FOOD & DRINK

Nova Scotia: Cooking School with Class

By Frances MacKinnon

Our writer finds that Trout Point Lodge, a culinary retreat tucked away in the midst of over 1,000 hectares of protected crown property, is a take-a-deep-breath destination.

It’s early summer and the sun is high in the sky as we pull up in front of Trout Point Lodge, nestled beside the Tusket River, deep in southern Nova Scotia. Inside the main lodge, we’re greeted by the smell of a crackling wood fire in an enormous stone fireplace. I take my first deep breath in a long time.

I’m eyeing the big couches in front of the fire and idly inspecting the book selection, when another enticing aroma drifts in from the kitchen below. Co-owner Vaughn Perret appears and introduces himself while offering us still-warm double-chocolate chip cookies.

The cookies are a good omen, as it’s really the food that shines at this gourmet wilderness lodge. Perret and partners Charles Leary and Daniel Abel hail from Louisiana, but they followed their heritage (and their hearts) north to their Acadian culinary roots in the mid-1990s. By 2000, they were sharing the art of Cajun and Creole cooking with guests at their haute-rustic hideaway in the woods and they continue to do so each summer and fall.

I had come to learn, eat and relax – though not necessarily in that order – along with eight other culinary vacationers from all over North America. After a made-to-order breakfast (French toast and coffee, thank you), our first lesson is a field trip to see where some of the best oysters in the world are cultivated in nearby Eel Lake. At the stern of a well-worn fishing boat, we gaze at the hundreds of traps bobbing under the water in neat rows, where millions of oysters are harvested every season.

Next on the menu: a lunch of mussels in white wine and saffron. We then gather in the kitchen to watch our hosts and chefs at work (on what will be our dinner). The trio effortlessly performs a verbal juggling act, a seamless flow of interjecting, correcting and joking, while demonstrating the perfect technique for dicing an onion. (Daniel’s cheeky tip: “Buy an Alligator from Williams-Sonoma; it’s so much easier.”) We also learn how to make a simple roux (a classic base in Creole cooking) and jot down as many seafood tips as we can. It’s said that the kitchen is the best place to hang out at a party, and it’s the same here. How much you participate is up to you. You can just watch and soak it up or jump in and try your hand at new-found culinary tricks.

At our candlelit dinner, we toast our feast of Creole red bean soup with pork, sesame-roasted haddock with vegetables and green salad. I can’t help but take one more deep, satisfying breath before I dig in. 

(Frances MacKinnon is a producer for Daily Planet on Discovery Channel Canada. She lives in Toronto.)

OYSTER PHOTOS: FRANCES MACKINNON