The Dream Maker

I suffering through what one might describe as a cold of monumental proportions. It has knocked me for six over the last couple of nights and I am in dire straits the following tok place late last night while fighting the evils of being wide awake with a head cold…enjoy.

It is late at night and I’m wide awake. Staring blankly at the ceiling waiting for sleep to come - but it is no use – I’m so awake, I’m wired for sound.

What to do to cure this dreaded insomnia? Tossing and turning does me no good. With each roll in the blankets my wife shifts a bit and wakes just a little more. Time to get up and come up with a plan to get back to sleep.

Getting something to eat would work. But I’m not hungry.

A warm glass of milk? Uh uh. Not my thing either. I want a good solid way to relax and get the sleep needed. It’s time to pull out the big guns - it’s time for the hot toddy.

The origin of the hot toddy comes from Scotland. It referred to a “mixed drink served hot”.

Of the many variants there is always an alcohol component (whiskey, brandy or rum), a hot liquid (generally tea), a sweetener (honey or sugar) and a citrus (lemon or orange).

I have been told that if consumed – um, vigorously, it is guaranteed to put you flat on your back. So off I go to score the perfect Insomniac’s TKO, and my commentary on how it all went down.

Hot Toddy

1 teabag of black tea ( I chose decaffeinated to help me sleep)

2 oz whiskey - use what you have. I had a single malt on hand but a blend is just as good.

1 1 /2 tsp brown sugar

1 round slice of lemon.

Boil the kettle. Fill the cup3 /4 of the way over the tea, lemon and sugar and steep for a couple of minutes.

Remove the teabag and add the whiskey.

This is how it worked:

The first sip - ow! Super hot. I think I burned myself. Nope. The lemon and the whiskey are working in harmony. I can feel the relaxing properties of the whiskey. Bless the Scots for this invention!

Second sip –. It slithers down my throat and it is very warming. I can feel it as it makes its way down into my stomach. It is a funny sensation.

Third sip - no pain here. Shoulders are relaxing and I am getting a little sleepy. This is working.

Fourth Sip - not much left. Lots of sugar. Should have stirred it a bit more. The sugar is not helping things here at all.

The warmth is like a blanket. Everything is a little fuzzy but not dangerously so. I think this is going to work. When it was all over I slept – like a log.

The verdict is that for me, a hot toddy works - really well. A bit of a warning though. It dries you out the next day and it has the potential to become a hangover of immense proportions. My advice is to have a lot of water on standby when you wake up after your toddy induced sleep. It is not something to use every night to put you to sleep – but in a pinch, a hot toddy will work wonders. When you can’t sleep the hot toddy can become the stuff of which dreams are made.

When good wines turn bad

I love summer. It is the time when we all get outside and enjoy the short warm season we euphemistically call Summer.

We’ve had a lot of rain and really, pretty horrible weather as of late. However, those sunny days produce warmth that is unequalled. With very low humidity due to our omnipresent breezes, we enjoy all the heat of summer, without the need for in-house AC.

While we might love the sun, there can be casualties.

I experienced one of them this week and it made me sad.

Wine is a living thing. It is made through a process of growing the fruit, harvesting the fruit and then fermenting the fruit to produce alcohol.

I am often asked the question – how do you know when a bottle of wine is bad? Until now, I only really knew the general idea behind a “corked” bottle of wine. In order to fully understand this problem you have to understand the wine making process as a whole. It is an interesting process, and one which I didn’t really give much thought to until I opened a bottle of wine this week.

As I said, wine is a living thing. When on the vine the grapes grow like any other fruit, basking in the sun, and defining the sugar content of the fruit with each passing day. When harvested, the grapes, still warm from the radiant heat of the sun, are picked in clusters ready for crushing.

Crushing, as in days gone by was done manually, with feet. Modern techniques employ large crushing machines which mechanically crush and de-stem the grapes saving countless man hours of work.

When this is over the fermentation begins with yeasts and sugar as the 2000 year old alchemy of wine making begins in earnest, converting simple sugars into complex alcohols. This step can take up to 30 days to complete. Sweeter wines are stopped early, leaving residual sugars to carry sweetness. Dry wines require all the sugar is consumed during fermentation.

