My New Journey

There is always something going on and by that I always have to keep myself busy. I have taken a new career approach with my cooking, which is stepping in the classroom to work with high school students. So far it’s been quite a trip! I am new to this type of environment. I’m used to working with people who have some general understanding of how to cook and work in a kitchen, but these kids are fresh as spring daisies, so I have to slow my role. I need to guide these budding “culinarians” in the proper ways of being successful because if they do decide to take it to the college level or into the professional level what they learn through me will definitely help long-term.

 It all starts and ends with the basics, easy to learn systems that will take a lifetime to master, never mind the quick dicing and slicing, the flipping of vegetables sautéing in a pan with flames bursting in the air, that’s all flair. Us chefs call those “chops” and they come with time.

The most important thing to me is organization and the cleanliness of the kitchen.  Those skills will be a factor in most people’s success or failure as a chef. Some kids will go right into a culinary program out of high school, graduate then hope right into a place and start cooking.  Personally, it wasn’t so easy when I started. At first, I didn’t want to pursue cooking on that level, but I always worked as a cook or in the industry, so I knew it was a skill that I should master and get all my credentials.

I started as a busboy, clearing tables, putting away food orders, stacking plates, folding napkins, taking out garbage, cleaning bottoms of garbage pails, mopping floors, running around for cooks and servers. Then I worked my way into dishwashing, where its hot, wet, loud and fast paced. From there I was peeling potatoes and other simple tasks, such as, cleaning vegetables, chopping and learning basic knife skills. The experience and knowledge I gained from these entry-level positions helped me grow in a way that can’t be taught in school. I learned how to move in a kitchen, how to respect equipment, how to work with a team.  Later in my career when I became a chef/business owner I really got to know how important these little jobs are. I hope to inspire these kids and pass down my knowledge.

I am still learning. Like I said, working in the classroom has been a whole new experience for me, and it also gets me back to the basics. So I’m enjoying it and I can’t wait to see what new things I’ll be learning on this new journey. One thing I’m enjoying is the free time.  I am able to sit back and think about food and techniques, and focus on building and honing my own personal skills without having to commit to working long hours cooking late into the nights working at some restaurant.

 One of my colleagues recommended this book that’s been resting on my nightstand. I have heard of this book and seen it on many of my fellow chefs’ shelves. Also, I am very fond of the author, a chef/restaurateur. The book is called, ‘Ad Hoc’ by Thomas Keller of French Laundry. It’s a great read. It’s a thick book with a lot of detailed photos and recipes and super easy to follow. This is and example of Chef Thomas Keller toned down, no sous vide, no fancy garnishes, its simple home cooked goodness. It shows off a lot of great techniques for the beginner or even a chef who needs to get back to his roots. It even has some stuff for the more adventurous home cook to try. Also, for decorative purposes, it would look nice sitting on a shelf in your kitchen or even on your coffee table. I’ll end today’s blog with a clip of Chef Thomas Keller roasting a perfectly a chicken. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWLt6G85zC4

Taking the Time.

Family and Friends,

Maybe I’m old fashioned or maybe I’m just lucky, but having the ability to have a meal at home with family or close friends is one of life’s most amazing joys! I understand that not everyone has the opportunity to be able to do this, but if you’re one of the lucky ones, you should make the best of this opportunity.

Food is the most universal means of communication. Sharing food around a table is what makes us who we are and is what helps us share our stories. Remember, you are what you eat. Taking the time to make it happen shouldn’t be an afterthought, and it doesn’t matter what’s on the table either. We should all take the time to get together. Even order a take-out pizza a step in the right direction to bring a family and friends together especially after a week of life’s ups and downs.

If you’re planning on getting a family dinner night going, or just want to get a group of good friends together on a weekly rotating basis, I suggest keeping it simple. Even the most talented career chefs do it this way, plus no one likes a show off! Do a simple, quick and economical dish like pasta. This can feed a large group of people with a few ingredients. The use of 2 pots, a strainer, cutting board and a knife, as well as a serving dish, and a few plates are all it takes.

How about pick a recipe from a cookbook or recipe online? Also, you can assign jobs such as the chef, sous chef, dish, waiter and bartender (for the adult crowd). Then every week change the order of the jobs. The chef this week, is the dishwasher next week, and the next week chef is in charge of getting the menu together and so forth. Think about all the great photos you could take for your social media. It’s just some food for thought: take time to make time for food because rich or poor, time is the one thing we all have, so make the best of it!

