Most chefs pilfer ideas and recipes from the best, but few admit it. Jeff Crump, executive chef of the postcard-perfect
Ancaster Old Mill dining room, has no such inhibitions. He’ll happily share the secrets he’s amassed on apprenticeships and
menu tastings in California, New York and London. Go ahead and call him a plagiarist, as long as you clean your plate.
Scroll over the circles for menu details
Inspired by: England’s sous-vide master, Heston Blumenthal.
How Crump got it: During a stage at the Michelin three-starred Fat Duck, Crump performed such tasks as eviscerating pigeons and cleaning snails from 8 a.m. till 11 p.m. each day. He prepares the eggs in this dish with Blumenthal’s technique.
Inspired by: Clog-sporting superchef Mario Batali.
How he got it: Crump and his staff were at the Spotted Pig when Batali pulled up on his scooter. After a few beers on the front step, he divulged his method for cooking gnudi: he buries ricotta balls in semolina flour
for two days, then gently poaches them in a shallow pan. Upon request, before leaving, he
autographed saucier Alexandra Feswick’s bare chest.
Inspired by: Farm-to-table maven Alice Waters.
How he got it: Crump did an externship in the late ’90s at Waters’ Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse. It was like boot camp, he says. “I peeled a ton of onions.” One of the few things Waters let him cook was her tomato confit, which
he adapted for this dish.
Inspired by: Legendary sushi master Nobu Matsuhisa via Rob Feenie.
How he got it: Crump first saw Feenie’s Canadianized version of Nobu’s dish in 1996 while working at Lumière in Vancouver. At Nobu’s London outpost last year, Crump met the L.A.-based chef and tasted the original. Back at home, he combined the two recipes, using Nobu’s sake, miso and soy, and Feenie’s maple syrup, then added his own touches: garlic and ginger.
Inspired by: Napa Valley chef Thomas Keller.
How he got it: Crump visited Keller last March while researching an upcoming cookbook on sustainable gastronomy. “Good food costs more to make and therefore is expensive,” Keller told him flatly. These profiteroles, based on Keller’s recipe, use organic ice cream and house-made caramel.
