Vol. 3: No. 124 − June 9, 2009

A new barbeque bible

As summer arrives so do new books on summer cooking. The best one we have found this year is Serious Barbeque by an American, Adrian Perry Lang. Mr. Lang started in New York as a cook in La Cirque in New York and then went on to Paris to learn under the renowned Guy Savoy. His career then took a turn where he ended up cooking in New Mexico and he became obsessed with BBQ and its culture. This book is meant to raise the bar on BBQ and explain the process so everyone can improve.

The essence of Lang’s approach seems contained in his introduction: “I don’t just want to add flavor, I want to build it brick by brick, layer by layer.” This he most certainly does, as we found, when we followed his wonderful recipe, “Sticky Drumsticks”. Using a marinade first followed by a glaze, both steps build up complex and ultimately delicious flavours.

There are excellent chapters on the qualities and ins and outs of different meats and their cuts. They set out questions you should ask your butcher and what you should expect of him (or her).

We use a Big Green Egg ceramic barbeque which Lang recommends. The New York Times recently called his book the bible for this cooker.

Interview with Jimson Bienenstock, General Manager of George and wine expert.

Jimson joined us three years ago, returning to Canada from Paris where he was General Manager of 4 pubs and 4 wine bars. He is a graduate of Cambridge with a Masters Degree in Molecular Biology, and an Executive MBA from France. He decided to return to Canada with his Swedish born wife and two young children to live here because he was convinced that Canada was the best place to raise a family. He is somewhat Eurocentric in his taste for wines but we like that.

Do you still feel good about coming back to Canada? – We love Toronto – totally cosmopolitan, genuinely multicultural and safe, it feels like a village – not a big city. We live in the Beach (or do we say Beaches? I’m still not sure) – two minutes walk from Kew Beach School for JK and grade 1, ten minutes walk to the beach, 15 minutes to work Downtown – it is a lifestyle that is hard to beat anywhere in the world…

What are the differences you notice between French wine drinkers and Toronto wine drinkers? The Torontonians are generally open-minded about wine (and they are only just becoming aware that Niagara is making some world class wines); whereas the French are generally closed-minded about wines (and they are only just becoming aware that some foreigners are making some world class wines)

What are the latest Toronto wine trends you have noticed? Well, three years for me in Toronto hardly allows me to make a fair judgment of long-term trends, but really good Chardonnays haven’t been moving lately, and the drier aromatic wines (Gewürztraminers and Rieslings) are on the rise…as are the best of the best Niagara wines.

How do you feel about the trends? It’s a shame that I have a hard time selling a wonderful white burgundy or grand cru Chablis any more, but I am very happy that the locals are getting over the reverse snobbism of the Baby Duck image of our wines and appreciating that local wine can be at global standards.

What wines do you really dislike? Sweet wines in general, and specifically sweet wines that lack acidity. I have a hard time with oaky new world chardonnay. I have had a hard time finding Champagne that I dislike (and believe me, I have tried).

Do you have any simple guidelines for matching wine to food? Make sure that the wines have good acidity and minerality, and that you bring out progressively more complex and full-bodied wines in sequence. I think that the food should take priority, and find a wine to complement it, not the other way around. Don’t be afraid to challenge the rules – what about a great pinot noir with foie gras…or finishing with a good sparkling wine – Moscato d’Asti, Brachetto d’Acqui – did I mention Champagne already? Or why not just stick with a favourite – like my three best friends from Bandol (white, red, or rosé) or Pomérol or Champagne all the way. After all, eating and drinking is just about enjoying one’s self.

What wines does your wife tend to choose and what do you think about them?
Well, we share a soft spot for good pinot noir from central Otago in New Zealand, and Bandol Rosé. She loves a rich white German wheat beer (Erdinger in particular) – but I’ll have a good stout, Dunkel or Duvel if I have the choice. She will accompany me with a big left-bank Bordeaux just to be polite – which suits me fine as I end up getting most of the bottle.

When you are considering buying a very expensive wine, what comes to mind? Is money no object here? Did I mention Champagne already? We sold our last bottle of Champagne Gosset Celebris 1996 at George today, and I almost cried. That or a big Pomerol – a merlot dominant right bank Bordeaux – on our list the 2001 La Gravette de Certan, Pomérol gives me goose-bumps.

