Pig in the City

When we arrived at seven and change on a warm summer morning for this edition of the field trip, I didn’t know it would forever change the way I look at food.
Chef Tim’s spread of breakfast Sammies helped kickoff the morning, then off to Stratford and Montforte Dairy, what a place of smells!
When we arrived the scent of warm whey was everywhere. Talking to the cheese maker was awesome. I have seen him many times at the St. Lawrence market and I felt I knew the skinny on some of his cheeses, until I walk into the “Wild Room”. The amount of ammonia in the air grabs your nose like a smack to the face. Very special things happen in that room.
It was the first time I had seen cheese mites. We get Mimolette at Cluny Bistro and they are waxed for shipping, however the cheese mite is celebrated in that cheese.
Then to lunch and what a lunch! The people in that town get the best from every farmer, all things we ate you would see on a high end chalk board in the west end of Toronto, or on a high end tapas menu. The roma tomatoes were so perfect as if they were grown just to be paired with the fresh Monforte Toscano.

Now when it all changed we rolled up to a log drive way and pulled in. We were greeted by the dogs first then the owners of Perth pork .
I got to talking with Fred about the pigs and he’s showed me the boars I got to butcher with Chef O and Chef Reid a long time ago when I was a cook at The DRC, but I sure didn’t look at it in the same light back then.
Fred told us about how he got the Tamworth breed and how they thrive in that Ontario air.

After meeting the people that produce this pork I realized I had to do everything I could to make this man’s life work into very tasty products, trying not to waste a thing.

His method of letting the pigs rest before slaughter reminded me of the Japanese way for dispatching fish called “ikejime”, all of the care is in making the sure the latic acid is as minimal as possible.
As was the same with Fred’s Perth county pork. So before I arrived I already had a plan how I was going to butcher it. I would try to get the most market cuts out of the hog and sell them on feature at Cluny, making back the investment on the pig before turning a bit into some tasty charcuterie.

The leg.
Cured in salt for one month at 4% by weight then hung for 1 year.

For the shoulder.

Mortadella

The front belly.

Air drying with salt & then double smoked when we get some wood for the smoker.

For the neck.

Spicy copa to be hung 6 months.

The rear belly.

I cold smoked it and served in surf and turf style with line caught big eye tuna.

The bone in chops.

I featured the seven bone in chops with roasted baby spuds, garlic scapes and fresh peas with a sherry jus.

The T bone chops.

TBD – after we get through Summerlicous!

The front foot/hock.

Staff meal – braised and fried by Sammy and served with a spiced vinegar dip. It was awesome.

For the cheek.

Guanciale in green salt mixture.

As well, all the bones were turned into en croute aspic and the large amount of fat is being used up in en croute as well. There were two small handfuls of blood stained meat I could not use everything else has been used from the entire hog.

I sold the tuna dish at $35 and sold 30 of them allowing for $5 of that to cover the pork belly and sold 30 so = $150

Also sold the 7 bone loin chops at $25 (one went to Sarah for her ’employee of the month’ meal) = $175

So the the pig’s cost is covered with more than 50+ pounds of it still to be sold off.

I feel very proud of what I have done with a mans life work and I will never look at food the same again.

Always cook happy!

Chef Jeff Glowacki

Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie
35 Tank House Lane
Toronto, ON
M5A 3C4

Perth County, Ontario.

Hi chef,

The trip was awesome, and that sounds fair to me! Brevity has always been something I have struggled with, and I don’t think one can do justice to a whole day of experience with one paragraph, but I hope you enjoy my summary nonetheless!

After a nice drive and a quick snooze, we found ourselves at the Montforte dairy, in Stratford. The dairy is out in the boonies, where you can buy stuff like fireworks or pineapple flavoured Crush from the gas stations. The space was clean and industrial, but we got a warm welcome from the start. Although they used professional, modern equipment in their work, they still put personal attention and care into each piece of cheese. Their hands, as they put it, have touched everything that they sell.

