Granville Island Market help

[wattacetti]

Greetings Vancouverites,

I will be in Vancouver next week and will be spending an evening cooking for friends. I have knives in tow and will be concentrating on the Granville Island Market for ingredients since there's very little time after the day's meetings to spend hunting ingredients.

I've already got the following shops to visit:

Oyama - charcuterie and cheese (+ sausages to take home)

Longliner - seafood

Stock Market - fond

The key question for me is: What are the other "in season and must have" ingredients (land mammals, vegetables, crustaceans etc) currently available in Vancouver that I'm obviously not aware of given that I live in Quebec.

I'd also like to know if the following are available since I'd be looking to these as fallbacks:

- onglet

- moulard duck magrets

- yucca

- wild mushrooms

- pea shoots

- are fresh favas (gourganes) available?

I don't have a set menu in mind since I want to use the best of what's available at the market. So far, I'm leaning towards two appetizers, main and cheese (since I suck at desserts, I'd probably roast and flambé a pineapple or just buy something).

Your assistance, observations and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'll post on what I eventually find and what I wind up poisoning them with.

[Chocoholic]

We are in the middle of fruit season. For dessert why not do a simple parfait or something. Get some peaches (make sure they are local!), some blueberries, some cherries, some whip cream and a bit of Grand Marnier. Can't be beat.

Tenderland Meats carries buffalo, there is also a buffalo stand that can be found some weekends. If you like a good piece of beef, buffalo will make you very happy. You can ask them about onglets.

A chunk of hot smoked salmon with some crackers will do nicely as a pre-dinner munchie.

Check out the organic vegetable stand in the middle of the market, across from Oyama sausage. They have great beets, chard and organic greens. They sometimes carry pea shoots as well.

Oyama may be able to help you with your duck magrets.

There is a mushroom stand there sometimes, they carry mostly dried wild mushrooms but you can find fresh morels sometimes as well.

If the honey lady is around, check out her collection. The blueberry honey is especially tasty, could work with your fruit dessert. There is also someone who sells jams, chutneys and pickled peppers under the 'Fresh Flavors' brand. Great stuff if you are looking for condiments for your cheese course for example.

Enjoy!

[wattacetti]

Thanks for the reply!

Buffalo sounds good for the onglet (well, buffalo in general).

I'm shying away from the hot-smoked salmon since I'm there to show what I can do, but that does sound like a nice snack for me. Ditto the blueberry honey, so I better save some space in the carry-on.

I'm really looking forward to this shopping opportunity.

[peppyre]

Fresh Wild Sockeye salmon is in season and personally I think is a must. I did see fresh broad beans at several farmer's markets last week, so they are in season right now. Onglet is a little harder to find. I can't even get it from my butcher and he gets all sorts of bizarre items for me (24 pigs trotters anyone). I think pea shoots may be done for the season, but personally, another must is the Spice Market for exotic spices, fruits and veggies. If you've ever wanted fresh wasabi, they've got it.

Have fun. But, be forewarned, Granville Island can be a little nutty on a sunny evening.

[mtigges]

If you want to try an appy like the smoked salmon without doing smoked salmon since it is so common, try smoked sablefish. I am not sure if you can get pre-sliced smoked sable fish on GI, but I at times prefer it to salmon. I would regardless suggest cold smoked over hot smoked. But it's just personal preference.

[Ducky]

Don't miss the little Asian shop which has a brilliant selection of Asian and Mexican ingredients. This shop, plus Oyama and The Stock Market - are the three most indispensible shops on GI in my view.

[Zucchini Mama]

Tomatilloes are in season right now, for fantastic guacs and salsa verdes. I second the bison for your local land mammals. We never buy beef any more, only buffalo. If you can, try visiting the market on a Thursday when you have the local farmers truck market outside as well.

Blackberries!

Zuke

[barolo]

wattacetti:

A few suggestions from me:

From your post it doesn't seem as though you'll be able to come to the market on Thursday morning for the truck farmers's market, which would be your best bet for produce, as mentioned upthread. Produce is generally a weak spot for the market, but look for day vendors and stay away from the big permanent vendors. Peaches are almost over, not sure what will be there, look for melons and plums from the Okanagan. Blackberries and blueberries as mentioned upthread are available. Look for corn, peppers, squash, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, green beans, swiss chard. Organic Connection, as mentioned, is worth checking out but not everthing is local. Also check out their cheese - they carry Moonstruck Cheese from Saltspring Island, which is not available from Oyama, also I think an organic goat cheese. Look for day vendors selling local hazelnuts and walnuts, may be a little early yet.

