DEERHURST PRESS RELEASE

Bio: EXECUTIVE CHEF RORY GOLDEN

Dinner for presidents or backyard barbecue, Deerhurst Resort’s Rory Golden keeps it “real, simple and local, with a little surprise.”

Back around 1980, when Deerhurst Resort executive chef Rory Golden was hunting for his first kitchen job, he walked straight into Winston’s, then downtown Toronto’s top power lunch spot, and offered his services for a month – free – just to get in the door. That is where the aspiring chef discovered a dedicated mentor in his new boss, French master chef Georges Chaignet.

After quickly working his way up through the Winston’s restaurant group’s ranks, the aptly named Golden also got his first taste of the discretion and quiet command needed to satisfy celebrity clients while creating private dinners for Canada’s business and political elite like Conrad Black and John Turner.

Following a stint as head chef for the Elmwood Club & Spa, Golden arrived at Deerhurst in 1987. Golden now leads his own loyal brigade of over 60 chefs, cooks and staff at the landmark Muskoka retreat, taking responsibility for two restaurants, various seasonal outlets, conference and event dining for up to 1,000 people, a spa menu, golf course refreshments, plus off-site catering gigs.

And yes, for a couple of days June 2010, he’ll personally prepare breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks and dinner for some of the world’s most powerful leaders when Deerhurst hosts the 36th annual G8 Summit.

But if you ask Golden what career achievements he’s proudest of, he’s quick to share the love. His first professional passions are clearly his staff and their role in the growing Savour Muskoka culinary trail, of which Deerhurst is a founding member.

The resort currently works with over 18 local suppliers. “And my team is always discovering more,” he notes. Off duty, he’s often out driving in his 1978 MGB roadster scouting local food and talking to farmers.

“Muskoka shops and farmer’s markets offer a whole flavour profile you maybe wouldn’t expect, like Muskoka Roastery coffee blends (his favourite is the strong Spirit of the Wilderness), Belly super-premium ice cream (made by a former protégée,) heirloom veggies, and all kinds of fantastic bakeries, “ he explains. “Use the Savour Muskoka map and check ‘em out!”

Golden also connects food with smart environmental stewardship, foraging for, pickling and preserving wild ingredients like cat tails for a crunchy salad (they taste like a cross between cucumber and hearts of palm), ramps (wild leeks great with lamb or in pasta), and sumac (for sauces); composting all the green waste from Deerhurst’s kitchens, on-site; and collecting all their used cooking oil, which becomes bio-diesel to fuel the resort’s Hummer tours and new rock buggy rentals.

Building from the resort’s existing take-away and golf course dining containers, Golden also sourced and ordered 250,000 pieces of biodegradable plate ware for the G8 including sturdy flatware sets made from a corn by-product, and “more cups than you can imagine.”

But for this certified chef de cuisine, the sweet spot remains coaching and collaborating with his cooks, harvesting Deerhurst’s own resort-produced maple syrup and wild flower honey, and firing up his home grill, even in the depths of a Muskoka winter.

TIDBITS:
Surf and turf: Schomburg Ontario lamb and scallops from the Maritimes or eaten on Cape Cod.
Class act: Has taught courses at both Humber and Georgian Brown colleges and served as an examiner for the Certified Chef de Cuisine program.
Culinary hot spot: Farmers’ markets across Muskoka, or wherever I go, finding real food “off-highway.”
Art form: Carved an ice sculpture for a banquet attended by Queen Elizabeth II.
Non-food fix: CNN.

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