BBQ Blog Canada!

New Years Eve Menu 2009

2009-12-31T04:38:22Z

It's my favorite winter dinner of the year! Once a year it's fun to get a few friends together, and instead of spending what could be a month's rent in a restaurant, we buy out own ingredients and fantastic wine and cook at home... here's what on deck this year.

Course 1: (the wacky martini munchie course)
charcuterie, cheese, crackers, spicy hummus.
Paired with: beer/cocktails -- try my garlic and herb de provence infused martini

Course 2: ( the soup and salad course )
Grilled butternut squash soup, mixed green salad, and my home made candied pork belly bacon bits
Paired with: Bollanger Champagne

Course 3: (the i get an excuse to use my truffle slicer course)
cheese soufflé with shaved truffle, brioche with foi gras.
Paired with: 2002 vintage veuve clicot

Course 4: (the celebration of eating things with parents course)
treo of meaty: farmed venison loin chop, lamb loin chop, cherry smoked sliced duck breast on a bed of cranberry wild rice topped with red wine reduction.
Paired with: 2007 pinot noir reserve - ontario

Dessert: (the blow you out of the water with the best ice cream ever course)
home made baked goods, 2007 Double Chocolate Cherry Stout Ice Cream.
Paired with: double chocolate cherry stout, Peche mortal, creme brule stout, coffee, open territory on my liquor cabinet.

Dont forget to brine your bird

2009-12-24T14:42:41Z

It's not too late, you still have time to Brine that Bird!

Great Quote on Vegetarians

2009-12-21T22:18:41Z

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I've got some time off this week, so I finally decided to read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain it's been sitting in my stack of books to read for a few years, so it's about time i got around to reading it. With the holiday upon us I hope that, you my loyal reader don't have to feed a vegetarian over this wondrous and delicious holiday. Here's a quote that from the book, that really makes sense to me.

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It's healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I've worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold. Oh, I'll accommodate them, I'll rummage around for something to feed them, for a 'vegetarian plate', if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine." From Kitchen Confidential, p. 70

Happy meat eating!

Cameron's Cream Ale Ice Cream

2009-12-05T20:35:40Z

I've been playing with beer based ice creams for a few years now, my first attempt was Double Chocolate Cherry Stout Ice Cream back in 2007. Making beer ice cream is pretty simple using stout beers, so this one was an interesting challenge as i decided to use Cameron's Cream Ale. After a few tries and a fair amount of experiments that went down the sink, I Think I've got a winner here. Recipe after the jump.
]]> 1 vanilla bean
1 L cream
9 egg yokes
1 package cream cheese (8oz)
1/4 cup grade b organic maple syrup
1/3 cup white sugar
zest from 1/2 of one lemon

Start off with your beer in pot on the stove, and heat it gently at medium-high heat, for ideal taste you're going to want to reduce this beer over a long period of time, as rapid vigorous boiling with cause the beer to caramelize and may give it a slightly burned taste, plan on this taking about an hour.
When your beer has reduced down to 1 cup add the remaining ingredients except the egg yolks and sugar. Bring this mixture to a light boil, whisking gently.
In a separate chilled bowl combine your egg yolks and sugar and hand beat with a whisk for about 3 minutes to combine the sugar with the egg yolks. We're going to temper the eggs now, so slowly pour in about 2 cups of the hot mixture into the egg yolks while whisking, you may want to find a friend to help with this by having them mix or pour for you, combine the mixture back into the pot and increase the heat while whisking constantly until mixture reaches rolling boil. remove from heat and continue to whisk for an additional 5 minutes, don't forget to remove the vanilla bean now! Place mixture into a glass bowl, and place plastic wrap right down on top of the mixture to prevent it from getting a skin. chill in fridge for at least 6 hours, 24 hours ideally before churning in your ice cream machine.

Beer Brine With Cameron's Auburn Ale

2009-12-05T20:20:30Z

Here's a quick a dirty recipe for brine similar to my Turkey Brine recipe using Cameron's Auburn Ale. This is the brine I used to make BBQ chicken wings at the Royal Ontario Fair. Recipe after the Jump.

]]> 1/2 cup maple syrup
3 Cameron's Auburn Ales
Hand-full of peppercorns
zest from 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons Granulated Garlic
Dash of your favorite Hot Sauce
Nearly a Gallon of water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (if you want to preserve this brine for more than 10 days)

In a pot on the stove combine your 3 beers, salt, maple syrup and granulated garlic. Heat up until all the dry ingredients have fully dissolved. Put the mixture with remaining ingredients into a 1 gallon container and top up with cold water. Place in the chill chest and use as needed to fully submerge poultry or pork for up to 48 hours. do not re-use after the brine has touched meat.