It was interesting to see the different rooms and their purposes: a white mold room for aging cheeses like camembert, or the wild room, where the yeasts and cultures are not controlled and anything can happen to the cheese. It was here that we also started to learn about the challenges that an artisanal cheese maker must face.. One rack of cheese had suffered from “blow”, which inflates the cheese before it finishes aging, making it worthless. A single rack, smaller than a rolling rack in a kitchen, was worth more than $10,000, and there was nothing they could do to recover that product, they just had to watch it blow up!

After the tour, we went to their restaurant in town and got to sample many of their products at lunch.. Everything was delicious; the goat queso fresco, fenugreek-studded tohm, taleggio, Camembert, cheddar, chèvre, the list went on and only got better. We also got to meet Ruth, who runs the operation. Ruth is a hard-talkin lady who worked her way up in kitchens before getting into the cheese game, and she doesn’t have time for bullshit. She told us the truth, that her business, and other independent businesses like hers, are in trouble. She said we need to tell each other this so we can help each other to continue. Because it’s important to have someone making wonderful products, especially when we live here! There won’t be such a thing as an Ontario terroir without people who care about what they are doing using the gifts of the land to make delicious food.

Our other stop of the way was at Perth Pork, the top supplier of high quality hogs for the entire GTA. The reason for their status became clear pretty fast.. The husband and wife who run the operation are perceptive about how to appeal to their market. Appreciating that the industry is driven not only by quality, but also by novelty, they are constantly coming up with new ways to offer something that nobody else has. After they brought heritage breeds like Tamworth and Berkshire to their farm, they added wild boar. Then they started creating their own cross-breeds with unique and desirable properties! Although they had another new project on the go at the time of our visit, it was a closely guarded secret, not to be revealed until it was ready for the market, and vice versa… Something to look forward to!

Many thanks for the opportunity, Chef.

Matthew – Line cook, Distillery Events & Archeo Trattoria

Another great DRC field trip. First stop was Monforte Dairy in Stratford Ontario; an artisanal cheese company. It was interesting to hear about their production process, but more so of the challenges they face from regulatory bodies and their supply chain. I think its a key lesson for future chefs to understand that its not just about what happens in the kitchen, but that so much of an restaurants success is dependent on the external forces that affect what happens in the kitchen (supplier relationships, regulatory changes, labour trends etc) and how that is managed.

We then went onto Perth Pork in Sebringville just north of Stratford Ontario. We met owners Fred and Ingrid Martines who were quite charming and I can see why they are known as the people to go to if you want whole pork. They provided an informative tour of their farm and its operations. They also spoke at length of environmental factors such as flooding and invasive pests which was a informative conversation.

Steve – Apprentice Chef, Distillery Restaurants Corp.

First time visiting a factory or farm in Canada, was great opportunity to learn for me.
I could feel, and it made me think about people who made cheese through the tasting the cheeses. They take so much time to make each of an amazing cheese for customers.

It was great time to see and know about piggies,how they grow up by the farmer and how have the former started.

I really thank to a farmer and piggies through this field trip.

Miri – Garde Manger, Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie

Hi-oh Chef,

This is my fed trip report. Thank you for your skillful driving, chauffeuring us safely to and from. Montforte dairy was both informative and entertaining. Being sworn under the table by someone’s mom is always a hi-light! The spread provided by Montforte was both generous and delicious. Perth Pork was also very informative showing us how a farm is tended from grain to feed and animal to compost, nothing is misused or wasted, and love and care are the focus for a tasty product. Thanks again for the trip!

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Julien – Chef de Partie, Distillery Events

Waiting in the small front room of Monforte Dairy, full of old and mismatched furniture and knickknacks, there wasn’t much to suggest the level of order and cleanliness we were about to encounter. After covering our shoes and hair (and beards if we had them), and being asked not to touch anything, we were led into a series of almost too-white rooms. We were told, from the first, that the most important part of what they did there, what took up most of their time, was cleaning. Their real and most tangible priority as food producers is the same as ours as cooks, to feed as many people as they can, as well as they can, without making anyone sick.

