One of those "Mouth in the Foot" scenarios

I have been thinking a lot lately about being able to sell the "whole" animal to eaters in a bid to make truly local cuisine viable. You see, the most common argument going for the lack of small local producers of meat is that people don't want to eat anything but the choice cuts, i.e. the tenderloins, strip loins, rib steaks, breast meat. Therefore, they can not supply enough to fuel a restaurant. I could go on and on about all the parts of the animal that "people just won't eat". These variety cuts such as hoof, heads, testicles, sweetbreads, livers, hearts, etc. apparently don't have their collective finger on the pulse of the consumer.

Today my friends, I have proven the critics wrong, and boy did I need that. I refuse to believe that the only way to make a go of it is by selling steak. That is not what is in store for a successful, sustainable Okanagan. I must admit, that before the sales and praise for this feature were so positive, I didn't think I'd sell any. What was I selling? A pigs cheeks stuffed into a pigs foot, then braised and then deep fried. Sounds awesome to me, and apparently it sounded interesting enough for people to order it. I was really shocked at the reception this special received. People were picking up the remaining scraps of the hoof and sucking natural jelly out from between the toes and nibbling breading off the toe nails. Not a single plate came back with anything more than some toe nails and cartilage. I was blown away. Humbled even. I was really looking at the dining public with a lot of pessimism as of late. Not any more.

So, the dish.

For the trotters:
I removed the shank from the trotters which came from the front half of the pig. You have to use the front feet because they are the ones with shanks and moving joints which can be removed. The hind legs of a pig are straight bone. Once the shanks were removed(pain in the ass, but got much better towards the last few) I filled the cavity with diced up pork cheek and a little farce made from the cheek as well, with the addition of some seasoning and herbs. I then tied them up and wrapped them in cheese cloth.

I then braised them for 4 hours in a liquid of chicken stock, vegetables, herbs and cherries.

Once they were finished braising I let them cool in the braise in order to let them absorb some of the moisture they lost in the cook.

Once they were cooled I cut off the string and then breaded them.
(does this not look like a little pig?)


For the beans:
The night prior to cooking the beans it is important to soak the beans. Firstly, it inhibits the enzyme that causes flatulence and secondly it speeds up the cooking time. We have always been taught not to cook beans in salted water because it prevents them from cooking properly and makes them all wrinkly with a weird texture. All of this is true. What I didn't know until a few weeks ago, thanks to Jon, is that you can brine beans in salt and they will absorb all the flavored goodness and cook just fine as well. So, of course, that's what I did.
Once soaked overnight I drained the beans from the brine and rinsed them off. I then cooked them in an aromatic vegetable broth until 90% finished. Separately, I cooked off a mirepoix and then added that to the beans once they were cool.
With the Braising liquid, I reduced it to a sauce consistency then added the beans and veg to that. Lovely.

To go along with all this I put a nice helping of horseradish mayo, some great arugula from the Peltier family garden, some shaved granna padano and for that all important acid component some cherry relish(to go with the cherry in the braise)

Sorry, if I ramble, but this was a great day for me. I really didn't think it would sell. I really wanted it to, and it did. Hopefully this is only the beginning of things to come.

Look at that, four at once. One to a lady who already ate, she saw it go by and had to order one for dessert. The other three to a part of four from Ontario who were waiting in the parking lot to talk to me about how much they loved it. That was a little over the top. That kind of attention can be dangerous. You know what the best part of it was? They didn't even ask my name, they just wanted to talk about the pork feet. They will go home and tell people that if you wanna eat stuff like pork cheeks stuffed in trotters that they need to go to the Okanagan. That is what this is all about. Sell the Okanagan as the real food and wine mecca it deserves to be.

Rabbit: Not To Hip To Become Square

Charcuterie( from chair 'flesh' and cuit 'cooked').

Something that we have on the menu at work is a tasting of charcuterie. Cooked and cured meats. Such as; bacon, sausage, terrines, pates, ballonties, gallantines etc. Basically cured and cooked meats, that are generally eaten cold but that isn't a rule by any means.

