tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78530664161810527102024-02-20T01:07:05.687-08:00ThirteenPeasS'appliquer de tout son coeur à une besogne utile, c'est de faire de l'art. - Ozias LeducJason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-68049143763216739382014-06-16T18:07:00.000-07:002014-06-16T19:38:12.823-07:00Rhubarb...for dessert or constipation?Canada Red,
Chipman, Cherry Red, Crimson Red, Egyptian Queen, Fraulein Sharfer Torte, German Wine,
Glaskin's Perpetual, Hawke's Champagne, Holstein Bloodred, Linnaeus, Macdonald, Mammoth Red, Stott's Mammoth, Mammoth Green , Monarch, Prince Albert, Redstick, Riverside Giant, Ruby, Strawberry, Sunrise, Sutton,
Tilden, Tottle's Improved, Timperely Early, Valentine.<br />
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These are but a few varieties of rhubarb. I find it really beautiful the first time one sees a list of the names of vegetable or fruit varieties. At first it reads like a some medieval fantasy sci-fi novel and then the idea of varieties sinks in. <br />
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now for a few fun 'facts'.....<br />
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-it seems that the pleasure of rhubarb is dependent almost entirely on sugar.<br />
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-perhaps a native of Siberia, called Rha, an ancient name or hydronym for the Volga where the plant grew wild.<br />
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-Earliest records date back to 2700 BC in China where rhubarb was cultivated for medicinal purposes (surprise surprise).<br />
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-rhubarb contains oxalate, which have been reported to cause poisoning when large quantities of raw or cooked leaves are ingested. <br />
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-we never imagined as children, armed with our packets of sugar while raiding the neighbour's rhubarb patch that there would be any other effect than something tasty, pure pleasure, never believe that they were used as anticholesterolemic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antitumor, aperient, cholagogue, demulcent, diuretic, laxative, purgative, stomachic and tonic. <br />
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-in a supermarket, even most outdoor markets, rhubarb is sold as rhubarb, not like apples. But somehow food has become food (unless it is tisane, or honey), and cures have become pharmaceutical here in North America. People eat rhubarb pie, but I never heard anyone mention "I am going to eat a whole bunch of rhubarb because I am constipated. No, most will call for a vitamin or a supplement, or some such liquid in a bottle (ie a controlled dosage.)<br />
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-Rhubarb is given to the Wu emperor of the Liang dynasty (reign: 557-579) to cure his fever but only after warning him that rhubarb, being a most potent drug, must be taken with great moderation.<br />
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-Rhubarb is a vegetable, but in the United States a New York court decided in 1947 that since it was consumed in the United States as a fruit it counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. <br />
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-During World War I rhubarb leaves were recommended as a substitute for other veggies that the war made unavailable....well there were cases of acute poisoning and even some deaths.<br />
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<sup></sup>-I once knew a guy who preferred vitamin C to a fresh orange because the fresh orange had the potential of making him fat.<br />
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-according to the NYU Langone Medical Center, rhubarb consumption can markedly increase oxalic acid levels in the urine. This could lead to increased risk of kidney stones, as well as other problems. Rhubarb leaf contains the highest oxalic acid content. The roots and stems contain less oxalic acid, but higher levels of anthraquinones, laxative substances similar to those found in senna or cascara. It is safest to use rhubarb standardized extracts processed to removed oxalic acid. <br />
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-rhubarb is part of the genus Rheum including dock, sorrel, knotweeds, knotgrasses and buckwheat. <br />
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-it is extremely difficult to find a recipe for rhubarb without sugar. <br />
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-rhubarb contains glycosides—especially rhein, glucorhein, and emodin, which impart cathartic and laxative properties ie in case of constipation, good for poopoo.<br />
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-rhubarb is never mentioned in one of the greatest history of food books History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat...unless I really missed it, or not important enough to find itself in the index.<br />
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-it was a pleasure eating rhubarb raw as a child, and still is. <br />
<br />Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-23258099153995817522013-12-01T17:42:00.000-08:002013-12-01T17:44:37.658-08:00on the necessity of being a bee part 1Visiting La Grande Ourse organic miellerie this summer in Abitibi near Amos Quebec I began to understand how complicated this honey thing is. Looking around, forest, fields, forest, fields, small towns with very few GM crops. That is good when wanting to be certified organic. One of the owners explained to me that unfortunately that was changing due to enormous canola plantations which are popping up around the 4-5 kilometers radius from their hives. They are not certain to receive their certification in 2014 because of this. Not surprising, the impact of one affects the other, so it is with water, so it is with air, so it is with bees.
In Vanishing of the Bees, a 2009 documentary film by Hive Mentality Films & Hipfuel films, directed by George Langworthy and Maryam Henein, we follow the sudden disappearance of honey bees from beehives around the world known as Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. There is no absolute conclusion in the somewhat gloopy documentary, but it does hint strongly to a link between neonicotinoid pesticides (neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine)and CCD. 'Neonicotinoids, developed in the 80s by Shell and followed up in the 90s by Bayer, are a relatively new class of insecticides that share a common mode of action that affect the central nervous system of insects, resulting in paralysis and death'. (http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pollinators/chemicals.php) There is no absolute scientific data at present making this link, but I would think that logically, somewhere, if you have an insecticide which fucks with a bug's nervous system and kills the fucking thing, and seeing that bees are insects and have a nervous system well...
This issue is not of simply being certified organic, but of product and environment safety in general. Perhaps also that when we deal with bees we are dealing with something different. Something pure. Something hard to define. That idea behind the honeymoon. Bees are omnipresent in every religion. There is something pure about honey but also the bee. Cheyenne creation myth says that the first people lived on honey and wild fruits, to never be hungry. Zeus was fed on honey and milk as a child. Bees were rumoured to have landed on Plato's lips as a child, as bringers of truth. There is a connection in Hebrew between bees and the Divine Word. In the Qur'an there is the 'Sura of the bees'. Not to mention John the Baptist or the ancient Hebrew promised land flowing with milk and honey while a mixture of the two was given after baptism and first communion in Christianity. According to Egyptian mythology, bees were created when the tears of the sun god Ra landed on the desert sand. So forth and so on....there is definitely something going on here, a powerful presence we cannot most probably cannot afford to ignore.
Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-22414831891015208012013-11-10T18:59:00.003-08:002013-11-10T19:00:23.678-08:00a must on everyone's top ten books to read...NOW!This summer I noticed a particular spike in dairy ads in Montreal. Butter, milk etc...mixed with images of grilled lobsters and fun and family. Strange, I thought, because the ads did not come from any particular company, just a reminder to not forget about dairy in general. Around this period I was in my favorite bookstore Olivieri and saw Elise Desaulniers book Vache a lait, dix mythes de l'industrie laitiere. Here is a vegan presenting us with ten myths surrounding the dairy industry. Precise, well written,these are serious arguments to consider. Anyway,one thing is for certain, vegan or not, we know that those annoying pictures of idyllic pastures and families in the countryside drinking milk, or two girls sitting on a fence doing the same, or...in our age of hypermedia we know that these images are there to manipulate our sense of nostalgia, yet we know they are strange, they are stupid...but somehow they are still persistently with us.
Here I include the publisher's summary.
"Cet essai dénonciateur met en cause la consommation excessive de lait au Québec.
Il n'est pas surprenant que les Québécois se classent dans le top 10 mondial des grands consommateurs de lait : nous en consommons en moyenne 84 litres par année. Nous avons réellement pris à cœur le slogan « Un verre de lait, c'est bien, mais deux, c'est mieux ». Mais à qui profite le second verre de lait ? À nous ou au producteur ?
