Alex Parker

Hi forum! I found a couple of sampler bottles of wine from 2000. Looking at them their VERY off (sediment on the bottle of the bottle, neck sludged up..) I was wondering if I could use these somehow, and vinegar was the first thing to jump into my head. I really dont want to have to bin them, but if I have no other choice, thats what I will do. What do you think?? Alex

Hey everyone! So the poor old Moose seems to have deteriorated between the time it was killed and the time it was frozen, as It had such an off putting smell I had to throw it out. It was like sour fecal or something, Nasty. Anyways, I ended up just doing shortribs instead and they were lovely! I served those with a chocolate cheese, and a really nice coconut bbq sauce that I did up. Really mellow, with a bit of heat, and it offset the richness of the Cheese nicely! Alex

Thank you so much! So excited to work with this beautiful piece of meat! Taking your advice, and bringing down cooking time and temp. Cannot wait to get going on it! Again thanks so much! I will be taking plenty of pictures to document, and of course, I will put them up on here. Yours sincerely Alex

So far I have Turkey with a Cornbread stuffing. Sous Vide root Veggies, Potatoes done in duck fat Going to do a fish course, definitely sous vide and grilled off at the end. May do something with beef. No clue yet though. I need a soup. Still not sure what Im doing yet, but may do a mushroom consomme. Cranberry and Apple Chutney. Fairly traditional as I have my sister coming who isnt very adventurous with food at all. Keeping it relatively old school! Christmas Eve is smoked moose meat, and various cheeses and whatnot. Prosciutto wrapped bocincinni with some fresh sage pesto, Pulled Pork, lots of good wine and beer, and chocolate! A lot more laid back! Alex

Thanks Michaela! I did a search on the forums and that topic didn't appear.. Ugh! Sorry. Alex

Ok so I am going to do this on my own it seems. I was way off in my initial temps and times. I did some math and figured out what I want texture wise and decided on 145 degrees for 24 hours. I am going to add a little red wine, a couple of drops of rose syrup to bring out the sweetness a little.and some salt and pepper and thats it. I know that cooking time seems a little optimistic in terms of complete doneness, but I think the smoking at the end is going to take it up to where I need it, which will be 155 degrees. May do a mustard and red wine reduction as a sauce. I will get pictures of the entire process and report back with my findings early Christmas morning! Alex

Hey everyone. I have a Moose loin that I am planning on doing for Christmas Eve. Its about 4 lbs, and looks delish! I have a few questions though, as I am planning on Sous vide, followed by a light smoke of dry pine branches. 1) - Does Moose benefit from a couple days of dry aging? Or is there simply not enough fat content to do anything of significance to the meat? 2) As I said above, I am planning on Sous Vide. I have settled on probably 48 hours at around 62.5 degrees. Does this seem about right? Or again, am I way off the mark. I am throwing this out there, because I haven't dealt much with Moose other than in ground form, so I want to make sure this is perfect. Any and all help is super appreciated! Thanks so much Alex.

I love this area. Without a doubt check out Wellington Court. Its right across the street from me, and its unreal. As well theres a little known place on Queen Street in St Catharines called Toi, thats amazing as well. Well worth the visit. For good Italian, my friend Bill is the exec at a great little place on Church street called La Scala. Its tiny, only 30 seats, and the food is lovely. I wont recommend Treadwells as hes a tyrant in the kitchen and well past his prime In my opinion. alexP

Roast them out, crush them. Add pepper, Salt, and some Thyme. Use as a crust for a meat or something, and then serve with a pumpkin reduction. Alex

Holy cow thanks everyone! Lots of different options here. Skate on Slate is hilarious. Has a nice ring to it as well! I will be doing all sorts of research when I return home tonight. Again thanks for all the responses. I will be up late tonight! Alex.

