eG Foodblog: Gabriel Lewis - From Nihon to Sichuan to ... Sorbet?

[monavano]

QUOTE(snowangel @ Oct 1 2007, 08:10 PM)

Why are Montreal bagels so much better than any others?

Texture, taste, aroma, satisfaction. Bagels made at either St-Viateur or Fairmount (the two top bagel places) are all handmade, and baked in a woodfired oven after being boiled. At almost any given time of day you can walk in to see one guy cutting and rolling the bagels, one guy inserting them into the woodfired oven on a long wooden board, and one guy manning the register. They have a great texture you can really sink your teeth into, and they're good enough to eat by themselves. It's like the taste of really good bread with a hint of smoke. I'm not exactly doing them justice, but when you've had them you know.

I'm curious Gabriel if you've ever had a NY bagel? While I really like Montreal style bagels, I LOVE NY bagels. Those are the bagels I grew up with and they say " bagel" to me. Like you said, Montreal bagels remind me of a really good piece of artisan bread.

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In a timely manner, as I am reading along with the Washingtonian food critic Todd Kliman's Tuesday "chog", he is recommending the very same bagels Gabriel mentioned. Kliman indeed proclaims them "the best in the world.

Lucky Canadians!!

http://www.washingtonian.com/chats/restaurants/5406.html

(read about the third question down)

eta: Lucky us.....St.-Viateur is shipping to the states.

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/...bites/4472.html

Edited October 2, 2007 by monavano (log)

[Abra]

Another vote for Montreal bagels here - the best of my life! If I weren't living in France I'd love to live in Montreal for those bagels.

I have a non-food question: are there still free-range skunks on the Mont Royal?

[wattacetti]

I have a non-food question: are there still free-range skunks on the Mont Royal?

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The skunks are all over the island, not just solely on Mont-Royal. If we're talking specifically about the mountain, there are also lots of raccoons and the occasional fox.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Welcome to the world of blogging, Gabriel!

I'll be interested to see what you do, in general, and what you do in particular with the pomegranates.  I love pomegranates, and now that I know the easy way to open them I'm doing more with them.  There's a great treatment from Mario Batali with pomegranates, marsala and chicken.  I'll be looking forward to seeing how you use them in your Asian (or other) cuisines.

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Thank you. I'd be interested to hear about your method for opening them, as I have little experience with them myself. I had boughten them as a side project of sorts rather than for anything sichuan or japanese persay. Thus far I was thinking homemade grenadine, or perhaps sorbet, but we'll see.

[Gabriel Lewis]

I am very excited to see some Montreal this week, thanks in advance! I lived there for a few years back in the day - I look forward to seeing it through your "food eyes". Its a unique place and will always be important to me - many relatives in the Mount Royal Cemetery (and a few in Estonia).

I still cannot get over your plate of eggs - how often do you have it? It seems like a breakfast for someone who is at least seven feet tall and very angry. This is a good sign.

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My pleasure peter, it is nice to have a chance to reciprocate as I enjoyed reading your blog and about other adventures, if somewhat silently. The eggs are a relatively new thing, I probably have them once or twice of week as of late.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Maple syrup and hot sauce -- an excellent combination!  Sweet heat is always interesting.  May I inquire:

--what kind of hot sauce you put on your eggs?

--how many hot sauces you have in your collection?

--when we can expect the fridge shot?

--what your opinion is of Pocky?

--what of Montréal itself we might see in this blog?

This is a city on my must-visit list -- besides, I need to add it to my subway collection -- so tips and advice on how to make the most of a visit there are also welcome.  Including, of course, places to eat.

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- For my eggs, something red and acidic - think lots of red chiles and vinegar.

- I don't really have a collection persay. I am a bit obsessive, and you won't find many pre-prepared things in my kitchen; partly because I am loath to pay money for something I might be disappointed by, and partly because if its feasible to make it, chances are I prefer to make it myself.

- Later this week.

- I think its novel and pretty tasty, but I'm not obsessive about it. The only kind I've tried I like is the original dark chocolate one. I find it unsubstantial though; I have trouble not eating it too fast.

- Lots, I get around a wide variety of places on my bike, and I'll be showing you the infamous Jean-Talon market, around my neighbourhood (mile end), and a number of other places too.

Montreal is quite a lovely city, I hope I'll be able to address some of your interests as the week goes on.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Montreal, would live there in a flash.....spent happy times there some summers ago while kids in an 'ecocamp' nr Mt Tremblant to improve their French (and give us child-free time )

ps. remember husb. getting very irritated with me as I kept trying to hail police cars instead of taxis

look forward to yr services as a guide Gabriel (and yr cooking of course

pps. have you heard of the baseloup??? prob. wrong spelling

edited to add, I love the Fuschia Dunlop books, use both frequently

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Funny, I'd never though police cars looked like taxis here; some taxis can be pretty inconspicuous though. The baseloup? I'm not sure, maybe some other montrealer can help me out here?

