Not-so-scrumptious scrum? Seal meat spices up the Hill
By Ron Eade, The Ottawa CitizenMarch 11, 2010 4:53 AM
OTTAWA — Put seal on my fork?
Sorry, it’s not going to happen anytime soon at my house, after being introduced to the controversial meat at lunch Wednesday in a cosy alcove adjacent to the swish Parliamentary dining room.
For starters, seal meat is all but inaccessible to most of us in Ottawa. Even if you can find it, seal meat is terribly expensive — roughly $50 a kilo the last time it was available in Ottawa before Christmas.
And the taste, well, it’s not my idea of mom’s Sunday pot roast.
The meat made famous by Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean — who ate it with relish during her Arctic trip last year — was brought in for a one-time private nosh for a handful of parliamentarians willing to pay $33.50 a plate.
The meal was organized by Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette to show solidarity with Canadian seal hunters staring down an imminent ban on seal products by the European Union.
Lunch quickly turned into a feeding frenzy, literally and figuratively, as scores of reporters and camera crews elbowed their way into the painfully tiny room set for a private meal for 16.
Hors d’oeuvres of dainty seal terrine and rillettes were brought in and placed on a table.
Mark Critch of This Hour Has 22 Minutes was on hand to goad Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and Fisheries Minister Gail Shea to “go ahead, take one more bite” with the cameras rolling. “It’s delicious,” Shea decided, after sampling seal pâté on a tiny pastry cup and topped with fruit compote.
The terrine was quite tasty as the tangy citrus cut through the gamy inclination of the shredded meat. Less successful was another pâté, where a more restrained garnish was more savoury than sweet, and thus unable to upstage the meat.
“It’s like a kind of pâté with the taste you’d get from spicy ham,” Shea opined. “It was actually quite good.”
The special menu was created by Judson Simpson, who’s been the head chef on the Hill since 1991.
The main dish was billed as double-smoked bacon-wrapped seal loin with port reduction and a medley of organic beets, carrots and turnips with Yukon gold potato pavé.
Translation: Smoked bacon wrapped around seal loin; served with root vegetables and what amounted to scalloped potatoes in the shape of a brick (hence the French name, pavé, as in paving stone).
I helped myself to two bacon-wrapped medallions after the immediate confusion of the photo moment. And I can say without hesitation the chef did an admirable job of taming the chew — an incredibly dark meat of chestnut colour, if not anthracite — into complete tenderness.
The seal was trimmed of all fat, which I understand is not too palatable. To keep the meat moist and tender, it was tightly wrapped in bacon (everything tastes better with bacon) and steamed, I’m advised, to an internal temperature of 119° F before being crispened in a 350°F oven. The sauce was made with shallots sautéed in butter, red wine — I’m told lots of Port — and reduced veal stock for richness before finishing with lingonberries, which tend to be tart.
The seal was utterly tender, its flavour balanced by a sauce that was rich, yet slightly acidic. The taste of the meat itself reminded me of caribou or, less so, venison, but later (after the mitigating richness of the sauce had dissipated) I detected a more gamy character vaguely reminiscent of fish.
Will Ottawa shoppers get a chance to buy seal meat anytime soon?
Does anyone much care?
Not likely on both counts.
John Diener of Saslove’s Meat Market in the ByWard Market advised no one came back to his store for more after he brought some in last year. And, at $20 or so a pound, there are far better choices to be had at the premium beef counter. Think Alberta tenderloin, and it’s cheaper too.
“Anyone who buys it is doing so just to say they’ve tried it,” Diener said. “But I can’t remember anyone asking for it a second time.
“If I bring it in two or three times and there’s no repeat business, then it’s not something I’ll restock. I might consider bringing a little in as a novelty item just before Christmas, when people are looking for different things.”
I would say the same: If I saw it on a menu while vacationing in the Magdalen Islands I might give give it another try.
Make that a small portion, please. About an ounce should do it.
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Topic: The Taming of the Chew (Read 1959 times)