Now, what should I do with pumpkin pappardelle?

Fall is my favourite season. At very least, it is in the top five. And I love fall food. It really is the best of all possible culinary worlds. You have tons of great local produce still available, but the weather has cooled down so you feel like cooking again. In summer, cooking is about using the kitchen as little as possible; quick salads and a piece of meat grilled on the BBQ. But in the fall, the crock pot comes out, the big dutch oven is dusted off and the roasting pan comes off the top shelf. In fall, you feel like cooking again. Slow braises, stews, big hunks of meat slowly roasted for hours, this is what fall cooking is all about. You have market gardeners practically giving away their squash, root vegetables and hearty fall greens. Fall is the time to gather your friends and family back around the hearth and cook and eat until there is nothing left to do but sleep.

I love Fall at the bistro. This is the season when I get to bring back all my favourite cool weather dishes. Cassoulet reappears on the menu, probably braised lamb shank and of course pumpkin ravioli.

But wait, there's the problem. We have too many favourite fall dishes. There is no room for anything new. My god it's killing me! I am stagnating! I am sick and tired of the stoopid pumpkin ravioli!

There is always the tension for me between giving the customers their best loved dishes and being able to create new food experiences. I need to keep myself interested in order to cook well, but everyone has been asking about the pumpkin ravioli since the day we took it off the menu. What am I to do? The longer we are open, the more difficult this problem becomes. We will put a new dish on the menu, but then this becomes a favourite that we can't get rid of.

When I have time, and am feeling creative, I will sit down and write a new menu as if I was opening a brand new restaurant. I will think about the flavours of the season, I'll flip through my cooking magazines and cook books. I'll visit the local markets, grocery stores, even wander through the aisles of the local safeway looking for inspiration. I'll call my purveyors and find out what they have this time of year. "Herman," I ask, "What do you have going on this season?". He answers, "pumpkin pappardelle". Now, what should I do with pumpkin pappardelle?

Once I have my brand new menu written, I look at my most recent menu and the menu from last year, and figure out what I want to keep from these menues. Then I combine the old and the new. Wrestle with finding room for all the things I want. Decide that some of my dishes will be saved for dinner specials, argue with my wife, staff and customers about what everyones favourites are, and finally, usually 1/2 an hour before we launch the menu, we have a menu on paper ready to go.

Nature's Farms Pumpkin Pappardelle with Ground Turkey and Sage Meatballs

Meatballs:

1 lb ground turkey

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tbsps minced parsley

1 tbsp minced fresh sage

2 (vita egg) eggs,

1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

pinch of cayenne

salt and pepper to taste

1. combine all meat ball ingredients.

2. form into small meat balls.

3. bake meatballs in a 350F oven for 15 mins until cooked through

pasta:

1 lb Nature's Farms pumpkin pappardelle

3 or 4 sage leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsps butter

1 clove garlic, minced

pinch of chilies

2 cups, arugula

1/2 cup almonds, toasted

turkey meat balls

1. saute sage, chilies and garlic with olive oil and butter. Add meat balls.

2. cook pappardelle according to pkg directions.

3. toss pasta with meatballs, arugula and almomds. Check seasoning.

4. serve, top with parmesan if desired.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

There are two types of questions. The first type you ask because you are genuinely curious and want to know more about any given subject. The second type you ask to demonstrate that you already know something and is often used to show that you are smarter than the person you are asking the question to.

The first type of question I love. I get them all the time at the bistro. They usually begin with something polite like "sorry to bother you but I was wondering..." or "you must hate all the questions, but..." The truth is I don't feel bothered by questions, I welcome them. If I am super busy, you might have to wait for an answer, but I will always try to answer your questions. If I don't know the answer, or only have a partial answer, I will help you try to figure it out. Often the answer can be logicked out from what we already know. When I have time, I will run down to grab one of my many cookbooks or food reference book, or check on the internet for an answer. The reason I put the kitchen in the middle of the room at bistro, is that i wanted to be able to engage and interact with my guests around food and related issues. I didn't build the kitchen this way to put on a show, I did it to be part of the conversation. And genuine, curious questions are often where the conversation starts.

For myself, I am infititely curious. I am always trying to learn (and hopefully remember) new things. I have often said, that the day I stop learning about food is the day I quit cooking. I know lots about food, but I know that there is lots still to learn.

