howsmatt

I like israeli cous cous or quinoa too. Cost is always a concern, my dishes need to come in mostly under $20. Little cheesecakes are something I thought and then forgot about, thanks. I enjoy pork for many reasons but wonder if it will sell. Thanks.

I've been debating a dip/crostini app. Hummus is no problem. I also do a good foie gras brulee. I'm still debating on the 3rd--tomato based would probably work, although I will already be making a pea/mint mash. I might grill pizza dough for the bread. Good baba ganoush is a bit labour intensive with properly roasted eggplants and the yield is not great. Montreal has TONS of middle eastern places so I am hesitant to put a classic shawarma. Although when I marinate chicken in cream (or yogurt), garlic and few herbs people usually love it. 3-5 desserts is likely, we haven't sold many in my 2 weeks so I think it will take time to encourage. Thanks, my ears are still open.

I do have salads, I was just worried that making my post too long would discourage responses. I want to do a grilled romaine with mediterranean dressing. Not sure if the bosses will go for it. The menu currently has a tomato-feta, caesar and another dumb salad that I will scratch. There is also carpaccio topped with arugula and beef tartar is also on the lighter side. Although it is a "tavern" we have LOTS of female customers because the place is quite nice. At one point they actually had more women than men walking in. Pot stickers might be a good idea. I'm really tired of how much they use the fryer-hence some grilled boneless wings and more mashed potatoes and purees. Plus I could stick anything I have in the pot.

I recently acquired my first job as a head chef. All is well and I'm as stressed as the title suggests. I would like some of your collective brilliant thoughts about my soon to be new menu. The place I work it is called Taverne Crescent and it is basically an upscale taverne. Their previous menu was a slightly nicer pub menu. I would like to modernize and improve things without scaring the classic pub crowd who fill the space on hockey and other nights. I would like to keep the menu short so that I can do specials with whatever is in season. Also I need to keep prices reasonable. I'm pretty sure I have to do a burger. So I'm thiking: burger, cheeseburger, ridiculous burger, chicken burger and maybe a veggie burger made with black beans. Pasta-money maker, easy option for vegetarians. 2-3 kinds plus I can always do a special. Fish n'chips-I use an altered Blumenthal recipe with pea mash--quite good. Grilled pizza? It's pretty good and cheap to make. Not sure though. Chicken pot pie--it's a bit deconstructed. Celeryroot hash with sauce blanche, grilled chicken breast, piece of puff and pea mash. I'm happy with it. Steak--I need to make it affordable, right now I'm using a bavette and so far only 1 person asked for Medium well, but this could be a problem. With mash, veg and madagascar sauce. They have a braised beef on the menu. It sells and people like it. I'm not all that jazzed but it is cheap and meat. Salmon with cous cous and veg or perhaps beside a nice salad with orange. Apps: Wings-boneless thighs, carrot panna cotta, celeryroot and jicama sticks, dip Regular wings--they don't want just boneless. we also have an asian sauce. 2-3 salads, maybe I can put on one cool one. calamari etc. Anyway the point is: what simple, tasty inexpensive things would you put on an upscale tavern's menu? How many apps-mains and desserts should we have? The owners always think more is better and I think the opposite (although I still end up giving lots of suggestions that they end up wanting on the menu.) Thanks.

I think a restaurant should be judged by all things under their control. So rowdy guests should only affect a restaurant rating in the manner the FOH deals with them. I don't think there should be "required standards". So if no tablecloths is the best choice for what you are doing, then it should be considered the best choice and receive highest marks, same for the other items you mention. As for menu choices, tough to say. Some places are great with very few choices on the menu, I wouldn't take off marks for this in and of itself. IMHO of course.

I think once you have a decent stock the key to a good sauce is reduction. Many good sauces take a bottle of wine and go down to a syrup for example, then reduce the stock too, cream too. My red wine sauce is reduced by at least half with dried figs and honey, mixed with reduced stock. I also try to look for enhancing ingredients for stock. Things with umami like mushrooms. I brown the veggies in the hotel pan I used for the bones--if it's too dark then I just use the drippings and deglaze both.

Blumenthal's recipe is great. You can keep the pressurized can in the frisge and dispense bubbly batter for at least a few hours. The use of honey is also good to help brown the batter. I don't use the vodka as he does due to cost--just replace with another liquid. I would say flinging extra batter onto the fish as it cooks is good for the bigger and better thing too.

Any money left for a thermomix? This would be 2nd behind the sous vide equipment for me.

