Culinary Adventures of Dan

I'm Back!!

2012-03-01T12:21:00.002-08:00

Oh my `it has been quite sme time since I posted on here. Well the BBQ shop I was working at shut down and I moved into the kitchen at the Drake Hotel. It was a big change but a very welcome one. Working as part of a team including Chef Anthony Rose was a fantastic experience. There was definitely a lot to learn and absord in that kitchen. After spending five months at the Drake I moved to Kitchener and starting working at the Bauer Kitchen. This was a big step both in my personal and professional life. Moving from a top restaurant in a big city to a higher end restaurant in a medium sized city has its challenges. I'm not saying that one is better than the other but it's two different worlds. At Bauer I'm working a lot more and feel like I'm really honing my skills. We run a pretty tight ship and most cooks on the line are in good sync with eachother. I'm really hoping that my time here will help me grow professionally and help me learn as much as I can.

Corned beef

2011-04-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Working in a smoke house I have a very good source of meat. A couple of weeks ago I brought home a 7.5lb brisket with intentions of making some corned beef. I've never brined anything for this long and was a little worried that it would start growing some sort of furry layer before I finished. On the first day I got my brine prepared with salt, sugar, pickling spices and garlic. Once that was ready I sunk the beef and put it in the back of the fridge. 9 days later it was time to check in and see how it all went. Thankfully I didn't have a furry piece of beef sitting in my water, it looked good and smelled pretty good as well. After draining the brine I steamed the beef for about 4 hours and sunk my teeth into it. I do think I over steamed it and next time will cut the time down to about 3 hours. Either way it was good, sweet, salty and fantastic piled high with some grainy mustard. In the next week or so I'm going to start another brining process and once that's done off to the smoker for some pastrami. Hopefully it turns out nice and tasty!

Good Food

2011-03-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

I was recently introduced to someone who works at a facility that provides children with fresh made, nutritional meals. Seems like a very logical idea right? Now this is something that we all want for our kids but very few of us follow through with. If any of you have set foot in a high school cafeteria you know what I'm talking about. We are giving our kids the choice of fries, burgers, poutine or hot dogs for lunch. Why is it that we all talk about helping our children grow up right, teach them how to eat properly and take care of their bodies but fill them with this crap at lunch. When I was in school I was very fortunate (though I didn't know it at the time) to have parents that cared enough to send me off to school with a fairly balanced lunch. At least one piece of fresh fruit or some veggies, a sandwich always on whole wheat bread and some juice. My lunch pail never saw the likes of snack cakes, pop, or white bread.

I think that we are at a critical point in time with childhood obesity, diabetes and so many other health problems with our youth. This is why things need more programs in place to help our youth grow up to be knowledgeable and health conscious adults. I think that schools need to step up and make fresh healthy meals available to the students. Kids spend a lot of time in schools and besides home it is a key player on having them develop their lifelong food habits. I have strong doubts that most school cafeterias have seen food that did not come in pre packaged, fried or otherwise processed. Lets change this, lets do everything we can to have our kids grow up healthy and make good decisions when it comes to the food they eat.

Rub Me...

2011-03-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Oh hey blog, I've ben neglecting you but not to wory, I always come back. So I've been working at a BBQ shack in town and have been playing arnd with some ideas for different dry rubs. I like to rub my meat down and let it set for at least 24 hours before I even think about throwing it on the smoker. There are so many different ways f doing dry rubs, the possibilities are endless and I'm just really beginning to understand the full spectrum of what I can do with them. Do you want to use a sweet or salty rub, one that is heavily spiced or something that will tickle your tastebuds a little more gently.

I think a lot of determining what goes into a good rub depends on (obviously) the meat being used but also the sauce that it will be finished with. I don't want to use a heavily seasoned strong rub if the sauce is going to be super sweet or sper strong tasting as well. Of course the sauce flavour will be more pronounced in the end but don'tlet that fool you into thinking that the rub is not going to impact the taste of the meat as wll. Generlly with the rubs I use I go for a more subtle hint of flavour rather than something that will jump out and grab your tastebuds off the start. Like a good chili I like the flavour to be there but not overtake the other flavours.

In the end each person will come up witha unique blend of spices for their own rub and I'm sure many of them will be better than the oes I'm currently trying to put together. If you have any suggestions for rubs pleae let me know!

