Culinaire #5 (October 2012)

Culinaire CALGARY’S FRESHEST FOOD & BEVERAGE MAGAZINE

OCTOBER 2012

$4.95

We’re Falling In Love With Autumn

BIRDS OF A FEATHER | OKTOBERFEST & FALL BEERS | DEVILISH SPIRITS

CONTENTS OCTOBER 2012 / ISSUE #5

FEATURES 16

Higher Learning

22

Freakishly Festive Fall Beers

34

le Vie en Rouge

44

It’s a Pleasure Doing Business

56

Yo Ho Ho and a Barrel of.. Rum!

SAIT’s new downtown culinary school campus.

by Fred Malley, CCC

Seasonal beers are much more complex and substantial

than summer thirst quenchers, and can be paired with

some of your favourite comfort foods.

by Meaghan O’Brien and David Nuttall

Despite the competition, Rouge continues to execute

service on a level that few others can attain.

by Adrian Bryksa

Cam Dobranski, Executive Chef at Brasserie Kensington

and Kensington Winebar, learned years ago to adopt

a strong business skill set to have more control in the

success or failure of his cooking career.

by Cory Knibutat

For more than four centuries rum, aka “Kill Devil”,

aka “Rumbullion”, aka “Nelson’s Blood”, has played a

prominent role in Western Civilization.

by Andrew Ferguson

PHOTO ON THIS PAGE:

by Adrian Bryksa

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CONTENTS

MORE INSIDE

OCTOBER 2012 / ISSUE #5

60

63

20

9

37

5

Taste of Calgary

by Linda Garson

26

6

Festivals and Events

30

Chef’s Tips

Menu Gems

52

8

A Gala Reinvented

by Wendy Ell

9

Open That Bottle

37

by Linda Garson

10

Ask Culinaire

38

The Soup Kitchen

by Janice Beaton

by Dan Clapson

12

The Art of Ambience

40

by Gabriel Hall

Burgundy the Beautiful

14

Julie Van Rosendaal: Calgary’s Friendly Neighbourhood Home Cook

42

by Elizabeth Chorney-Booth

19

Commanderie de Bourdeaux

by BJ Oudman

20

The Stuffing Your Meal is Made Of

by Natalie Findlay

2

32

48

Pumpkin 3 Ways

by Linda Garson

Made With Love

by Gabriel Hall

by Tom Firth

Le Beaujolais est Arrivé

by Tom Firth

Birds in the Wild

by Brenda Holder

49

The Summer of Duck

by Tom Firth

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50

by Natalie Findlay

55

60

Fall Pheasant

by Jeff Collins

Turkey Trends

by Heather Hartmann

Enjoy Thanksgiving Without Losing Your Belt

by Vincci Tsui

The Humble Spud (continued)

by Silvia Pikal

61

Treats That Did the Trick

by Jocelyn Burgener

62

Inserting a Little Bit of Summer Into Autumn

63

64

by Leonard Brown

Napkin Folding 101

by Wendy Brownie

Talking Turkey

by Linda Garson

OUR CONTRIBUTORS < FRED MALLEY, CCC He started cooking at a tender age under grandma’s eye and has continued working with food throughout his life. Fred’s working career includes being a chef, food and beverage manager, educator, caterer, food stylist, author and technical writer. An alumnus of SAIT Polytechnic, he has instructed for over 30 years including curriculum development. He is currently tasked with validating Individual Learning Modules for Alberta Apprenticeship for the trade of Cook.

Publisher/Editor Design Contributors

< NATALIE FINDLAY Natalie is a freelance writer, photographer and pastry chef.

Her food aspirations started at an early age as she took over baking desserts for her family and friends as soon as she could use a mixer. Natalie’s love of food resulted in her graduating from The Cordon Bleu’s Pastry Program. Over the past 10 years, Natalie has been a pastry chef and cook in hotels and restaurants while managing her own business creating custom-made wedding and special occasion cakes.

< JEFF COLLINS Jeff Collins is a retired Calgary broadcaster. He is an avid target shooter and hunter. He is also an enthusiastic, if not entirely competent, cook. Jeff Collins retired from a 30 year career with CBC Radio in the summer of 2009 and moved to the Village of Delia, Alberta. He has since been elected to Village Council and serves on numerous local boards devoted to keeping rural Alberta vibrant. He is an avid shooter and hunter and runs a small business dealing in firearms accessories.

< BJ OUDMAN BJ Oudman is a physical therapist by trade, owning a health care clinic in downtown Calgary for 14 years before selling it three years ago. She decided in her semi-retirement at the age of 40 to pursue her passion in food and wine. She has a Level 2 certification through the International Sommelier Guild. She has been an investor in the private wine market as well as advising her own group of clients. She is also very active in fitness. In fact, when running the Oregon Wine Country ½ marathon 2 years ago she loved the area so much she bought a second home in the heart of the Portland just to enjoy the full food and wine culture there!

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Cu inaire

Advertising

Linda Garson Mark Bilodeau Stephanie Arsenault Leonard Brown Wendy Brownie Jocelyn Burgener Adrian Bryksa Elizabeth Chorney-Booth Dan Clapson Jeff Collins Wendy Ell Andrew Ferguson Natalie Findlay Tom Firth Gabriel Hall Heather Hartmann Brenda Holder Heather Kingston Cory Knibutat Patricia Koyich Ingrid Kuenzel Fred Malley Karen Miller David Nuttall Meaghan O’Brien BJ Oudman Silvia Pikal Vincci Tsui Joanne Black 403-401-9463

joanne@culinairemagazine.ca

Natalie Findlay 403-771-7757

natalie@culinairemagazine.ca

Maureen Maki 587-899-6254

maureen@culinairemagazine.ca

Lindsey Schneider 587-434-3450

lindsey@culinairemagazine.ca

< DAN CLAPSON Dan Clapson is a food writer and columnist based out of Calgary, Alberta. His array of published works covers everything from restaurant features and chef profiles to creating recipes and hands-on culinary experiences. Dan has spent time learning in the kitchen with some of the country’s top young chefs like Connie Desousa and Dale Mackay. He believes a true appreciation of food culture comes by experiencing food from all sides, which is reflected on his popular blog, dansgoodside.com. While he’s not writing or eating, you can find him teaching university students how to cook through his non-profit cooking initiative, Start From Scratch.

< BRENDA HOLDER A Cree/Iroquois Métis, Brenda is pleased to follow her lineage as a traditional Métis guide from the Kwarakwante of Jasper. Learning through research and talking with elders, traditions, which are a part of her heritage, have become a pleasure for her to share with others. With a strong background and understanding in the world of science, she has blended her traditional knowledge with the modern world in a unique way that allows a deep respect for the plant medicine that surrounds us! Brenda offers walks, talks and experiential programs for groups and tourists at any time of the year!

For more information about some of our many other talented contributors please visit us online at www.culinairemagazine.ca.

To Contact Us Culinaire Magazine #1203, 804 - 3 Avenue SW Calgary, AB T2P 0G9 info@culinairemagazine.ca www.culinairemagazine.ca Twitter: @culinairemag All Trademarks presented in this magazine are owned by the registered owner. All advertisements appearing in this magazine are the sole responsibility of the person, business or corporation advertising their product or service. For more information on Culinaire Magazine’s Privacy Policy and Intention of Use, please see our website at www.culinairemagazine.ca. All content, photographs and articles appearing in this magazine are represented by the contributor as original content and the contributor will hold Culinaire Magazine harmless against any and all damages that may arise from their contribution. All public correspondence, which may include, but is not limited to letters, e-mail, images and contact information, received by Culinaire Magazine becomes the property of Culinaire Magazine and is subject to publication. Culinaire Magazine may not be held responsible for the safety or return of any unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and other materials. Reproduction of this publication in whole or in part without written consent from Culinaire Magazine is strictly prohibited.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

“I picked up my first Culinaire last night thinking what a lovely magazine and who should I see inside. I wanted to say congratulations.

I enjoyed the tutorials on my favourite Shiraz and I look forward to reading more.” ~Colleen C., Calgary

hat a glorious autumn we’re having this year.

The days may be getting shorter but also more beautiful, with most of the trees in our city still fully clad in golden and russetcoloured leaves, as I write. Our markets are overflowing with the warm colours and smells of soft fruit, ripe cobs of corn, squash, apples and berries.

And following fast on the heels of the harvest is our most anticipated feast – Thanksgiving.

We are so lucky in Calgary as we have so much more than many cities of the world, to give thanks for!

This month, we’re talking turkey...and duck... and chicken...and pheasant...and wild birds...and odd birds too. It’s our “feathered friends” issue, even if they don’t all fly. We meet the people who have mastered poultry dishes, and have tips and tricks for cooking and carving the birds, with recipes for soups, stuffing, and accompaniments to go with the Thanksgiving meal. We’re also featuring the vegetable that embodies this time of year for many of us – the pumpkin: one of the few vegetables that can star in every course (and in some beverages too!).

What should we be drinking with the traditional

holiday meal? In this issue we take a closer look at the wines of Burgundy and Beaujolais, possibly the most food-friendly wines available and, without doubt, the ideal partners for a turkey dinner. But October is also a big month for beer enthusiasts and we learn about the roots of Oktoberfest and the special beers that appear in our stores at this time, for just a brief period.

At the end of the month comes Halloween, and we delve into the devilish spirit, rum, it’s history and different expressions. We also trick and treat you with what was to be a story of happenings in heritage buildings, but turns out to be something completely different!

Calgary is a city full of local success stories, and we’re proud to be able to shine a light on these local people who have worked hard to get to where they are – we don’t think we’ll ever run out. This month we highlight cooks and cocktailmakers, as well as peeking behind the scenes at the designers of our restaurants, and what it takes to do their job.

While we’re giving thanks, we certainly want to mention the people that make Culinaire magazine possible; our contributors of both words and photographs, who inform, educate and captivate us with their knowledge, stories, vision and recommendations. And also a giant shout-out to our supporters who advertise with us and make Culinaire possible. Please visit them to thank them personally!

We love to hear your feedback and comments, so please head to culinairemagazine.ca to enter our competitions and to let us know your thoughts. We thank you too!

Cheers!

Linda Garson Editor-in-Chief linda@culinairemagazine.ca

Erratum

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In last month’s issue, we mistakenly printed the wrong website address for the recipes and ideas for easy-to-make dishes with homemade tortillas from Mexican chef, Norma French. Her website is: flavorsofmexicocalgary.com

Taste of Calgary Eau Claire Festival Plaza (August 16 - 19, 2012) reviewed by Linda Garson

Celebrating cultural diversity, Taste of Calgary has been bringing together international cuisines and beverages for 16 years at Eau Claire’s Festival Plaza. It is always very well-attended and regularly trends on Twitter, with people recommending their new favourite dish.

24 food booths plied sample-sized portions of Caribbean, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Eastern European, Irish, Indian, Italian, Greek, Persian, and north American dishes to a willing public, while in the Beverage Garden, fifteen wine, beer and spirits companies offered measured sample pours of a wide range of thirst-quenching libations, accompanied by local entertainers live on the Main Stage.

Some old favourites were here – who can resist Pegasus’ Roast Lamb on a Spit with the melting Oven Roasted Potatoes – not me! And Ric’s Grill Caesar Salad with Cajun Chicken - always a crowd-pleaser, particularly in such hot weather as Taste of Calgary was blessed with this year. It paired particularly well with Yakima Valley Mercer Riesling from Highlander Wines and Sprits booth in the Beverage Garden.

And some recent favourites such as Shiraz Persian Cuisine and their addictive warm Kashk-e-Bademjan (Roasted Eggplant Dip), and La Jawab’s Veggie Samosas and Hakka Shanghai Fish (watch out for more on Hakka food in our November issue!).

Finally there were new favourites: Airdrie’s Standard Tap’s Red Cream Ale Beef Ribs were worth getting your hands, mouth and face covered in sticky delicious BBQ sauce! And downtownfood debuted, showing off their tasty BLT of house-smoked bacon, local tomatoes and lettuce, on home-made baguette – very moorish, and a perfect match with Yalumba’s “The Strapper”, grenache, syrah and mataro blend, a juicy dry wine that is very food-friendly and would go with everything from butter chicken to paella – and often does at a Taste of Calgary where you can just about sample them all!

Heritage Park Harvest Sale

Feast of Fields

reviewed by Stephanie Arsenault

reviewed by Linda Garson

September 8 and 9, 2012, marked the 34th annual Harvest Sale at Heritage Park – and boy, was it a success. Thousands of people packed the large green space over the two days, equipped with wagons, dollies, and even shopping carts for their goods. It was necessary however, as most of the fruits and vegetables were sold by the bag or caseload - and cheap. Watermelons, for example, were sold for two dollars each, a 50 lb bag of onions was just $15, and six pounds of pears were going for $4.

Make no mistake; the prices weren’t the only old fashioned thing about this event. With the volunteers calling out to customers, and the Heritage Park employees decked out in their old fashioned garb, it truly did feel like a blast from the past.

All of the produce for the event was donated by the Calgary Produce Marketing Association, and proceeds went to a variety of charities, including: the Calgary Community Kitchen Program, the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, and the Heritage Park Society.

For more information on the Harvest Sale or the Calgary Produce Marketing Association, visit www.calgarypma.ca.

Now in its 11th year, Slow Food Calgary’s Feast of Fields is always eagerly awaited at harvest time, and this year’s sold-out event certainly lived up to expectations. Nineteen of Calgary’s top chefs and restaurants paired with local Alberta producers to showcase their creativity to an appreciative crowd.

As you might expect, there were many full-flavoured beef, lamb, pork and bison dishes, and while it’s not possible to list them all here, there were some notable and delicious examples. From Nicole Gourmet’s Braised Bite Beef Tongue in Adobe Sauce with Smoked Fairwinds Farms Feta on little tortillas, to Teatro’s duo of Silver Sage Beef Heart Tartare and Beef Consommé with instant Canola Oil noodle, via 80th & Ivy’s Driview Farms Braised Lamb Neck on a Parsnip and Potato Latke with Goat Cheese Crème Fraiche, and Cuisine et Chateau’s Broek Pork Confit Shoulder in Manuel Latruwe croissants - there was certainly plenty to savour.

On such a beautiful day, with a cloudless deep blue sky, it was a delight to find some light and fresh dishes too, such as Brava Bistro’s Chopped Vegetable Salad with Feta and Oregano Vinaigrette; Downtownfood’s Summer Watermelon 3 Ways with Noble Meadows Goat Cheese; and Winebar/Brasserie Kensington’s Franco’s Fiord de Latte, with Roma Tomato Jam. Craig Boje, newly promoted to Executive Chef at Hotel Arts, was there too, with his Roasted, Pickled and Fresh Beets, Elderflower Pickled Blackberries, Blue Veined Goat Cheese, Toasted Pecans with Burgundy Truffle.

As well as the edibles, there was no shortage of beverages to wash them all down, from the ten Canadian wine, beer, mead and cocktails booths, many local and organic.

But the prize for creativity goes to District, for their Spragg’s Meat Shop Bacon, Smoked Pecan, Organic Grilled Pear and Ciel de Charlevaux Blue Cheese Gelato, a feast from the fields indeed.

Great Canadian Beer Festival Royal Athletic Park, Victoria, B.C. (September 7-8, 2012) reviewed by David Nuttall At 20 years, not only is this one of Canada’s oldest beer festivals, it is also one of the largest outdoor beer festivals too.

Imagine visiting 65 booths and sampling over 170 beers and ciders while walking on grass under the blue skies and sunshine of Vancouver Island. It is truly a spiritual experience.

What used to be an international beer festival has transformed into an almost exclusively Canadian event. Part of the reason is the growth of the local (B.C.) brewing industry, and part is due to the BCLCB rules which govern the festival. This has driven down the American representation to a mere two breweries, and caused the Europeans to disappear completely. The strong Canadian contingent not only opens up the festival to the local brewers, but to more eastern Canadian breweries as well. For the first time, there were five Quebec and nine Ontario breweries present- some of which don’t even sell their beer west of Lake of the Woods.

One of the novel features of the festival is a number of oneoff, unique cask condition beers, brewed exclusively for the festival, and allowing the brewmasters to get truly creative. They are always the first beers to disappear. Amongst the 23 beers available were such exotic brews as Amber Jack Ale (with a splash of Jack Daniels) from Cannery Brewing, Gael’s Blood Potato Ale from Grannog Ales (made with organic potatoes), Cucumber Mint IPA from R & B Brewing, and Spring Fever Gruit Ale from Salt Spring Island Ales.

Many of the 8,000 attendees themselves provide some amusement by donning costumes, which make the visual display almost as entertaining as the beer. The beer itself is all priced at one token ($1.25) for a 4 ounce sample.

Held the weekend after Labour Day (September 6-7, 2013), the festival sells out every year. Tickets go on sale around mid-July, but a word of warning; they sell out in less than a day. Much of the money is donated to local charities.

For more information see www.gcbf.com.

The Book of Kale

The Easy-To-Grow Superfood

by Sharon Hanna Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd. $26.95 reviewed by Karen Miller I was instantly attracted to this book by the pictures of familiar recipes where kale has been substituted. Not only did they look appetizing but very enticing.

Apparently kale is an easy food to grow, hearty and with many varieties. The author’s background is in gardening and there are many useful instructions on planting (even the ever-so-trendy microgreens and growing in containers), harvesting and seed saving.

Hanna sings the praises of kale with nutritional information, explaining that kale is one of the most nutritionally dense foods on the planet - a true superfood.

