mtigges

It's way out of season, but for some reason I want Sauerbraten. It's Barbra-Jo's fault. So I am after a 5 lb rump roast that has been larded. I phoned Jurgen at the Black Forest Deli, but he says he can't lard it for me. Is it hard, could I do it myself? Is there another good German butcher in town? Mark.

See you tomorrow!

But isn't also generally true that cuts good as steaks are also good as roasted? But I have to admit, I enjoyed the steaks braised more than grilled.

Due to a local chef, I generated a sufficient interest to go out and find a hanging tender to cook for myself. The first day we had steak. I cut two 1 inch thick steaks, trimmed, marinated, grilled and we enjoyed. I should have trimmed a bit more though. But great beef flavour. The second go round, I braised two steaks. Two hours, since it doesn't seem to have quite as much connective tissue as other traditionally braised cuts. VERY delicious. It may just be my new favourite braising cut. Short ribs are great, but I have a hard time not enjoying all their fat, and I feel a bit gross after a meal of braised short ribs. So, the next try I thought I would roast. First off, is this a bad idea? I thought about searing over really high heat, all over, then into a 290 deg oven until med/med-rare. Does hanging tender hold up to roasting? I was looking for some advice, since I will be mightily dissappointed (given how great I know it is when braised) if it turns out poorly. Thanks. Mark.

Most restaurants in Vancouver or the rest of Western Canada, oh hell, the entire world (ok, maybe just North America) do not serve any beer that is drinkable. (Notice I said most, there are exceptions, ie. Chambar.) Any restaurant that has a decent beer selection will very likely have a decent wine selection. IMO beer is not something to fall back on when the wine selection is poor. You don't drink crappy wine, so why should you drink crappy beer? I'll stop short of proferring my opinion that beer is generally a better accompaniement to food than wine. ..... oooops.

Brettanomyces can be a very good thing. It is commonly used in many Belgian beers. There are two commercial species, Brettanomyces Bruxellanus used today was cultured from urban breweries in and around Brussels. Brettanomyces Lambicus from countryside breweries is what lends much of the distinctive flavours to lambic beers. The former yields earthy flavours, so could be what is spoiling wines, I have no idea, not much knowledge about wine, lambicus yields leathery/barnyardy flavours. Like wine and bread, the vast majority of beer is fermented with Saccharomyces. Mark. edited to add: As per your seasoning question. I hadn't noticed. Been to both Lumiere and West this year and both seemed fine. La Regalade last week was also normal. Contrary to you, I typically find that lesser restaurants are the ones over seasoning. My cyncical streak usually chalks this up as a silly attempt to make me order more beer. (Silly because I would order more beer regardless.)

Beefiest steak I've ever had. Yum. More chew, more flavour, no complaints. I need to trim it a bit more next time though. Live, eat and learn. Westlyn, 604-988-7644, got a double pack so there are 4 (I think) available.

I went in to the Lynn Valley Mall on a spur of the moment birthday shopping excursion. I stopped at Westlynn Meats & Seafoods, on a whim I asked Luiz the manager if he could order some. I had to educate him on what it was, he had never heard of it. Despite the fact that it is on his poster of cuts. Regardless he phoned his supplier, I'm pretty sure it was Trimpac and he'll have one pack of three for tomorrow at 3:30. He said he would keep one for himself, so there is one more for anyone that wants one. So can anyone suggest a marinade and time in the marinade? Mark.

I experimented once. I purchased a gallon jug full with unpastuerized and preservative free apple juice. Very cloudy, very delicious. I dropped in an 11 gram package of dried champagne yeast, suck a #8 bung and airlock on the jug and let it go at about 14C for 3 weeks. It was remarkably good. Very likely not good compared to making it from apples with natural yeast, but, I'm not much of a cider fan, and I enjoyed this. I'm definitely going to try it again sometime. And it was of course extraordinarily easy. No boiling, no sanitizing, nothing. Mark.