Then comes the filtering, where sediment and residual yeasts are removed from the process and the final product is ready to be bottled.

Then bottling and cellaring begin the final journey from plant to palate.

It is at this stage when things can potentially go wrong.

Real corks in bottles were once part of living trees and sometimes can be exposed to micro organisms which attack and eat the cork. A wine is said to be “corked” when a wine comes in contact with a contaminated cork.

These little organisms can turn a wine into something unmistakably bad – depending on how it is made it could smell like wet cardboard or even the pong of old, smelly socks. Reds lose their deep colour and begin turning brown around the edges, and whites tend to lean towards a tan colour.

But wines can suffer fates far worse than being corked. This past weekend I had my eye on a Canadian Wine – a Baco Noir from an Ontario winery. My wife picked it up some days ago and it sat, comfortably on our kitchen table. While not sitting in direct sunlight it did catch some daily rays and it probably suffered for being mistreated and not kept in a humidity controlled environment.

However, I didn’t think anything of it – I was completely oblivious until I cracked it open on Saturday night ready to pair it with a char-grilled steak. The kitchen smelled like a bakery – fresh yeast to be exact. It took only one sip to confirm the truth – the wine had gone through a re-fermentation. A small amount of the yeast from the fermentation process stayed the bottle and the warmth of the sun woke up the dormant cells creating the unmistakable smell of yeast.

I knew I had made a blunder once the cork was out – I hadn’t taken the time to look after the wine – get it in storage and get it out of the heat. So that you don’t face the same fate, here are some other things to consider:

Storage of wine is crucial. Keep the bottle horizontal, out of direct sunlight and in a cool place.

Wines breathe naturally – their shelf life once open, even if in a refrigerator, is only a couple of days. After that, the aromas and distinctly unique characteristics of the wine will fade to blandness.

Following these easy steps sometimes seems like extra effort, but it can prevent good wines from going bad.

Originally written in July 2007

Of Family and Christmas Yet to Come

Christmas is the time when family and friends gather ’round the table to celebrate family – and the true meaning of the holidays. For me, I am a traditionalist – I love the time when we see extended family for the first time since last Christmas. I have these dreams of the Norman Rockwell traditional holiday. People darting in from across the country – converging on my folks home and all taking the time to celebrate the holidays together – as a family.

My mom has always wanted that large familial gathering – with her home being the hub and hive of activity. We’re getting there.
My sister and her family come home every other year and they come home real soon. The boys are 3 and 5 – and they are a lot of fun when they come to visit. To me, the cacophony of children running around on a sugar bender married with the clinking of glasses and good cheer is what makes Christmastime unlike any other holiday in the year. It is the sounds of children being children – and adults acting like children.

My mom is getting ready like the quartermaster of the army – checking and rechecking…and checking again for good measure to make sure nothing is left to chance and no one is without anything over the holidays.

With my wife by my side we’re set – well, almost.

The tree, culled from my annual Christmas tree hunt with the boys is up, but not decorated. Christmas shopping is wrapping up – so far, the internet gets most of my thanks. The food is coming in bit by bit – entertaining is a costly thing so we have to take our time with it. So, we can say, like most of our friends “we’re pretty much done” – and the waiting begins for the big day.

I am now sad.

I have very little to do before Christmas day. Not much last minute shopping – no sneaking of presents into the house at the last minute. No eleventh hour sweating that I haven’t found the perfect present.

My wife is the baker – so Saturday she is going to be making Thumbprint Cookies, a staple of the house since we got married. One Candy Cane Cake – as a special request from her mom this year.

Somehow I feel left out. I’m not cooking. I’m not baking. I seem to be in charge of the bar stock – rum, gin, vermouth, vodka, beer of all sorts, scotch, wines (red white and sparkling), sherry ( for my mom), port. Apple liquor for apple martinis, fruits for fruit smoothies ( The hit of last Christmas at our home). Eggnog for aforementioned rum. We’re so set, all I can do is think about what nibbles to have. Try this one: Smoked Salmon mousse in tortilla cups.

Flour tortillas
Mini muffin tins.
1/4 cup melted butter
1 pkg cream cheese
1/2 side smoked salmon
1 lemon.
1 bunch of dill.