At the same time, as the tour went on, the contrast between the rural hominess of the exterior and the sterility of the interior softened. We got glimpses of the passion and real affection that went into making these cheeses. It almost seemed like Daniel saw the cheeses he showed us, not as a product they were manufacturing, but as living things they were caring for.

At the end of our first tour we moved on to a family style lunch at their restaurant in town. We ate course after course of delicious, simple food while Ruth Klahsen talked to the group about her work, her experience, her ideas about food and community. She was clearly passionate about what she was doing and eager to improve on what she had done so far.

The last part of the trip was possibly my favourite. When we arrived at Fred and Ingrid’s pig farm, Fred shook hands with each of us and told us matter-of-factly about how they had come from Holland to start their own farm more than thirty years ago, built up a successful business, which they marketed themselves, and then, looking for more of a challenge, had started raising wild boars.

With the same sort of quiet excitement they showed off the hot water heating system they had developed to heat their barn, and the viewing room they had built. They told us how they used the waste from the farm, fertilizing with manure, even composting the carcasses of their dead pigs. They showed us their fields and told us about how they rotated their crops. My favourite story of the day was of how they had started sending their pigs to the abattoir earlier, so they could adjust to their surroundings, after Fred had learned from a chef the importance of letting meat rest before serving it.

Although the dairy and the pig farm were different environments in many ways, what connected them in my mind was the love that we saw, whether it took the form of Ruth’s passionate ideals or Fred and Ingrid’s subdued, farmerly pride in their work and accomplishments. That, coupled with the ambitions they all had to improve on what they had built and challenge themselves, was what excited and inspired me about our trip.

Morgan – Garde Manger, Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill

Hi Chef Tim,

As an aside, I wanted to thank you and Chef Michael for organizing this trip and driving us around.
Fred and Ingrid Martines, of Perth Pork Products, cultivated 100 acres of land, bought in 1979, and raise Tamworth and Berkshire herds in open pastures on natural feed. Although the farm is not certified organic, the herds are raised on principles of quality over quantity. The fields of wheat, corn and soy beautifully surround the pens and make for a picturesque farm, which vastly differs from the modern mechanics of factory farming. Fred and Ingrid’s care extends to the abattoir, where they purposefully bring the pigs two days before slaughter in order to reduce the stress on the pig and thereby yield a better product; a point which struck and stayed with me. The ideals of sustainable production, as I learned, are applicable to community programs, such as the collection of vegetable clippings from local restaurants (which the Martines then feed to the pigs, specifically the boars who really enjoy it), as well as the ability to refuse to lower prices and thus lower standards in order to appease some clients.

Ruth and Daniel of Monforte Dairy amazed me with their knowledge and passion, not only for quality cheese production, or for their incredible perseverance in an industry which values the middle man, low prices and bulk production, but mostly for their genuine regard of sustainability. This passion translates into amazing dishes served at their Monforte restaurant, located in scenic downtown Stratford, where we ate lunch. The cheeses, all made on the farm, were the delicious theme carrying through every dish, from the charcuterie board to a fluffy, light cheesecake.

It was an invaluable trip which encompassed the beauty of artisanal production. Can’t wait to try the the cheddar souvenir.

Sivan – Line Cook, El Catrin Destileria

Danny Chae’s Big Game…..

An amazing experience for the cooks and chefs alike. Yesterday we brought in a whole Nova Scotian Swordfish, 80lbs minus the head and tail. This guy would have been in and around 100lbs. on the boat. The fish was harpooned, the most eco-friendly way of fishing this species.

Chef JV giving it the “all clear”

The fish came from a cape island style 50 foot boat called the “Spoiled Brat”. These are small boats, generally a 4-5 man crew.

This small family boat operated by father, son and friends is as small town as you can get.

I love supporting this small industry, very few restaurants do. We are all to consumed by large companies all vying to sell for the cheapest price, with small margins, and large volume. This kills the small guy; the families trying to sustain what their forefathers did for generations, the East Coast Canadian fisherman.

The Atlantic Canada wild swordfish are deemed a great choice by Ocean Wise if hand line or harpoon caught. The international swordfish fishing idustry is poorly regulated and should be avoided. Go Canada!

