Cacao Barry® Flavour Dinners to inspire Chefs: Jason Bangerter & Rachel Nicholson, Toronto, Canada

Cacao Barry® is honoured to announce that the fifth Flavour Dinner was designed by Executive Chef Jason Bangerter & Pastry Chef Rachel Nicholson from Langdon Hall.

Toronto, April 3rd at the exquisite Langdon Hall Relais & Châteaux, Cacao Barry invited 20 Chefs to discover an exclusive menu. Langdon Hall is one of 13 properties in Canada recognized by Relais & Châteaux for a standard of excellence. Only one hour from Toronto and 90 minutes from the Niagara area, Langdon Hall is a place for those who admire beautiful things and timeless experiences. The hotel offers 60 luxurious guest suites, a full‐service spa, outdoor swimming pool, a Five‐Diamond award‐winning restaurant with elegant reception rooms, and gorgeous event rooms for weddings, conferences and special events. Surrounded by 75 acres of Carolinian Forest, Olmsted designed gardens, manicured lawns and cultivated displays of colour, Langdon Hall is a place where time seems to stand still.

It’s in this gorgeous setting that the Cacao Barry Flavour Dinner took place. The evening started in a very friendly atmosphere with a glass of sparkling wine paired with elegantly presented canapés.

“The cuisine at Langdon Hall starts with looking out our kitchen windows. It is inspired by the seasons, wild produce growing in abundance on the property and the bounty of our kitchen gardens. Relationships have been built with local farmers, foragers and artisans who hold similar beliefs of providing wholesome natural products that have been prepared with care and respect. We create dishes with purpose, embraced with a story behind each product and a glimpse at the terroir of Langdon Hall.”

It’s with this philosophy that Chef Bangerter elaborated this very special Flavour Dinner menu:
What came First? The Chocolate or the Hen …
All was thought out – from the table centerpiece reflecting the terroir of the estate with a tree branch, moss and young plant just beginning to flower, colourful heirloom hen eggs and roasted carcasses put together by the talented head gardener at Langdon Hall to the sights and smells that made this dinner a true experience.

The menu pairing all things chicken from heirloom hen eggs to deliciously crisped chicken skin with Cacao Barry chocolates had just kicked off for the guests, but the whole experience was actually initiated 175 years ago with a Scottish man named Charles Barry who started a quest for extraordinary chocolate flavours.

Cacao Barry is exited to continue this journey today by exploring chocolate flavour pairings. As we all know the most exciting journey means nothing if you cannot share it with someone. This is what Monday night was all about, an opportunity for the 20 selected Chefs and Media to share experiences, discover an exclusive menu and be inspired.

The Menu took us through a refined presentation of chicken and everything delicious it can offer, starting with the first course titled, A Feathered foot – liver parfait, chocolate truffle crumb and chickweed with cocoa nibs paired with a Domaine d’Henri, “Saint Pierre” Chablis, France 2014, served in the most fitting dish! The cocoa nibs along with the chocolate tuile added a touch of crunch to the smooth liver parfait, perfectly balancing our first course.

Chef Jason Bangerter was only warming up, he made the second entrée in the dining room – plating a la minute!

He served delicious Champagne Hen Eggs – creamy scrambled eggs with Zéphyr™ White Chocolate, White Sturgeon Caviar paired with 2015 Western Cape, 'Cartology' Alheit Vineyards.

The next course was about to make all conversations stop the Roasted Bird Bone Nage ‐ Spring Vegetable, Chocolate Spätzle made with Extra Brute Cocoa Powder. An exquisite and flavorful broth paired with 2013 Canary Islands, La Solana, Suertes del Marques.

The main course, Heritage Hen ‐ Smoked Potato, Hen Velouté, and Spiced Dark Chocolate Jus paired with 2010 St. David's Bench, Merlot, Leaning Post. The perfect flavour combination: the floral notes of the Tanzanie 75% dark origin chocolate paired extraordinarily well with the poached breast and also giving the jus a deep cocoa flavour.

Fromage ‐ Chocolate Marinated Blue, Raisin, Barley, and Chicken Stock Bread – a local blue cheese specially aged for this event with freeze dried Terroir Noir chocolat powder. The combination was magical, the chocolate balancing the saltiness of the blue cheese and powerful enough to give way to its delicate smoky notes in combination with the strong cheese. The dish was beautifully paired with 2011 Quebec, Pomme de Glace, Verger St. Denis bringing a delicate sweet touch.

To end their dinner, guests enjoyed a Milk Chocolate Bomb a hazelnut and Terroir au lait 40% cremeux with a crispy chicken skin craker bring the dish flavour and exquisite balance.

Nothing would have been possible without the fantastic team at Langdon Hall.

Executive Chef Jason Bangerter and Pastry Chef Rachel Nicholson accepted the challenge to play with chocolate flavours and imagine the most delicious pairings. They chose to feature the Heritage Hen from down the way (literally, the farms is just down the way!) as the theme to pair with Cacao Barry chocolates to design this amazing 6 course menu.

Again tonight the 20 guests enjoyed a fascinating dinner, sharing their experience and inspirations leaving Langdon Hall full of new ideas for their creations.

See you soon at our next Flavour Dinner.