Chef James Eddington opened his first restaurant, Eddington’s, in 1997 in Exeter, Ontario at just 19 years old! Always committed to sourcing the best product locally when possible, he purchased a farm in 2015, in part to supply his own restaurant. Today, he uses his own farm product, especially for specialty crops like blood peaches, arctic kiwis, apples, pears, and plums, which are all unique to the region and hard to find elsewhere. In 2016, Chef James started a collaboration with Chef’s Table Culinary Tours, leading culinary tours from Costa Rica to France, Italy, and this year, Portugal! The group visits restaurants and food purveyors, and he leads hands-on cooking classes with dinners along the way. We caught up with Chef for a quick Q&A:
Obviously you’re an advocate for local foods, as you have your own farm. How did you get inspired by lamb from Australia?
As a chef our job is to find the best product, and especially with consistent high quality. While there is some great lamb here in Canada, Australia has the advantage of being able to pasture-raise all year round. That makes for a beautiful, high-quality, consistent product that I can serve with confidence and pride every night. Once I got to try it out and cook with it, I was hooked!
You had the opportunity to see Australian lamb farms first-hand. Any lasting impressions from that trip?
I think the scale is something that’s hard to comprehend until you see it. We’re not talking about 100 acre or even 1000 acre farms…these are 30 square miles. The rotational grazing, natural lifestyle for the animals, and above all the care that goes into it from the pasture to the butchery was outstanding, and so different from what we typically see. This is lamb raised right!
What do you like about being an Aussie Lambassador?
Seeing the support that Australian Lamb provides to chefs is incredible. Hosting events, helping bring the public in, answering questions…helping the chefs feel valued and important. That counts for a lot! These days chefs can buy anything from anywhere… it’s the connection that counts.
What are some of your “go-tos” when creating dishes with lamb?
Racks are obvious, especially in the summer. We’ll do shanks in the winter. I find the shoulder is super versatile – braised and pulled for pastas, or done up Latin style for Taco Tuesdays. There is something about the classics, though — I remember the first time I enjoyed a glass of red wine as a young cook, it was with a rack of lamb. That pairing is just magic, and can make a taste memory that will last a lifetime.
One of the advantages of Eddington’s is the space for events, and you often host events for chefs featuring Aussie lamb. You did a lamb event out at the farm for Bastille day last year — tell us about that!
We are hosting another Aussie Meat Academy event May 25 at the farm, and I’ll be doing demos and cooking alongside 3 other Aussie Lambassadors from Canada – Chef Matt Rosen and Chef Scott Smith from Toronto, and Chef David Godsoe from Ottawa. It’s going to be #aussome!
For RestoBiz readers, if you’d like an invite to the upcoming event, fill out the form at the link, or drop a line to [email protected] to see if you qualify.