Chef Danny Chae from Pure Spirits took on the task of breaking this guy down and did a fantastic job.

taking off the collar

We will be featuring this beautiful fish through Cluny, Pure and El Catrin through out the weekend.

Mike Stafford from Cluny Bistro has an old mate that is a fisherman on a similar boat in the waters our fish came from. Here’s a picture from his boat to show you the scale of these big game fish.

Nova Scotian Swordfish fisherman

A few weeks prior we took down a whole Canadian East coast Yellowfin Tuna. Here’s a couple of pics.

These fish were brought in by our supplier Fisherfolk.

Who focus on supporting fisherman who are closest to the source and use fishing practices that maintain the balance of healthy ocean, lakes and local fishing communities. They are committed to providing the freshest, highest quality, natural Canadian fish and seafood and in doing so respect the oceans, lakes, and fishermen.

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Sweet Tooth

A field trip to Redpath, Cheese Boutique and Terra Cotta Maple Syrup Farm

First up was the Redpath Sugar museum.

Redpath Sugar Ltd.

I’ve often looked at this place in awe, a fully functioning factory in the heart of the downtown core, a throwback to a time before. Co-existing in a plantation of 21st century condominiums. Who would’ve guessed there was a museum here with a curator telling a 40 year tale of his life’s work. Richard Feltoe built this museum of sugar and tells all that wants to listen, all for free. In the days of getting nothing for nothing, it is a hidden gem for history buffs and sweet tooth’s alike.

Click an image below to open the gallery

sugar cones - this is the form that sugar once took

Tony and Melvin fascinated by the IBM time card machine. This was the OG "punch clock"

Next – Cheese Boutique for a tour with Afrim and a special pairing of his Australian blue cheese with some local brick maple sugar.

Affirm captured the imaginations of our cooks again with his passion, dedication to his craft, and his exuberant knack for the hospitality industry. Whenever I’m at Cheese Boutique I feel like I’m part of the family – he always treats me like a brother, and that’s his gig. A master at making people (read: the customer) feel special.

I love taking young cooks on his magical mystery cheese tour, but I think they get just as much out of his hospitality than anything else. Today Afrim, knowing that we were off to a maple syrup farm, wowed us with a canapé of abate pear, roaring forties blue, and the special ingredient, shaved pure maple sugar. Cooked down to a brick like candy, like a disc of palm sugar. Just delicious.

Terra Cotta Maple Syrup Farm

Well this was going to go both ways…. For the Canadians in the group this was going to be boring as bat shit. For everyone else, IT ACTUALLY COMES FROM A TREE???!!!

Thankfully the majority of the group had never seen tree tapping or been inside a sugar shack so, bring it on.

starving cooks - terrible pancakes - delicious syrup!

Thoughts from the team

First and foremost, I would like to thank Chef Jacky Lo and Chef Timothy Miles for organizing this field trip. We made our way to the Redpath sugar Museum and was graciously greeted by their curator, Richard Feltoe. Having lived in Toronto my whole life, I never knew about the Redpath museum that was tucked behind the factory. It was quite invigorating to learn about how sugar was made and understanding the historical context behind an under appreciated cooking ingredient. An underlying theme I personally resonated with after hearing Mr. Feltoe speak and watching that manufacturing process of sugar was how efficiency plays such a key role in giving you the upper hand. And it directly correlates to how a kitchen works as well. Specifically during prep and service as the cooks and chefs must work together in harmony and be as efficient as possible.

Our second part of our field trip led us to the Cheese Boutique. I found this to be the most enlightening part of the day. Visiting the store as an aspiring chef, Afrim Pristine, our Cheese Boutique guide was passionate, knowledgeable and made the entire experience unforgettable. The myriad of spices, cheeses, salts and ingredients he discussed electrified and jump started my senses and created juices. It became a humbling experience as it reminded me that pursuing the culinary arts is a lifetime endeavor. There will always be more to learn and new experiences and sensations to be sought after. I will definitely be back there soon.

