Free the sausage

This is a view of me from a sausage's point of view.
I would worry if I were that sausage.

Karin says I smell like a sausage. She's right. I do. Today I took apart a chuck as part of a yield test. It took longer than expected - it will be interesting to see how efficient I become in the upcoming months. A yield test is a measure of how much labour (time) it takes to produce (in KGs) sellable cuts, waste, trim and bone of a primal cut (i.e., the chuck). This is how you gauge pricing. I finally got how to get a blade cut out. I can see it now flat iron, brisket.

Tomorrow the meat delivery comes in. I am not ready, my shoulder is in rough shape. I can't hold the phone with my head to neck without pain. Can't imagine moving 3000 lbs. of beef, 600 lbs. of pork and 300 lbs. of lamb tomorrow.

I'm in a weird spot right now and I don't know what to make of it. I am happy the way things are working out. It seems as though I am observer in my own life watching things unfold without much control. I wish I were on a beach with my toes within reach of the waves.

This is a picture of me in the front gardens of Sooke Harbour House. We had dinner and spent the night there last summer. Max had a crab the size of my head. My highlight was the following morning talking with Sinclair Phillips, the Canadian pioneer of the slow food movement, over coffee. It was both inspiring and awakeningly tragic to find out that food sources, even there, are on decline. Looks like I'm really thinking about something here, I remember the smell of fennel pollen in the air and my kids giggling.

Here is a link I stumbled on, this guy looks like DDay, I wish I could still play like this

ABC

Today would have been uneventful, if it were not for a particular email I received.

That's not true. I woke up this morning and Karin had jury duty, so she had already gone. Maxwell was reading his Captain Underpants book aloud - it was really neat. He's had some trouble but today after I roze he said to me "I really like reading." It's the beginning.

Two weeks ago the TV went off for good-ish. (It spent a week on the deck after too much '24'.) We will have one day a week featuring a movie of our choice, and one hour with Max's friends playing a Star Wars Lego Playstation game - that is it. I think it has been harder for me than the kids. It was getting to be too much - too much crap. The important stuff like reading was being pushed aside for all of us, learning to talk to each other kindly, playing games, sharing, family stuff. Good stuff was missing and in my life and as a cook I don't get much good time. We seem to be pressed into a McNugget mold of what we need in our lives, I'm beginning to realize that's not the case. I remember a friend's T-shirt that read " The revolution will not be televised" and I laughed. Who would record it? Let alone TELEVISE it.

Wow I'm tired and need a rotator cuff massage.
check this out.

Last night I worked at the Silver Spoon. It was fun to be around good friends making good food. It was like riding a bike.

Rocco and Kara are coming over for dinner tonight, I picked up a well-aged brisket. It's braising away and the house smells great. I picked up some long underwear today because the butcher shop is so damn cold. I don't know why I was compelled to write that down but whatever.

I came across a picture of me and my son Maxwell on a fishing trip we took off Salt Spring Island last year. That was when I had the idea of food coming from one quality farm.

My fishing guide (Silver Spoon fishing excursions) turned out to be an organic farmer that raised cattle, lamb and had a few gardens. Who better to be stuck on a boat for four hours with? We talked about the industrialized farm system, oil, fair market price of food, corn/soy beans. We also caught five sockeyes. I couldn't possibly have eaten them all so I traded three for a leg of lamb, some veg, and some prawns he had caught earlier that month. It occurred to me that this may be the only time in my life that I will have eaten an entire 3 course meal procured by one man. This thought made me somewhat sad for my children who may not know any better. The meal had vitality - I believe because the ingredients were not only fresh but cared for by this man. The sheep seemed to laugh, Tom the turkey giggled, the bull - intimidating as it was - seemed not to care about our presence but snorted his approval.

Our dinner was simply prepared at my Uncle Rico's house. Our families relished each others company licking our plates clean. Mike and Jay even ate the fish! It was my second favourite meal ever.

It is my observation that BC has a more developed farm-to-table infrastructure. Roadside farmer stands are the norm and "organic" seems to be everywhere. Also people are more in tune with a holistic approach to eating.

Food doesn't have to come in plastic/polystyrene. Meat doesn't need a "diaper".

That brisket is driving me mad. Food is good.

What a crazy week. Went to dinner last night on Balwin St. I didn't expect much and that's exactly what I got. There was a carved tomato on my plate topped with grated parmesan. One server was polishing cutlery and slamming it into a bin while complaining how he needed to get laid. Is this what Toronto diners experience? Where is the pride and work ethic? I feel another rant coming on.

This week I learned how to take down a hip of beef into the inside/outside rounds & eye of round. The picture of DDay with his gaping maw is the start of one hip. This first cut is cool – as it hangs a hip weighs about 120 lbs. so when you make this cut the lower section releases as if it will crash to the floor, exposing the shank meat or osso bucco. The second coolest thing was once you get to the final stages of cutting you are left with a 100 lb. piece held on by one small tendon. Ryan said the tendon could support two men.

There is a lot I am learning, not just cutting but the entire process of meat production. For example, in pork production hogs are castrated. Didn't know that. Apparently the meat develops a muskiness and the flavour is undesirable by today's standards. Also, after slaughter they are 'blanched' in a tank which is maintained at 160F - not to cook but to release the hair follicles. DDay said after this they are put though a hair removal machine to paddle off the hair.