L'industrie laitière, le secteur d'activité agricole le plus important au Québec, jouit depuis toujours d'une perception positive. Mais la prépondérance du lait dans notre alimentation et notre attachement aux produits laitiers n'auraient rien de naturel ; ils seraient plutôt le résultat de grosses campagnes de communication et de lobbying.
Serions-nous les vaches à lait de l'industrie ? Élise Desaulniers précise, raconte, dénonce. Elle souligne que le lait que nous buvons n'est pas celui que nous pensons boire, et encore moins celui que nous buvions il y a quarante ans. Elle enquête sur la Fédération des producteurs de lait du Québec, s'interroge à propos du Guide alimentaire canadien et du bien-être des vaches laitières et révèle la difficulté pour les jeunes fermiers d'accéder à la production commerciale."
Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-55445747945769303372013-08-07T20:32:00.002-07:002013-08-07T21:06:06.895-07:00bog Labrador tea, the du Labrador, Nordic bay leaves....<span style="font-size: small;"> An erect,</span><span style="font-size: small;"> aromatic shrub</span><span style="font-size: small;"> that</span><span style="font-size: small;"> grows to one meter</span><span style="font-size: small;"> with twigs</span><span style="font-size: small;"> densely covered with long, soft hairs (villous)</span><span style="font-size: small;">. The narrow, leathery leaves are 2-5 cm long, alternateand evergreen. The leaves are dark green above with edges that curl under along the margins, and there is a dense mat of orange-brown hairs on the underside. Numerous white flowers in tight clusters bloom from May to July. Each flower has a small five-toothed sepal tube with five separate petals, and 5-7 stamens.The fruit is a small,fuzzy capsule tipped with a persistent style (Marles et al. 2000; Pettinger and Costanzo 2002; Pojar and </span>MacKinnon 1994). Sexy! An extremely beautiful plant, to the eye and the touch. With the added evergreen meaning that this tiny plant's leaves can be picked in the minus 40 degrees Celsius of deep January. <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Picking Labrador tea or the du Labrador in Abitibi recently added another dimension for me; the culinary one. As opposed to its dried leaves the fresh ones emit the combination of bay leaf, marjoram, thyme, mint, pepper with a hint of pine needles. I was not thinking </span>as Hudson Bay Company's writer Edward Umfrewille (1954) wrote in 1790 about the Indians and Europeans of Canada and how they used the tea medicinally: “Its virtues are many; it is an aromatic very serviceable in rheumatic cases, strengthens the stomach, relieves the head and also promotes perspiration. Outwardly, it is applied to gangrenes,contusions, and excoriations; in the latter case the powder is made use of.”, but rather chowders, chocolate, ice cream, carrots and lamb shank. <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Hudson bay tea, James tea, Indian tea, swamp tea, marsh tea and Labrador tea...a simple search does not give a first nation's term and the Latin mentions <i>Groenlandicum</i> and not Labrador . It is said that the Ojibwa gathered the leaves from spring to autumn for a beverage tea, </span><span style="font-size: small;">enacting an ancient custom, the Hoh, Quinault, Quileute, Klallam,and Makah still gather and steep</span><span style="font-size: small;"> the leaves and drink the resulting tea as a refreshing beverage. Others write that that is more a 'white man's version' where the drink was originally medicinal, not tea time. Whatever the case may be, it grows in the Northern hemisphere very abundantly as with the psycho mosquitoes when picking them! Eaten raw it is delicious and is an excellent replacement for pepper, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, mint, and pungent spices. A complex tasty aromatic wild Nordic herb which I think has been marginalized by its noun tea...</span><span style="font-size: small;">think of it sometimes as a great replacement for bay leaves in a rich chanterelle chowder! </span><br />
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<br />Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-38734102088659608212013-05-12T16:59:00.001-07:002013-05-12T17:07:21.738-07:00the great Canadian canned catfish conundrum9% of Canada is covered by freshwater. While I will not site anything 'precisely' here, there are about 32000 lakes larger than 3square km. Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined...meaning above 60%. There are between 2 and 3 million lakes in Canada. About 70% of Canada's fish output is salmon, nothing shocking there, but with 155000 tonnes of fish and seafood outpout from Canada and salmon representing about 116250 tonnes of that...well.....<br />
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What I find strange in owning my restaurant Renard Artisan Bistro in Montreal which specializes in local food and products is that it is incredibly difficult to get local fish and seafood. My mussels come from Iles de la Madeleine, and I point this out because you will never find Quebec mussels in Montreal! Mussels in this city are all mostly from PEI. I get farmed lake trout from a few sources in the regions (and really not easy) and met a few fishermen in the Lac St-Pierre with all their barbottes, esturgeons, ecrevisses, etc ( with no deliveries). There are the usual lobsters, crab and Nordic shrimp, with the odd North coast Turbot. My seal meat is controversial and yet local...but....oh boy....<br />
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walking in a supermarket here you would think that we lived at the end of the world, with all that salmon, tuna (and mostly canned...second mostly consumed fish in the US!) pangasius, tilapia, and still more Cod, frozen sardines and basa fish the implication is almost is that there are only 10 varieties of comestible fish in the whole world. <br />
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of course the client is in the end the moving force towards what is sustainable, and well....<br />
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,well, all this is disturbing. The major exporters of freshwater fish in Canada, which amount to 11204 tonnes (whitefish, perch and pickerel , come from Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, small figure from the world's leading freshwater country. I rarely see it here. What strikes me in Canada is that is that we
commercially consume very little freshwater fish, and in Quebec I rarely
see any of them in our poissoneries (Montreal), and if there is rainbow trout it either comes from the US or China. The fact remains that if we are in the age of sustainable fisheries, it logically follows that in a country such as Canada we would eat more lake fish...or at least vary our diet when considering these choices. If you really gave a fuck about eating sustainable seafood, then eat local catfish. Meaning that in a country with over 60% of freshwater in the world and 200 varieties of freshwater fish therein, the natural inclination and leadership of a real sustainable movement would be towards these tasty lake fishes, but for now it is all wrong. <br />
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Moving away from the world's most consumed fishes and seafood I think, as someone living in such a country is even more important than buying some Chilean farmed sustainable certified fish (probably the largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon! and they are on the Pacific coast, you see where this is going.....) or whatever make you feel good. Canada should go further, especially with so many resources....and education....<br />
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we shall sea.....<br />
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<br />Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-11916351231370280882013-04-14T15:21:00.001-07:002013-04-14T15:27:00.736-07:00ail des ours (Allium ursinum) bear's garlic<b> </b>The first time I had ever picked wild garlic was in the woods near Lake Annecy in France where I was working as a cook in a hotel in Talloires. This is a famed region for edible wild plants made popular by the three michelin starred chef Mark Veyrat. We would stand awestruck in the middle of an incredibly bright leafy floor, feet buried in green, a shock of colour which burst out from the dull spring surroundings. Nothing could be easier to spot or pick. Snip, snip and the intense smell of garlic and chives would fill the air, stain the fingers and frazzle the mouth.Enormous bags were filled in no time. Back at the restaurant we would transform them into pesto, the season's first soups and intense spring salads. <br />
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In Quebec, the 70's and 80's witnessed a boom in interest and picking of bear's garlic. Somewhere
up to 6 million plants were pulled up, snipped, chopped, salted, boiled,
even sold in local grocery stores, in other words, consumed. Add to