Actually this is not really very true. There is only one point where it is easy to have the beer infected. That is when it is not yet beer. You must make sure that what you are fermenting is extraordinarily clean and sanitary (these are different things). Make sure that your primary fermenter (presumably a plastic bucket) is very clean, soaking overnight with Oxiclean (preferably without the blue crystals) will do that. Then rinse the bucket with a sanitizer. The best for homebrewing is called StarSan from Five Star Chemicals. Your local HB store likely carries it. After fermentation it becomes much more difficult for nasties to infect your beer. It would certainly behoove you to santize your bottles if you are bottling, and any other vessel that the beer will be in contact with, but it is not nearly as critical as with the fermenter. Luckily StarSan makes sanitizing extraordinarily easy so you really don't have to worry about it too much. Do not be scared away from making beer because you think you must be sterile or close to it. It's just not the case. Top 3 things to ensure that you have uninfected beer: 1. Cool after the boil as fast as you can. This essentially comes down to ensuring that the yeast is pitched as soon as possible. 2. Clean your fermenter very well, preferably with chemicals (like oxyclean) no scrubbing. Sanitize your fermenter with a no-rinse sanitizer, like StarSan. 3. Pitch an adequate amount of yeast. You want the yeast to finish respiration in under 12 hours. Once you have the critical population where fermentation proper has begun you have severely reduced the risk of infection. With regard to #3, the Danstar 11gram packs of dried yeast are pretty good for around 20 litres. However the tubes and smack packs from WYeast and White Labs are not. I'm not sure about the new XL packs, but the smaller ones are not sufficient, you should make a starter. Though for beginners it's probably not adviseable to do so. Mark.

Is there anywhere in town where you can get the real thing (uncooked)?

The best Franken Brezeln I have found outside of Germany are to be found in Park Royal. The black forest deli in the Market area at the west end of Park Royal South proper (not the village part the deli is east of the Village). I believe though that this is the place that the original poster mentioned. They are very different from Superpretzel or any mall food stand version thereof. And in my opinion far superior. Jeff Renner is an extremely well known brewer. He is almost single handedly responsible for the revival of Classic American Pilsner (a widely brewed pre-prohibition era style that is no longer produced commercially). He is also a baker. Here is a recipe that he posted a few years ago that has enjoyed considerable acclaim from the readers of a mailing list that I read. http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/3747.html#3747-11 I have never made them. So I cannot attest personally to the recipe, but like I've said, many people have posted to the list thanking him for the recipe. They've all loved the result.

Not really a fish burger, but I've enjoyed the oyster burgers at ya-yas in Horsehoe Bay. It's been ages though, so I'm not sure if the place is even there still.

We went to The Mouse And The Bean last night. I have heard so many great things about its authentic food that I had to go. But I have to say I was quite dissappointed. I had the special which was a stewed tomatoe and strips of beef dish in a jus for eating with some tortillas. My wife had their specialty which is a deep fried bread of some kind which is coated with chorizo and verde and roja (spelling?). Both of them were ok at best. Not bad, but not great either. My beef was quite tough. And there was not nearly enough chorizo on her bread for my or her taste. The rice and beans that accompanied mine were both good, the beans especially. And the tortillas were very good. But the rice was overcooked, every kernel was popped. That said, it could be perfectly authentic for all I know as I've never eaten in Mexico. But my wife has and she wasn't impressed. The kicker though, was the "fresh juice" at 7.99 for a litre we got a tablespoon of sugar mixed with water and a tablespoon of Reallemon , no proof, but that's what it tasted like. We were told not to miss the Hot Chocolate, but we were suitably unimpressed that we left early to save a couple of dollars on parking. I have to say that the little deli/take-out joint in Lonsdale Quay is FAR superior. I think it's called Chilescos or something like that. And they sell all kinds of ingredients for cooking mexican, every kind of dried chile imaginable, and even epazote, dried, but oh well. There's no fresh stuff in the city as far I know. I hope I just got a bad night. Mark.

I actually quite dislike Lumiere's interior (although it does not affect the taste in my mouth). The bar is gorgeous, but the main dining room is cramped, can't seem to figure out if it wants natural light or not, and that architectural piece (silvery curtain thing dividing the room) in the middle makes me feel like I'm about to have a seizure. That said, I haven't been since they re-opened so this comment may be completely irrelevant. I think the question is highly subjective. Standards certainly get set by the high end spots, everybody tries to follow their lead. And it is the aesthetic of whomever is designing these places that determines the de facto style. That style won't fit everybodies preferences. It doesn't so much fit mine. But when dining, I think that if you're going to evaluate a place you have to fit your parameters to the style of the place. For instance, it's not fair to judge Lumiere poorly by saying "it doesn't feel homey." It wasn't trying to be, nor should it be. A restaurant that is somewhat in its class which should feel homey is La Regalade. I think it succeeds admirably, except for the two waiting barstools right beside the grey water, possibly a poor design decision, but maybe it does add to the hominess! Before I get to my choice, I would like to make a comment about Tojos. What is with those head shots all over the dining area. It just bugs me. It feels like a roadside diner. Ok, my choice, Wabi Sabi. I was recently extolling the virtues of this places food to a few eGrs, and now I can talk about the space. It really is beautifull. Serene, and cozy, nice accents, a good layout, enough seperation between the bar and the dining area, but not too much that you can't see the chefs. For the type/quality/atmosphere they are going for I think this is a beautiful restaurant. I would like to give a nod to The Beach House in Ambleside. While some may feel the bar doesn't fit the restaurant (with the TV's I mean), it is well seperated and not interfering with the diners. The nice thing about the Beach House is it's big, but doesn't feel big. The multi-level design is quite nice. And I love the use of wood. Of course they have the best patio in Vancouver to boot, and their washrooms are beautifull too. It's a good question Keith, and I'm very interested to hear the responses of others who have visited more spots than I. Mark.