Oyama you know all about. You will be surprised maybe at how few local cheeses there are, compared to Quebec, but Oyama carries some and, as mentioned, the Organic Connection does too. Too bad you can't go to les amis du fromage.

Seafood - sockeye salmon's been mentioned but there is also good cod, petrale sole, halibut, local tuna - albacore. Go to Lobsterman (not in the market building but a little way away in on a side street, get a map and someone to show you the location or scope it out in advance here: Granville Island) for crab (crab and corn - a bit obvious maybe, but a good thing this time of year), mussels, clams, oysters (check out some local oysters), spot prawns.

Meat, I don't know that much about. Peppyre knows her butchers so take her word on onglet. I've seen magret at Tenderland Meats fairly regularly.

The mushroom guy may be around as mentioned, otherwise the Spice Market often carries fresh mushrooms. I saw nice looking fresh lobster mushrooms there last week, not cheap mind you. It is still a little early and dry for chanterelles I think.

In terms of prepared stuff - Leslie's Stowe Raincoast Crisps are a very popular cracker-type item to serve with cheese. Can be bought at Dussa's cheese shop I'm pretty sure.

Stock Market you already know about. Stock Market and Oyama are good places to ask about where to find other stuff you are looking for.

I've overlapped a bit with others, but I hope this helps.

[wattacetti]

My event will go on Wednesday so it looks like I'll miss out on the Thursday market event (next time). I've heard of Moonstruck cheese, so I'll look out for that one. However, everyone's suggestion has been great.

[~cayenne~]

Greetings Vancouverites,

I will be in Vancouver next week and will be spending an evening cooking for friends. I have knives in tow and will be concentrating on the Granville Island Market for ingredients since there's very little time after the day's meetings to spend hunting ingredients.

I've already got the following shops to visit:

Oyama - charcuterie and cheese (+ sausages to take home)

Longliner - seafood

Stock Market - fond

The key question for me is: What are the other "in season and must have" ingredients (land mammals, vegetables, crustaceans etc) currently available in Vancouver that I'm obviously not aware of given that I live in Quebec.

I'd also like to know if the following are available since I'd be looking to these as fallbacks:

- onglet

- moulard duck magrets

- yucca

- wild mushrooms

- pea shoots

- are fresh favas (gourganes) available?

I don't have a set menu in mind since I want to use the best of what's available at the market. So far, I'm leaning towards two appetizers, main and cheese (since I suck at desserts, I'd probably roast and flambé a pineapple or just buy something).

Your assistance, observations and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'll post on what I eventually find and what I wind up poisoning them with. 

←

If you interested, I bought some beautiful garlic grown in the Okanogan, the guy who grows it brings it in and sells it from a stand on the south west end of the market, beside the seafood place bordering within the outside wall. I'm guessing pea shoots are now out of season I think? Hopefully you can make time for a bite to eat at Go Fish, a little ways to the west of the market, along the seawall. Fabulous place, very casual, very delicious.

[annanstee]

You know, Les Amis Des Fromages is only about a 10 minute walk or two minute drive from the Island- I think it is definitely worth the small detour.

I think that Dussa's sometimes has duck- but I always go to Oyama for cheese anyway now, and Duso's for Parm.

The mushroom guy does usually have quite a few fresh mushrooms.

Also, the Lobster man on Granville Island for Dungeness crabs and other shelled creatures.

I'm pretty sure I have seen smoked sablefish sold as blackcod, but I am not sure if it wasn't the hot smoked unsliced chunks.

The coffee bean place is really good there too.

Try to pick up some "C" smoked salt from Longliners or the fish place on the east end (I think its cheaper there) and you have to try the Lesley Stowes Rainforest Crisps for cheese- I like the raisin pecan ones. And they do have them at Dussa's along with the new "C" Crackers.

Have fun!

We would love it if you reported back on what you cooked.

Ann

Edited August 25, 2005 by annanstee (log)

[Foodie in Vancouver]

Is Duso's better for parm than Oyama? I have been buying mine at Oyama.

[wattacetti]

The cooking adventure is now over. I'm pretty sure my friends liked it (no one going "argh!" and falling over while eating) but it was more convoluted than I thought.

Tuesday 30-Aug-2005

The trip started poorly as I wound up having to pop the elevator doors after being stuck in the building elevator for the better part of 40 minutes. Cut my hand fairly badly so that was the end to anything fancy (and no knife tricks) since the bandages make movement limited.

After wrapping my hand, I packed the blades and started thinking about potential menus. Since I still didn't quite know what to expect at Granville island, I planned two potential menus: a scallop starter followed by magret, or prawns followed by a carpetbagger onglet. Dessert would be a pan-roasted pineapple.

