Gerry Goldwyre's North American Adventure

 

MasterChef winner, chef and architect, Gerry Goldwyre and his wife Susan have just completed a year's trip to America discovering all that's best about food and cooking along the way. Join us in a celebration of his adventure on 19 May.

The End of the Road

Thirty nine American states, 4 Canadian provinces, 5 countries and hundreds of new friends, food idea and recipes to try out. “What was that?” I might well ask. “That was a year of your life matey, and what a year it was”.

We packed our last 8 bags and cases onto the plane and reminisced in the airport lounge about our year away. Then we were off. As we flew over the ocean we hoped that the 8 packing cases that we sent by surface would be travelling back to Scotland as well. Otherwise a lot of information and memorabilia would be lost. So much paper it was really impossible to carry onto the plane.

So what has the year away achieved? It was a year of culinary inspiration, mainly for me but also Susan who, although not a keen cook, just loved the time to indulge in new culinary delights and investigate healthy wholesome foods. For myself I was just itching to get cooking back at my base, to use my own pots and pans and get going.

Kilted out in Longboat Key

America is a country of great culinary contrast. Some of the food was so good I can still taste it in my mind when I describe it to friends. Some was so awful I would not feed it to animals. I recall 2 days where we consumed bowls of cereal as an alternative to deep fried chicken, fried corn or fried eggs and bacon served with breads processed with hydrogenated oils. At the good end of the scale I will never forget the roast pumpkin soup with pomegranate and pecan nut salsa. Also memorable was cranberry and jalapeño sorbet, green chilli macaroni cheese, grilled prawns with sweet onion coleslaw and bacon and horseradish sauce, oh and the chilli and sugar cured fresh wild salmon. The list could go on.

A Tartan farewell to New York

Everyone has asked us what has been our favourite area of the States. It is hard to answer because places can be appreciated for a myriad of different reasons. Sometimes just the mood of the day can be an influence. For lots of good reasons we really loved Yellowstone National Park where we picniced. It was a warm autumn day with the sun blazing in a crystal clear blue sky. There were a couple of inches of snow on the ground and a herd of wild bison were meandering around the open ground. (It’s hard to know what to call the ground in Yellowstone because it is actually one huge volcano that is apparently due to erupt!). We also really loved San Francisco for the summer sunshine and the chance to sail under the Golden Gates Bridge on a 50 foot yacht. Then there was Three Rivers and the horse riding, Arizona and the ranch, the spooky Savannah, the Florida experience, the beauty of Canada. Oh where do I stop?

Mystic Connecticut

Am I glad to be home? Most definitely yes. That said I have little choice with reservations for the restaurant spanning out to May next year! Clients that have booked in for the first 2 dinners at the water tower restaurant have requested food that reflects the travel experience. I believe the pumpkin soup and the BBQ flank steak, asparagus with roasted garlic and sherry vinegar glaze, and maybe the jalapeño sorbet with fresh fruit will feature.

Danielle Ellis has asked if I can do a selection of the best dishes we have samples this last year. Cooking will be the easy part, selecting to a manageable number will not be so easy! The Discover the Taste event on 19 May will also give customers a chance to view my paintings and sketches as well as the travel diaries and a short presentation of photos set to music. We pruned our 4,000 photos down to a select 200 to give people a flavour of the year without boring them to tears. It was hard to select the photos just as it will be hard to make a selection for the food. Nonetheless, we anticipate providing a culinary experience and interesting evening for all.