Nom

2011-01-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

Every so often (ok like 4 times a week), I get a craving to eat something super greasy and completely bad for me. Today while out for lunch with my girlfriend Amanda and my buddy Chris I saw a sign at the diner stating that they have a 3lb hamburger. Who in their right mind would try and eat something that big? It can't be a last minute dare as theyh require 24 hours notice. People willingly go into this place with the sole intent of eating 3lbs of ground beef not to mention all the toppings and the massive bun this beast must come on. The meat alone would pack (approx) 3696 calories, 236.8g of fat, 1232mg of sodium. Maybe it's the prize that convinces people to do this. Hey we could all use another t-shirt and our picture taken and taped onto a wall.

As I've started to grow older I've come to realize why fine food is served in much smaller portions. If the food is good, the meal balanced, you don't need pound after pound of it to be satisfied. A couple bites of this and that can satisfy the mind and body if it is the correct combination of ingredients. I look forward to working in establishments where this idea is made true and there are no competitions for who can eat the most.

On another note I start a new job at a BBQ joint downtown this week. I look forward to slingin' pulled pork and brisket to the masses (in modest 5oz portions) well into the night. I spent all summer working by the grill and I'm stoked to be able to carry this on through the winter months. I'm happy working around food but not much compares to lifting the lid on that smoker and seeing the meat that has been slow cooking for more than half a day. On that note I think I"m going to head upstairs and get me some dinner.

Time For a Rant

2010-12-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

I always have my eyes open for job possibilities, even when I'm happily employed my eyes stay open for a new opportunity. There is the odd employer that realizes how much work and time those in the culinary industry put into their passion but the mass majority seem clueless. Why is it that people are posting jobs saying that you must have your Red Seal, formally trained with 5+ years of experience yet they are only willing to pay minimum wage or a tiny bit more than that? Do they not realize that culinary school is expensive? That most trained chefs have thousands of dollars of knives and other tools? How can anyone expect someone with all this training and these tools to work for minimum? Honestly if I want to work for minimum wage I'll go work at Burger King and get paid the same to make Whoppers all day long. Why should I waste my time and money to get paid the same as a high school kid flipping burgers.

One thing that sticks in my mind is an ad I saw a couple months back. The person was offering $700 to cook 3 meals a day for 10 people for 7 days. That works out to about $3.34 per person per meal. How is anyone supposed to even get supplies for that cheap let alone the cost of my time and skills.

I think a lot of people take cooks and chefs for granted, thinking we are all willing to work for pennies and don't have bills to pay. I guess what I'm trying to say is if you want good food be prepared to pay for it, not just for the ingredients but for the person in the kitchen taking time to make you a meal to remember.

Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and the industry I'm in but sometimes it can be a little frustrating to see all these underpaying job postings. I hope you all have a happy new year and all that stuff.

Gobble Gobble

2010-12-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

So that time of year has come and gone once again. Smelling the turkey cooking all day, making the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, the yams, cranberry sauce, rolls and gravy. Christmas dinner, almost as exciting as waking up in the morning and opening presents. But why turkey? What did these awful looking birds ever do to deserve to be the focus of our gluttony on this holiday? Well in the Americas the answer is fairly simple. Back in the day wild turkeys roamed just as seagulls and pigeons do today. THey were everywhere so why not kill the things, stuff them and eat them? In Europe however there is a slightly different story. A few hundred years ago turkey was seen as an exotic bird and was therefore only placed on the tables of the well to do. As times changed and the birds became more accesible people continued to place turkeys on their tables as a sign that they were doing well themselves.

Now how about the size of the birds we place on our tables these days. Have you ever seen one of these mosters walking around? They look completely ridiculous. Since many people only like the white breast meat these birds have been bred to have gigantic breasts, so large in fact that they can no longer mate naturally. Commercial turkeys are now bred by artificial insemination. That signals a problem to me. Whatever happened to eating things as they naturally were? All these growth hormones injected into these birds and we are to expect no ill side effects? I'm starting to wonder if there is some corrolation between all these extra hormones we are ingesting and the growing average size of us. Something to think about for sure, but I'll save that for another entry.

To be quite honest I'm sick of turkey and turkey talk so I'll leave it alone until Easter, the next time I plan on thinking of one of these birds.

Don't forget to tell everyone you know, I'm starting to push my personal catering business "Dinner By Dan" and could use the help spreading the word. Big or small, I'll cook it all!

Breakfast Anyone?

