Update and Apologies

Hello Everyone,

I am just writing to give you a quick update on my current situation and why my posts have become extremely limited. I have recently become employed at a very good restaurant here in Ottawa, and I will eventually tell I am just going to save that for a later post.

This is what I will say right now. I have moved to a restaurant where the Chef has recently left and the old Sous has taken over. I started on the menu change day and let me say one thing... Where has this kid been hiding?

His mentor is arguably one of the best chefs in Ottawa, however I now think this kid has got some real talent. Simply watching him and conversing with him on his formalization on dishes and rationals leads me to believe that this guy will come out strong in the Ottawa culinary community.

This one dish he has is a chicken breast which has been vacuum sealed in a red wine marinade is served w/ a chicken leg root vegetable terrine, red wine reduction, and goat cheese sauce garnished w/ crispy onions and pressed bacon. This dish is aboslute brilliance the tenderness and flavour of the chicken is to die for, and the terrine is something entirely unique.

The other dish which is entire unique to ottawa is slow braised beef (sometimes being cheeks or chuck) w/ a housemade bbq sauce served w/ a fired polenta cake and our own pickled veg (Cabbage as the base).

So... seriously first one to name the place and you'll win something cool.

Sorry

So.Much.Work.This.Weekend.Amazing.Stay.Tuned.For.More

Music and Food

I thought I would do a post between the relationship between cooks and music. Often times you see chefs/cooks with unique and eclectic tastes in music, in which I find usually represents a correlation in the quality of food. I have had this thought in my mind for months after reading in numerous chef memoirs and interviews about their connection with food. I truly believe you can distinguish a chef's food or personality towards food in their music. Bourdain loves rock, Ripert loves techno, and many others have specific tastes in music. However, most great chefs will never cite top 40 as their passion. I am currently on a reggae trip and loving all aspects of the music. I can see correlation between my mentality on food and industry in music. I kinda like the harmonious yet hard-hitting rhythms of the Caribbean, and can relate that to my harmonious but bold flavoured food. I can also make the argument that chefs ( well the greats anyways ) are simply eclectic people whether they have the quiet temperament of Keller or craziness and focus of David Chang. We are simply not normally people and I can see that reflected in our choices in music. I am not trying to compare myself with these greats but rather our comparison in our just general offness.

Here are some beats I love.

Munch Rattlesnake..... err Eat Cobra

So it's been a while since I've done this deed as life has been busy with work and other stuff. So finally....

EAT COBRA
I was luckily enough to be invited to join the the secret dinner experience that is Cobra Ottawa. Essentially as most of you probably know it is a very hard dinner to get into as they only choose five guests every month or so and it is out of a pool of hundreds. So when I got my mysterious email I was well to say.. excited. I won't go over the whole process because it will be more exciting if you do get picked and finding it out for yourself. I will however comment on the meal. Let's do it in in courses.

1. Course 1: Yak's Heart Tartare (Oz)

 Ok so it was a tartare of yak served with shrimp chips. The chips were actually one of my favourite parts of the dish. It was light yet extremely flavourful and tasted almost of a shrimp broth. The tartar was very solid although I felt the dish was a bit too light. It consisted of the yak's heart which had the texture of almost beef heart and in it was thai basil, parsley, and one other flat leaf herb.  I was longing for something to keep up to the texture of the heart maybe a a bit heartier spice or potentially a spice oil of sorts. Maybe even a cracked egg would have helped add some richness to the dish. However, what I believe he was trying to do was create and light and refreshing first course and I believe he did so excellently.

2. Fermented Soy beans with an Asian Ensemble (Black Cat)

So this dish was extremely interesting. Patricia from Black Cat decided to use fermented soy beans which if you have ever seen them are like a big gooey mess of beans with a very tangy but musky smell. So the idea with this dish was to use the accompaniments with the beans. So there were some sauces and condiments. The two I choose were the ginger paste and the dark soy. I combined all my ingredients and ate with chopsticks. Each bite was a new experience of flavours and a surprise to my palate. Also, the dark soy totally brought the whole dish together. I can honestly say that good soy is unbelievable and recommend that everyone invest in one good bottle. This is what I will say about the fermented soy beans: not my thang. However, this dish conceptually was absolutely brilliant. I can this without a shadow of a doubt say that Patricia Larkin has a nuanced culinary mind and I do feel that she will be recognized for her genius at GMP 2011.

