hughbereats

[hughbereats]

I have been working in hospitalities for over 13 years. I have worked in the front of house as a busser, server, bartender and manager, I have worked as a bouncer and I have worked as a dishwasher and a cook. Suffice it to say, I know this industry better than most and therefore have a good understanding of how it works, what’s so great about it and of course what needs to change. 

I’ll start by saying, there is so much to love about the hospitality and specifically the restaurant industry. I have made lifelong friends, learned invaluable skills and have enough stories to last a lifetime. I have laughed, cried and raged with every fibre of my being but when all is said and done, I love it. Hospitalities give me purpose because to me, it is such a pure human experience to feed/be fed by someone. However despite all of the amazing things about working in restaurants, there are and have always been glaring flaws.

Though there are numerous things wrong with the industry, I’m going to speak to something that I can personally relate to. I’ve always found that I struggle to find a balance between my personal life and my work life and as a result don’t take care of myself. 

When I was serving, I would often be working until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, eat a reckless amount of McDonalds and then wake up a few hours later to work at my day job. When I was bartending I’d be working almost as late, covering twice as much floor and more than likely, I’d be throwing back shots with customers. By no means would I ever be drunk at work, it’s just a common thing for bartenders. In either case I was working late, drinking a lot and barely sleeping.

Clearly that is not a balanced lifestyle. There are (many) reasons that alcoholism and substance abuse are rampant in restaurants; quick escapes and quick recovery times. However, inevitably, the lifestyle catches up with you which is why anxiety, addiction and depression are also prevalent in the industry. Compound the unbalanced lifestyle with (generally) low pay and it’s no wonder.

Like I said, these are very common problems that bartenders, servers and hospitality workers in general struggle with. How do we find a way to do what we love and what we’re good at while maintaining a healthy lifestyle? The answer is not so simple. The reason for that is because there is no one answer. As I have learned, everyone has to find their own tricks and life-hacks to strike the balance. Me personally, I need to set time aside to exercise or I’ll fill that time with slothing about my house. Anti-depressants are super helpful too but what is key for me achieving a good balance is exercise.

All that is not to say that there aren’t already support groups in Toronto that specialize in hospitalities workers’ rights in addition to providing access to mental health resources. The Full Plate and Not 9-5 are two in particular that became lifelines for a lot of people throughout the pandemic. 

Oddly, the pandemic really shone a light on the inequities and flaws in our industry which, in my experience, is the first step in solving a problem. We talk about these things now, whereas when I was a bright eyed, busy tailed 18 year old working at the Church Restaurant in Stratford, it was a toxic, repressive atmosphere. The industry has begun to change because those who have invested so much in it are steering it that way. 

As this is such a personal issue for me, it will undoubtedly be a focus of my pub when I inevitably open it. Whatever it’s going to be called, every other Sunday, I will host a pop up called SoBar. SoBar will offer a tasting menu paired with non-alcoholic cocktails, will include talks from industry professionals as well as mental health/addiction workers and be a safe place for those living a sober lifestyle. 

Thanks for reading! I look forward to hosting you at SoBar one day

[hughbereats]

Wrap it in Dough...but make it healthy

Since I’ve moved to Toronto, my horizons have broadened immensely when it comes to the food I eat. It’s not to say I wasn’t adventurous before I moved here however the big difference now is that I don’t look at it like being adventurous. My diet has changed as a result of (among many things) the environment and culture I live in. Toronto has food from most regions of most countries and one could argue that it has the some of the most variety out of any major city in the world.

As someone who grew up on a meat and potatoes diet the variety was overwhelming. I was accustomed to cereal for breakfast, cold cuts sandwich on white bread with mayo for lunch and a lot of lightly seasoned protein and carbs for dinner. It wasn’t always as cookie cutter as that but that paints a relatively accurate picture. My diet now consists of flavours and spices from all over the world and I’m very cognizant both of what I have been missing and what isn’t necessary or unhealthy from a nutrition standpoint. For instance I never ingest milk or cream now unless a recipe calls for it and I’m much more discerning about where my food comes from.

In addition to being exposed to more kinds of food, I’m also learning more about food in school and at work. I am beginning to establish a good grasp on the science behind cooking and am therefore able to start experimenting with alternatives to common ingredients such as flour, processed sugar and canola oil. 

With those three ingredients in mind, I’m going to discuss nutrition in North American restaurants as well as certain factors that three things that I regularly go out for and how to make them healthier when cooking at home.

