This is a Mountain Rose apple and comes courtesy of Tyler Gray, founder of Mikuni Wild Harvest (and my neighbour). They come from the Hood Valley in Central Oregon and are grown only by a small number of orchards. As you can see, the one truly unique characteristic of this apple is its rosy-red flesh, which I’m told maintains its colour throughout the cooking process (bonus). Their flavour is described as “strawberry lemonade-ish” and has a texture similar to a granny smith. I am going to try a few things out with them and will report back with results. Try juicing them maybe? Then a jelly? Mignonette for oysters?…….

We’re very excited to be partnering with The Found and the Freed, Vancouver’s hottest pop-up shop that features re-purposed authentic antique collections found across Canada and the States. Drop in before the Sweater Season Event to say hello to the lovely ladies on their official re-opening, on November 18th.

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small plates:

yarrow meadows duck confit tortellini in a pine mushroom broth

seared qualicum bay scallops with bacon wrapped salsify and apple-mustard vinaigrette

canapés:

caramelized onion, marinated anchovy and nicoise olive toast

pig face and sweetbread croquette with pumpkin-currant chutney (Meat Fest 3 winning dish!)

grass fed beef tartare with parmesan crisp and watercress

sweet bite:

quince beignet with almond and brandy caramel
 
Tickets: $25 via paypal. Email owen@butterontheendive.ca for payment details.
 
There will be a cash bar with beer, wine and cocktails for a fair price.

Espelette peppers courtesy of Dana from Joy Road Catering. Thank you.

Last week I had the great pleasure of attending Meat Fest 3 in Penticton. Spearheaded by my friend Stanley Zappa, it is a celebration of local agriculture, and, you guessed it, meat – specifically championing the use of secondary cuts and offal (the organs and entrails of animals). It took place at the Elite Restaurant in downtown Penticton, which is an old school diner that looks like it hasn’t changed much in the past 50 years. There’s Elvis pictures on the wall, meat hooks in the walk-in cooler and a 10 foot long flat top griddle dominating the kitchen. I couldn’t think of a better venue for an event such as this.

Many local chefs and food lovers brought a dish, which was presented family-style for all to try. The crowd circulated, sampling spleen meatballs, drinking a nice glass of Black Hills wine, and eventually voting on their favourite dish of the evening. My dish was a pigs head and sweetbread croquette with pumpkin chutney, which was garnished with a crudely made pig jack-o-lantern, which was done in my hotel room earlier with a dollar store knife.

Check out the video above for a snippet of the festivities. Thanks to Stanley and his team of organizers for putting one of the best darn food events B.C. has ever seen. Let’s make next year the biggest Meat Fest yet!

I found this interesting video from Brooklyn’s foodcurated.com on the daily operations of a small abattoir in upstate New York.

I came across a letter today that was penned recently by some of the worlds most influential chefs at the Mistura Gastronomic Conference in Lima, Peru. These chefs (Ferran Adriá, Yukkio Hattori, Massimo Bottura, Michel Bras, René Redzepi, Gastón Acurio, Alex Atala and Dan Barber), who make up the advisory board of the Basque Culinary Center, all sat down and put pen to paper to articulate their thoughts on the responsibility of the chefs of tomorrow. Thoroughly motivating and true right down to the last word.

“OPEN LETTER TO THE CHEFS OF TOMORROW

At a time when society is rapidly changing, our profession must actively repond to new challenges.

The culinary profession of today offers a wide variety of opportunities and trajectories. We chefs remain united by a passion for cooking and share the belief that our work is also a way of life.

For us, cooking offers a world of possibilities, allowing us to freely express ourselves, pursue our interests, and fulfill our dreams.

Indeed, we believe that cooking is not only a response to the basic human need of feeding ourselves; it is also more than the search for happiness. Cooking is a powerful, transformative tool that, through the joint effort of co-producers—whether we be chefs, producers or eaters—can change the way the world nourishes itself.

We dream of a future in which the chef is socially engaged, conscious of and responsible for his or her contribution to a just and sustainable society.

As members of the International Advisory Board of the Basque Culinary Center, with a broad range of experiences, we keep dreaming about and reflecting upon the challenges to our profession. It is our hope that these reflections will serve as a reference and inspiration for the young people who will become tomorrow’s chefs.

To all of you, we direct this reflection, entitled An Open Letter to the Chefs of Tomorrow and signed in Lima on September 10, 2011.

Dear chef,

In relation with nature

1. Our work depends on nature’s gifts. As a result we all have a responsibility to know and protect nature, to use our cooking and our voices as a tool for recovering heirloom and endangered varieties and species, and promoting new ones. In this way we can help protect the earth’s biodiversity, as well as preserve and create flavors and preparations.

2. Over the course of thousands of years, the dialogue between humans and nature has created agriculture. We are all, in other words, part of an ecological system. To ensure that this ecology is as healthy as possible, let’s encourage and practice sustainable production in the field and in the kitchen. In this way, we can create authentic flavor.

In relation with society

3. As chefs, we are the product of our culture. Each of us is heir to a legacy of flavors, dining customs and cooking techniques. Yet we don’t have to be passive. Through our cooking, our ethics, and our aesthetics, we can contribute to the culture and identity of a people, a region, a country. We can also serve as an important bridge with other cultures.