The second type of question is all about making yourself feel superior. Sometimes you get a guest who had watched too much food network tv, or read too many foodie books and

is just itching to let you know how smart they are. Sometimes they are trying to demonstrate their righteousness. Usually it is a matter of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". This customer knows a little bit about a subject, doesn't have a deep understanding of the issue, but doesn't care. They just want to sound good.

"Is the duck local?". There is no commercial duck industry in Manitoba. Almost all the ducks served in all the restaurants across the province serve duck from either quebec or the U.S. I know this, because I spent some time on the Manitoba Regional Cuisine tourism board and we were all looking for a local duck supplier. Since then, I have found a local duck processor and I do in fact have local duck. But I am definitely the exception. "Where do you get your lamb from?" is the other popular question. To this, I hang my head in shame and say Australia. The Manitoba lamb industry is so small that it is very difficult to get a consistent supply of the one cut that a restaurant needs. Canadian lamb from other sources is quite expensive and the last time I put Quebec lamb on the menu I got complaints about the price. But I don't know why I let customers make me feel bad about myself. Most of the food i buy is either locally raised or comes to me through small locally owner purveyors. I do good, and I keep trying to do better. But sometimes the way in which a question is asked can cut like a knife.

Guest: "what type of butter is that?"

Server: "A chili butter, ma'am"

Guest: "yes, but what type of butter is that?" Server runs to the kitchen, we explain we use unsalted butter and mix in jalepenos, roasted red peppers, chili flakes and chili powder.

Server: "we use unsalted butter"

Guest, starting to get annoyed:"But what type of butter is it?"

Server:"we mix in jalepenos, roasted red peppers, chili flakes and chili powder"

Guest: "oh, so it's a compound butter"

Server:"yes, its a compound butter" This whole interaction transpired so that the guest could demonstrate that they knew the culinary term "compound butter". This is a term used in cooking school and culianary textbooks. All it means, is butter mixed with stuff. The guest already new everything they needed to know about this butter but needed tho show they knew the right term. If the guest was genuinely curious about cooking, they could have asked something simple like "is this what they mean by compound butter?", but the entire interaction was designed to make the server feel small.

another one:

Guest: "what type of foie gras do you use?"

Server: "It's duck foie gras"

Guest:"no, i mean what type?"

Server:"It's quebec foie gras"

Guest:"what type is it?"

Server: (after consulting with the chef) "It's Lac Brome foie gras, grade A"

Guest: "no, thats not what I mean. what type of foie gras is it?"

Server: (further consult) "Do you mean is it a torchon? a terrine? A pate? It is just straight foie gras. We salt it, pan sear it..."

Guest: (visibly annoyed) "No, there are two types of foie, which one is this?"

Server comes talk to me, "she says there are two types, which one is this?"

Chef: "does she mean duck or goose?"

Server goes back to the guest to find out what she means.

Guest: "Is it lobe or escalope?"

Server: "Well, we buy the whole lobe, but when we slice it is an escalope..."

I could site a hundred other examples. But what I really wan tot get at here, is the intent behind the question. Are you asking the question because you are genuinely curious, or because you want to demonstrate how much you already know? Are you trying to expand your knowledge and elevate your life, or are you trying to make your self feel bigger by making your server feel small?

Alton Brown knows more about food than i do. I probably know more about food than you do.

You probably know more about food than john my 16yr old prep cook. But this is not the point. Food is about nourishment and enjoyment. It is fun and should not be taken too seriously. It is great fun to learn about food, and I invite you to experience and learn about food along side me. Ask me questions. Ask me many questions. I'll ask you questions in return. But don't feel the need to impress me. And don't ask questions just trip us up or make yourself feel smart. You probably are smart, now lets dumb you down a bit with a couple cocktails.

Compound Butter

according to the Food Lover's Companion a compound butter is:

butter creamed with other ingredients such as herbs, garlic, wine, shallots and so on. The French term for compound butter is beurre composé.

Maître d'Hotel Butter

From The Professional Chef (CIA) 8th edition

1 lb butter, room temperature

2 oz minced parsley

1 1/2 tsps lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1. work butter by hand or with the paddle attachement of an electric mixer until it is soft. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Taste, and adjust seasoning to taste.

2. The compound butter is ready to use, or it may be rolled into a log or piped into shapes and chilled for later use.

variations:

Compound butters are only limited by your imagination. You can add or substitute any of the ingredients to make your own version. Common butters are garlic butter, tarragon butter, dill butter. Think of flavours that will complement the food you are creating. I like making a blue cheese and walnut butter for steak. Another favourite rosemary and roasted garlic.

