its been a while.....again

So long, i thought this blog may have expired.... or if it hadn't, perhaps i would have forgot my password.

Lucky for me, and perhaps for anyone who decided to steal my wallet, all my passwords are the same.

Life lately has been hectic, opening a second restaurant took a lot out of me, so much that at certain points throughout the process i thought i was going to totally lose my shit. I was faced with the longest days i have faced in my life, always feeling behind two weeks, in prep, in money, in my love life, even in basic hygiene like simple things you take for granted everyday, like sleep, eating, showering, brushing my teeth (god knows i need to brush my teeth more, or atleast my GF likes to remind me after a pack of smokes a day and a couple of coca colas late at night)

Three months behind schedule, a good 75 grand more then we thought,mold in the basement, getting dinged by the building inspector and drug and alcohol addicted contractors are just a few of the roadblocks we had to face.

But now its open, like a hurricane that has passed. time to pick up the pieces, time to pay off the credit cards that were maxed out in the last few weeks before opening, and for fucks sake, time to finally get on the payroll again.

The happy ending to this story is that we have a new spot that couldn't be any closer, the room looks awesome, the kitchen is sick, and the cooks, food and cocktails are even sicker!

I have a lot of catching up to do. The boys at both kitchens right now are kicking it into overdrive, were screwing with a lot of stuff these days. Were having a lot of fun and not taking anything too serious other then putting good food on the plate.

I think its time i start to introduce the kitchen staff that makes everything possible at the hoof.

Glad to be back.

Hope theres still a few people reading this.

Anything for a buck

The frustration of the garbage strike was too much to blog about as it was happening, now that its over and i no longer have a pile of maggot filled bags to deal with i feel i can write about the joyful time we had. It all began with the construction across the street. We had a large construction bin going for rubble, so when the strike began we didn't sweat it too much. We had our garbage disposal so things were looking up. but then it became a local garbage dump and quickly filled up. 500 dollars later and it was gone but we didn't replace it because it would only fill up not just with our garbage but with everyone's in the neighbourhood. 

So we began just putting the garbage in the same spot just minus the bin. I dont think anyone thought it was going to last as long as it did, i sure didn't. Everyday, the garbage piled up, recycling bins  filled up, and balancing acts began with the cardboard. 

Eventually, it became too much and we had to get rid of it. 

So straight to craigslist i went. Apparently a lot of people were taking advantage of having a truck and making money off it. 

So, i called the cheapest crew on criagslist, Labelled "Hard working students", i said to myself "Hey, id love to support some hard working students." So i called, hooked up a decent rate and then waited. 

I didn't really know what to expect, but i figured it would be somewhere along the lines of   a pickup truck or a U haul. 

These "students" , no older then 18, showed up with there pops lincoln towncar lined with a tarp, ready to take any garbage we had. I cant tell you how funny it was to see these two kids jamming 25 large husky bags into there poor fathers car dripping with maggots and pork and fish carcass juice, but they did, and in two trips, our garbage was gone.

All for a crisp $120!

Gotta love the entrepreneurial spirit. 

I hope it covered the car cleaning service. 

Its been a while

I wont bore any of you for my reason of absence, i told you already, when the vibe to write is there i take advantage of it, when its not, its not. 

Lifes been busy, running a restaurant is a full time job, but often feels like a few full time jobs. We've been busing stocking up our selection of preserves over the last month, this time for two restaurants and were busy playing around with new menu ideas. 

The new place although coming along, is coming along slower then we hoped. I have some updates and pictures to follow. 

Summer has flew by and i didn't get a chance to enjoy it i hope you all had fun!

Stupid things one does when its slow

On a slow night most cooks would catch up on prep or clean areas of the kitchen that dont get regular attention, but some days, for no apparent reason, we go straight to option 3....playing with the deep fryer. 

The deep fryer is the most entertaining piece of equipment in a kitchen. Not many tools can compete with a container of consistently hot oil with baskets ready to fry anything that comes its way. But the beauty of the deep fryer is in the differing outcomes depending on what you put in there. 