Using a cookie cutter cut out rounds to line the mini muffin tins. I like using a 2.5 inch cutter as it leaves enough of the sides to slightly flute in the cups.
Brush each cup with some melted butter. Bake in a 350 degree oven until golden around the edges.

Take out of the pans and let cool. Bake off as many as you need. I use 24-30 for this recipe.
Put cream cheese, and salmon in a food processor.
Add zest of lemon and 1/2 the juice.
Process until almost smooth.
Transfer mixture into a 1L plastic zip-lock bag. Cut 1/8 in off the tip.
Pipe mixture into the tortilla cups.
Garnish with a dill frond. Continue with the rest of the cups.
Serve with a crisp Chardonnay or Sauvignon blanc.

The thing about family is that whatever you decide to make as a tasty treat is always appreciated. Be sure to not stress yourself out too much. Find things that are pre-made to help lighten the work load – I will be.

There is no harm in giving in and letting someone else do some of the heavy lifting of food preparation, after all, like the gifts under the tree – it is the thought that counts.

Have fun. Live well and enjoy the holidays.

Copyright 2008 Unlawful disseminaton of this or any other writing with out expressed written consent will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

A.A Gill is brillaint…again

I think I have said it before but A.A Gill is a brilliant writer.  His recent review of Le Cafe Anglais, in London is one of the funnier ones he as written in some time. In fact, some of the funniest bits comes at the end -  the comments are funny too.

If only I could write like that…

All I want for Christmas is food porn

My collection started a while ago. It started with one book. It was large and robust and too big to fit on the shelf. I found it in a library.

I took it home and I read it cover to cover – in bed. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was seductive and sensual and visually appealing. The pictures were beguiling – entrancing – and mouth watering.

I kept that book for weeks. I couldn’t let it go back. The library called, said it would suspend my account. To hell with them – I’m keeping the book!!

But I acquiesced – I gave in. I paid the fines and sent it back. I was sad and bereft – they took my cook book away. They took away my food porn. So I bought the book.

Food porn consists of cook books (specifically) whose presentation of the pictures is as appealing as the writing or the recipes themselves. Most of my cook books fall into this category.

The book which started my collection - The French Laundry Cook Book. This book is about Thomas Keller and his famed restaurant in the Napa Valley. His food has been described as the perfect representation of French cooking. He is bold and funny, and his technique is unequalled.

The French Laundry is the perfect food porn book – sexy pictures of perfectly plated food paired with recipes so deep and complex it would take an army of chefs to create even one dish. That’s what food porn is – food that you drool over, because for the majority of us hard-core foodies, we’re not going to be able to eat there. Why?

Well, the restaurant is in California and they take reservations 3 months out. Looking for the Valentines night special occasion? Forget it; it’s been booked since November. That’s why I turn to food porn – you get all the stimulation but you have to do the work yourself – it’s a cook book after all.

Books like The French Laundry are carefully crafted to bring a balance of writing and presentation. Looking at the cookbooks you’ll find it is possible to recreate this intricate and beguiling food - it just takes a whole lot of time, even for a seasoned professional.

On the other side of the food porn world are books filled with luxurious language, prompting you to squeeze every morsel out of the seductive side of food. No one does it any better than Nigella Lawson.

Her writing style is mouth-watering – her words sound pornographic – meltingly, squooshy, dollop, unctuous, luscious – these words punctuate her writing. Her latest cook book release Feast: Food that Celebrates Life is no exception.

What I love about her cook books is that, unlike the meticulous nature of the French Laundry book, her food is not elevated, tweaked or cajoled into submission. Her food is simple and easy to prepare but certainly no lighter in fat or flavour. The pictures within are not twisted and ring moulded into place – it is food we can all cook. She lovingly refers to most dishes as comfort food.

These books of food porn work in two different ways. I enjoy the painstakingly tedious nature of The French Laundry – jewels of colour, elevated from the plate, constructed with the intricacy of a Swiss watch maker. This is the food that chefs drool over. It is so very complex that it challenges us to say “I can do that too”. On the other side I enjoy the writing of the Lawson series: “…the layers of sponge, with their crisp-carapaced squashy-bellied meringue topping are sandwiched with tart lemon curd and softly whipped cream, so much better than a lemon meringue pie could ever be.” With writing like that, who wouldn’t want to have it for night time reading?