this the unregulated abusive commercial interests and this plant was doomed. I could see how this could happen given the ease and speed it
took in France to fill our bags.<br />
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Since march 1995 ail des ours or ramsons, buckrams, wild garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, wild leek, bear's garlic (take your pick) is protected under article 16 of the act respecting threatened or vulnerable species with a minor exception. Outside of protected zones one can pick a maximum of 50 bulbs a year for personal consumption. Let us say the equivalent of 200 grams. <br />
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Standing in the middle of a sugar maple forest, abundance meets
restraint as it should, as with most things wild, and I contented myself
with a few plants, a wild garlic soup at home, and as for my restaurant Renard artisan bistro, well I am happy nonetheless to work with a west coast variety, equally delicious, with their intense
pungent garlic and sweet chive taste to celebrate the coming of spring. <br />
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<br />Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-40371883211323748752013-02-10T15:11:00.002-08:002013-02-10T15:13:41.986-08:00Moulin La Pierre-a history of quality. Way back yonder, let us say, somewhere in the Darker Ages and earlier, before all the other things that happened, it is said that white flour was coveted by all, and consumed by the few, the rich. Among the ancient Romans, different bread 'qualities' corresponded
to social hierarchy. Slaves and the poor
ate coarse loaves of mixed grain bread, fabricated out of whole meal
stretched with bran.The middle classes got bread made with less-processed wheat flour, often cut with
milling waste. The whitest, softest loaves of labour intense sifted wheat
flour were reserved for the upper classes. Even if I had invented these facts, we know that there is truth to them in every society, because the history of bread and flour is really a history invention,
greed, scientific discovery and survival which pretty much amounts to
the history of humankind.<br />
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</b><br />
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During the Middle Ages, white flour was seen as
being healthier than dark flours. The fact for this benefit was that by processing the flour, the mold and fungus in the grains, which led to several diseases, were eliminated. Processed white flour could be kept for much longer having lost much of the fatty acid of the germ which would quickly oxidize and give that distinctive rancid taste and smell.<br />
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Let us move to Canada where it is now mandatory to enrich white flour. Through scientific evidence it was realized that highly processed and industrial overheating of wheat created flour practically devoid of any nutrition. And for most humans, no nutrients equals useless.<br />
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"The standard for flour (also known as "white flour", "enriched flour" or "enriched white
flour") in the <acronym title="Food and Drug Regulations">FDR</acronym> requires the mandatory addition of thiamin,
riboflavin, niacin, folic acid and iron. The addition of vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, magnesium and calcium is optional.
All white flour sold in Canada for food use, whether for use in further manufacturing or for sale directly to the consumer,
must be enriched. Consequently, all foods sold in Canada that contain white flour must be made with enriched white flour.
The sale of unenriched white flour or its use is not permitted in Canada. The only exception to this requirement is white
flour sold for the production of gluten or starch." <b>Candian Food Inspection Agency.</b><br />
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Let us move to Moulin La Pierre, St-Norbert-d'Arthabaska,Quebec, one of the last privately owned old water mills which is run year round. In operation since 1845, moulin La Pierre reminds me of the many churches a little outside of Rome...where there are less banal tourists, and a little more faith and integrity. The setting is beautiful, but I cared for that less than the WAY they transform their organic wheat and grains.<br />
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Rene Simard and Daniele Huberdeau are the 20th owners. They took over in 1996 from LaPierre who decided to retire. Rene was already working in a boulangerie, bought LaPierre's flour which was already certified organic, they knew each other well, and....the rest is...now. They kept the name but added a space to La Pierre. <br />
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The method. Ground on Sylex of about 4 feet in diameter, a heavy Siliceous rock with a 100-125 rpm grind which is slower than say granite at maybe 300rpms and the much faster metal rolls of industrial method but by not overheating the grains, the resulting flour retains much of its nutrients. This has always been the case for many artisans and the organic, bio dynamic and the slow food process...time. This kind of common sense backed with a quality product, backed by an inherit respect for others seems to me the values most people seek.<br />
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AND we love the taste of their flour in our homemade bread and pastry shells at Renard Artisan Bistro, and love even more the comforting fact that again we have met people who care, not only for their product, but for general well being of the rest of us, and that is something the history of humankind has always had trouble dealing with. <br />
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<br />Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-55366789353932235262013-01-06T15:42:00.002-08:002013-01-06T15:42:51.441-08:00Elk, a question of identity<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">They say that Cap Saint-Ignace was where the last wild elk in Quebec died. Th<span style="font-size: small;">at </span>was between 1830-40. It is said that the last Eastern Elk was shot in Pennsylvania in 1877 and officially extinct in 1880. All this due to over hunting. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Presently, in </span>Quebec, there only exists farmed elk, which is sold mainly for its antlers, then canned hunting and then for its meat. Next to no elk farmer in Quebec will or has ma<span style="font-size: small;">de</span> a living off of selling <span style="font-size: small;">only the </span>meat. The main <span style="font-size: small;">reason and boom <span style="font-size: small;">for</span></span> elk farming<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">(<span style="font-size: small;">perhaps unfortunately)</span></span></span> <span style="font-size: small;">was <span style="font-size: small;">the <span style="font-size: small;">Asian</span> market for</span></span> <span style="font-size: small;">the vel<span style="font-size: small;">vet </span></span>antlers</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> which ranks number two to ginseng in importance in traditional Chinese medicine<span style="font-size: small;">. Big money.</span></span></span> Most elk farmers who specialized in velvet antler made a living <span style="font-size: small;">without needing a se<span style="font-size: small;">co<span style="font-size: small;">nd income</span></span></span>. That was prior to the year 2000<b> </b>marked by a string of mad cow disease<span style="font-size: small;">,</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>all that encephalopathy freaky spongiform suffering stuf<span style="font-size: small;">f </span></span></span>and the spread of the disease in elk and<span style="font-size: small;"> deer</span> on the west coast. Borders closed, markets slowed, velvet in the <span style="font-size: small;">Asian market<span style="font-size: small;"> became</span></span> suspect. <span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Renard Artisan Bistro used to work with Wapitis Val Grand Bois. They sold and went into retirement. Sad. I called another farm from the Association des Éleveurs de Wapitis du Québec (Certified pure blood elk), Gaston Bouchard asking for elk meat and he replied "non," laughing " il y a trop d'argent a faire..." Sarcastically saying there <span style="font-size: small;">was too much</span> money to be made<span style="font-size: small;"> in elk farming</span>. Ok. There <span style="font-size: small;">was</span> obviously something strange here. Another producer I had stayed with a couple years back in St-Charles Garnier on my way to Gaspesie ha<span style="font-size: small;">d</span> <span style="font-size: small;">also sold</span>. Another 'farmer' told me that he did not really care about the meat and if I wanted to deal with it to call the abattoir, his main income being, antlers aka pills. I recently found myself in the fields with Lucien and Jocelyne of Ferme les Wapitis des Beaux Pres in Aston-Jonction talking about why is elk more expensive than other meats, and why everyone is struggling to sustain their living. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Almost 18 years in the elk trade, original founders of the </span><span style="font-size: small;">Association des Éleveurs de Wapitis du Québec begun in order to protect the industry of pure bred elk from those who were crossing deer and elk and selling at elk prices, (the buying price of elk being 6 to 8 times higher than deer usually), and still struggling <span style="font-size: small;">to make ends <span style="font-size: small;">meet </span></span>but happy. Caring. <span style="font-size: small;">Working in a system <span style="font-size: small;">much dominated by chicken, pork<span style="font-size: small;">, beef.<span style="font-size: small;">..all subsidized by the <span style="font-size: small;">government? <span style="font-size: small;">The <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">protection</span> of q</span></span>uotas? M<span style="font-size: small;">ore questions. They grew up in the No<span style="font-size: small;">rth<span style="font-size: small;">, as in a 15 hour drive<span style="font-size: small;"> up<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">into the t<span style="font-size: small;">und<span style="font-size: small;">ra</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>, used to eating carib<span style="font-size: small;">ou meat. When they returned back '<span style="font-size: small;">south' t</span>hey appr<span style="font-size: small;">oached the M<span style="font-size: small;">APAQ </span></span></span>a<span style="font-size: small;">s<span style="font-size: small;">king about <span style="font-size: small;">caribou farming. 'F<span style="font-size: small;">arming!? What you need is a zoo permit! Find another animal.<span style="font-size: small;">" they were t<span style="font-size: small;">old and so <span style="font-size: small;">elk it was. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <span style="font-size: small;">Beau<span style="font-size: small;">pre family<span style="font-size: small;"> ar<span style="font-size: small;">e</span></span></span></span></span></span> a couple who have had 8 children and <span style="font-size: small;">are</span> happy<span style="font-size: small;">;</span> humble and happy to share. Something I struggle everyday to appreciate, attain, and keep with<span style="font-size: small;">in my own circles</span>. N<span style="font-size: small;">one</span>theless, their story is o<span style="font-size: small;">ne of beauty, struggling to keep their elk <span style="font-size: small;">farm <span style="font-size: small;">in existence, working in the four corners of Canada, a family<span style="font-size: small;"> living ap<span style="font-size: small;">art, living <span style="font-size: small;">together, <span style="font-size: small;">almost living at the edge of the modern industrial wor<span style="font-size: small;">ld<span style="font-size: small;">, p<span style="font-size: small;">o<span style="font-size: small;">ised perfectly at that junction where <span style="font-size: small;">most of us a<span style="font-size: small;">sk <span style="font-size: small;">the most important questions of our<span style="font-size: small;">selves and our community. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a <span style="font-size: small;">society where int<span style="font-size: small;">en<span style="font-size: small;">sive industrial farming<span style="font-size: small;"> is the norm and will not change anytime soon, it is possibl<span style="font-size: small;">e </span> watching elk in their vast space, observing their behaviour<span style="font-size: small;">, that som<span style="font-size: small;">ething will be lost when <span style="font-size: small;">it is replaced by ste<span style="font-size: small;">el and concrete walls. It is not a question of the pumped <span style="font-size: small;">up, fucked up<span style="font-size: small;">, legless battery chicken because t<span style="font-size: small;">he<span style="font-size: small;">re are so many poor people to feed, because rich <span style="font-size: small;">people are b<span style="font-size: small;">uying the same bird<span style="font-size: small;">s, it <span style="font-size: small;">is a <span style="font-size: small;">more a question of <span style="font-size: small;">norms es<span style="font-size: small;">tablishe<span style="font-size: small;">d, </span></span>reason<span style="font-size: small;">s behind the<span style="font-size: small;">m and government regulations.</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">Many m</span>ore questions. <br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whe<span style="font-size: small;">n </span>cheapness should not dictate out better judgement<span style="font-size: small;">, the fact i<span style="font-size: small;">s that almost everybody w<span style="font-size: small;">ants things <span style="font-size: small;">inexpensive<span style="font-size: small;">, esp<span style="font-size: small;">ecially food. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">We should all remind ourselve<span style="font-size: small;">s (<span style="font-size: small;">because we are modern and <span style="font-size: small;">educated)</span></span> that <span style="font-size: small;">with cheapness <span style="font-size: small;">c<span style="font-size: small;">omes</span></span> a price, hidden but everpresent.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Elk mea<span style="font-size: small;">t for the moment is<span style="font-size: small;"> marginal, not very subsidized, <span style="font-size: small;">meaning that it wil<span style="font-size: small;">l definitely</span> be more expensive<span style="font-size: small;"> (or as some would say representing the t<span style="font-size: small;">rue <span style="font-size: small;">cos<span style="font-size: small;">t of living)</span></span></span>, meaning you won't see it on any fa<span style="font-size: small;">st food restaurant any time soon<span style="font-size: small;">...</span></span></span></span></span></span> but on Renard's menu it has bec<span style="font-size: small;">ome a must</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">, and most probably because of <span style="font-size: small;">its relation<span style="font-size: small;"> and<span style="font-size: small;"> natural voice <span style="font-size: small;">in what many have called the</span> slow food movement<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>And again another ques<span style="font-size: small;">tion ar<span style="font-size: small;">ise<span style="font-size: small;">s</span></span></span></span>, would <span style="font-size: small;">we ever want to see elk<span style="font-size: small;">s bear the<span style="font-size: small;"> same burden as the so called modern cows, pigs and chickens<span style="font-size: small;">? And yet the<span style="font-size: small;"> big market for elk <span style="font-size: small;">is for i<span style="font-size: small;">ts antlers and not the meat<span style="font-size: small;">....and yes,again, so many <span style="font-size: small;">more questions.....</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"></span>Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-86270098155557740512012-10-08T20:18:00.003-07:002012-10-08T20:21:07.362-07:00the passion according to Mathieu...GosselinA great many things contradict common sense or any sense. Two come to mind as I was driving to visit Mathieu Gosselin in Rigaud from Montreal. Organic heroin or cocaine...something pretty disturbing if ever it comes to be and animals raised without ever having seen and felt our great powerful sun...something even more disturbing since it is very common. <br />
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Guinea fowl is one of those victims. The scenario is simple. A bird with wild and strict hierarchical instincts stuffed into tiny boxes for its entire life. That is what the industrial chicken farmer becoming guinea fowl farmer does. That is the fate of probably all guinea fowls raised in Quebec. Plume des Champs is the exception and the scenario is also simple; they are the only ones (for now) raising free range guinea fowl in Quebec. Gosselin and his three associates created a 5 acre space (soon to become 10), dug a fence a few feet underground which the coyote, the fox and any predator cannot dig and penetrate, and a 'roof' of netting 6-7 feet high (so that the fowl can fly but the air borne predators cannot dive and kill). Standing with the shy guinea fowl and Mathieu describing in detail their habits and nature, I knew that this was another ally of artisans, of education and of the love of all things beautiful. <br />