3. Tripe w/ fried polenta and salad (Domus)

Sorry about the picture I totally forgot to take a picture of the dish before I got into it. So this was tripe slowly cooked in a tomato sauce w/ fried polenta cubes and fennel and blood orange salad.  Adam took inspiration from I believe it was a Florentine street food, in which you get the polenta and tripe in the newspaper cone and eat it from there. I was extremely happy with this dish. The sauce had a beautiful brunoise of carrots, celery, and onion which lent it those traditional Italian flavours. The blood orange and fennel paired well together with what seemed like a subtle vinaigrette possibly white wine vinegar. Which you dipped the polenta cubes into the sauce they become little flavourful pillows with the tang of the sauce The flavours were all there and everything was extremely well cooked.

4. Lamb from LUXE

I don't have a picture for the next two courses unfortunately because I was so immersed in the meal. So for this dish from LUXE it was lamb done five different ways. So there was rack of lamb, sweetbreads, bacon, smoked tongue, and ....... can't remember. There were also many garnishes on the plate to compliment the numerous different forms of lamb which were all great. However, the two true standouts of the dish were the sweetbreads and the bacon. The sweetbreads were impeccably cooked and seasoned and just had that wonderful texture with the flavour strength of lamb. The bacon was awesome it tasted not much like other bacon I have had in the past, and was extremely cool to see. Overall the dish was a success.

5. Dessert
I don't like cake, and it was cake. The dark chocolate passionate fruit was good. However, I really don't like cake so I feel bad.

The dinner was a resounding success it was a great combination of good friends (although new!) and great food. It was extremely interesting watching those not in the industry taste the food and make comments and interact with the chefs. I knew a couple of the chefs there so it was a bit different for me, so it was truly interesting watching the general public swoon which they rightfully should have. I enjoyed the night whole heartedly and recommend that everyone do it. These kinda of events are extremely important for the culinary development of Ottawa. We need these events to stimulate the chef as not just a restaurant but also as a personality as well. IT is important that we start viewing ourselves as a community rather than a hogsmash of different restaurants.

p.s look out GMP 2011 and sorry for the rushed feel of the post I did it before work. Shoot me some questions about the meal and I'll be happy to answer.

Some Videos:

GMP 2011

Looks like they have already announced the Gold Medal Plates contestants for 2011.

Matthew Carmichael, Restaurant E18hteen, Social, and SIDEDOOR;
Simon and Ross Fraser, Fraser Café;
Michael Hay, The Courtyard Restaurant;
Caroline Ishii, ZenKitchen;
Patricia Larkin, Black Cat Bistro;
Marc Lepine, Atelier;
Charles Part, Les Fougères, Chelsea, Que;
Michael Radford, Savana Café;
Lili Sullivan, East and Main Bistro, Wellington, Ont. (Prince Edward County);
Steve Wall, Town Gastropub.

For me it seems like it may be a little too early to announce the Ottawa culinary superstars for 2011. It seems as though these guys may be operating on an Oscar like nomination system. One of the main complaints for most people is that you consistently see the same people year after year.  We do indeed have a few returners this year but it seems as thought there are some great chefs going to be competing this year. I am especially exited to see Patricia Larkin, Steve Wall, and Michael Hay competing this year. I have heard extremely great things about these chefs and have had the honour to have met Michael Hay and he seems as though he is an extremely devoted gastronomer. I staged at Sidedoor and the guys over there do indeed have it going on and Carmichael has earned his place.
Many food writers in Ottawa have indeed criticized GMP year after year for some reason or another so hopefully this year they can sort out the details and really highlight Ottawa's potential. Also, it has been noted that the lineup could change from now to November which lets be realistic it will probably happen with the emergence of new restaurants and staff changes.

