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Chaîne des Rtisseurs celebrates 25 years in exquisite style

Published:Thursday | December 9, 2010 | 12:00 AM
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Light and warm papaya soup blended with local aromatique spices. - photos by Carl Gilchrist
Braised medallion of lobster in coconut milk and yam folded in a banana leaf wrap.
White rum snow cone served with local wild fresh mint.
Breast of duck rolled into a silk shirt and stuffed with exotic mushroom, served with a sweet and sour sauce with orange and lemon.
Puff pastry delight stuffed with ackee and tomato, surrounded with a chive cream sauce.
Home-made mignardise served with Blue Mountain Coffee or assorted exotic teas.
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Carl Gilchrist, Gleaner Writer

The exquisite Couples Sans Souci was the venue for the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rtisseurs - Jamaique, the local arm of the international gastronomic society founded in Paris in 1950.

Chaîne des Rtisseurs is dedicated to bringing together professional and non-professional members from around the world who appreciate wine, cuisine and fine dining. The society has a long culinary history and tradition which is still promoted and celebrated today through the Chaîne's international and local events.

The celebratory events were an induction ceremony and anniversary dinner. Eighteen persons were inducted in 10 categories, including Couples Sans Souci's general manager Pierre Battaglia, inducted vice-consellier culinaire, Devon Reid (professionnel du vin) and Jag Mehta (officier commandeur).

First-class dinner

But it was the dinner that was the highlight of the evening. Everything, from presentation to taste, was first class.

Pierre Battaglia, along with maître d' Kyle Mais, executive sous chef Valentine McKenzie, chefs Gregory Nelson and Linval Green, and food and beverage manager Dwight Powell, were wonderful hosts.

"This is more or less the biggest gastronomic organisation in the world, with 25,000 members over 70 countries, and Jamaica has a chapter of some 90 members now," explained Battaglia.

He added: "It's a great way to put together professionals in the areas of cooking, hoteliers, and more, because we have lawyers, bankers, a variety of professionals who come to this event. We are challenging restaurants, hotels, chefs, maitre ds, food and beverage managers, people who know about food and wine, we challenge them to produce their best and four to five times a year we meet in different locations that we pre-select and we organise this wonderful dinner. It has been very successful for the last 25 years."

The intriguing thing about the menu was that it is the same menu that Battaglia prepared 25 years ago at the inaugural meeting.

"I did this menu 25 years ago when I was executive chef at Wyndham Kingston, so it's a great pleasure to be still here and to do this for these wonderful people," Battaglia said.