Chef Fowke

I went to the website and they said you could lay this bottle down for a few more years!! The bottle I drank came from a private, temp/humidity controlled cellar in Seattle and was bought in the first year of release. It did travel in the week we drank it...could that have been a factor?

Just follow your eGullet decoder ring...it will show you the way.

This looks good... Where are we at? Jamie and Neil have made some cursory inquiries and I am out hunting snakes .... (instead of drinking the blood of the snake lets cure and smoke it, cerviche and a simple snake pastrami)

can you digitally photo and post?

It would be great to meet Bourdain!! But I am caught up on this snake thing... I just read an article (see following) and I want to get some and try! (from Bjørn Christian Tørrissen's visit to Thailand) Lets get some snake and see what we can do! Or maybe make pastrami from it...

Let’s all do the eGullet supportive thing and go down. Let’s do Wednesday, un-announced and flood them with foodies at 5:00pm!!! I am in...

Aaaaahhh, JohnnyD! You are being way to lenient!!!! Oysters = Money to a restaurant. MONEY! Big MONEY! As a consumer it is imperative that we all hold the restaurants to standard. This is a product that can be the nectar of life or death. This is serious. If you are in the oyster game your need to get oyster that are extremely fresh and from safe, inspected beds.....PERIOD. On the consumer’s side, you need to pay the 'right price' and have the comfort that you are eating a safe product. This is a very simple transaction between vendor - consumer! I am pissed that so many restaurants are not capable of maintaining the minimum standard needed to guarantee safety to their clients! I perused the local Health Board Website tonight and was appalled by how many seafood restaurants had been closed because of unsafe health practises! If you are going to sell oysters --- bring them in everyday! Run out at the end of the night and guarantee freshness. Otherwise sell frozen crap and go to where you belong....mediocrity!

I find this thread very interesting, but I think we are missing a key element...the procurement of the core elements. The recipe is key, the presentation and preparation matter. But in the end, are we talking apples to apples? I was lucky enough to train in France. I am over-joyed to be a Chef in Canada....but I can tell you the base ingredients are different in every region of the world! Garlic tastes different. In France it had a purple vein and was sweeter. In Ontario it had an apple nuisance...on the West Coast it is spicier/hotter. These are all factors in producing a great Caesar Salad! In Vancouver I would add a little Sherry vinegar to sweeten the emulsify. In France White Wine Vinegar would have sufficient. Hard to pick the perfect recipe....I thing it is highly regional. ...just my thoughts.

Upper Canada Brewing Company is a 10/10! Really committed to great products. But still...the best Canadian beer, by FAR, is Creemore. Period. No debate...done! But they are the best because they are small, locally brewed and distributed. I would hate to see them go the way of Sleemans and sell-out and become CRAP!

I have always been a huge fan of anything Leonetti. Tonight I had the privilege of tasting a bottle of the 1992 Select Walla Walla Valley. When we first opened the wine it was aromatic, powerful and exciting! We could see that it had thrown at lot of sediment so we decanted... Luckily we did this right before we served the main course; maple cured Muscovy duck with an Okanagan peach and leek sauce on kohlrabi, cress and rocket sauté, a great match!!!! The wine was a perfect 10/10!!! It was decanted and served in Riedel. Now, here is the chilling part. When I was cleaning up with my wife, after everyone had left I poured the last 4oz into a glass to imbibe. It had turned watery and lacklustre. Lacklustre! No life, deceased! This terrified me. I was going to decant the wine when my guests presented it to me, on arrival. Thankfully I was to busy and forgot to... Are the 1992 at the end of their lives? Post Script: Also tasted the Argyle 1991 Extended Triage DoD (80% Pinot Noir 20% Chardonnay)...why buy Cristal? This was the best champagne (sparkling wine) I have ever tasted!

Nope $!@%*&!.... The Mustard's best by date was May 29th, 2004 . I will try and get some more....or maybe Grey Poupon can sponsor the event.

Neil, Maybe send Anthony some of my Pastrami...it is the best in the world (at least better then Katz NYC) [i can also do something called seafood, NWP, etc...]...that should be enough to secure his appearance! And if need be I will smoke/cure/draw bile from the snake! P.S. And I still have one bottle in my inventory of Nathan's Famous (the original Coney Island) Deli Style Mustard that I will crack for the occasion that Wesza gave me last year!

Yes, a backyard BBQ works well as a smoker. You just need to be careful of the temp. I keep a pan of ice handy to regulate the tempetature. A smoking box can be purchased at Canadian Tire for less then $10 or a metal pan (do not use aluminum...poisonous). For the steaming...use the BBQ as well. Keep a pan of water directly on the rocks (under the bars). This may void your warranty but it works well.