It started with an egg. None of us in the kitchen that night had deep fried a whole egg in its shell. We didn't know what to expect, but obviously, we figured it would blow up. We bounced around our theories and argued about the outcome. Some of us took cover, and others, meaning myself, stayed close by to keep watch on the fryer. All three of us stood there, trying not to look too suspicious in front of the surrounding customers. 

We waited....and waited... until clearly this egg was not going to blow up. 

So much for that one.

On to the next. 

I whipped up a quick tempura batter and we began frying every little tid bit in the kitchen. Chorizo, salami's, gherkins, and even sour keys (our go-to protein when were hungry). None of the outcomes warranted new menu changes, but its times like these where new ideas and new techniques are created. I bet you many things you might eat at El Bulli are created by days like these. 

Next stupid thing on the list was the veal brains. We were soaking the brains last night for the ravioli's we are making today. I decided to cut a small piece off and offer it to my dishwasher, labelled veal brain sashimi. It was meant as a joke, i wasn't sure i was going to let him eat it, but i definately wanted to see if he'd do it. He passed on the raw state, so i offered him ceviche. A little marinate of lemon juice and brunoise. I gave it to him and told him to give it about 5 minutes before eating. Tom's a special boy, he'll pretty much do anything you tell him. The ceviche looked appetizing to him, i knew he was going to eat it. 

I've never heard of eating raw or quickly marinated brains before, especially not calf's. I quickly thought of the possible outcomes and decided as a responsible restaurant owner, i wasn't being too responsible. When he wasn't looking, i grabbed the little bowl of marinating brains and walked back to the kitchen. 

Confronted with my two cooks who were hoping for a much more entertaining outcome, i only had one choice and that was to eat it myself. I split it in 1/2 and scooped the first bit in a spoon and i downed it without chewing with the assumption, that if i dont chew it i will have a better chance of not getting sick. Realizing my silly assumption and the fact that whatever would happen was going to happen, i was ready to really taste the raw brains. I took the second 1/2 and placed it on my tongue, i squished and chewed and swallowed. It had a very delicate texture, almost like a scallop but with less bite and chew. When i think about it now, it was a delicacy to my senses. 

Its the next morning and despite a little hang over, i feel fine. 

Not sure brain ceviche would sell nor that i would even put it on the menu, but it was nice to try and another stupid night in the books.

The 12 O'clock Crouch

If your ever at the Hoof and its 12 o'clock and you dont see anyone in the kitchen, chances are we're doin' the 12 o'clock crouch, which consists of suckin' back some 50's and eating cheap, cold chinese food.

Upgrades

Jen and I started this restaurant with all the money we had. We were forced to clean out our own kitchens of anything that could be useful to the restaurant, which is ok, because neither of us have had time to cook at home. Business has been good and we can now afford to spend money on certain luxuries for the restaurant. I've worked in some fancy kitchens and i think this last investment has put us in the same category as the big boys like Canoe, etc.

Its not a massive steam kettle nor is it a fancy sous vide machine. No folks, Its a "Safety Saran Wrap Station" , not just any safety wrap station, its the delux version, with all the fancy attachments. I was trying to figure out why it called itself a "station", then before service we tried to find a spot to store it, and alas i figured out why it was called a station. This thing, is so BIG and clunky, handles protruding out the side giving it an extra foot in length, it looks swollen as if its filled with too much water, almost as long as our 4 foot garde manger fridge...so surely.... one can not store it. It demands a station of its own, perhaps its own room. 4 empty walls, a stainless table, with its suction cups clinging to the surface, ready to wrap anything that comes its way. 

The Wedding

Yesterday i catered a wedding. It wasn;t just any wedding...it was my girlfriends parents wedding. I was also informed (by my girlfriend) that i was catering the wedding only 7 days prior. Cooks like me always get signed up for these family events, so im not surprised i found myself catering to 130 people, outside in a backyard, in the dark. 

Any cook knows, hell, anyone who's thrown a dinner party knows that no matter how many lists you make, you are always going to forget something. I began the day with one large list, which quickly multiplied into 5 pages, front and back, scribbles everywhere, titles, headings, check marks, id put some in one pocket, some in others, lost a few down by the peddles of the car as i did my day-of errands like picking up coffee, getting flowers or should i say trees that filled the car like a scene in jumanji, balancing trays of duck confit puffs on the dash board with the air conditioning on high trying to offset the heat from the sun projecting through the cars window as i battle my way through traffic up to yonge and finch. 

