[March 20, 2013]

Sanagan’s Lunch Counter Menu

Sandwiches

(Add Fries to any Sandwich for $2.50, add Soup or Salad to any Sandwich for $3.00)

Roast Chicken – $7.00

Crispy Skin, Butter Lettuce, Tomato, Sauce Remoulade

El Gaucho – $7.00

Grilled Steak, Chimichurri Sauce, Caramelized Onions

Durham’s Finest – $7.00

Roasted Sirloin, Aged Cheddar, Caramelized Onions, Sautéed Mushrooms, Horseradish Aioli

The Big Jerk – $7.00

Jerk Pulled Pork, Jicama Slaw, Mayonnaise

Pork Schnitzel – $7.00

Golden Fried Cutlet, Braised Cabbage, Cranberry Mayonnaise

The Delicatessen – $5.00

Salami, Smoked Turkey, Black Forest Ham, Pickle, Lettuce, Tomato, Dijonnaise

Rotisserie Chicken

(Add Fries for $2.50, add Soup or Salad for $3.00)

Whole – $13.49

Half – $7.99

Breast – $4.99

Leg – $3.99

Sides

French Fries tossed with Chives – $3.00

Salad of the Day – $3.50

Soup of the Day – $3.50

Drinks

Water – $1.25

Pop Shoppe (many flavours) – $2.00

Iced Green Tea (many flavours) – $2.50

Posted in General

[March 19, 2013]

Nitrates, Nitrites, and Why I’m Not A Doctor

Since I opened my new, larger shop six months ago, I have been asked a question time and time again that I have been meaning to answer in blog post form. You see, when I had the wee shop all I sold was fresh meat. Nothing cured, fermented, smoked or air-dried (save for the delicious bacon and smoked pork chops – I couldn’t resist having that stuff). Our sausages were all made in house and consisted of fresh meat, salt, pepper and various other seasonings/aromatics. Even though at the time I would have loved to carry them, I stayed away from deli meats because I had no room for them. Simple.

And then I moved. And then I had room. Lots. It took trial and error to find out what people really liked, but my mandate for our deli section was that the meats were produced by smaller artisanal Ontario producers who leaned towards old world, European-style recipes. These recipes were brought over from the motherlands by the producers and adapted to the tastes of Ontarians, but not changed so much to lose their authenticity. Delicious hams, spicy salami, and smoky beef – the menu has grown into one I’m quite happy with. But now I get asked a question I didn’t have to answer much in the old shop – “does your deli meat have nitrites in them, and why?”

I am about to attempt the impossible – explain what nitrates and nitrites are (okay, not impossible), explain why they are used (also not really impossible), and explain if they are good or bad for you (really, really difficult, and possibly impossible given the conflicting research). I apologize if I don’t cover all the research that’s out there, but as the title states, I’m not a doctor and only doctors, rocket scientists and maybe really young children (you know the ones – the kids who learn how to use an iPad before knowing how to make themselves a bowl of cereal) are able to understand some of the scientific reports. Surprising, I know, but I just want to give some clarity to a fairly murky subject. So let’s do this.

(I just wanted to preface this whole thing by saying that deli meats, charcuterie, confit, terrines, bacon, smoked meats etc, are all considered preserved proteins. All of these products have some sort of preservative in them, whether it’s plain old sea salt, nitrite-cures, or naturally-occurring nitrates from celery juice. Please remember this when asking for deli meats with “no preservatives” (or when you see a pre-packaged deli product advertising no preservatives). It’s like asking for meat that doesn’t come from an animal. It doesn’t exist. Sorry, it just doesn’t. You can get nitrate/nitrite-free products like hot dogs, but they will/should be frozen and look darker brown. And will still contain a good amount of salt and a bunch of tasty fat. So there’s that.)