It contains vitamin A, C, K, calcium and many minerals. This is a food we know we should like. The recipes use kale raw, stirfried, in soups, savoury muffins, egg dishes, smoothies, pasta dishes and the splendid kale chips. There are crackers and condiments (who knew there were so many ways to use leftover kale chips?). The book takes the unknown out of kale and with a little practice we should all be able to find a way to include it in our food choices. I can’t wait to try the Kale Colcannon for my Thanksgiving dinner. Alas there are no desserts but there is a savoury version of “Brown Betty”, as in “Green Elizabeth”.

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Thanks & Celebration: A Gala Reinvented Calgary Stampede BMO Centre (November 3, 2012)

by Wendy Ell

Fine Cooking Thanksgiving Cookbook Fine Living The Taunton Press $12.95 reviewed by Karen Miller My favourite meal to cook is Thanksgiving dinner. At 16 years old I cooked it all by myself for the first time and have never looked back. Not everyone is so calm about this meal. This book will help! The book provides great tips on all aspects of surviving this and any other holiday meal. It addresses common complaints or problems that arise. The book gives instructions on many ways to cook a turkey, including brining and a maple bacon glazed turkey! It will not be hard to find side dishes to please the pickiest of guests; there are many favourites and many vegetable dishes with interesting twists.

Not only does the book give 1-2-3 instructions on making gravy but also illustrates how to carve a turkey gracefully. There are many make-ahead ideas and there is a whole chapter on leftovers. The editors of Fine Cooking magazine have done a wonderful job compiling this book, providing basic instruction for the first attempt or variety for the more seasoned cook, recipes not just for Thanksgiving.

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CU L I N A I R E M A G A Z I NE.CA ● OCTOBER 2 0 1 2

This fall Albertans will have the opportunity to experience Canada’s harvest in a whole new way. A unique celebration promises an unconventional blend of delicious regional cuisine, a bevy of artwork, friendly farm spirit and upscale city glamour, pulling together elements of both city life and rural living.

Behind the event is Agriculture for Life, a new organization of committed industry leaders, delivering educational programming geared at improving rural and farm safety, and building a genuine understanding and appreciation of the impact agriculture has on lives.

In the past, more than 1,200 people from agriculture, business and government attended the event each year, rotating annually between Calgary and Edmonton.

A Growing Alberta initiative, it was a great fundraiser, but is now being resurrected and reinvigorated to celebrate and raise funds and awareness for Ag for Life programs.

“There will be plenty of great food, entertainment, and widespread appeal at this function”, says Agriculture for Life Director, Development and Communications, Luree Williamson. “There will be no awards program at the event just food, ambiance, friends and fun”.

The ballroom will be transformed to present a fusion of urban and rural, complete with a farmer’s market display of Alberta produce; a masterful photo gallery showcasing the beauty of agriculture, an artist’s area with local artists mingling about, a silent auction, and seating areas.

“We invite industry, young people and community leaders to come together to celebrate the harvest, indulge in excellent food and benefit an outstanding new organization”, said Agriculture for Life’s Chief Executive Officer, David Sprague.

Tickets are $250 each or $2,000 for a table of eight. Special ticket discounts are available for registered not-for-profit organizations, agricultural post-secondary students, clubs and associations.

Visit www.agricultureforlife.ca to purchase tickets online, or call toll free 1-877-682-2153 to purchase your tickets through 4-H Alberta.

OpenThatBottle

by Linda Garson

photograph by Ingrid Kuenzel

Jason McKay is a lucky man, his work encompasses his two passions – sports and food.

Now Director of Food and Beverage/Sales at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park, Jason was a gymnast for many years, achieving Provincial Diving Champion for Saskatchewan three years in a row and earning the title of National Champion for Diving at only twelve years old.

“Sports is what our family did”, he explains, both his mother and grandfather coached gymnastics as well as their full-time jobs. There used to be dormitories at COP where athletes and their families could stay while training, and Jason was a regular visitor as a young boy.

For a couple of years after leaving school, Jason worked at “Family Pizza” in Saskatoon as a manager, but he wanted something bigger so he came to Calgary armed with little more than his resume. He was hired as a line cook at Carnmoney Golf and Country Club, and as at the time they had no chef, he took over the kitchen and worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. But it was here that he learned about food from the other staff members, like the elderly Asian chef who taught him how to cook eggs.

In 1999, someone at the club arranged for Jason to get an interview with COP, but he got lost en route and completely missed the appointment. The chef called later that day and couldn’t believe that Jason hadn’t been able to find Canada Olympic Park, so he rescheduled the interview for the following day and gave him explicit directions! He was hired as a line cook for $7/hour and worked mornings from 5:00am1:00pm at Carnmoney and then 2:00pm-10:00pm at COP. This only

lasted a couple of months before he realised that he’d have to give up one job, and decided to work full-time at COP. Jason worked his way up the ladder to the top, via an apprenticeship course at SAIT for three years, then on graduating, becoming sous-chef, then executive chef the following year. He ran the kitchen for a further three years before being promoted to Food and Beverage Manager in 2010, and within three months was promoted again to Director of Food and Beverage and now includes Sales in his title too.

So what is the bottle that Jason is saving for a special occasion?

Two years ago, the Calgary Sports Hall of Fame was closed down as the Canada Sports Hall of Fame was moving here from it’s home in Toronto, and Jason and the curator were responsible for taking inventory of everything at the Hall. It proved to be a veritable treasure trove of sports memorabilia and they discovered everything from the original bid letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Winter Olympics, to Elizabeth Manley’s skates, a doll of Barbara Ann Scott (the first Canadian to win a Gold Medal for figure skating) from 1949, Wayne Gretzky jerseys, torches and.... a bottle of Olympic Vintage 1988 Red Wine!

And when is he going to open it?

On February 13th 2013 - the 25th anniversary of the opening ceremony of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics!

We don’t know what the wine is, where in Canada it was made (Ontario, we think!), or if there is any more in existence, but we’re on the hunt for more bottles. If you have a bottle or a full set of PetroCan 1988 Olympic wine glasses, then go to culinairemagazine.ca and enter to be invited to join us and an Olympic Star at the 25th anniversary celebration of the opening of the bottle!

We’ll also looking for the best Winter Olympic memories from 1988-2010, so let us have your story to win your chance to be invited to the celebration too! Go to culinairemagazine.ca to enter for both competitions!

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Ask Cu inaire To answer the question for suggestions on how to include cheese on the Thanksgiving table, this month we turned to Janice Beaton, proprietor of Janice Beaton Fine Cheese and FARM Restaurant.

Question: I love cheese and I want to incorporate some into my Thanksgiving Day menu. Could you please help me choose some options for Thanksgiving Day and maybe provide some fall menu ideas?

Answer: Yes, we have some great suggestions for cheese, both at the Thanksgiving table and for fall.

What is a harvest dinner without a root vegetable purée? In this recipe, the ingredient that will get your guests talking is the addition of Bleu Bénédictin, from the Abbaye Saint-Benoit du Lac in Quebec, which provides a complex and savoury undertone. With Baked Romelia, we swing across the country to Salt Spring Island Cheese Company in BC. Whether kicking off your holiday meal or saved for a cool autumn evening, this is the equivalent of “instant fondue”!

Finally, we land here in Alberta with the toothsome and delicious Queso Fresco from Latin Foods. Skewers of grilled cheese alternating with cubes of roasted vegetables is a simple and eye-catching starter for your Thanksgiving dinner or you can pan fry or grill a slab of this cheese, perch it on top of a mélange of mixed greens and call it an easy fall supper.

We are truly grateful for the bounty of wonderful chesses made in Canada today.

The following recipes are great examples of how to use cheese in your fall cooking.

Baked Romelia

Serves 6 as an appetizer or 2 for dinner, with a salad on the side 1 Romelia (approx. 220g) 60mL (1/4 cup) grapeseed oil (or other high smoke-point oil for sautéing) Optional: 200 mL sliced mushrooms:

a mix of shiitake, portabello, cremini *This mini fondue on its own is stunning, but the addition of sliced mushrooms enhances the earthy character of the cheese.

1. Preheat the oven to 400º F. If using the mushrooms, sauté in oil until golden brown.

2. Split the Romelia in half; place one half in the bottom of a ramekin or baking dish that is the same circumference as the cheese. Spread the mushrooms over the cheese and place the other half on top.

3. Bake the cheese until bubbling and slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Serve with crackers, baguette, or dried apples.

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Root Vegetables with Sage Brown Butter and Bleu Bénédictin Purée Serves 8

400g (1 2/3 cups) 400g (1 2/3 cups) 45mL (3 Tbs) To taste 10 100mL (1/3 cup + 1 Tbs) 150g (2/3 cup)

rutabaga, peeled & cut into 1” cubes celery root, peeled & cut into 1” cubes olive oil salt & pepper large sage leaves, roughly chopped butter Bleu Bénédictin cheese, crumbled*

*Blue Juliette (Salt Spring Island Cheese, BC) or Dragon’s Breath (That Dutchman, NS) could be substituted.

1. Preheat the oven to 375º F. Toss the rutabaga and celery root cubes with the olive oil, salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan large enough to accommodate them in a single layer.

2. Add 250 mL (1 cup) of water, cover the pan loosely with foil and bake for an hour or until the cubes yield easily when pierced with a fork. Reserve.

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Allow the butter to cook to a light brown colour. Remove from heat and add the sage.

4. Place the vegetables in a blender or food processor with the butter/ sage mixture. Purée until the mixture has a smooth texture. Transfer from the blender to a bowl and stir in the blue cheese immediately so that it begins to melt. Check seasoning and serve.

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INSIDE JOB:

by Gabriel Hall

AMBIENCE THE ART OF

If we were to liken great chefs to iconic inventors and artists such as da Vinci, we might also make the comparison of their kitchens to Verrocchioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workshop, a place where some of the greatest minds of the fifteenth century honed their skills. If we continue to draw parallels, we could say the dining room, where one enjoys their masterful creations of sight and taste, would be equivalent to the Louvre or the British Museum.

The aesthetics of the dining room is a critical but often overlooked component of the dining experience. After all, sitting in an alley next to a dumpster eating an exquisite meal would hardly be an encounter one would want to remember. The unseen task of creating a comprehensive dining experience falls upon the many architects and interior designers who like chefs, use colour and texture to create an emotional response.

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Sarah Ward

McKinley Burkart The expectations of restaurant patrons have taken a drastic turn in the last few decades. A classic night out used to be a quick dinner before moving on to the theatre, a movie or a club. Many couples now spend hours sitting at the bar chatting with the staff while enjoying a bottle of wine, often being entertained by the activity in the kitchen. The kitchen has become the new stage.

Sarah Ward from the firm McKinley Burkart has been designing open kitchens at restaurants such as Notable, Olives and the new Candela Lounge. “There has been a cultural shift as far as food is concerned,” notes Ward, “People want to know where it comes from, who is producing it and what goes into getting it on the plate.

Open kitchens allow a glimpse into the behind the scenes of food and a relationship between the chef and the patrons.”

Designers have to continually update their skills and knowledge of industry trends, in order to design spaces that capitalize on the changing landscape of the dining world, as well as develop spaces that are innovative, sleek and pleasing to the senses.

Corinne Keddie

KAI (Keddie Architecture Inc.)

Kasey Sterling

photograph by Ingrid Kuenzel

Korr Design

Designing a restaurant often requires an insider’s touch. Kasey Sterling of Korr Design draws upon her own experience working in the hospitality industry, in order to connect with the operator to discuss their needs behind the bar, in the kitchen and on the floor.

“Every restaurant faces the same challenge: How can you maximize the number of revenue generating seats/areas verses the functional needs of the back of house?” Sterling responds when asked about the vastly different needs and tasks that all work in harmony within the single space.

“You have to know and understand the menu to properly design for both areas,” Sterling continues, “for example, is the food going to be served family style? Will serving utensils and additional share plates be required? These questions relate to plate storage and where that storage needs to be in proximity to the back of house. This same information also relates to the table sizes in the front of house.“ Harmonizing a multitude of aesthetic and utilitarian factors is the essence in the development of a comfortable space that provides top quality service to customers within the allotted budget.

Restaurant designers come from many different backgrounds; but regardless of how they started, it requires a great deal of knowledge, experience and passion to deal with the complexities of the design process. There are many different codes and requirements that a designer has to integrate into the project, along with functionality and aesthetics. And like the great masters, it takes years of honing one’s skills to really excel at the job.

“People always ask me how I got involved in restaurant design,” says architect Corinne Keddie, “The truth is Calgary has always been a fairly conservative city in terms of architecture, especially when I first started in the industry, and so I was looking for projects to work on that allowed me to push the boundaries of design. Designing restaurants interiors allows me to be as creative as I want and to really experiment with new ideas.”

Restaurant owners always are looking to be the next big thing, so they are willing to take more risks. And sometimes those risks really pay off. “I remember when we designed a long communal table at The Living Room. It was a way to get more seating in a narrow, small space, but we didn’t really know if it would work. It actually turned out to be the most popular place in the house to sit.”

It appears that many roads lead to Rome, but the fact is that restaurant design involves much more than just picking finishes and furniture. To make the entire process even more demanding, it does not happen in just a few days, often contrary to the client’s wishes.

What makes a great design is not just about how much money is spent, or ensuring return on the investment period, but rather that it creates an experience that makes customers yearn to return.

Perfecting each component in the precarious balance between food, service and ambiance through design, are vital in the creation of a chef d’œuvre.

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Julie Van Rosendaal: Calgary’s Friendly Neighbourhood

Home Cook

by Elizabeth Chorney-Booth

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photos courtesy of Julie Van Rosendaal

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When Julie Van Rosendaal was three years old, she asked her mother when she would be old enough to cook on her own in the kitchen. Her mother, figuring she was buying some time, told the toddler that she could cook once she was old enough to read a recipe by herself. Young Julie snuck off with some cookbooks, studied them carefully, and came back with a question:

Wanting to cook so badly, the three-year-old had taught herself to read. This may just be an exaggerated legend of Van Rosendaal family lore, but it also illustrates her lifelong obsession with recipes and home cooking. Van Rosendaal eventually translated that love of working with food into an impressive career as a food writer and media personality. Through her various cookbooks, television appearances, print and online articles in both local and national publications, popular Dinner with Julie blog, and a regular food column on CBC Radio’s Eyeopener morning show, Van Rosendaal has become one of Calgary’s most trusted and beloved local food

the kitchen. She’s also adamant that people recognize her as a home cook, not a trained chef.

“As a chef, you’re wearing your whites, you’re sort of segregating yourself from your audience,” Van Rosendaal says. “You’re putting yourself on a pedestal and cooking things that the average home cook isn’t going to try. But when you look at Best of Bridge, who have sold how many millions of copies, or Jean Pare at Company’s Coming, people can relate to them on their own level. It’s like a friend or a neighbour giving you a recipe and you know that you can actually do it because they’re just regular people too.”

A quick look through Van Rosendaal’s blog reveals plenty of delicious recipes that even cooking neophytes can make quickly and deliciously. Filled with easy salads, simple desserts, and meals sometimes thrown together out of whatever happens to be in her fridge on any given day, Dinner with Julie is a diary of what Van Rosendaal feeds her family. Along the way she offers anecdotes, ingredient notes, and helpful tips, all without being overly technical or making assumptions about her readers’ culinary education.

“So many people think they can’t cook, but they can cook just fine,” she says. “But they have that standard and the bar has been raised so high that they think that you have to be a pastry chef to make a pie.

authorities.

Even though she decided early on that she didn’t want to be a restaurant chef, Van Rosendaal couldn’t stay away from the world of cooking and food appreciation. After studying photography at ACAD, she opened a bakery and began work on her first cookbook, a collection of low-fat cookie recipes called One Smart Cookie. Taking a page from her role models at The Best of Bridge, Van Rosendaal selfpublished the book, which turned out to be an outstanding success.

Building on the media attention that came from the release of One Smart Cookie, Van Rosendaal used the contacts that she made through promotional television and radio appearances to develop the regular gigs that she has today. In the meantime, she’s also written four additional cookbooks, the most recent being Spilling The Beans, which she co-wrote with Sue Duncan (featured in the June 2012 issue of Culinaire Magazine).

A good part of Van Rosendaal’s success can be attributed to her approachability and open-minded attitude towards food. Listening to her radio spots or reading her blog feels more like chatting about cooking and sharing recipes with a good friend than receiving expert advice from a chef. Don’t be mistaken — Van Rosendaal has some enviable kitchen skills, but she’s careful to send the message that anyone can make her recipes and we all should be able to have fun in

It’s not that complicated. I’ve always liked the idea of sharing recipes with people and I think we’ve lost that.”

The next logical step for a media personality with a niche in the food landscape and a dedicated following would be a cable cooking show, but Van Rosendaal has little interest in becoming the next Food Network TV star. She did co-host a program called It’s Just Food for the Viva Network (the show is now in re-runs) and regularly appears on Breakfast Television, but for the time being, at least, she’s happy with the freedom that comes with her existing projects. Even though plenty of food writing jobs lurk in Toronto, Van Rosendaal plans to stay put in Calgary and would rather expand her reach within the city in a way that goes beyond mere food writing. She is currently working with the Calgary Board of Education on a new nutrition policy and is also working to create a list of approved farmers and food producers who can come into classrooms to teach kids about food production and healthy eating. This is on top of The Gullet, a second blog that she recently launched, and a job as the food editor of Parents Canada.

“I feel like a lot of what I do right now is kind of fluffy and could be more meaningful,” Van Rosendaal says. “I love doing recipes and talking about how to make pie, but sometimes I want to do more and make more of a difference. I want to make a living, but I also want to make a difference.”

“What’s a tiblespnn?” she asked her mother.