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Arguments that guinea fowls run around too much and therefore become too tough also fail. Gosselin's guinea fowls are juicy, tasty even without sous-vide cooking. And standing in the field with his birds I can testify that they do not cease to move. Serving them at Renard Artisan Bistro and having eaten a few myself I can say that the too much movement argument is false. Period. Plume des Champs are the first that I have seen with this type of elevage, which is extremely sane, but worrisome because they are still in our day of online information and imagery of the rare few. Why? Well there is no doubt that information is extremely abundant...so? are we cheap? do we not give a shit? are we selfish? are we stupid? are we fucked? You decide. Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-67845501267899092262012-07-03T16:32:00.002-07:002012-07-03T19:32:58.249-07:00our Nordic fruit's return. Sherrington Quebec.Driving into southern Quebec, off highway 15 towards Sherrington I was debating whether rhubarb was a fruit or a vegetable. After having pushed Renard artisan bistro experiment into the limits of local food, the Nordic winter was a little difficult. We relied mostly on a few preserves, apples and pears. It was easy to abandon olive oil, but fresh fruit?<br />
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Down intensely straight rows of lettuce on the dead end rang St-Joseph I was more than excited to begin working with the first fruits of summer. I pulled into the driveway, stepped out and found myself staring in a sort of chaotically organized mixture of gardens, fruit trees, bushes, weeds, post asparagus cloud like beige cotton candy , dog house, farm tools, children's toys, a shed, a goji berry bush? After all those long perfect rows of lettuce this seemed definitely wild, or part of something else. All these 21 arpents I am staring at are part of Les Champs Fruites experiment begun by Valerie Leclair in 2003. We walk through her land as she shows me her cassis, gooseberries, red lake currants, pink champagne currants, ground cherries, Boyne raspberries (juicy soft, the kind you will probably never find in a supermarket), autumn raspberries, toka prunes, mont-royal prunes, Reine Claude prunes, Saskatoon berries, Trappist and Isaac varietals, big late, Juliette and Romeo cherries, blackberries, black raspberries, a few pear varietals, and the camerise a truly boreal tear drop shaped blueberry like fruit that she is testing. I could not help feeling that this compact quiet place was becoming a sort of history of our northern fruits.<br />
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Valery's father explains to me that most of the farms in the region had to become larger with a bigger production in order to survive, essentially because of big supermarket's pressure on increased production and lower prices (the frightful modern feudal horn). Farmer's have very few choices, and Valerie's choice is of the micro type kept alive by farmer's markets in cities, the one I would say most sane, honest and sustainable. <br />
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She bought two bee hives in 2011 to aid the pollination of her land, and she talked about a sort of asparagus honey which had me immediately thinking about potential dishes....I thought, of course, that is why we have no choice to love our artisans. Playful, intense, chaotic, curious, eternal...a place of real tradition always becoming.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-19264517407857834772012-04-23T16:37:00.001-07:002012-04-23T16:47:58.533-07:00the magical mysterious land of mapleStanding in the silence of a maple forest near Bonsecour Quebec I was expecting to hear the sap flowing, groaning, dripping....nothing; just a soft wind through the tree tops and barely visible shoots. It is strange and magical that so few trees have this characteristic, next in popularity being the birch. A Northern thing I suppose. I was also surprised that Quebec accounts for 75% of world production with almost
25 million liters a year, with the rest of Canada adding another 5% to
that figure. That's a lot of fucking syrup man. <br />
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Before the winter maple trees will store starch in the roots and trunks which will convert to sugar in the spring. This sap, the stored energy of the maple will start flowing when temperatures rise above 0 degrees Celsius, or when an intense sun heats the bark exciting that half of the tree to flow while the shaded side remains dormant. The buckets we all remember hanging from a tree below a spout burrowed in the trunk have largely been abandoned, replaced by a long system of surreal tubes which are hung around the forest leading to a central shack where the maple water is collected. From there another long journey to a separation bin or a concentrateur of the brut water by osmosis, which is then sent to an evaporateur, which concentrates the syrup, and for some less industrial businesses with send the syrup to a finisseur which heats the syrup on a flat bed, evenly, timely. And Les Sucreries d'Or's organic maple syrup definitely taught me again the important lesson, it takes time, and a lot of it to get there. Then comes the classification, different everywhere, and in Quebec is divided into two classes No.1 and No.2 and with 5 colour classes in each. The tastiest and most complex I think is the extra claire No.1, also the rarest and least affected by bacteria.<br />
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According to the Federation des producteurs acericoles du Quebec 20% of erablieres are organic on the French site, translated into English it reads that only 12% are organic...don't know how that got mistranslated, or which figure is the right one, but one thing is for certain is that we'll be enjoying our organic maple syrup at Renard artisan bistro for some time to come, maybe even in our homemade bread. <br />
<br />Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-62835264905464636292012-03-27T17:27:00.005-07:002012-03-27T20:57:07.091-07:00In Organic We TrustOrganic definitely means a lot of things. Someone recently told me that it was a return to the essence, the way things were meant to be. Someone else was explaining how it was the path to real health. Indeed for some organic is almost Edenic or paleolithic or pure. On a more or less lucid day I think that organic is really post caveman, post biblical, post industrial and pushed a little further post Fritz Haber. It is exactly the pressure point which counters the immense, insane expansion of use of ammonia synthesis, the overuse of pesticides, growth hormones and liquid shit. Organic is about time. Relatively it takes an 'organic product' much more time to grow that an 'industrial super pumped enriched' one, sometimes by a third. This of course means more feed, more rented space, and probably more expensive. But it also mean as many studies have proven more mineral complexity, more molajuja in organic products etc....I will leave that to them to test and describe.<br /><br />What is fundamental for me in organic is sincerity and transparency.<br /><br />What it should not be is lies and abuse and hidden practices.<br /><br />In 2001 Picardier farm sold their milk quota, and in 2003 became organic. Not a difficult certification because the farm has more or less been matter of fact in their practices. And they are very matter of fact; ready to give figures, costs, percentages, let us say down to earth, calculating, with probably one of the tastiest, juiciest chicken I have ever roasted...to be continued...again and again pure and simple.....Renard artisan bistroJason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-77743061105674467752012-02-13T17:37:00.000-08:002012-02-13T20:07:14.911-08:00very far from the Potemkin place of thingsI once visited a farm, was shown around by the owner who explained to me that his farm was in essence organic, but he did not believe in being certified because it was such an additional useless cost, because of course one (being me or any other) could see and understand that being a farmer already was difficult and with so little revenue and tight margin, why bother I was told again and again that it was clear that his farm was...sane...good for my health, good for humanity. Until walking around some storage space to get to the butcher room I see quite a few cardboard boxes with Cargill printed on them, and also fertilizer and feed bags that were far from anything considered organic. Not to mention that he talked of every other surrounding farm as cheating and lying to their clients, not very neighbourly to say the least . We continued the tour, he piled gifts of meat and charcuterie on us with the hope of doing future business. Never called him, never will.