The bandaged hand let me get on the plane as one of those people requiring "additional time to board" (I miss SuperElite status) and I arrived in YVR to rain(!). Left out the umbrella since Air Canada's cracking down on luggage weight restrictions but the blades made it through the checked luggage experience without incident. After AC's mystery sausage bit and mushroom omelette breakfast and having to drive behind a bus with Rob Feenie's face plastered on its rear, I decided that Feenie's was an idea for dinner.

Loud, but no issues getting my table much to the chagrin of the hipster walkups. Decided on Rob's Iron Chef crab rolls and the magret, and went with a bottle of Kettle Valley Gewurtztraminer. The Gewurtz was pretty good - nice lychee and apple bouquet with a fairly long finish.

Crab rolls… apart from a nondescript taste, Feenie's kitchen brigade needs to work on its presentation (perhaps by reading this thread): it's pretty hard to eat when the plate looks up at me.

The magret was topped with radish sprouts and served on a bed of overly-salty jicama and water chestnuts with a duck sauce reduction; the little bits in the sauce are chopped nuts and it was topped off with radish sprouts. Made me think of a fancified Chinatown roast duck and or the attempt at French cooking at one restaurant I ate at in Taipei. Miss #2.

Had the caramel ice cream with fleur de sel for dessert. Nice caramel flavor, but I would have liked a grainier salt to go with it: perhaps the pink Himalayan one or the black salt from Hawaii for a color contrast.

Wednesday 31-Aug-2005

Cooking day didn't go. The person I was working insisted on a dinner meeting so I postponed my cooking plans and wound up at Joe Fortes. Eh. Service by our waitress "Amy" was very good, as were the oysters but the room was loud, the wines overpriced, and my silverspring salmon significantly overcooked. I kept thinking I was in Vancouver's version of La Queue de Cheval, only with manageable portions and West Coast types replacing the gangsters.

Thursday 01-Sep-2005

Good thing! Got a chance to actually browse the truck farmers' market. Bad thing! The morning's activities didn't finish fast enough so I wound up arriving mid-afternoon when most farmers had already packed up.

Managed to snag some Walla Walla onions, heirloom tomatoes, yellow zucchini, cucumbers and a "tiger melon" (?) from a very pleasant woman (hers is the tent in the photo) before heading into the Public Market. Figured onions, tomato and zucchini for my mains, cucumbers and melon for a cold soup.

I had this eerie "Iron Chef" moment where I didn't know what my ingredient(s) would be once I entered the market: no fresh scallops (I could see the ice on what was available), no fresh colossal shrimp, no onglet, underripe pineapple. Took well over an hour of walk-through before I could settle on a new menu.

Purchases

Armando's: buffalo striploin

Lobster Man: cherrystone clams

Long Liner: halibut cheeks

Organic Connection: peppercress, shiitake and kale

Oyama: manchego

South China Seas: golden chanterellles and jicama

Stock Market: demi-glace

Unknown vendor: blackberries

[tirade]

The BC LCB should hang its corporate head in shame for its inability to carry more than a handful of BC wines.

[/tirade]

I was advised to go to Village VQA Wines, which is quite the find for me since it means less scouring on future trips. Settled on Gehringer Bros. 2002 Dry Riesling and 2003 Optimum Pinot Noir as my picks.

Kitchen environment. Had access to a 5-burner Jenn-Air cooktop and a Weber Genesis grill connected directly to a natural gas line. Pots, pans, their well-maintained knives etc. all available though my friends couldn't fine their lemon reamer or a sieve (go figure).

Unpacking: knives are at the ready. Shiitake in the bag on the right, zucchini on the left. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the heirloom but they smelled great.

Starter: grilled clams with a jicama and tomato salsa.

I was underwhelmed with the effort. The salsa was okay (everything cut into brunoise and tossed with lime juice, lemon zest and pepper) but I had some difficulty with the clams and lost much of the clam liquor (that and having discovered a dead one after cooking - ).

Starter 2: sautéed halibut cheeks on a jicama and peppercress salad.

Nothing fancy: julienned jicama, slivered Walla Walla onions and julienned lemon zest were tossed with a vinaigrette made of sugar, salt, pepper, lemon juice and rice vinegar. Halibut cheeks were rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper before cooking.

Plat principal: grilled buffalo striploin sauced with a blackberry reduction served with sautéed chanterelle and shiitake, crisped kale. The Stock Market demi-glace was thinner than I expected but it tasted pretty good; I mixed this with an equivalent volume of Pinot Noir, a handful of blackberries, honey and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar to make my sauce. No sieve so there were still blackberry seeds in the sauce.