“A tiblespnn?” her mother asked, confused. “Use it in a sentence.”

“Add one tiblespnn of sugar…”

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Higher Learning SAIT’s New Downtown Culinary School Campus written and photographed by Fred Malley, CCC

There is a lot cooking in the hallowed halls on the hill.

I sat down recently with Tom Bornhorst, Dean of the School of Hospitality and Tourism at SAIT Polytechnic, for an update on all the new projects. The 740,000 square foot Trades and Technology complex has been stealing the limelight but SAIT’s culinary programs now feature one of the only charcuterie labs in North America housed in a school.

The Michelle O’Reilly Charcuterie Lab opened this fall and will have a profound impact on student training. The unique $300,000 addition to the school’s training capabilities is a testament to Michelle’s families’ love for a life taken unexpectedly, and a fitting memorial to a person who was passionate about everything in her life; raising a young family, competing in martial arts, cooking, and of course her love for Dan. Fitting too, due to Michelle’s parents, Don and Mazel Chamberland’s fondness of fishing; we spent an enjoyable afternoon creating salmon pepperoni from their catch of sockeye. Dan explained (lump in throat), “Don and I were looking for a way to honour Michelle’s memory and her passion for cooking. She was proud of her culinary skills and liked the art of cooking. She would be so excited by this and the lab is an opportunity to help lots of people, which is fitting because Michelle was always helping others.”

An existing area within the meat cutting area has been refurbished to open up the space, and all professional cooking, apprentice cooks

and meat operations students will take part of their training in this new lab. It is outfitted with state-of-the-art digitized controls on the equipment to document the science behind creating flavourful and food-safe charcuterie products. An Omcan Hydraulic Sausage Stuffer, custom-built InterGastro Curing Chamber and Scottpec Atmosphere Controlled Smoker complement an existing smoke chamber that is operated manually. In addition to producing, curing and drying specialized sausages and prosciutto, other products such as bacon, ham and fresh sausages are produced. The usual Hobart grinder, vertical cutters, vacuum packer and steam kettle complete the major equipment.

Two faculty members have been sent to specialized technical courses on charcuterie production, with an emphasis on the science behind the processes. Desmond Johnston (Brassica Mustard) and Abe van Melle are as excited as kids in a candy shop. Look for the fruits of their labours in the Market Place located in the John Ware building on campus.

An established memorial tribute, Jackson’s Garden, (Henuset family of Willow Park Wines and Spirits) thrived with the summer heat and humidity. An intern gardener from Olds College split his time between there and Rouge Restaurant over the summer. Culinary students participate in growing and planting seedlings and harvesting from this

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fresh outdoor classroom. You can’t beat the aroma or flavour of justpicked rosemary, chives or carrots. The tomatoes actually taste like a tomato. There is a selection of fruit-bearing trees and bushes. A new addition is an eco-engineered greenhouse utilizing bubble technology that extends the growing season and expands students’ appreciation for ‘growing your own’. The garden bounty finds its way into the Highwood dining room and various culinary and apprentice classes.

The Harvest Dinner featured an entire menu utilizing organic produce from the garden, highlighting a number of instructors’ creativity, including using the outdoor forno oven.

Culinary Campus (Downtown) is a new SAIT business venture designed to expand enrolment in the wait-listed Professional Cooking and Baking and Pastry Arts programs. Located at 226, 230- 8th Ave. SW, on the Plus 15 level of Scotia Centre adjacent to the Bay, it has access off Stephen Avenue.

This 10,000 square foot worldclass facility is a live classroom for cooks and bakers. Geanel Restaurant Supplies leveraged $2.3 million to build and outfit the space. MIWE, Rational plus stacked convection ovens,

a Rotisol Rotisserie, CDS display cases, True refrigeration, Nordeck Freezers and coolers, Doyon Spiral mixer, sheeter and bun divider, tilt skillets, electric kettles, charbroiler, griddle, fryers, ranges and a Hobart potwasher round out the major equipment.

The concept draws on the successful integration of teaching, production, service and retailing, from the main campus. It is a testament to the expertise of the faculty in the School of Hospitality & Tourism. In addition to addressing industry needs for more professionally trained personnel, it adds a new element to the downtown scene; you can watch the students in action.

Arrive at 7:00 am, Monday through Friday, for fresh brewed coffee and baked yeast goods. It is a ‘grab and go’ format, with a Market Place for salads, sandwiches and yeast goods, open until 5 pm. Lunch service features live action stations, look for the Rotisserie, Hot Foods and á la minute for pastas and stir-fries. The hot foods selections are not your typical food court offerings, offering fare worthy of any upscale restaurant in town. Operations are a year-round weekday model that will employ students

for internships during the summer months.

SAIT fast-tracked construction of the facility over the summer months to ensure a fall opening. The challenge arose from securing a suitable space for the ambitious project.

As Dean Tom Bornhorst commented, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’ Fortunately, there is plenty of expert support from faculty and staff on the main campus, plus a successful operating model.

The Continuing Education classes are structured to meet the client’s needs and provide a fun and informative session. The popularity of Culinary Team-Building classes has been expanded to utilize the state-of-the-art facility in the evenings and on weekends. Look for the Rush Hour Recipe, a 45 minute class beginning after work, where you get instruction on how to prepare a quick, tasty item and take the preparation ingredients home to cook your dinner; the time-consuming mise en place done for you. You can avoid some of the rush hour traffic and the LRT is nearby. The Artisanal Series focuses on educated cuisine. Classes will feature an ingredient, such as vinegars, local purveyors and growers, and seasonal themes.

The new chocolate/sugar lab was built a couple of years ago and there are spectacular creations coming from it.

Chocolate sculptures and blown, pulled and poured sugar art are common sights in the Market Place, which features baking, pastries, a fresh meat counter, prepared chilled soups and other foods plus a selection of specialty ingredients. Christmas is an exciting time when you can purchase all your holiday treats prepared with top quality ingredients. Look for a selection of chocolates too.

If you thought the opening of SAIT’s new 740,000 square foot Trades and Technology buildings were the only excitement on campus, consider the School of Hospitality & Tourism’s newest addition to the Travel and Tourism program. Destinations is a travel agency located in the Senator Burns building. It is the only live agency of its kind in North America. Students experience real world customer service. Chair, Gerry Suffield and his team of instructors are excited to integrate this project into their courses. This new feature to programming means that all Hospitality & Tourism students at SAIT have a live training component in their courses.

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Commanderie

Boy Scouts, sports teams, the debate club...

Bordeaux

Most of us belonged to something growing

Did you know that Calgary has a variety of food and beverage clubs that promote sharing common interests? One of these is the Commanderie de Bordeaux. Commanderie translates to commandery or prefecture – an administrative jurisdiction under the governance of a higher-level commander, like the Order of the Grail or the Zhou Dynasty!

The governing body of the Commanderie is the Grand Conseil du Vin de Bordeaux in France, overseeing a worldwide network of chapters from Europe to North America. The Calgary chapter was established in 1977 and has almost 40 members. It has a counsel or board, the head of which is the maitre, currently Greg Stebbe, and the others are called regents.

The Commanderie’s role is to be a gathering place for like-minded gastronomes/oenophiles. According to Greg, “the Commanderie is based on having fun whilst learning about Bordeaux wines, wine culture and traditions. Our events vary from taking over a bistro for the evening with a short themed flight of wines before a nice 3 course dinner, to having a cinema night where we screen a French language film with wine and amuse bouche during, followed by a dinner after, to straight tastings of a more serious nature with little or no food accompaniment.”

The Commanderie holds six to eight events throughout the year, including a black tie induction dinner where new commandeurs (members) are welcomed into the order. The club even partners

annually with the Shakespeare Company to host a backyard play and luncheon in July! All events focus on wine, food and camaraderie (yes, the commandeurs have camaraderie – say that after a few glasses of wine!).

What’s so special about Bordeaux? Why not a “commanderie de shiraz”? Bordeaux is full of tradition and history. I’ve been there – I know! From the 1855 Classification System to Bordeaux wine futures to the grandiose chateaus and their lawns, it is a region unmatched in class. I have personally visited first growth chateaux to unclassified vineyards, and tradition oozed from every square foot of land!

The Commanderie maintains their own cellar to use for their events; they currently hold approximately 900 bottles. Stebbe explains, ”our cellar is centered on Cru Classe wines, but increasingly we are purchasing lesser known chateaux producing fantastic wines.

Escalation of prices of top-rated Bordeaux recently has all but eliminated these wines from normal consumption and are added for tastings only.”

Can anyone join? The counsel suggests attending several events as a guest to see if the club and their approach to Bordeaux is a fit. Stebbe laughs “we are serious, but certainly not reverential!” Visit their website at www.commanderiedebordeaux.wordpress.com for more information.

Bordeaux, toujours Bordeaux.

de

up. It was a place to interact with other like-minded individuals... (or maybe it was just because our parents made us go!)

by BJ Oudman

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The Stuffing Your Meal Is Made Of words, photos and recipes by Natalie Findlay

When it comes to stuffing your Thanksgiving bird there are many variables, least of which, is the comfort of the traditional stuffing passed down from your family. Stuffing or dressing (used interchangeably) has been around for centuries.

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The concept of a stuffing is simple: gather a group of ingredients together and place inside meat, fowl, seafood or vegetable to cook as it soaks up the flavours of its vessel. Remember, “the devil is in the detail”.

It’s the details that can turn your stuffing from stove top to chef’s table. If you are making a bread stuffing then try challah, sourdough or rye bread. For a rice stuffing, mix in some wild rice for a nutty flavour.

Cornbread pairs nicely with a chorizo stuffing. Your vegetables should be sautéed (in butter and garlic for flavour) and seasoned. Choose good quality ground meat or sausage, cook and add into the rest of your dressing ingredients. The fruits, nuts, herbs, and seasonings are picked from the things you like the most. You could add sweet potato, apple, cinnamon, allspice, walnuts and sage for a sweeter pumpkin pie combination. Prefer something spicy? Chorizo sausage, thyme, and red onion may suit your taste buds. If you are fond of citrus, then incorporate lemon and orange zest, orange juice, ground chicken, sourdough bread and lemon thyme into your blend. This is a time to use your imagination or enhance your family recipe.

Here’s a simple guide to help you build your own stuffing recipe. You can create your own family tradition.

1. base (bread, rice, potato) + vegetables + meat + fruit + nuts + herbs + seasonings + liquid (stock, wine, milk) 2. take base + sautéed vegetables + cooked meat, place all in a large bowl, and cool 3. add egg, fruits, nuts, herbs, seasonings and combine 4. add liquid 5. stuff inside your bird, or a separate dish 6. cook Where do you stuff your turkey? The consensus is, if you are going to stuff your bird, then it should be in the neck and breast cavity.

Reason being, the breast cooks quicker than the rest of the turkey so stuffing the breast cavity will slow down the cooking time improving the chance of your bird cooking evenly. You should stuff your bird right before you put it in the oven and do not overfill the cavity. The dressing is cooked once it reaches an internal temperature of 165º F. You should plan for 120-180 mL (1/2 to 3/4 cup) of stuffing per person. Any extra stuffing that does not fit in the bird (and I always advise having more stuffing) can be cooked in a greased casserole dish at 350ª F for approximately 45 minutes or until the top is golden and heated through.

Sweet Potato, Apple, Walnut Stuffing

Mushroom and Herb Stuffing

Serves 6 Prep Time: 30 minutes, Cook Time: 1 hour

Serves: 6 Prep Time: 40 min, Cooking Time: 1 hour

1.5 L (6 cups) 1 120 mL (1/2 cup) 120 mL (1/2 cup) 4 120 mL (1/2 cup) 1 3 60 mL (1/4 cup) 240 mL (1 cup) 1 3 Herbs: 240 mL (1 cup) To taste

480 mL (2 cups) 28 g (2 Tbs) 450 g

240 mL (1 cup) 90 mL (6 Tbs) 3 480 mL (2 cups) 240 mL (1 cup) 550 g 225 g 120 mL (1/2 cup) Herbs: To taste 2 180mL (3/4 cup)

brioche, dried and cubed onion, diced small celery, diced small carrot, diced small cloves garlic, minced butter medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed tart apples, peeled and cubed bourbon walnuts, coarsely chopped zest of lemon eggs sage, thyme and parsley stock salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350ÂŞ F. 2. Boil cubed sweet potato until soft, about 15 minutes.

3. SautĂŠ onion, celery, carrots and garlic in butter over medium heat, until soft. Deglaze with bourbon.

4. Add sweet potato and apples and cook another 5 minutes. Let cool.

5. In a large bowl combine, bread, sweet potato mixture, walnuts and lemon zest with 3 eggs along with the herbs, and mix well with hands.

6. Add stock if mixture needs more moisture. Stuffing should be moist but not wet. Season to taste.

7. Cover casserole dish with buttered foil and bake 45 minutes.

8. Uncover and bake until top is crisp, approximately 15 minutes.

hot water dried porcini mushrooms egg bread, crust trimmed, dried & cut into 2cm cubes hazelnuts, toasted and chopped unsalted butter leeks, coarsely chopped celery, diced shallots, diced crimini mushrooms, sliced chanterelle mushrooms, sliced white wine parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary salt and pepper eggs, lightly beaten chicken stock

1. Soak porcini mushrooms in 480 mL (2 cups) hot water until the mushrooms are soft, approximately 30 minutes. Reserve soaking liquid, and chop mushrooms coarsely.

2. Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Cook leeks, shallots, chanterelle and crimini mushrooms in butter until tender, about 15 minutes. Deglaze with white wine.

3. Mix in celery and porcini mushrooms, and cook for 5 minutes.

Transfer to a large bowl, and mix with bread and nuts. Season with parsley, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper. Stir in eggs.

4. Combine broth and 180mL (3/4 cup) reserved porcini soaking liquid; add just enough broth mixture to the stuffing to moisten.

5. Transfer stuffing to a buttered 25 x 38 cm (10 x 15 inch) baking dish.

Cover with buttered foil, and bake until heated through, 45 minutes.

6. Uncover, and bake until top is crisp, approximately 15 minutes.

Note: use your favourite mushrooms for this recipe.

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Freakishly

Festive

Fall Beers

by Meaghan O’Brien and David Nuttall

The crisp air, leaves turning gorgeous colours of yellow and orange, the smell of pumpkin pie and warm apple cider, are the things many of us look forward to in the fall. So are the cozy, colourful and festive beers that are Oktoberfest/Märzens, pumpkin brews and other seasonal concoctions. These seasonal beers are much more complex and substantial than summer thirst quenchers, and can be paired with some of your favourite comfort foods.

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Märzen /Oktoberfest beers have been around for hundreds of years, a product of Bavarian brewing law which decreed that beer can only be brewed between St. Michael’s Day (September 29) and St. George’s Day (April 23), in order to minimize brewery fires and brewing problems which occur in the heat of the summer months. The last beers made, the Marzens, would be stored (lagered) in cellars or caves with blocks of ice, until opened to celebrate the harvest and the start of the new brewing season.

This tradition took a giant leap forward when Crown Prince Ludwig (later to

be King Ludwig I) married Princess Therese on October 12, 1810. No single man-made event has been responsible for more beer consumption around the world than this wedding; not the day of celebration of deaths of patron saints, not annual carnivals based on religious dates factored around full moons, not arbitrary yearly calendar flips, and not even 10 day rodeos. Since the wedding went so well, all of Germany decided to celebrate the anniversary in the form of a 16 day festival every year since (only being interrupted by war and economic reasons). While Oktoberfest in Munich

now attracts about 7 million visitors a year drinking litres of beer in tents which hold almost 10,000 people, the festival has now migrated all over the globe, with Kitchener-Waterloo holding Canada’s biggest event.

In Munich, only six breweries within the city limits are allowed to produce Oktoberfest beers, most of which don’t show up in Alberta; at the time of writing, it’s unclear which ones will arrive in 2012, although Hacker-Pschorr’s was on tap last year. Fortunately, there are other beers from Bavaria which fill in the gap, such as Ayinger’s Oktober Fest-Märzen

from just outside Munich, Needless to say, these beers scream for sausages, pork, roasted chicken, beef and game, yet also have a sweetness which allows them to go with many desserts, such as Crème Brulee.

To clarify, true Oktoberfest/ Märzens are brewed only once a year in the spring, and stored until their release in the fall. They are slightly higher in alcohol (around 5%-6%), tend to be slightly darker than most lagers (with the exception of the Helles style), and have a predominantly malty,

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creamy and caramel flavour. Oktoberfest (without the Märzen) beers are made mostly in North America and are inspired by the style, but haven’t been lagered.

Often brewed using native hops, these beers are much like the original, just a bit more bitter. Many are brewed more than once, so they hang around a little longer than the Märzens. Samuel Adams Octoberfest is probably the most ubiquitous, but search for limited releases such as Ein Prosit!

Oktoberfest from Edmonton’s Alley Kat, and Washington’s Leavenworth Oktoberfest Ale. Finally, check and see which seasonals are being brewed down at your local Brewster’s.

Pumpkin beers are becoming a more popular seasonal brew for many craft breweries located in the “pumpkin belt”.

The National Beer Hall, well known for their large selection of North American beer, is serving up Quebec’s St. Ambroise Pumpkin Ale this fall.

Manager Chris Joyce, whose mantra is to serve only good quality food and beer, is excited to announce that they will be the only bar in the city serving this great fall beer on tap (it is also available in stores in a four-pack). To accompany this pint, Joyce suggests their spice rubbed roasted chicken or a National burger; “Pumpkin beers are going to go well with our burger, medium-rare of course.”

Deck it out with toppings of cheese, mushrooms, fried egg, or ‘the works’; for the epitome of indulgence.