Nitrate – Naturally occurring (but can be synthesized) food additive that is used in meat preservation production for four main reasons – it inhibits the growth of bacteria that causes botulism; it prevents fat from going rancid therefore extending the shelf-life of meat; it gives the meat an appetizing rosy colour; it adds a tangy depth of flavour to cured meats. Nitrates are naturally occurring minerals that are present in a lot of vegetables (celery and beets), fruits and grains.

Nitrite – When nitrates are used to cure meats, time allows the nitrate to convert into nitrite, which is the active preservation ingredient in nitrate. Food scientists are able to isolate nitrite and use that ingredient in much smaller doses in charcuterie to the same effect as nitrates, therefore making nitrite a more common ingredient in cured meats.

Following so far?

Canadian Regulations – Nitrates and nitrites are regulated in meat production for two main food safety reasons. The government wants to make sure nobody dies from botulism after eating a bad batch of salami. On the flip side there had been studies in the seventies and eighties linking nitrate/nitrite consumption to diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s in lab animals, so the government wanted to limit the use of these preservatives to make them safe for everyone. Approximate numbers given by the Canadian government go like this: we get about 85-90% of our daily nitrate intake from vegetables such as beets, lettuce and celery, and about 10% from cured meats.

Nitrosamines –This is a carcinogenic property which studies show can form from nitrites under highly acidic conditions in our stomachs, or when meat cured with nitrite is cooked at too high a heat and gets charred. Commonly an issue with bacon, it also is found in other foodstuffs with naturally-occurring nitrite. Beer and fish have been found to possess significant levels of nitrosamines.

Vitamin C – On ingredient labels called ascorbic acid, this ingredient inhibits the transformation of nitrites into nitrosamines. Many meat producers will add this in their recipes to aid in the prevention of carcinogenics.

Riveting stuff, eh? Truthfully, there is a lot of research out there that is for the use of nitrates/nitrites, as well as a lot of research that is against it. As I said in the preface to all of this, though, preserved meat needs an ingredient that will allow it to last longer than fresh meat. There’s really no way around it. For all of humanity’s history we have been trying to save meat from going bad. We’re quite lucky nowadays, what with proper refrigeration and freezers we don’t really even have to worry about curing, fermenting or smoking to preserve our meat. Except for one little thing:

Charcuterie is delicious.

I will never give up a smoked meat sandwich. I can’t see myself turning my nose up at a juicy hot dog. I will go out of my way to find the best soppresatta.

But, just like coffee, wine, donuts, pasta, apples, and pretty much everything else under the sun, I will consume my nitrates/nitrites in moderation. I’m not going to feed my kids hot dogs mixed with Kraft Dinner at EVERY meal. Just the ones where I want to be called Dad of the Year.

So I hope this answers your questions about preservatives in deli meats. If you have more, there’s a bunch of great information on the following sites. Just keep an open mind, hungry for the best information for you and your family.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/water-eau/nitrate_nitrite/index-eng.php#Food

http://www.anti-agingfirewalls.com/2011/01/09/nitrates-and-nitrites-–-part-1-bad-for-you/

http://www.anti-agingfirewalls.com/2011/01/10/nitrates-and-nitrites-–part-2-good-for-you/

Posted in General, Meat Knowledge

[January 25, 2013]

How To Make Soup – Basically

When I was seventeen I started working at a restaurant. It was a Movenpick Marche, a cafeteria-style place with a focus on fresh ingredients cooked right in front of the customer, who could choose from a variety of stations, each with a different focus. The stations ranged from a salad and a grill to the unique rosti station. If you’ve never had rosti, I will do you a favour and post a recipe for this Swiss fried potato dish. Eventually. It is ridiculously delicious. Especially if topped with a grilled hamburger patty, sautéed mushrooms, and sour cream. Now that’s a power lunch.

(more…)

Posted in Cooking, General

[November 5, 2012]

How To Roast A Chicken

This should be a standard – something everyone knows. Roasting a chicken is probably the most satisfying thing a cook can do. A chicken doesn’t need much help, really. Just a little salt, pepper, butter…a few extras perhaps but essentially you’re just accentuating the flavour of a good chicken, that’s all. So obviously roasting a bird starts with a good chicken.