Food is life. It is bold and exciting and feeds and nourishes us. The more passion we have for new and exciting food, in whatever form you choose – the more pleasure you’ll find in your cooking.

Copyright 2008 Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work wothout expressed written consent will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Practical Equipment: Pt 1: It Cuts Like a Knife

Fingers bent. Thumb and pinkie finger tucked behind them and the middle finger is your guide.

These words echo through my mind like it was yesterday. Maybe it was, my memory was always terrible.

These were the fist words that you hear in the basics of knife techniques when first going to culinary school. This is followed by the inevitable tour to the first aid station. A knife, used properly, is a powerful tool.

An investment in a good knife is like making a relationship commitment. There has to be a good fit between the two and there has to be an understanding that you will look after each other for a long time.

When first buying a knife you have to look at what it is going to be used for. For the record, do not, I repeat, do not go out and buy a butchers block which contains 30 knives for 30 bucks, because I can guarantee you that they are crap.

The main things you have to look for are quality, price and the amount of use it is going to receive. And hen these criteria are established you should get a paring knife, a chef’s knife (also called a French knife) a serrated bread knife and a steel. These four tools can do just about everything in a kitchen and they will always work as long as you look after them.

For the professional chef, these are the tools of the trade, and they are just that: tools. Like a carpenter who buys professional grade tools, so too does the professional chef and the best thing is that professional chef’s knives are in the realm of all users.

Buying the knife is a painful task on its own as they come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colours, weights, lengths and metal compositions. So the best way around worrying about all that is to set a budget for a knife and start there.

A good quality French knife with a full tang (metal which runs the full length of the knife and through the handle) and will last, if maintained with a steel, a lifetime, can cost in excess of $100. But consider it an investment in your culinary journey.

Metal compositions are next and there are more to choose from.

Vanadium Steel: 21^st Century technology bonds Vanadium (a composite soft metal) to steel. The softer metal allows for surgical equipment looks and makes a wicked edge, however, a softer metal means its edge which is easy to maintain has to be maintained more often than a harder steel edge.

Carbon steel: Solid grade steel but will go black if water sits on it. Chinese cleavers are known to be made of carbon steel. Must wipe down immediately after each and every use or your brand new knife will look rusted and old in seconds flat.

Stainless Steel: Standard for most culinarians. Hard steel is more difficult to put an edge on but the hard steel composition allows that edge to last longer than average. Also, like the name implies, this knife will not stain and is a good steel for all users.

Ceramic: Popularised by Fusion Chef, Ming Tsai, the ceramic knife is akin to buying a Ferrari for a daily driver. Everyone knows it is fast and good looking but when it breaks, you might as well forget about repairing it as it is almost cheaper to buy again new. So too with the ceramic knife, it is very hard and scalpel sharp which requires no honing to maintain an edge, but if you as little as drop it onto a ceramic tile floor and that 300-500 dollar knife could shatter into hundreds of pieces. Ceramic is not flexible and can chip too. This is a knife for those who can afford to have one, and have the patience to be careful with it at all times.

As for manufacturers, I would stick to the ones with a reputation for quality. The biggest manufacturers of serious hardware are: Wusthof (pronounced VOO-stof, German), Henckels (German), Global (Japanese), Sabatier (French), and Sanelli (Italian).

These manufacturers are all very serious and make knives for the culinary professional but all have different characteristics. The best course of action is to go to a store who service people in the trade. They have the expertise to point you in the right direction. Also don’t be afraid to ask to give the knife a dry run. Try the knife in your hand, is it too big, too mall or even too heavy. The best advice is to get the biggest knife your hand will use comfortably and when buying your tools, don’t be afraid to mix and match manufacturers. For example I use a Henckels Professional Chef’s knife, but the best fish filleting knife is made by Global as it is flexible. Buy the best tool to give you the best performance and you will never be disappointed. As for a steel to maintain your edge, just remember, that Diamonds are forever and a Diamond steel will hone a lifetime.

—–end

Copyright 2008, Unlawful dissemination of this or any other writing will be punished to the full extent of the law

Out of the frying pan

Ed note: I originally wrote this in the middle of the summer. Now it is blowing a gale and we’re in for some snow any time now. But think waram French thoughts and enjoy.