[Gabriel Lewis]

I'm curious Gabriel if you've ever had a NY bagel?    While I really like Montreal style bagels, I LOVE NY bagels.  Those are the bagels I grew up with and they say " bagel" to me.  Like you said, Montreal bagels remind me of a really good piece of artisan bread.

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No, never had one. Have attempted unsuccessfully to have visiting friends bring me back a sample though. I did know about them though, I made my statement based on what I've heard from what I consider very reliable sources. I think there is a quote from carswell kicking around on egullet somewhere along the lines of "you can call them different animals, but faced to choose most people would choose montreal". "What you grow up with" is pretty much impossible to beat though.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Ah, let the Bagel Wars begin! 

For the chicken, how did you handle the marinade to soften them?  Were you able to find the bean flour that they use in Chengdu?  The trick to that for tenderizing was the papane in that's an additive, and we've been experimenting here with additives to more easily accessible corn flour.

And how are the peppercorns?  Mouth deadeningly numbing, in which case you've got a great supplier, as many complain about the novocaine effect wearing off with storage time.

Will they let you take pictures in the stores?

Cheers,

Peter

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Dunlops marinade was pretty standard: shao hsing, corn starch, salt, soy. She didn't make any mention of any sort of enzyme based tenderizer, are you sure this is for Gong Bao chicken? Chicken is pretty tender to start with, so I'm not sure why it would need tenderizing.

As for my peppercorns, I think you'd be hard pressed to find better in North America, or even in China. You'll see why in a bit.

I'll be doing some more shopping at some of my favorite markets as the week goes on, and I'm sure I'll manage to get some good pictures.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Another vote for Montreal bagels here - the best of my life!  If I weren't living in France I'd love to live in Montreal for those bagels.

I have a non-food question: are there still free-range skunks on the Mont Royal?

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Wattacetti nailed it. I haven't had any encounters with skunks, but I have been within a few feet from raccoon near Mcgill many a time. Mcgill is only a block or two from busy downtown, and the raccoons I've met barely even take notice of you. They walk around like they own the place.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Tuesdays are a bit of a long day for me, as I have class from 10 to 11:30, head straight to work for noon, and then work from noon to 8. Here are some photos I took on the way to school and work.

The statue at the crest of park in park Jeanne-Mance on the side of Mount Royal. Mont Royal is located roughly in the center of montreal, and puts the "Mont" in montreal. This statue has been under repairs since before I moved here, a little over two years ago. Traditionally it was the site where all the drum players gathered to play drums on Sundays (Tams Tams).

Approaching the famous Parc and des Pins intersection. It's a little up ahead of the photo here, and is one of the bigger interesections in montreal not far from downtown. They were fixing this for what felt like forever, and now its a lot easier to get around this part of town.

Corner of Dr. Penfield and des Pins. Downtown is in the distance, and the building in the forefront overlooks the Mcgill campus.

The Mcintyre Medical building. This is mcgill's health sciences building at the top of des Pins on the side of Mont Royal. I spend most of my time here puzzling out signal transduction and enzyme pathways. Not much to be said for the cafeteria.

This photo looks down Cote-des-Neiges, one of montreals major streets near downtown. It is quite a bustling street with lots of traffic, restaurants, little shops, and other things to explore. There are a lot of streets like this in Montreal, and they are one of the things I love about Montreal. I enjoy just walking up and down them when I have time, because you never know what you'll stumble on.

One of the many churches I passed on the way to work. There is a lot of truth to Mark Twains quote "You can't throw a rock in montreal without hitting a church window". They are all quite beautiful though.

My work.

[Jamie Lee]

My work.

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Did I miss it? What work do you do?

In school for what?

(Forgive me if I can't read...)

But FWIW, this blog is coming along beautifully... you do Montreal a great service!

[Gabriel Lewis]

The last photo in the series above is of the main entrance of my workplace, the headquarters of the Epices de Cru brand of spices, on rue de la Savane in ville St. Laurent, a subcity in Montreal northwest downtown. This is where most of the products of the now infamous Olive et Epices and La depense stores of the Jean-Talon market.