Hell... should be fun none the less.

Stay tuned for a recipe for beef heart stew.

Cheers, and keep on eating (Cobra *hint*)

Important News

The man. The legend. The  chef is coming to toronto
http://www.thestar.com/living/food/article/951347--momofuku-chef-reveals-details-of-toronto-expansion

Lets.Talk.Ribs

Ribs, Ribs, Ribs.

So Barbecue actually happens to be one of my favourite styles of cooking and my other high fine french. Quite a contrast yes, but in fact they do indeed have many similarities. Both can require focused and long cooking times, using sauces to enhance the protein, and they have been passed down over generations. Anyways lets talk ribs more specifically back ribs. Here is a quick recipe for when you don't have a smoker and want that cooked all day texture.

I am not going to post specefic mesasurements cause hell its barbeque and you can adjust according your tastes. Now there is two main ways I liked to do my ribs up either give em a run and finish em in an hour for a while or the simmer method. The simmer method is prefered for those trying to get the same desired finish each time.So here are the steps.

1. Take your ribs out and flip em onto their backside. Removed the thin layer of membrane which you can with a fork it should peel right off. This technique removes the tough gristle.

2. Fill a large sauce pan with pork stock or water and add a mixture of spices whatever you prefer. I tend to use cayenne, garlic salt, touch of cumin, and celery salt. Bring it to a boil and try to dissolve the spices as much as possible. Drop it to a simmer.

3. Drop your ribs in in 1/2 to 1/4 sections depending on the size of your pan. Let cook for 1 - 2 hours whatever you have time for.

4. Heat your oven to 375F. Take out ribs after desired time and place on a flat baking sheet.Let cool and dry.

5. Apply your favourite homemade BBQ sauce and be sure to experiment with sauces. There are tons of different styles take the time and research N.C,S.C, Texas, and Kansas City style sauces.

6. Let them cook for 1 hour and apply sauce every 15 mins. Alternative you could finish on a grill but thats not my style.

Notes: This by no means gives you an authentic style BBQ of the south which are long smoked and never touch a grill, but for home cooks its not a half bad recipe. I am going to potentially do a recipie for traditional southern ribs but I need to get my smoker fired up before I do that.

Serve with some potato salad or slaw and its a rockin good time.

Cheers

Update! Shopping and Staging

Hello everyone,

It has indeed been a few days since my last post but very productive days at that. I am currently doing some staging in the Ottawa area in order to expand my culinary knowledge and to see how other kitchens and chefs operate. I have stages set up for a bakery, butcher, and two restaurants. However, first let me talk about the shopping aspect of my update. Last Thursday I decided that it was time to treat myself and go on a bit of a shopping spree. Being a man and not particularly inclined to clothing or electronics I decided it was a good idea to hit up C.A Paradis.

I took the bus over, which conveniently went from the front of my apartment to the front of the store, and entered with the prospect of grabbing a knife or two. Well an hour later and the helpful assistance of the staff I purchased over 300$ worth of items. First, I went to the knife counter because the knives at my old restaurant belonged to the restaurant and I decided it was time to own a good set for myself. I examined many a knives and chose: a chefs knife, boning, fillet, pairing, and some ceramic. My boning and fillet knives were sinelli they are a lower end brand but knifes for such messy work don't necessarily have to be toooooooop notch.However, I did splurge and get a Mac. The knife I purchased is not typical of most chefs, I tend to like my knives light and nimble. It gives them more versatility and the speed at which you move in a kitchen is heightened. It is important to make sure your knife fits your culinary personality, so don't always tend to go for bigger or more flash make sure the knife sits well in your hand and your purpose. This is the knife I decided on:

