Wednesday 30 November 2011

Glace de Veau: The Mother of All Sauces

Pictured above is a beautiful rondo of perfectly reduced veal stock - glace de veau, or 'veal glaze' as it's translated from French to English. This sauce is the main mother sauce at my restaurant, forming the base for numerous sauce derivatives, like our white truffle sauce, our pink peppercorn sauce and our foie gras sauce. Decadent stuff. 

Making this sauce properly is no small feat. It requires time, properly prepared ingredients and a great deal of love. It takes, from start to finish, about 2 and a half days to make. The initial veal stock is put on in the morning of the first day, with properly browned veal knuckle and marrow bones, and a rough cut of browned mirepoix (diced celery, carrot and white onion), a few black peppercorns, bay leaves, parsley stems and tomato ends. The pans from the browning process are always deglazed (loosened, dissolved) with quantities of red wine, to include the sought after flavours and colour cooked onto the pans. This step is important, as it provides the stock with "body", and helps develop the dark brown colour that is the desired end-result. It is then set to a simmer, and left typically overnight. 

In the morning, the stock is strained into another pot, fat is skimmed, and the 'first boil' is set to reduce by half. This first boil is the 'colour and flavour pull'. The second boil consists of the spent bones and veg being brought up to a boil again with fresh cold water, and being left again to simmer overnight, thus repeating the process. This second boil is the 'gelatin pull', whereas the second boil action will break down the remaining collagen (constituents: gelatin and water, it is animal connective tissue). The result after an evening of playful, gentle roiling and simmering: a muddy, insipid beige liquid. Yuck...not exactly the dark, aromatic sex in a pot the first boil was...most of the caramel colour was taken away with the first boil. This liquid is then reduced by half, with tomato paste and red wine. The two 'pulls' are then combined, and reduced further, until sauce consistency has been reached.

Did I say it takes time? Yes. But well worth it. There is no product on the market that can touch the homemade version, and those places that do make their own sauces are always worth revisiting. The care, effort and attention the Chef has taken to make this from scratch is proof enough.

Bon Apetit!

Sunday 27 November 2011

OFF DAY: GREY CUP SUNDAY


CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2011 GREY CUP CHAMPION B.C. LIONS!

I guess a day off work is a day spent watching the biggest professional football event Canada has to offer. It certainly did not disappoint. The CFL tagline of late 'No Lead Is Safe' was certainly evident here. Good game. When it looked as though BC was going to put a stranglehold on it, WPG found a way to claw back within a 2pt. converted TD. I'm no fan of either of these teams, but I certainly admire the tenacity, grit, poise and heart it takes to go to the end. Hats off to both teams for a great season.

SORE LOSER COUNTERPOINT: I firmly believe all post season CFL games should be played at neutral sites that have indoor facilities. I think the Tiger Cats should have played the Blue Bombers at the Rogers Center, indoors, where it isn't -25, like in Winnipeg. That way the cold would not have been a factor, and the Cats may not have shriveled up into frozen husks on Canad Inns field. Guess there's always next season. Oskee Wee Wee!

Tuna ... the other other OTHER red meat

Here is a 'catch of the day' feature we ran this past weekend. It is beautiful rare-seared (the only way to cook fresh tuna) yellowfin tuna with roasted Peruvian purple potatoes, brussels sprouts hash with shiitake mushroom and crispy pancetta. Stuff of Kings. The plate was finished with a lovely cherry tomato and caper relish flavoured with wasabi. Wasabi is powdered Japanese horseradish. In it's fresh form, it is RIDICULOUSLY hot. Like, face on fire hot. Hellfire and brimstone, nose hairs alight hot. We get the more common powder and reconstitute it. This way, the chef can more accurately control the heat. We sold out of this one!!!

Inaugural Post aka "Where did my champagne bottle get to?"

Thought I would create a blog. Not exactly sure why, at this point...but why not? Seems to me I've alot to say anyway. Can't seem to keep my mouth shut long enough to keep my foot out of there, even on a good day. So, why not put some of my yammering and random musings down in black and white? Text. Times New Roman, if you will. I'm not sure if anyone other than me will ever read this. One step at a time, I suppose.

Perhaps I will begin my mentioning what this blog is about. I am a professional chef, and have been in the grueling hospitality industry for about 22 years. Probably seen and heard it all. 'You should write a book!', they say...well, maybe one day. For now, this blog will have to suffice...I will primarily be making entries that cover interesting things I see and do throughout any given day. Some see life in a professional kitchen as glamorous, rugged, and strenuous...I suppose 2 out of 3 ain't bad.  It's certainly rugged, and, more often than not, very strenuous. Lifers like me, we're born into this. We aren't made this way via external forces, coddling and molding...we are BORN this way. Seriously. My fate in this industry was predetermined at some point when I was in utero. I was cut out for no other thing than being a chef. I love it, and hate it, all in the same breath. Would I change a thing? Not really. Well, the hours are pretty crappy, but that is common with the territory. And the industry is filled with misfits and miscreants, weirdos, flakes and other unsavoury sorts...one just has to navigate around (and often THROUGH) these individuals, just to make a day of it. I'm almost certain a few of these types may get mention in my musings here. It really does take all kinds to make a whole, and the hospitality industry is a true reflection of that, believe me.

What I truly hope I can do is be somewhat interesting to any prospective readers, or 'followers',  as it were. I tend to be a bit of a smartass, so that may provide some sort of comic relief at the very least. I take lots of snapshots with my Blackberry at work. Things I'm doing. Things I find funny, unusual, interesting.    For instance, I took a picture of a French boned rack of venison yesterday, sent it to facebook, with a clever (at least I thought so) caption that read something like: "Getting my Bambi on here at Pepperwood". Random, I know. But it is what it is, and I am what I am. At some visceral level, I think others must be interested in what goes through a chef's mind, and I endeavour to elaborate on such.

I just hope you can keep up!

Cheers!