Chili Butter

we use this on our hammer chops at the bistro.

1 lb butter, room temperature

2 oz red pepper, roasted, peeled and seeded. finely chopped

1 tbsp, jalepeno, finely diced (leave seeds and innards in if you like it spicy)

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp (or more if you like heat) dried red chili flakes

1. work butter by hand or with the paddle attachement of an electric mixer until it is soft. Add remaining ingredients and blend well.

2. The compound butter is ready to use, or it may be rolled into a log or piped into shapes and chilled for later use.

what does Emmy Lou Harris and Etran Finatawa have in common?

Cooking at La Cuisine, Chapter 2

For the most part, all the performers eat with the volunteers. They eat the same food in the same blue and white tent as all of us. On some occasions we have performers who request special meals. They might cite health reasons, religious reasons, cultural differences, but for whatever reasons they give we try to accommodate. This performers are on the road for a large part of their lives and it is important for themselves to keep themselves healthy and happy. Sometimes, the "green room" crew takes care of the performers food. Sometimes they come to me.

This year, i was asked to make fish for Emmy Lou Harris. "Anything but salmon, she is sick of salmon", I was told. So I thought, because she is in Manitoba, i'll cook her pickerel. I wanted to keep the fish in the same flavour profiles as the rest of the dinner, so I floured the pickerel with chick pea flour that i seasoned with a little cumin, and then served it with lime and chives.

A couple of days later, we were asked to make a special meal for Etran Finatawa, a band from Niger. When they came for lunch, they asked for rice. The chicken in salsa verde was going to be good, but they needed lots of rice. So Danielle ran out front (in our little golf cart) and got rice from the East India Company. For dinner, I was asked to make a meat curry and a veg curry with lots of rice. That evening, we were serving a greek inspired dinner with grilled lamb and an eggplant moussaka. So I took the ingredients and twisted them to make a lamb curry, an eggplant and chick pea curry and rice (this time we made the rice).

Emmy Lou Harris's Chick Pea Flour Pickerel

4 boneless fillets of Manitoba pickerel

1/2 cup chick pea flour

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

pinch of cayenne

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp lime zest

1 tbsp chopped chives (or green onion)

lime segments

1. combine flour with cumin, salt and cayenne. Dredge pickerel in this mixture

2. heat oil in a pan and add butter.

3. fry pickerel on one side for about a minute and a half. flip and fry the other side for the same.

4. Sprinkle pickerel with chives and lime zest. serve with lime segments.

Etran Finatwa's Lamb Curry

2 lbs boneless lamb leg, cut into stew sized pieces

1 medium onion, diced

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, sliced

1 jalapeno, stemmed and chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger minced

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp cumin

1 cinnamon stick

dried chilies (as hot as you like it)

1/2 cup raisins

2 cups water or stock

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

1. In a heavy bottomed pot brown the lamb. Do this in batches so you get nice colour. remove lamb from pot.

2. add onions carrots and celery to pot and cook till onions start to brown. Add spices and cook for a couple minutes. Put lamb back in pot. Add all the remaining ingredients except the mint and cilantro. Stew lamb on low heat for about 2 hours. (If you are a slow cooker type, this would work great in one of those) until it is very tender.

3. mixed chopped herbs into stew. serve with rice.

Etran Finatawa Eggplant and Chick Pea Curry

1 tbsp oil

1 large eggplant, cut into 1 inch dice

1 small onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp coriander seed

chilies to taste

1 can chickpeas, drained, or one cup dried chick peas soaked and cooked

1 cup apple juice

1. in heavy pot sauté onions and peppers until onions are caramelized a little. Add eggplant and spices, sauté for a few minutes.

2. Add chickpeas and apple juice. Cover and simmer for about 1/2 an hour. Veggies should be tender and all the flavours nicely combined. Serve this with rice

Cooking at la Cuisine

Bison Short Ribs with Maple and Chipotle

700kg bison short ribs (6000 pieces)

24 cans chipotle in adobo

2 x 4L jugs maple syrup

12 x 4L jugs pancake syrup

6 x 4L jugs soy sauce

4 x 50lbs yellow onions

500 ml salt

500 ml chili powder

500 ml pepper

12 x 100oz cans ketchup

60L water

1. Dice onions. Puree chipotle in adobo.

2. place shortribs in 18"x24" tinfoil pans. You will need about 80 pans.

