BBQ Blog Canada!

It's my favorite winter dinner of the year! Once a year it's fun to get a few friends together, and instead of spending what could be a month's rent in a restaurant, we buy out own ingredients and fantastic wine and cook at home... here's what on deck this year.

Course 1: (the wacky martini munchie course)
charcuterie, cheese, crackers, spicy hummus.
Paired with:  beer/cocktails -- try my garlic and herb de provence infused martini

Course 2: ( the soup and salad course )
Grilled butternut squash soup, mixed green salad, and my home made candied pork belly bacon bits
Paired with: Bollanger Champagne 

Course 3: (the i get an excuse to use my truffle slicer course)
cheese soufflé with shaved truffle, brioche with foi gras.
Paired with: 2002 vintage veuve clicot

Course 4: (the celebration of eating things with parents course)
treo of meaty: farmed venison loin chop, lamb loin chop, cherry smoked sliced duck breast  on a bed of cranberry wild rice topped with red wine reduction.
Paired with: 2007 pinot noir reserve - ontario

Dessert: (the blow you out of the water with the best ice cream ever course)
home made baked goods, 2007 Double Chocolate Cherry Stout Ice Cream.
Paired with:   double chocolate cherry stout, Peche mortal, creme brule stout, coffee, open territory on my liquor cabinet.

It's not too late, you still have time to Brine that Bird!

I've got some time off this week, so I finally decided to read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain it's been sitting in my stack of books to read for a few years, so it's about time i got around to reading it. With the holiday upon us I hope that, you my loyal reader don't have to feed a vegetarian over this wondrous and delicious holiday. Here's a quote that from the book, that really makes sense to me.

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It's healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I've worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold. Oh, I'll accommodate them, I'll rummage around for something to feed them, for a 'vegetarian plate', if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine." From Kitchen Confidential, p. 70


Happy meat eating!

I've been playing with beer based ice creams for a few years now, my first attempt was Double Chocolate Cherry Stout Ice Cream back in 2007. Making beer ice cream is pretty simple using stout beers, so this one was an interesting challenge as i decided to use Cameron's Cream Ale. After a few tries and a fair amount of experiments that went down the sink, I Think I've got a winner here. Recipe after the jump.

Here's a quick a dirty recipe for brine similar to my Turkey Brine recipe using Cameron's Auburn Ale. This is the brine I used to make BBQ chicken wings at the Royal Ontario Fair. Recipe after the Jump.

Since I created my recipes very late in the week, i have not had a chance to publish them here yet, I'll be putting them up sometime this week when i get a chance

Cameron's Cream Ice Cream
Cameron's Creme Brule
Cameron's dark bbq bacon sauce
Cameron's Auburn Beer Brine

I'll be presenting a cooking and pairing with beer demo on the Entertaining At Home Stage at the The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair this Friday Nov 6th from 3-4 pm. The delicious beer I'll be using is from Cameron's Brewery.  I'm still figuring out what I'll be cooking but you can be sure it will have some beer in it! There should be plenty of free samples kicking around so pop by and enjoy if you happen to be at "The Royal"


http://www.royalfair.org/

I had the pleasure of visiting Caplansky's Deli for lunch today.
We waited in line for 5 minutes, but it was well worth the wait, we barely had time to peruse the menu before someone came to serve us.
The borsch come with bits of smoked meat in it!  We ordered the smoked meat, which is offered lean/med/fat, of course fat was ordered as we all know that fat is flavor! There's 4 kinds of mustard + ketchup at the table and the sandwiches come out without any condiments on it, honstly the sandwich does not "need" condiments. I tried all the mustards and concluded that the kozlics mustard tasted the best with my meat and with the king pilsner beer I had ordered. I love that all the beers on tap were local microbrews.

I'm sure there's a few people wondering:  Was is better the Schwartz in Montreal?
Yes and No, Caplansky seems to like his spices and smoke more than Schwartz, so the star of the show is more the spice and smoke rather than just the meat alone. The meat has a slightly bitter taste from what tasted to me like an abundance of oak wood smoke, and you can really taste fennel seed.  I cant pick a clear winner, I love them both equally.
 
http://caplanskys.com/

http://www.houseandhome.com/fansandfollowers/

It looks like the LCBO (aka the "Lick Beau") could be offline for the summer, which means many of us will be forced to drink beer from the beer store, which does not have the greatest selection of beers, or wine from "the wine rack" which has an equally dismal selection of wines.

Did you know that we have over 100 boutique wineries in Ontario, with almost all of them not being sold in the lcbo.  Many of these wines are amazing but many vintners don't have the budget or resources to deal with the lcbo, check them out, I promise you wont be disappointed. 

http://www.vqaontario.com/

Not to be forgotten, the OCB makes some great beers, and are often on the way when doing a wine tour, check them out as well!
http://www.ontariocraftbrewers.com/