soupnancy

Bits and Bites April 2007

April 5, 2007

Time to sugar off

You can go to your favourite sugar shack nearby for the regular deal, or you can go upscale..

Join Slowfood in Bromont on the 14 or 15^th of April ( 11:30am ) at le vignoble Domaine les Brome, a tradition cabane à sucre and also a winery who will present a fancied up sugar shack menu with their wines. Also on the bill will be La Ciderie Fleurs de Pommiers from Dunham who produce cider and ice cider.

For reservations: call 514-282-5162, Cost: 25$ for member, 30$ for non-members.

Before the season draws to an end (or when it resumes), you should really get out to the country and partake in that intoxicating old Québécois tradition. From the small ‘friends and family only’ type of operation to the bigger touristy one, there are tons of options out there, mere minutes from Mtl. (even if you don’t eat pork!). Although I have to admit that for me, the sugar shack is very much about the pig in all its forms, it is perhaps more about the fun, the country air, the folk music, and the maple syrup of course. Personally, I don’t like to eat so much before sun-down, but I do make the exception when at the cabane à sucre.

Mostly, I like sitting around watching (and smelling) the process, the sap before it’s boiled down completely, sampling it at multiple stages with a mini hit of cognac, chatting with all the weary people who worked all day lugging the buckets of sap to the tank, who are now enjoying the fruit of their labour. I listen to their stories of the day, the 4-wheel breakdowns, the back-breaking work on snowshoes, the unpredictability of the weather and the trees, their speculation about how long the season will last, how good the syrup will be, where the prices will fall, etc. It all sounds so exotic to me, the city girl with country sensibilities, who knows so little about this world. I love the way everyone in the vicinity stops everything for ‘le temps des sucres’; it’s a celebration of community and our love of the sweet stuff, forcing this communion between us and nature, a natural rite of spring in Québec not to be missed.

Les Halles wine cellar auction was held last week… If only I had the cash…sigh. Did anyone score?

Raclette de Joliette from Martin Guillebault (Fromagerie Champs à la Meule)

Look out for this new cheese, the first Québec Raclette style cheese, which arrives on the market this spring. I was lucky enough to be paired up with this producer at the Banc d’essaie de la Lanaudiere last month, an event that brought together chefs and producers from the regions, along with students, to come up with dishes and new ways to use their products, from duck to condiments and olive oil, to cheeses. Together we put together a 7 course meal for 50 highlighting the artisans of the region. My contribution was the second course: I made a salad using the Raclette, hot, in a buckwheat crepe crust, alongside a parsnip, celery and apple salad with arugula and a cider vinaigrette with François’ boletus oil. Yum.

I encourage you to seek out or rediscover Martin’s cheeses at a store near you: Victor & Berthold, LaRacam, le Fétard, and now La Raclette de Joliette. He is also working on a Comté style cheese, as well as Suckling pig (to make use all his milk by product).

Chef turned Dominatrix: The story of Susan Winemaker

Channel surfing at 3am, I came across the preview of an interview with this chef turned dominatrix from London who had just written a book on her life (5 years) as a dominatrix. It all sounded very interesting, but soon became incredibly so, when I saw that the girl in question was Susan Winemaker, my best bud in cooking school. I lost touch with her several years after cooking school (probably somewhere around the time she went off to London to work as a private chef), and had often wondered what had become of her, if she was still cooking. Now I have my answer. She certainly made the case for openness towards the Dominatrix thing. She was smart and human, describing it all in a very basic, engaging, but un-sensational manner. And it got me thinking.

It appears that the qualities of a good dominatrix are the same as for a chef. Control freak meets giver of pleasure. Being strong, taking charge, being creative while in tune with people and the senses in general, caring for people, having that innate desire to please, all while being somewhat ego-centric and living a marginal lifestyle… It all sounded strangely familiar. So, I guess the leap is not such a stretch. I’m happy for her. She probably made a lot more money as a dominatrix, and besides, she was always the literary type. So, she got her book, and found her path albeit in a round about way, and cooking was a part of that journey. Cooking seems to always open a lot of doors, and can introduce all kinds of twists to a life, just with the characters you meet in a kitchen alone. Myself, I’m happy behind the stoves, but I did find her story inspiring in a sense, and I hope to meet up with her again. Maybe for a themed dinner of sorts, but I would stick to the beating of the egg whites, she could take care of the rest.

Alice Waters , my hero, with another great initiative in food.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/edible_schoolyard.php

Hungry for the truth’, by Anne E. McBride, An interview with my other hero, Michael Pollan, whom you should meet, if you haven’t already..

http://www.leitesculinaria.com/writings/interviews/pollan.html

Excerpt: My hope is that if people have the knowledge, and if they actually see where their food comes from and have access to the information, they will make better ethical choices. Whatever those choices are, they'll be better than eating in ignorance, and shopping in ignorance, which is what most Americans today do — because it's very hard to understand anything about your food. The food chain has gotten so long, so intricate, and so opaque that most people have no idea what they're eating.

The first step towards solving the omnivore's dilemma is knowledge: eating with full consciousness. When that happens, I have a lot of confidence that people will make good choices.

Bistro du Sommelier They’re getting pretty creative at the Bistro du Sommelier, the latest Italian inspired menu is looking good, I must check it out.. www.lebistrodusommelier.com