This got me excited!  Lately, I’ve been lucky enough to have a little extra time on my hands! This gave me a change to dive into making batches of all grain beers at home.  They are small 1 gallon batches of beer mostly ales. I might try my hand at a lager eventually when I have more space to store it. Also, I would love to be able to have a sampling of my beers available for my own personal dining club. That’s something I’m looking forward to. It would save so much money and it’s a fun thing to do on a Saturday night, especially when the days get shorter and nights get colder! I would almost set it up like a dart league. Yeah! A diners league and we would have a season! The season would run from September to April and don’t ask me why!! But that’s just a thought!

On another note: What have I been reading this week? I took a trip to a flea market the other week in search of some records and cookbooks. I came up lucky on this book called, ‘The Gourmets Canada’ by Sondra Gotlieb. It’s an older book printed in 1972. It has been quite an interesting read especially, for being 43 years old.

Before I begin, I must mention an interesting quote in the book. With most vintage books having a sort off a price tag on them, this one says quote “what with the galloping inflation, all the prices cited by Sondra Gotlieb are probably even now a thing of the past!” That should give you an idea of the style of writing in this book before even reading it! Basically, its about Sondras’ travels from coast to coast eating, and learning about Canadian restaurants and culture in a time when Canada really didn’t even have one! She’s kind of like the ‘Diners, Drives-Ins and Dives’ of her time. She even goes on to critique restaurants on décor and menu pricing that from today’s standpoint have long been closed and forgotten. I must say its a pretty interesting read nonetheless. It’s almost like a ghost book of restaurants past. It even has a wine list with prices, a Chateau Rothschild being a very high-end bottle of juice for $9.45 Canadian, wow! Imagine having that in a cellar stored away somewhere? The book shares a few recipes from her travels as well. However, this book has more meaty reading material, which I love! I would say check it out or yourself, but I am not sure how you would find a copy. You maybe lucky and stumble across it just like I did!

As for Beer, this week I was able to get into a couple gigs for ‘Toronto Beer Week.’ I found myself wandering the same road, drinking the same old favorites like Sawdust City, and Indie Ale House. I was at an IPA beer event as well at the Lansdowne Brewery, which is not actually brewing their own beer yet, but will be in the near future.

For those not familiar with IPA which stands for India Pale Ale, a style of beer created in Britain which is stronger in alcohol and hop taste, was a beer made for transporting long journeys many years ago to British troops in India. I really wish I took a journal with me some times when I am trying these beers, and going to these events, because for some reason I have a hard time remembering them! Even the beers at the IPA tasting event it was very hard to tell them apart after a while. But who wants to be that guy in the corner taking notes when I should be enjoying myself?

I just wanted to take this time to thank all my readers and lovers of food. Remember to:

“Inspire locally to create and let the sound of music fill your plate!”

                                                                         – Chef HomieSmiles

 Till next week, Cheers!!

For the Love of Craft Beer!

For those who know me, I am a lover of craft beers! I love everything about them from the craftsmanship, the tastes, the cool designs on the bottles, its origin or where they are brewed, the stories that sometime appear on the bottles, the recipes that are created with the beers, the ingredients used in making them, and the dishes they pair well with.

 I may sound snobby or snooty like I don’t appreciate a domestic lager, or don’t invite me over for a drink because I only like those weird beers, but that’s not the case, I believe there is a time and place for everything.

What I am a fan of is culture and lifestyle. It seems the craft beer scene has that and more. I have drank craft beers in the east coast of Canada, Chicago but mostly here in Ontario where we have a very vast and diverse scene. Toronto/GTA seems like every burrow has its own brew shop.

Just North of home, in Barrie, there is Flying Monkeys, Barnstromer Brewpub, Gravenhurst has Sawdust City, Bracebridge has Muskoka Brewery, Baysville has Lake of Bays, South River has Highlander Brew Co., and that’s just to name a few.

You would think all these craft brew makers would be in a constant cutthroat competition, but they all work together. They help each other, they all share the same goal and passion, and they are also the small guys fighting for a bigger cause; to give us the consumer a choice. It is good to know as a consumer where our spent beer monies go, and it’s great to see that it goes to these hardworking individuals that make it all happen.