Yesterday I got into the production of sausage making. There are lots jokes in all areas of the kitchen but you have to have a real sense of humour when you make sausage. This is an area of butchery that I think I could excel at and I'm hoping to do some traditional charcuterie. My grandfather's chorizo perhaps? I'm getting hungry again.

RIP Ripley

Last night Ripley suffered a stroke and lost control of her rear legs and bowels. She was in a lot of pain. Thanks to our good friends Jim and April, Karin and I were able to take her to the vet where he sedated her, she was able to die in our arms peacefully. We cried all night long. So so sad.

It was a hard day today. I kind of kept to myself. I had so much to write about yesterday. I'll save it for another day.

D Day

This is D Day and he is as big as his name. D Day has been teaching me the ropes at the Healthy Butcher. It's good to talk to him because he comes from an agricultural background from Guelph U. He shared thoughts about the difficulty of being a farmer in Ontario.

I'm sorry an event is happening got to go...

REO Speedwagon

This is me earlier today taking apart a beef loin. The tenderloin is completely buried in fat and layers of silverskin and age.

What's fascinating is that when most restaurants recieve a tenderloin, it is kryovaced and dripping in blood. All a cook needs to do is remove the final layer of silverskin, tie and portion. Today it took maybe 18-20 minutes to get to this stage. At the Healthy Butcher the beef is hung for 3-4 weeks, so it air dries...ages. I guess what is so different is the lack of blood – plus the smell emanating from the board is sweet not septic, like a skunky sock which sometimes happens in the vac-pac "aging". Being around so much meat just makes me hungry.

In my education as chef I was told that when beef is processed it's turned into the desired cuts and kryovaced or vacpacked to age. This does not make sense to me now. To age meat it has to be exposed to air/bacteria under controlled temperature and humidity. This does two things - it evaporates moisture "concentrating flavours", and it gives the meat a certain -as the french would say- "I don't know what", a hum, or sweetness, or just plain flavour. Conventional methods of meat production go against traditional methods (I'm going to use the term 'conventional' to describe today's current nomal food production technique). Mostly its ethnic butcher shops that still provide this kind of aging but for the large part it is a dying trade in North America. So pretty much every piece of meat you eat is covered in plastic "kryo-aged",

This brings me to start talking of HOMOGINIZATION. I am no hippy, I just think that when food starts to become a mediocre normality something is wrong. Is it all about consistency even if consistency = crap?

Can you remember that summer sweet corn you had 20 years ago? The way the breeze hit you the colour of the sky, the smiles of the company you kept? This may not be a memory for our children. GMO's, farmed salmon, Nickleback.

Just kidding about Nickleback and subsidiaries (I believe they are absolutely fantastic frikin MTVcribbinlisious). I better stop I feel a rant coming on.

Homoginization.

Ham

Managed to lift the 165Lbs side of Berkshire off the rail today without a hitch. I figured the trick was to grab it a little lower in a bear hug hoist up with the knees and ehhh voila and Ta dah. I basically made hams today, I will be curing them tomorow as well as curing brisket for pastrami. I am really looking forward to doing prosciutto this week. I've been listening to the Verb remix Nina Simone "Sinnerman" although a sin to put a clap trap to, it is fun in a Hooked on Classics kind of way.

I had to talk to the kids today about the condition of our beloved dog Ripy. She is dying. I explained that she would have a much better time in doggy heaven (than her current state). My daughter said (she is three) "she doesn't want to die". I replied that, of course she wants to be with us forever but she is old and has reached her time. My daughter turned to me and said "Okay lets get another dog and call her Ripy."

Ripy has been a companion, friend, family member for 11 years – we have done a lot together. It's hard to watch a friend pass, especially when they can't talk. The worst is that I would morbidly joke about turning her hams into prosciutto. That just feels sick now.

Change is good

I resigned as the executive chef of Globe Bistro on January 3, 2007.

For more than a year, I collaborated with Globe Bistro’s owner Ed Ho to create a spectacular restaurant. I will always be grateful for the opportunities that this experience gave me. Not only did I learn a tremendous amount about constructing a restaurant from the ground up, this experience enabled me to bring all my capabilities and skills as a chef to build a kitchen and create a menu that fills me with pride.

The menu item I created for Globe that I’m most proud of is the Farmers Plate. Last summer I began searching for local farmers who raise their animals and grow their vegetables without pesticides, hormones and chemical fertilizers. (I carried Joel Salatin’s pastoral vision, from Omnivore’s Dilemna, with me throughout my quest.) It was not easy to find Ontario farmers that followed this half-a-century old technique – we don’t support this infrastructure anymore – but I eventually found two farms that could supply Globe both produce and proteins from the same few acres of land. Every Farmers Plate I created was prepared with respect and integrity from the soil up.

Because of the passion I have for local, fresh and seasonal ingredients, I’ve decided to learn more about sustainability and farm-to-table practices. I am currently honing my skills as a butcher at the Healthy Butcher on Queen St. West under the direction of head butcher Ryan Donovan (who I met at the Stratford Chefs School). Working with like-minded people is thoroughly gratifying.

With my experiences from Globe and the skills I acquire from Healthy Butcher, I intend to open my own small restaurant this year.

For more information contact me at mcutrara@yahoo.ca.

Truly stupid

wow this ---- is bananas