Chef Fowke

Hilarious. ← Former? After spending time with him on Friday night...I now believe everything he has ever written! He is bigger then life in person, smart as a whip and with his lifestyle, I am surprised he is still alive! WOW! I am going to sleep for a week... Buy all his books! We need to support him so he keeps going, wait till he really puts an effort into it and starts writing!

Now, I feel so dirty....

I wish I could post the photo I have with AB, but he (and maybe I do as well) have a middle finger up! What is that about...we are such bad boys of food!

I do not know what to post... That was amazing! Really amazing. WOW! I just spent an hour and a half with AB. I wonder how we proceed with this thread. What goes on the road stays on the road. That was absolutely crazy. He really lives up to his reputation! He ate big had a drink and lived life large. A truly bigger-then-life deity! I am in awe, I need to sleep and reform/formulate my thoughts on life and food. PS. He looks like a movie star…how does he do it?

Oh NO! I burnt the scallop ceviche! I guess thats what you get for trusting the big night to 'volunteers' in the kitchen, chefs without a restaurant! I cannot wait for the night to begin, Neil and I have spent the last 48 hours getting ready, we just parted to grab a few hours sleep and are back at it early in the morning. All looks good in the kitchen! Bring an appetite, arrange a ride home, this is going to be fun! And what a great charity. The Tequila with the mango/lime/jalepeno oyster shooters should loosen a few pocket books and help us raise some big dollars for the chef's bursary fund. Post Script: The food will be 'professionally' photographed, do not worry about bringing a camera...we will supply and post. Just come and enjoy great, great company and food. 7:00pm sharp at the Hammy!

I AM CANADIAN.. No Wait! I am American! No! I AM...Oh Geez I am so confused! I 'll just stick with Big Rock, Unibroue (Now part of Interbrew Conglomerate.) and St. Ambroise ← So true! It is quickly becoming on country on region! Thank god for Kookaney! Need that pure mountain water to brew, otherwise it would also be brewed in Sudbury!

oh it hurts, I am still laughing! but seriously....your not going to kick my butt? are you?

I do not remember the origin of the recipe; it has been floating around in my repertoire for the last five years. It is so easy...and the final product has never failed to please! It is GREAT. Enjoy and post us some pictures of your endeavour with the clams...

Forget the BBQ; the best smoker I ever used was made from an old refrigerator! The mechanicals were removed and a 'hot-box' was put into the bottom (an electric charcoal starter set on a timer!) with a chimney up the back. The seals and insulation were great! A little smoke really generated a lot of flavour. I would like to see you lug a refrigerator up a flight of stairs! Easier to make the soap…

...and all who attend will here Neil say: "get the gimp...it is time for the gimp to start cooking for 'The Big Night!'"

Okay, but then aren't you giving credit to the "culture" and not to the chef? It's the corporate machine & the culture that creates the food and the environment to keep it consistent. I agree with you that it's consistant and I know I can't recreate it at home. But it's not the pimply faced "chef" that's responsible for that. He/she puts a burger on the grill, pushes a button, and flips it when a buzzer goes off. A. ps - You're on for lunch. I'll confirm they're open tommorrow. ← Exactly, I think we are arguing the same thing...it is all about the 'culture' and how the public embraces it! The culture can be created by the chef, maitre' D or server in smaller venues, in large it is developed and maintained by a corporate culture. It does not matter how it is done...just that it is done; and whenever you frequent a restaurant the experience exceeds the price paid!

Post script: on the pimply-faced youth....McD's and others really, really, really sell the culture! Ask an employee in middle America if he loves working at McD's....Loving IT!

Chef, McDonald's/KFX/J-Box? Really? I see where this fits into the "can't duplicate at home" criteria (although I can't imagine why you'd want to) but I fail to see where a pimply-faced fry cook working for minimum wage is putting his soul into anything. You'll be happy to know that Big Al's was open last I checked ... which was this afternoon. At least the signs were still up. He's at Renfrew @ First ... hardly the skids Brian! A. ← Point being...I cannot readily duplicate the taste (and the taste is popular, forgetting that all of us who post on this board are food-snobs, they are the biggest companies in the world, serving more food then most medium size nations eat in a year in a day!)... To the point of the thread, they serve a product that is the same, one trillion times a year, and with very little variance. That exceeds my expectations...I could never do that. Does that not prove they are exceeding the expectation of the average consumer? Numbers never lie; they are hugely successful because they deliver a product that is priced right…exceeding the expectations of the average consumer! More importantly, I am sooo glad to hear that Big Al is still around, Daddy-A...lunch next week? note: oh, yeah...kind of a questionable area of town…I drove by the shooting scene last week!

What to wear, what to wear.... I talked with Neil tonight and I think this may help everyone decide on the proper attire for the evening, god knows I do not want anyone else to show up in a double flap, chef wear, cotton button ensemble, like I will be wearing!!! It is soooo embarrassing when that happens! I hope this helps... Most of the participants will and should be attired casual... Some will be coming from work and will be business casual... I have heard through the grapevine that at least one or two will choose more formal attire... My hope is our mascot will attend... Coop will be in attendance (I apologize in advance; please do not kick my ass!)... Jamie has always been a trend setter (far left)... And honestly, it does not matter what you wear....all that matter is that 'Big Brother aka Fat-Guy' has given you your eGullet decoder ring... Hope this helps...cannot wait to taste the food, sample the libations, support the charity and meet all the Vancouver eGulleters!