Squamish, B.C.’s Howe Sound will also be back with Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale in their famous one litre re-closable bottle, brewed with fresh roasted pumpkin.

And brand new to the market, but with a very limited supply, is Parallel 49 Brewing Company’s

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Oktoberfest lager. Look for Tree Brewing from Kelowna’s Limited Edition Jumpin Jack Pumkin Ale and Brooklyn’s Post Road. Even Alley Kat’s Pumpkin Pie is returning due to popular demand after a year hiatus.

To further satisfy the craving for pumpkin, look for several other breweries’ versions.

But act fast, they run out quickly.

Pumpkin beers are not the only fall creations worth trying, and with Halloween in mind there are many different beers that draw their inspiration from this ghoulish eve and provide a delicious treat for adults. Halloween is

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simply not complete without a treat to satisfy that sweet tooth.

Amber’s Brewing Co. brews their Sap Vampire Maple Lager year-round but distinct maple notes, malty finish, and of course the clever title, make it a great beer to crack open with some roasted beer nuts or a slice of warm apple pie on Halloween. They also make the chillingly named Zombie Apocalypse Red Lager, which you can find only on tap.

Rogue Brewery, out of Oregon, brews a German style Maibock, coined Dead Guy Ale. The rich

hearty flavour and sweet malty aroma goes great with a marinated spicy pork chop, a side of honey-glazed butternut squash and mashed potatoes. For those of you wondering about its gruesome name, this ale was created as a private tap sticker to celebrate the Mayan Day of the Dead (November 1, All Saints Day) for Casa U Betcha in Portland.

The design was so popular, that they made it the label for their Maierbock Ale. They also make Voodoo Bacon Maple Ale, whose part sinister/part sweet name is exactly what it says it is; and it goes great with bacon maple doughnuts and cupcakes. To add a bit more unconventional delicious flavour to your

taste buds this fall, try Freaktoberfest

by Coney Island Brewing Company of Brooklyn, New York; a blood orange coloured beer made with six hops, six malts and comes in at 6.66% ABV. (get it?).

The Wychwood Brewery of Oxfordshire, England produces a veritable enchanted forest of beers which seem to pop in and out of the Alberta market like an elusive leprechaun. With names like Hobgoblin, Goliath, Scarecrow, and Wychcraft (amongst others), the labels alone can decorate your house at Halloween. Dieu de Ciel out of Quebec also contributes to the season with Corne du diable (Horn of the Devil), Péché Mortel (Mortal Sin), Paienne (Pagan), Rigor Mortis ABT and others. The good news is most of these beers are available year round, when you can find them.

Can’t decide whether to try an Oktoberfest or a pumpkin beer, or something devilishly brewed for Halloween? Mill Street Brewery out of Toronto has released the best of all worlds. Their new Autumn Harvest Seasonal Classics six-pack contains three Oktoberfest beers brewed in the Marzen style and three Pumpkin Ales called Nightmare on Mill Street, based on their brewmaster’s wife’s pumpkin pie recipe.

So, whether you decide to celebrate the change of the seasons with a tasty Märzen, a North American Octoberfest, a spicy pumpkin ale, or some menacingly named brew, be prepared to be spooked by how delicious some of these fall brews are. These beers can be found all over the city at your local store and the happening beer-forward pubs and bars, but make sure you act quickly, because much like our fall season, they won’t last long.

Chef’s Tips written and photographed by Natalie Findlay

Mike Wrinch, at Knifewear in Inglewood, knows a thing or two about carving a bird. He gives us his four top tips for successful carving: 1. Patience: The art of resting the bird before carving. Heat causes the bird to tighten up. If you start to carve your turkey straight away, all the juices will flow out of the meat. Allowing it to rest 15 minutes will allow the bird to absorb the juices, therefore creating a moist product.

2. Make sure the knife you’re using allows you the ability to carve your turkey. A carving knife should be about 24cm in length and 3 to 4 cm in width.

3. If you are carving your bird before you get to the table then remove it completely from the bone before proceeding to carve

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it into slices. If you are carving the bird at the table then the most important step begins before the bird goes in the oven.

Mike says to remove the wishbone that attaches the back to the wing. By doing this, it allows you to carve the breast easier and make you look like a pro.

4. Mike also believes that the leg and thigh usually end up being the best part of the turkey. In order to get the most from it, he suggests removing the leg and cutting around the bone like you would cut around an apple core, leaving you with three pieces of meat to slice and serve.

Chef Andrew Winfield, has been with River Café for eleven years, and is dedicated to working with nature’s bounty. His tip is to “up the ante”. Chanterelle mushrooms are top of his list at this time of year, particularly those from Saskatchewan that are firm and small with a musky, apricot sweetness. He also wants us to take the best of the season’s harvest to preserve. The corn harvest signals the end of summer, and the kernels can easily be preserved through pickling, freezing or canning. Chef Winfield uses a salting method to turn duck breasts into duck proscuitto.

Perfect for a Thanksgiving starter.

Duck Prosciutto with Taber Corn & Sage Sformato and Sautéed Saskatchewan Chanterelles Look for a 225-250 g duck breast, neatly trimmed by a butcher.

Curing Mix 2 Kg 5 g (1 tsp) 6 g (1 heaped tsp) 15 g (1 Tbs)

course salt juniper berries, ground in a mortar bay leafs, crushed fine fresh thyme leaves

1. Slightly toast crushed juniper berries in a shallow pan, then mix all ingredients together.

2. Place 240 mL (1 cup) of curing mix into a glass container big enough to fit a duck breast.

3. Place duck breast on top and pour over 480 mL (2 cups) of curing mix, packing tightly.

4. Let sit in fridge for 18 hours 5. Remove duck breast from salt, rinse, pat dry and wrap lightly in cheesecloth.

6. Tie with butcher twine and hang in a cool cellar (ideal around 1213C) for 12 to 14 days, until duck has lost 30% of its weight.

It is now ready to be sliced.

See www.culinairemagazine.ca for the Taber Corn & Sage Sformato and Sautéed Saskatchewan Chanterelles recipes.

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Chef Xavier Lacaze, of

Home Tasting Room, grew up with duck as a staple.

His tip is to love duck all year long. It’s moist and has a deeper flavour and can be substituted for any other protein on your plate.

He especially loves the fall season for duck as it is a rich, comfort food that fits into the abundant flavours of fall and every special occasion.

Oven Roasted Alberta Duck Breast with Duck Confit Polenta and Sour Cherry Jus Serves 4

1 60 mL (¼ cup) 240 mL (1cup) To taste

whole Alberta duck (or 2 legs and 2 breasts) sour cherry jam veal or duck demi glace salt and pepper

Herb Salad: 85 g arugula chervil, mint, tarragon and parsley leaves 15 mL (1Tbs) extra virgin olive oil To taste salt and pepper

1. Heat a large pan or skillet with cooking oil or duck fat.

Season each breast generously with salt and pepper, and cook in the hot pan, skin side down on medium heat. After approximately 10 minutes, the skin should be crispy; flip the breasts and cook for another 3 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the duck rest in the pan for 3 minutes before serving.

2. Melt sour cherry jam in a little pot and add the demi glace.

Bring to a boil, cook until it reaches a thick consistency and set aside until needed.

3. Mix all herbs leaves and arugula in a bowl. Season with the olive oil, salt and pepper and toss gently.

4. Slice duck breast and cover with the sour cherry jus. Finish with the herb salad and serve right away.

Chef Xavier serves this dish with a duck confit polenta. Go to www.culinairemagazine.ca for the recipe.

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Mary Ellen Grueneberg, of Green Eggs and Ham

Farm, is an expert on birds. She carries all your festive fowl requirements. The European holiday bird is the goose, whilst the French prefer guinea fowl and duck for their special occasions, and she has them all. Here in North America we are partial to turkey for our Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings, and Green Eggs and Ham Farm has all sizes of turkeys. She also carries turkey and duck sausages to complement your thanksgiving stuffing, as well as duck eggs that will make any dessert lighter and smoother.

For smaller families that may have trouble finding a turkey that doesn’t have you eating leftovers until next Thanksgiving, she recommends a “turkey bombe”. This is a stuffed turkey breast filled with cranberries and orange, and just enough bread to bind the filling together. It comes bagged and frozen. The instructions for cooking are simple: 1. Boil from frozen for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove turkey bombe from bag and let cool just enough to handle.

2. Prepare a crust of finely chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, and herbs on a sheet tray.

3. Prepare melted duck fat (for a crisper crust) or duck egg wash in another tray.

Coat turkey bombe in duck fat or eggs, then roll in the crust coating. Place in preheated 350º F oven and roast for 20 to 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 155º F.

• • • Menu Gems Here are some of our favourite poultry dishes!

Heather ~ Hartmann On my first visit to Avec Bistro on 11th Avenue, I was blown away by the duck confit. It’s incredibly tender, and the richness of the duck is beautifully balanced by stewed sour cherries. They’ve only been open a couple of months, so I haven’t been back yet, but I will. ~

Stephanie ~ Arsenault Cassis Bistro has an incredible chicken entrée that I would happily indulge in any day. The Sunworks free-range chicken (chicken leg, morel mushroom sauce, arugula, and mashed potatoes) is flavourful, well balanced, and comforting; you just can’t go wrong… especially if you start out the meal with a glass of Pastis. ~

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Heather ~ Kingston In the heart of Kensington lies The Brasserie. This bistro is the number three seller of Foie Gras in Canada. I decided to pass on the Foie Gras this time because the Duck Rillettes looked so good! The roasted, shredded duck meat came piled atop a fresh piece of French bread. The aioli brought the entire open-faced sandwich to a delicious taste experience. I have my eye on their Duck Confit for my next visit!

~ Wendy Ell ~ One of my favourite poultry dishes is the Mr. Chicken Panini form The Holy Grill. Grilled chicken, five star bacon, roasted red peppers, tomatoes and red onions.

Very few sandwiches can you call “Mister”. This one has earned the right.

~

~ Linda Garson ~ I ordered the Wild Mushroom, Truffle, Basil and White Cheddar Scramble on Noble Duck Confit Hash for brunch at Big Fish recently. It was a very generous plate and I still finished every last bite. The Cornish Hen at Il Sogno is always cooked perfectly with crispy skin and moist, tender flesh - definitely a favourite. Then there’s the chicken curries... Kang Kiew Wan Kai (green curry chicken in coconut milk with basil, zucchini and green peppers) at Thai-Sai-On, Chicken Karai Masala at Safari Grill and the Butter Chicken at La Jawab – all platelicking dishes!

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~ Tom Firth ~ Based on my history with canards and plate glass, I’ll eat anything with duck in it. See page 49 for the story and a few picks.

•

• ~ Patricia Koyich ~ My favourite duck dishes are both at Il Sogno and that’s no bias! One is the duck croquettes amazing with chili honey and/or paprika aoili ... like little nuggets of bliss! The other is on our lunch menu, confit leg on rich mushroom risotto.

Perfect comfort food!

•

~ Adrian Bryksa ~ When it comes to fowl in Calgary, my choice for presentation to seek out is the Fois Gras Poutine from Brasserie Kensington with its layers of potatoes fried in duck fat, duck gravy, truffle oil, parmesan cheese and lobes of fois gras. It is extraordinarily decadent and perfect to share with a glass of Siduri Pinot Noir. This is comfort food taken to the excess.

~ Wendy Brownie ~ Notable’s Happy Chicken to go is brilliant! Order your crisply roasted succulent bird accompanied with fingerling potatoes, veggies and amazing sauce for your drive home. So easy and so delicious. It is habit forming – all good!

~ Fred Malley ~ I recently enjoyed the rotisserie duck at Wurst.

Very meaty and tender, crisp skin, it comes whole on a carving board. Excellent value for two and you’ll have leftovers for the next day.

~ BJ Oudman ~ My favourite is BBQ duck from the T & T takeout counter. This is simple food I cannot make - buy a container to go and add your own sides for a great meal at home.

~ Vincci Tsui ~ I really like the Duck Two Ways from 80th & Ivy. The croquettes are nice and crisp on the outside, while the duck provides a rich flavour, without being too heavy or greasy, and it goes very well with the sweet, thick date paste that they provide for dipping. The flaky pastry on the pastilla was a very pleasant surprise (I had originally thought it would be more like a spring roll) and again, it just really brings out the rich flavour of the duck. All this richness contrasts nicely with the watercress and pear salad that’s also on the plate!

• ~ Gabriel Hall ~ If you share my aversion to turkey, listening to people prattle on about the wonders of the big bird wears quickly on your nerves. To regain my sanity, I hop out to Happy Hill on Centre Street and 8th Avenue North (or any major Chinese restaurant) and order myself some deep fried squab. This crispy, cute little birdy always reminds me that bigger isn’t always better.

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Pumpkin 32

3Ways

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by Linda Garson

Pumpkins, and their gorgeous autumnal colour, symbolize fall in Canada. Is it a coincidence that they are the same colour as turning leaves? They’re not quite so prevalent in England although we did try growing them in our veggie patch one year and had considerable success too! But then I had no idea what to do with them all, so I experimented with pumpkin recipes, both sweet and savoury, to build a repertoire of trustworthy dishes for entertaining (and impressing) my friends!

Here are three dishes to cover all courses – a starter of pumpkin and coconut soup with a subtle hint of smoky chipotle chili, a main course of pumpkin stuffed with spiced turkey and cashew nuts and for dessert, a beautiful pumpkin and ginger cheesecake. They’re all really simple to make with easy to find ingredients and very tasty!

Pumpkin and Coconut Soup Serves 6

450 g pumpkin pureed 45 mL (3 Tbs) olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 2

cloves garlic, chopped 1 smoked chipotle chilli 55g slice from cream of coconut block 720 mL (3 cups) chicken stock salt, pepper, croutons 1. Fry onion in oil until slightly coloured, then add chilli and garlic.

2. Fry for a minute, add pumpkin and fry for a further minute.

3. Add stock and simmer 10 minutes.

4. Crumble in cream of coconut and stir till dissolved.

5. Season to taste and serve topped with croutons.

Pair with a lightly oaked Chardonnay such as Plaisir de Merle $26 or a sparkling wine like Saurus Brut $22

Turkey & Cashew Nut Stuffed Pumpkin

Pumpkin and Ginger Cheesecake

375g turkey breast 3 cloves garlic, chopped 60 mL (4Tbs) olive oil 1 cm ginger, chopped 25g butter 100g plain cashews 1 large onion, chopped 200g chicken livers (optional) 5 mL (1tsp) ground mace 6-8 sage leaves 5 mL (1tsp) paprika 1.5kg pumpkin, (hollowed out) 5 mL (1tsp) dill seeds

170g digestive biscuits, crushed 50 g melted butter 15 mL (1Tbs) sugar 450g pumpkin,

cooked & pureed 3 large eggs 150 g soft brown sugar 5 mL (1 tsp) ground ginger 225 g cream cheese 30 mL (2 Tbs) flour 4 pieces stem ginger

Serves 4

1. Melt all the butter with 30 mL (2tbs) oil in a pan, add onions and cook till soft. Stir in paprika, dill seeds, garlic and ginger.

2. Chop turkey into small pieces and add to pan, stirring until opaque. Place in bowl.

3. Add 5mL (1tsp) oil to pan and fry cashews until brown, then add to turkey.

4. If using, fry chicken livers briefly and add, with the sage, to the bowl.

5. Stuff pumpkin, replace the top and wrap with foil.

6. Bake in roasting pan for 2 hours at 350˚F or until flesh feels soft when you insert a knife.

Serves 8

1. Mix biscuit crumbs, sugar and butter together and press into 20 cm pie tin.

2. Mix pumpkin, eggs, cheese, ginger, brown sugar and flour together. Add stem ginger.

3. Pour into tin and bake at 350º F for 40-50 minutes or until set.

Pair with Pinnacle Ice Cider, either still or sparkling $29.50

Pair with a Beaujolais such as Villa Ponciago Beaujolais-Villages $21 or any of the fall pumpkin beers in our October beer article.

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le Vie en

Rouge: No Scarecrow Required written and photographed by Adrian Bryksa

Patrons of the restaurant scene in Calgary are constantly having their attention grabbed by new, up-and-coming additions and this can lead diners to forget about those trail blazers that paved the way. Fortunately, despite the competition, Rouge continues to execute service on a level that few can attain.

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Since 2001, the team at Rouge led by owners Paul Rogalski & Olivier Reynaud, has consistently delivered creative, artful expressions of food combined with service that is second to none. In 2010, it was recognized by Restaurant magazine as number 60 in the San Pellegrino top 100 restaurants in the world, a list compiled by over 800 industry experts. That same year, it was voted Restaurant of the Year by Avenue magazine, and it is continually recognized, both digitally and in print, as one of the best places to visit for finer dining in Calgary.

There is a calculated simplicity to the menus at Rouge that other restaurants could take note of. For example, the lunch menu consists of only twelve options: six first courses and six second courses. While the menu is rooted in French cuisine and technique, one shouldn’t be surprised to see Asian-inspired dishes such as duck confit salad rolls or a unique interpretation of India’s mulligatawny soup. In short, the lunch menu is a cultural culinary melting pot with influences that reflect ingredient availability and the inspiration and collaboration of Rouge’s talented kitchen team.

The dinner menu demonstrates the same approach and offers several starters, two soups, two salads and only seven main courses. It should be noted that Rouge is one of approximately 40 restaurants in Calgary that takes part in the Ocean Wise program,

and the menu proudly denotes the Ocean Wise seal if the dish contains seafood from a certified supplier. For guests looking to experience the ultimate in culinary creativity, Rouge offers a sixcourse chef’s tasting menu matched only by local contemporaries such as River Café, Teatro and Chef’s Table at the Kensington Riverside Inn. Rouge culinary team members are creative and flexible with their menu and adapt their offerings based on availability of ingredients or unique diner needs (celiac, vegan, lactose-intolerant and pescatarian, to name a few).