I reached my destination. The rain had stopped (thank god) but the winds were still fierce. I was standing under a 130 foot tent that looked like it was ready to set sail. First things first, unload the cars and see whats missing. Garbage bins, bags, containers, soap, scrubbies, knifes, made more lists and back downtown i went. Eventually i got back. Looking at my prep list which was in good shape i had three hours, i felt good, things were looking up. 

I began drinking a beer i was offered by my girlfriends father who was trying to get my operation powered up with enough extention cords. We blew some fuses, had cords everywhere, power bars, lights, induction burners, slicers but eventually got it figured out. 

I was starving, so were the two cooks helping me. I decided to get food for everyone. i drove to the corner of finch and yonge to find myself surrounded by korean restaurants. I like korean but i wasn't sure if they can do hot pot and korean bbq to go. So i settle on the only sushi joint arount. I returned with 80 bucks of sushi only to be told i had 5 minutes before we had to go to the wedding ceremony. 

One thing i forgot to write on my list was that i had to go to the wedding. 

There i was, in the shits, although my girlfriend was in it worse. We delegated everything we didn't have done to my two cooks who when we left, were filling balloons with helium. 

Off we went. 

Sitting in the front row, i managed to sneak a few text messages to the cooks during prayers and hymns giving orders, reminding them of things to get done. The plan was to grab the trees from the church and rush back as soon as possible to finish setting up before the people arrived. We were in the front row. We wanted to wait till the people began following out the groom and bride before we yanked the trees. But everyone was waiting for us to follow first. i stepped back, hoping that people would catch my drift, they waited..... i stepped back again...this time yanking my girlfriend back.... they waited. 

Realizing this wasn't going anywhere, i grabbed my girlfriend and then the trees and ran out the side door. 

Racing back, i through on some chef whites and got down to business. The boys had eveything together, i began slicing. Induction burner was searing pork belly, oysters were being shucked. 

The people began arriving. My girlfriend was in a hectic state. 

Theres two types of Hors d'oeuvres parties. Those where people eat, and those where people dont. 

30 minutes into it and no one had touched a thing, they oouuud and ahhhd but no eating. 

Great! 

All this work for nothing. 

Then i heard a gentleman say the word "plate"

PLATES!!! 

There were no plates! IDIOT!

I ran inside, got a stack of paper plates and the line ups began. 

oysters were moving, lobster, bacon and brioche sandwiches were flying off the shelf, pork belly was searing, duck puffs were in the oven, people were filling there plates up with meat and antipasto, things were looking up. Two hours later, the crowd had subsided, the food was all gone, and it was time to clean up. 

First wedding catering behind me. Over before i knew it. 

Evolution

The key to successful charcuterie is to have a starting point and go from there. I have some friends (you know who you are!!)  who have crazy ideas and jump head first into them with the end result not always being fruitful. I on the other hand like to slowly progress from things i have learned in the past. Call it playing safe if you will, I will be cooking for many years to come so i am in no rush.  I have never been the type to try and come up with the next best thing and you can see that in our food. None of our dishes are "cutting edge", they're not trying to be. They are meant to be kept simple. Obviously we are limited with our kitchen set up, but even if i was given a huge kitchen with all the gadgets, perhaps even a gas stove and a regulation hood, the hoof would still be doing the food we do. Which brings me to my point. The hoof is a breeding ground for knowledge. We come in each morning excited to try something new based on something in the past. 

Here you have the headcheese set with the tongue and pig ear, which if you remember both started out as separate identities. 

And again, here you have the testina and the cottechino both started out solo and have now joined forces. 

I guess this is how the quail got stuffed into the chicken and then eventually into the duck. People get bored, especially chefs. Most of us continually push to learn new things. The art of charcuterie has taught me the art of patience. As quickly as i master something, im right back at the beginning with the next. It's as if im running around in a circle but each time its gets much bigger. Amassing information as i go. 

