An ambitious and incredibly creative wild game menu was recently presented to a small group of friends at the home of one of Canada’s greatest chefs, David Lee. The meal was composed of game shot by two of the lunch attendees, and presented with seasonal elements.
This world-class, inventive menu blew us, highly experienced travellers who plan for every meal in every city we visit, all away. Reading the menu caused our mouths to water. We could not wait for the lunch to begin.
Ahead of the first course, we were presented with bread from Nota Bene restaurant and a wooden platter of three different butters: a local unsalted butter from Far Dairy, local salted butter smoked in house, and an artisanal salted butter (the darkest) from Damafro, Quebec (each one seasoned with herb ash: onions, thyme, rosemary and garlic skin).
One could make a meal tasting each of these incredible butters with the crispy and tasty bread.
Our first course was fawn sirloin tip carpaccio, with pistachios, honey, and shaved white truffles. This was a marriage made in heaven, mildly gamey fawn, the sweet nuttiness of the pistachios, a touch of honey and fragrant shavings of white truffles. And this was only the beginning.
With this dish we enjoyed a 1988 Morey St. Denis by Drouhin-Laroze. Despite its age, after 22 years, the wine showed its fruit well, but was beginning to be slightly thin. Remarkably, it blossomed in the glass.
Next, breast of wild turkey, poached in a matsutake mushroom broth was presented with matsutake mushrooms, pieces of jelly fish, a game gelee and all covered by thinly shaved white truffles.
The sous vide turkey was perfectly pink, very tender and the gamey flavour of the wild meat came through so well. It was only enhanced by the earthy mushrooms and the mild game gelee, faintly flavoured with cinnamon and cloves. A sprinkling of maldon sea salt was a nice added touch and the crunchy, mild pieces of jelly fish proved to be an innovative approach to matching the soft texture and flavour of the turkey.
Fawn tenderloin and tendon with foraged chanterelle salad came next. The sweet, buttery, medium-rare tenderloin with the melt-in-your-mouth tendon presented a contrast of textures with the earthy Sevogle Lodge chanterelles. We enjoyed a well matched and forward 2005 Corton Bressandes by Antonin Guyon, which presented loads of fruit.
Moose tortellini followed: the moose in a coarse grind with a sauce flavoured with red wine, cherry peppercorns, bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves. With this dish we enjoyed a Heitz Martha’s Vineyard 1985, a big fruity wine with a long finish.
Gamey smoked pheasant thigh redolent of thyme came next presented on creamy polenta. We enjoyed a Guigal La Mouline 1982, a big bold wine with a very long finish. This heady wine matched well with the gamey thyme flavours.
Next, braised duck leg, rare breast and a dense, highly flavourful duck sausage were presented on Jerusalem artichoke puree.
This was followed by Lotus leaf wrapped game, sous vide pork jowl and pieces of pig’s trotter, all mixed in sticky rice and steamed wrapped in lotus leaf. When presented, the lotus leaf was unwrapped, truffle olive oil spooned over the rice with black truffle liberally shaved over all. The heady aroma of the truffles and the tobacco-like aroma of the lotus leaf combined in an intriguing, palate provoking way. We enjoyed a big fruity Dunn’s Howell Mountain cab from 1985 with this dish.
Getting near the end, we had pulled fawn osso bucco with potato puree, covered in a deliciously rich gamey jus. We enjoyed a very big, dense, dark purple Pichon Longueville 1990 wine with this dish but it was still young, needing at least five to 10 more years of aging to be truly ready.
Finally, game steak frites, slices of moose, fawn and elk, cooked rare. The mildly gamey elk and fawn were particularly tender and had a silky texture.
Dessert was wild foraged Sevogle Lodge blueberry "crisp", the perfect ending to this wonderful game meal. We enjoyed this with a 1987 Chateau d’Yquem, possessing fabulously understated layered and complex flavours of apricot and honey.
Dr. Josh Josephson is the owner of The Cookbook Store and Josephson Opticians. He is a chevalier of Les Chevalier du Tastevin and the Le Chaine des Rotisseurs, a member of L’ordre Mondiale and a member and former president of the International Wine and Food Society, Toronto chapter.