David Bakker, the executive chef at Deerhurst Resort, can add another medal to his collection: Olympic gold. He and his team won the international Culinary Olympics, which were held in Erfurt, Germany, in October.
Bakker and his team at the culinary arts program at Humber College, where he teaches, took home the top prize in the regional division of the cooking tournament.
But don’t refer to Bakker as a celebuchef. In fact he’s troubled by the star-making TV trend he sees rippling across the industry.
“The Food Network has sensationalized cooking so that chefs are the new rock stars. And some people think they can be rock stars after a year of cooking. But audiences don’t see the years and years of grinding it out and perfecting the craft.”
When I ask the Glencoe, Ontario, native about the medal’s significance to his career – I mean, does he keep it on his mantle? – he replies, “It’s probably in a shoebox somewhere. I do these competitions to give back to the community that gave so much to me.”
Bakker didn’t start out in chef school. He began his post-secondary education in engineering before, as he says, “something in my gut told me this was the wrong way to go.”
He then enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Institute Ottawa and later was able to fast-track his way through George Brown’s culinary management program thanks to key credits from Le Cordon Bleu.
Soon he was turning toques in the hotel-restaurant scene. Bakker worked as the executive sous-chef at Toronto Marriott Bloor Yorkville for six years, and then did a two year- stint at the Westin Prince Hotel in the same position.
When Muskoka’s Deerhurst Resort had an opening for executive chef, Bakker applied and crossed his fingers – he and his family were ready to escape the urban sprawl. In 2013, he became the quarterback of Deerhurst’s five restaurants, responsible for drawing up new menus weekly or monthly with the help of his head chefs from each venue.
Such pressure could weigh heavily on any chef, but Bakker can handle the heat. He used to be a competition star, winning medals at solo or team culinary tourneys across the world. So it’s fitting that he would lead a nine-person team (made up of students, graduates and faculty) to Culinary Olympic gold.
“What really stood out to the judges must’ve been our seafood terrines,” Bakker recalls. “You’re supposed to use ingredients indigenous to your country, so we had to have some sushi salmon terrine and a veal tenderloin and lobster truffle terrine. They had really bright colourful appearances, which is something the judges look for.”
These kinds of competitions make brutal demands on the team leader, and the prof understands why some consider him almost self-destructive. Bakker and his team spent over a year preparing for the competition.
“These contests take a lot out of you. There is so much work, and you begin to wonder why the heck you’re doing it. But then when it’s over, you want to do another one in two weeks,” he says. “I love it because it pushes me hard and forces me to extend my skills.”
These days, foodies are quick to jump on anything that will get them attention. The tendency, says Bakker, is for chefs to seek the spotlight via dishes that are hugely complex or high-tech. Bucking this trend, he gives one essential piece of advice: keep it simple.
“So many chefs want to complicate their dishes, using dozens of ingredients, or going with stuff like molecular gastronomy,” he says. “Let a dish speak for itself. At Deerhurst, we’ve had people eat our beef short rib and say, ‘Wow, I’ve never had it like this before!’ We aren’t doing anything fancy, just cooking that short rib perfectly.”
website@nowtoronto.com | @SilverbergDave