This blog post is about to get way to heavy for 4 in the morning....

My brain hurts. 

You know where i was going with this...

g'night.

Great Sushi

Even though this is a charcuterie blog i thought i'd post a bit about our monday night dinner at Ginger in Montreal. Ginger does sushi, but its not your typical sushi restaurant. Well... the menu reads like it but the plates come out like none other i've ever seen. 

I'm not talking about Sushi Kaji style sushi, im talking about 3 cooks, 2 of them women, sweating it out in a tiny kitchen, hustling & sweating, banging out tasty, supersized concoctions. 

First up is there sushi pizza. This wasn't a few slim slices of salmon on crispy rice thats typical to most restaurants, there was salmon, scallop and lobster amount other things. it was about 3-4 inches tall and TASTY!!

Next up was the spicy eggplant. Eggplant on top and bottom with raw fish inside, apparently dipped in tempura batter and fried as a whole for 5 minutes till the eggplant is fully cooked. This was so good we were forced to order two more. Again, really huge!

Next up tuna tartar with apple. Simple, fresh and tasty

and another favorite...Spicy lobster roll. 3 times the size of your typical maki. 

Eventually the red wine and hot sake got to G-mo and Colin and they were off to battle wasabi. 

Two large piles left on the plate. G-mo took it down first before any wager was discussed. Colin followed. Neither of them won or lost but both of them were feeling it at different times. G-mo's eye's watered up and never spoke of it again (peruvian pride). Colin on the other hand was feeling ill for most of the next day and popping advils. 

So if your ever in Montreal and looking for somewhere to eat on a monday when most places are closed, check out Ginger. You won't be disappointed. 

Blogging from the hotel room

So its monday in montreal and apparently not much is open on mondays. Yesterday we ate at PDC. We arrived by 930. waited for our table for 1/2 an hour, waited for another 45 minutes for a drink to arrive... i guess you can guess where im going with this....the service was shit. The food however was fantastic, albeit we did order too much. I cant remember everything but heres a list of most of it. 

10 liquid foie gras

2 tarragon bison tongue

2 crispy pdc salads

2 bison tar tar

4 duck carpaccio 

2 piglet roast

3 foie gras poutine

3 foie gras and pancakes

2 foie gras and boudin tarts

2 tripe stews

2 duck in a cans

1 trotter stuffed w/ foie

i know we got a few other specials of the night... needless to say it was a large amout of food. 

Along the way some people began tapping out... or eating just tid bits and letting the rest pick up there slack... my girlfriend being one of them. Most dishes were good (foie and boudin tart) with the mains not so good. The duck in a can was probably the worst of the bunch. A cool idea, but cool ideas dont make up for overcooked, under rested protein, foie gras that tasted like dry chicken livers and the fat was  inedible.  By the main courses we knew we had over ordered. 

The thought of putting the duck back in the can and taking both of them home in a bag crossed our minds because we didn't want the PDC staff to think we were pussies... At one point we all held hands and prayed for god to give us the strength to continue on with the feast. Perhaps he was busy. The stuffed trotter.... that looked like roadkill on mash potatoes whipped with xanthan gum was tasty, but at that point in the meal, really tasted like everything we had ate throughout the meal on one plate. 

In most restaurants when sharing food your fighting to get a taste of the foie gras. There at PDC i noticed big chunks of foie gras on my plate i didn't even know i had. 

It was fun. 

But i dont see myself going back soon as the menu doesn't seem to change much. 

Off to Montreal

The hoof staff and there significant others are off to Montreal. 

We decided a few days ago to close down for a couple days next week. Sunday the 15th and monday the 16th to be exact. We will reopen thursday. We decided that we need to take a little culinary trip for a few days. I can be fairly particular about leaving times and like to stick to a schedule. I like structure. i dont like winers. Were leaving 5 hours after saturday night service. That gives everyone 3 1/2 to 4 hours sleep. No more no less. we must arrive on time!! If you sleep in you get left behind. Everyone will receive a wake up call. We have a late reservation at Au Pied de Cochon on sunday night. We plan to show them how the hoof can eat. Infact, we plan to close the place down and with any luck the hoof and the cochon staff will go out and party!! Last time i was there it was impossible to try the whole menu because i was only with another friend. This time there is 10 of us. Assuming everyone eats three dishes, that makes thirty, surely thats most of the menu. I am excited. Were planning on checking out all the markets and im trying to find information on all the small illegal cheese makers in the eastern townships that a friend told me about. There will be lots to blog about next week!