I also bought a knife bag just to keep the puppies safe and clean. I also decided it was time to get a new jacket and apron because my other two were getting stodgy and stained, and if you know anything about white jackets there about as hard to clean up as Charlie Sheen. Always buy a double breasted jacket so that it is reversible to keep up a clean appearance. I choose a maroon apron because if anything gets ultra dirty its going to be your apron. I believe the quote is "Judge a chef by the filth on their apron and the cleanliness of their sleeves"

Staging: Is when a chef works for free in a kitchen in order to gain experience and technique.
As I am a younger chef I believe that it is important to participate in stages in the early and late parts of your career. It allows you to gain positive insight into a kitchen even when they are not hiring. I also believe that it is important for chefs to know the other aspects of the culinary arts such as baking and butchery. With that in mind I have tentatively lined up some stages in a bakery and butcher here in Ottawa, and I must say I am excited. I also managed to gain stages in  very interesting restaurants in Ottawa, I will reveal the details after I have completed the stages. I did my first one on Friday with the awesome guys over at Sidedoor, 18's new venture. They were extremely polite and showed me a great deal. Their focus is more on Asian cuisine something I am not very familiar with, so the experience was very new to me. Although not Asian, they even have a new Taco station in which they make tortilla to order to each taco: including braised lamb and beef. I tried to take in as much as I possibly could and am debating asking them to do a couple more. So much thanks to those guys.

Anyways that's whats been happening lately and stay tuned I think I am going to do a restaurant review sometime soon and I have a judgmental palate so it should be interesting.

Cheers, MJ

Commenting

So I received a message saying that commenting required an ID so I took that restriction off, so feel free to comment away. Perhaps requests for a topic, restaurant, or dish?

Cheers,
Matt

Gimme the Beet!

Beets... Beets... Beets the magical fruit (well vegetable) the more you eat the more you well eat..

Beets are definitely one of the most magical vegetables in my honest opinion. The taste, smell, and flavour of a beet is one of the most interesting profiles a vegetable has to offer. It can be bitter, sweet, and tangy depending on the methods of cooking it is put through. I even recently have seen that Michael Blackie has used a dehydrator in order to make beet salt. I mean a beet can be boiled, roasted, pan fried, and even deep fried and the profile still stands up. I mean hell you can even pickle a beet and its magical. It can be eaten cold or hot and it's still magical. A beet also has a very long season and can be found fresh through most months of the year.

Here are a few ideas for beets:

• Mix them into your next batch of mashed potatoes
• Boil them off and let em chill and served with some goat cheese or creme fraiche
• Goulash and soups
• Pickle them and serve em with some gravlax and smoked salmon
• Hell even mash em into a gnocchi mix and let it turn a beautiful red
• The water is also a great natural colouring agent

I have also had some conceptual ideas perhaps using beets blended with herbs to make a beet consume using cheese cloth, or somehow working them into a dumpling, or using them in a stir fry as a mild sweetener.

Anyways, I'd love to hear your experiences with beets and ideas you may have. So drop that sweet beet!

Cheers

P.S I know I used magical a few..... times wait until I do a post on Heirloom tomatoes and then you'll see the sparks fly

Thinking about joing our gang?

Food, cooking, and culinary expression has grown exponentially over the past couple of decades. Some contributing factors being the rise of the celebrity chef and the expansion of the food network and travel channels. This of course has now sparked a renewed passion in food, ingredients, and techniques by many home cooks.That with the combination of shows about opening restaurants, making over restaurants, and life in restaurants it seems as though many people now wish to become chefs. There are 4 main problems with this fantasy.

1. Cooking is an extremely labour intensive job: I know many other authors and people have said this but it has to be reinforced. I am 21 years old and I have worked cramped and busy lines and let me tell you between the dehydration, burns, and general pains there is not much time to breathe. So unless you are physically able to put your body through this stress don't do it.

2. Many don't realize you have to become a cook first: Let me tell you how my adventure went dishwasher-prepcook-dessert cook-garde manger-assistant chef-sous chef-head chef *very briefly*. That took me approximately seven years, and hell I'm still probably another seven from being where I need to be.I am just trying to reinforce that unless you win the lottery or have some unnatural god given talent that heading a restaurant problem won't happen for at least 5-8 years.