I'm an avid fly fisherman. I don't keep very many, under 5 a year. But believe me what I ate was not trout. It turns out that they are quite distinct in their anatomy. They have only one dorsal fin (no adipose fin), and the dorsal fin is quite close to the tail. I went and looked at the second fish that I have yet to eat, Kaplans is definitely selling Goldeye, unless there is another species that looks like it. edited to add .... I think I should go buy some vodka.

Pam, I was also suspicious that maybe I had a not so good one. I'm pretty sure that they were smoked in the prairies. Kaplans says they "get them in every week" and I seriously doubt that they are smoking them themselves. I suppose that they could have been frozen in transit, but I wouldn't expect them to be purposefully frozen. It does have a texture that makes me think it might have been frozen. We bought two, hopefully the second will be better. Mark.

Well, stopped by Kaplans today on the way from Mother in-laws to Granville Island. Picked up two Goldeye, and some smoked sablefish. I have a question. How do you eat Goldeye? We just ate it on bread, but its texture is so mushy that it isn't the same as smoked trout or something similar. So what do people do to it to eat it? I don't find it very good quite frankly. It's mushy and bland. Not much smoke flavour at all. I much prefer any smoked trout or salmon. Or the aforementioned sablefish, it's incredible, very yummy. I thought that it might be really good if you diced up some red onion and pickle, mayonaise, seasoned, maybe some tarragon, and make a spread for sandwich. So Shelora, how do you like to prepare it? Tonight is lobster from the Lobster Man and our own snow peas, yummmm.

I'm not sure just what you're looking for, but there is only one place to regularly expose yourself to high calibre music. The Cellar. http://cellarjazz.com It's more a place to go to actually listen to the music. There is a cover because of the calibre of the acts they book. The food is above average for this kind of place. It's not meant for background music during conversation. Mark.

Yes, it is.

I've been twice, once for dinner, and once for lunch. The dinner was a spur of the moment 9pm deal, and it wasn't so good. The lunch was better. But it is just kind of fun. We're a bunch of carnivores at work, so we had to make the trip once. I've been to the real thing in Rio, and Samba isn't even close to the same experience. In particular the quality of the meat isn't in the same league. But, regardless, it's fun, and very likely a good place to take the kids. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. Mark.

Lee, I'm glad to hear that the Ambleside market improved. I was briefly at the Quay on Saturday, fish shopping (beautiful white spring salmon) for dinner, (see below), and there was a vendor I had not seen before. Kettle cooked popcorn. Man, did it smell good! We are hobbiests (is that spelled right?). We can only maintain enough production for one weekend a month. We use the third weeked of each month. Saturday at the Quay and Sunday in Ambleside. Saturday we tended to our garden, stringing up the tomatoes on stalks. We have many small green tomatoes now, sweet million, they're delicious. The romas are a bit behind. And I cooked snow peas from our garden for my mother in law on Saturday. Sunday, I tended to my pots. Mark.

Well, Whole Foods in Park Royal claimed that they dry-aged a portion of their product for 30 days when they first opened. They had large slabs o' beef hanging on display behind the counter so I believed it. But I'm not sure they have kept that up. I don't notice the signs in the counter that this row of steaks is from aged product and this one is not. Nor do I notice a colour difference anymore, so I'm just not sure. You could phone. Regardless, it's a pretty good butcher. I've been very happy using them as my source of short ribs. Well, butchered, perfectly sized portions. There sausages are better than adequate, but the nice thing is they sell the filling in tubs if you want. Much better than ground beef or something for a pasta sauce IMO. What I find quite amusing though, is that WF has begun selling Blue Goose. You might think this is a good thing. I think it's funny, it's about a 2 minute drive to save yourself the markup and buy right from the source. Mark.

He's got steaks. But not normally a wide variety. He usually does have nice rib eyes. And the steaks on display are an appropriate width as well. If you go to BB, buy some bacon for sure, but don't miss the sausages. edited to add this comment: BB is a favourite of mine too, but it's just up the street from me. My favourite in the whole city is Armandos on Granville Island. He's just a great butcher, and a super-nice guy. Mark.

What was that address again? ← I was going to say the town, but then I thought better of giving too much information!