A typical day off

Today, after a busy monday, i woke up early. It was tuesday... a day i look forward too, not because its a day off from the kitchen, but more so a day in the kitchen without service.  My day got started at 10:30. I got picked up by colin (current stage, next week payed employee)  and we hit up kensington market. We met thoshon, who is the sous at Niagara on the lake, but has been staging at the hoof for the past few weeks while they relocate the restaurant. I'll just add that thoshon is hardcore, he drives in every morning from niagara for a 6 hour prep shift and then back again. I dont know many cooks with that kind of discipline. i respect that. 

We started by grabbing dried blueberries from my favorite dry goods shop on baldwin for a smoked buffalo salami. I dont know the name of the old women who runs the shop, but she calls me mami, mommi, or mommy, so i call her that back. She always gives me a taste of salted pistachios or chocolate covered coffee beans while i wait as she gets my order ready. Next we went to get some oxtail from european meats for a new spring dish im planning to play around with. After that we headed south on kensington to that little butcher shop that generally has some sort of animal head hanging in the window. I really wanted to show thoshon it because she usually has some interesting innards stocked. Today she had nothing except for 3 lamb heads and some tripe. We bought up all the lambs heads and left the tripe. 

On our way back to the car i stopped at a fish store to show thoshon. I warned him of the large amount of jamaicans buying kingfish at any given time of day. We perused a bit and ended walking out of there with some nice fresh herring for 5 bucks.

We dropped off our buys in the car and on we went to augusta fruit market. 

I dont know why people shop at all these overly priced stores in kensington when they could go to Augusta FM and get everything pretty much wholesale. They gave us a tour of there downstairs refrigeration, which is a maze and massive. 

We got ourselves a case of baby topper carrots to pickle and on we went. 

Next up was jumbo empanada. 

Thoshon hadn't had an empanada before, so we all got the typical beef and a little cheese one on the side. Ofcourse we ordered extra salsa and the chilean lady made a crack about how we should use our hands to eat as she brought us cutlery. So i made a joke, and asked if she had any chopsticks. Somewhere along the line, this got lost in translation and both she and her coworkers didn't get my joke as they looked at eachother confused. Then a chilean customer began translating what i said and by the time they got the joke (which wasn't funny anymore) we were done our empanada's and out the door. 

Off i went to tap phong to return a 320 dollar blender that over heated the first time i used it for cabbage soup. Luckily they didn't give me any trouble. Most likely because they knew it was crap before i bought it. I bought a cleaver with my new found wealth because i knew we had lambs heads to deal with. We bought coffee and back to the restaurant we went. 

As we arrived, Thoshon began piping out soprasatta's  which will most likely be our charcuterie contribution for the slow food movement dinner on may 2nd in Toronto. 

Then Colin began busting through the lambs heads. We needed a saw, so i sent him to ML lumber and he came back with a fine toothed saw. We had three heads. His first one was rough. lots of sawing, hacking with the clever, and chipping away at the bone. The second one got better. By the third one he got the brain out perfectly which is not an easy task. Well done!

I did my usual thing. Organized the fridge, cleaned out dry storage. Delt with some stuff that needed to be tended too. Glamourous life i live indeed. 

Throughout the day was battle pickle. 

We pickled the toppers with a sweet ginger pickle. Some cauliflower with tumeric. And our white pearl onions in spiced cider vinegar. 

During battle pickle, i browned some onions a little too much in a pot. The aroma was charred (some may say burnt) but not enough to throw out. 

I enjoyed the smell of onions on the verge of going into the garbage. 

So then i got to thinking about the pearls that were sitting over in a pickling container (garbage can from walmart)

I thought to myself what if we were to char ,almost burn/blister the onions and then put them back into there pickle. 

