Canada's Smartest Kitchen worked with Cornel Ceapa of Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar to develop a technical manual on using the whole sturgeon fish. The manual provides chefs with recipes and food photography showing how to use all parts of the sturgeon harvested for caviar, from meat to fins. Canada's Smartest Kitchen experts visited Ceapa's business to learn about sturgeon processing and taste different cuts. They then created a visually stunning manual to be distributed to chefs, helping promote the full utilization of sturgeon.

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You may find yourself choosing between grilled
sturgeon steaks with lemon-caper sauce or
traditional bouillabaisse with sturgeon carti-
lage, bone marrow, and belly meat on menus
across Canada in the months to come, and
that’s because of a new service that Canada’s
Smartest Kitchen has unveiled to meet a recent
client’s unique marketing needs.
Canada’s Smartest Kitchen (CSK) was estab-
lished in 2009 in response to the growing num-
ber of food processors needing help developing
innovative products. Located in Charlottetown,
CSK is a culinary powerhouse dedicated to
serving Atlantic Canadian SMEs, which have an
increasingly global reach due to their specialized
and highly demanded services. Their customizable
offerings include new food-product development,
creating targeted marketing plans, and leverag-
ing their wide range of industry connections for
industry-specific project consultation.
They’re constantly evolving to meet cus-
tomer needs, so when Cornel Ceapa of Acadian
Sturgeon and Caviar, Inc. presented CSK with an
obstacle he was facing in his marketplace, CSK
was quick to evaluate the issue and provide a
solution that resulted in a completely new service
offering.
It’s an understatement to say that Ceapa
loves sturgeon. After earning his PhD in stur-
geon biology, he relocated his family from
Romania to New Brunswick to settle on the
Saint John River and establish his sturgeon-
processing and aquaculture business. While it’s
well-known that the prehistoric sturgeon has the
capability to produce one of the most luxurious
and expensive food products on the market,
caviar, Ceapa believes that Atlantic sturgeon
meat is a remarkable, yet overlooked, food
product with versatile culinary applications.
“You don’t taste, you discover,” says Ceapa
of his catch. When he pursued selling sturgeon
to the same restaurants that ordered his famous
caviar, Ceapa recognized that his sales technique
faced a unique setback: the food service industry
appeared to have narrow use for the remaining
meat, a flavourful and nutrient-dense product
that’s harvested at the same time as caviar.
Ceapa wanted to change that notion and break
down the barriers to using the whole sturgeon.
He sought the expertise of CSK to develop a
technical manual that would provide chefs with a
detailed breakdown of the fish, including world-
class food photography and recipe development
using everything from caviar to fins.
The team of culinary and marketing experts at
CSK began by developing a detailed understand-
ing of Ceapa’s business and the marketplace, the
first step in their proprietary SMART Process for
product development. Ceapa and his wife, Dorina,
met with the CSK team on the Charlottetown
waterfront in CSK’s state-of-the-art demonstration
kitchen to showcase the wide applications for the
fish. After tasting and better understanding how
to incorporate the product, team members then
embarked on a “Sturgeon 101” trip to Carter’s
Point on the Saint John River for first-hand experi-
ence catching and processing sturgeon.
Award-winning chef and food stylist Jennifer
Bryant was on hand to witness the family busi-
ness in action. “It was amazing to see these giant
CANADA’S SMARTEST KITCHEN
Playing to the Island’s strength
Canada’s Smartest Kitchen keeps Atlantic Canada at the forefront of the global food and beverage industry
fish go directly from the water to the processing
plant, a process that took only a few hours and
resulted in a fresh high-quality product,” she
says. Together with her team at CSK, resources
were assembled into a visually stunning technical
manual to be distributed in late 2015. End users
of the manual will be able to quickly gauge which
cuts of sturgeon best meet their needs and how
to prepare it for their menus, along with a thor-
ough background on how the fish is harvested.
CSK remains on the cutting edge of food-
product development and industry innovation in
Canada and continues to meet its clients’ diverse
needs by tapping into their access to Red Seal
chefs, instructors, and students at the Culinary
Institute of Canada. From enhanced beverages to
technical manuals and recipe formulations to sen-
sory evaluations, Canada’s Smartest Kitchen keeps
Atlantic Canada at the forefront of the global food
and beverage industry. — EMILEE SORREY
SECTOR: Food and beverages
MISSION: To be a culinary powerhouse
for innovative food companies looking for unique
recipes to build their brands and enhance
product development
KEY PARTNERS: Holland College and
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
MILESTONE: Being named the first
NSERC Technology Access Centre in Atlantic
Canada in 2012
VISIT: smartestkitchen.ca
AT A GLANCE
Cornel Ceapa,Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar
KRISTAMACQUARRIE