Enjoying a craft beer is one thing, but brewing one is a whole new experience all together.

This week, I decided I wanted to brew my own batch from scratch. I have had homebrew before, usually in Newfoundland leading up to Christmas time, to save a bit off money homebrew is the way to go. Usually it’s a kit, add water to some kind of premixed base boil it let cool, add some yeast then let it ferment, bottle, then done! I wasn’t a fan. I wanted it to do it all.

I remember when I was a teen and my dad brought home a case of Steamwhistle.  When I started enjoying beers, all I saw was regular domestic brown bottle beers, Molson or Labbatts, and when he came home with this green suit case style box, I was intrigued. The bottles were unique, a different shape altogether, and the caps popped off. It was so interesting to me! It just looked good! It looked like someone took a lot of care in putting this together. The packaging, the visual imagery was very appealing. My eyes had me sold before I could even drink it (legally as well). Needless to say, it only contained 4 ingredients: water, hops, grain, yeast. Wow! I never knew then what seed had just been planted in my brain. I was attracted to craftsmanship before I knew what it even meant!

Once I was legal drinking age, I went on a tour of the Steamwhistle Brewery. That was the first of many tours that it got to the point where I almost knew the tour word for word. It was funny when the guide got tired of me finishing off his sentences, smartass!  

My love for craft beer started when I was in culinary school doing the in-class portion of my apprenticeship, and we had to do a wine program. It was a bunch of us hooligans getting our buzz-on first thing in the morning, and of course I always swallowed never spat. We always filled our glasses more than we were suppose too for tastings (cooks)! My final project was a written review of 3 different bottles of wines from different grape growing regions in the world, and I stated my case to the instructor that I am a beer guy! I am interested only in craft beers. I wasn’t passionate about it, and that’s the first line of the paper. To this day, I have that paper buried in a box somewhere. The instructor, who was also in the wine business appreciated my honesty, and thought it was cool because the craft beer scene was on the verge of exploding!

So now, here I am, 12 years later of legally drinking beer, about to brew my first batch of all grain beer. All I have ever known about brewing was that it is a very precise and complicated scientific procedure. It requires skill and knowledge, and most of what I learned is thanks to Brian Wilson, who is the 'Brewmaster' at Highlander Brew Co. (South River, Ontario), he is a perfectionist and this is his life!

 I then looked up some Youtube videos, the subject they was even more intimidating. It also seemed like a huge financial investment for me to try my hand out in something that might not even work. As luck would have it a Facebook ad popped up on my news feed for an all grain beer kit, a little one. It’s called Brooklyn Brew Shop and I had to investigate. With further research I just had to try it so I went out and got the kit. The kit included a one-gallon recipe that would give me 8 pints of beer, which was perfect!

Basically, it’s a scaled down brew kit suitable for people who live in small spaces such as apartments! It amazing to find out that the company was founded by a couple in Brooklyn who were trying to save a few bucks, but also loved craft beer and wanted to be creative at the same time, and created this kit. They released 2 books on recipes for the kit as well! Not only that it's super easy to use, none of the intimidating jargon, just the simple terms to teach the fundamentals to making a great batch of beer, from scratch. It’s also a great gateway kit for people new to home brewing and want to try it out, without breaking the bank! I haven’t been able to put down the books either. They have great recipes and stories from around the beer world and all can be done over a stove-top!

Now we wait to see how my batch turns out and I really cannot wait to try it.

Thanks again for keeping up with Vinyl, Food and Beer. 

Harvest

Harvest Season

What a beautiful time of year, especially to all the Green Thumbs out their reaping the benefits of their bounty! I’m sure they’re enjoying the beautiful fruits or vegetables they grew in their small gardens at home.  For some of apartment dwellers, or city folk who don’t have the time or space, what does this season even mean?

As tourists, we flock to rural fall fairs, enjoy the vendors, beer tents and it’s a time that is so important to the history of Ontario farming culture. There once was a time when 4 out of 5 people in Ontario were farmers, but now these fall fairs are more about the games and fun times rather than reward the farmers celebrating the hard work of their summers, from watching crops flourish.