Rouge staff haven’t limited themselves to service within the confines of the former Cross residence. They have designed and crafted a beautiful, functional garden area walled in by shrubs and trees to provide a private sanctuary. Within the larger area are several vegetable gardens, where the chefs who tend them can find just the right ingredient. This garden is symbolic of the team’s philosophy. They are dedicated to ensuring sustainability and freshness, and they try to source ingredients from local producers whenever possible. It is not unusual to see chefs scurrying out to the garden to harvest ingredients between the lunch and dinner rush. This patio and garden area also doubles as a space for various receptions such as weddings, and is an oasis in the hustle and bustle surrounding it from the lively community within

Inglewood.

The team has unique logistical challenges—all their inventory must be manually carried down a set of stairs and their storage areas can only handle about one-week’s worth of produce. Given the complexity of their lunch and dinner menus, the chef’s tasting menu and banquet menus, a highly organized inventory master is a must, and this man is Luis Elias-Obergnon, one of Rouge’s two sous chefs. He joined us for a conversation and served my dining companion Linda Garson and me his interpretation of Thanksgiving dinner, a stunning presentation of baby squash risotto crowned by medallions of white and dark chicken with edible flower petals and leeks, accompanied by an eggplant puree and balsamic vinaigrette.

Chef Elias-Obergnon described how the chicken was halved: the meat from the breast and the leg was separated and prepared in a roulade, then the meat was rolled back up and roasted in the skin of the chicken. The crispiness of the exterior skin combined with the juicy white and dark meat within was superb. The creamy risotto was his replacement for potatoes and was livened by sweet slices of baby squash and executed perfectly with rice cooked al dente. The leeks provided freshness, texture and acidity, while the eggplant puree added visual contrast and delicate flavour.

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Combining the sensory elements of smell, presentation and taste, the dish came together magnificently and would have been complemented by a glass pour from the wine list of the 2010 Stuhlmuller Chardonnay from Sonoma, California. Both Linda and I agreed that this dish would be a welcome change from our usual Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing.

Earning Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence every year since 2005, Rouge’s wine list has something to please almost any palate. It includes 13 five-ounce glass pours ranging from $11 to $12: six red, six white and one rosé. Additionally, three bubbly glass options are available, including Champagne in the non-vintage Taittinger for $20. For those guests who choose the chef’s tasting menu, two options exist for wine pairings - a standard offering of six glasses for $60 or a premium selection of six glasses for $100, per guest. The list has an old-world feel, with various regions of France receiving several nods. Bordeaux is well represented, with 19 wines, including rarities such as the 2nd growth 2005 Château Pichon Comtesse Lalande for $395 and the 2003 Les Forts De Latour for $350. Burgundy is covered, with selections such as the 2008 Domaine Marc Roy “Clos Prieur” from Gevrey-Chambertin for $125 and the 2007 Domaine Leflaive Macon-Verze for $90. Not to be outdone, Italy and the US are showcased, with highlights from producers Gaja in Piedmont and Tuscany’s Fontodi along with Washington State’s Quilceda Creek and the ultra-rare Sine Qua Non from California. Rouge also offers a selection of Canadian wine, with the remarkable 2008 Blue Mountain Chardonnay from the Okanagan for $75 acting as a guiding light. The list also includes a diverse beer and cocktail selection for those looking for something other than wine or a different apéritif or digestif.

Our original idea for this feature was to do a story on restaurants in Calgary that are inhabited by spirits, since Rouge

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remains a stop on Calgary Ghost Tours Inglewood walk. However, it would appear that any spectres that may have occupied it have been removed, so our article relates to our Thanksgiving theme.

The staff radiates a positive energy that is reflected in how they care for their space and in the food they serve their guests. As patrons of restaurant dining in Calgary, this October we give thanks for the constant that is Rouge in our diverse and everchanging scene. As writers, we will continue to extol the its virtues and hope that we have given you enough reason to visit them for the first time, or revisit if you have dined with them in the past.

We wish them a long future and hope they continue to strive for excellence and continued evolution as leaders in our culinary community.

Made With Love Growing Cocktail Culture with a little TLC written & photographed by Gabriel Hall

Cocktails, in recent decades, have been treated like a marginalized little brother. Overshadowed in its youth by beer’s motorbike riding, leather jacket wearing tough guy image, it seemed that mixed drinks were always struggling to find their identity by cladding themselves in fruity yellow hammer pants and nuclear lime green shirts. As both drinks matured, the rough guy image of beer persisted, while cocktails remodelled itself into a suave Dean Martin-esque veneer.

One of the leaders of the maturing cocktail culture in Calgary is Nathan Head, co-owner and resident mixologist of Milk Tiger. Nathan has spent the better part of his life devoting himself to the proliferation of quality drinks throughout the Calgary scene, garnering Milk Tiger a reputation for delivering both innovative cocktails and consistent takes on classic staples like the “Mad Men Old Fashioned”.

“The people right now that are drinking cocktails know what they’re after. They’re drinking good spirits, they eating good food, they’re ordering good cocktails. They have well rounded palettes” Nathan noted. His dedicated efforts have culminated into producing the winning drink at this year’s Calgary “Made With Love” mixology contest.

His event-winning tea infused beer cocktail pays homage to the dominant and still expanding beer culture that is prevalent in the city, combines it with the fast-growing demand for brown spirits like whiskies and bourbons, and utilizes lemon, simple syrup and tea to maintain the delicate interplay between sweet, acid, bitter, strong and weak flavours. The result is a deceptively simple sounding beverage with a complex and refreshing flavour.

Nathan’s next conquest will be the national Made With Love finals in Montreal this December. Although he faces challenges tapping into the Montreal spirits culture and working without familiar surroundings or tools, his vivid imagination and dedication to creating well-balanced drinks will help him display the depth of Calgary’s cocktail culture and mixology talents on the national stage.

A Bit of Northern Hospitality 1½ oz ½ oz ½ oz ½ oz 1 oz

Canadian Rye Whiskey Averna Amaro black tea simple syrup fresh lemon juice pilsner lager infused with Earl Grey tea

1. Combine the first four ingredients in a cocktail shaker.

Shake lightly for 5 seconds.

2. Strain with a hawthorne (the slotted disc with a coiled spring) and fine mesh strainer into a double old fashioned glass.

3. Add ice and top off with Earl Grey infused beer

Black tea simple syrup: 250 mL 2 210 g

water black tea bags sugar

1. Boil the water and add the tea bags. Let it steep for 3-5 minutes 2. Add sugar and stir until dissolved 3. Cool before use

Steam Whistle infused with Earl Grey tea: 1 1

bottle of Steam Whistle lager Earl Grey tea bag

1. Pour the bottle of Steam Whistle into a glass 2. Add a teabag of Earl Grey tea and let it steep for 5-10 minutes.

3. Remove the tea bag and discard

The Soup Kitchen recipes and photos by Dan Clapson

Hearty Chickpea and Chicken Soup Serves 5-6 Total cook time: 45 min I start refining my hearty soup skills once autumn rears its ugly head.

Well, I don’t actually mean ugly, I really do like fall, the changing of the leaves, being able to wear knits again, pumpkin bowling, all of those things are great. It’s just that I’m always sad to watch the warm weather slip away, and with it, my tan. But, I digress...this soup embodies fall. It is meant to warm you up on a chilly evening. This soup can be served pureed or left chunky. I prefer somewhere in the middle, pureeing half, leaving it a bit chunky! I love eggplant and cook with it often. For any eggplant haters out there, this soup will help convert you, I promise. I wouldn’t lie to you would I?

What you’ll need...

2 yellow onions, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 eggplant, 1 cm cubed 2 13.5oz cans chick peas, drained

(reserve liquid of one can) 5 mL (1 tsp) masala tandoori powder 5 mL (1 tsp) garam masala powder 5 mL (1 tsp) yellow curry powder 480 mL (2 cups) cooked chicken meat, roughly chopped 1 12.5oz can diced tomatoes 1.25 L (5 cups) chicken broth 15 mL (1 Tbs) red wine vinegar 15 mL (1 Tbs) lemon juice To taste salt and pepper olive oil

1. Start things off by tossing the onion and garlic in a medium-sized pot. Drizzle with some olive oil, and cook down on medium-high heat until the onions become translucent, about 5 minutes.

2. Add in the eggplant and chickpeas, as well as the masala tandoori, garam masala, and curry powder.

Stir mixture until the spices have evenly coated the vegetables. Continue to cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant pieces start to soften.

3. Now place all remaining ingredients into the pot, including the reserved chickpea liquid.

Once the pot comes to a boil, reduce to low heat and simmer on the stove for at least 30 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper, purée if you wish, but above all else, enjoy!

Best served with warm bread...naan if you’ve got it!

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Citrus Tortilla Chicken Soup Serves 3-4 Total cook time: 35 min Now that we’ve had our first taste of cooler weather, it’s time to warm up those bones with a hot bowl of soup! This Mexican-inspired soup provides a little bit of heat to warm your soul and please your taste buds!

What you’ll need...

1.25 L (5 cups) chicken stock 1 yellow onion, finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 jalapeno peppers 2 (ripe) tomatoes 480 mL (2 cups) cooked chicken meat, roughly chopped 5mL (1 tsp) chili powder 1 bunch cilantro To taste salt and pepper Garnish tortilla chips and sour cream (for garnish) 2 lemons 2 limes olive oil

1. Place chopped onions and garlic in a pot on medium heat with some olive oil. Once the onions soften, add 240 mL (1 cup) of stock.

Simmer until reduced by half.

2. While the stock is reducing, chop up your jalapeno peppers (if you remove the seeds you’ll get less heat from the peppers) and tomatoes, then zest both the lemons.

3. When the stock is reduced by half, add in the chopped veggies, chicken, lemon zest, juice from the lemons and limes, chicken stock, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil again, then simmer on low for 20 minutes so all the flavours have a chance to intermingle.

4. Right before you serve the soup, throw in some chopped cilantro, then top with some tortilla chips and sour cream to balance out the heat.

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by Tom Firth

Oenophiles love to talk about Burgundy; it’s tricky to get a handle on, and takes a long time to become anything like an expert on it. It is a journey that is worth it though. The elusive and beautiful wines are a bit like spotting a perfect sunset.

Many are beautiful, but once in a while the perfect one comes your way and you keep watching out for the next perfect one.

Burgundian pinot noirs are…a little erratic. From year to year the quality and expression of the wines fluctuates quite a bit (these are the differences between a great vintage or a mediocre one), a wine that was absolutely perfect one year might be merely passable the next. The wines of Burgundy, specifically the reds, are the perfect wine for those annoying wine experts who love to boast about little-known wines they regularly enjoy - from the best vintages of course - that you never will.

So, first things first, you don’t have to know all the minutia of Burgundy to enjoy the wine. Many good burgundies are simply good wines that don’t require an understanding of the mysteries of the universe to enjoy. Get out there and try them!

The second thing - whenever talking about pinot noir, two things must be mentioned: 1. It’s the heartbreak grape; tough to grow well. If something isn’t going perfectly in the vineyard- pinot noir doesn’t like it. It is this delicate nature that helps pinot noir exhibit the nuances of where it is grown.

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2. There is a movie you might have heard of, called “Sideways”. Wine, specifically pinot noir, figured prominently in the movie and interest in pinot noir increased as a result.

Pinot noir is grown in much of the wine-producing world, but tends to produce its best wines in cooler climates. It is a relatively fragile grape, prone to rot, frost, viruses, heat, and so on, but is capable of producing sensual, complex wines, that can showcase flavours and aromas of where it is from better than almost any other wine grape.

Pinot Noir pairs easily with a range of foods, due to its lower tannins and higher acidity, perfect with anything from vegetarian cuisine to seafood such as salmon, to duck, and even game meats. In fact, if in doubt which red wine will go with a dish, pinot noir will almost always work.

Burgundy has a cool, continental climate. Outside of France, most of the top pinot noirs comes from cooler places like Oregon, New Zealand, and even Canada. What makes Burgundy so special is that with a history of planting one red grape in the area for several hundred years, the very best vineyard sites are very well-known for their unique

characteristic and the effect on the vine. Equally important is the skill of the people involved, often over generations, that is used to evoke the best sense of the vineyard into the wine. Coupled with the marl and limestone soils, the altitude and incline of the vineyards, and the aspect, or where the sun is relative to the vineyard slope, all amount to terroir, which is that elusive sense of place in your wine glass that winemakers all over the world strive for, but rarely achieve.

The wines of Burgundy are classed according to quality based on which vineyard(s) the wine comes from. Historically, with Napoleon to thank, vineyards were split equally amongst heirs, meaning that while the size of the vineyards were fixed, descendants inherited smaller and small portions of a vineyard. Since some vineyards are split into nearly infinitesimal sizes, many growers are simply too small to produce commercial wines, and sell their grape or wines to larger organizations called négociants that vinify, blend, and sell the finished wine.

Since terroir matters so much in Burgundy, it is worth getting a rough sense of the broad regions involved. The regions of Burgundy stretch south from the city of Dijon in France to the city of Lyons. Heading from Dijon, you would first come to the Côte de Nuits, this region is almost exclusively devoted to pinot noir and has 24 Grand Cru vineyards inside. Many of the best wines in Burgundy come from the Côte de Nuits. Next is the Côte de Beaune, which includes the town of Beaune, the wine capital of Burgundy which hosts its famous wine auction each November. One of the greatest pinot noirs in the world, Corton, comes from this region. Together, the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune comprise what is known at the Côte d’Or. Further south are the Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnaise, which are less well known for premium reds, but there are still some fantastic wines from these parts of Burgundy.

At the top of the quality pyramid are the Grand Cru or “Great Growth” vineyards, which account for less than 2 percent of total wine production in Burgundy. These will have specific vineyard names like Corton or Clos St. Denis on the label and there are 33 of these top vineyards. If the label doesn’t say Grand Cru or you didn’t memorize the list, the price tag of several hundred dollars a bottle should help you recognize them. If you plan on aging wine, these are good candidates, as many vintages will age for decades.

Next on the pyramid are the Premier Cru or “First Growth” wines.

Accounting for around 11 percent of production, this tier has 562 vineyard sites (rather than specific vineyards) or “Climats” to choose from, and the label will typically have the name of the commune along with the name of the vineyard on the label. Confused yet? The commune is a fancy way of saying the village and the surrounding vineyards in its area. The prices are a little more reasonable with a Chambolle-Musigny typically less than $100 on a retail shelf. These wines also age well, but you should plan to drink them within a decade or two, unless you would prefer to drink them now, and that is entirely up to you.

Following Premier Cru are the communal or village wines. These wines are named after the village rather than the specific vineyards, but there are exceptions to further muddy the waters. Village wines account for around a third of total production, but on the bright side, there are only 42 to remember. Prices tend to be well under $50 making them a little easier to experiment with while still having good expression and quality. Some wines will age longer than others, but are generally best consumed within a decade of vintage. Below this tier are the 22 regional wines; these account for the remainder of production and all have labels that say Bourgogne right on the front. Prices here are generally less than $25 and these wines are meant for consuming now or soon, with little improvement coming from further cellaring.

The wines of Burgundy are varied, complex, and exciting to drink, and for most, this is enough to become passionate consumers and collectors of its wines. I asked sommelier Jackie Cooke, proprietor of Avec Bistro, what drew her into the wines of Burgundy and it was an experience where, “…how could a wine so pale, have so much to say?

Its delicate nature and velvety tannins took my breath away.” Maybe its time to open up a bottle - in good company - and hear what Burgundy wants to say to you?

Tom’s Wine Picks

“Most good wine shops should have a selection of Burgundies that they are comfortable recommending at most price levels. But here are a few suggestions to help you get started on your search.”

Bouchard Pere & Fils 2010 Bourgogne Pinot Noir $23 Louis Latour Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir $19 Joseph Faiveley 2010 Bourgogne $17 Louis Jadot 2006 Echezeaux $172 Joseph Drouhin 2009 Gevry-Chambertin $76 Chanson Pere & Fils 2007 Pernand-Vergelesses $80 Louis Jadot 2007 Savigny Les Beaune $54

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Le Beaujolais estArrivé

by Tom Firth

We don’t talk about Beaujolais much anymore. In its heyday, the distant past, around the mid 1970s to early 1990s, the wines of Beaujolais were sought after, and once a year, on the 3rd Thursday of November, when Beaujolais Nouveau was released to the world, the excitement for the wines reached heights on par with a Robert Parker 98+ point score.

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The release of these light and refreshingly fruity wines involved liquor store line-ups and parties celebrating the release, the first wines released from a vintage, the harvest having only been completed a few weeks before. The wines would be shipped around the world (rumour has that wines were even shipped via Concorde to get to certain markets on time) and retailers would be forbidden from selling the wine prior to the release date, a modern equivalent would be like book vendors selling copies of the Harry Potter books before the release date. If caught, they would be unable to carry the future releases.

For Beaujolais, those heady days…they’re gone. When I got my start at Willowpark Wines & Spirits in the mid 90s, we could plop a few pallets of Beaujolais Nouveau in the middle of the sales floor and they would fly out the door. By the time I left several years later, it would be a few sad-looking stacks.

A few scandals, rising prices, and the trend towards bigger, fruit-rich reds, all helped kill the interest in Beaujolais.