The last leg of our field trip culminated in visiting a sugar shack in Halton. As the Terra Cotta Conservation site where we got to see first hand how maple trees were tapped and how a small-scale evaporator worked. The pancakes could have been better but that maple syrup produced at this site was some of the best I’ve had. It takes a lot of man hours to produce this golden liquid, that we just drown our pancakes and waffles in. This first hand experience made me appreciate maple syrup farmers even more so, and I will most definitely not waste a drop ever again. I think I will just lick my plate clean, out of respect for the hardworking tree tappers and my deep respect and love for one of the most iconic Canadian ingredients.
– Jeremy Tang, Garde Manger – Cluny Bistro

The trip started at the Red path sugar factory which is located in Queens Quay.
It was a surprise to know that the company gets raw sugar from as far as Australia to produce sugar . The next stop was the Cheese Boutique which sells over 500 different types of cheeses. The owner supports small cheese farmers from around Canada by selling their products. We ended our trip by going to our last destination, the maple syrup factory, where they show the different stages of making maple syrup.
– Joel De Sousa, Garde Manger – Pure Spirits

Thank you for taking me on the field trip!

I really enjoyed the Redpath museum just because I didn’t know making sugar took a long process and to learn all the steps it goes through, raw sugar, molasses & syrup mix, to boiling, to drying, etc. was very interesting. The cheese boutique was interesting as well, like learning about how the company grew to what it is now and about cheese. I found the blue cheese on a pear with maple shavings really good that complimented each other very well from the strong flavour of the cheese to the sweetness of the pear and maple. And lastly, the maple festival, it was interesting to learn how maple was discovered by the Natives.
– Michele Lee, Pastry Cook – Cluny Bistro

The Greatest Dish Comp

So the tie in this month for our Greatest Dish Comp is Maple Syrup. We asked our cooks from all five departments to come to the table with dishes inspired by the all Canadian great ingredient. A strong showing this month from the pastry department at Cluny Bistro, battling it out for tickets to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Game on!

our two pastry legends. Chef Lucas Craig and Chef Chris Kwok.

JV had to stay back and cook... pretty sure he's happy though!

“Brick pastry bar with maple butter cremeux, maple bacon icecream and a sherry maple sauce”. The dish also contained smoked buckwheat crumble, espresso jelly and a malt foam !

Year of the RAM and a cold cold, -30ºc trip to Stratford, ON.

The DRC culinary team set out on another fantastic culinary trip, this time to the birthplace of Justin Bieber. Much to the disappointment of our minivans full of cooks, there was no sign of aforementioned #bieber anywhere, nor was there a sign. No shrines, no monument, no banners, no fanfare – just a frigid frozen landscape of Ontario farmland. The beauty, for sake of redneck hooligan teenagers riding skidoo’s down the sidewalk, was quaint and old world. A beautiful little town..

So year of the ram, what’s this got to do with the price of fish? Nothing. It does however relate to our monthly skills competition called “The Greatest Dish” or the GDC. Now this year, we have decided to relate our GDC comp. to our field trip, tying the two together. So this month we tied together the culmination of the Chinese New Year, year of the ram – and thought it a great idea to go to a lamb farm in Ontario, buy the lamb for the competition and bring it home to The Distillery.

We would then hold a butchery demo, break the lamb down to cuts and then raffle them off in a draw for the GDC competitors. The cuts of lamb were put in a hat (not literally – that’s gross) and pulled out by the cooks. They would then have that cut of lamb to cook for their competition.

Back into the minivans and we were off to Koskamp Family Farms to walk their facility and meet their wonderful Water Buffalo and Holstein cattle. This little family run dairy farm specialize in water buffalo milk, something only very few farms in North America produce.