Recipies coming for my Demo at The Royal

2009-11-07T21:18:50Z

Since I created my recipes very late in the week, i have not had a chance to publish them here yet, I'll be putting them up sometime this week when i get a chance

Cameron's Cream Ice Cream
Cameron's Creme Brule
Cameron's dark bbq bacon sauce
Cameron's Auburn Beer Brine

Cooking with Cameron's Beer @ The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

2009-11-04T21:45:47Z

I'll be presenting a cooking and pairing with beer demo on the Entertaining At Home Stage at the The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair this Friday Nov 6th from 3-4 pm. The delicious beer I'll be using is from Cameron's Brewery. I'm still figuring out what I'll be cooking but you can be sure it will have some beer in it! There should be plenty of free samples kicking around so pop by and enjoy if you happen to be at "The Royal"

http://www.royalfair.org/

We finally have AWESOME smoked meat in Toronto!

2009-10-01T17:21:53Z

I had the pleasure of visiting Caplansky's Deli for lunch today.
We waited in line for 5 minutes, but it was well worth the wait, we barely had time to peruse the menu before someone came to serve us.
The borsch come with bits of smoked meat in it! We ordered the smoked meat, which is offered lean/med/fat, of course fat was ordered as we all know that fat is flavor! There's 4 kinds of mustard + ketchup at the table and the sandwiches come out without any condiments on it, honstly the sandwich does not "need" condiments. I tried all the mustards and concluded that the kozlics mustard tasted the best with my meat and with the king pilsner beer I had ordered. I love that all the beers on tap were local microbrews.

I'm sure there's a few people wondering: Was is better the Schwartz in Montreal?
Yes and No, Caplansky seems to like his spices and smoke more than Schwartz, so the star of the show is more the spice and smoke rather than just the meat alone. The meat has a slightly bitter taste from what tasted to me like an abundance of oak wood smoke, and you can really taste fennel seed. I cant pick a clear winner, I love them both equally.

http://caplanskys.com/

Win a Broil King XL BBQ

2009-09-18T19:40:57Z

http://www.houseandhome.com/fansandfollowers/

LCBO Strike?! Screw them and drink amazing Ontario Wines & Beers

2009-06-23T20:45:26Z

It looks like the LCBO (aka the "Lick Beau") could be offline for the summer, which means many of us will be forced to drink beer from the beer store, which does not have the greatest selection of beers, or wine from "the wine rack" which has an equally dismal selection of wines.

Did you know that we have over 100 boutique wineries in Ontario, with almost all of them not being sold in the lcbo. Many of these wines are amazing but many vintners don't have the budget or resources to deal with the lcbo, check them out, I promise you wont be disappointed.

http://www.vqaontario.com/

Not to be forgotten, the OCB makes some great beers, and are often on the way when doing a wine tour, check them out as well!
http://www.ontariocraftbrewers.com/

Video: How To Grill Fish | Canadian House & Home

2009-06-11T18:52:15Z

Nice little video on how to grill fish, great looksee for all those that have had their fish stuck to their grill

http://www.houseandhome.com/videos/recipes-entertaining/video-grilling-fish

Geekologie Reader Makes Death Star Grill - Geekologie

2009-06-10T15:06:55Z

If i had this grill I'd have to play the imperial march from star wars every time i fired it up, and I might have problems checking the meat wearing my Darth Vader mask...

http://www.geekologie.com/2009/06/geekologie_reader_makes_death.php

Lifehacker - Nine Affordable Steaks and How to Grill Them Anywhere - Grilling

2009-05-28T04:20:47Z

Stumbled upon this little guide... check it out!

Link

Porsche Design Studio Introduces Their X-Series Gas Grill With Island, Finally! - Born Rich

2009-05-20T15:00:02Z

Just what we've all been waiting for, a grill designed by Porsche! Too bad it wont drive you to work, with price tag starting at $6,000.

http://www.bornrich.org/entry/porsche-design-studio-introduces-their-x-series-gas-grill-with-island-finally/

Want a Canadian Made BBQ? Don't Bother With Canadian Tire

2009-05-06T02:27:39Z

I'm a bit miffed as Canadian Tire used to be my go-to place for bbqs.. On a trip today to buy bags for my vac sealer I could not resist wondering into the bbq section. Every single BBQ was a cheapy made in china! There's even a Ted Reader Napolean Grill there, also made in China!? We have a great Canadian Q manufacturer (OMC) that makes the broil king, broil mate and a bunch of other quality Grills, in fact my 8 year old Broil King was from Canadian Tire. I was sad a few years ago when my dad bought a "Centro" from Canadian Tire which was a terrible uneven Q, with 2 settings Hot and off...

They did not have my vac-seal bags.. so off i went to Wal-Mart and guess what I see there? almost the same cheap Chinese made bbqs, for even less money of couse with Wal-marts buying power and all.

If you are in the GTA and are even a little bit of a locavore, check out Ontario Gas Bbq They have a massive selection of quality grills and many of them Canadian made.