4. We practice a profession that has the power to affect the socio-economic development of others. We can have a significant economic impact by encouraging the exportation of our own culinary culture and fomenting others’ interest in it. At the same time, by collaborating with local producers and employing fair economic practices, we can generate sustainable local wealth and financially strengthen our communities.

In relation with knowledge

5. Although a primary goal of our profession is to provide happiness and stir emotions, through our own work and by working with experts in the fields of health and education, we have a unique opportunity to transmit our knowledge to members of the public, helping them, for example, to acquire good cooking habits, and to learn to make healthy choices about the foods they eat.

6. Through our profession, we have the opportunity to generate new knowledge, whether it be something so simple as the development of a recipe or as complicated as an in-depth research project. And just as we have each benefited from the teaching of others, we have a responsibility, in turn, to share our learning.

In relation with values

7. We live in a time in which cooking can be a beautiful form of self-expression. Cooking today is a field in constant evolution that includes many different disciplines. For that reason, it’s important to carry out our quests and fulfill our dreams with authenticity, humility, and above all, passion. Ultimately, we are each guided by our own ethics and values.”

Download the .pdf here and share it with your friends!

I made some very tasty duck over the weekend for an event we catered and wanted to share the process.

The idea was I wanted to do a simple smoked duck breast salad, with some frisee lettuce, roasted beets and this condiment I’ve taken to calling dried fruit and nut “granola” (put your fingers in the air and make quotation marks as you say it). I met a very modern chef recently and he made a similar thing to go with lamb – I hijacked the idea and developed my own recipe.

I’ll start with the duck. I got some very nice breasts from Yarrow Meadows Farm through Two Rivers Specialty Meats. It was the first time I had used this particular duck, and knew from the second it arrived that they were of high quality. With a nice size, around 200 grams a piece, and a gorgeous light coloured flesh, I would call them awesome. First step was to clean any excess fat and sinew off the breasts and put them in a 3 % brine over night (see recipe below).

Duck Brine
1 litre water
30 grams kosher salt
15 grams sugar
1 gram pink salt
8 grams coriander seeds
4 grams black peppercorns
4 grams fennel seeds
4 pieces whole clove
2 pieces star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 sprig rosemary
3 sprigs thyme

method: combine the water, salt and sugar in a pot and bring to the simmer. While the liquid is heating, toast the spices until fragrant, and then add to the liquid with the thyme and rosemary. Once the brine comes to the simmer, remove from the heat and let cool.

I removed the breasts after 12 hours, dried them off and sprinkled them with smoke powder from Sosa Products that the same modern chef introduced into to me. It smells intensely of smoke – I put it in one of my cupboards in a sealed container and then a ziploc, but it was still so strong I had to put it outside. The smell doesn’t translate to the flavour though, which is very subtle. The breasts were then vacuum packed and cooked at 58° celsius in the circulator for 45 minutes. Once they were removed, I iced them down until service, when the fat would be rendered and the meat gently re-heated before slicing, which you can see in the picture above. They turned out nice, with a slight scent of smoke and a gorgeous rosy coloured flesh.

The “granola” I speak of is a fun little bit of texture I’m playing around with. Using a base of puffed rice and quinoa (which is made by cooking the grains, drying them out in a low oven or dehydrator and then flash frying them at 400°F for a few seconds until puffed), I add macerated dried fruit, nuts, spice and herbs to liven it up a bit. I will put up a recipe for it shortly, as it is fun to make and good to eat.

So duck is good and I like cooking. The end.

Check out this great show called Munchies from the folks over at vice.com. This particular episode sees David Chang, culinary wonder man, take a drunken restaurant crawl around New York City, ending up at his restaurant Momofuku Ssäm Bar with none other than José Andrés. It’s some great voyeur fluff for a cooking dork like me. Hope you enjoy it. Head over to vice.com to check out the rest of the series.

What is it about tiny little hamburgers that gets people so excited? Is it the same reason people like dioramas and baby carrots? Here at Butter on the Endive, we occasionally serve them at parties, and it is by far the most positively received item of the night. People get insanely giddy when they start getting passed around, almost unable to speak or breathe.

With a minimal amount of research, I have learned that White Castle, founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1921 (then called the White Castle System of Eating Houses), first started making a petite burger as a cheap snack for its working class patrons. It is up for debate where the term slider originated, but some say that U.S. Navy sailors used the term to describe greasy burgers as they slid across the flattop griddle at sea. Others say, it refers to how quickly the fatty burgers literally slid right through you. Whatever the case, the term eventually became synonymous with mini burgers, which became hugely popular in the late 90′s and early 00′s, appearing on menus from here to Miami – from the grimiest two-bit bar, to our very own short-lived db Bistro Moderne.

I remember catering with Araxi at the Pemberton Music Festival VIP tent, where they were on the menu. The Tragically Hip drummer Johnny was going off when he saw them, even inviting me into their dressing room with a platter for the rest of the band and crew. Later that night, Jay-Z’s people came asking for a tray of them to go back to his dressing room – let’s just say nobody was asking for trays of gazpacho, only cute little burgers.

So let me ask again, what is it that makes people so unabashedly ravenous over them?

There is only one other thing that gets people even close to as fired up as sliders, and that is crab cakes, but we’ll talk about those another day……