Dessert: nothing fancy - the melon, blackberries and the manchego. By this time, I ran out of white plates.

Question: what exactly is this melon? It has an intense melon smell, firm silky white flesh and tastes of apple and honeydew. The woman I bought it from said it was a "tiger melon" but this is the first time I've seen one.

[barolo]

I can't help you with the melon, but thanks for reporting back. Your meal looks and sounds delicious!

[the g-man]

nice work. how did you like the grilled buffalo?

[wattacetti]

nice work.  how did you like the grilled buffalo?

←

The buffalo you can get from Armando's is wet-aged for a bit longer than the buffalo I can find at say, the Atwater Market.

I found it very lean and quite tender, but it had a much milder in flavor than I anticipated.

[capers]

Question: what exactly is this melon? It has an intense melon smell, firm silky white flesh and tastes of apple and honeydew. The woman I bought it from said it was a "tiger melon" but this is the first time I've seen one.

This is a Tigger Melon (note the spelling), I bought a couple a few weeks ago, they are incredibly beautiful and I thought it tasted like a cantelope.

This is what I found when I was searching for information: They are a heirloom variety. "The most amazing melon, the fruits are vibrant yellow with brilliant fire-red, zigzag stripes, (a few fruit may be solid yellow), simply beautiful! Highly fragrant, with a rich, sweet intoxicating aroma that will fill a room. The white flesh gets sweeter in dry climates. Small in size the fruits weigh up to 1 lb. - perfect for a single serving. The vigorous plants yield heavily, even in dry conditions. This heirloom came from an Armenian market located in a mountain valley."

Edited September 2, 2005 by capers (log)

[Zucchini Mama]

Yes, I've had two of the Klipper's organic Acres Tiger melons. The first one tasted terrific-ethereal and similar to cantelope and honeydew. The second one filled the room with its melon perfume, but yuck! tasted like fruity mashed potatoes. I guess the trick is not to get them when they're over-ripe. I'll try again.

Aren't those black cherry tomatoes beautiful?

Your meal looks fabulous-I can't believe you had to do the James Bond thing in the elevator-Ouch!

Zuke

[Ling]

Your dinner looks beautiful and delicious...lucky guests! I'll have to try making the pinot noir/demi-glace and blackberry sauce with some game meat soon!

[winegeek]

Wednesday 31-Aug-2005

Cooking day didn't go. The person I was working insisted on a dinner meeting so I postponed my cooking plans and wound up at Joe Fortes. Eh. Service by our waitress "Amy" was very good, as were the oysters but the room was loud, the wines overpriced, and my silverspring salmon significantly overcooked. I kept thinking I was in Vancouver's version of La Queue de Cheval, only with manageable portions and West Coast types replacing the gangsters.

Your dinner looks fantastic. you can cook for me anytime .

I'm sorry to hear that your experience at Fortes was less than stellar. It is a very loud room. That's what happens in a 250 seat restaurant!! As for your dinner, I'm curioous to know why, with the great selection of fish, especially salmons, you would choose silverbrite? (I imagine that was what you meant;you mentioned "silverspring", which, as far as I know, does not exist, at least on our menu ) Silverbrite, also known as chum, is such a lean salmon, with very little fat (oil). King, also known as spring or chinook is far richer and tastier, as is the sockeye. Silverbrite is something that I only recommend for people who want a very mild, inexpensive fish.

By the way, we like Amy also .

[wattacetti]

This is a Tigger Melon (note the spelling), I bought a couple a few weeks ago, they are incredibly beautiful and I thought it tasted like a cantelope.

←

Ah - so that's what it was. It's a great variety, but I'm going to heed Zucchini Mama's words of advice if I ever get another chance to use them.

Aren't those black cherry tomatoes beautiful?

←

They tasted even better than they smelled - just a great product. Apart from the concassé, I only managed to save a slice for myself (the others kept eating them).

Your meal looks fabulous-I can't believe you had to do the James Bond thing in the elevator-Ouch!

←

3M Nexcare bandages helped quite a bit and the elevator's still broken. Hopefully will have full function back over the next week.

[wattacetti]

As for your dinner, I'm curioous to know why, with the great selection of fish, especially salmons, you would choose silverbrite? (I imagine that was what you meant;you mentioned  "silverspring", which, as far as I know, does not exist, at least on our menu  ) Silverbrite, also known as chum, is such a lean salmon, with very little fat (oil).  King, also known as spring or chinook is far richer and tastier, as is the sockeye.  Silverbrite is something that I only recommend for people who want a very mild, inexpensive fish.

