Everybody talks about using local food and buying local – but the Breadalbane Inn here actually does it.
The results are a WOW award from the association of Ontario’s Finest Inns. It was presented last month at a gala in Huntsville.
Innkeeper Peter Egger said on Monday his inn uses local produce that includes duck from the Fergus area, goat cheese from Arthur, locally grown Smoid potatoes, an ostrich farm in Rockwood, and beef and pork from Harriston Packers. That beef and pork is hormone additive free.
Anyone thinking it is easy to provide local produce at a restaurant can think again. Egger’s inn runs its own butcher shop, and he buys a whole cattle carcass for steaks, hamburger, steak and kidney pie and other recipes.
He said that it is difficult for a farmer to simply supply a restaurant with the steaks it needs, because the farmer is stuck with the rest of the meat. This way, he can buy the entire beef.
He added the Breadalbane smokes its own bacon and pork loins. Legs are used for schnitzel, and Harriston Packers smokes the rest of the pork.
“The menu is designed so we can utilize it all. And, he said, it helps that he has two other restaurants to supply.
“We use the different cuts,” he said. “Probably the greatest challenge for a farmer is he can’t sell two strip loins. They need to be able to ship the entire animal.”
Initially, it is a challenge to get the restaurant and a supplier in sync. “It takes a little time for the grower and the supplier to meet the need and make it work.”
When it comes to fruits and vegetables, he tries to not only buy locally, but also in season.
The inn also uses local drinks, and the Breadalbane offers a wide variety of VQA Ontario wines. The inn’s impressive collection of single malt scotch is imported – because it can be made only in the British Isles or it is not legally scotch.
Executive Assistant Mary Ralston said that as for the rest of the food on offer, “Our entire menu is made in house.” The Breadalbane has its own bakery, too.
Egger said, “We’re working on our culinary progress. We have two apprentices.”
The Breadalbane also has Executive Chef Matthew Foote, who has worked at a number of top restaurants in Ontario, including the Westin Harbour Castle, Scaramouche, The Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, and Langdon Hall near Kitchener.
“It is my sincere desire to cook with my parents’ spirit of hospitality; skill that makes my wife swoon, and the logic of my brother,” says Foote. “Most importantly, I am never too serious to cook for my children.”
Foote’s passion for local ingredients matches that of Egger’s, creating a winning combination that led to the award. The Breadalbane won its first Ontario’s Finest Inns award for using local food against 48 other inns within that association. Ralston said there is quite a competition and a very rigourous inspection to determine each year’s winners. Judges do not just drop in for dinner. They come for an overnight stay and get a sense of the establishment from several perspectives before providing their marks.
Egger said there is another advantage for him and for the Breadalbane Inn in buying locally. Because he buys directly from the suppliers there are no middlemen taking a cut. That allows him to set lower menu prices.
Ralston said, “People tend to think we’re expensive, but we’re not.”