3. Do you remember college/university: Do you remember all those super late nights that you spent cramming for a final/midterm/paper. Do you remember how much you hated it and couldn't wait to go out drinking with your friends. Well if you want to be a chef you better welcome yourself back into that life. Many of us have bookshelves of cookbooks like you had Plato or Neitzhcshe. Ever read Escoffier front to back in search of an ounce of imspiration. Do you have more issues of Food Arts and Savuer magazine then you have of GQ, Maxime, Playboy, Vogue, or Cosmo. I am trying to make a point: That becoming a chef/wanting to become a chef takes a great deal of research, hardwork, and time sitting at a table with books.

4.Is it all you think about: I am serious it has to be all you think about, it has to get you excited, and most of all you need to be in love with your dream.

Please post your thoughts and questions below

The Po'boy

This post is more about my fascination with authentic and regional cuisine. Nothing irks me more when someone says oh lets have authentic Chinese, Indian, or Arabic food, because those are not true authentic foods. Chinese can be broken down into multiple cuisines such as Szechuan, Indian into Punjab, and Arabic into Lebanese/Iranian. So for me as a chef I believe it's extremely important to come up with dishes that may not be direct takes of these foods but honour their origins and authenticity. The example that will use today is the Po'boy, which is a New Orleans classic and regionally important dish. So when I was Chef at M********* we had to do an Jazz fest menu so I automatically thought New Orleans. However, like much of my style I like to take classics and put a spin, an honourable one, on it.

I will not go into details about the history of the Po'boy as it can be found quite briefly on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po%27_boy

The Po'boy was created by a deli owner to help feed starving workers during a labour strike. However, as a chef of a casual fine dining restaurant one can see why I couldn't put the dish above on a menu, it wasn't refined enough. So I had to get my mind working (cup of coffee and a couple of cigarettes really get the culinary juices flowing for me who knows why) and I came up with a Po' boy slider. A slider was great for our tapas style menu and also allowed for a bit of refinement on my part, for my own sake though I had to stay true to the ingredients while making very slight alterations.

This is the recipe:
2 Jumbo Shrimp
2 Slider Buns
1 tbsp of creole seasoning (onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano leaves, dried sweet basil, dried thyme leaves, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, celery seed, sweet paprika)
1 good tangy pickle
1 tbsp of creole mustard
1 bit of diced lettuce

 Peel the shrimp and dust em with the creole seasoning and fry em quick in a pan with some clarified butter. Then take some more butter and toast the buns in the same pan. Assemble the sliders with some slices of the pickles, lettuce, and mustard. NEVER add tomato its a sin.

Anyways hope this post shows how chefs can honour the original version while putting a creative spin on things.
Cheers

Street /Food/ Trucks

As many of you probably know L.A has a vibrant street food community. Check this link out:

http://roaminghunger.com/la

It makes me wonder why Ottawa does not have, to some end, some sort of fun idea like this. We are one of the most popular tourist destinations during the summer and winter months. Not to mention that we have numerous outdoor activities in the summer and winter that would require mobile food stands (if it does happen it's usually crap). I first thought of this when I was reading an Ottawa Citizen article about the City no longer issuing permits to people for street food activities, and not only were they doing that but not renewing licensees that had expired. It just seems that Ottawa is continually limiting itself in grand new culinary experiences. Many would argue that the market has too many restaurants and the competition wouldn't be fair to them. There would be so many reasons not too, but alas many great things have had strong opposition.

I mean I don't know but it seems like it may be a good idea, and perhaps maybe get the ball rolling on our evolving culinary scene.

Welcome to the Blog

Hello to all,

My name is Matt Johnny and am currently cooking "professionally" in Ottawa. However, like many others in the industry I don't just do this for work but it is also a passion. So with that passion I decided that it may be productive to get some of my idea's and experiences down on "paper". So this blog will consist of recipies, travel, ideas and rants. So all I can hope for is those that share my experiences with me will take something away from it.

Cheers