Chicken has a bad reputation. Back in the early eighties; before most of my staff were born, before worldwide internet and grunge and “balsamic glaze”; beef reigned supreme at the dinner table. I’m not really sure how chicken usurped beef and its Formica throne but it did, and the dynasty of chicken began. If I had to wager a guess, I would think it was all those exercise video-cassettes starring leggings and neon jumpsuits and people telling you skinless boneless chicken breast was the healthiest thing to eat since wheatgrass and bulgher. Chicken was to be de-skinned, seasoned minimally (watch your salt intake, people! I’m glaring at you, dad) and baked for about a day until ALL the salmonella had been destroyed like a tighty-whitey-wearing fireman’s sperm. After that shameful procedure, the chicken was cut up and tossed with a salad of fancy mesclun leaves, sundried tomatoes and the aforementioned balsamic vinegar (it had just hit the shelves in Ontario, therefore it hadn’t yet made the inevitable transformation into glaze). This was the perfect dish! It met the basic requirements of the Jane Fonda Workout Army – protein fix, low fat, low salt, gourmet ingredients – hell, after a busy day playing squash (which, incidentally, is a wicked game and I sincerely wish I could play it more often) this chicken dish hit the spot. Variations of it can still be found on the menus of restaurants that pander to the masses, mainly because it sells! So of course it’s going to be on the menu. I’m not really good at selling things that I don’t really really like so this recipe calls for some more, ummm, tasty ingredients? Lotsa salt, pepper, butter and stuff.

I got sidelined there. Back to a good chicken. When you buy a chicken, it should look plump and dry. I sell chickens that have been raised on a vegetable grain feed, without antibiotics or hormones, and are healthy at the time of death. Sometimes, depending on the season, I’ll get pasture-raised chickens. If you ever have a chance to get them, they are definitely worth the double price you’ll have to pay for them. But the main thing that sets a good chicken apart from a crummy one is air-chilling. Chickens need to be well chilled quickly after slaughter to prevent bacteria growth. Many chicken factories will cool their chickens in an ice water bath in a tumbling machine that adds water weight to the birds. This has two effects. First the customer is paying for the water, which chicken producers like (there’s always a reason some things seem less expensive, eh?), and secondly the bird will have an insipid flavour. You want an air-chilled bird that will have a tight muscle fabric and result in dense meat. That’s the bird for me. This goes for turkey at holidays too, for the record.

On Trussing

Some people like a bird trussed, some don’t. I fall in the former camp, because I feel a tightly packed bird will result in a perfectly and evenly roasted bird. Remember, there are many ways to roast a chicken, just as there are many ways to sail a ship. However, if you want that ship to make it safely in to port every time, have the damn thing trussed.

Now that you have a good chicken, the rest is pretty simple. Here you go.

Roast Chicken

Ingredients

One chicken – the size is up to how many people you’re feeding. The smallest I sell can be 2.5 pounds, the largest 6 pounds. I prefer one that’s about 3.5 pounds, so let’s say that. Have it trussed by the butcher, or do it yourself.

One lemon

One bulb of garlic

A half bunch of fresh thyme

Two fresh bay leaves

Half a cup or so of butter that’s been left on the counter for a while to soften

Kosher salt

Black pepper from a mill

Preheat your oven to 450˚F.

Season the chicken quite liberally with the salt and many grinds of black pepper. When I say liberally I mean it. Use your fingers, take a healthy pinch of the salt and let the salt fall like snow all over the chicken. Take the lemon, cut it in half along its equator, juice one half over the chicken and stuff the other half into the cavity of the bird. Take the whole bulb of garlic and cut it in the same fashion as the lemon – across its equator – and put both halves into the cavity. There should be just enough room left in the cavity for the thyme and bay leaves. Get your roasting pan ready. I like to use a pan with an elevated roasting rack, because I find it allows the hot air to circulate around your bird, cooking it more evenly, but if you don’t have one it’s not the end of the world. Now take the soft butter and rub it all over the chicken, massaging it into the crevasses and making sure you’re leaving a healthy amount over the surface of the bird. (This last step is messy, which is why you’ll want your pan ready and waiting for the chicken.) Place the chicken breast side up on the roasting rack and clean your hands.