The building and business belong to Philippe and Ethné Devienne, who joined the ranks of the spice business a few years ago after decades as Caterers. This used to be their catering headquarters, and old restaurant that they purchased a while back to head their catering operations. When they switched over to spices, it became their packing/distribution center for the spices and prepared foods they sell at their stores. This unassuming building is the foundation of their two stores at the Jean-Talon market, stores I think Montreal is very luck to have.

As of today we have somewhere around 200 different kinds of spices at de la Savane, most of which are shipped to us directly from small suppliers in their country of origin. Philippe and Ethné have traveled the globe in search of the most amazing spices. We have all the standard issue spices, 30 or so different kinds of dried chiles, dried Kombu help from Hokkaido, 6 or 7 kinds of vanilla beans, and so so much more that I'm only beginning to keep track of it all. I love this place.

This is where my Sichuan peppercorns are from Peter. Philippe and Ethné recently established a relationship directly with a grower in China. We have three different kinds. Normal red, green, and special grade "imperial". The smell you meet when opening a giant bag of Sichuan peppercorns is heady. Were out of green at the moment, but last we heard from the supplier they were frantically harvesting the crop before monsoon season, meaning we should get some more soon.

Philippe and Ethné are in China on vacation right now, and unfortunately I forgot to ask them permission to take photos before they left. I've sent them an e-mail though, and hopefully I'll be able to show you some of the inner workings of de la Savane towards the end of the week.

[prasantrin]

The last photo in the series above is of the main entrance of my workplace, the headquarters of the Epices de Cru brand of spices, on rue de la Savane in ville St. Laurent, a subcity in Montreal northwest downtown. This is where most of the products of the now infamous Olive et Epices and La depense stores of the Jean-Talon market.

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What happened to make them infamous?

My sister went to McGill, and I visited a couple of times. I love Montreal for the food (but it's a bit too "big city" for this prairie girl). Are you going to take us to Schwartz's? Or any other Montreal institution? Do we get pictures of St. Viateur (sp?). They're the ones with the tiny store with the big oven (is it wood burning?)? I love them!

[Gabriel Lewis]

I arrived at work today around noon, and was immediately told by my supervisor that we had some pizza dough that needed to be used, and I was expected to make 5 pizzas to feed 9 people. This suited me fine.

Remeber that this used to be a catering headquarters, so we have a well equipped professional kitchen onsite. So I looked in the fridge, and gathered my ingredients. On hand we had fresh tomatos, tomato sauce, poblano peppers, a german cured ham similar to prosciuotto, onions, belgian endives, parmesan, and a lot of spices. I ended up making 5 pizzas with these, with subtle variations on a few of them. With 5 pizzas to roll, top, and bake, I didn't have time to experiment.

Here are the results:

The first two, on the left is a vegetarian version for staff who don't eat pork. I used extra onions on this one, mixed with olive oil, some crushed coriander, and a little cider vinegar.

The middle two, basically the same.

The last one. This one had a generous coating of olive oil, pine nuts, and a lot of black pepper. I was also able to make it thinner, and I wasn't constrained by space as per the first two. It's too bad I made it last, as I liked this one the best.

Another thing I make a lot of at work are Bahjis:

These are Indian fried fritters, somewhat similar to pakoras. Ours are made with carrots and leeks, and the base is flour, lentil flour, salt, spices, and leavening. Properly fried and fresh with tamarind chutney on the side, these are damned good. We sell a lot of these; I've only been working here for a few months, but by my own rough estimate I've already made a half million or so.

[Gabriel Lewis]

My work.

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Did I miss it? What work do you do?

In school for what?

(Forgive me if I can't read...)

But FWIW, this blog is coming along beautifully... you do Montreal a great service!

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Thanks. You didn't miss anything, I was just busy typing it up. They'll be more about work later this week though.

I used to be in school for Neuroscience, but I'm in the process of switching to Food science, which I'll elaborate on later.

[Gabriel Lewis]

What happened to make them infamous?

My sister went to McGill, and I visited a couple of times. I love Montreal for the food (but it's a bit too "big city" for this prairie girl). Are you going to take us to Schwartz's? Or any other Montreal institution? Do we get pictures of St. Viateur (sp?). They're the ones with the tiny store with the big oven (is it wood burning?)? I love them!

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[Smithy]

Welcome to the world of blogging, Gabriel!

I'll be interested to see what you do, in general, and what you do in particular with the pomegranates.  I love pomegranates, and now that I know the easy way to open them I'm doing more with them.  There's a great treatment from Mario Batali with pomegranates, marsala and chicken.  I'll be looking forward to seeing how you use them in your Asian (or other) cuisines.

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Thank you. I'd be interested to hear about your method for opening them, as I have little experience with them myself. I had boughten them as a side project of sorts rather than for anything sichuan or japanese persay. Thus far I was thinking homemade grenadine, or perhaps sorbet, but we'll see.