I mentioned the idea to the stages, neither of them objected.

So there we were burning pearl onions in dry cast irons, the sugars from the brine blackening in the pan. The whole restaurant was filling up with the smell of burnt caramel and smoke. It was a beautiful thing. When they were all done, back into the brine they went and off to the cave where they will ferment for atleast a month until they will end up on our pickle plate. 

Earlier in the day we had put on pork bellies to smoke for our pastrami. We had also cleaned, fillet, and salted the herring. When the herring had tensed up a bit from the salt/sugar mixture, we finished them in the smoker that had now been turned off and only the residual smoke was left. We then began the Dutch rollmops. I'm dutch, but never have i made rollmops. Infact none of us had. But thats the best thing about being in on our day off. Nothing is written in stone and we can do/try/screw up as much as we want, and for as long as we want. Thoshon made up a pickling spice, along with a brine and we layered the fish with spices, onions, herring, and built it up in a jar, layer by layer. We poured the cold brine over and we shall see if its like the ones you buy in a jar in the stores. 

Next up was my girlfriend Rita. Apparently, she needs to come to the restaurant and clean and do chores because we consider it quality time together now that im never home (and when im home, im sleeping). So she organized the spice jars, amalgamated, labeled, etc... We drank some vino and beer, listened to music and for a brief second it really felt like quality time. She's a keeper. 

10pm and we were out the door. 

Tomorrow, up at 9am to go to an artisanal prosciutto makers facility. He's going to show me how to debone a prosciutto leg the old school way. 

Cant wait!! 

Valentine's Day

I dont know why i feel the need to write at 4am when all i should be doing is sleeping... but here I am, exhausted after a very very busy valentines day. 

A few things... We dont take reservations....I really didn't think we were going to be that busy tonight....i mean, i know our food is tasty, but in my mind it doesn't scream love is in the air.... maybe smoke in the air due to our horrific venting system in the kitchen everytime we sear foie gras, but far from the romantic evening i would assume most would want to spend with there loved one. But, there we were, 545 pm, people lining up like animals ready to dip there heads into the trough and get there eat on at the hoof. I had my pig snouts pre roasted... i honestly didn't think anyone was going to order it. 1/2 way through the night, we were sold out. I was stunned... i couldn't believe how the plates were coming back licked clean. One table even lifted there plate up to show me how empty it was. It amazes me to see what toronto can handle. If people are down for the pig snouts what else are they ready for. Perhaps its my duty to see how far i can push them. I thought the snout was overboard, but apparently not. 

Its nice to see people dressed up for there special occasion be it valentines or any other special night and eating at the hoof. Not that they shouldn't be enjoying themselves but i always feel like people come to the hoof expecting something different from what we are. From my little cubicle of a kitchen, i watch certain tables and certain people as they order and as they eat, 100% sure that they just dont get it and are not having a good time....be it the food, service, washrooms, or atmosphere..... but then its those same people who come up to us in the kitchen and say how much they enjoyed themselves. So it calms my nerves for the moment until i focus my eyes on the next one... 

For instance, this old couple was in tonight.... they ordered a good amount of food for being old people...not that old people cant eat but i always remember grandma portioning her food like it was the Stalin regime. They started with cheese, then soups and marrow, then foie gras and something else, then i'm pretty sure they had dessert... they sat there for hours, i even had a chance to lift my head up while in the weeds to see them chatting with a young couple sitting beside them, i heard that one table even bought them a drink. 

So as the table was walking by the kitchen, the old women popped her head over the pass and smiled and told me how much she enjoyed her dinner. It made me feel good. Not because it made my day, but because it made me feel like i made hers. 

This is what the black hoof has made me realize. 99% of people dont really give a shit about table clothes, fancy cutlery and plate wear, over the top service that borders on "leave me the fuck alone already".  People want to be around other people enjoying themselves eating good food and drinking good wine, not to mention fantastic cocktails. No one really cares that our tables are unbalanced and that its like a smokehouse in our restaurant... why??? cause they just dont. 