2010-12-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

As I said in my last post I left the burger joint and have moved back to the catering industry for the holiday season. I worked with this company all summer and had a great time doing it while learning lots. This time of year we do a lot of breakfast events for businesses meaning that if they want their employees to be served breakfast between 7 and 9am I need to be at the shop by about 5 am. Sure it's an early rise but I'm alright with that and the benefit is being hope by 2 or 3pm, which I am quite alright with. There is something almost relaxing about standing out in -20 degree weather a couple of hours before sunrise assembling hundreds of breakfast sandwiches and making thousands of pancakes. It's not something most people get to do and I'm sure most of the customers served don't think about us being there for hours before they see the food they are about to start their day with. I really enjoy being behind the scenes and making things happen. On that note I'm starting to push my personal catering business. So if you or anyone you know is looking to have a party or dinner or anything else catered feel free to get in touch with me for a quote.

Drama In the Food Industry

2010-12-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

So I've spent the better part of the past six years working in some aspect of the food industry.Weather it be slingin hot dogs at 7-Eleven, making cookies by the thousands, making mass amounts of pie filling or flipping fancy burgers I've seen quite a few things in different areas of the industry.

Recently I started working for one of those high end fast food joints with the $10 hamburgers. I thought it was going to be a good job with some room for me to grow and learn. I was wrong. The first couple days went by pretty decent, I was learning some new things and taking the advice of my new boss trying to get things right but I soon started to notice some things were just not adding up. For example we were using steam trays to keep certain items hot during service yet the owner insiste.d that they were to be filled all the way with water. Last time I checked I was pretty sure steam was hotter than water. That may not be such a big deal but what kills me is the way the meat was cooked. Ground beef should be cooked to a temperature of 71C to be sure that it is safe to eat and the bacteria is no longer living. That will put the average burger to a doneness of well done. We were instructed to cook our burgers to medium well which I was not comfortable with so I left them on and cooked them to well and never got a complaint from a customer. About two weeks after I started an order came in for a medium rare burger. When I saw this chit come up I laughed it off and said no way was I cooking ground beef to medium rare for a customer. I don't want to make anyone sick and I don't want my name attatched to that in the least. After a squabble with the owner she took the burger off at medium rare and served it. Disgusting if you ask me.

We also have had customers bring back their medium well burgers and ask why they were undercooked and the owners answer is that is how we cook them. One customer asked why we don't have a sign up saying so and the owner said that the hea;th inspector wont let us put up the sign. One would think that would make them realize we are not cooking things properly but no, apparently the health inspectors are wrong and they are right. Did I mention that neither of the owners have any formal culinary training?

It really amazes me how people can be so far up themselves and think that everything they do is right just because they own a restaurant. There is nothing that I could do to convince these people that they were making mistakes, I was just trying to help them run a better business but they wanted none of it. Because of that I decided to end my employment there and seek out something better suited to my needs. It was an experience but one I'm glad has come to an end. So next time you decide to put $10 of your hard earned money towards a hamburger make sure to ask for it well done.

Monster Steak

2010-10-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I was out in Kitchener with my girlfriend and went to a BBQ at a buddies place. I thought I was being helpful walking in the door with two packages of grocery store sausages, nothing fancy but hey it was something. Little did I know what I was walking into. Just about the biggest steak I have ever set my eyes on. As soon as I saw this beast it was if time froze and I was momentarily lifted into carnivorous heaven. So much meat, my mouth was watering immediately and I wanted to walk out the door with my head hanging for bring pre made sausages that were mediocre at best.

Just looking at that picture brings me back to that minute of culinary perfection. Sure I like to try new things and come up with my own ideas but it is hard to beat a classic like this. Though the meat was fairly tough I was still one happy camper and extremely happy that my friends wanted to involve me in this giant steak adventure. When all was said and done we got through about half of this beast. With one satisfied appetite the rest of the evening was fantastic and at the end of the night I was left wondering what the next food adventure would entail...

Just A Thought

2010-10-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

So I was in the mood for some chicken today and decided to whip up some chicken cordon bleu. It's pretty quick and easy and mighty tasty so it seemed like the right thing to do. After I pulled it out of the oven I realized something. With the ham and cheese oozing out of the chicken it looked eerily similar to a KFC Double Down sandwich (which I have yet to try).

The first photo is what I made for supper and the second is the KFC sandwich. Can you see the resemblance? This really wants me to go out and try one of these KFC sandwiches even though they contain almost a full days worth of sodium, half the recommended daily fat intake and over 500 calories.