3. combine onions, chipotle, syrups, soy sauce ketchup and spices.

4. pour syrup mixture into pans on top of short ribs. Cover pans with tin foil.

5. Put pans in Hot Hot Hots set at 275F overnight. Roast until falling off the bone tender.

This is a typical recipe of La Cuisine. We are the people who feed all the performers, volunteers staff and special guests of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. This amounts to about 4000 meals, three times a day for five days. In between meals and late at night we offer a continuous stream of snacks. We run the kitchen with a crew of about 250 volunteers. Some of these people are chefs, but most of them are teachers, social workers, mechanics and any thing but a cook.

Hummus

folk fest size normal person batch

48 100 oz cans chickpeas 1 28oz can chickpeas

12 Litres tahini 1/4 cup tahini

6 L olive oil 1/2 cup olive oil

5 L lemon juice 1/3 cup lemon juice

2 kg garlic, minced 1 clove garlic, minced (or more)

750 ml cumin 1 tsp cumin

250 ml paprika 1/3 tsp paprika

125 ml cayenne pinch cayenne

500 ml salt 2/3 tsp salt (to taste)

1. puree chickpeas with tahini.

2. add lemon juice, garlic and spices. puree.

3. with food processor going, drizzle in olive oil to emulsify.

4. serve with grilled pita and olives

One week before the folk festival begins, we have no kitchen. A crew comes in to set us up with 16 bbq's, 8 rented flat top grills, 5 coke coolers, 50 or so folding banquet tables, and 6 hot hots. The hot hots are ovens (of my invention) that were built by the hutterites for us. They are 6 feet tall, 5 feet wide and three feet deep. They are made of heavy industrial strength steel. The racks inside are made out of rebar. These ovens are heated with tiger torches that we stick in the bottom. The first three I had built used one torch per oven. Fully cranked, these would heat to about 325F. We call these the hot hot hots. The second set of three, I had set up to use 2 tiger torches per oven. These heat up to about 500F. We call these the über-hots. Our refrigeration comes in the way of 2 53' reefer trailers and one 30' freezer trailer.

Three Bean Salad

normal person batch

1 can kidney beans

1 can chick peas

1 bag frozen green beans (or 1 lb fresh green beans trimmed, blanched and cooled)

1 stalk celery

2 green onions

few sprigs of parsley

dressing:

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

pinch dried chilies

1/4 tsp fennel seed

1. chop celery, onion and parsley. drain and rinse beans

2, combine dressing ingredients.

3. toss beans and veggies with dressing. This is best if you make it a day before you need to serve it.

Our kitchen was started 36 or so years ago by a man named Harry Paine. He established a tradition of serving a very high calibre of cuisine. He and folk fest founder Mitch Podolak felt that if you fed performers and volunteers well, they would be happier, they would work harder, they would come back the next year and and they might even work for less money. So, carrying on the tradition, we can't get away with serving chili and hot dogs for 5 days in a row. We put together a menu that includes things like bbq leg of lamb, lentil mousskka, jerk chicken, pulled pork with biscuits and gravy, wild rice casserole, and meatloaf (both a meat version and a veggie version with mushroom "un-gravy"). We need to make sure we have food for meat lovers, vegetarians, vegans, people with gluten or lactose intolerance and a wide range of allergies and religious restrictions. Each meal is centered around a theme or a culinary style. Friday lunch we had perogies and farmer sausage. Saturday lunch with set up a taco bar with black beans, chicken in salsa verde or slow roasted pork "carnitas". Our desserts include maple blueberry creme brulee (done with a tiger torch), upside down chocolate pudding cake, and something I called "fake baklava". On sunday we did a brunch with bacon, sausage, hash browns, cheesy scrambled eggs, fruit salad and a baked apple pancake.

Baked Apple Pancake

1 cup apple pie filling (store bought, or if you are feeling fancy, sautee apples with brown sugar, butter and a pinch of cinnamon)

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1. in a greased 9 x 13" pan spread apple pie filling.

2. combine eggs, milk, flour and baking powder. DO NO OVERMIX.

3. spread pancake batter over apple pie filling

4. bake in a 400F oven for 15 minutes until puffy, firm and golden brown.

5. combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over pancake.