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I think pomegranate sorbet would be a fine thing, indeed. Pomegranate syrup, drizzled over things or made into jelly, is quite nice. Pomegranate seeds sprinkled over salads add a nice bit of color.

I just went looking for the original video that demonstrated what I'm about to describe. I'm sure I got the original link from some eGulleteer, probably during a foodblog. I can't find it now, so I hope some other reader will help out! Meanwhile, here's a description:

Look at the blossom end of the pomegranate. (Surely it was ToraKris who described this?) See how there are 5 splits in the blossom? Those are what's left over of the original petals. Slice between the petal splits, down along the skin and deep into the pomegranate - toward but not through the center. (Keep in mind that you're cutting the fruit into 5 parts, and without an even number of cuts you can't cut straight across the fruit from blossom end to stem end without cutting some seeds.) (This is really much easier to film than to describe!) The splits between the erstwhile petals coincide with the pithy parts of the fruit, so you'll be cutting into the white part, not the seeds. Then you can pull apart the 5 sections. Turn each section inside out and pop the seeds off. It's really quick, efficient, and the least messy way of dealing with pomegranates that I've ever seen.

The juice will still stain, so beware. It's still good to do this over a sink, with a good apron or something you don't mind staining. I have not found any benefit to the oft-touted idea of dumping seeds and pith into a bowl of water, by the way.

Maybe that video was on You Tube, but I'm darned if I can find it. I can probably post a couple of photos, if my description is too vague and nobody comes up with that video pointer.

<rambles off, muttering to self. Was it Torakris? HelenJP?>

Edited to add: This isn't what I was thinking of, but it's close and concise: No-mess pomegranate preparation, from the Pomegranate Council. They have recipes, too.

Edited October 3, 2007 by Smithy (log)

[Gabriel Lewis]

Thanks for the tips Smithy.

Dinner tonight was leftovers from last night. I am too tired to cook after a day like today's, and that's generally how I operate anyway. I probably make 4-5 meals a week and eat leftovers for lunch and dinner.

I should mention at this point that when I said focus on a particular cuisine, this means I eat nothing but that cuisine for the duration of that period. I am not super strict about this. It doesn't generally apply to breakfast, or to restaurants I might visit, but I would say that about 80% of the food I'll consume over the next few months will be either Sichuanese or Japanese. I like doing it this way, because it makes it financially feasible to have a lot of specialized ingredients on hand. It also helps me get a feel for a particular style of cooking; its techniques, seasonings, emphases. I try to make as many different recipes as possible, and to cook freely once I feel I have a handle on the techniques and theory of a style of cooking. The ones I particularly like I will remake a number of times, and the ones I feel didn't turn out because of some mistake of mine I remake until I am satisfied with the result.

Desert was sliced asian pear:

I dabble a bit in deserts, and do enjoy well made ones, but I am often happiest with some good fruit after dinner. I am particularly partial to asian pears, the brown skinned ones being my favorite of the ones I've tried. The combination of texture and resfreshiveness just does it for me.

I also tried a sorbet I've been meaning to make for a while, yellow watermelon:

I've been picking up some lovely water melons at the JTM for a month or two now, I especially like the yellowones. They have such a clean refreshing flavor, I thought they'd be perfect for sorbet. This one seems good, though I may have to refreeze it. I may have overseasoned it as well, its only water, sugar, and lemon juice, but the clean flavor of the watermelon is affected so easily. Next time I might try neglecting water entirely, and going easier on the sugar and lemon juice.

Sorbet has become something of an obsession of mine over the past few months. I love the clean flavors and refreshing qualities of sorbets, and the range of ingredients one has to work with. I like ice cream too, but don't make it as much because a lot of the ingredients I want to try frozen applications with don't work well with milk, and sorbet is generally a lot cheaper. My obsession began with the ice cream machine at a restaurant I used to work at. I would bring the chilled base to work, and freeze it about an hour before I got off; I lived close enough that I could rush home to my apartment to freeze it after work. I have since quit my job at the restaurant, but I recently bought a freezer compressor ice cream maker, and have been experimenting with it since. It's especially nice as it is convenient to simply respin my sorbets when they are getting old.

[C. sapidus]

My interests are pretty much all over the board, so what I do to manage this is select a particular style of cooking, and concentrate on that for an extended period of time. I begin by gathering my resources for a specific style of cooking. This means getting atleast one super solid cookbook, bookmarking blogs, recipes, and other websites of interest pertaining to the topic. Reading a little bit about the evolution and history of the cooking of interest, learning the regions; I think you get the picture.