Brooklyn for a late lunch of oysters, chowder and a flight of beer, vodka or scotch tasting! Classic, old school charm and quality. Is Oceanaire open for lunch, my last dinner was a 10/10. Bluefin tuna done really simply and nice.

Cool! I just remembered who you are....we worked togeather at the Windsor Arms Hotel or the King Edward Hotel...amazing, that was 18 years ago!

Project = very well! I will post soon, waiting to wrap some details...

Neil, why are you an associate member? you are a chef, you own a restaurant...do you not know anyone in the eGullet community?

Paul that sounds like what Jamie’s been doing, maybe feeding those brownies to the snake first then smoking and drinking the blood of the snake then writing august events, it would make sleepy Vancouver very exciting . steve you can smoke snake? How long do you cure it for.... I will be at Hamilton St Grill that night! I would like to put some faces to these threads. Neil, how many eGulleteers are coming to your restaurant to drink and eat like rockstars on that night? Can I donate anything? Time, product? Cannot wait...Maybe we see Bourdain as well.

I won't even think of eating pre-made sushi, sashimi, cerviche, tartar, etc. I definitely do not order these items at a McDonalds or a place not specializing in the preparation of these products. Oysters are in the same class. They need to be opened al a minute. PERIOD. If a place refuses to do this they are not serious about the product and they are putting their customers at risk. 1. In Vancouver a dozen oysters averages $27 plus tax and gratuity…not a cheap appetizer, they deserve the attention of any $27 app. 2. The cost of a dozen oysters is $7.99 or a food cost of 29.6%. That produces a contribution margin of $19. What other menu item contributes $19…leaves a lot of room to justify the labour component. 3. The best part of the oyster is the water in the shell. Oysters that have been pre-shucked are often refreshed by running them under cold water, dipping them in salted ice water or sprinkled with soda water. 50% of the flavour is lost. 4. Oyster become highly toxic really quickly; bacteria and vibrio starts to multiply immediately and will double in quantity in less then 20 minute if not stored properly. Oysters are my favourite food. Unfortunately I only know of five restaurants in Vancouver that I will eat them at and only two purveyors I will purchase them at for home consumption. Pre-shucking shows that a restaurant is not serious about quality and is careless when it comes to the consumer’s health and safety. Oysters can be both enjoyable and safe.

Not to take this thread to far off on a tangent; I have heard of coddled eggs before, but they were always made in a coddler. You cracked the eggs into the device and placed it in boiling water (it came out looking like a cross between a poached and soft-boiled egg). I am just curious about the name usage, coddled, rather than the technique. More information can be found at one of my favourite sites: Egg Coddler's Dot Com

When you say coddled egg do you mean an egg cooked in a coddler...or a partially cooked egg (in the shell)?

Oh my god, how did I forget about Nanaimo Bars!

Oh Yeah...lets start the night with the new Canadian Iceburg Vodka and finish with Cuban Cigars!! Come to think of it, I may still be able to get fresh Cuban lobsters! They used to be 'refreshed' in Vancouver before they were shipped to Japan.

I will do my part, who has the connection to make this happen? I have contacted Neil at the Hamilton Street Grill and he can make this a go...he has a brilliant, private room (as well as a really cool 'old world' drinking bar). I will donate my time, Neil will offer a great deal… What is the next step? Maybe a sampling of Canadian Food and Libation! 1. Tortiere 2. Caribou sirloin roast 3. Bear tenderloin 4. BEER! 5. BC Wines…in particular the new great; Osoyoos Cab! 10/10! 6. Deer kidneys 7. Elk strip loin 8. Moose flank (cured and smoked) 9. …real duck (...and the foie) 10. Fresh wild Sockeye (served raw, cured!) 11. Abalone 12. SPOT PRAWNS!!!! 13. Sea asparagus 14. Halibut Cheeks 15. Local Beach Oysters 16. Quail 17. Canadian Grouse (aged 45 days) 18. Sweet potatoes 19. Anything wheat… 20. Montreal smoked meat 21. Sturgeon 22. Poutine 23. Safe raw eggs…liaisons and hollandaise 24. Alberta Prime (AAA and AAAA beef…YES!); big fatty Rib Eye, T- bone, Delmonico! 25. Goose rillette 26. Truly organic vegetables 27. Fresh frog legs (…cannot find these in France anymore!) 28. Wild boar All the above served: i. Cured ii. Smoked iii. sausage This would be great! I cannot wait.

Do I have time to make the real stuff? Very cool.... who is doing the media and how do we get this going? I will donate my time....