Cinnamon Cider Syrup

1 cup apple juice or cider

2 cups brown sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1. combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer until "syrupy".

2. serve warm with baked aple pancake.

So this, my friends, is how I spent my summer holidays. In order to feed all these people, I build a recipe book (actually a data base) of 103 recipes. I have included just a small sampling. If you want specific recipes, or menus, just leave a comment on this blog and I will add your requested recipe to this page. Thanks, see you all at the festival next year!!!

I would like to thank all of our volunteers for their hard work. I would like to thank the folk festival staff for their support. I would like to thank our suppliers for their products and donations. And I would like to thank all of you volunteers and performers for enjoying our food and for making us feel so good about it. Thank You, happy Folk Fest!

Haute Campfire, vol. 1

How to elevate your campsite fare.

Alright happy campers, there is more to campfire cooking than weiners roasted on sticks, beans straight out of the can and s’mores. The beauty of campfire cooking is that everything you make tastes better. So if you are an alright cook at home, you will be awesome out here. To make life easier, I always pack little ziploc bags with spices. I make blends, my mexican blend with chilies, cumin and coriander, my imediterranean blend with oregano, rosemary, thyme, you get the idea. I also make little baggies of pancake batter, bannock dough, pizza dough and the like. You can mix all the dry ingredients, (including instant yeast) and the fat and then you just need to add water at the campsite. Be careful if you have to cross the border, there might be some ‘splainin’ to do.

One real quick meal is asian noodles It can all be done in one pan, and you can use whatever veggies and meats you have on hand. (at the folk fest camground, you can go get some veggies from our little porduce stand, a luxury you don’t have when camping in the deep dark woods) When I camp, I always like to bring a bag of frozen cleaned and deveined shrimp. It keeps your cooler cold, and can be turned into a light snack or quick meals. Those little tetra packs of tofu are great for the campsite as well.. To make campsite chow mein, slice up your veggies into bite size pieces. You want to take advantage of the campfire’s quick unpredictable heat so slice everything fairly thin. If you are using beef or chicken, slice it thin, shrimp is right out of the bag. tofu cut into ½ inch bricks. You can also crack open a can of chick peas or kidney beans if that is what you have. Heat you frying pan over the fire. Pour in a little oil. Quickly sautee your protein, add your veggies. If you brought ginger, garlic or chilies add it now. Now here’s the trick, you need to save those little pacakges of soy sauce you get with chinese takeout. Add some soy sauce to the pan and a little splash of ketchup (everyone always has ketchup at the campsite). The ketchup adds as little sweetness, some tang and that glossy chinese stirfry look. Now add your noodles. I like those little mini packs of steamed udon noodles, or those steamed chow mein egg noodles work great. Try to get a noodle that is already fully cooked. Even you instant ”mr. noodles” would work. Add a splash of water or apple juice to heat the noodles and make a sauce. Garnish your noodles with a little toasted peanuts, trail mix or everyone’s camprgound favourite “gorp” for a little texture.

I love to do Huevos Rancheros on the campfire. You use salsa to protect your egg from the inconsistent heat of the campfire. To make, heat salsa in a frying pan. When it comes to a low boil drop in one or more eggs. Poach to desired doneness. If it is getting too hot, remove pan from heat. It will continue to poach with its own heat. Heat up a toritlla on the side of the grill. Drop egg and some salsa onto the tortilla. Garnish with cheese, lettuce, tomato, green onion, or whatever you have.

For something more substantial, I make cast iron cassoulet. Grill sausages, whatever sausages you may have. Sautee bacon and onions in a cast iron pan. add a sprig of thyme or rosemary. Add tomatoes, the grilled sausage and canned beans. (you can use white beans, black beans or even libby’s brown beans). Season with salt and pepper. Then take some bread crumbs, or crumble up some stale bread and mix it wth butter. Sprinkle crumb on top of cassoulet. Classic french cooking over a campfire!

For dessert, here is a great cast iron rocky road brownie recipe. In a bowl mix 6 tablespoons cocoa, 1 cup sugar, and ¼ tsp salt (you could have this all done ahead in a little baggie) Mix in ½ cup vegetable oil or butter with 2 eggs. Grease your heaviest pan with oil or butter. I like to bring a cast iron pan camping, In the pan toast about ½ cup nuts. You can use walnuts, pecans, peanuts, whatever you have. Get the nuts nice and hot, because these will help cook the batter from the inside out. Spread batter into the pan. Sprinkle with with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. If you have any caramel candies, throw those in as well. You can even add broken up cookies or chocolate bars. The whole thing is going to look like a mess, but will taste fantastic. Keep pan away from the hottest flame and when the batter is about half cooked remove from the heat and cover with a large plate, pizza pan or tin foil. Let the heat of the pan fininsh cooking the batter. Dig in!

