This book took me a long time to read, but it is really good. I’m sure most cooks have already read it because it is from the 90’s. It is written by Jeffery Steingarten, he is the pompous judge on Iron Chef America. I was always like, “who does this guy think he is, why is he so pompous?” Every page of this book is why he has every right to be pompous, the info is amazing. Now when I watch Iron Chef I really like him.

He graduates from Harvard Law or something and then somehow gets a job at Vogue being a food critic. So he decides that in order to be worthy of such a task he needs to research food and he does so with an thoroughness, and intensity that is awesome. He does crazy research in his apartment and also flies around the world to find the real best of the best.

My hands are burning right now, I’ve washed them a million times and I even wore gloves. I had to de-seed a case of peppers that were not selling in the grocery part of the place I work.

The chef wanted to make pepper jelly, but I told him that I have a special power of feeling what people want, and people don’t want pepper jelly, they want house made hot sauce. I think the chef has had quite enough of me, but he agreed to let me do hot sauce instead. I did an old school tabasco preparation with white vinegar and salt, and a frank’s red hot type with other additions like garlic and such. I don’t know what kind of peppers they were, or if they are green because they are not ripe or if they are turning red because they are going bad. But the sauces tasted good. I want to can it but I don’t know what kind of container to use, a jar just doesn’t seem right.

I’m really stoked to be working with beautiful, steelhead trout. I love Salmon, but since the wild stocks are so low and the farmed salmon harm the environment I haven’t been eating it. I was happy to see cases of local steelhead come into the restaurant. They are farmed North of Saskatoon in a lake, so it is a closed system that cannot contaminate other local fish stocks. They look like salmon and have a lot of omega 3s. I’m not sure what they feed them which concerns me, if it is fish meal that is bad for depleting wild fish stocks. I’m just glad that it’s local and it takes some of the pressure off of the salmon.

When there is a case of baby shiitakes to de-stem or 3 cases of baby carrots to clean, tag team that shit. Nothing makes you look like more of a rockstar cook than putting your prep aside for a minute and jumping in to help tag team a shit job. When you see someone nodding out and losing momentum on a big monotonous job, appearing at their side to bang it out together can be a life saver for that person. It wakes them up and gets them going, it’s good team building and it’s good for moral. Plus next time you’re shucking favas someone might just appear next to you. Plus it’s fun to say tag team in the kitchen, it leads to many jokes, “speaking of tag team, Boner and I tag teamed your mom last night.” It gets a lot funnier from there, with graphic details and descriptions.

I love to whip up a loaf of brioche, I’ve made it so many times that I don’t even have to think. It smells so good when it is baking and it is very versatile. It makes the best grilled cheese, french toast, croutons, and croque madames. I made classic croque madames for brunch this morning. It was brioche made with organic butter and eggs, locally produced smoked ham; swiss and gruyere, a fried free-range local organic egg and old school mornay sauce.

I even know the brioche recipe off by heart.

For two loaves:
500g flour
50g sugar
20g fresh yeast
12g salt
6 eggs
312g butter

You just mix everything together except the butter until it is elastic and then add the butter in thirds until it is incorporated, work it lots. Then form it into a ball and rest overnight in the fridge. In the morning shape it and leave it to proof, then bake it at 350 for 20-30min.

I called Owen from Butter On the Endive the other night to catch up on what he is doing. Because it’s very important to know where your cook friends are and what they are doing. Now that we are all getting older and more experienced, we can help each other and pool our connections. I’m still trying to figure out what to do.
He was soaking in the bathtub at the Shangri-La Hotel. He was using his staff discount.
“Nice, I remember when Bryan hooked me up with a room at the Loden, to celebrate my last night at Chow.” I said
That was such a sweet surprise. We had fun that night.
It’s so nice to walk into the nicest most expensive restaurants in town, with a case of beer for the kitchen and get a 9 coarse tasting menu, while the rich old folks wonder what the fuck is going on. Why is the chef personally shaving truffles over everything at that table of loud kids.

Cooks are so poor, but we live so rich. Cooks are also so generous, if Byran or Kyle wanted to go out drinking but one of us in the kitchen was broke, someone would always cover that person. Everyone was always hitting everyone else back. I also love being young and looking a bit trashy but knowing my way around a menu and drink list better than the average diner. I know what everything is and how it is made so I don’t feel intimidated. Cooks have an appreciation for fine things, like a perfectly made cocktail, or a well matched wine pairing. I absolutely love some things that are universal in this industry. I want to go explore another city from the ground up like I did with Vancouver.

This is really good plum jam. It is equal parts plums and sugar with a little bit of crushed black pepper for a hint of spice. I was against the black pepper at first but once I tried it I thought it was very well balanced.

After posting my last post I realized that I have felt this desire, jealousy and frustration before. I went back to the last time on the blog that I had a episode and re-read some of the comments, I took so much comfort in one that I want to post now.

“Christie,
I don’t usaully post on people’s blogs or forums, but a few things I think you should remember the next time you feel a fit coming on. No matter how far you travel or who you go to work for, never rely on them to inspire you. Insiration comes from within, use the Chefs you work for and the Cooks you work with to motivate you to push towards your inspiration. I can honestly say that of the Chefs that I have worked for I have never used them to inspire me. They all how ever, motivate me to do work harder towards my goals. Secondly, no matter how long, or hard you work for. No matter how much you learn or who you learn it from, there will always be plenty of Chefs and Cooks that are better then you. I don’t mean that to be harsh, but it’s just a fact of life in all industries. So try and find the positive in where your at in your own career and worry about your own path and don’t waste your time worrying about what other people have. Thirdly, if you want to work at places where you learn everyday like Boneta, Chow, etc. etc..Then why go off your path and take a job where almost the entire focus will be on the Bar Program. No offence to the people opening it up, I’m sure it will be a very popular place to go. It just doesn’t seem to fit into the places you talk about wanting to work. Whenever I consider changing jobs or if someone offers me a job my first thought is, where after this next job will I be in my career. I’ve turned down a few jobs in the last year that would have paid me quite a bit of money, but to me it just didn’t make sense because it didn’t fit in with what I want out of my career. Hope at least some of this is helpful. It seems to work for me every now and then.”

This makes so much sense, I hope it sinks in this time, everytime I read it is like a weight is lifted off my chest. I just need to keep working hard and do what is right for me. Just as my chef said to me today and Lidbin would say to me at Chow, “follow your heart”.

I need to make a move, in the game. I just visited the Boneta website and it is so good. I wish I could go back to Vancouver and stay there, I want to work with Jeremie again. I can’t believe I’m just sitting here in Saskatoon blogging about preserves and pretending I have a brunch restaurant. I feel so lost. I can’t believe I thought I was good, Im still just a young cook who is missing some basics. I need to go and learn in a kitchen with other cooks. Saskatoon was making me think I should open a place, I’m not ready, I’m just starting to figure things out.