Place the chicken in the hot oven and roast for 15 minutes. Without opening the door turn the oven down to 350˚F and roast for an additional hour. Check the internal temperature of the chicken with a thermometer. Insert the thermometer into the fattest, meatiest part of the thigh. The internal temperature should read 175˚-180˚F. Turn the oven off and leave the chicken in it for an additional 15 minutes. This will allow the chicken to rest, and the internal temperature will rise to about 185˚F. Now the chicken is ready to be carved.

On Carving

There are a couple of opinions and styles of carving a chicken, many of which can be found on YouTube. I like to remove the whole breast and slice it on a cutting board, followed by the legs, which I just pull off with a pair of tongs and separate at the joint, also done on a cutting board. Transfer the cut chicken to a serving platter or plate and simply pour the juice back into the pan from the cutting board.

Now that the chicken is cut you want to eat it pretty quickly, so don’t muck about trying to make a super intricate gravy or sauce (unless you’ve made one separately using roasted chicken bones and aromatics – but that’s another recipe methinks). Simply strain all of those delicious roasting juices and pour over your carved chicken. I like to include the excess fat in my pan drippings, but if you’re a scaredy-cat who likes to look good, you may want to skim any excess fat from the top of your drippings before drenching your chicken. Enjoy your roast with buttered peas, creamy mashed potatoes and lettuces in vinaigrette.

Also also also do this: take a slice of baguette, ciabatta, or similarly good crusty bread, and rub it all over the bottom of the roasting pan, making sure you collect all of the bits of fond (the brown food bits) that have settled and caramelized on the bottom of the pan. And eat this while drinking Champagne.

Posted in Cooking, Recipes

[June 11, 2012]

Much Like The Jeffersons, We’re Movin’ On Up

In August of 2009, I got a crappy phone call.

“Heeeey Peter,” he said on the other end, “yeah, so some not great news. This year’s enrolment at George Brown was actually a lot lower than we were anticipating. Sooooo… we’re not going to be needing you this September. Yeah.”

“Oh, I see, ok then.” (Pause) “Well, if anything comes up at the school, you have my number.”

“Yep, yeah, we do. I think we’re okay but if something happens I’ll give you a shout. Take care now.”

“Uh, yeah, you too.”

Internal monologue: Are you effing kidding me? Why the hell did I wait for a job that wouldn’t exist!?!? Dammit, dammit. If I knew I wouldn’t be working I would have done something with my stupid life. Wait: maybe I can still open a restaurant. Yeah, yeah, that’s it! Wait: crap I need like a million dollars for that. Hrmmm. I have always wanted to open a small all Ontario food shop, though. A general store-like place. Ah, but how is that ever going to happen? Crapitty crap crap. Um. Hm. Ah. Sigh.

My now wife (then just awesome girlfriend): “I’m so sorry love. Let’s go for a walk and talk about it.”

We walked along College Street, past old haunts and memories of falling down and getting back up again. I remembered being sick inside Sneaky Dee’s the night before travelling to Europe for the first time. I remembered eating my first chip butty in the Cloak and Dagger. I remembered going to a party at my twin friends Tim and Jeff’s house on Brunswick back in grade eleven and being terrified of their perfectly bred, well-testicled Doberman Pinchers.

We turned on Augusta going into Kensington Market. My sister lived on Oxford Street just east of Augusta back in the mid-nineties. I remembered drinking wine at the bar where Wanda’s Pie In The Sky is now, and telling my sister I don’t like beer. She told me at seventeen I don’t know shit. Fair enough. I remembered enjoying the sunshine on Ronnie’s patio just enough to decide to buy a classical guitar at Paul’s Boutique. It looks very nice in the corner of my office. I remembered when my friends Shamez and Mike cleaned the hell out of an old Chinese restaurant and opened La Palette, the only restaurant with a decent wine list in a ten-block radius at the time. I remembered buying a one kilo bag of peeled garlic cloves at Oxford Fruits at eight on a Saturday morning because I, uh, over-confited a bag the night before at Auberge Du Pommier.

