Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 02/00) - It could almost be a French farce: Nunavut and the NWT nearly walk away with a medal at a chefs' competition.

The props would include a black French beret and a bag of mussels.

The story begins when the Tournoi de chefs Canadiens (Tournament of Canadian Chefs) invited Northern chef Pierre LePage to its cooking competition in Quebec City.

A Cordon Bleu chef, LePage is currently the only Northern chef who is qualified to enter. Chefs from each province and territory were invited. Before leaving for the event in August, LePage said the competition is different from what he is used to as none of the chefs knew what ingredients they would be given prior to competing.

"It's a surprise box. I've never done it before ... I've seen it before. They panic. They grab anything and they start chopping," he said, adding he is not the type who gets stressed.

After the fact

Now, having experienced the event, he laughs at his innocence.

Two kitchens containing basic spices and condiments are arranged side by side; in view of judges and spectators. The paired chefs are handed a basket with six ingredients. They are given three minutes to decide on recipes, and 30 minutes to make the meal from scratch.

Each chef competes twice, also doing a culinary presentation with their regional foods. Points are awarded or deducted for attention to detail, state of their attire, methods of food preparation and final outcome.

LePage lost a point or so the first day for wearing his distinctive black beret. In this exclusive world, with its long-lasting culinary traditions, only the tell-tale white headgear is acceptable.

Fair enough, thought LePage, I'll wear the white hat for my second round. What's a point or two, anyway?

Round two came up by surprise. The day before his second scheduled cookoff, a chef didn't show up and LePage, who was spotted in the crowd, was asked to step up. A deal was struck whereby he wouldn't lose points for his attire.

"I was not into it," says LePage. "I usually go to bed early and I'm ready to compete. I was not quite ready. But then again, that's what cooking is all about."

The basket arrived: wapiti, mussels, spaghetti squash, baby carrots, maple liquor and an apple. LePage immediately placed the mussels in the refrigerator, and the judges noted the correct procedure: keep the shellfish chilled until use.

LePage's three-minute menu consisted of: wapiti roulade a la Normande, maple-glazed carrots, spaghetti squash a la noix de muscade and purple roasted potato.

He finished in 22 minutes. He felt good but was troubled about the remaining eight minutes...it felt wrong not to use the full time.

Later, back at the hotel, a friend who had accompanied the chef asked him what he had done with the mussels.

The mussels were still chilling!

"Even if I had put one raw mussel on that plate," he says, shaking his head.

LePage placed fourth. He was only half a point short of the bronze medal and one-and- a-half points away from gold.

"I lost four points for not using the mussels."

The Quebec chef who placed fifth trailed LePage by a whopping 27 points. The day after the medals were awarded, a judge dropped by LePage's hotel room to offer him an honourary medal for having done so well and being a good sport.

The medal now hangs in his Yellowknife restaurant, L'heritage, along with his other awards.