A horse is a horse, of course, of course

I think I need to talk about my decision to serve horse meat at Bistro 7 1/4. To begin, I want all of you to know, this is not a decision I made lightly. Many of the things I do are spontaneous or whimsical, but this decision is something I have been wrestling with for 2 years.

Personally, I don't have any problem eating horse meat. (I will get in to my own reasons shortly.) But serving horse meat has stirred up some controversy. I have a very good customer who informed me she would not be coming to our restaurant as long as we have horse meat on the menu. Another customer, who owns horses, joked after finishing his meal here that he would have to go home and count his horses. There was a little on line discussion about the ethics of horse meat on our facebook page. Other customers have been excited by it and have wanted to try it. Those who try it, enjoy it.

Before I get into this discussion, I want to tell you a little story about rabbits. I was serving rabbit pot pie as a lunch special one day. When a customer heard what the special was, she started to cry, told us she had rabbits for pets, and walked out. I don't know if she ever returned. What I wanted to say to her was that although people have rabbits as pets, the rabbits I was serving were not anyone's pets. These rabbits were raised for food in the same way we raise chicken, pigs and cows for food.

Eating horse meat is perfectly acceptable in some cultures, and totally taboo in others. France, has restaurants devoted to the preparation and service of horsemeat; but just across the channel in England the idea of eating horse is horrific. The United States has predominantly followed the English example. In Canada, it is a little more complicated. English speaking Canada is generally opposed to the use of horse meat, but in Quebec it is far more acceptable. All through the world, you will find examples where horse is accepted and counter-examples where it is strictly forbidden.

In a multi-cultural society, we are always dealing with the questions of what is acceptable and what is taboo. For Jews and Muslims, eating pig is taboo. Hindus don't eat cow. Very few of us, eat bugs, although that is a common food staple in much of the world. I don't think i could eat the meat of a dog, but if i was in a place where it was culturally acceptable would i turn it down? For some of my customers, eating any meat at all is wrong.

I guess what it comes down to is the ethical choices we make as individuals, and the lines that we draw for ourselves. Every time you put food in your mouth, you make an ethical choice. And these choices are complex. Is it organic? Was it humanely raised? Does its production or shipping harm the environment? How much was the farmer paid for his work? Was the farmer treated fairly? Who are we supporting by paying for this food? The list goes on.

The ethical decision includes what species of animal we are okay with. I believe, that if you are willing to eat one type of animal, you should be able to eat any type. I say this, but i know that I would draw a line somewhere. And that's what it is all about. Where do you draw the line? Some people eat fish, but not fowl. Some eat no meat, but dairy and eggs are fine. Others avoid all animal products. And others, eat whatever you put in front of them.

As a restaurant owner and chef, I make ethical decisions about what I will serve every day. I don't always make the right one. Sometimes price, convenience or expedience wins out over the "right" choice. Sometimes the "right" choice isn't clear. I may have conflicting "goods". Which is better, organic lettuce grown 2000 miles away shipped in plastic bags or non-organic lettuce grown a few miles down the road with the mud still on the roots? I choose to buy much of my meat from local farmers. I choose, for the most part, fish that is considered sustainable. I use eggs that come from free run chickens. I support small, local grocers.

But once I have made the menu, the ethical decisions don't stop with me. You, the customer get to make those choices in what you order. If you think eating pork is wrong, then you will choose not to order it. Some people come to my restaurant, the "home-of-giant-grilled-hammer-chop", and order strictly vegetarian food. Some vegans come, and trust me to make them some thing special. Maybe you like duck but think foie gras is wrong. Then I suggest you order the duck and not the foie. Maybe you choose to only order organic wines.

And so, if you come in and I am serving horse, don't get upset with me. Just don't order it. If no one orders horse, it won't stay on the menu very long.

Is it wrong to serve or eat horse? I don't think so. At least it is no more or less wrong than eating cow or any other animal. So back to the question of why I put horse on the menu. Partly because it is a tasty, healthy meat. But I guess i wanted to engage in this very debate. The horse meat controversy is a catalyst for a lively debate about the ethics of food.

