The Main-Anthony Sedlak
This year I attended the Vancouver Home and Interior Design Show. The main reason I went was for the food stage that featured celebrity chefs demonstrating their knowledge and gift for creating food. I was particularly interested in a local boy who at a very young age has risen to his own personal food stardom with TV shows, cookbooks and numerous awards.
Anthony Sedlak grew up in North Vancouver BC and at the age of 13 began working in a restaurant at the base of Grouse mountain in exchange for a snow board pass to the resort. When you hear him speak about food and cooking techniques you can tell that a passion for food got a hold of him at a young age and didn’t let him go. He worked his way up from being the youngest chef at ‘The Observatory” on grouse mountain to being executive chef.
Among a thousand other things Anthony has done, he competed and won in the food Networks Super Star challenge and can now be seen on Food Network Canada with a show called ‘The main’.
While watching Anthony in the demonstration kitchen, it is not hard to see why he was favored to be in front of the camera. He is energetic, funny-at least he definitely thinks he is, but most importantly his passion for food is impossible to miss. He gets so excited about what he is talking about that he had a hard time containing himself long enough to get back the recipe he was making. It was great!
Here are a few things that I remember him ranting about while teaching and fielding audience questions:
- Minced garlic in a jar is disgusting. I knew that, but one fellow from the audience got a very clear answer about whether or not it is a worthy supplement to chopped fresh garlic.
- For most cooking, use unsalted butter
- Smoked paprika is very good-in fact good enough to spend at least 5 minutes discussing
- Use kosher salt for most cooking and save the best quality salt for the final seasoning.
- Cooking is more about learning techniques than recipes.
- Shop fresh and locally. Watch organic labels that are shipped from afar and bypass our own local farmers.
There was much more but those are some important things that stood out to me. What also stood out was his shiny, full color, cookbook called ‘The Main’ that sat at the front of the stage. Being a cookbook addict I clung to my own copy through the whole presentation. It is now sitting in front of me as I type.
By the end of the show, Anthony had cooked an incredible smelling sable fish extravaganza that looked amazing. My only problem with the whole show is that I didn’t get to try it. I felt I had dibbs to be picked since I had my camera and was sitting in the front row. I give him props though for an amazing show, amazing food, and some good solid tips to take home. He is also in the process of opening up a brand new restaurant called ‘The Corner Suite’ so keep your eyes open for it.
Leave a Reply