I worked for a place that did just that! We would do it in a pan though. Dry fry it, then add some white wine, let it evap, then start adding stock a ladle at a time until the rice had absorbed enough to make it about 75% done. Cool it on a pan, and your good to go. To finish it, start with some oil, meat first if your doing a meat risotto, some veggies, then throw in the risotto. We would cheat a bit and throw in some cream at the end to finish it off, which within our confines was the only way we could get it out quickly, and retaining a creamy smoothness. Hope that helps! Alex Parker

Heh. Not basing it on the name. My client has a love of seafood, and as such her pallet is exceptional, so "fish" taste isn't really going to cut it. I am definitely wanting do a whole fish presentation, skin on etc, and I am going to probably plate it on slate. Did shark when I was in culinary school. Didn't notice any ammonia tastes within it, so I cant say all shark tastes like that. What kind of shark was it? Alex

Sorry. Wrote that in a hurry as I am busy here. I am in Ontario Canada. I was thinking about shark but its pricey. To the person who suggested the Pacific Saury, I never really thought of it. The dinner is in two weeks, and in keeping with a late Autumn theme, the fish would go well with that. Maybe do something with a Daikon lime reduction, as those flavours lend well to the fish. Hmm.. I know there was a shortage in 2010. Are prices still on the rebound because of that? Keep them coming! Alexander.

I am doing a dinner for 15 people and the hostess has decided on Fish as one of the main courses. But she doesn't want anything too common. I have done Salmon and Tuna for her in the past. I was thinking something like Monk fish but its pricey here as its trendy as all hell at the moment. Anyone have any recommendations as to a fun weird, great tasting fish? Thanks in advance. Alex

What ipad app is that Vengroff? That looks fantastic.

I will package age beef for a couple of days, and then remove from the package, blot dry and dry age in the fridge for up to 12 days, checking on it daily. It tenderizes the meat incredibly, and also adds a certain "cheesiness" to the flavour of the meat which I truly love. A friend of mine has dry aged for up to 30 days, but I am not sure I have the cojones to give that a shot or not. Alex

This year I tended to do things such as Tomato Relish, and Tomato and Balsamic Sorbet. I will post pics as soon as I get my camera back (it died )

It seems like this is becoming a challenge! I need to start experimenting! Alex

Just got given some amazing Asparagus Root. Ive never cooked with it before. I was thinking of simmering it in some stock and doing a soup, or extracting the flavour into cream, but that seems super boring. Is there anything I can do with it thats a bit more avane garde? I was considering a gelee, but not sure how I would do that without having to extract the flavour out of it. I love how they look, and I want the actual root to be a part of the final presentation. Any help would be fantastic! Alex

if anyone is in or near the Niagara Region, you need to check out The Merchant Ale House. They make some of the most amazing stuff Ive ever had including seasonal beers. Right now they have Ginger Ale, and my god.... Its gorgeous!!! If you can find anything by Unibroue I would recommend a lot of their stuff, in particular their Noire De Chambly, which is a Belgian Black beer and their Ephemere Apple. Its a lighter beer, but has notes of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Trois Pistoles is another good one from them. Alex

I don't want to be in a kitchen. I am much more of a creative person, and as such, would love to end up in a place where all we do is play with food, and stumble upon new concepts and ideas. I love using my brain to solve problems, and I am very research oriented. For that reason, I am reaching out to you guys and girls, for ideas on what I can do that is creative, and still able to make a mark in the world of culinary. I am a personal Chef, and I love doing that, but I just cant see enough business coming out of that to make a living. My ultimate goal of course would be to get into something like Heston Blumenthals test kitchen, but that seems like a TOTALLY unreasonable goal at this stage of my career. Any ideas? Thanks! Alex

Jesus. Thats just hilarious. I know TFL offers a few different salts with one of their dishes. I think the youngest one is 25 million years old. alexP

It Turned out amazing! I should have taken a picture but it looked too good! I made a simple syrup, with brown sugar and water. Let it cool, added honey, and mixed it all together. Added about 10 cloves of chopped Black Garlic, and let it sit for an hour. I cut the pork into strips and marinated that in some Honey, Garlic, hot sauce, and Chinese Molasses, and let them marinate for about 2 hours. Heated up my wok, with some oil, did off the pork in batches. Then added the sauce and brought it to a hard simmer, then tossed the pork with it. Plated it over some jasmine rice and it was beautiful! Thank you for that! It was delicious! Alex

Thanks to everyone for the responses! Im currently doing random stages at Blacktree with Matteo and my god its unreal. I want to start staging up there once a week, and hopefully landing a job in the kitchen. The intense focus needed is right up my alley! Im working at a catering company currently to pay for my excursions from Niagara to Burlington for stage work. What a wonderful life! Alex

Fantastic recipe! I am going to try this tonight, with a little spin on things, and will post up my results! Cheers! Alex