<br /><br />I must admit that at the beginning I was charmed, nodding my head as if I understood, or was in the process of trying to understand, gullible and believing. Immediate kindness and attention is something we all have a weakness for. But upon leaving the farm, and actually visiting the surround farms I realized that the whole thing was something of a Potemkin experience, lied to, bullshitted to, convinced of something that was otherwise, rimmed with false information...a Glengarry Glenross situation. I was sold something that was not quite.... Exactly what each of us hates about the 'world' and 'humanity', the elusiveness of all the dark themes, each thing that each of us hides....all this was intensified at that farm. In short, the uncomfortable feeling of being in the echo of corruption.<br /><br />And years later I find myself at Ferme Morgan in the dead of Quebec winter. Chickens pecking at my boots, stepping in duck crap, and petting boars. I began to think that all these animals, guinea fowl, ducks, cows, would become meatcycles as cold as it was. No. You notice how animals huddle, create a space, and leaning against a cow I realized how warm it was, how comforting. They did not have to be confined, as some would have you believe. We just showed up in Weir, along an icy road and were invited to go wander where we wanted. No one followed us, no one explaining what was there. I then understood the modern importance of what transparency means. It is not what someone says, not the print, not the advertising, but the open backroom, the figures, the silence of truth. Back at the 'boutique' we talked to Joel, one of the 10 new owners of Ferme Morgan.<br /><br />Ferme Morgan was the 1000 acre project of John Bastian, a German businessman who had a vision of an organic farm. Certified organic 300 acres of farmland and 700 acres of forest. A good balance. Duck, guinea fowl, chickens, cows, wild boar, veggies. Pretty incredible. And then the sale. I cannot explain his real reasons for transferring, but suffice it to say that 22 months into it, the 10 new owners of various ages, experiences and backgrounds run the farm now and care for its original vision. Most live on it, work on it, including even an organic bakery. It almost sounds ideal, monastic, and self sufficient. But there are, I am told, the realities of no real government subsidies for organic farming (that all conventional farms get--read consumer taxes that pay anyway to have lower prices, a white lie?). Joel explains that the reasons are the heavy lobbies behind the government that block recognizing organic as something legitimate. I nod. Lobby of chemical fertilizers giants, lobby of....the lobby of the great Potemkin global village giants who insist on selling us something not quite what it is....and visiting ferme Morgan was just that reminder that there still exist people who are honest enough to be transparent. Would it really be crazy to say that 85% of the world, of us, of humans have something to hide, and would not like transparent policy?...... and yet we all demand it of others...while thinking up ways of closing the deal. (note: being certified organic costs about 1300$ to 1500$ a year depending on the products you sell and the size of your farm, so the excuse is already rather limp not to be so...) And as I have always said, to have the assurance of an organization which closely follows the rules is the closest thing that Quebec and Canada for the moment have to an AOC. Ferme Morgan, a great place that Renard Artisan Bistro is proud to know and support.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-44934416361536791592012-01-07T15:40:00.000-08:002012-01-09T17:47:44.925-08:00Jan 7th, 2012. St-Tite, minus the RodeoI am almost certain that not only will we see in the average Quebec town a Notre Dame street, a church, a makeshift post office, a huge cross at some intersection, and a sign for poutine, but also a microbrewery. That may take a little time, but I swear it's coming. St-Tite is a relative new comer with a solid repertoire of 10 or so beers which rotate seasonally.<br /><br />The town of Saint-Tite is now mostly known for its insane Rodeo which hosts about 700,000 people in 10 days. Quite something for a small town of around 4000. It is said that this festival was pushed in the late sixties to promote the leather industry, of which Saint-Tite is an important producer. Who knows. But now through the long stretch of forest past Shawinigan, soon a million will pass....<br /><br />Saint-Tite (Titus), was originally the companion of Saint-Paul. Died in the year 107. And with so many Saint towns in Quebec, who knows why Tite was chosen.<br /><br />Saint-Tite is known to me for its microbrewery A La Fut. In serious need of beer for Renard Artisan Bistro, with a somewhat crappy snow storm out, my kind of yoga. It is in their brewing room in the beginning of snow storm January that I find myself learning about the beauty of making beer. The smell and warmth of malted barley is strong in the room. Right above my head is a vat of their stout boiling (for 1.30 hours approx.), to which Mathieu, one of the 6 owners of this Co-op ads a mere handful of hops which controls the foam. After this process he explains they then centrifuge the mass to rid of all coagulated solids (much as clarification of a beef stock), then the liquid is chilled and fermented. As passion usual carries, there are may other details and steps that are explained, but after my long drive through the snow storm from Montreal, hunger was distracting me, as to be expected.<br /><br />To be expected, although a pub menu, most of the ingredients are local, even organic. A goal the brewery would one day like to reach also, although even if much of their grains come from Mauricie, some organic, some not, there are some from England as well as Czechoslovakia. This being more a problem of internal politics and stability in product, than a complete lack of it. Those with persistence and will! (and a little money) will bridge this gap...<br /><br />I fortified myself with a beer sampler....<br /><br />Blonde de St-Tite pale ale. Fruity, light with very little bitterness. nice malted side. 100% Quebec grain.<br /><br />La British. Brune aux noix. A little smoky, dominant cereal taste and smell, lightly bitter, nutty, toasted hazelnut finish.<br /><br />Cuvee IPA Houblonee 2. floral, grapefruit. Lots of hops! Nice and bitter.<br /><br />La Bete Noire. Stout a l'avoine. A dose of coffee, chocolat, flirtatious, smooth, graceful. Amazing. But they tell me it will be some time to perfect the Stout in a bottle. A very complex thing, much to do with the frothy head....soon to come.<br /><br />It is great to taste something which inspires....<br /><br />Tasty, serious and positioning themselves in the artisanal beer sales in Quebec, which account in total for only 6% provincial beer sales. "In New York state artisanal beers accounts for 30% of beer sales." I am told. And when the Rodeo hits Saint-Tite Molson and the big boys take over completely....but hopefully not for much longer, as A La Fut now holds a much more interesting alternative.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-77592762292176042312011-11-21T19:27:00.000-08:002011-11-22T19:55:07.278-08:00nature's last colourful burst before snow's reignreally fine autumn weather. But near the end of October with the nights frosting, freezing, most pumpkins are done for, done in, finished. They are not the last veggie to appear before winter's enveloping being, but we definitely know that it is close.<br /><br />I stood in a field overlooking carving pumpkins, delicatas, hubbards all laying low in the otherwise empty fields, hundreds of these brightly coloured balls which not only was enigmatically disturbing but was almost haunting, like you could really here them whispering some weird shit. At le Courgerie, their season will consist of approximately 400 varieties, including the approximately 100 decorative kinds, which are even more bizarre.<br /><br /><br />I could not help thinking how a single small place in what seems the middle of nowhere is doing with so many varieties. I found myself with a wheelbarrow, no direction, and plenty of squash and pumpkins. Almost all of which I have never cooked before...delicata (told to stuff with sausage), hubbard (good for fries), pink banana (gnocchi), sweet dumpling (dessert), Jarrahdale....that is where the imagination kicks in.<br /><br />Pascale's father had the farm, which was dairy, and she moved it towards specializing in pumpkins. 1999. Pierre, her husband, originally in human resources wanted to have an escargotiere. Fat chance, because Canada's laws are extremely strict on importing live snails. They consolidated. They had about 15 varieties and a big portion of their market in the United States. Then september 11th hit. Borders shut down. They were no longer able, as many others, to move their produce. The result were enormous mountains of oranges, yellows and blue balls...People driving by their farm were suddenly attracted by the surreal landscape, stopping with their children and began buying trunk loads of pumpkins. An idea was born. Pascale and Pierre began traveling the world obtaining seed varietals with the intention of having an outdoor, living, natural museum of squash and pumpkins without having to call it that, but one long conversation with them, and it can get as intense as the MoMa.