Quoting the words from the media kit provided, “Chuck Hughes, the ever charming host of Chuck’s Day Off, is one of Canada’s hottest young Chefs”. Well, he sure was tall and charming with lots of humour in between, and passionate about food – so intensely that he has his favourites ones tattooed on his arms and body, bacon, lemon meringue pie, lobster and arugula leaves just to name a few!
It has been awhile since we last attended an Asian Food Channel (afc) event; due do to our locality and also work we had to decline many invitations from afc and other media alike. This round we were coincidentally in Kuala Lumpur doing some research for our current project, thus we had the opportunity to attend the media preview of “A Day Off with Chuck Hughes” the third edition of their Celebrity Chef Series, the previous gala dinner were hosted by Mark McEwan and Adrian Richardson. The current edition is jointly presented by American Express, The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur and afc.
At current, Chuck’s accomplishments include owning 2 restaurants in Montreal, Garde Manger (the male) and Le Bremner(the female), hosting his own reality cooking show and being the youngest Canadian chef to win the Iron Chef America. In 2006, Chuck and his two best friends, Tim Rozon and Kyle Marshall, opened Garde Manger in a 125 year-old stone house in the heart of Old Montreal, which became Chuck’s playground where he dishes out comfort food and indulge in his fantasy of creating decadent meals served up to his favourite genre of music. And in 2010, Chuck open his Garde Manger kitchen to the world through his television show, Chuck’s Day Off, which is currently being broadcast over on the AFC channel. Teaming up again with his partners, Chuck opened his second restaurant 8 months ago in Montreal, Le Bremner, a delicate restaurant that mainly serves seafood with his interpretation of raw fish. He is also currently launching his new series, Chuck’s Week Off: Mexico, where he criss-crosses Mexico searching for culinary adventures and delicious, authentic Mexican food.
The most defining moment of Chuck’s career was when he walked into the Iron Chef’s Kitchen Stadium in New York City and became the youngest Canadian chef to win the popular show, Iron Chef America. With his delicious lobster recipes, he became the only Canadian chef to beat the legendary Chef Bobby Flay who have beaten Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Mario Batali and Hiroyuki Sakai.
The media preview was at The Ritz Carlton and the MC for the day was Xandria Ooi who helped to elevate some of the quite moments when Chuck was engross in preparing the 3 dishes that we all got to sample. On the menu, we had “Popcorn Rock Shrimp with Spicy Honey”, “Pan-seared Carpaccio with Potato Chips, Fried Capers and Garlic Aioli” and “Chocolate Rice Arancini”.
Popcorn Rock Shrimp with Spicy Honey, rock shrimps coated in batter and crumbs deep fried until golden in a perfect frying temperature of 275°C, which was tattooed on his fore arm, and served with a chilli, paprika and honey dressing. The shrimps were firm and crunchy with a light sweetness that suited with the spicy yet sweet dressing.
Pan-seared Carpaccio with Potato Chips, Fried Capers and Garlic Aioli, chilled succulent pan-seared beef tenderloin coated in coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, salt and black pepper thinly sliced and served with fresh local spinach, crisp homemade potato chips, fried capers and a freshly made garlic aioli sauce. The light refreshing taste of spinach went well with the beefy yet nutty chilled tenderloin, savoury fried capers and rich parmigiano. The garlic aioli sauce banded all the flavours with its smooth rich texture in contrast with the crisp texture of the potato chips.
Chocolate Rice Arancini, a chocolate ganache encased with a arborio rice ball and deep fried until crisp and brown. The chocolate filling was sweet and rich with a very light bitter taste, and the arborio rice balls were crisp and firm. According to the programme it was supposed to be a tapioca arancini, but was substituted due to reason only known to the organiser.
The media preview ended with a cheerful note, and Chuck with the media entourage had some time to mingle and a short and precious photo session. After Malaysia’s dinner gala on the 22nd and the 23rd of February in The Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur, Chuck will be heading to the Philippines, then Singapore and rounding up his Asian Tour in Hong Kong. For further information please go to the official website of Asian Food Channel.
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