So, I invite any of you to come down to talk to me, email me (chef@sevenandaquarter.ca) or post comments on this blog. This conversation is worth having.

Everyday I make choices, I don't always make the right ones. But I sure do think about them a lot. And I guess that is my point. We all need to think about the food we put in our mouth.

Too many rants, not enough time

So I have been paralyzed! Too many things to talk about that I can't decide where to start.

1. potato-gate, i was going to write about how the big bully Peak of the Market, yes, the guy who talks into carrots, was oppressing the small farmer, the small grocer and the small restaurants who want to buy direct from the growers. But before i got to my computer, peak of the market met with the potato coalition people and made concessions to allow small producers to sell root crops with out restriction. (Thank you to the Shreimers, the Crampton's, Tall Grass Prairie and Ben Kramer and all the rest who lead the charge) I did get a letter back from our premier's office 4 days after the issue had been resolved, saying he would forward my letter to Stan Struthers, Ag minister.

2. Iron Chef Centrex, My team was brilliant but were crushed in the final. I was going to post a play by play, but some of the highlights include turkey skin short bread, rabbit ice cream, smoked chicken wings in a butternut bbq sauce-hanging over smoking coals, rabbit baby back ribs, butternut ravioli with butternut chutney, zucchini sangria...

3. Rapid Transit, not really a food issue, but it sounds like the city is building a bus path from downtown to my restaurant. 170 million to increase my traffic. I think i need more seats! But really, if we are going to spend money on rapid transit, shouldn't it be useful?

4. M.L.C.C , oh don't get me started!

5. Milk, it is easier to buy crystal meth than to get milk from a cow. This was going to spin into a tale of how the man (government) is so concerned about "protecting us" that they interfere with our ability to make informed choices. The people become like children...

6. Horsemeat why is it okay to eat some animals and not others? Why would rabbit pot pie make one woman cry and leave the restaurant but a chicken sandwich is perfectly fine? How do you decide what is ethical? I try to come down to two questions, Is the animal humanely raised and slaughtered? Is it sustainable? but what other issues are there?

7. Complaints and forgiveness, so many people don't complain in a restaurant cause they "don't want to cause trouble". The problem is that if you don't complain we can't fix it. If we can't fix it you will leave with a negative impression of the restaurant and then you will tell your friends how much we suck. If we can fix it, you will be happy and we will be happy. If i overcook your steak, let me make you a new one. Once you have complained, and it has been addressed, forgive us. We all make mistakes and in a busy restaurant it is hard to always be at %100.

8. %110, you can't give anyone %110. all you got is %100 percent. i was at a hotel that promised that if your room wasn't %110 clean you would get your room for free. I wanted to take them up on this, because no room could ever bee %110 anything. I could spin this rant into the overuse of meaningless cliches. Doesn't anyone have new words? hey, it is what it is.

9. waiting for your table: When you go to your dentist, and arrive on time, you expect to wait 1/2 an hour before you are brought in to see anyone. At a restaurant, why do people get annoyed when they have to wait 10 minutes for their table? At least at the restaurant, you can have a cocktail while you wait. They should have martini bars in medical offices!

10. Chew your Food why is it that in north america, the true test of the quality of a piece of meat is how soft it is. Are we too lazy to chew? Every piece of meat needs to be as tender as boneless, pumped, chicken breasts. This really limits the types of things a chef can do. Personally, i don't mind a piece of food that is a little "toothsome".

11. How Much Does Your Food Cost? I wanted to talk about what it costs a restaurant to put food in front of you, and let you in on the secret of how little money the owner actually gets to take home. I am concerned with restaurant reviews that focus largely on price, particularly when the reviewers sense of current prices is a little out of date. Food costs, labour costs, rental prices, and utility costs have all gone up in the past few years, and menu prices have to go up accordingly. My favourite customer comment is "32 for a rack of lamb", I can get one at safeway for $8. Yes sir, you could, but it is not quebec lamb, it doesn't come with a herb crust, potatoes, veg and a sauce, you would have to buy it, prepare it, serve it, pour wine, play music, wash the dishes and mop the floor when you left. You are not doing all this for $8. I think for my next blog, coming soon to a computer near you, will start here. I guess I want all of the dining public to understand that restaurant owners want you to get value for your dollar, and want you to leave happy and satisfied.