<br /><br />Overlooking a field of brightly coloured squash and pumpkins randomly scattered amidst otherwise greyish, brown cultivated landscapes have got to be some of the most surreal things in this northern nature. Incredible to see, these last eerie colourful burst of nature before our great white months.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-23593956025440249612011-10-05T21:43:00.000-07:002011-10-18T16:24:29.498-07:00dominus mycomarvelous...the pine mushroom-matsutake.One thing is for certain, when we see the appearance of the pine mushroom, here in the north anyway, we know autumn is in us. And yet, as abundant as the pine mushroom is, it has little place in the Western canon of cuisine. It's odour with not fill a room like the white truffles I once experienced at Arpege in Paris, but it will subtly draw colourful scents around those close by.<br /><br />Although abundant in the Northern countries, there is very little mention of it in lower Europe (traditional Europe), taking a non existent place after truffles, chanterelles, porcinis etc...It is in asia where the mushroom is almost worshiped for its intense flavour, and well, with the Japanese in particular for its supposed sexual enhancing properties. Wikipedia will not mention this but the matsutake has, as far as ordinary parlance goes, a grading system which ranges from 1 to 5. Number 1, small, whose head...well let us just say it, it looks like a penis and that is why it is revered by some Japanese-although it is the least flavourful. Go figure. Numbers 3 to 5 are indeed larger looking more like a generic mushroom (portobello etc...) but whose perfume is incredibly strong, and I must admit intoxicating, somewhere between pine and the sweat of an incredible lover, if you know what I mean. These mushrooms in Japan can sometimes fetch up to 2000 dollars a kilo, but here in Quebec they go from 35$ to 100$ depending on the abundance and of course who you are buying from.<br /><br />Although many people are still hooked on the Euro centered worship of morels, girolles etc where recipes abound in the bibles of Ducasse and the Larousse (where there is no mention of the pine mushroom)...I cannot help to admit that after having cooked over 50 varieties from Quebec this year, that the king of mushrooms is the matsutake, Quebec's truffle of sorts, the North's gift to the great cannon of mushrooms.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-90859214125936178502011-09-26T19:19:00.001-07:002011-09-26T19:34:01.021-07:00if we hate beak cutting, then why horn burning....Kid goat, amazing meat. Sylvie Lesvesque, an amazing woman. We met at her farm in 2009 at Les Elevages du Sud in St-Denis Kamouraska. What is most important to me was, as we see in this photo, as cute and almost religious as they are, that they have horns. Most producers of goats burn the horns off when they are young. I once watched the process and wondered if it was really necessary. I am always told it is because the animals are aggressive and tend to hurt each other; a lot of punctures, and wounds and deaths. I began thinking of this logic when applied to tail docking in pigs and beak cutting in chickens. Deduction? Space. Because every farm I have visited who do not burn their goat`s horns have told me that there is perhaps one incident every decade. And looking around their herds, I realized that they do strike, they do hit, that that is their nature, but the difference was indeed a lot of space. If we ask for ethics in pigs and chickens, then it is for one and for all....Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-48026198628466778722011-09-05T16:35:00.001-07:002011-09-05T17:30:55.535-07:00the godfather of apple ice ciderThere are a few people who have a lasting, long term, perhaps incalculable effect on the way we see, taste and think about life. I have to admit that one of those people to me is Christian Barthomeuf. This is the godfather of apple ice cider, his approach is thought out, distinct, unusual and beyond a doubt concerned. This is not simply about good cheer, but aligning our lives in accordance with the principals of honesty, goodness and respect. Now certified organic, Clos Saragnat is the first apple ice cider with this appelation.<br /><br />When Christian began making apple ice cider there was no classification for it. The Régie kept putting it in a cidre doux classification. Thanks to the efforts of a woman from Québec city, who fought and fought for the appelation of apple ice cider, it was finally granted. And also granted recently was the Governor General award in Celebration of the Nation`s Table for Creativity and Innovation.....A true honour to serve these products at Renard Artisan Bistro....<br /><br />here is the presentation,<br /><br /><br />When Christian Barthomeuf first got the idea in 1989 to use ice winemaking techniques to create the first ice cider in Québec, his neighbours said he was an eccentric. Little did they know that, just 10 years later, this exceptional product would be one of the great agri-food success stories in Quebec and Canada, garnering worldwide recognition. Today, Mr. Barthomeuf is one of the pillars of this flourishing young industry. His world is based on simple production thechniques and meticulous observation of natural cycles. in helping apple growers to produce high-quality ice cider, Mr. Barthomeuf has also helped to raisethe profile of their challenging vocation, while yielding significant added value for their orchards. That assistance has saved many family businesses from certain financial ruin. This visionary has devoted considerable efforts to preserve heritage apple varieties, which he now grows organically in his Clos Saragnat vineyard, where he also produces straw wine and ice wine. <br /><br /><br />amazing! Gives me goosebumps! Congrats to one of the true artisans of Canada!Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-19498641889403160772011-08-22T19:56:00.000-07:002011-08-23T18:10:45.538-07:00From finance to artisanal cheese-Hughes Ouellet's new pathCheese saved another life. By the train tracks in Farham, tucked away of the main street is the tiny fromagerie of Hughes Ouellet. Driving into the parking lot it seemed like a certain thought we may all have and never pursue. Hughes did. And if there is any trade other than being a chef that I would love to do it would be a cheesemaker.
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<br />Headed for a life of finance, Hughes talks about leaving it with little regret. He is not the first I have met with this sort of change of heart in Québec, and I imagine far from being the last. He got his diploma from ITA, and developed the recipe of his first cheese in his basement, Zephyr. The first meule came out in 2005. He sources the milk for his cheese from a farm in Cowansville. The farm was never named, and in fact my questions were not met with many answers, but a little research leads to Pierre Janecek, président or once president of the section des frontières of the UPA. I don't know what to think in fact. It is hard to think of an artisan like Jean Morin fighting the UPA and on the other end another artisanal cheese in support of it. This is the difficult political situation in Québec, and more and more one needs to recognize these differences, no matter how blurred. It is even more confusing when simply looking for good products, even more difficult when these cheeses are so good...
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<br />Zephyr-more or less 6 months, raw milk, croute lavé, pate ferme. Mushrooms, butter and hazelnuts.
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<br />el nino-semi ferme, termisé, herbal taste with toast, and brown butter.
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<br />Sirocco-a morbier style cheese.
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<br />brise des vignerons- a fresh mushroom smell, as well as the taste with light taste of butter. Something between a camembert and a brie. best eaten when very fresh.
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<br />rafale-a new cheese being developed, intensely aromatic the likes of roblochon....soon to come.
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<br />We must always remind ourselves that quality, all the time, goes deeper than simple taste. Taste is a sort of charm, but the real quality rests firmly in the range of conscience from which it is born. From taking to giving, we can only hope that more and more people have the same revelation and the conscience to lend support and stability to our whimsical and oscillating world of taste.....
