soupnancy

Bits and Bites January 2008

Our annual duck dinners at Les Jardins Sauvages!

Seven courses of duck with wild things, 75$ BYOW, 45 min NE of Montreal.

As of Jan. 18, through to Feb. 3, Friday and Saturday nights at 7pm , Sundays at 1pm .

For info and to view menus, visit www.jardinssauvages.com.

To make a reservation: 450-588-5125 or submit an email to me.

To download English menu and wine picks: http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/menus/

More bits and bites

The Saveur 100 2008 – Lots of intriguing entries on this list of what’s hot, including exotic ingredients to discover (a Mayan corn beverage, Balkan sausage, dried yogurt and an Indonesian honey-soy condiment, heirloom beans), kick-ass kitchen tools (steel pans, the Wusthof bread knife) and cool people (Les Blank, independent butchers) … Gotta love that Montreal chefs got a mention along with the honey bees, the Canadian Big Turk Chocolate Bar, and my favourite flavour – liquorice!

http://www.saveur.com/back-issue/miscellaneous/2008-saveur-100-21046800.html#muff

Bacon jokes – check out this video, it’s too funny.

http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/01/in-videos-jim-gaffigan-on-bacon.html

Salt blocks.. After reading a blog post by Traci DesJardins about a meal with chefs featuring sashimi on a salt plate, I couldn’t help but be intrigued and read on.. Mainly, these blocks are just beautiful, but many culinary possibilities beckon too – to use as a cooking tool or a hot serving platter, or even throw chunks into your mortar and pestle or into your bath!

http://www.saltnews.com/cooking-with-himalayan-salt-plates-blocks-bricks-platters/

‘What a 265$ steak tastes like’ .. Tasting Kobe and Wagyu beef, the luxury meat ‘must’ on every high end menu nowadays – is it worth it?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080105.wxkates05/BNStory/lifeFoodWine/home

I don't know now..  Here's the scoop on how they are actually raised.

http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2007/12/kobe_beef_estabrook

Ducasse is trashed in London . Yikes.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2232167,00.html#article_continue

No, not another great Michael Pollan article, but another book – In Defence of Food

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/books/03masl.html?_r=1&em&ex=1199509200&en=c0934889f10bf2c0&ei=5087&oref=slogin

And an interview with Michael Pollan at Gourmet’s Choptalk on the point of the book, which is that we should pay more attention to culture and a little less attention to science, when it comes to food and a nutritious diet. As in look to the old cuisines of the world, and to our grandmothers..

Beyond his trademark three phrase motto, ‘Eat Food . Not too much. Mostly plants.”, MP always offers up more words of wisdom always put so simply. Here are excerpts from the interview:

‘ it would be fine to have French fries, as long as you're willing to cook them yourself. So then how often would you have French fries? Maybe once a month, because it's a real pain, and you've got to clean it up.’

‘You should eat mostly plants, but if you're going to eat meat, your meat should eat mostly plants’ as in the wild, not a cocktail of corn, antibiotics, and hormones as in the industrial meat of the Western diet..

‘Yeah, we've been suckers for scientific eating in this country longer than anybody else. I think it's because we have not had a strong culinary tradition’

The only belief of his I never liked, however valid, was, ‘Eat until you are 80% full.’

http://www.epicurious.com/gourmet/blogs/foodeditors/2008/01/keep-it-real.html?cid=96360634

What’s Organic? A promising film to look out for.

http://www.whatsorganicmovie.org/

Wine labelling, Bonny Doon leads the way . I agree that it might cause some unnecessary alarm initially because the truth is we don’t know much about what goes into our wine, but I think honest information and education is always the way to go. And I’m all for replacing all the useless descriptive blah-blah for some real information.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2008/01/ingredient-labe.html?mbid=rss_epilog

Don’t forget - The Montreal Highlights Festival takes place from Feb.21 to March 3^rd, and so it’s time to book before everything is sold out. The featured city is Toronto , with Susur (at Otto) leading the pack of To chefs, Anthony Walsh at Decca 77 and Jamie Kennedy at Jolifou. The country in the spotlight is Chile with top chefs and winemakers visiting Raza and Madre, as well as Decca 77 and La Chronique. Quebec City ’s 400^th is also being marked with a special gala at the Queen E that is sold out. There are demo workshops at Jean Talon, lunches and wine tastings at various bistros to round out the busy schedule. The only puzzling and disappointing thing is the absence of many of Montreal ’s best chefs on the roster of hosts.. Still, there’s a lot to choose from.

For the full schedule: http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/volets/liste_eve_en.aspx?volet=table