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Absolutely. I am vicariously enjoying your ability to focus on a particular cuisine, because I lean towards this approach. Fortunately or unfortunately, cooking for family requires a bit more variety. Anyway, Land of Plenty is one of my favorite cookbooks, I hope to learn more about Japanese cooking, and I am very much looking forward to the rest of your foodblog.

Is your girlfriend tolerant of the "madness"?

So dinner tonight was Sichuan food, as you may have guessed from the mise en place photo.

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Your dinner looks delicious. I love the fact that you cooked an entire Sichuan meal with its full complement of dishes, finishing with a simple soup. I remember reading about this in Ms. Dunlop’s book. For us, cooking a comprehensive meal is usually not an option - I can manage maybe two dishes on weeknights before the howling mob demands to be fed.

As of today we have somewhere around 200 different kinds of spices at de la Savane, most of which are shipped to us directly from small suppliers in their country of origin. Philippe and Ethné have traveled the globe in search of the most amazing spices. We have all the standard issue spices, 30 or so different kinds of dried chiles, dried Kombu help from Hokkaido, 6 or 7 kinds of vanilla beans, and so so much more that I'm only beginning to keep track of it all. I love this place.

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I can see why you love the place -- access to great raw materials provides such wonderful opportunities. Have you ever suggested particular spices or chiles for the owners to seek out?

I also appreciate seeing Montreal through your eyes. We have never visited, but I am quite certain that my middle-school French would be inadequate if we did. Do you speak French?

[MelissaH]

I also appreciate seeing Montreal through your eyes. We have never visited, but I am quite certain that my middle-school French would be inadequate if we did. Do you speak French?

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Jumping in here, as my French is quite dysfunctional till I've had French and only French in my ears for a couple of days: You'll do fine! Go visit!

MelissaH

[rooftop1000]

I think this was the original Pomegranate link....

http://www.kaohom.com/cooking_sheet.php

tracey

[johnnyd]

When I was in school in Burlington Vermont, we would pack into a car and drive the 90 minutes north to Montreal for an urban fix every three months. I loved walking around town and sampling the ethnic treats from storefronts and restaurants. The Jazz Festival there became an annual must-see years later. I love your town. I can still taste the draught St. Amboise from a little bar in Vieux-Montréal. Blog on.

[Smithy]

I think this was the original Pomegranate link....

http://www.kaohom.com/cooking_sheet.php

tracey

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Yes, that's the one!

Much better than my description, and I see I misremembered the number of segments to expect. Thanks so much for that, Tracey.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Absolutely. I am vicariously enjoying your ability to focus on a particular cuisine, because I lean towards this approach. Fortunately or unfortunately, cooking for family requires a bit more variety. Anyway, Land of Plenty is one of my favorite cookbooks, I hope to learn more about Japanese cooking, and I am very much looking forward to the rest of your foodblog.

Is your girlfriend tolerant of the "madness"?

Your dinner looks delicious. I love the fact that you cooked an entire Sichuan meal with its full complement of dishes, finishing with a simple soup. I remember reading about this in Ms. Dunlop’s book. For us, cooking a comprehensive meal is usually not an option - I can manage maybe two dishes on weeknights before the howling mob demands to be fed.

I also appreciate seeing Montreal through your eyes. We have never visited, but I am quite certain that my middle-school French would be inadequate if we did. Do you speak French?

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I am glad you are enjoying my blog Bruce, I have always felt we are kindred spirits of a sorts seeing as we seem to have very similar tastes as "white guys". I wasn't visiting egullet much when your blog aired, but I did read through the whole thing when I discovered it. Obviously my situation is a lot less constraining than your own, had I a family to cook for I would have to do a lot more juggling. I don't always have time for a comprehensive meal, but when I do this is my favorite way to cook.

I am very lucky in that both my girlfriend, and my cousin (who is also my roomate) are very tolerant of my eccentricities. In my girlfriends case, she is originally from Sichuan province so she is always happy to have a chance to eat food from home. This works very well for me too, as I have the input of someone who knows what ti should actually taste like. In my cousin's case, he eats a lot and eats everything, so we get along well.

As for your french, it wouldn't be necessary in the least. In fact, unless you get outside of the core area, most people probably wouldn't give you much of a chance to practice your french at all. It would help you read some things and appreciate aspects of the culture in montreal though. As for me, bien sur je parle francais. I was in french immersion until my family moved to the states when I was fifteen. I still understand very well, but I don't speak terribly well. Not that I can't manage a conversation or anything, but I am overly conscious about the quality of my own french and its hard for me to relax and just speak naturally.