Their Water Buffalo milk is processed into Buffalo Mozzarella by Quality Cheese in Vaughan and is used on our menus here in The Distillery. Fantastic “farm to table” moment for our cooks.
The Koskamp philosophy is simple, “We take good care of our Water Buffalo; they will take good care of us. We provide fresh air, clean water, nutritious feed and a clean dry place to rest”

Hungry cooks – we set off to Monforte Dairy Cafe in the centre of town for some local grub. Charcuterie boards, grilled cheese sandwiches and coffee and we were ready to roll on to the next farm. Oh – and a surprise visit from the one and only Jose Matamoros! He skipped class at Stratford Culinary School to come and say g’day. Hope you didn’t get in trouble mate…

Erbcroft Farm
This little farm was literally a family business employing one farm hand to look over their sheep, ducks, pigs and dogs all under the one roof. It was touching to see the small scale of this operation and how they are carving out a living, off the land. Honest hard work and a love for his herd, a genuine old soul.
Here was where we purchased our lamb for the competition and butchery demo.

piglet

bryan getting some pats in

kitty finds the warm spot

Heidi

i think jLo found his lamb. can we eat this one chef??

farmer tim and his lambs. notice the open shirt – it was minus 30ºC in that barn

lamb

team DRC @ Erbcroft Farm

lamb guitar

smokin a lamb?

Ontario Farm – Yours To Discover

Enough from me…. Here are some thoughts from our DRC cooks that came along.

“Last Thursday we went on another awesome DRC field trip. First, we went to a cattle farm which predominantly had Holstein and Water Buffalo. We were able to see up close both animals and learned about the milking and breeding cycles of both type of cattle. I found this very interesting as it provides insight to the living conditions of cattle, how they eat, and how they are treated. As a cook, it really helps us see how our product goes from farm to kitchen”
– Steve Hoang
Apprentice Chef, Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill

“The most interesting thing I learned on the field trip was how farmers in Canada have to manage and care for their stock during the severe winter temperatures here. Most aspects of farming life are quite familiar to me as i grew up on a farm. -20ºC and below temperatures are not. Housing all of your livestock indoors for half of the year, using heat lamps to keep the young warm, and the limited feed options available are not familiar aspects.
The technology used on the water buffalo farm was quite interesting as well. Pedometers used to count the animals steps each day, which can then be associated to events such as breeding, and then linked to the animals milk production was something I had not seen before”
– Travis Cropley
Chef de Cuisine, Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie

“This week I got the privilege of visiting Koskamp Family water buffalo farm in Stratford. It was an amazing experience, it brought a whole new meaning to the saying, “From Farm To Table”. This trip opened my eyes on how hard our local farmers work to provide us with great quality meat, day in day out. No matter the weather, it could be -30 to +30 degrees outside, they still put there all in to raising a great product. Throughout the trip it was super cold, all i was thinking about was keeping my feet warm. But once you see the proud look on all the farmers faces, being out there with them in the cold was all worth it. It’s clear they love what they do. It’s refreshing to know that there are still farmers that are raising animals the old fashion way. They welcome us with open arms, and eagerly answered all our questions. I had a great time. 🙂 ”
– Teneisha Anderson-Stewart
Grill Cook, El Catrin Destileria

“Hello Chef Miles, I’m emailing you to thank you for allowing us to participate in the enlightening field trip to the farms last Thursday. It was a humbling experience to be reminded of the hard work and care that is put into our food before it has even been cooked. Also, after shaking the farmer’s hand who raised our competition lamb with love, I feel it is only right when cooking that i do justice to the protein i have at hand. The passion that i have for food and cooking burns a little brighter with me from going on a trip like this.
So thank you on behalf of all DRC cooks and myself for allowing things like this to happen. It not only teaches us about the story behind our food, but strengthens the bond between the DRC family.”
– Michael Stafford
Garde Manger, Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie

“We started the day at Tenderbuff farms where they specialized in buffalo milk. They have also fallen into selling buffalo meat. Their first buffalo was from the US and since then they’ve been importing semen from Italy to help improve the herd to produce better quality milk, with a greater yield.
Water Buffalo are really smart. They form ‘friendships’ with other Buffalo. They can recognize and react to familiar people and are very curious. As we walked through, they were jumping and clamouring over each other to get a look. When they are young they have their horns frozen then cut off to avoid issues later in life among other buffalo.
Milk from buffalo differs in a few ways from cow’s milk. They make a lot less milk than typcial Holsteins make but it contains a much higher milk fat percentage. Water buffalo have a longer gestation and extra chromosomes. The meat is a good alternative to beef due to it being a leaner animal and has a cleaner taste with low fat and cholesterol.
Next we went to Erbcroft farm to see and learn about sheep and lamb. I noticed right away how many different types of sheep there were. I could pick out different colours, head shapes and wool types. Another thing I noticed was how attached to the farmer they all seemed. Sheep get their tails removed for sanitation and to prevent other animals from biting at them. When butchered at 6-8 months, the meat is know as spring lamb. If butchered between 8-12 months it is referred to as lamb, 12 to 24 months hogget, and after that, mutton.
Once again, this display of “from farm to table” was enjoyable, and educational.”

– Bryan Lang
Garde Manger, Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill

Butchery Demo

Back home and on to phase 2. Butchery. Sous Chef jLo from Cluny Bistro and Chef de Partie Jeff Glowacki from Pure Spirits led the butchery demo in the Pure Spirits Prep Kitchen.
Check out the video!

Greatest Dish Comp
Competition day !
Some fantastic entries from our DRC cooks, pictures are below. The winner though,
Aviv Moshe, Cluny Bistro – for his “Moroccan Lamb Roll”

Honourable mention to,
Jeff Glowacki, Pure Spirits – for his “Chicken Fried Lamb & Braised Lamb collar”

And here are the all the other GDC entries! Fantastic work guys.

Stay tuned for next months Field Trip and GDC. Should be a blast.
We are visiting the Redpath Sugar Museum, Cheese Boutique for a Q&A on maple syrup and cheese pairings, and then on to a Maple Syrup Farm in Halton, ON. See you then!

– Chef.

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Chowder Chowdown !

This lil piggy went to Cluny, Pure and El Catrin.

i think i saw 7 hacksaws - everyone brought one in, an excited bunch.

clearly jeff needs something whilst chef charles gives a thorough inspection

all right, move over amateurs - Chef Olivier steps up

It’s sad. But true.

Butchery is a dying art.

Today we brought in a boar from Perth County, Ontario. Grabbed as many cooks that wanted to watch, listen and learn, then did what few do in the restaurant biz these days, a lil bit of butchery.
The rising cost of operating restaurants, paired with the small size of modern kitchens – todays Chef simply can’t afford to be the butcher anymore. And that’s a shame.
I whole heartedly believe I only became a true cook after I slaughtered, butchered and prepared an animal for a gathering of friends and family.

Belville, Ontario – my first duck.

It’s an undertaking we cooks should all experience.
After all, food is real, all food came from somewhere. From the bag of flour once tall stalks of wheat, the teaspoon of sugar one time a sugar cane, to our Perth County boar.
They all had their day in the sun.

– Chef

Fall Harvest

It seemed fitting the inaugural DRC Field Trip coincided with the start of the fall harvest. A magical time for cooks, chefs, food lovers and indeed the industry of agriculture.

farms are pretty

First and foremost let’s bring you all up to speed.
The DRC, (Distillery Restaurants Corp) wanted to find a way to keep inspiring and educating our young generation of cooks. There’s more to just working an 8 hour (12 hour, 16 hour…..etc!) day, punching in, punching out and going home (….going to bettie’s (ed.) There’s gotta be more to it then that!
Hence, the field trip was born.

To give our cooks valuable lessons, experience, memories and a reality, of where food comes from. Asparagus to the uninitiated comes sensibly packaged in bunches wrapped in elastic bands that magically all weigh a pound. Lemons, well they come polished, often individually wrapped in crepe paper. and in cardboard boxes perfectly sized… you want 115’s 110’s ? whatever you want…..
Well, at the farm food comes from the ground, from dirt, sunshine and water, incredible ay?!

The shock and awe when our group of 11 young cooks first took sight of the fields, their feet planted in the pungent soil of a real farm, well it was epic!

A real farm. With real people (real Mexicans too!), that cut the vegetables from the earth with a knife and bunched them by hand in a basket. Real farmers that cut the herbs by hand with scissors. I’m not sure what they all expected, perhaps a scene reminiscent of a canning factory with machinery doing all the work. It was gratifying for all to see that real people were still methodically and meticulously handling the food.