Being an expert in wines and cocktails, how do you keep from being a lush? I don’t know that I’m an expert; I just have a good palate, that’s all. As far as being a lush, I drink a little bit often, rather than a lot now and then. As the French say “sachez, apprécier et consommer avec moderation” “know, appreciate and consume with moderation”… although age has mellowed my drinking habits out quite a bit.
Got any good summer cocktail recommendations? My favourite at the moment is the Mint Julep we are doing at George:
Lightly muddle spotlessly clean and absolutely fresh destemmed and deveined mint leaves with 2 teaspoons of white sugar, add 2½ oz of Bulleit Frontier Bourbon, swirl, and add lots of ice.

The bourbon doesn’t get sweet, and the sugar stays grainy and mildly crunchy between the teeth when you drink it with a straw – the mint kicks in late on the palate and lingers forever. It’s just such a shame that they go straight to my head.

Bittman redux – no knead bread – recipe refined in time for cottaging

In 2006, the much esteemed Mark Bittman of the New York Times announced what he said was the first major advance in bread making in 2000 years. By video, he proceeded to show us how to make gorgeous loaves of artisanal-grade bread without kneading. We followed the recipe and adopted it for cottage use where it became a standard fixture since we have no bakery available for many miles. At the same time, our baker at George, Shawn Gabrysch, started working with the recipe and it became one of our standard breads which we make for diners; some say the best of the breads we make.

Over the years, variants of the original recipe were published, the most notable in Cooks Illustrated which complicated the recipe with the addition of pilsener, potatoes with some limited kneading. Shawn however continued experimenting with the original recipe but instead of adding ingredients, his focus was to further simplify the recipe. And we think he has succeeded. Here is the new recipe.  Make it at the cottage and your life there will improve.

Recipe for Small Bread Loaf. Double for Large Loaf and cook for an extra 5 minutes in the final uncovered step.

Ingredients (Important – measure by weight!)
All purpose flour 10.5 oz
2 level tsps salt
1/8 of heaping tsp dry instant yeast
7.5 oz water

- in a warm place, combine ingredients and stir them for 30 seconds with one hand while rotating mixing bowl ensuring that all the flour is well hydrated.
- cover bowl with saran wrap and let stand in a moderately warm place for 6 hours. If room is colder, let stand for up to an additional 6 hours to achieve appropriate rise. Dough will approximately double in volume. See photos for good result.
- Remove dough and place on lightly floured surface. If desired sprinkle on top 1 tsp of fresh herbs (lemon thyme or rosemary or thyme) and 1 ½ tsps of chopped olives or sundried tomatoes or roasted garlic. (It’s nice with nothing too).
- fold 3 times, lightly dust your hands with flour and shape into a boule. This is not so straightforward. Shawn rolls it into a ball. Being careful not to tear the outside skin he shapes it so he gently tucks the sides of the boule underneath itself giving the outside top skin some surface tension. See photo.
- let stand for 90 minutes uncovered on a lightly floured surface in a warm place - after it stands for 60 of the 90 minutes turn the oven on to 475 to 500F degrees and put a cast iron covered pot (see photo) into the oven. 30 minutes later, turn the boule upside down and put it in the heated pot. Put the cover on
- bake for 30 minutes and remove cover from oven.
- bake for 5 to 10 minutes more to achieve the golden colour you want
- remove from oven, remove bread and let stand for at least 20 -30 minutes

What could be simpler! At the cottage we make it the afternoon before and let it sit out all night so that we have fresh bread for breakfast.

Ontario produce is now in full swing and it looks like it will be a good year.

Chef Loseto reports that Ontario farmers have started to return in earnest to the Ontario Food Terminal and they are posting slightly higher prices to offset somewhat lower sales. This notion always offends economists because lower demand should result under economic theory in lower sales. But food producers throughout the world do not always agree. In any case, prices of produce tend to be higher when they first appear in the market and then as their novelty wears off tend to decline two or three weeks later.

