Portrait of Paul Torrance by Jim Ross for the Toronto Star |
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WHO: Paul Torrance, executive chef of the Breadalbane
Inn's two restaurants — Maple Shade (fine dining) and the Fergusson
Room (pub) — in Fergus, 487 St. Andrew St. W., 1-888-842-2825,
www.breadalbaneinn.com.
BORN: Fergus, 1978.
SELECT C.V.: Torrance was 15 when he started dishwashing at the Schoolhouse
Country Inn in Belwood. He quickly moved into salad making and banquet
cooking before studying chef pre-employment and Italian culinary arts
at George Brown College.
He has cooked in Guelph (Kaleidoscope), Newmarket (Trattoria La Spiga)
and Port Severn (The Inn at Christie's Mill) and Scotland (78 St. Vincent
and One Devonshire Garden's hotel restaurant, Amarylis). He started
at the Breadalbane Inn in April.
SIGNATURE DISHES: At Maple Shade: Pot-Roasted Rump of Ontario Lamb,
Local Game Stew With Roasted Shallots and Spaetzle, Roasted Canadian
Scallops with an Apple Cider Curry Emulsion and Grilled Deer Valley
Farm Venison with Lingonberry Glace de Viande.
At the Fergusson Room: Lemon-Crusted Salmon Fillet With Pesto-Cream
Sauce, Haggis With Whiskey Cream Sauce, Braised Beef Tongue With Caper
Cream Sauce, Shepherd's Pie, Beef & Ale Pie.
FAVOURITE INGREDIENT: "It might be a strange answer, but I'd say
salt. `Taste everything' is my guiding principle. If you eat something
that's not seasoned properly, it just won't taste at all."
SCOTTISH SOJOURNS: "My then-girlfriend was taking teacher's college
in Glasgow, so I went with her. We had dinner out one night and at the
end of the meal, I just asked if they were hiring and started the next
day. That was at 78 St. Vincent."
ON FERGUS: "Fergus is a growing community, especially in the last
two years. We've got five bars in town now."
ON THE BREADALBANE: "Before it was a large menu, so I cut it to
six appetizers, six mains and desserts. You still have all the choice,
but you can spend a lot more time on the quality. Now the menu is seasonal,
so we have four every year. We do all our own butchery and all our own
baking — breads, pastries and desserts."
ON BUTCHERING: "Last week we got a whole cow and we get a lot
of other whole animals — elk, venison, lamb, beef, pig. We have
so many menus, we have spots to use up the whole animal. It's nice with
the pub side because it gives us ways to use up things with roast, ground
beef and stews. We use band saws to cut the bones, make our own stocks
and sauces."
COOKING PHILOSOPHY: "Up north (Port Severn), you couldn't get
too outrageous with the food — same with here. I'm trying to keep
it rather simple but still interesting."
COOKING LESSONS: "I always liked to eat. My mom taught me how
to make macaroni-and-cheese when I was 4 or 5. If I cook at home, that's
what I eat."
EXTRA-CURRICULAR: "I used to do Motocross, snowcross and amateur
dirt bike, play hockey and baseball. These are things I like to do and
used to do, but these days it's hard to find time. I don't eat out a
whole lot, which is a shame. Really, we go to the other bars and hang
out, and here it's a small town, so we know all the owners and the staff."
STAFF TRAINING: "I watch a bit of the Food Network. The shows
are getting a lot better these days, like Iron Chef and Gordon Ramsay
in Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. I tape them and then all the guys in
the kitchen come over and we watch them at my place. It's hard for guys
who've never been out of Fergus — I'm trying to send our apprentice
here over to Scotland this year."
KITCHEN TEMPERAMENT: "It's nice to have the seriousness and still
have fun. Some places are too serious all the time, and some places
are having too much fun all the time. It's hard to get a balance. I
try to do stuff with the staff — we're trying to plan a trip to
the slaughterhouse in Orangeville."
Read more stories from George Brown Graduates...
We encourage you to visit the Alumni Association.
To learn more, visit the George
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