We always have a daily terrine on our charcuterie plate to go along with Jon's stunning salamis and such. Usually Jon takes care of all of this. However, sometimes, when time permits, I like to have fun with meat as well. I wish I could get to it more often, but that's alright. Just watching how Jon can pump this stuff out with the greatest of ease is really quite something to behold.

I had two nice rabbits to make a lovely terrine out of. The process to get from rabbit to terrine is not all that hard once you learn how to de-bone the animal. To do this properly, one must get all the bones out without doing any ripping or cutting of the skin.

This is accomplished by cutting along the spine and working along the skeleton until the whole damn thing can be removed. From there the leg meat is ground into a farce, the livers are soaked overnight in milk or in this case buttermilk to draw out any excess blood and impurities. The liver is then removed from the buttermilk and diced. Then added to the farce meat along with some pork lardo, cherries and other seasonings. The terrine mold is lined with the rabbit skin, then farce is layered on the bottom, followed by the loin and then more farce. The skin is then folded over top. The whole deal is wrapped in plastic wrap and cooked in a water bath to a temperature of 150degrees. Because of the liver it is important to cook the terrine to that temperature. The terrine is then rested until cool and stored until needed. Presto chango, square rabbit. Delicious.

A little tip Shannon and I found out while in one of the large markets in Barcelona. When buying rabbits in a market, only buy the ones with heads attached. I asked why all the rabbits were hanging fur and all attached. I was told that because rabbit and cat look almost exactly the same skinned and even more alike with the heads removed, mongers always leave the head on. If they don't...your probably eating cute little "Mittens".

Masala Crusted Lake Trout

Well, today was a really simple one. The flavors were really popping out on this though.

Seeing as so many of the local farmers are Indian immigrants I'm starting to think that maybe local cuisine should start representing not only the food that is grown here, but the people who grow it as well. As an added bonus, the stone fruits that are so prevalent in the South Okanagan lend themselves very well to the spices and spice blends indigenous to India.

With that being said I had some beautiful lake trout to sell today. As afore mentioned, I wanted to bring in some of the Indian spices, so I made a masala of sorts and crusted the trout with that. I paired the fish with some Lambert cherry chutney to give some sweet and sour to the plate as well.

I did a crispy potato cake, or latke if you will. However, I only used raw grated potatoes, herbs and seasoning in the potato. I prefer to do it this way as opposed to using flour and egg as well. I find that the potato will always speak for itself. Just make sure to squeeze all the liquid out of the shredded potato to keep the cake from becoming gummy.

To bring something refreshing to the plate I made an Orin apple and basil puree. Pretty straight forward with that one. Just made apple sauce and then mix in a very loose and rustic basil pesto. Also some beautiful baby spinach dressed with lemon olive oil brought even more refreshment to the plate. I also put on a couple of fresh cherries as a little treat.


Sean Peltier

Fishes + Knishes = So Delicious!

This feature goes out to Mr. Okanagandailyspecial himself.

Knish: This lovely little Jewish delight seamed like a great vessel with which to display some first of the season Lambert cherries. I at once thought about stuffing them full of a pork product of some kind but then started to think whether or not Canada has a non-extradition treaty with New Jersey. Since I didn`t even know where to begin looking for such info and knowing what can happen to a bearded man who gets on the wrong side of a knish, I opted for sticking just to the cherries. A wonderfully simple dough consisting of potatoes, oil and flour, plus the addition of some salt and herbs wrapped around mashed potatoes that I mixed with cherry chutney. Egg washed and then baked. So simple, so delicious.

Along with that I made a west coast seafood cake. Thanks to one chef RJB, I now know the only way to make a fish cake. Forget the breading and the frying. My version consisted of nice diced pieces of Ling cod, Tofino shrimp meat, and a light halibut mousse to bind it all together. Add to that a fine dice of onion, leek, celery and fennel.

Atop the knish I put some more of the cherry chutney. Atop the fish cake I put an apple relish. Below the whole ordeal I put a basil pistou.

That`s all folks...Sean Peltier