Backcountry Smoke & Magic

In Heli-Ski, Lodge Life
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Words by Kevin Brooker

AS A GROUP, the CMH chef’s rank among the finest in Canada. They could easily find work in any top city hotel or restaurant of their choice. So why, other than for the skiing, would any of them decide to work in the remote B.C. backcountry?

“That’s easy,” says Rick Carswell, CMH Food and Beverage Manager. “It’s because they have complete independence. Unlike most kitchens, our chefs order the foods they want and create the dishes in exactly the way they want. They even go on personal shopping trips to the city each autumn to make sure they have all of the exotic spices and other ingredients they’ll need for the season.”

The policy extends to specialized kitchen equipment too, which is how, last October, to launch his second season at the Adamants, Richard “Smokie” Benson asked Carswell to procure for him what the aptly nicknamed chef views as an essential tool for conjuring his culinary magic: a Bradley electric food smoker.

“I’m one of those chefs who likes to push himself every day to do something adventurous,” explains Smokie. “The way I look at it is that the guests are out there getting the best skiing in the world, so I’d better be back here turning out food that can match that standard.”

Which is why, as you come and go at Adamants Lodge, you’ll catch the occasional whiff of smoldering apple or hickory wood as it subtly perfumes anything from nuts to fish to beef tenderloin.

“Over the past five or six years I’ve really gotten into creating amazing foods with smoke, and charcuterie in general,” says Benson, 33, a graduate of the Culinary Arts program at Camosun College in Victoria, B.C. “There are so many variables to play with, like whether to brine first or not, and the choice between cold or hot smoke.”

Benson’s undeniably low-tech little box is seldom without one delicacy or another: “Let’s see, I’ve smoked almonds, garlic, tomatoes, turkey, tuna and, of course, candied salmon.”

Not surprisingly, skiers love it. But it comes at a cost, says Smokie. “Ever since I started hickory-smoking the pork ribs for Tuesday’s rib and wing night—where I actually start the process three days in advance—I’ve had to just about double my order of meat. People go crazy for those ribs.”