Chef Fowke

NO!!!!

I just had an apprentice, Steven Duyzer, come back from a four month tour at a 2 star Michelin restaurant tonight. He gave me the 'new way of making veal jus'! It sounds great and my apprentice says it is the best thing he has every tasted. I have just finished my sixth course and fourth bottle of wine. I will post the recipe tomorrow. Fat Guy please call me a call if I forget. This recipe is revolutionary (or at least 21st century), Steven says it is like jello, the colour of molasses and is never bitter!

For the Canadian's amongst us...Yan Can Cook; he uses this method in almost every show. Good to see him back on the air and living in Vancouver after a ten year hiatus.

The titanic could be turned, just not on a dime. It takes time and foresight. Not to use this analogy to death, the industry needs to look forward before it hits the iceberg. But I still believe that the biggest cash cow for any cook is running his own kitchen or owning his own restaurant. There is more of a drive in the BOH to do this. A lot, not all, of FOH staff does it as a temporary job until they land their golden career. BOH seems to be more industry mobile or content to remain at the present level. Chefs who own their own restaurants work hard and pay their dues (average of one to two years working full time and an extra six hours a day writing up a business plan). They work for little or no money to build their resumes so they can attract investors. You need to do your time before you make the big money. Or, be like a group of my friends, who went to university for 4 to 8 years, suffered, lived in slums and ate Kraft dinner who started their careers making $80k(can). It’s all the same in the end.

I stock Canadian and American prime beef as well as Australian Angus beef. We need to do a full on tasting next time you are in town. Maybe a 48oz Delmonico of each to see which flavour we prefer... I would FedEx you a sample of Canadian grain-fed beef but we would both end up in jail!!!

The taste is quite different and should be left up to the individual palate. I get cravings for both. I love to eat at Morton's and locally I have never had a better steak then Hy's Encore. When you look at the two meats you will see a huge difference. The corn feed beef has a fat cap that is tinted yellow and a lot more 'granular'. The grain fed beef tends to be whiter and a finer, smoother texture with less flavour but more fat content.

Email me and I will set up a great tour of our restaurant and the local fisheries while you are in Vancouver. I can set you up with some stuff on the island as well, with enough notice. Or call Jason, my purchaser at the restaurant directly and he can help (be aware, he can be ornery early in the morning!).

Remember that fat tastes good. When creating great food you need to add fat. Make it natural and coexistent with the product you are producing.... 1. Sweet butter with pastry. 2. Lots of sweet butter 'monte au beurre' with sauces and stocks (as much as the sauce will hold and buzz it to a froth for extra textural appeal). 3. Olive oil, vegetables, potatoes, pastas and starches (breads). 4. Lardon when using a larding needle on meats (by far the best technique in French cooking). 5. Wrapping and baking any protein in pork fat or bacon (double smoked belly, preferably). 6. And for dessert add more whipped cream; at least 40% butterfat or crème friache.

Note: the posted recipe is based off of a memory from when I was 12 and living back east.

2 ¾ cups unbleached white bread flour ¼ cup canola/corn/safflower oil 1-teaspoon active dry yeast ¼ cup white sugar ½ teaspoon salt 18 tablespoons warm whole milk Try this recipe and make the bread at home. I believe you will find this recipe produces a superior product to the PF bread and your final product will excel.

It’s marked in my calendar. Will you make the reservations?

I vote for August 22nd @ 4pm.

Please share some of your personal experiences. It is hard continue this thread with unsubstantiated sarcasm. I am really interested in hearing what other people/cooks think about this. I explained my beliefs and experiences to help develop dialogue on this topic.

When we first started dating my wife used to wear my old, worn out 100% cotton chef coat (chef's wear) with the cotton buttons to bed; when she unexpectedly slept over instead of the traditional 'were dating and having a sleep over' men's shirt... She kinda, in a weird restaurant work way, looked hot! (next topic: which is hotter the school uniform or chef’s uniform?)

Um, my wife just reminded me that I have never eaten at Schwartz's sober. I find this hard to be true, my wife went to University of McGill for five years and I drove out every second weekend. I must have been sober at least once! She keeps referring to Sangria in Old Montreal and wine on Rue St Denis.... I guess I need to bow out of this thread.

My Wife's family used to live by the Angus ranch just outside of Newport Beach in California. I spent many days watching the cows graze on the grass and being feed a mixture of oats, barley and corn. My father-in-law (who is no cook, really...he burns water) would grill up Delmonico/porterhouse/club steaks from this herd and they were the best things I have ever tasted (the Montreal Spice he put on it was really salty and good)!

