Travel To Wellness Inc.

CHEF JEAN-CHARLES DUPOIRE

Jean-Charles Dupoire is now owner/chef at Loire. Read our review

As seen in the Spring 2008 issue of Clean Eating Magazine

PLAYING FOR THYME, BASIL AND ROSEMARY

Chef Jean-Charles Dupoire looks to herbs to add fresh flavor to foods.

By Anne Dimon

There, on top of this 19-floor iconic hotel, guarded by Toronto’s skyline landmark CN Tower, you’ll see about two dozen herbs, including three types of basil, Genea, Purple and Thai—thriving in the company of lettuce, tomatoes, eggplants, chili peppers and zucchini. The head farmer of the aerie garden is chef Jean-Charles Dupoire, chef-de-cuisine of Epic, the dining room at the Fairmont Royal Hotel, home to this inspired garden.

While parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme call to mind the name of a 1960’s album from Simon and Garfunkel, for chef Jean-Charles it’s a grocery list of staples, nearly a mantra of his cooking provenance. Charming like only the French can be, personable, and passionate about his work and the food he serves, Chef Jean-Charles is obviously hyped on herbs: “As people become more health conscious about what they eat, herbs are an excellent addition to flavor, texture, color…plus there’s a medicial bonus.”

From one side of his multi-national kitchen to the other, employees all have their own “magic potion,” (herbs mixed with various ingredients including honey, garlic, chili or ginger) for when they are feeling under-the-weather or just in need of a pick-me-up in this busy downtown hotel kitchen that takes two teams of 10 people each to make 180 breakfasts, 110 lunches and 80-90 dinners a day all from an international roster.

While Chef Jean-Charles has no particular favorite herb –“I want them all,” he admits” - parsley and mint hold a special place for him -- they filled his paternal grandmother’s garden. “She used parley on roasts, mashed potatoes and fish. And mint in every dessert – especially fresh strawberries sprinkled with mint.” These are the comfort foods of the chef’s childhood.

Chef Jean-Charles credits his grandmother as the inspiration for his choice of career. “She was a great cook,” he says, “and had a healthy respect for food.” Because she lived through the lean years of World War 11 and, like so many others, often had to do without, his grandmother learned a respect for food that she passed on to her family. Her grandson’s food philosophy echoes that respect not only for the foods he serves, but for his customers and his staff.

Following schooling and apprenticeship in France a year as corporal chef in the French Army, several years in the kitchens of one and two-star Michelin restaurants and five-star hotels in France, the U.K., Bora Bora and the British Virgin Islands, he then moved to Canada. In 2001 he was invited to open Epic, a 140-seat fine-dining room that is one of the Fairmont chain’s signature restaurants.

He admits that his personal take on a Hell’s Kitchen was his time at London’s acclaimed Berkley Hotel, where he worked almost round-the-clock but learned the value of made-from-scratch. He notes, “Even the potato chips for room service were made fresh with each order.” That value for fresh and made-at-the-moment lives on his kitchen. Stocks, sauces, even ketchup are all made from scratch. “Fresh ingredients, simple food, flavor…and everything served in esthetically-pleasing balance, and to the customer’s expectation,” he says. These are cornerstones of his culinary philosophy.

When it comes to flavor, herbs are his first choice. “They each have their own perfume, flavor, texture and all enhance foods and beverages in their own way,“ he says.

While he will not admit to favoring one herb over another, he does suggest that when starting out with an herb garden at home, one might want to plant a small tub with basil, cilantro, rosemary and lavender because, these four, “will enhance most dishes typically made at home.” Cooking with herbs, he observes, is one of the easiest ways to turn an ordinary dinner into a gourmet meal. For instance, take an ordinary chicken, fill the cavity and the pockets under the skin with a mixture of any herbs you have on hand, then cook as usual and serve.

Chef Jean-Charles suggests that home cooks follow the lead of professional chefs and experiment with herbs. For instance, instead of using basil or oregano in a tomato sauce try mint, tarragon or cilantro to add a bit of zip. “Herbs offer a great opportunity to play with your food,” he smiles. “There are so many herbs on the market,” he says, “and they offer today’s consumer a perfect opportunity to mix-and- match and create a taste that pleases the palate.” While there is no right or wrong when it comes to the use of herbs and mistakes are difficult to make, he cautions that the use of too many on one plate could be confusing to the palate. “While some chefs will use as many as 30 different herbs in a dish, it’s not my preference,” he says. Instead, he likes to stick to one or two on the same plate. And, when is enough, enough? “You’ve used too many herbs when you can’t taste anything else,” he jokes. “No one wants a plate of Rosemary for dinner,” he says with a laugh.

When given the choice Jean-Charles prefers fresh to dried, “because dried herbs have lost their natural oils and flavor,” when you grow and pick them yourself. “We grow enough [in the rooftop garden] to feed the Epic customer from the end of May to the first freeze,” he says. Along with herbs and veggies, the hotel’s Executive Chef, David Garcelon plans to add bee hives so the hotel can serve its own honey as well as parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme and much more indeed.

Jean-Charles Dupoire is now owner/chef of Loire in downtown Toronto.