In addition to field asparagus and strawberries, there was a lot of good looking Ontario hothouse vegetables available such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. The Chef was offered what were dubbed last year’s cold storage Ontario carrots, beets and parsnips. They looked absolutely fresh and the Chef suspects that they are not really Ontario vegetables despite what he was assured.

The Ontario strawberries are wonderful this year. However, if you are going to prepare them, Chef Loseto recommends that they can be improved if you marinate them in a mixture of lemon and sugar for a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 2 hours before using them. To his horror, the Chef’s apprentice accompanying the Chef accidentally dropped two cases of strawberries. Fortunately, they fell over a few other cases and they were able to pick up the strawberries. The vendor felt so sorry for the apprentice he sold another case to the Chef at half price.

Ontario raspberries were in the market but were too soft and expensive. The Chef suggests you avoid them for the moment.

The Ontario asparagus is on the dear side. It is a good crop this year. Vendors at the Terminal are not bringing in Washington asparagus this year leaving Dutch and French asparagus to compete with the Ontario crop. The white French asparagus is super expensive again this year and is not as fresh as our local crop. When asked when to buy the French crop, the Chef replied “buy it when you are in France.”

An article on how to cook asparagus appeared this week in the New York Times. The Chef disagreed with the method suggested and set out his view as follows:
Don’t snap off the big end of the asparagus but peel the stalks after cutting off a small section at the end. Don’t buy thick asparagus but look for medium thickness. Cook them with butter but not lemon for about two minutes in a frying pan. Transfer them to a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes. They are done when they are soft in the middle but a bit crunchy on the outside.

Ontario leeks and fiddleheads are now done.

On the import side of the Terminal, there was shortage of peas, cauliflower and favas. Also US leeks were absent, replaced by very inferior Mexican leeks. The Chef bought some California blueberries which he will use selectively as a hint of what’s coming. He bought excellent Spanish loquats which he recommends highly. Arugula is here from California. The ones with jagged edges are stronger than the ones with rounder leaves which are mild. Good pineapples and mangoes are available from South America as well as superb kiwis from - appropriately - New Zealand.

Wild porcini mushrooms are arriving from Oregon and BC. Next week they will be at their peak and then begin to get a bit wormy. The current ones have really good porcini flavour. Morels from BC are still here. Chanterelle mushrooms from Romania are available. French buyers are avoiding them claiming they are radioactive and the Chef is avoiding them as well.

The Chef bought Ontario racks of lamb and noticed that the price is up because of a shortage of them available. The wild boar is a surprisingly strong seller. It comes with fiddleheads and the Chef said he did not know whether it was the fiddleheads or the boar which people wanted. He is preparing guinea hen sous vide with a basil custard rhubarb jam and fava salad which customers like. Our own Joel MacDonald is making fresh sausages with duck breast and pancetta style duck which are outstanding.

Soft shell crabs are in season for about two weeks more. From BC we are buying halibut and three types of wild salmon: king, sockeye and Copper River. The Chef is pleased with BC scallops he serves on the shell with cauliflower flan and saffron.

For dessert, the Chef is using newly-in-season strawberries. He is working on a more classic mille-feuilles this year. Last year he did his own interpretation and concluded he confused our customers.

Jimson’s Picks

As a service to the butcher Olliffe and the adjacent sweetgrassflowers, we publish after every Vintages release Jimson's Picks selected as the best value wines between $15 and $30 which the two stores display.

2006 Grüner Veltliner, Rabl G., Austria $29.95
Very, very crisp, fresh and dry white - an aperitif, or with shellfish

2006 Cab. Sauvignon, Famiglia Bianchi, Argentina $16.95
Big dark fruit - perfect with rich barbecued meats and burgers.

2003 Ch. Ste. Michelle Indian Wells, Washington State $23.95
Mostly merlot, this is a softer and lighter alternative to a
cabernet sauvignon - try it with lighter meats (veal and pork).

2006 Villa Cerna Chianti Classico, Italy $18.95
2006 was a perfect growing year for Chianti, and as such good
value can be found in lesser known wineries. Try with game.

2003 Quinta de Ventozelo Reserva, Douro, Portugal $24.95
Made from the premium grapes used typically in port,
this is a big hot climate red - not for the faint-hearted.
Should be paired with a full bodied rich meat dish.

 

Le patron