—

As I sit, uncomfortably at this small computer, hunting and pecking my way around the keys, I am sweating. Not just a little bit, but I mean big honking gobs of sweat. I know this is a bit graphic, but there is a reason why I am subjecting you to this torture. You see this fine weather we are having here on the island is like nothing I have experienced before in my lifetime living here. It is hot and muggy (what the locals refer to as “close”). This high humidity coupled with no wind (another rarity) means we are suffering though 35 degree heat. This is weather I was trying to escape while I was living in On-terrible.

The heat makes me cranky. I can’t sleep (nor can my wife when I can’t sleep, God love her) and I am an a relatively foul mood because of it, and to top it all off, I have had the strangest food cravings for the past couple days and it is driving me bananas.

When it gets hot I can’t do much of anything. This was a problem when I was working in kitchens as they get, I am told, very hot while you are in them. So I drink a lot of water but that is not satisfying to me. So I drink tea: Hot Tea. This is wonderful as it does cool the body somewhat. (I have an Indian friend who swears by hot tea on the hottest of days to keep you cool…who knew?). Then my mind turns to food.

Now not all food is good for the summer heat waves. We had a delicious stir fry last night that my wife made but I was craving French food today so I whipped up biftek avec haricot vert et vinagaire moutarde. (Roughly translated as steak with green beans and mustard vinaigrette) Here’s the how you do it.

1 steak ( I had a thin piece of sirloin), 1 cm thick

1 lb green beans, trimmed both ends

1tbs Dijon mustard

1tbs red wine vinegar

6 tbs olive oil

1 minced shallot

1 tsp caper berries

salt and pepper

1 Get a pot of water boiling for the beans. Remember to season the water with 1 tsp salt (kosher)

2. Heat pan over moderate heat.

While things are heating up, combine mustard and vinegar in a bowl and combine with a whisk. Then slowly drizzle in the oil to make an emulsion. When the dressing has come together, add the minced shallot and the capers and fold them through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. When water is boiling, add the beans in one go. Return to boil and boil for 5 min. Or until fork tender.

4. Season both sides of the steak and drizzle 1tsp of oil on one side of the steak. Place the steak in pan and sear for 2 mins. Turn and cook for 1 more min. Remove from pan and let to rest for 2 min.

5. When beans are cooked to doneness, drain and put immediately into vinaigrette and toss to coat.

6. Cut beef into strips across the grain and put on plate, serve with generous pile of haricot vert, and enjoy. (Serves 2)

—–end

Waiter Rant

Waiter Rant is one of the most anticipated “blogger’s books” to come out in a long time.

If you are in, or have been in the service industry for any length of time this book, which was once a real time blog was manditory reading. Not only was it witty and interesting but it was sad and real.  The writing style is just as front of house would see it. Now outed, this waiter has a lot to say and it seems like it might do really well in the food service sector.  This is the place to go when you are interested in buying the book

Cooking (more than) in the Kitchen

The restaurant industry is, as many writers and industry professionals will attest, filled with the fringe element.  You have to be a bit bonkers in the beginning to even want to step into the hounds-tooth pants and white jacket.

While most of the rest of the world is busy having fun -  the kitchen is at its busiest.  Like now, coming into what can only be described as the silly season for the culinary world.

As a case in point, when i was in industry I “worked the line” at a private dining club. That being said I spent many, many hours preparing, plating, cleaning and shouting over others in the brigade.  I remember a brunch – hell for anyone – where I peeled and de-veined several thousand shrimp in the middle of service because the restaurant manager “got a deal” on them and wanted to make a quick buck. Bent over a sink I was arm deep in shrimp innards for hours -  but such is the life.  This was the same place where I had a chef walk out on Christmas day service with no notice, a sous chef who listened to death metal music at ear splitting levels (for an accurate demonstration of this type of music place a large pot over your head and and practice primal screaming and you get the idea), and walked into the kitchen for an early breakfast service to find the owner’s son making hash brownies in our kitchen because of the industrial venting it provided – all in one place.

Then it comes to no surprise that Chefs and Sex is a no brainer. Enjoy.