When youre a chef who sends his recipes out into the world in the form of a cookbook, you want to know youve done all you can to make sure they can thrive without you. You nourish them, giving them everything they need to be independent. No longer must it be your hand on the whisk.
At a Monday night dinner at West, Michelin-starred chef Daniel Patterson sat beside Barbara-Jo McIntosh, the Vancouver bookstore owner to whom hed entrusted his new cookbook, Coi. Named after his San Francisco restaurant, it not only provides chefs a guide with which to make his famed offerings, but also his thoughts and philosophies.
As Patterson relaxed amid the animated bustle of the South Granville restaurant, Wests chef Quang Dang and his team prepared a 10-course dinner based on the book. Dang wasnt trying to replicate the meal; he, like others who will use the cookbook as a map to explore new tastes, was more of an interpreter.
As each dish was placed before him, Patterson recognized his offspring but more in the way that, after a long absence, you say My, how youve become your own person. He loved them just the same but was willing to discover what theyd become on their own.
He wasnt expecting Dang to recreate a dinner at Coi 1,500 kilometres down the coast (and chosen by Michelin as one of the 100 top restaurants in the world.) He noted that he would have cooked each dish differently hes known for using far more citrus and vinegar than most chefs would be confident with but enjoyed them for what they had to say for themselves.
The one dish that caught him by surprise was the carrots roasted in coffee beans (page 70 of the cookbook.) At Coi they would have served it before the main course. Dang cut back on the salt, brought out the carrots sweetness and served it as the penultimate course, the one after the aged Yarrow Meadows Duck (page 188) and before the Beehive pastry (page 266.) Restaurant and wine director Knowlton Owen surprised Patterson even more with his pairing of Chateau dArmajan Sauterne.
It reminds me to always be open to possibilities, a delighted Patterson said. For this point in the meal it was perfect and went incredibly with the wine.
Coi: Stories and Recipes (Phaidon) is available at Barbara-Jos Books to Cooks on West 2nd. You can watch a video about the book on YouTube.