First off, I replicated empanadas from my favourite Latin grocer, Barcelona Gourmet. Empanadas are a dish found all across Latin America and beyond. It is a comprised of a savoury filling, usually pork, chicken or beef and wrapped in a flaky pastry. Typically empanadas are fried but in order to make them healthier, I am going to bake them. Additionally, I substituted AP flour for whole wheat and used a steamed sweet potato filling rather than than a meat based one.  - 3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour - 1/4 tsp salt - 6 oz butter - 1/4 Cup water - Mix until smooth, divide evenly between 12-15 pieces. Flatten and roll out Sticking to the theme of “things wrapped in dough,” I decided to make dumplings. Dumplings are known by many other names and found in even more places. It just so happens that they are a crowd favourite on the menu at work so I’ve had a lot of opportunities to work on my dumpling skills. Rather than using a meat farce with a higher fat content, I decided to go for a leaner meat. I went down to St. Lawrence market and bought some ground venison. I like cooking with venison as it adds a gamey quality however as it does have a lower fat content I find it dries out quickly when overcooked. 

In addition to the 750g venison, the recipe is as follows: - 4 Chinese cabbage leaves - 2 medium heirloom carrots - 8 button mushrooms - 1/4 bunch of thyme - 2 jalapeños - 4 Thai chillies - 1 inch of ginger - 4 cloves of garlic Rather than buy the dumpling wrappers, I decided to make my own. Though it is very time consuming, it was worth as they didn’t have highly processed flour and preservatives to make them shelf stable. The recipe I usually use is simple;  - 320g AP Flour - 175g water  However in an effort to make it a little healthier, I switched it up a bit; - 220g Whole wheat flour - 100g rice flour It definitely made the dough tougher to work with but I was still able to shape it and roll it out as I normally do. (I’ll submit the videos separately, I’m having trouble attaching them). I lightly steamed them and fried them in cold pressed canola oil and garnished them with scallions and homemade chilli oil.

Finally, the third thing I chose to alter and make slightly healthier was and Indian bread that I always order from Tikka Lahore on Gerrard East, Lacha Paratha. 

This is a bread that is best made and eaten fresh off the stove. Typically it is made with an almost 50:50 ratio of AP flour to Atta flour, which is a wholemeal wheat flour. As far as bread goes, this recipe is relatively healthy as the atta flour is less processed and has a higher nutritional value than the AP flour. That being said, I swapped out the AP flour for coconut flour which is something I’ve never used before. I also replaced canola oil with coconut oil and was pleasantly surprised with the sweetness level in the finished product. It was a nice contrast to the spicy and herbaceous qualities of the curry that I made. - 148g coconut flour - 126g Atta flour - 15ml coconut oil - 5g kosher salt - 250ml water - 60ml ghee

Though all these tweaks are relatively similar, they are all very easy to do. From a restaurant standpoint the major factor standing in the way of making them is cost. AP flour is still much cheaper and though canola oil is the most expensive it’s ever been, it’s still cheaper than coconut oil. Furthermore, the labour of rolling out your own dumpling wrappers and empanada shells is also something that would drive cost up.

Chefs and owners have a lot of decisions to make when putting a menu together. These days, however, it’s my opinion that cost outweighs nutritional consideration more often than not. That’s not to say that any of the dishes I buy from the aforementioned restaurants are unhealthy but there are ways to make them all healthier which are usually prohibited by cost.

[hughbereats]

You CAN Make Friends with Salad

For this week’s blog, I decided to throw together a salad that’s comprised of vegetables that, though relatively common, are things that I do not cook with often. In addition to cooking with ingredients I don’t usually lean on I decided to implement a different method of cooking for every vegetable I used.

I started by boiling red beets until cooked, shocking them in an ice bath, then peeling and grating them. 

Simultaneously I roasted Brussel sprouts in olive oil, salt and pink and Szechuan peppercorns. After they cooled down, I julienned them and mixed them in with the grated beets and raw carrots.

I finished the salad with rice and drizzled with a soy-peanut dressing. I lay down a base of pressed tahini yoghurt and plated the salad on top. Finally I garnished the salad with pickled kombu. It was my first time using kombu in a dish and though I didn’t technically cook it, I nevertheless tried something new. I pickled the kombu with a vinegar, apple cider vinegar and a dash of black vinegar as well as sugar, chili flakes and peppercorns.  

I really liked the flavour but could have left them longer in the picking brine so they would soften up. However the acidity and subtle brininess from the kombu cut through the the yogurt nicely. It’s light, refreshing, healthy and I’m really keen to keep working on this recipe.