I am trying to figure out how they can sell something with this little nutritional value, heck at least a Big Mac has lettuce on it. If you've tried the Double Down leave a comment and let me know what you thought of it...

Another Pizza Creation

2010-10-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

So there are obviously many different types of pizza. You can put just about anything on top of a pie and make it work, everything from classic pepperoni some artichoke and broccoli and just about anything else you can think of. With that in mind why not try bacon wrapped chicken wings on top?

This started out with the idea of a chicken wing casserole but evolved into the chicken wing pizza once we were all at the grocery store picking up supplies. Chicken wings and pizza were on sale so why not run with it? What you see in the picture is bone in chicken wings wrapped in bacon and covered with a bunch of extra cheese. It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself but next time for obvious reasons boneless wings will be used. It can be quite difficult to cut a pizza that has chicken bones scattered throughout. Eating it was also interesting as the wings had to be pulled off. Done this way the idea is much better in theory but with some tweaking could be done practically. Well I have a hankering for some of the pulled pork I have waiting for me in the kitchen so until next time keep them food ideas coming!

Dessert Time!!

2010-09-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

So as any of you who know me know that the annual birthday bash was held this past Saturday. One of the highlites of the evening was the vegan PBR saped cake that my onion Liz made. Now I'm all for a good cake but this was pretty monumental. Like seriously, how many of you have had a birthday cake that was not only tasty while being vegan but also shaped like a beer can?

I knew as soon as I saw this masterpiece that it was going to be super tasty and hey, I was right. I'm really starting to wonder why I'm the one in culinary school, I need to get my ass in gear and start coming up with stuff like this! Now I'm sure you're wondering how a vegan cake can be called a cake at all but it is surprisingly good. Yes it does taste different than your run of the mill of of the box cake but since when does change have to be a bad thing? I encourage you all to try a vegan cake/ cupcake/ other tasty dessert if you haven't yet. I'm fairly certain you wont be disappointed.

Baconation

2010-09-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

So anybody who knows me knows that I am a big fan of bacon, soft or crispy it's hard for me to pass up a good plate of bacon. The love story of bacon and myself has been a long one involving everything from regular bacon, bacon flavoured vodka, bacon soap, bacon dental floss and just about everything else you can think of. When I came across the idea of weaved bacon I seemed to be in heaven. How can one not want to have a couple pounds of delicious bacon intertwined like tasty little fingers?

It's a pretty simple concept weaving bacon, you just weave the strips as you would weave anything else. Over, under, over, under until you have a baking sheet covered in tasty bacon. Sure there is shrinkage when you cook but at the end of the cook the weave is still about half the size of when it was started. I've used bacon weaves for giant bacon sandwiches, liners on plates, to eat as is and as a topper for the meatzurgler.

All this talk of bacon is givin me the itch. I think there is some bacon in my near future...

Berry berry

2010-08-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

Ok so my last post was about a crazy meat creation we call the "Meatzurgler". Today I'm going to switch it up to one of my favorite desserts. At first I thought this was something I created but it was later pointed out to me that I was far from the first to come up with cheesecake stuffed strawberries. I don't remember how the idea for these came about but from the start I knew they would be a good idea. Basically I bake a cheesecake, hollow out some strawberries and stuff them. They are then dipped in chocolate and rolled in graham crumbs. Simple right? Delicious? Heck yes!!

Everyone I have had the chance to share these with has had nothing but positive feedback. They are fairly simple to make ( so long as you can carefully use a melon baller to hollow out the berries), tasty and easy to handle. I find cheesecake to be far too rich sometimes so this is a perfect bite sized alternative.

Welcome

2010-08-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well I have been talking about starting a foodie blog for a while and since I have the day off today I figure why not start it now. Anyone who knows me knows I love my food. I'm in culinary school to take this hobby to the next level and make a living off of my love for being in the kitchen.

I think for this first post I'll introduce you to one of my favorite most off the wall creations. Though I did not come up with the idea for the "meatzurgler" it was still one of my favorite things to make. Basically it is a 5 pound beef burger with 2 pounds of weaved bacon on top wrapped in 2 large pepperoni pizzas. It was something for sure. Not a practical dish by any means but seriously, how could you not want to try a piece??

What a night that was. Most of this monstrosity was actually eaten. Next time (and there will be a next time) the beef needs more to it. It will definitely be more heavily seasoned and possibly have cheeses mixed in to add that extra burst of artery clogging goodness.

Be sure to check back often for more adventures of the culinary kind.