murray Food Journal

Kate's post about sandwiches inspired me to write this post.

Like Kate, I also enjoy experimenting with flavours and textures. One flavour that I am not very familiar with is truffles so when I heard about French Chef Daniel Boulud's famous 155$ truffle burger I was obviously intrigued.

Unfortunately I don't have the cash to throw around testing my taste buds on some very expensive mushrooms so I opted for buying a truffle oil instead. I mixed half and half of extra lean pork and lean beef added chives and crimini mushrooms cut into half centimeter cubes. I then added a generous portion of the truffle oil. At first I was thrown off by the extremely strong smell. Had I added too much? We'll see.

I grilled my burgers the way I like them and topped them with sliced Gouda, Canadian bacon, vine tomato, onion and grain Dijon. I think truffles are probable an acquired taste but it only took me one taste to acquire it, as well as decide that I absolutely love my burgers.
Will make again.

I am Acadian. Even though I live in an urban city in New Brunswick the rural influences of Acadian cuisine still linger in memories of my childhood. These classic dishes always provide thoughts of "home".

A popular dish here in the east coast is Poutine. There are many variations of poutine, the most Acadian being poutine râpée. This consists of boiled ball of pork wrapped with a mixture of grated and mashed potato. Poutine Québécois is what most of us now call poutine and it has become quite a comfort food. It is quite simply french fries topped with curds of cheese and then topped with a hot gravy. You can get it at most fast-food chains, almost any restaurant serving "Canadian Food" and most importantly at various carts outside bars at 3am.

**Travis's Four-Star Poutine**

Cut potatoes into thick strips with the skin on and cut some small onions in half. Then in a deep pan toss them in a little oil and a lot of balsamic vinegar (don't be shy!). Season with salt and pepper. I try too keep it to a single layer of potato but I usually have a little too much. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.

Remove only the potatoes from the pan and put them on a greased baking sheet and back in the oven for another 10 minutes. While they are finishing, take the remaining onions, vinegar and oil and add it to a stove pan. Over medium heat, add some broth and flour. Press open the onions and stir to make a sauce. Plate your fries and top with some fresh curds of cheese and your sauce over that.

Delicious!

Most cooks consider their knives to be the most important tool they use and dream of using the perfect knife or having a complete set of knives for every possible use you could imagine. You could have German style knives and Japanese style knives of all sizes and variety but unless you are properly trained in how to use them all in all instances, having such a huge collection will probably hinder your technique more than help it.

Like I said in my last post, my father is a chef, so I have been familiar with knives and steels for a while and my best knives are gifts from him. Obviously, I am always in the market for a great new knife but I find that I really only have 4 that I keep coming back to.

I have an 8" chef’s knife for general chopping, an 8" offset serrated knife for bread and pastries, an 8" carving knife that I use for carving as well as sloppily using it for filleting and boning and a 4" paring knife that I use for smaller more intricate cutting.

I really have little use for a cleaver as I really don't do much preparation of my own meat and I never really need to cut through bones or joints. I also don't feel the need for any other type of small knife (like a peeling knife) because I have gotten quite comfortable with my current paring knife. I really should pick up a fillet knife as most of my meat preparation is fish and, like I previously said, I currently use my carving knife which while getting the job done, is less than ideal. Then there is the whole style of Japanese knives that I respect too much to pretend I know anything about.

Even though we recently bought a food processor, I barely ever take it out because I love doing things by hand. I hate using chopped garlic for the same reason. I guess for me it comes down to the level of comfortability. For example, I am very comfortable using my paring knife to chop most vegetables, even though it is not the knifes intended use. Do what feels right for you.

Promoted from the diaries - K

I am the first to admit that I am still relatively new to the culinary arts but I have taken a particular interest in food culture, flavour combinations, food pairing and gastronomy. Being in my mid-twenties, I know that I still have plenty to learn about (especially in baking... ouff) and I hope to think that by writing here I can share a bit of what I have experienced as well as learn plenty from all of you.

My father is a Chef so I know I have picked up some things from him, as well as his palate and love of gourmet. I really have no formal training in the culinary arts other than an advanced Barista certification which sadly can hardly be taken advantage of in Atlantic Canada.

Like my friend Patrick has written before, I am lucky enough to be in a circle of friends that enjoys fine cuisine and we set up events to share. In one of these events I was responsible for creating an appetizer course, so this is what I came up with...

First off, we decided that the theme of the evenings food would simply be to keep it somewhat European and make it vegetarian. I have always loved fusion concepts and the city that we live in does not have a sushi bar or a restaurant that has sushi on the menu every night so I decided to try to come up with some type of euro-fused sushi.

I went with a take on futo-maki using cucumber, avocado and white asparagus as the filling and I traditionally prepared a dry, short-grain rice. As a replacement for the nori I wanted something more prevalent in Mediterranean cooking so I chose a green swiss chard. For a dipping sauce I made an aioli with dill and added some horseradish for a kick similar to wasabi. I paired it with a young Portuguese Vinho Verde which went great.