<br />Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-977150967075580712011-08-08T12:38:00.000-07:002011-09-26T19:17:45.938-07:00the majestic magical sunflowersStanding in the field of sunflowers in Upton Quebec I felt like I was being watched. Those big bright freaky heads gently swaying as if ready to say something. This was not LSD, just something about sunflowers...<br /><br />Christian Champigny, owner of la ferme Champy, was traveling down from Madrid into Portugal. Along the way they passed a field of sunflowers and was awestruck by the intense beauty of it. A decision was made. He would move away from corn, soya, and cereals and concentrate more on sunflowers, especially oil. His farm was certified organic in 1996, and the first bottle of first cold pressed oil came out in 2000. 500 liters. Today? 10,000 liters. They press their oil about every 3 weeks, so one can be assured to have intense, fresh oil every time. With this option, and a fierce local movement, olive oil, although incredible, has become less necessary in our kitchen.<br /><br />Funny, that a plant that is native to the Americas, will almost always conjure images of Italy and Spain. I do remember one of the saddest things that I ever saw was a field of lackluster, wilted sunflowers while traveling through Tuscany, but now standing in the field in Upton, I realized that my association has been altered, back to the new world by the hard and passionate work of Christian Champigny. Grazie.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-40369228796265223102011-07-30T19:07:00.000-07:002011-07-30T19:29:34.776-07:00On importing poverty...walking into Dessureault's fromagerie with another family we hear him tell us "Our cheese is not tested on animals." We all wondered, why would cheese be tested on say a pigeon anyway? Then laughter. That is Guy, owner of Domaine Féodal, a mixture of pied a terre, humour like political caricature and a few life lessons.<br /><br />Cendré des Près-light, creamy butter taste with a maple wood ash in the center lending a slight complexity to this light bloomed cheese.<br /><br />Noble. Cows milk, cream, lightly herbal, mushrooms, with very little bitter accents due we are told to the low use of rennet in the initial process.<br /><br />Guillaume Tell. Guy`s unique mark. 15 days maceration in ice cider from Ace du Vignoble De Lavoie for at least fifteen days. Each meule absorbs at least 200ml. Although I was never a fan of these treatments, I have to admit that the end product is something so distinct and powerful that it is impossible to ignore this unique incredible cheese.<br /><br />As always the conversation veers afar while we are talking about the price of Québec and France cheese. We tell him that at Renard artisan bistro we serve only Québec cheese, even if many French varieties are ofter cheaper. The reason that they are cheaper he tells us is that French cheese have major government subsidies to compete on the international market. Something to ponder. We wondered about this new fact. We tasted more of his cheese, with glee, and he mentions that along with Walmart, all we are really doing, if we really thought about it, is importing poverty, we nod chewing such delicious cheese, thinking, about what it is that we are really doing.....Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-41599348746099963622011-07-25T19:30:00.000-07:002011-07-25T19:45:12.530-07:00fresh and fermented-Québec sangria!It may not be moose hunting but there is something satisfying about picking one's own raspberries (or anything come to think of it). We drove up rang St-Jacques to La Ferme Perron, were given cute little cardboard boxes and then pointed in the berry patch's direction. Roasting in this freaky July weather. Here is the trick. Don't squeal and pick the first little red things you see. Move into the patch, further, resisting the urge, hold off a little more and then....it should feel soft between your fingers and release easily. Any resistance is no good. Leave it, or taste it, still a little sour. Basically don't do what everyone else does. The nicer ones are always further off.<br /><br />Two years ago I visited La Vallée de la Framboise, in the Matapédien vallée. They make tasty refreshing alcools using raspberries, currants etc...Renard artisan bistro still orders from them for our Québec sangria. We really have no recipe, but it goes something like this<br /><br />blend fresh raspberries and pass them<br />le Matapédien raspberry wine<br />soda<br />a few shots of Le Brochu (raspberry and cassis liqueur)<br />fresh raspberries<br />fresh lemon balm leaves<br />ice<br /><br />you see where this is going, dosages according to your whims and will.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-84675086160544130772011-07-19T17:10:00.000-07:002011-07-20T21:11:27.137-07:00vineyards in the North, oddity in the systemRecently I have been witnessing some weird shit. One of the ingredients written on the side of a box of salt was..sugar. Or something like low sodium chicken stock! Every classic text for chicken stock will teach you that there should never be...sodium. Imitation crab? Banks? Just a few things recently that are odd and unnecessary. I found myself at Domaine Les Brome. A québecois winery. Some people say that a québecois winery should not exist, that it is in fact abnormal, an oddity in the system. We stood upon a tiny hill overlooking the vineyard and beyond a vast expanse of lakewater beckoning. Everything looked, well, pretty normal.<br /><br />Inside we are told about the wide variety of cépages they grow...Vidal, Geisenheim, Seyval Blanc, Seyval noir, Riesling, Chardonnay, St-Pépin, Maréchal Foch, De Chaunac, Pinot noir, Baco noir et Cabernet Franc. Impressive. And the wine?<br /><br />vidal 2008 with its faint hints of litchee, white flowers and honey, and slightly peppery is fast becoming the Quebec grape varietal.<br /><br />Cuvée Charlotte, a mix of Geisenheim, Seyval and Chardonnay, lemony, slightly woody, mineral. The freshness of acidic pears, pretty good with raw scallops.<br /><br />Riesling, half which is aged in oak, 2009, very light, pears on the nose, honey but maybe still a little young. Too light.<br /><br />Rosé péché...of hybrids of Seyval Noir and Maréchal Foch, saignée with its nose of cassis and strawberry with a dry snap to the taste we saw this perfectly with smoked duck.<br /><br />Rosé Détente...fruity, easy. Think, a well made wine cooler.<br /><br />There are so many more that we tasted. Baco. De Chaunac etc...But we agreed that the better ones to serve at Renard artisan bistro were the rosés which had that freshness of the season, short as it is in hand. The industry is still young, searching, creative, crazy...which is what the creative process is about but not necessarily for those who find comfort in a bottle of France or Italy, although having drank in many a bottega.....<br /><br />I began wondering if it is really strange for Québec to attempt to have vineyards. Ok, let us get over the initial elitist attitude and we accept that there will never be amazing Québec wines. Granted, most of us can perhaps agree on that. Once we also rid ourselves of a sort of 'global' mercantile approach we can maybe witness the birth of something different, more like a great expressive folk song as opposed to a universally acclaimed play, both intense nevertheless. I mean imagine Finland with vineyards.....and yet....some things are really even stranger if you pay attention.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-838692827234942882011-07-05T20:10:00.000-07:002011-07-11T17:37:16.646-07:00beyond the simple pleasures de la tableThe door of the Sainte-Marie-Reine-des Coeurs boutique opens wide and a sister dressed in the white habit grabs my two hands and tells me how happy that we made it. I smiled, overwhelmed by such a greeting. Then she hesitates, telling me that my accent is not so very French. No. Are you not the father of sister .... Everyone looks at me. We laugh. I tell her that we are here to buy pottery. She invites us in with a warm welcome that I am almost envious of.<br /><br />As we look through the boutique sister Lux Bruna (light + St Bruno) tells us about the order which began in the 1951 in France based on Pope Pius XII the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, but they only came to Québec in 1993. The story ended there and she wanted to know all about Renard Artisan Bistro. It seemed strange describing this to her, in a place that seemed to be beyond the pleasures of the table. I picked up a plate of pure stoneware and she asked me what I would serve on it. Elk heart. She smiles. Beauty, she tells me, can be translated into objects and are there to remind us of good things. When they make the pottery they are in a constant act of prayer. I have to admit that there is something very powerful about their collection, and do not doubt that in large part it is because they are passionate, dedicated and trying. As for the simple pleasures of the table, I think that such plates and bowls are an amazing addition and is an honour to serve food on them.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853066416181052710.post-65332179422877030832011-06-28T19:19:00.000-07:002011-06-30T21:16:58.414-07:00all these beautiful warm tiny bodies in my handsAs we were picking our stawberries for Renard Artisan Bistro I began wondering about all this local movement, actually I also wondering about every movement; from the head to ass movement (note to North Americans the Chinese are way ahead of any of us), vegans, molecular, organics etc...With the 30 degree sun beautifully roasting us pickers I also thought of hunters, gatherers, survivalism and the paleolithic diet movement. A simple act of picking my own strawberries was beginning to become challenging.<br /><br />Being local food wise in Quebec in a way is easy, but I started recognizing the restrictions, like wine, like olive oil, quinoa....many things I love, but not so 'pure' to a locavore. like a pork chop to a vegan. Or, for instance, another question came to me, do I buy something from BC or New York? Or yet, is it absolute quality or giving credence and support to an emerging artisan? I do remember one thing though; last year I was in a market and someone bought the Cali strawberries over the Quebec ones because they were 50 cents cheaper. Someone told me that the prices are deliberately dropped in order to compete with the local varieties. Encouraging the local spirit or are we getting ripped off, every person's thought precisely. Everyone in the world is trying to justify their 50 cents worth, but I think at least the choice should be obvious, with so many good strawberries available in Quebec, the choice of quality wins hands down. If anything, have you ever known the variety of strawberry that you are eating? Likely not, because we are never told. But for the first time I found out that I was making dessert with Chambly and Jewel strawberries, and somewhat satisfied, I suppose that was my 50 cents worth.Jason Nelsons - Chefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16983083893142804968noreply@blogger.com0