The day started early. VERY early for some, for others the night before hadn’t even ended…. Anyway, surprisingly everyone made it on time or early for the 6am meet up. Only one late was our host for the day Ezio Bondi, (nice one buddy, at least you’re consistent!). Bondi Produce were looking after us today, namely Mat, Ezio & Will. Matt and Ezio are our sales rep’s and Will our chief picker at the Food Terminal.

First stop was the Food Terminal, then on to Bondi Produce warehouse for a tour and breakfast, to Riga Farms in Newmarket then onto Cookstown Greens, finishing with lunch at a pub in Cookstown.

food terminal

The terminal was an eyeopener, BUSY! Watch your feet! forklifts driving at crazy speeds, weaving in and out of business deals left right and centre. Cash deals flying here, card games and bets over there, of course legitimate fruit & vegetable sales were also common place . Purveyors screaming “DONT touch! Look only or buy!! or something to that effect, Jose can fill you in… It was a big, big place.

On to Bondi Produce. Mat and Ezio’s brand new warehouse, lots of square feet, i forget the number… They were very proud of it, and rightly so, a beautiful shop. We even got the grand tour of their gym and lunch room. It was great for the cooks to see where their veggies come from, Jose and Suk staring down palettes of avocados like they own them, well, they kinda do… Pure and Cluny guys going nuts over a new strain of grapes called Cotton Candy Grapes…. Actually, legit, taste and smell like cotton candy. Nice.

Onto Riga Farms. After our GPS got us totally lost in the middle of nowhere near Newmarket we finally ended up where we were supposed to be. Riga, predominantly a producer/grower of kale, kohlrabi and collard greens. In fact, all the kale we use in the Distillery comes straight from Riga to the Bondi warehouse and to us. The first thing we noticed was how amazingly green these vegetables were. A noticeable difference straight out of the ground (1 day) shipped to Bondi 2nd day, into the restaurant, 3rd or 4th day. Greenest green veg we had ever seen! Then we went out into the field and saw the kale being picked and cut, yup, by real people…

beautiful kale fields, Riga Farms

The boys at Riga then took us through a few of their other projects they were starting showing us fig trees, many, many herbs. The sorrel! wow so good, so lemony! Crowd favourite goes to the “stevia” which is a sweet herb originating from South America. Pure’s own Bryan “Candyman” Lang, already conjuring up desserts with the sickly sweet herb.

Another solid moment at the farm was Jose saying “hello where you from?” to every Mexican guy on the farm… Keeping up international relations, good on you mate.

Our heroes, the guys that pick the food we cook!

The boys then took us out to the most beautiful Kale field where he told us that ducks, or was it deer??, i couldn’t quite hear him, could eat the entire field in as little as a couple of days if kept unchecked. Awesome.

On to Cookstown. Cookstown Greens, commonly known by chefs and cooks for producing seedlings and baby lettuces. This is a 100% certified organic farm, so they do things a little different. It was rather different, a little more laid back and relaxed, a little more chaotic but it had a certain feel to it. It had an artisan quality that you couldn’t quite put a finger on.
Here the crew again got out in the fields and dug around, finding the asparagus tips shooting from the soil, tasting the lettuces growing in the ground, seeing how hot, hot houses are, tasting a tomato off the vine as it should be. The flavour, amazing! A long, long way from the food terminal where much of the produce is imported from far flung countries of the world, picked completely unripe, then gassed on arrival to Canada with ethylene to instantly ripen. Not really the same taste, by a country farm mile.

this is where it’s at

The pictures tell a thousand more words, the team had an amazing day, learnt a lot and are still talking about it a week later. The cooks that didn’t get to go are green with envy and all vying to be the next DRC line cook to make it out on our next Field Trip.

I’d like to thank Bondi Produce for hosting us, Riga Farms and Cookstown Greens for the tours and especially the Distillery Restaurants Corp. for providing our young culinary stars a place to grow and nurture into educated, inspired cooks of tomorrow.

– Chef