What exactly is Beaujolais? The red grape responsible is a relatively little-known one called gamay. As the grape goes, its primary residence is in the Beaujolais region at the southern tip of Burgundy in France. It is found in much smaller quantities in Italy, the United States, Canada, and in a few other regions. It is a grape generally meant to be

Tom’s Wine Picks

Louis Jadot Chateau des Jacques 2009 Moulin-a-Vent $31 Joseph Drouhin 2009 Brouilly $23 Villa Ponciago 2009 Beaujolais-Villages $21 Bouchard Aine & Fils 2010 Beaujolais $15 DuBoeuf 2010 Beaujolias $15

consumed young and is rarely a show-stopping performer, as it doesn’t handle high alcohol levels or excessive oak well. It ripens early and to make quality wines, growers must keep the yields low. Gamay often undergoes a process in the winery called carbonic maceration, where, in a low oxygen tank, the grapes begin an intracellular fermentation prior to the “normal” fermentation. It helps make a fruity, aromatic, refreshing, and light-bodied wine, and wine made with this process often has a soft bubblegum or banana aroma, which is usually very easy to identify in Beaujolais Nouveau.

Gamay generally doesn’t age well and most, including the best, should be consumed within a few years. Beaujolais Nouveau is usually meant to be consumed before Christmas of the same year of its release – if a friend tries to gift you a bottle of ’95 Nouveau, pour them the first (and second) glass. Beaujolais is also available year round as (in order of quality): Beaujolais - the basic bottling Beaujolais Village - from the premium vineyards of the region and finally as one of the 10 Crus of Beaujolais.

These select villages such as Chiroubles, Fleurie, Morgon, and St. Amour are regarded as having some of the best sites and are able to produce wines labelled with the village of origin. These Crus aren’t widely available in Alberta, but if you like gamay, they are worth looking for.

Thankfully, the higher acids of gamay help it match well with turkey dinner and all the fixings, so Thanksgiving or Christmas is a great time to try them out. Celebrants of American Thanksgiving are in luck since a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau should suit the table well. Some of the Crus are excellent with beef, game meats, or slightly spicier dishes as well. Good and widely-available producers of Beaujolais and Beaujolais Nouveau include Georges DuBoeuf, Bouchard Pere & Fils, Bouchard Aine, Chanson, and Joseph Drouhin.

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It’s a Pleasure

Doing Business written and photographed by Cory Knibutat

All the cooking skills in the world won’t guarantee a successful restaurant if you’re business-illiterate. Cam Dobranski, Executive Chef at Brasserie Kensington and Kensington Winebar, learned years ago to adopt a strong business skill set to have more control in the success or failure of his cooking career.

While Dobranski may be known for his contemporary French cuisine and not being afraid to ruffle some feathers to support his and other restaurants’ choice to feature fois gras on their menus, food is only part of Dobranski’s overall ambitions.

Like a lot of talented chefs, Dobranski started out in kitchens early at the age of 13, working in a café in Edmonton where he grew up, before moving on to more challenging restaurants like Earls, while he finished high school. A strong student, he wasn’t dead-set on cooking as he debated pursuing a career in biological sciences.

“I was good at science but I wanted to take time off and wanted to travel,” Dobranski said. “I don’t think I could have traveled as well in biological sciences as I could in culinary arts. I’m sure you could, but I wanted a little more adventure and something not so serious,” Dobranski added.

After high school, Dobranski crafted his cooking skills at Culinary Arts School, so well, in fact, that he earned several scholarships and finished at the top of his class. This led to him being invited to compete with Culinary Team Canada at the World Culinary Olympics in Germany in 2000, where he represented Junior Team Alberta, earning a gold medal and some international attention.

“While I was over there, I got a job offer over in Switzerland,” Dobranski said. “So I drove from Germany to Switzerland to sign a contract, flew back to Canada to pack my stuff and flew back.”

While he was in Switzerland for nearly two years, Dobranski was accepted into Business Management, focusing on international business and organizational behaviour, back home in Edmonton at Grant MacEwan University, forcing him to take a bit of a break from cooking altogether.

“It was a two year course that I did in 12 months,” Dobraski said. “So I basically quit everything, didn’t take a break for twelve months and just focused on school. I just didn’t want to be in school for two years and waste time.”

By now you may be able to see that Dobranski is someone who doesn’t feel comfortable taking it easy or being tethered to a single project for too long. After finishing his Business Management degree, he even tried becoming an on-air TV personality in Edmonton before

The Food Network’s endless supply of celebrity Chefs took control of the television airwaves.

“I tried working for A-Channel, back when they existed,” Dobranski said. “They actually accepted my TV show. I would go around interviewing chefs and go to restaurants and do cooking shows for Breakfast Television and be that kind of guy.”

A good idea at the wrong time. A-Channel green-lighted his project just before going on strike for nine months, effectively shutting down any hopes of his show making it to air, as funds were cut to keep the company afloat.

“I just wanted to be a normal person for a bit and see if I could be normal but I realized that I’m not and don’t want to be,” Dobranski said.

“I’m not a nine-to-five guy, I hate nine-to-five. I can’t sit in front of a computer; I have ADD.” “I would rather drink a beer at 10:00 in the morning and hang out,” Dobranski added.

Shortly after Dobranski’s television career sputtered out, his girlfriend at the time landed a job in Calgary and he decided to follow her here in hopes of putting his cooking career back on track.

“I saw a lot of opportunity in Calgary,” Dobranski said. “I liked the food that was going on here and I got on with Muse as the Chef De Parti. I left and did a stint at The Palliser, realized I hated working at hotels, and had an opportunity to come back to Muse as the Executive Chef six months later.”

Calgary’s now thriving food community was in its infancy when Dobranski arrived to town in 2004. With restaurateurs not quite sure how to invest their money despite a growing demand for better, more imaginative and innovative cuisine.

“From what it was 9 years ago to what it is now, it’s like night and day,” Dobranski said. “I attribute it to the boom in 2006 because at that time Calgary was the place to be, so it brought all these cool chefs in.”

“People followed the money,” Dobranski added. “I came here. Xavier (Lacaze), who was at Muse now at Tasting Room, Justin Leboe, and there was all these guys from around the world or different parts of the country, and we all starting establishing another level of dining which people jumped all over and started spending money on.”

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With a strong food culture established, thanks to the economy at the time, and a new generation of foodies and restaurateurs alike all eager to support Calgary businesses, the door was open for Dobranski, to take on the challenge of utilizing his business background to complement his thriving cooking career.

Four years ago, Dobranski founded Medium Rare Chef Apparel Inc. and became a business partner with C2 Distribution Ltd.. The former, a kitchen clothing line supplying not just chef coats and aprons but casual food-inspired shirts, hats and jackets designed for both people working in the industry and foodies, while the latter is a flatware and plate ware supplier to over 400 restaurants across the country.

“I’m not old, but I’m maturing as a business person and seeing the opportunities that weren’t there before that I can focus on, so now I’m bringing this new company, Medium Rare, and selling to restaurants,” Dobranski said. “I design and manufacture in Montreal, here and Vancouver. I have a really cool team and we just decide what the market wants and design for the market.”

Medium Rare designs for the market based on how well products perform in Dobranski’s own kitchens and on the feedback he receives from his team.

“It’s not about me anymore,” Dobranski said.

“I see what the 20 or 25 year olds want. I’m focusing on the future of restaurants and what the up and coming generation wants.”

C2 Distribution Ltd. currently supplies all of Western Canada.

Dobranski has rights to Western Canada and he’s working with a business partner who has rights to Eastern Canada.

“For my importing company, I get to go to China, pick out plate ware, design plate ware, bring it back here and see what people want and test it out, and it’s been going pretty well,” Dobranski said.

With four companies currently on the go, Dobranski usually works seven days a week. If it’s not at the restaurants, it’s at one of his companies, with downtime usually coinciding with business.

“The only time I really take time off is if I go away,” Dobranski said.

“I go away for three weeks and nobody can really get in touch with me.

It (business) might only take two days but I’ll go away for two weeks (laughs).”

Striking a balance between career successes hasn’t been the smoothest of rides thus far. Dobranski sold AKA Winebar in Bridegland over the summer and only recently parted ways with Muse, as more of a business move to narrow his focus and simplify his approach to food.

“I owned four restaurants in the last two years and just realized it was too much and I couldn’t do everything,” Dobranski said. “I realized

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I was just a little too eager to rule the world. Sometimes it’s not worth it and you need to focus and just chill out. I’m trying to not get spread too thin.” “I have four businesses to run and I’m happy doing that,” Dobranski added. “I would rather work 18 hour days for myself and keep busy, than 8 hours a day for some dude. It’s just way more satisfying.”

With Medium Rare and C2 Distribution rightfully taking up enough of Dobranski’s time, his focus, with Brasserie Kensington and Winebar Kensington, is to keep things simple and approachable while maintaining a refined level of dining. With the economy slowed a bit since the boom of 2006, Dobranski feels diners aren’t interested in white-tablecloth dining. Not all the time anyway.

“What I want people to experience is to chill out,” Dobranski said.

“I don’t think people want to spend a ton of money anymore and I don’t want them to. I want them coming back every week instead of once a month or once every three months. I think a lot of fine dining restaurants have that issue. “I’ve seen it, I’ve been apart of it.”

Brasserie Kensington is a rustic take on Canadian Brasserie colliding with French styles 2 duck breasts and techniques 30 mL (2 Tbs) olive oil or as Dobranski For frying Extra Virgin Olive Oil calls it, ‘modern freestyle.’

1. Score the skin of the duck breasts.

Winebar 2. Heat pan with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and bring up to smoking temperature. Put duck Kensington, breast skin side down in pan, and lower heat located right to low. below Brasserie, 3. Render the skin till crispy, then place in is intended oven at 400º F for 5 minutes or until medium to be simple, rare. contemporary and fun.

Cassis: “Just something 240 mL (1 cup) blackberries different,” 120 mL (½ cup) blackberry cassis 60 mL (¼ cup) red wine Dobransky 15 mL (1 Tbs) diced shallots noted. “When 30 mL (2 Tbs) parsley you walk in the door, just feel 1. Sweat off the shallots and garlic. like, ‘Yep, I want 2. Add blackberries and deglaze the pan with to hang out.’” “I wine and cassis. used to be fine 3. Reduce until thickened. dining and cook 4. Season to taste with salt and pepper the best of the best but I don’t think people want to spend 150 bucks per person, per night, unless it’s a special occasion,” Dobranski said. “There’s not enough special occasions to make it viable, I think.”

Although it’s Dobranski himself working the 18 hour days, seven days a week and keeping a watchful eye on his mini-empire, he’s the first one to point out that his successes lie with his staff. Finding people he can trust and rely on has lifted some responsibilities from his shoulders, allowing Dobranski to relax, even if it’s only slightly, while witnessing his team of employees strengthening.

“I want to be the chef but I’m going to give all my guys the credit and if somebody says, ‘Oh you did a great job!’ I’ll say ‘no my guys did a great job, I wasn’t there,” Dobranski said. I’m in the kitchen too helping them but I’m also on the financial side of things now.”

“I think the greatest part is my employees,” Dobranski added.

“They’re a big part of what we are. They believe in what I do, they’ve been great learners and they’ve taught me a lot. I wouldn’t be here without some of my core people. “

Roasted Duck with Blackberry Cassis

Chicken Leg Confit

with Yukon Potato Hash, Arugula & Mushrooms 6 chicken legs 120 mL (½ cup) salt 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 sprig rosemary, chopped 4 sprigs of thyme, chopped 2 bay leaves, broken up To taste pepper 480 mL (2 cups) olive oil or duck fat for frying 1. Rub chicken legs generously with crushed garlic, course salt, rosemary, thyme, pepper and bay leaf, and refrigerate overnight 2. Next day, rinse off salt and herbs with cold water and place in a pot.

Cover with olive oil or duck fat, cover pot 3. Simmer chicken in oil over low heat for approx for 1.5 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone.

4. Let cool and take out of oil To reheat confit, heat up a pan with oil to smoke point. Place chicken leg in pan, skin side down, reduce heat and place in an oven at 350º F for 10 minutes, or until skin is crispy and chicken is hot.

Yukon Potato Hash 3 To taste

Yukon Potatoes, peeled and medium diced salt

1. Boil a large pot of salted water 2. Blanch the diced potato in the boiling water for 3 minutes or until tender 3. Remove from water and shock in ice water

For the Hash 480 mL (2 cups) mushrooms, sliced 480 mL (2 cups) arugula To taste salt & pepper 1. In a hot pan with oil, sauté the potato until it starts to brown, then add mushrooms until cooked, and finish with arugula. Cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Place in the middle of a plate, top with chicken confit & garnish

Reader Competition!

Win a special night at Brasserie Kensington for you and three friends, watching Cam and his chefs create a tasting menu for you, and enjoy each course paired with drinks!

We want to know what is the most indulgent or interesting meal you have had and where was it?

Go to www.culinairemagazine.ca and let us know about your most indulgent or interesting meal, to be entered in the competition. We can’t wait to hear from you!

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in the

by Brenda Holder

As a child, autumn was a great time of year for me because everything was different and exciting in the world. Scents in the bush, colours, temperatures and food. The autumnal harvest brings an abundance of food, and that includes birds!

At this time of the year we focus on Thanksgiving and often that brings to mind turkey for many of us, while some may prefer goose. I’m thinking about what we called bush chickens - the Spruce Grouse. A small yet suitable alternative to the turkey or goose, albeit a very different taste.

Spruce Grouse already comes with a savoury type of seasoning simply from the food they eat, so all that is needed might be some wild cranberry glaze. My husband’s recipe is an ideal one and with a few minor changes, it can also be used as a delectable dressing for dandelion salad.

The recipe is quite simple and best of all it is quick!

2 spruce grouse 120 mL (1/2 cup) wild cranberries a very small palm-full juniper berries a few bunches wild garlic, finely chopped a few tablespoons agave syrup (or maple syrup) 60 mL (1/4 c) balsamic vinegar 60 mL (1/4 c) olive oil a few tablespoons plantain seeds, hulled well Mix all ingredients together except the plantain seeds, place on medium heat and gently simmer 10 minutes or so. Pour or ladle over the grouse, sprinkle on the plantain seeds and bake in the oven at 350º F for about 30 min or till done.

Enjoy!

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Of course we can’t discuss the use of wild cranberry and plantain without discussing the benefits of each plant, and as with all wild plants, the benefits are plenty!

Plantain is also known as rattle snake root and the medicinal benefits are quite astonishing. The reason it’s called rattle snake root is that it was a plant that was traditionally used when a person was bitten by a snake. The plant has the ability to neutralize the venom of the snake as well as other poisons that we may ingest, such as some poisonous plants and mushrooms.

The seeds from plantain are incredibly good for the digestive tract. In fact, so much better than psyllium fibre as a mucilage - and cheaper too! They are easy to collect, and removing the chaff is as easy as rolling the seeds between the palms of your hands and blowing it away.

Wild Cranberry is great for a troubled bladder, but it is also great for an abundance of skin conditions. Not only is it excellent to use on the inside of the body to help get to the source of the skin troubles, but it is also very good as an outer treatment to help distressed skin. The slight acidic nature of the plant is quite close to the acidity of human skin, and so it can balance and tone the skin to a healthy glow!

Regardless of what bird you choose to serve on your table during this festive time of year, experiment and enjoy the bounty that nature has to offer us!

The

Summer Duck of

by Tom Firth

In June 2010, I was blessed with an event that led to many delicious adventures. Leading up to this summer, I had been on a binge of sorts where I had only been eating cuter animals when given the option. Veal, rabbit, lamb, and so on had graced my plate many times, and I had been eating well. The kick-off to the summer of duck was about to happen.

Calgary Duck Lovers Rejoice!

A number of farmer’s markets and specialty grocers carry duck, both frozen and fresh, you don’t have to hunt your own if it has to be fresh. Some great places to try the duck: Rouge: seared duck breast, flavourful, crisp, and the cherries really help it shine Blink: Noble farms duck, honey roasted with gnocchi. Delicious Taste: Reappearing on the fall menu will be the decadent “Duck Fat Popcorn”, in the meantime, try the duck prosciutto.

Best Peking Duck? That’s a tough one, I am a fan of supporting neighbourhood restaurants, but Silver Dragon topped a number of lists around the office.

Avec Bistro: Duck confit with white bean and stewed cherries. So good, only on the dinner menu though.

We had out of town houseguests staying with us for my wife’s convocation. We left the house a few hours earlier than our guests for the ceremony, and imagine my delight when our houseguests arrived at the convocation with the words, “You aren’t going to believe what happened”.

“So, we were upstairs getting ready and we heard this loud crash. We thought the dog might have knocked something over, but when we got downstairs, the dog was just running around all freaked out and we couldn’t see anything broken. We looked around the living room, and noticed that there was a Mallard duck lying dazed in the flowerbed under the picture window.” When they noticed all the broken glass around the duck, they looked up and saw the pie plate sized hole in the picture window above their heads.

The little bastard sat there for a minute collecting his thoughts, then hopped off the flowerbed, waddled down the front lawn to the street-and to the amazement of our guests, turned right and flew away.

Probably into someone else’s picture window.

On the bright side, the feathery torpedo didn’t make it all the way into the house, he broke the outer pane and left a little smear on the inner pane. The thought of facing a very dead duck inside my house is as appealing as the thought of facing an alive and very scared, horribly injured Mallard inside my house trying just as hard to get out as he tried to get in.

The days results were chalked up to just an absurd occurrence until we got the first estimate for fixing the broken window. Coming in at more than a couple of thousand dollars, I made a vow (with some artistic licence) - fist raised to the sky, lightening cracking, driving rain, wind blowing, timpani booming- declaring “Until this window is fixed, I will eat duck every chance I get!!!” There may have been some expletives in there too.

