cricklewood

As for the cheeks, trim the outer silverskin and fat around it. Then you can sear and braise according to your favorite method, it's a great cut to use when you have leftovers you can shred them and use them as a base filling for ravioli or just toss with pasta and reduced braising liquid. When served whole the cheeks have a large nerve down the center wich is the only downer, other than that it is excellent, really beefy flavoured meat, I think you can find a few recipes on epicurious. As for the tongue, the only time I worked with it was at school, we poached it in courtbouillon and then peeled it, sliced it and finished cooking it in a tomato sauce to serve with pasta. Hope this helps a bit.

The obscure flavoring in the lamb dish is "akudjura", which is an Australian bush tomato, which is known to have similar flavor components to sun-dried tomato with more of a caramelized flavor with a hint of chocolate. The two butters are sourced from different places. One is an unpasteurized goat milk butter from Quebec, the other, cow from Wisconsin. ←

Well i'm no foam expert and i'm sure you can find many threads on here about it, but the easiest way is with an ISI or other brand canister used for whipping cream(like at starbucks), instead you use gelatin for things that don't have enough fat in them and you then pressurise the canister and voila you have foam, ok it's a bit more involved but that's the idea, you can check out the ISI site for ideas. http://www.isinorthamerica.com/. Otherwise one could use things like lecithin or other soy proteins to foam.

I am trying to use this stuff to give sauce like texture to liquids so you can have pure tastings intense sauces. What I did to test it was: I had day before coffee lying around so I took about a teaspoon of xanthan gum and then put it in the coffee(i'd say about 1 1/2 cups) and then buzzed the whole thing with my immersion blender, it definitly thickens pretty intensely. but all these little air bubbles stay trapped in it and even after a night in the fridge, they stayed put, the color lightens a bit too. It will require some more experimenting, I haven't tried the slurry method will try this week. BrianZ you are right most of the info for Xanthan is for gluten free baking, am trying to get more info let me know if you dig up anything. You think we could e-mail Wylie or someone who uses this stuff and ask??

I am interested as well in this topic I bought some xanthan gum from the health food store the other day. I want to try and use it for thickening, for example I want to be able to use veg or fruit juices as sauces without reducing them. I tried some tests with coffee the other day but I find that it thickens very powerfully and retains the air from mixing it giving it a weird texture. I will try some more tests as I have time. Anyone else have proportions or tips on using it? I know in the Iron chef Episode Wylie Dufresne uses it to thicken Arugula juice.

I have been thinking about making some sort of savoury chips or tuiles as garnishes. we end with scraps or odds and ends at work wich could be used to flavor. Does anyone have any techniques they can share? I have heard that using egg whites and slow drying in the oven works but have not tried that yet (I have only one oven, wich is monopolised throughout the day). I want to make things like mustard chips or smoked paprika tuiles , tomato or fruit chips from the pulp of the fruit? can anyone help. thanks

Hello I am interested in making dulce from scratch(not with condensed milk) I am planning on using goats milk and putting it in a mason jar and then in the immersion circulator for 10-12 hours or until it achieves ther right color and consistence. My question is the recipes I have seen include baking powder or soda I believe, does anyone know what this contributes to the final product?

Patrice's book is out at least I managed to score a copy from indigo, went to chapter's on thursday and they had not yet received it , they called indigo and they just unwrapped them so they set one aside for me. It is very nice, recipes are clear, lotsa pictures wich is cool considering the inexpensive price tag(25$). I am really digging it, I hope it does well so more books of this caliber can be published from local chefs. Concerning the godbout book I know I have seen it in english, it has been out for a while so i don't think it is quite representative of what he is doing now.

being following the achatz thread since his days in trio, the guy is truly impressive, he is young yet has a clear idea of what he wants to do and from what i have seen of him he knows how to get the best of his staff. Too bad we don't have anything this avant-garde in Montreal, don't get me wrong i'm not slagging anybody but no one is doing food at that insane level here. Although i'm not sure we have the public for it either?

Again much thanks, i am surprised by the number of posts. I have heard of the balaguer book it is among my wishlist purchases up there with the Roca sous-vide book. I don't mind spending a bit more for books like these since much like tan319 i view them as textbooks, especially those that give you really comprehensive explanations(still reading through on food and cooking). I really appreciate everyone's help I will keep my eyes peeled for these tomes even the commercial production ones sometimes you can get good deals on used or publishers returns. psst nathanm, I believe you own the roca book mind if I ask you a question about it?

Thanks evryone for the replies, i'm not looking to manufature ice cream on a large scale, just trying to better understand how fat,sugar and other ingredients interact and ultimatly make a better product for work

Does anyone know of a good book on or source for proper ice cream & sorbet making, that doesn't just include recipes but atcual theory, like freezing point, using brix meters and such. Any help is appreciated.

I agree with moosnsqrl you need to saute the carcasses in oil or butter to extract the flavor as it is not as soluble in water directly but the majority of the red color comes mostly from the tomato or tomato paste or paprika, saffron etc.. that folks use in their bisque or crustacean stock.

I am also very interested in this thread, I graduated from culinary school in june and have been in the industry for about a year now, I don't have years of experience but I learn fast and constantly read up on cooking and try and refine what I learn. I am in a situation now where I have learned all i can from the current restaurant where I work and the season is slowing down in montreal so looking for work becomes more difficult. Also I think that it would be good for me to learn outside of the city. I have french citizenship so working permits and the ilk aren't a problem I am just wondering how to go about finding a restaurant that will take me I know so little of the scene there and where to go. does anyone have suggestions?

