Where are the posts?

Hey all,

Sorry for the complete lack of posts, but it appears that I am bit further out of range than I initially thought. Out here in the outer rim we have very little access to the outside world, and the only computer that I have access to is shared with up to 50 people at times. It is also an old beast that is incapable of uploading photos. As this is the case I have decided to leave the blogging aside for the moment. Rest assured, however, that my experiences here are intense and grand. I will fill you all in when there comes a time, and my road to internet-super-highway is paved and not dirt.

cb

Spannocchia Ho!

As some of you are aware I am headed to Italy for three months to live and work on an organic and sustainable farm in Tuscany. Tough I know, but rest assured I will persevere. I also intend to publish weekly posts while I am away offering you all keen insight into the workings around the farm. I encourage you to follow along, and perhaps even have a look at some of the older posts when you have time. Look forward to the first piece from across the pond in a weeks time. For now have a look around, and if you want to ratchet up your envy a little more take a peak at where I will be living here

cb

Looking backwards and forwards

As another calender year comes to a close I couldn't help but realize that my last post was way back in the summer. A long time to go without a post in the blog world, I know, but not for lack of experimentation. This year has proven to be one of the busiest, most culinary interesting for me and my friends to date. From preserves to pig roasts, butchering to beer, 2009 was a year full of unexpected events, hilarious follies, and yes, even some pretty big successes.

Moments:

1) The first day of butchering a side of beef. This was a pretty awesome day, and one that was thankfully recorded in time lapse (see below). I am not sure what I expected, but butchering a well dry aged piece of meat is surprisingly clean, and as the name suggests, dry. The blood is minimal and the meat is almost tacky. Anyway, it was a tremendous experience for me, and one that I strive to repeat and learn more about. Well treated meat is a beautiful thing, and I personally feel the only way to honour the animal that has given its life for our consumption. I hope to learn more of this craft in the new year, and eventually set up some workshops for those interested. Surprisingly, few places offer formal courses on butchery, and hands-on workshops for the amateur are unheard of. Something I intend to change in the new year.

2) My birthday pig roast. This was a colossal affair that has yet to be digitally recorded for posterity. A testimony to my less than diligent blogging habits. Yet better late than never. The pig roast took place on a beautiful October day in East Vancouver to much fanfare. Liam built me two fire spit, and we ordered a large suckling pig through 3p. Slow cooking, friends, craft brew... there is little more to say other than this was a celebration for the ages. It will now be an annual affair.

3) The new smoker. So after the interior smoking adventures, I got a ragtag group of kids together and went on a trip out to Langely to check out the local bar-b-q competition series. 3P sponsors a team (Badass Bar-b-q Team from North Van) and I wanted to get a firsthand look and taste of what they did. Though we stuck out like soar thumbs, I didn't wear my "tapout" shirt that day, it was a great affair. Bryan, who also came along, was so inspired by all the tender pork and spicy sauces that he built me a beautiful cedar smoker. A smoker that has helped to up the quality of my bacon and pulled pork rather dramatically. I should also mention here that we ended the bar-b-q day at the Central City Brewpub in Surrey. A more than recommended destination for quality craft beer. As a bonus, it is on the skytrain line.

4) Summer Cassoulet. Yes, that's right, summer cassoulet. This is a french classic, perhaps the big classic, and while ingredient lists vary by region and personal taste, it is pretty safe to assume that this is a classy form of beans and pork. Other usual suspects include duck confit, sausage, lamb, tomatoes, and some posh versions will even add lobster ( a version I had at Pear Tree a couple years back did this). The version that Mark and I made had homemade sausage, pork belly and bacon, and duck confit along with cannellini beans instead of the traditional, and prohibitively expensive, tarbais beans. It took three days of intermittent work, but is was a classy way to spend a summer evening with friends.

5) Onward ho. There is still much to do here at the crock pot, many dishes to try, places to eat, and plans to make. That being said, come the new year we are going to be changing the format. I am in the process of creating a new, more dynamic web page with my friend Ryan Romero to be launched in the early spring of 2010. We hope to expand the writer base, include recipes and techniques, and rather ambitiously, have a calender for upcoming food and drink related events (look here for info on butchering workshops). This is part of the reason for the lengthy gap between the last post: a more ambitious project is coming! I will keep this blog going until then, but mainly with updates about the new site. Hopefully it is a smooth transition. In the meantime have a listen to me bumble my way through an interview about how to make sausages on the local podcast Life after radio.

CB

Ants for a day

Jam, I mean good jam, simple jam, is a beautiful thing. I love it, and I hope for your sake that you do too. I am not talking about Smuckers or some other gelatinous paste that you smother over Skippy, but real jam, the homemade kind.

Too be honest, my knowledge of jam is fairly limited, outside of my appreciation of it. Up until this past week the last time I made jam was with my mother at a time when I was barely old enough to see over the counter. Sure there have been episodes of stewing fruit for ice cream sundaes and the like, and making silly berry infusions, but classic jam preserves are mostly a thing of my past. Instead of making it, my jam (and most other preserves for that matter) have come trickling in from the rest of my family on an annual basis.

Looking around, however, I don't think that I am alone in my limited knowledge of jam. The art of preserving fruits and vegetables seems to have been largely given up by this generation of urban folk. We are no longer the ants busily preparing for winter, but the grasshoppers enjoying the spontaneity of play. I am not sure what, if anything, this says about the today's fast-paced lifestyle, but I do think-having recently done it with very little research-- that making jam is easy. It is also delicious. So if you like it, give making it a try. Here is a short time lapse of our efforts.

Yet Another Bacon Explosion

Ok, so the "bacon explosion" has become a culinary cliche.  Internet fame has driven the trend, and the number of youtube how-to videos is astonishing.  That does not mean, however, that every home cook and bacon enthusiast shouldn't give it a try.We made this one with some of the homemade bacon that I smoked (see below) last week.  Bacontastic?  

      

Asparagus Forest

I am not sure that I ever wondered what happened to the asparagus stocks that went unpicked after spring harvest. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that they turned into a freakishly miniature forest. We ran into this small grove while staying with some friends who are spending the summer working on an Organic farm in Grindrod.