It is also the time of year to start getting preserves ready. It is time to cellar hearty root vegetables for the long winter months ahead. For my generation, or anyone who grew up in the city, these festivals are another event to visit on the weekend. Personally, I feel that it’s important to understand the existence and meaning behind why they happen every year, so we don’t lose that part of our pioneer heritage!

What’s on the menu this week? During the past weekend, I catered an event for some awesome ladies called ‘The Roxettes!’ They are a former all-girl ball team, who get together every year for a week to do some fun thing like shop, eat and indulge in the finer things in life: like hire me as a personal chef to cook a nice dinner and breakfast for them at a rental mansion in Port Stanley, Ontario. I swear it was the house from the board game ‘Clue.’ I was lucky enough to crash in the old-school games room, which had the vintage blood red carpet with the cigar smoking and brandy sippin’ appeal you’d expect. Let me tell you it was freaky.

 The menu was as follows:

 Cocktail Hour 6pm-7pm, I did up some Caesars, the Motts Clamato, celery spice rimmed, and celery garnish you would expect! (But I love a good Caesar). I also love to get creative with the garnish, so on route to Port Stanley, I pulled off and hit up St. Jacobs, Market just to grab some provisions. I picked up some smoked back bacon, side bacon, pepperettes and produce (I jus love going to St. Jacobs Market). Basically, I did the straight up Caesar and garnished it with a pepperette, bread butter pickle and celery stick! It was awesome.

             Next I did up some sausage rolls. Having puff pastry on hand in the freezer is always a great play when it comes to home entertaining, (so what if it’s the president’s choice stuff) I didn’t make my own puff pastry dough, guilty as charged. I’m sure any chefs reading this, also have some ‘convenience product’ skeletons in their closet. Plus I am one-man show! I did get creative with the filling. I had some medium ground pork and I seasoned it up with a spice mix of toasted fennel, chili, oregano, dill, basil, garlic, salt and cracked pepper. I precooked this filling let it cool and began to proceed with filling the puff pastry. I rolled out, cut into 3 inch in diameter squares, added some cheese to the filling, and once I had them rolled nicely, I brushed them with beaten egg and into the oven 350 until brown. It was some golden sausage roll goodness.

Next item on the cocktail menu was my fiancées family’s grilled pork skewers. I take no credit for but all I know they marinade them for 2 days in their own secret recipe! And they are absolutely delicious.

The main course started with a roasted squash soup, I love harvest season in Ontario for squash are a plenty. I did this soup a day before the catering because soup needs at least 24 hours of resting before the full flavors of the ingredients develop. In the oven, I roasted a mixture of different squash, with a few bulbs of garlic, turnip and onion. Once the vegetables were soft and caramelized I added them to a pot of chicken broth, brought it up to a boil, let it cool and tossed it all in a blender to puree it. I garnished the soup with crushed plantain chips. (I love plantain chips).

Next, was the salad course, on route to Port Stanley, I stopped into the St. Thomas Golf and Country club. I met up with the executive chef who was also a competitor on Chopped Canada, and he took me on a tour of the area and the golf course and hooked me up with some local greens (salad greens that is). For the dressing, I tossed the salad in 3 parts canola oil, 1 part white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and honey to taste. Then I added fresh mint and the juice and 2 halved limes.  I put it all in a mason jar and let it sit for 2 days prior. It was a most delicious Mojito lime dressing!

 The main course consisted of a fresh herb marinated grilled chicken, roasted brussel sprouts tossed with crisp bacon, sea salt boiled baby potatoes tossed with parsley and butter, curried spice roasted cauliflower, and stew tomatoes with garlic and fresh basil. Let me tell you the aroma that filled the room was amazing.

Dessert was grilled peaches tossed in a bourbon caramel sauce on top of a lemon pound cake with vanilla ice cream (which I didn’t make and also forgot to even bring). There’s nothing like having some peaches grilled and smothered in caramel sauce.

I said earlier this old mansion reminded me of the house from the game clue, in the dining room there was a grand piano, I thought it would be cool to plate the dessert on the grand piano and light them up individually flambé style, but of course it didn’t work. It was still cool and worth on a shot on my end. On the bright side, I could have potentially burned the place down, talk about showmanship!

Overall, it was an awesome catering event.  I had a blast, the ladies had a blast, and it was so much fun. We all shared in a good drink, surrounded by good friends, good food and at the end of the day its what its all about! Creating memories.