It will be hard to find a book that does not focus so much on meat, especially a quebec chef book since they are already a rarity. The La chronique book is very nice and knowing mr.de cank's reputation i'm sure the recipes are spot on, there is the laurent godbout book wich might not have so much protein recipes but the presentation and flavour parings might be too much if you're looking for a home cooking book. Otherwise there is also the new book l'appareil wich features recipes from a bunch of young montreal chefs (michel ross, stelio& patrice from les chevres, yann from area) there are no pics but a bunch of cartoons instead but the recipes seem solid don't know about the protein ration though. All these should be available from JTM bookshop, otherwise indigo and co. have them except for the chronique book wich is available through the resto otherwise.

Ok so here's the report. Sunday morning I started prepping my veal cheek braise, I had 4 packages(wanted leftovers for lunch this week) and I do agree it is a lot of prepping, took about 40minutes-50 minutes, while i'm used to trimming meat because of school , the cheeks are tricky because the meat is so "flasque" that it's hard to use the pull off method to remove the silverskin, I actually found the ones that we're still slightly frozen to be easier to work with. Once ready I seasoned and seared them in a hot pan to color nicely, removed meat to my roasting pan and deglazed the saute pan with some red wine(about one cup), poured that over the meat , sweated some veggies(leeks,carrots) and threw in a couple of crushed garlic cloves, a bouquet garni, bay leaf, some cippolini onions and beeft stock. Braised at 250-275F for something like 5 hours. Removed the meat , strained(kept onions) and reduced sauce, served with some mashed potato(with chevre and chives mixed in) and some vichy carrots. Result...damn good, tender,buttery,melt in the mouth, these are worth the trouble, really succulent meat.

Can't add much as I have never cured any meats yet, bu tI own the book Cooking by Hand by Paul Bertolli and it has a great section on curing meats, with pretty detailed instructions...worth checking out since it can be obtaine cheap from Ebay and such. It's not the bible on such a title but he covers some basics as well as prosciutto and others

Carswell, thanks for the heads up. I headed to Jean Talon on monday I had sometime in between school and work. I bought some frozen veal cheeks and a lamb liver, I really like the new shops in the extension and the products from ethe charlevoix store we're nice, prices are pretty decent, saw some surprises like lamb sweetbreads(a first, never seen them at a butchers it's always veal). I should have some time to cook them next week will post a report, I was thinking of braising them in some stock and beer, I have had good experience braising veal(shanks) with trois pistoles beer but I think I might try wine. More to come

The Jean-Talon Market is one of the jewels in Montreal's gastronomic crown. A new extension that opened in December houses a slew of interesting shops: an olive and spice merchant; the city's best ice cream maker; a Polish bakery with incredible prune-filled donuts; a smoked fish shop; two organic butchers; a raw-milk cheese shop; a cookbook store; a cooking supplies store; etcetera; and a shop devoted to sale of veal and lamb from the Charlevoix, the beautiful mountainous region down river from Quebec City. Not only did they have veal cheeks, they're practically giving them away: 2½ pounds cost me all of US$5. Will report on what I did with them and how they turned out. ← Damn with school and work taking up most of my time I have not had a chance to get in to see the new shops at the market... you got the veal cheeks that cheap?? wich shop is it the one with the charlevoix products? I`m going to head out there pronto myself.

definitly if making gigantic batches of meatballs or something like kefte, you want to do it in a mixer and the end result will still come out damn nice, for smaller batches you can put more tlc into it

would make sense if you overwork your minced meat and ingredients when making hamburgers you end up with tough patties, but at one point I think convenience and taste need to meet is it really a big difference depending on your preperation

I followed your suggestion. WOW! Thanks ← The Genevieve Grandbois chocolates are excellent a bit pricy, but the packaging is great(love that little tin) and the flavors are really nice not to too sweet or cloying. My favs we're the olive oil, passion fruit and also the chai tea. I have never bought chocolate from chloé how are they?

Chromedome thanks for the kind words, nice to know they are more people in the same boat, I hope I do well, I actually might have a tryout in a place next week(thanks egullet) and from there will see what happens, I am nervous as hell and will take one heck of a salary cut(probably more than half, why oh why did I accumulate such debt??) but it's going to be worth it. Atomic yes the beer will be kept for after the shift, already a tradition at school (when we are not dashing off to work after class). School is going well march break is next week and that means I can have more than 4 hours sleep per night(yay!)

Atomic thanks for the heads up, I am quite nervous about the change it's gonna be radical in everyway, I currently work an office job I have been there for 5+years and make quite a bit more than the average salary. I know I'm headed for a rough end of year lotsa hours stress and little pay but I feel it's all for the better. I know I can handle the stress I just gotta learn to relax your advice was given to me by my teach, he said I work really well but I get too nervous, he says just have fun and relax(he jokingly suggested I have 1or 2 beers before my first shift in a kitchen to loosen up ). On the other hand I have some cool stuff to look forward to. We are doing a friends and family dinner in may, basically I invite 4-6 diners and cook a 4(i'm gonna sneak in more)course menu(of my devising) for my table. I see it as my last time to show off( creation wise) before I finish school, i will post my menu up if anyone is interested in checking it out or helping out.

I'm glad someone is talking about this book I got mine this fall and it was very inspirational. I have not attempted a complete recipe from this book but have used techniques and ideas that appear throughout the book. This christmas I managed to score foie gras from school and the books chapter on foie helped me approach it with a bit more confidence since he really gets in detail about the different methods of preparing it. I think there should be more cookbooks like this, while it is complex it is well organised and detailed.