I think very high end restaurants are likely to be clean. Places like KFC and McDs and other large companies are also likely to be clean as they have many standards and can't afford bad press like yours. Everything in between is a risk. I would say the places I would worry about the most are casual dining inexpensive restaurants. If the dining room seems uncared for, just consider what is likely behind the scenes in an old and run down kitchen. If you are worried about the chef putting his finger in your food I would suggest never eating out again. Chef Matt

Yes you are compromising something. By cooking the asparagus with the soup you will extract more of its flavour into your broth. Things like this are often the reason that recipes are written a certain way and why many restaurants seem just a little better than others. Before I started working in a restaurant I wouldn't follow recipes and I figured there was no difference. Now that I have had a chance to try things 10 different ways I see that these small steps can make a big difference. In your example whatever asparagus is left in the food mill is lost flavour goodness that could be in your soup. Matt

confit potatoes SV are good. Think I cooked them at 185.

I think both will be "plain" because I'm happy to add my own flavours with whatever is interesting at the market. I'm thinking one strong-dark-smoked etc. type tea and one with no caffeine, that way people have that option.

1) read my post above your about cooking eggs. 2) take a needle and poke a whole in the bottom of the egg.

OK, the REAL perfect egg. Cook your eggs in the shell at 148-150 for 60 minutes. Crack into a medium hot pan to finish the silghtly runny white for 30-60 seconds. This will certainly make my menu.

I will check that out, thanks. The restaurant will be sandwich/salad type with a focus on comfort food with a slight twist. Examples of the menu: Roast beef sandwich with beet-lentil puree and horseradish dip, House smoked turkey with cranberry jelly and green peppercorn sauce, Root beer float, smores, butterscotch popcorn. The tea will be served in mason jars with a flavoured syrup on the side. I want lots of flavour but it doesn't need to be fancy or overpriced to look "in" or cool.

What are some of the better (and inexpensive!) choices to brew iced tea at my soon to be restaurant? Basically I want to have 2 kinds offered each day and I would be happy with a maximum of 5 days rotation worth. I would be happy with generic products I can get in a super market or a store in Montreal that you know of. Otherwise I can order online provided it can be delivered to Canada with minimal expense. Thanks

I'm in the research stage so I've tried a few variations-but to sort of answer some of your questions: I want some originality and I like having my guests do a bit of work-interact with their food. I don't want too many steps and glasses etc. Ideally it's your tea and one thing to pour in. As for too much sugar, this would be controlled by the amount of syrup I give. If someone needs more they can always ask for another hit of the good stuff. If I pre-sweeten I have a problem with different tastes and if I add the flavour in advance the concept of adding syrup instead of sugar or honey is pretty boring. The syrup could have been thinner-and probably needed more of the fruit flavour-but I don't want cost to ruin the whole thing (when it comes to berries-etc). Thanks for the great help.

I'm working on iced tea recipes for my (hopefully) soon to be cafe/restaurant. I want to have brewed iced tea and offer flavoured syrups to be added by the customer. The main problem is that the syrup doesn't absorb well into the cold liquid. It's ok but the clumps left on the spoon are not enticing. I don't want to sweeten when the tea is hot because I want the customer to have control over flavour (let's say lemon, strawberry etc.) AND sweetness. Any thoughts?

I try to use Tonka beans anywhere I might use vanilla. A little tonka cream sauce on lobster is good. I use sumac in fattouche salad and with chicken. I buy my tonka at Anatol (Montreal), they might ship-they do package some of their own things.

I remember reading that jaccarding a steak only made it 1-2% more tender compared with something like 23-76% more tender when allowed to cook for extended periods of time. I would make bernaise in the classic way then bag it and keep it warm in the water bath at a a safe temp. Sorry I don't know what that temp is.

I prefer medium rare (about 125) for meat, but it is not safe to cook meat at that temerature for more than 4 hours. Hence 131 is the lowest practical temperature at which to cook meat for a long time. If I'm just bringing a tender steak up to temp before searing I would go with 123 or so. As for tri tip, I can't see it being "too tender" even after 24 hours although it will certainly be different.

When I cooked sous vide I tend to throw it in much longer than needed because all the food I cook at home is ultimately a test for future restaurant use where I may leave it in for the duration of service. For the shrimp I left them 2 hours. They were little guys, probably 22-30. I think cooking the butter with the jalapenos first might have made it better still.

Did shrimp with butter and ultra fine jalapeno with smoe salt. I think I cooked it at 131. Came out nicely pretty juicy kind of confit quality from the butter. Served with purple cabbage that I sauteed with bacon, chorizo, shallots, red peppers, corn. This was really good, might make it at the restaurant.

Did yukon and sweet potato at 185 for 2 hours or so. Good amount of butter-some salt and pepper. Nice creamy confit style potatoes. I threw a few in the oven to crisp up. These were just ok, not better than classic cooking methods for crispy baked fries. I think these might be very good for mash. Might put the leftovers through the food mill tomorrow.

Thanks for all that information. I am a bit surprised because I know of a legal kitchen that has one stove and a hood but no suppression system. Granted that's not what I'll be doing anyway so... I'm not the type to go the illegal route so hopefully I can find a fair price somewhere.