This wasn’t an idle threat. The nature of being a wine writer is that I eat out A LOT. Most of the finer establishments in Calgary have at least one dish on the menu with the noble canard on it. The ease with which I was able to make restaurant appetizer and entrée selections, was incredible, I would scan for waterfowl, and upon seeing it, decision made. I would know that revenge would taste oh so sweet. Duck confit, seared duck breast, Peking duck, duck fat popcorn, to roast duck, I ate and revenged myself well that summer. The side benefit being that I was able to discover the sheer number of great restaurants in Calgary with great duck. As the summer wound down, the summer of duck turned into the autumn of duck, and I finally eased off the duck in December. The window had long since been fixed, but this delicious journey was completely worth it.

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Fall Pheasant

by Jeff Collins

Photographs by Jeff Collins and Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts Pheasant photograph by Gary Noon

“We have a male pheasant around ‘The Ranche’ who runs around and he’s really loud.

Every morning when I come to work I either hear him or see him.” Chef Thomas Neukom laughs at the irony. That’s one nervy pheasant. He’s hanging around one of the few restaurants in Calgary where he is also on the menu.

“The Joy of Cooking” calls “Pheasant Under Glass”, “the ultimate in upscale dining in an earlier era”. But that era has come and gone in Calgary and pheasant is scarce as a menu offering. All fine dining establishments have to keep a sharp eye on food costs. Pheasant is expensive; too expensive to offer on a menu when there are so many modern alternatives, such as bison or elk. At “The Ranche” it is listed as an appetizer. Chef Neukom says it fits in well with other game dishes and the philosophy of the owners, Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts, to offer a distinctive “Rocky Mountain Cuisine”. It also offers less adventurous diners a chance to try a game meat that, as Neukom explains, “tastes a lot like chicken.”

That thought is echoed by Ken Bills. Ken and his wife Doreen own and operate an unusual business in Alberta. It is a private hunting preserve just off Highway 2, between Carstairs and Crossfield. At “Wessex Game Birds” the couple raises as many as 8,000 pheasants and partridges. Hunters arrive and pay for a minimum of ten birds to be released on one of two quarter sections of land. Then they use either their dogs, or one rented from Wessex, to track down the birds.

Private hunting preserves can be controversial. Even hunters

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argue over the morality of so called “pet shoots”. Doreen stares into a netted pen, as skittish pheasants, both hens and cocks, dive into the underbrush. “They’re not pets.” she says.

For the Bills, raising pheasant and Chukar partridge is akin to raising Charolais or Angus, minus the high costs of the local slaughterhouse.

The Bills look after raising the birds. The hunters do the rest. The operation has been providing a living for the couple for more than three decades. Aside from a battered wooden sign on the side of the highway, there is no advertising. Word of mouth from lots of happy customers keeps Wessex Game Birds going.

Ken says his birds have a taste “more similar to turkey than it is to chicken.” He and Doreen eat a lot of pheasant, and both say pheasant should be prepared with lots and lots of moisture. Doreen is keen on substituting pheasant for domestic chicken in her slow cooker. She says any recipe for chicken will work well with the wilder bird.

Thomas Neukom’s “Marinated Pheasant Breast” is actually placed in a seasoned brine for several hours then cooked “Sous Vide”. Think “Boil in a Bag” and you get the drift. The result is a beautiful plate with small but thick slices of round tender pheasant breast, served with

Pheasant Spring Rolls with Plum Quince Compote Recipe from “Simple Treasures” courtesy Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts

Spring Rolls: 1 1 1 1 1 240 mL (1 cup) 2 240 ml (1 cup) 15 mL (1 Tbs) 120 mL (1/2 cup) 120 mL (1/2 cup) 45 mL (3 Tbs) 5 mL (1 tsp)

For frying

watercress, a bit of pickled carrot, potato crisps and saffron pearls.

If pheasant is hard to find in Calgary restaurants, it is also scarce among local butchers. Greg Keller is the Manager and Chief Operating Officer for Bon Ton Meat Market Limited. One entire wall in the shop in northwest Calgary’s Stadium Shopping Center, is freezer space. Greg reaches into the very bottom shelf and pulls out a frozen pheasant and a package with a pair of “Pheasant Breast Supreme”. Supreme means the wing is still attached. There’s not much meat in a pheasant wing, but Keller explains that it allows chefs to be creative with the presentation.

It is the price that gets my attention. The full bird rings in at $37.46 a kilogram, while the breasts retail at an eye-popping sixty-six bucks a kilo! Bon Ton stocks pheasant because a changing Calgary market demands it. As Keller explains, “The market is making a complete shift. We’ve seen a huge change in the last five years. People, instead of going out for a lot of fancy meals, with the advent of the internet, with the Food Network, all this kind of stuff that’s going on, people are experimenting at home and they want different food.”

A study by Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada reported, “Farmraised game such as bison, boar, elk, deer, quail, pheasant, ostrich, emu, and rabbits are gradually making inroads into the Canadian marketplace. Game meat is stimulated by its growing appearance on restaurant menus, attention by food writers and the media.“ OK, so I guess we are doing our part. I have trouble recommending anything that “tastes like chicken”, except chicken, but I’ll make an exception for pheasant. It is an easy entré to the world of game.

pheasant, may substitute chicken or duck carrot, peeled zucchini red pepper yellow pepper bean sprouts leaves baby bok choy snow peas ginger, finely chopped fresh cilantro, finely chopped soya sauce sesame oil hot chilli sauce Spring roll wrappers oil

1. Season and roast pheasant at 375º F approx 1 hour, until fully cooked but not dry. Remove from pan and cool.

2. Cut all vegetables into julienne (finely cut sticks). Remove meat from pheasant carcass and julienne.

3. Heat a wok or sauté pan over high heat, add oil, ginger and vegetables and sauté, without colour until vegetables are slightly crisp but start to go limp. Add soya and chilli sauces, and pheasant and cook further for a minute. If desired, mixture may now be slightly thickened with a little cornstarch and water. Remove from pan and add cilantro, adjust seasoning and cool.

4. Place spring roll wrap on a dry table with one corner pointing to the top. Lightly dampen the 2 top sides with water then place approx. 2 heaped tablespoons of mix in centre of wrapper. Fold up the bottom corner of wrapper over mixture then fold the corners in and roll up towards top until mixture is surrounded with wrapper.

5. Heat oil and fry as required.

Plum Quince Compote 2 3 15 mL (1 Tbs) 1 30 mL (2 Tbs) 120 mL (1/2 cup) 3 pieces To taste

quince, peeled cored and diced plums, sliced ginger, finely chopped red onion, finely diced brown sugar rice wine vinegar star anise salt and pepper

1. Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer until liquid has evaporated.

2. Remove star anise and serve at room temperature.

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Turkey Trends

by Heather Hartmann

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that turkey time of the year. Turkeys are standard fare for Thanksgiving, and later, Christmas. Traditions however can get a bit tedious, and that plain old roasted turkey is giving way to a whole new flock of funky poultry preparations. Some are genius, some are funny-sounding, and some are just plain weird. Here, a look at some of the most popular poultry trends sweeping kitchens.

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Brining

Spatchcocking

Brining is the process of soaking a bird in water saturated with salt and any other desired ingredients prior to cooking. Salt in the brine causes the turkey to retain water, making it juicy, and breaks down the proteins in the meat, making it tender. The Turkey Farmers of Canada recommend brining a turkey for a minimum of six and a maximum of 24 hours the day prior to cooking. For food-safety reasons, they recommend brining only in a fridge, in either a bag specifically designed for this purpose, or a food-safe, non-corrosive container with a lid. If you don’t want to brine at home, Second to None Meats sells brined birds by special order.

It sounds like an unpleasant medical procedure, or something that people claim happened to them during an alien abduction. In reality, it’s a technique that involves removing a bird’s backbone and either pressing down on, breaking, or altogether removing the breastbone so the bird lies flat. The biggest advantage to spatchcocking is that the bird cooks in about half the time the same-size intact turkey would.

Some butchers will spatchcock a turkey for you. You can also spatchcock at home, with instructions available on the Turkey Farmers of Canada’s website at www.turkeyfarmersofcanada.ca.

Brining tips: •After the turkey is brined, rinse it extremely well with tap water, and dry with paper towels before cooking.

•Remember that the salt in the brine has already seasoned your turkey, so adjust your other seasonings, rubs, etc. accordingly.

There are many different recipes for brines available, depending on your tastes. Once brined, a bird can be roasted or deep-fried. If deepfrying, you will want to be very thorough in making sure the turkey is dry prior to placing it in the fryer.

Spatchcocking tips: •Cook a spatchcocked bird over indirect heat, either in the oven or on the barbecue.

•You can place a brick or cast-iron skillet on top of the spatchcocked bird while it is cooking to flatten it even more and ensure even cooking.

•Since you’ve eliminated the cavity where stuffing would go in an intact turkey, you will have to cook any desired stuffing on the side.

For those who have been hesitant to brine because of the difficulty of fitting an intact turkey in the fridge, spatchcocking is the answer.

It’s much easier to fit a spatchcocked turkey than an intact bird in the fridge, since it will lie flatter.

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Turduckens

Deep-frying We’re Calgarians. At Stampede, we have deep-fried Twinkies, Oreos, pickles and everything else. Why not deep-fry a turkey?

Though there are some safety considerations to be aware of, there’s no need to be nervous if you follow the guidelines and use appropriate equipment. Deep-frying a turkey has to be done outdoors, and not on a deck or in a garage. You can do it on your lawn, though Shawn from Barbecues Galore cautions that if you do, it will kill the grass underneath. The CSA-regulated Masterbuilt propane turkey deep fryers he and his colleagues sell at both the north and south Calgary locations feature a timer that you have to push every 15 minutes, otherwise the fryer will shut itself off in order to ensure it isn’t left unattended. The quicker cooking speed makes keeping up with the timer no chore though, as it’s just three minutes/lb, plus five minutes at 350º F oil temperature.

Deep-frying don’ts: •Don’t exceed the maximum recommended fill of oil for the fryer.

•Don’t put a still-frozen turkey in the fryer.

•Don’t use a larger turkey than the recommended maximum size for the fryer.

•Don’t try to deep-fry a stuffed turkey.

For preparation, you can inject and/or rub the turkey. Barbecues Galore has all the equipment and ingredients to do either, or you can make your own. To avoid blackening on the outside of the turkey, keep the size of the turkey at or below 15 lbs. and use a low- or no-sugar rub because the higher in sugar content, the more it will blacken.

Also, for those who want the deep-fried flavour without using oil, there are new oil-less deep fryers available.

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For the uninitiated, a turducken is a duck, stuffed inside a chicken, stuffed inside a turkey. They’ve been quasi-mainstream for a few years now, so it’s no longer a surprising term to hear, but where on earth did the concept come from? Who was sitting around planning their meal and thought, hey, let me just stuff various birds inside other birds? And how on earth does it work?

Believe it or not, the general concept is not new. The proper term, ‘engastration,’ is almost as fun to say as ‘spatchcock,’ and means one animal is placed inside the gastric passage of another. The practice has been going on for centuries.

The way they make them all fit is by deboning the birds, which allows them to fit inside the cavity of the next largest bird. Once all birds are inside the turkey, the remaining spaces are filled with a meat, not bread-based stuffing, so the end result is nearly solid meat. Thus, a turducken will feed many more people than a conventional turkey of the same size.

To some of you, this may sound like something intriguing to attempt at home. To those who just want to pop their bird in the oven it probably sounds like a whole lot of work. Bob Choquette of Second to None Meats offers options no matter which camp you fall into. His stores (Mission and MacLeod Trail locations, with a third opening in Willow Park Village in late September, conveniently timed for Thanksgiving) offer customers the choice of pre-ordering a turducken from Valbella Meats in Canmore, as well as do-it-yourself options.

For purists, they will debone a duck, chicken and turkey, which you can then assemble at home. “The fastest, easiest way though, after you get your turkey boned-out, is to buy duck and chicken breasts and use those rather than deboning whole birds,” says Bob. Of course, they can provide you with those as well.

Bob is proud of the poultry at Second to None. They offer turkeys from Winter’s Turkeys, or a Hutterite colony they’ve been purchasing from for eight years. Their chickens are from Maple Hill Farms, which Bob enthuses is “possibly the best chicken in Calgary. It’s grass-fed and phenomenal-tasting.” Their duck is either Brome Lake or Noble Farms.

Turduckens are also available at some supermarkets, including Calgary Co-op, which has a turducken ordering page on their website.

Turducken tips: •Remember, a turducken is almost solid meat, so if you buy one frozen, it will take longer to defrost than a comparably-sized turkey.

•Do not attempt to deep-fry a turducken.

Enjoy Thanksgiving without

Losing Your

5

Don’t starve yourself before dinner

It’s common for people to not eat anything during the day so that they can “save their calories” for the Thanksgiving dinner – that is a big mistake. As I always say, you don’t crave salad when you’re starving! Coming to the dinner table super-hungry will only lead to overeating. Instead, plan to have a small snack, like a piece of fruit and some almonds, a couple of hours before supper. It will be easier to make sensible choices, and you will eat fewer calories overall.

Belt! 4

Stick to just one plate

by Vincci Tsui, RD

Thanksgiving is certainly not the best time for those who are watching their waistlines. It is, after all, a holiday centred on food! If you don’t want to spend your long weekend in a food coma, here are my top five tips for keeping your feasting in check:

With the delicious Thanksgiving spread laid in front of you, it’s hard not to go for seconds. However, forcing yourself to just eat one plate of food creates a sort of optical illusion – even if you are piling the food on, chances are, you won’t be serving yourself two full plates worth of food on one plate. On the other hand, if you ate one plate first and went for seconds, you would be more likely to fill up the empty plate and end up eating more.

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If you’re hosting, focus on the sides

The turkey is usually the centrepiece of the Thanksgiving meal, but by offering lots of delicious, healthy side dishes – vibrant, crunchy salads, roasted root vegetables, sweet winter squash, wild rice stuffing, green beans amandine or brussel sprouts dressed with lemon, just to name a few – you can make the turkey an afterthought, and eating healthier will be a no-brainer for you and your guests.

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Follow the Half-Plate Rule

1

This is one of my favourite pieces of advice to give my clients for any meal. Instead of loading your plate with turkey and mashed potatoes, aim to fill half your plate with vegetables - it can be more than one kind, if a mountain of broccoli sounds a little too daunting! Then leave a quarter of your plate for starchy foods (i.e. potatoes and bread) and another quarter for the turkey. This way, you are still eating a full plate of food, but the type of food has shifted so you are eating fewer calories and less fat.

Indulge in your favourites Most of us probably have a few Thanksgiving dinners under our belts, so we probably know which foods are our favourites (the candied sweet potatoes!) and which ones are the duds (dry supermarket dinner rolls.) Don’t be afraid to be a little picky – instead of having a little bit of everything, leave room for a little more of your favourites. You will get way more satisfaction out of eating the things you like, as opposed to scarfing down green bean casserole just to keep Auntie happy.

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Yo Ho Ho and a Barrel of ...

Rum!

by Andrew Ferguson

In 2009 I was in Guatemala for a week-long mountain biking tour based out of the colonial city of Antigua. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d heard rumours of a rum called Ron Zacapa before visiting, and after arriving in town I set out to find a bottle.

It was a surprisingly difficult task, not least because a bottle at USD $50 was more than many locals would earn in a week or a month. The rum was a hit, over a glorious week spent mountain biking through the Guatemalan highlands, and around the magnificent Lake Atitlan, two fellow Canadians and I put paid to three bottles of the brown nectar.

For more than four centuries rum, aka “Kill Devil”, aka “Rumbullion”, aka “Nelson’s Blood”, has played a prominent role in Western Civilization. Every colonial power with territories in the Caribbean or Central America produced rum, ron, (Spanish) or rhum (French). Rum influenced cultures from Brazil to the Canadian Maritimes. It drove the growth of colonies in the Americas and Caribbean, helped fuel the slave trade, made water potable for long sea voyages and most importantly, it made an otherwise dreary life more bearable.

Rum’s role in the development of Western Civilization is best exemplified by its connection with the British Royal Navy. The Royal Navy was instrumental in the rise of Britain and the establishment of its colonies. Beginning in the 1500s, an era of state-sanctioned piracy, British Privateers developed a taste for rum while raiding Spanish shipping. Prior to the mid 1600s the Royal Navy gave their sailors a daily ration of French Brandy or beer; but beer frequently went bad

on long voyages and French brandy wasn’t easy to acquire when you were at war with the producer. With the capture of Santiago (Jamaica) from the Spanish in 1655, the British finally had access to their own supply of rum, and so began the daily rum ration.

The sailor’s rum ration, or tot, was an astounding half a pint served neat twice a day until mid 18th century. Over the years it became common practice for the rum to be mixed with lime juice and in 1740 it was watered down. Admiral Edward (Old Grog) Vernon, concerned that intoxicated sailors were less effective in their duties, had the rum watered down to a mixture that would come to be called Grog; which gave rise to the term groggy. Rum took on a different name in the Royal Navy after the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, in which its victor and tragic hero was killed in action. Most sailors killed in the heat of battle would have been unceremoniously thrown overboard, while others might be given rights at sea. Such a final tribute would not do for someone of Nelson’s stature however and so his body was stored in a cask of rum to preserve it until the ships returned home. Legend has it that on arrival in Britain it was discovered the sailors had drilled small holes in the cask to consume the rum, giving rise to the term “Nelson’s blood.”