[hughbereats]

Something I had been curious about but never tried before was chicken hearts. It’s not that I didn’t want to, it’s just that I had a roommate who was a bodybuilder and while I live to eat, he would eat to live. His diet mostly consisted of minced chicken, sweet potatoes, broccoli and chicken hearts all fried, often in the same pan. It was something.

Anyway, I was turned off the idea of chicken hearts but realized that if you cook anything right, it can taste good. I went to my local butcher, The Meat Department on the Danforth, and picked up a half pound of frozen chicken hearts. I spoke to one of the butchers, who told me they were from Traynor Farm in Peterborough which, when I looked into it seemed reputable enough.

500g/20 chicken hearts came to $3.35. I ended up trimming about 175g of fat and other undesirable pieces off so was left with 325g (approx $0.01/g = $4.55/lb). Considering that if I were to be serving them as an appetizer, I could get six skewers with three hearts/skewer and charge $5-6/skewer depending on the seasoning and labour. All that being said, chicken hearts are a highly cost effective if they sell. 

For mine, I decided to marinate them in a rehydrated pepper mixture (guajillo, piquin and arbol), roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions, achiote paste and adobo chipotle peppers. I also threw in a healthy spoonful of my homemade chocolate habernero hotsauce because a) I’m a hedonist and b) the vinegar content works to tenderize the meat along with the tomatoes.

After I marinated them for two hours and I then I skewered them and seared them in a cast iron skillet. Unfortunately I lost focus at that point and stopped taking pictures but I assure you...they looked great. The taste however, did not live up to the look. They were incredibly tough and chewy which tells me that I didn’t marinate the hearts long enough for the meat to fully tenderize. However they were a massive leap forward from eating unseasoned even tougher and chewier chicken hearts sitting next to a shirtless bodybuilder and I will definitely try making them again.

[hughbereats]

Culinary Nutrition

Two weeks ago, we started our Nutrition Fundamentals from a Culinary Perspective class. Given that this has become more of a focus both for me and the food industry at large, I’m really excited to take this class.

One particular thing I’m looking forward is how to apply what I learn in this class to creating menus in the future. As we see a gradual shift in ethics and practices around food sourcing, people are becoming more mindful of where their food is coming from as well as what goes into it. With that has come a greater appreciation for and understanding of that food and how it intersects with cooking. 

Whenever I am looking to find any information about I am always very discerning almost to the point of sceptical. The internet is an easy place for people to spread demonstrably false nutrition tips so I find I have to sift through all lot of https://goop.com/ to get to anything of actual substance. 

The reason I pick on Goop, is because it has been called out a number of times for promoting health and nutrition schemes that have no basis in science. More specifically, the authors of many articles on Goop are “wellness educators,” “wellness practitioners,” or  my personal favourite “lifestyle gurus,” which are all fancy titles but which come with no accreditation. It would be like me calling myself a frozen dairy technician the summer I scooped ice cream. 

The point is, the people providing the information are not credible resources when it comes to health and well-being. They are just preaching about things that work (and often don’t work) for them in order to get clicks and money.

My rule when it comes to looking at which websites and resources are credible is that if it isn’t affiliated with registered health care professionals with a background in medical research it is definitely in need of scrutiny. For instance I know that nutrition.gov will provide reliable information as it is sponsored by the USDA. Similarly https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/health-services/nutrition-services/reliable-nutrition-and-health-websites provides links to both civilian and government agencies that are run by accredited healthcare practitioners. 

Lastly I’ll leave you with a copy of a book that I got a good kick out of and I highly recommend and is very relevant. Thanks for reading!

[hughbereats]

The Time I Didn’t Invent Chawanmushi - A Blog

I recently entered my first culinary competition at George Brown and I was trying to come up with something truly unique. I settled on trying to create a savoury creme brulée, using a dashi and egg yolks for the base. Very pleased with myself, I asked the sous-chef at work about what he thought a good garnish for my “invention” would be. Immediately, he informed me that this dish already very much existed and is called Chawanmushi. Undeterred, I stuck with it and created a take on this classic Japanese dish. 

What is chawanmushi?

Chawanmushi is a steamed Japanese Egg Custard that that originated in Nagasaki. “Chawanmushi started popping up over 300 years ago during the Edo Period in shippoku cuisine, an ancient version of fusion between Japanese, Chinese and Western influences,” [Tara Condell, jamesbeard.org, November 28th, 2016]. The custard is comprised of egg yolks, dashi, soy sauce and mirin and it is usually garnished with shiitake mushrooms, ginkgo nuts, ikura (salmon roe) and kamaboko (fish cakes). Traditionally, chawanmushi is steamed in small teacups that are half submerged in boiling water and covered. 

