ICAAC’s exquisite culminating dinner

 

EIGHT graduating students from a two-year Culinary Arts Chefs Program of the International Culinary Arts Academy of Cebu (ICAAC) presented a grand final dinner last month. It was yet another event showcasing the classic culinary techniques the students have acquired in the first year and the latest culinary techniques and trends in the second year. ICAAC’s Dean/Chef Jeremy Young has indeed raised the bar for culinary arts, considering what the students have showcased in the culminating dinners over the years.

Flutes of Vino Spumante Santero Brut were served along with Amuse Bouche of Russian Ossietra Caviar “Halo-Halo,” which certainly teased our palates.

An impressive appetizer that looked as colorful as it was delicate, its preparation entailed the use of molecular technique (spherification of liquids) to create radish balls, green apple pearls and vodka ice to complement the black caviar on a bed of vodka ice.

The menu simply read “Eggs Benedict” but it was not what my granddaughter Sophie and I expected when it was served.

The breakfast favorite Eggs Benedict was a show of “deconstruction,” a gastronomic concept that involves changing the appearance of the various ingredients used in the dish but preserving and even intensifying the flavors.

Here, the egg yolk was deconstructed, mixing it with agar or what we commonly know as “gulaman” and cooked sous vide, a cooking method that is catching popularity where food is sealed in a plastic bag and placed in water bath with temperature-controlled steam ensuring even cooking.

The English muffin looked different–a ball of dough filled with the Hollandaise sauce topped with crisp Serrano ham, with drops of tarragon oil and micro greens. The dish is then  “reconstructed” through our tasting memory, which we did.

Pan-seared Foie de Canard with braised watermelon peel and pastillas de leche was a sophisticated dish with interplay of savory, fruity and sweet flavors. Southern Italian red wine, Antica Hirpinia was poured into our huge wine glasses.

Sophie, whose young heart cannot stand cruelty to animals, did not eat her Foie gras, the liver of duck or goose fattened by force-feeding or gavage method.

After a refreshing Whisky Sorbet with honey toasted oats and berries though, she did enjoy the next seafood dishes—US Diver Scallop with lime sheet and lime juice foam, dainty candied cilantro stem, chili, corn cream sauce and the Chilean Sea Bass with tapenade sauce and salt cod pasta pillows.

The fancy presentation of the Horseradish Sorbet in a little bowl of chocolate topped by a pastry cage to prepare our palates for the meat course caught our fancy but the pungent taste prevailed.

The US Certified Angus Beef Tenderloin served medium rare was paired with Dulong Vin de Bordeaux Merlot-Cabernet AOP, France 2012.

The exquisitely created dinner menu was capped with dessert—a plated work of art—Mango Avocado and Gummy Bear Sable, Chocolate Bundt, Chiboust Tube or pastry cream lightened with stiffly beaten egg whites, Cucumber-Lemonade Granita and the decadent buffet lay-out of Orange Curd Tartlette, Blue Cheese Macarons, Mandarin Cheese Cake and more.

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