One of the best known chefs of Napa Valley, the wine country in the US, Boisset Collection culinary director Chef Victor Scargle is touring India. He is visiting as part a collaborative wine-making project between Boisset Collectons and Fratelli Wines. Amid hectic schedule, Scargle squeezed in a trip to an organic farm in Bengaluru.
In a conversation with THE WEEK, Scargle spoke about his other passions like fishing and gardening, farm-to-fork movement which aims to promote local food procured directly from the farmer at restaurants, and more. He believes that having a kitchen garden can transform an average cook to a fairly good one as fresh ingredients can make your meals taste better. Excerpts:
Why should one have a kitchen garden when organic fruits and vegetables are readily available in the market?
If you are not using fresh ingredients, you are missing something. I can very easily sit in an office and through email find out what's easily available. Or, I can go into the garden and see what's ripe. That way, I am going to make sure that I'm much more seasonal.
Sometimes I can get fish from Japan or San Francisco. But it is important that I stay in touch with the local fishermen. Even in our area, it's very easy to go to farms. If I'm not walking out into the garden, I don't know if we have pomegranates on the tree. So I'm going out and looking what's becoming ripe on the tree. I've seen it. I touch, feel and taste it. All these make it much more personal when you make a meal. It makes you want to take better care of the vegetables and fruits that you cook.
Chef Victor hosting the Chaine dinner with Bangalore gourmands
What makes great wine?
To produce good wine, you have to have good soil. Napa Valley is blessed with the perfect soil for growing wine grapes. What you pair the wine with is very important. I can highlight the wine or I can compete with the wine. I create menus focusing on simple, basic ingredients, taking different types of carrots, cooking them very slowly and putting different dressings on them. I love to use roasted beets and basic greens too and pair them with French sauce. Wine goes really well with these seasonal vegetables.
Do you cook at home?
I do a little bit. My wife is an amazing cook, and at home she cooks meals most of the time. Sometimes she cooks fancy dishes, but mostly we have simple food with good ingredients, which I like very much. Sometimes we eat out. It is important for a chef to go out and taste all kinds of food.
What's your culinary masterpiece?
You have to tell me. I've worked with a lot of fish. It's really about balance. Balance of flavour and texture. I love working with different types of meat and grains too. During summer, I work with summer squash. I can't wait to make spaghetti and banana squash. It's important for a chef to sense what are people in a mood for and change the menu accordingly.
