TORONTO — It was a time to lunch and learn in Toronto yesterday as chefs and executives representing Patak’s Original, which includes Indian sauces, pastes, chutney and pickle products, united to show media how to incorporate Indian cooking into Western foodservice culture.
The lunch lesson began with product history. “What’s unique about Patak’s in Canada is the relationship with the South-Asian community and everyone else,” explained Jean Francois Dery, regional GM – Americas of AB World Foods, Patak’s parent company. “We buy the best ingredients, and we make sure we have quality control.”
Manish Sharma, Patak’s executive development chef, explained the diversity of foods in India, before Ryan Marquis, corporate chef of C.W. Shasky & Associates Ltd., national foodservice sales agent for Patak’s, showed guests how to introduce Canadian foodservice customers to Indian flavours by creating dips. He incorporated ingredients such as Patak’s Lime Pickle with mustard; Patak’s Vindaloo Paste with ranch dressing and the brand’s Sweet Mango Chutney with yogurt and coconut milk to make a dip with a subtle kick. “It’s probably the most inexpensive dip and probably the most flavourful recipe you can have on a menu,” said Marquis of the final example.
The chefs also showed how to use Patak’s pastes and sauces to create traditional Indian recipes and Indian recipes with a Western kick such as beef vindaloo and meatballs with pasta; chana masala and curry melon salad as well as butter chicken and butter chicken poutine.
The products’ consistency and versatility embody AB World Foods flavour profiles. “[It] doesn’t look artificial because we use actual butter and cream,” explained Sharma, speaking of the brand’s butter chicken sauce as an example. “We start from scratch and build up the product.”
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