Hope you remember to shave your legs. ← ...and back!

wear the decoder ring!

I agree, the restaurateur and the chef need to put their soul into the products offered (including food, service, décor and ambiance). Unfortunately I think this is not exceptional, but the base level people expect when they walk into a food service establishment... Be it fast food, ethnic or fine dining, I expect one thing from both the restaurant and the chef; it needs to be something I cannot replicate at home --> the food, décor, service and 'feel'. Being 'in-the-business' makes it harder for me to attain these criteria, and I understand and can always find a positive attribute in every restaurant... I will not go off on a rampage right now but I am sick of restaurants passing off lamb rack crusted with Dijon, mushroom risotto with grilled chicken...or my favourite to hate: grill Ahi tuna brushed with a Soya glaze with tropical fruit salsa! Uninspired, readily available in any good supermarket and a complete insult to the consumer’s intelligence. All these dishes can be prepared at home, with the help of a cookbook, in under an hour. Restaurants and Chefs need to make money, but their primary purpose to nurture, nurture both the body as well as the soul. Note, Food I think is quality under these criteria (food/rooms I cannot duplicate @ home) 1) Mcdonald's/KFC/Jack-n-Box (#1 on my list...I cannot duplicate) 2) Big Als (I think it is closed, Cajun restaurant in the skids of Vancouver) 3) Boulevard 4) Union Square Cafe 5) Palace Kitchen 6) Oceanaire 7) Cafeteria (Montreal)

How do you know about the ring?

That 'Funk' is derived from the coriander/peppercorn/herb mix melding with the smoke...The curing process is critical to the final product; the smoke and steaming, while adding some flavour is mostly for tenderness and preserving. As well, never, ever trim the brisket. All the fat and connective tissue needs to be in place.

Where else could a person have spent five months preparing, writing and talking about pastrami ( Great Pastrami Experiment on eGullet )... Those were the good old days of eGullet.

...maybe he wins by cooking his 'weenie'! Cannot wait to see it aired, I have grown tired of watching his dance moves on Food Network, need something new to get me through the rainy season.

Some interesting info on the Savoury Clam: • Known in Europe as the Mahogany Clam: the Latin name is Nuttallia Obscurata. • The name was changed to Savoury Clam, not because of the Pie Company, rather purely for the marketing of the bivalve. • Originally from Asia, introduced to Canada in the late 1980’s in the ballast water of ocean liners. • It prefers to grow where other clams don’t: fresh water seeps, loose sand, pebble and cobble. • Found in the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound Favourite Grilled Clam Recipe: 5 lbs fresh Savoury clams, cleaned 8 medium Vancouver Island nugget potatoes 4 whole Corn on the cob (cut into quarters) ½ lbs leeks, julienne 2 lbs shallots, cleaned1 cup chopped fresh parsley ¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves 1 cup Cedar Creek Chardonnay 2 whole Lemon, juice and zest ½ cup Extra Virgin Olive oil 1 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground ½ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, crushed To taste Tabasco sauce 3 bay leaves 5 whole lobsters (1 lbs each), split ¼ cup Butter, cut into pieces 3 whole French Baguette Heat Alderwood charcoal grill until coals are ash white. Layer all ingredients in order listed except lobster, butter and bread in 16-1/2 x 12 x 2-1/2-inch roasting pan; use an old pan  this is messy! Cover; place pan on grill. Grill 15 minutes. Add lobster; continue cooking, covered, until potatoes cooked. Whisk in butter, taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.

Beer at this event? ...is that appropriate? We have chosen beer over snake venom; where is the eGullet adventure? I will just have to bring my own!

If you own good knives (and I am sure everyone who posts here does) you need to take extra care with your knives that the local 'knife sharpeners' (the knife butchers) do not....each knife has a different bevel that needs to be honed carefully. Anyone serious about their knives should PM me. I will help you through it. A $30 tri-stone and a good bottle of sharpening oil will get you results that are 175% better then the commercial...

Very interesting thread, but I do not see an end that is satisfactory! Looking for a Canadian cuisine and especially a western cuisine is fruitless without an understanding of why we live where we do. History is blind to the modern populous and its understanding of what is current, what has happened and its nature to replicate itself. Western Canada was opened for two reasons; 1. To develop a land bridge to the Orient 2. To develop a Wheat Program. Developing Western Canada (1850) Opening the West Western Canada was not built and settled by 'average Canadians', it was developed off of the lives and struggles of an immigrant class. Quebec’s blood is pure, Acadian and the Maritimes are pure to their culture. They were settled and have lived in relative isolation (no emails; that was not a slander!). They have had time, and a bloodline, to develop a regional cuisine. Western Canada is too young, raw, to have had time to find its 'personality'. With so much cultural flux in this country we cannot expect to have a Canadian Cuisine until the culture has had time to mature (...lets see; Italy has had 10 000 years to develop?) Best we live with being a young country with a developing culture that is a safe haven for all the world’s cultures, religions and beliefs! Enjoy the diversity of food in Canada rather then trying to find an identity in it!