I cannot argue with your personal experience. You seem very passionate about your words and I would appreciate to hear more about them. I worked through some hard times and long hours and there was always a payout at the end. Please be more specific, my head may be in the sand on this issue.

What day should we all meet at Cru?

Try replacing the sugar with corn syrup and (as already stated) keep the products ice cold. The corn syrup will 'reduce the friction' in the dough and allow it to raise before it spreads (old cake secret for those over-sized wedding cakes).

Chef Fowke--thanks for the offer (see quote), and i'd like to request the Sauce Charon recipe (just googled and found not much...) my latkes, i'm pretty happy with. although i suppose we should start a latke thread if this continues... congrats also on article on Muskoka inn/Joe Fortes. well-done. I have looked and looked through my recipes and the smallest batch of Charon uses 5lbs of butter. I can forward it to you... Hopefully this little definition will help you with Sauce Charon. If you have any problems I will send you my master recipe. Note: finish the sauce with a good amount of tomato concassé and chive baton for a superior flavour. Hollandaise This sauce was named in recognition of the high quality of butter and other dairy products produced in Holland. Since the largest proportion of a hollandaise is butter, the sauce will succeed or fail according to not only the skillful balance between egg yolks, reduction, and butter, but also the quality of the butter itself. Hollandaise belongs to a group of sauces known as emulsion sauces. An emulsion sauce is formed when one substance is suspended in another--in this case, melted or clarified butter is suspended in partially cooked egg yolks. It is fragile because it is not a true mixture and could separate easily into its distinct components. In other words, it could "break." Other examples of emulsion sauces include mayonnaise, beurre blancs, vin blancs, and vinaigrettes. Hollandaise should be a pale lemon color with a satin-smooth texture and appearance. The hollandaise-style sauces may have slightly different colors. Sauce Charon, for instance, contains tomato puree, which will give the finished sauce a pale orange color. Other emulsion sauces are: Béarnaise, Foyot, Maltaise, and Mousseline

But it is so much more beautiful to read an article from a food writer who has an IQ over 120! It shows in the writing, the professionalism and the open-mindedness of the articles. It is easy to write about things that are close to your heart. It is hard to be objective and truthful, as you seem to be, Steven.

Yes, thank you Peter B Wolf! Please share more of your experiences! That’s what this post should be about. Proof that Pay + Satisfaction = hard work = good lifestyle. Nothing is free/there are no free rides. Create your own economy and do not complain if you do not get what you expected; work harder! The restaurant business is pure, clean and beautiful capitalism.

This above is one of the problems as I see it: cooks "earning" that "degree" cannot live on the wages paid, particularly if it is for "many many" years. Simply put, and with things such as location, cost of living, etc. notwithstanding, if a new cook cannot make a reasonable living on his/her pay, how does anyone expect to train and keep good cooks? Both my wife and I went to university, lived below the poverty line for four years and ate Kraft dinner every night. The fact that I became a Chef, friends became doctors and lawyers and my wife a professional student has nothing to do with being white collar or blue collar. The fact is you have to pay your dues and learn your trade/profession/career. There is no easy way of doing it. Yet, school is not the only way to become a Chef. It helps. It sets the standards in recipes/cooking techniques and gives the cook an understanding of the nomenclature. If you come into a restaurant without experience expect to be paid poorly and expect to work hard to learn your craft to catch up to the cooks who took the time and effort to go to school (am I the only person here who remembers Escoffier and what he did for the cooking industry?). And money should not be the most important aspect in accepting a new job in the hospitality field. You need to invest in the future through your resume. For every one executive chef there are hundreds of cooks. The odds are poor that you are going to make it to any serious money. That is reality and there is no reason to cry over it. Work hard in creating your own opportunities. Sometimes it takes more then a big pay cheque.

Could be three things... 1) The butter was not cold enough 2) The butter was not fresh or had a high water content 3) The wine/vinegar was not reduced with the shallots until it was almost a puree This is a tricky method to recipe. Quantities need to be adjusted do to international inconsistencies in products and measurements.

I haven't been to Marine Drive in a long time. That is a great idea. I will go down tonight and see Ken (or is he off Mondays? Maybe tomorrow night). I hear the chef has changed. Had lunch, last week, at the Beach House at Dundarave. Spinach salad was excellent, wine list reasonably priced with a good selection and the view was nothing less then spectacular! I will check but I believe Pastis is open, I am not sure...