Rum is a distillate created by fermenting sugars extracted from sugar cane, a species of grass native to Southeast Asia. It is characterized by long fibrous stalks, that can grow up to 6 M in height, containing a rich sugary liquid. No one knows when sugar cane was first cultivated as a crop, but what is certain is that the first evidence of refined sugar dates from more than 5,000 years ago in modern

Pakistan, a region where these grasses are not native. Sugar cane was later brought to the Mediterranean and North Africa during the Islamic Caliphates of the 8th Century where it eventually came to the attention of Europeans.

Cane was so valuable it was one of the first crops brought to the Americas, introduced to Hispaniola (modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic) on Christopher Columbus’ second voyage in 1493.

There was a rapacious demand for sugar in Europe that drove the development of the new territories and in turn the slave trade. These sugar-producing islands were so valuable that, at the end of the Seven Years war, France traded its Canadian possessions (“a few acres of snow”) for the return of its Caribbean islands. Sugar was sold in Europe to purchase trade goods that were exchanged in Africa for slaves, who were then sold in the New World to purchase more sugar to sell back to Europe.

Boiling houses were set up next to sugar cane plantations from the late 1500s, where slaves would crush the stalks extracting the cane juice and then boil the juice to precipitate out refined sugar. A byproduct of this process was molasses, which in the early days was just as often as not thrown away. It was likely a slave who first noticed that under the right conditions the molasses would ferment. And it was not long after this that the first rum distilleries would have popped up, borrowing the knowledge of distillation from brandy and aqua vitae production. Legend tells us that rum was first produced in Barbados, though the earliest documented reference to rum comes from Brazil in the 1620s. A Bajan document produced in 1651 does

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make reference to rum: “The chief fuddling they make… is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil… made of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor.” By 1664 there was a rum distillery on Staten Island and within three years another was established in Boston. These distilleries, as with later ones in Newfoundland, produced rum from imported molasses often exchanged for salted cod.

Over the following centuries there was a divergence in the world of rum production. While Spanish and English colonies continued to distil rum from molasses, French colonies chose, or were compelled to produce, Rhum Agricole. Rhum Agricole arose out of necessity in the early 1800s when France began producing sugar from sugar beets. Producers in the French colonies had difficulty competing and had a surplus of cane juice. Rather than distill the byproduct of refined sugar they switched to distilling the pure cane juice.

Consequently Rhum Agricole has a very different feel to it, more subtle, floral and nuanced than the richer, darker Spanish and English colonial rums.

For most of the last 400 years, rum has been a massproduced spirit created to numb our senses and give pleasure. It is only in the last 30 to 40 years that we’ve seen the emergence of mature, aged sipping rums produced to be enjoyed neat like a fine whisky or cognac. Styles and techniques are changing too with more and more producers releasing different concoctions and older expressions.

Recall the Ron Zacapa rum I fell in love with, it is produced in a former Spanish colony, but from cane juice and not molasses. So does it qualify as Ron Agricole? Frankly it doesn’t matter, the rum industry may have a rich history and deep-rooted traditions, but it isn’t quite so pedantic as some others.

Note: Ron Zacapa was a limited release in Alberta but there are a few bottles left on the shelves now. You can find where it is available at http://www.liquorconnect.com/Products/Pages/3210-00738103.aspx

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Andrew’s Rum Picks

Amrut Old Port Rum

Rum Nation Panama 21 Year

Cadenhead Classic Green Label

A sipping rum for around $25? You must think I am mad, but you’d be wrong. This is one of the best bargains in the rum world, and it can be enjoyed both neat and, thanks to its price, in a mixed drink! India’s hot climate and the distillery’s high altitude give this rum a smooth gentle palate for so few years in oak.

Thick caramel, soft citrus notes and a smooth oaky finish. $26.49

This is a full on show stopper. Massively fruity (raisins and figs) and chocolaty, this big thick rum can hold its own with the best of them, and it comes in a beautiful decanter. Rum Nation is a project run by an Italian with an eye for picking single casks of fabulous rums and whiskies. The Rum Nation range is one of the most interesting in the market. $103.99

Demerara rums, like the El Dorado 12 above, must be made in Guyana from sugar cane grown along the Demara River. It is distilled in Guyana, but matured and bottled in Scotland. Christmas in a bottle with candied dark fruits, rich festive spices, sweet vanilla and dark molasses. $69.99

El Dorado 12 Year Demerara

Rhum Clement XO

Distillers of Guyana is one of the world’s most respected producers of aged rums. Though the 15, 21 and 25 year olds have made them famous, their 12 year old is the workhorse of the brand. Elegant enough to be enjoyed on its own, it is also priced well enough to consider using in a cocktail. The palate is driven by the dark molasses notes with some spice and soft fruits. $43.99

Like most French colonial rums the XO from Clement is Rhum Agricole meaning that it is made from sugar cane juice rather than molasses in the case of former English and Spanish colonies. Clement has one further designation, its own AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée). The XO is a blend of rums aged 25 to nearly 50 years of age. It is very well balanced, complex and fruity with soft spice. $124.99

This Brazillian sugar cane based rum is unaged and heavily filtered to make it extra smooth. Enjoying it neat, you will find it light and clean. Cachaca is best enjoyed in a cocktail though, so try it in a batidas or a caipirinhas. $46.99

Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva

Ron Millonario Solera 15 Year

Founded in Cuba, the brand had to flee to San Diego, Dominican Republic. Matured in a solera system, the average age of the rums is 15 years. The solera system gives the rum a depth and smoothness found in older rums while retaining a more youthful vigor. Silky smooth on the plate this molasses-based rum has notes of caramel chews and candied nuts with a dry finish. $49.99

Produced in the North of Peru it most closely resembles the Ron Zacapa in style; sweet, chewy, and fruity. Each bottle is covered in a hand woven basket of Toquilla straw made by indigenous Andean artisans. The brands colours are the traditional colours of Peru. $47.99

Diplomatico Exclusiva This 12 year old Venezuelan rum is a bargain for the price, produced using traditional copper pot stills. It is nutty with sweet spices, molten brown sugar and lots of soft creamy vanilla notes. $54.99

Agua Luca Cachaca

Appleton Estate 50 Year Only 800 bottles of this Jamaican Independence rum have been produced from hand selected casks aged 50 years or longer. One of the oldest rums in the world, it is an absolute treasure. Dark dried fruits, rich chocolate, leather, tobacco and soft creamy oak. This is a magnificent rum and a tragedy in the sense that there are so few bottles available. $5,000.00

Gordon & MacPhail Long Pond 1941 58 Year The only thing more rare than a 50 year old rum is a 58 year old one, distilled during WWII and then shipped to Scotland in 1946.

G&M came to own it in 1976 and bottled it in 1999. Surprisingly, it retained a strength of 50% after all those years and has the most pleasantly unusual palate: sweet with notes of spearmint, linseed oil, tobacco and vanilla. $949.99

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Humble Spud written and photographed by Silvia Pikal

(continued)

From appetizers to desserts, every month Culinaire cooks will share a new recipe that illustrates the diversity of the potato.

Smoked Cheese Potato Croquettes Serves 4, makes about 16-18 croquettes Leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving can easily be turned into a crispy side dish or snack known as croquettes. A croquette is a small, deep-fried roll that can be filled with anything you’d like, including ground meat or cheese. Croquette comes from the French word croquer, which means “to crunch.” My family is Croatian, so in my house they were known as “kroketi.”

I loved mashed potatoes as much as the next kid, but at family gatherings I would restrain myself from taking a second helping in the hopes that my mother would fry up some kroketi the next day. Anyone who took seconds was treated to a glare from me, as they were scheming to ruin my plans. Today, I’m old enough to help my mother in the kitchen. One of our favourite things to do is whip up new recipes for our blog and introduce old family favourites. Since cheese makes everything better, we’ve introduced double-smoked cheddar cheese to the recipe.

Mashed Potatoes 414 mL (1¾ cups) Yukon Gold potatoes 15 mL (1 Tbs) margarine 15 mL (1 Tbs) milk

Croquettes 200 mL (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour 1 egg 1 egg yolk 2 mL (1/2 tsp) salt or more to taste 150 mL (2/3 cup) breadcrumbs 100 mL (scant ½cup) double-smoked cheddar

cheese, finely grated Enough canola oil to fill 13 mm of pan

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If using leftover mashed potatoes, skip steps 1-3.

1. Peel and chop potatoes. Cook potatoes in salted, boiling water in a medium-sized pot for 30 minutes. When potatoes are soft enough to be pierced with a fork, strain and return to pot.

2. Add margarine and milk to potatoes and mash until smooth.

3. Let mashed potatoes cool until they can be handled.

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, egg yolk, flour, salt and grated cheese.

Mix by hand until smooth, then roll out mixture into a long log. Cut log into small rolls that are approximately 2 cm thick and 4 cm wide.

5. Set up a breading station. Beat remaining egg into a small bowl and place the breadcrumbs on a plate. Dip each croquette into the egg mixture, then roll through breadcrumbs until croquette is well covered.

6. Heat canola oil in a large skillet. Fry each croquette in oil until brown on both sides, about 4 minutes of frying on each side. Fry in small batches, cooking about eight at a time. Do not overcrowd pan.

7. Place on paper towels to drain.

Serve with Ajvar, a Balkan red pepper spread.

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Treats Trick

by Jocelyn Burgener

Halloween may be about ghosts and goblins, but when I was a child, October 31st was not about black cats and witches, for me it was all about going door to door and coming home with a sack full of candy.

“Trick or Treat!” I’d shout with enthusiasm, then wait. Slowly the door would open and I’d thrust my bag forward. “What a clever costume!” I’d hear as the lady scooped candy into my sack. My mother had painted an old cardboard packing case like a candy wrapper. I was dressed as an O’Henry bar.

My brother had told me that a good costume increases the loot you collect. He should know, he wore the O’Henry bar for two years until he outgrew it. I’d watch as the lady scooped a second handful of Tootsie Rolls and a Kit Kat. “Thank you,” I’d say as she closed the door.

I am convinced that the exposure to such a variety, not to mention quantity, of a usually restricted substance, helped me to develop a discriminating palate. For, once the loot passed through Mom’s security check, the fun began. After taking inventory and sorting, came the tasting - and I savoured the tasting.

Candy apples on a stick, coated in a hard red sugar glaze, or covered in soft caramel, were delicious. While peanuts in their shells were not considered candy, they were a tasty snack. The taste of salt subdues the intense sweetness of fruit and candy.

Licorice Allsorts (a tad bitter) were the most colourful, but I preferred the licorice pipe, (very bitter), still do. Peppermint Patties (refreshing), were different in texture and flavour. Maple fudge (too sweet), I still don’t put maple syrup on my pancakes. Chocolate was its own food group.

A lollipop should not be rushed, and Mackintosh Toffee could not be.

Smarties were just plain fun. I thought Wine Gums were sophisticated, little did I know. So much candy, so much to learn.

My brother always thought I hoarded my Halloween candy. I didn’t. I was educating my palate.

Inserting a Little Bit of Summer into

by Leonard Brown

Autumn

As the growing season draws to an end, now is the time to complete your harvest and also to remove all root vegetables from the ground before it freezes and the vegetables are ruined.

Tomatoes are many peoples’ favourites, and ripening on the vine outside or in a greenhouse can be challenging in Calgary, due to our cooler nights. Pick tomatoes when ready or when convenient, but before the cold arrives. Green tomatoes can be ripened indoors on window sills or in brown bags, and then used fresh or utilized in many other ways. Small cherry tomatoes are reliably early ripeners and one of my favourite appetizers using these tomatoes, is what I call a “reverse or deconstructed Caesar.”

Place the tomatoes in a container with vodka of your choice, and allow a few weeks for the tomatoes to be infused with the alcohol, and for the vodka to be flavoured by the tomatoes. Classically, a Caesar drink contains clamato juice, vodka, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce, celery salt, pepper and a lime wedge. So firstly I wet the rim of a plate with the vodka liquid, which is then dipped in celery salt. I place the vodka-marinated tomatoes on a plate or a bed of lettuce, sprinkle with a few dashes of tabasco sauce and the juice of a lime or lemon, and place some sticks of chopped fresh celery on the plate. I serve with a small glass of chilled lemonade, breadsticks and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese.

Lavender infused Champagne - sounds elegant - tastes great!

Make a syrup of half a cup of sugar and half a cup of water, and add one tablespoon of dried lavender flowers. Allow flowers to infuse the syrup. Strain and place the syrup at the bottom of your favourite champagne glasses, add champagne or other sparkling wine, and enjoy.

Cherries are abundant in August and September, and if you have been lucky enough to freeze some, you could always improvise on my original cherry liqueur recipe. I strip my Evans Cherry tree once the cherries are very ripe. Wearing surgical gloves, squeeze them until all the skins are broken, the pits are free and the juicy pulp plentiful.

Measure by quantity and place all into a clean carboy. Add granulated white sugar to the cherries in the ratio (0.5-1):2, trial and error will enable personal preferences of the final sweetness based on the amount of sugar added. It isn’t necessary to add yeast, as the fruit, skins and seeds contain natural yeast that will initiate the fermentation process. Make sure you have a one-way flow stopper on the carboy, so that gas can escape and nothing can enter. After a few months, when bubbling activity has ceased, the contents of the carboy can be strained through muslin cloth or fine strainer. The liquid can then be bottled, the bottles stopped, and the liquid allowed to settle. Very fine sediment will be seen at the bottom. If there is a significant amount, it can be re-filtered to eliminate more sediment. The resulting cherry alcohol can be enjoyed in small quantities as a sweet liqueur.

These are just three ways that summer garden produce can be enjoyed well after the gardening season has ended. Enjoy!

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Napkin Folding 101

by Wendy Brownie

photographed by Natalie Findlay

Whether you are planning a romantic dinner for two, an informal lunch or a lively childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s party, it is fun to learn how to fold a napkin.

Creating table settings with beautifully folded napkins adds style to even the simplest occasions. Freshly ironed cotton or linen napkins are essential for folding purposes. The napkins must be square and the fabric cut straight on the weave so that the cloth will not pull out of shape easily.

Napkins measuring 45 cms to 56 cms (18 to 22 inches) square work best for simple folding, as well as for the more complicated folding techniques.

The art of napkin folding below will help you add the finishing touch while creating stunning table settings that will delight your guests.

Decorative Pocket

Loverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Knot

This clever design makes an elegant pocket in which to place anything from cutlery to fresh flowers.

A simple design adding a romantic touch to a candle-lit dinner:

1. Fold the napkin into quarters so that the free edges are facing away from you. Fold the first layer down so that the top corner is just above the bottom corner nearest to you.

1. Start with the corners of the open napkin top and bottom in the form of a diamond, and fold the top point down to the bottom point.

2. Repeat this process with the second layer, again positioning its top corner just above the one before.

3. Fold under the side corners until they just overlap at the back.

2. Starting from the point, make even accordion pleats up to the top edge.

3. With the first pleat facing away from you, fold the right point over the left one and tuck back through the loop created to form a loose but tidy knot.

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Talking Turkey

by Linda Garson

photographed by Ingrid Kuenzel

It’s inevitable when talking about Thanksgiving that the subject of turkey will crop up, so we just couldn’t resist including a recipe for drinking it too!

“Wild Turkey” dates back to 1940, when Thomas McCarthy, a distillery executive, took along a supply of whiskey with him to enjoy with friends on an annual wild turkey hunt. They all enjoyed it so much that the following year they asked him to bring more of his “Wild Turkey” bourbon to the hunt, giving rise to the name.

It has appeared in many books, such as and Fear Loathing in Las Vegas, being a favourite of author Hunter S. Thompson, David Foster Wallace’s novel Infinite Jest, and when asked what the bar whiskey is in Stephen King’s book It, the bartender replies, “For everyone else in this dump it’s Four Roses, but for you I think it’s Wild Turkey.”

Wild Turkey regularly appears in films too, such as in Thelma and Louise, The Color of Money, and Crazy Heart, and has been the drink of choice for male leads in Rambo: First Blood Part II, In the Heat of The Night, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the Eiger Sanction.

In 1954, Wild Turkey’s current master distiller, Jimmy Russell, joined his grandfather and father in in the distillery.

His son, Eddie Russell, is now the 4th generation to work at the Austin Nichols Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, working his way up from Relief Operator to Associate Distiller. The new Wild Turkey 81 is the first Bourbon to be released that has been solely crafted by Eddie.

“I’ve spent the last 30 years working with my son Eddie, and teaching him everything I know about making bourbon,” says Jimmy Russell. “As soon as I tasted Wild Turkey 81, it was clear he was paying attention. I am one proud Dad.” A blend of six, seven, and eight-year-old Bourbons, Wild Turkey 81 is designed to be an everyday whiskey that can stand up to any mixer, using high-rye mash and maturing in American oak barrels that have an “alligator char”. It is the only bourbon in the category to use this expensive, deep char (also called a “#4 char”) which gives the characteristic vanilla and caramel flavours.

A good month ahead of our neighbours when it comes to giving thanks, here’s an easy recipe, using ingredients most of us will have to hand, to celebrate Thanksgiving Canadian-style.

Wild Turkey Maple Leaf 2 oz ½ oz ½ oz 1

Wild Turkey 81 Proof maple syrup lemon juice cinnamon stick

1. Shake ingredients together with ice in a cocktail shaker.

2. Strain into a chilled glass, add a cinnamon stick and serve.

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CU L I N A I R E M A G A Z I NE.CA ● OCTOBER 2 0 1 2

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Cu inaire

AS NECESSARY AS YOUR MORNING CUP OF COFFEE.

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