←

Okay - silverbrite (I knew that there was a possibility of misspelling). I chose it because I wasn't in the mood for moo and I had previously tried every single fish that was available on the menu that night. Silverbrite was the only the only different thing. Now that I know that silverbrite = chum, I can say that I chose it because I had never had chum salmon that didn't come out of a can. But seriously, it was quite overcooked.

By the way, we like Amy also .

←

Yes. but I still don't agree with her oyster preferences.

[wattacetti]

My Granville Island adventure is now over and I typed this post on the return flight as an attempt to beat down the nausea from the turbulence and the odors of Air Canada’s extra-special chicken cacciatore (mmm…).

I managed to get another whack at cooking for my friends since we couldn’t really decide where to go for dinner on my last night in Vancouver. They had additional invitees so it was back to Granville Island to scope out more food for a service for 7.

Purchases

Armando’s: magret de canard

Long Liner: halibut cheeks and spot prawns

Organic Connection: shiitake and ginger

South China Seas: shiso, lemon grass, golden chanterelles and radish sprouts

Sunlight Farms: cucumber, parsnips and broccolini

Stock Market: chicken stock and demi-glace

I spotted some really nice octopus but I wasn’t sure if they were seriously into tentacles and I didn’t think they wanted to see me taking a rolling pin to it to make it tender.

[Aside: what gives with the exorbitant pricing in BC for duck? The magrets were almost double what I’d normally pay in Montreal]

Wines for the night came from Village VQA again and consisted of an unoaked Chardonnay from Crowsnest Vineyards and a Jackson-Triggs Proprietor’s Grand Reserve Merlot. The Chardonnay was a nice balanced white with soft fruit and caramel tones while the latter (opened to breathe for nearly 12 hours and decanted for service) was all blackberry, earth and tobacco.

Rillettes de canard

I cheated here: the rillettes are a product of Canard Goulu and was brought over during this trip. I served it with toasted multigrain bread and radish sprouts.

Chilled cucumber soup

I originally wanted to make this with some horned melons (wow! an ingredient that also serves as a bowl!) that I spotted at the market but the melons turned out to be quite past their prime (squishy is not good). I took a blender to peeled and seeded cucumbers, chicken stock, a Royal Gala apple, a white onion, ginger, lime; sugar, salt and black pepper. Plain rice bowls of the resulting mash were topped with sautéed spot prawns and shiso chiffonade.

Halibut cheeks with sautéed mushroom

Stole this idea from my dinner at Tojo's though it’s obvious that my name isn’t Tojo Hidekazu and that my variant needs considerable tuning.

Halibut was dusted with a bit of cornstarch and panfried, while the chanterelles and shiitake were finished off with demi-glace. I have no idea what the clear stock used in Tojo’s dish is made with so I elected to go with a chicken stock flavored with lemon grass. Big mistake.

1. Stock Market’s chicken stock isn’t clear, so I had an opaque sauce.

2. The stock has flavor but very little protein so it doesn’t thicken at all when reduced (1 litre reduced to 150 mL); adding a thickener didn’t help the final product.

No one made awful gurgly choking sounds but I chalk that up to wine and hunger. This one was a learning experience that I’m probably not going to try again in public without a whole lot of practice.

Magret de canard

By this point, I ran out of white plates and lost an eater to the wine. Straightforward preparation: magrets were rendered under very low heat for about 15 minutes, finished and tented. Parsnips and new potatoes were boiled and mashed with heavy cream and ground mace, and the broccolini was sautéed.

The lacque was made from 500 mL demi-glace, 1 glass of the J-T Merlot, ginger root, blackberries, black currant jelly and pepper.

I didn’t bother with dessert because there was cake and I was getting tired.

All in all, I didn’t poison anyone, it was fun to work in a newly renovated kitchen, and I had a nice time with my friends. If I had to do it again, I’d bring more knives, an immersion blender, some ring molds and my own stocks and demi-glace. I would also set up to properly photograph.

I ate peaches (they were great) but I never did get a chance to use any. I do thank all of you for your great tips and suggestions.

Edited September 6, 2005 by wattacetti (log)

[annanstee]

Is Duso's better for parm than Oyama? I have been buying mine at Oyama.

←

Honestly, I haven't tried the parm at Oyama- I did my testing before it opened, and have remained loyal to Duso's ever since. Duso's has a good nutty nose and none of that sour undertone I have sometimes found.

[annanstee]

[Aside: what gives with the exorbitant pricing in BC for duck? The magrets were almost double what I’d normally pay in Montreal]

←

I think because it is all imported from Quebec