Super Bowl Sunday

Today was a good day. Horrible for business but a nice break from the typical madness. Every once in a while we (myself and my sous chef g-mo) find ourselves with a small prep list and free time to screw around. Today was terrine day. We did rabbit rilette stuffed with a torchon of salt cured foie gras, foie gras mi-cuit layered with dolce de leche and membrillo, as well as a nose to tail terrine aka head cheese. The foie gras with membrillo didn't turn out how we exactly would have liked, but it was spur of the moment and we know what we would do next time. Its days like this that remind me what i love about cooking so much. The "grind" as most cooks like to call it can be fun, but prepping the same stuff day in and day out can get pretty boring. Its days when i can just waltz into the kitchen early with a small prep list when all the fun stuff happens. I'll be posting alot this week because I harvested some new stuff today which included lardo, pork liver salami, and pancetta along with about 50 other things i have to get caught up on. It will be a busy February. 

Pickling liquid

Its almost 4am, and i will elaborate later on this but i thought it very important to get out there to whoever is reading this. I have never worked in a restaurant where we ever kept the pickling liquid for anything after its initial purpose. Wow, what a waste of so many vinegars and flavour. 

I have been doing so much with leftover pickling liquid. For one it makes a great salad dressing. especially if its pickled onions. I will bump up the flavour and repickle the same type of veg, take liquid thats pickled beets and heat it up and pour it over celery, i take gherkin liquid and pickle my ox tongues after braising them and vac packing them while hot. i even have a container with pickling liquid i have no current use for that just keeps on collecting left overs....Not only does it save money which eventually saves the customer money but its a great way to develop flavor. Eventually it will be like a 100 yr old sourdough culture that passes on to the next batch. 

After this find, its made me seriously look at the possibilities of things before they go into the garbage or down the drain. 

Back from New york

Its been a while since my last post and id love to say i just got back from vacation but ive actually been in the kitchen  cooking. New york was fun...., expensive, but fun. I went to a nice restaurant each day i was there. After spending a couple grand on food, my favorite meal was a grilled corn with chilli pepper, mayo and grated spanish cheese for $1.90 from a little take out place called Cafe habana. Go figure. 

Bar boulud was good. His Charcutier is a master at his craft. We had a lot of meat, but it was missing cold cuts. It was all baked terrines. Too much by the end of it. But it was worth it as i understand the skill and labour that has to go in to those. 

The best thing about our time off (we closed down for 18 days) was the fact that none of my cured meats got used up. It was refreshing to walk into the kitchen and see a whole shit load of cured meats ready to harvest, which means vac packing and making room for more meat. One thing i've learned over the last few months is that as soon as i get comfortable with my stock i have to keep on producing. Its difficult forecasting how much i'll go through in the future and something i'm still trying to juggle. As for updates, The bear salami turned out just how i had hoped. The balance of salt and pepper was just enough to flavour the meat but still showcase the gaminess of its flavor. I'm happy with it for sure, but like most chefs, the conception of an idea is the most exciting part and now im over it and looking for my next fix. I did an ostrich salami with red wine and thyme and it turned out great as well. Actually i think its my new favorite. For now. 

I'm looking forward to the stuffed lonzino which hopefully will be ready in a month as well as the pork liver salami. I brought in a box of lamb loins to cure up for bresoala after tasting some at a friends restaurant. I plan to tackle those tomorrow and because they are so small, it shouldn't be too long till they're ready. 

The new menu has been pretty exhausting. I've scrapped printed menu's and gone strictly black boards at the Hoof so i can change it as often as i want. 

This week we are serving up homemade cottechino, testina, cassoulet, and pickled octopus with chorizo. 

Next week im excited for a smoked ham hock dish thats been braised, pulled off the bone, pressed and then roasted and glazed with a piri piri spice and pimento paste glaze. That will be going on a salt cod risotto. I doubt it will bring in the local portuguese from the neighbourhood but i suspect it will be tasty. 

The blackboard menu has been a learning experience. Its given me the ability to try new things as they come and also really tells me about my customer base.  Its taught me that people dont come here for green salads and side dishes. I tried it and had lettuce rot in my fridge. I just thought with all that meat it would be nice to have a little greens to lighten things up. Apparently not. 

