayman’s culinary reputation beyond our own restaurants because we benefit so much from it. The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman Culinary Scholarship was created to simply to give a young Caymanian chef the opportunity to pursue his passion and help perpetuate the island’s position as the leading culinary destination in the Caribbean.”
“The Tour de France dinner will truly be a matchless experience. We have gathered six of the world’s finest French chefs – all whom have the distinction of Maîtres Cuisinier de France – to come together to produce this impressive menu.” Chef Frederic Morineau
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