We turned left on to Baldwin Street, past the coffee shop with the great counter seats. We passed the benches, where punks, expectant mothers, palookas, and young lovers all sat and relaxed together. We walked by the empty window of Max and Son’s, the old butcher shop that squatted like the Rock Biter in The Neverending Story, just waiting for the Nothing. And here I stopped. Here I stopped because in the window was a “For Sale” sign.

Two and a half years later, Sanagan’s Meat Locker has become my life. I remember talking to my mentor Massimo about people who open small restaurants, and how he felt they are basically buying themselves a job. When I opened the shop I felt like that would be a pretty good thing. A good job selling good meat to good people, with a good boss to boot. And now things have changed. I now have a great job. I have curated a list of delicious products from amazing farmers. Sometimes I’ll take something home from the shop and I’m still surprised at how damned tasty it is. I work with excellent people who are fascinated by food; their love of it has taken them all over the world before settling at the Meat Locker, and their enthusiasm is invigorating. I have the best customers in the city who are inquisitive and fearless. These are the customers every business wants. They are not afraid of taking chances and trying out new things, and the types of meats we produce excite them. And my customer base grows. Daily. Weekly. It’s fantastic, and I am constantly aware of my luck. One thing with more customers though: you run out of space very quickly. If you were to come by the Meat Locker on any given Friday morning, and you were to peek into the walk-in cooler, you would see our predicament. Too much meat, not enough space. What’s a wee shop to do?

I’m writing this blog post after months of not writing anything because I’ve been too busy planning the shop’s next move. And now I’m ready to unveil it. If everything goes according to plan timewise, by early August Sanagan’s Meat Locker will be thriving in the old European Meats space at 176 Baldwin Street. It’s a move that will allow me to grow as a butcher (more grass-fed beef! more restaurant orders! more Berkshire pork!), as well as do something I’ve wanted to do since the shop opened. After the inception of the Meat Locker, I realized my skills as a chef were not going to be fully realized unless I had a kitchen at my fingertips. Well, guess what the new space has? That’s right; expect a few more things to be available in the market soon. Terrines, pates, rilletes, cretons, galantines, mousses, stocks, jus, soups, and other prepared foods. Not to mention all locally produced hams, prosciutto, salami, smoked meats, roast beef and the like. Oh, oh, oh, did I mention the hot sandwich counter? The amazingest new sandwich counter in the city? Yeah, that’s going to be there as well. And rounding it all out will be a fantastic collection of all locally sourced sauces, pickles, mustards, sauerkrauts…basically if it has anything to do with meat, I’m going to stock it. So it’s going to be a bit of a dream job.

Now, in spite of my best, most secretive efforts, a couple of people have found out about my plans. Most have been as excited as we have, but some have had the fear that we’re going to get too big and lose the personal touch we pride ourselves on giving customers. Fair enough; I have witnessed many business owners who expand quickly and the customer gets lost in the shuffle. But fear not, I say, because even though we might not have sawdust on the floor (due to city health regulations), we’re still going to offer the same intimate experience, with the same knowledgeable staff able to chat with you about whatever’s on your mind. In fact, I’ve already hired a few new people who have amazing backgrounds in the food world who I think will bring a breadth of knowledge to the table. AND the music will still be deadly.

I want to thank everyone who has brought us to this point. I’m not lying when I say my customers are the best in the city. They understand what we’re trying to do in the shop, and they’ve supported us since day one. And if you’re reading this and you’ve never been to my shop, then I hope to have you included in this list one day as well. Just by reading my nonsense for this long you’ve proven you have what it takes to be one of my favorite people!