The newest hit is the black hoofs Tongue sandwich. A shit load of tongue in between  toasted brioche with gherkins, tarragon cream, purple mustard, and some pickled celery. Which by the way is my newest fascination. 

Out of all the pickles i've done, celery is now my new favorite. 

Try it. 

Gone Fishin'

Well not exactly, but we closed down for two and a 1/2 weeks over the holidays for vacation. I'm on my way to New york. I'm driving down with my significant other and pooch. Luckily we have a free place to stay so we will be able to spend more money on food. Theres not many places i'm dying to eat at but i will definitely be checking out Bar Boulud, Daniel Boulud's charcuterie bar. I will also be trying to smuggle across some good cured meats on the way back. Hopefully these couple of weeks will give me time to think of some new ideas for the new year. I need the recharge.

Update Dec 14th 2008

Things are going just dandy at the Black Hoof. Business is good and were gearing up for a nice two week holiday come the 23rd right through to the 8th of January. I have a lot of stuff on the go right now hanging in the fridges. The Tamworth prosciutto made it through a month of curing without going rotten so thats good news. I have beautiful pancetta and thick slabs of lardo hanging that should be ready shortly. I harvested the first batch of Wild boar with cardamom and orange rind the other day and its fantastic! Just enough of both flavors to taste it but not so much that it overwhelms. I also am really happy with this batch of wild boar and fennel. Version 2.1 is perfect. The bear salami is drying nicely, i'm hanging the bearsoala today. The ostrich salami should be done when i get back from new york and i'm excited about the first batch of pork liver salami i made this past week. Today i'm making Cotecchino, and i will be drying it out over the holidays before i poach it. I will also we doing batches of mole inspired lonzino that is currently curing in chocolate and salt and will eventually be stuffed with a farce of almonds, citrus and other exciting spices usually found in mole.  Hmmm... wait a second.... i actually was trying to phrase that last sentence to explain how i was going to put the farce on the outside, but after re-reading it, i realize that it sounds like i'm actually going to stuff the pork loin, which come to think about it, is a brilliant idea. We used to take a metal rod and push it through a pork loin to remove the center piece and stuff it with prunes at a restaurant i worked at. What if i did that but stuffed it with a farce??  Have i mentioned how much i love charcuterie? till next time. 

The Importance of Labeling

Running a restaurant kitchen by yourself with no cooks and no dishwasher really eats up alot of your time. I've been working 7 days a week for a couple months now and have been trying to keep up on the charcuterie as best i can. Because i've been in the juice every single day in the kitchen i've neglected some important aspects of charcuterie. The labeling and weighing of things has all but vanished from my list of things to be doing. I've been recording recipes but every other aspect of recording has been forgotten. i knew i had to stock up so i had so many things on the go and all i kept thinking about was stocking up the fridges and trying to get them curing as soon as possible. 

One day i found myself with a few spare hours and decided to take a minute to check on the charcuterie fridge. What i found was a whole lot of salamis covered in mold with no labels. I had no idea of what was what and when it was made. So i spent two hours attempting to figure out what was what. Each salami was like a scratch and sniff sticker but without the picture of the pineapple. I'd scrape a bit of mold off and sniff and hope to guess the right one. Id label them and then guess the week it was made. I bought another fridge and its already full. I've never gone through so much cured meats its crazy. Some days during a busy saturday night i cant stop thinking about these salami's that have taken 3 months that i burn through in a ten hour service.... crazy!

Word on the Street..

Is that someone may be bringing by some bear meat for me. Bearsola anyone? i also have ostrich coming in today because i told my bus boy that he should learn to make a salami and he was all for it. so i told him to pick any type of animal meat and that we would make a salami out of it. Well, after much deliberation he came back to me with ostrich. Why didn't i ever think of that? Anyways, were gong to do ostrich with thyme. He wants to keep the seasoning simple with nice cubes of fat he said. And last but not least, Beaver. I have yet to find out whether it is even legal to have beaver meat or whether you can even hunt, cure, eat them. But i'm looking into it. A friend mentioned it to me and it peaked my interest.