Cuisine Canada Scene

Nancy Hinton

Nancy Hinton, Chef de cuisine, works at Les Jardins Sauvages, a country restaurant specializing in wild edibles just outside Montreal, She works alongside her partner, François Brouillard, a long time forager by profession and lineage. Her business card also reads Consultant, but only to cover all the other culinary odds and ends she does on the side, such as writing, teaching, menus… She spends most of her time in the kitchen, especially during the growing season.

What’s your weakness? Dessert or mains?
Definitely savory, not sweet. But it is not the main dishes I have a weakness for as much as the sides, ie. vegetables and sauce. I’m a sauce girl. And a salad girl. And a cheese girl.

Who or what got you interested in food?
I always loved to eat, but it was working as a part time waitress while studying at McGill in Biochemistry that I spent a lot of time in restaurants with my nose always in the kitchen, at which point the wonderful world of food crept into my soul, slowly leading me astray.

What’s inspires you?
All that I have to work with: nature, the produce, the people, books. It is the engaging, multi-faceted nature of the job of cooking that feeds me– always so challenging and dynamic. I love that it is physical and hands on (blood, sweat and tears), yet creative and sensual, then drenched in history with so much science underlying it all. There is always so much to learn. Above all that, it is at the core simply about food, making things taste good, and making people happy.

What was your favourite dinner when you were a kid? Do you like it now?
Pizza, the only non home-cooked meal of the week. (My mom wasn’t the best cook, but bless her heart, she had ten screaming kids.) I did love her turkey though, especially the stuffing, and the turkey sandwiches and turkey soup that followed. I still love all of the above.

What’s the first dish you remember making?
Sautéed mushrooms with soy sauce and black pepper. I like to think I also put a touch of vinegar, but I think I may be imagining things.

Proudest food-related moment?
I can’t think of one. But if I didn’t feel proud at the end of most days, I wouldn’t be doing what I do.

Strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Cured, fermented duck egg. Breadfruit.

Favourite sound in the kitchen?
The silence when I turn the fan hood off at the end of the night.

Favourite cooking smell?
Fresh coriander being chopped, or wild ginger.

Quintessential Canadian dish?
I could name a modern dish using the best local produce like you find on so many menus these days. But the low-brow shepherd’s pie (Paté chinois) comes to mind, because of a story someone told me about the origins of the French name. It came from the time of the building of the railway, when the cooks were Chinese, and this dish of potatoes, meat and corn was a staple for the workers who helped build this country’s backbone. It seems to have had staying power in the diets of many Canadians of different backgrounds, too.

Molecular gastronomy, best thing ever or the unwearable haute couture of food?
Some of it is ‘haute couture’, but a lot of it is positively just evolution, using new tools to do the same things but with better precision, or providing new ingredients and techniques for manipulation of texture and flavour. I’m sure that some of the tricks are here to stay, just as others will fade away. Regardless, I think all new approaches are valuable to stretch the mind and offer inspiration.

Cilantro — can’t get enough or tastes like soap?
Absolutely Love it. But not everywhere. And yes, it does taste like soap, but in a good way.

What non-local foods can’t you live without?
Lemons and olive oil. Coffee, but that’s not for cooking, but to keep me cooking.

What’s your greatest culinary extravagance?
Having my personal forager.

Most over-rated kitchen gadget?
I don’t have any useless gadgets like a garlic press, bagel slicer or Magic Bullet. There is no room for anything superfluous in my small kitchen.

What’s the most treasured possession in your kitchen? Why?
Besides my MAC knife, I would say my smiley face heat-proof spatula (because it makes me smile) and my microplane, because I use lemon zest and nutmeg so much.

Fill in the blank. If I never cooked / ate / heard about  ____ again, I’d be happy.
White pepper.

If you could cook for anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Leonard Cohen. It would be nice to offer him even the smallest comfort or pleasure, given how much his music has fed me over the years.

What would you prepare for him/her?
Anything he wanted. I think he is a vegetarian though, so I would go all out with the wild greens and mushrooms.

What  was the last thing you ate?
A cheese plate (Gré des Champs, Pizy, Terre Promise).

If you had to work outside the culinary field, what would you do?
Writing, journalism, photography.