[Photo from justonecookbook.com]

Rather than just using dashi, I steeped bonito flakes, kombu, garlic and onions in cream and strained it. From there I tempered egg yolks with the cream and mixed in mirin and soy sauce for the base. Within seconds of adding the bonito flakes and kombu into the cream, my apartment was filled with an incredibly savoury, fishy aroma. At first I was worried it would be too strong but mixing it with the mirin, soy and eggs balanced it out really well.

[Shaved bonito Flakes]

[Rainbow Trout Roe]

Another way I changed it up was by instead of steaming it in a teacup on the stove, I put the custard in ramekins, placed them in a pan with water and cooked them in the oven. I don’t know how much of a difference it made but I’ll find that out the next time I make it, which I definitely will. Finally, in addition to trout roe (a little more cost effective than salmon roe) and shiitake mushrooms, I roasted thinly sliced lotus root and a wasabi-lemon foam.

Honestly, I had my doubts that this would work or if it did, whether or not I would actually enjoy it. I love custard but had never had a savoury/umami one before so I had no idea what to expect. I pulled it out of the oven, let it set and garnished it. When I took my first spoonful, the texture looked great and it had set like I hoped it would. However I have to say it was the strangest sensation eating it; my brain was telling me “custard = sweet,” and then I took a bite and immediately thought “nope, fish.” 

Once I got past the initial mindf**k that was my first bite, I recalled my notes from week 5 to focus more on the flavours, the textures and the presentation as well as the five basic tastes (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami). The only thing I can think of that would be at all similar, flavour-wise is a cod gratin but other than that, I found it to be a really unique dish.

[https://newlywedsfoods.com/five-basic-tastes/]

Overall, the main three tastes I picked up were umami, salty and sour. The briny, fishy quality from the bonito flakes, that I felt on the front of my tongue, was cut nicely with the citrus in and on top of the wasabi foam. Though the most prevalent flavour of the dish was the bonito flakes, I could taste all of the individual garnishes.

The salmon roe added a very interesting texture which was contrasted well by the crunch of the roasted lotus root. The root, which I tossed in sesame oil, salt and crushed Szechuan peppercorns, was probably my favourite of the garnishes. Obviously it’s great for aesthetic and texture but I love that it’s porous structure absorbs so much of the toasted peppercorns and sesame oil. I chose all of those garnishes for a reason as they all added dimension to the dish, as well as colour and flavour. 

In the end, despite being crushed that I didn’t invent some cool new dish, I was happy with how it turned out. I could have levelled things out by adding a bit more acidity (something pickled?) and finding even more contrasting textures so that the lotus root isn’t the only thing with a crunch. Knowing that chawanmushi is available all over Toronto, I’ll be hitting up a few places, as I am really keen to try some that’s been made by someone who knows what they’re doing!

Approaching this dish from a competitive angle made me really think about all the components that went into it. However now that I’ve begun to think like this about the food I make, I will undoubtedly begin to think like this when it comes to all the food I eat. Thanks for reading!

“NEXT TIME ON TREATS WITH HUGHBEREATS! WILL HUGH GIVE HIMSELF BOTULISM FROM HIS INGESTING HIS ASSIGNMENT FOR BLOG #4?! TUNE IN AT THE NEXT DEADLINE TO FIND OUT!”

[hughbereats]

Roasted Pumpkin Curry Soup

Fall’s here and so are all the basic pumpkin spice dishes. And you know what? I’m here for it. I decided to cook an autumnal favourite of mine for this assignment, a Roasted Pumpkin Curry Soup. Growing up, I didn’t have much exposure to much flavour other than salt and pepper so since I’ve started cooking, I’ve made a point to use a wide array of spices.To me, this is a perfect soup for fall - it’s hearty, it’s brightly flavoured and it’s an accessible recipe for beginners. That being said, there are a few tweaks that I continue to make as I have developed this recipe over the last two years that elevate it from a beginner dish to a restaurant quality dish.

The recipe is as follows:

1. Preheat the oven to 400

2. In a medium sized frying pan, toast the mustard seeds, fenugreek, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Grind into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle.

3. Cut the top off the pumpkin, remove the seeds (saving some) and loose pulp, and quarter it. Drizzle veg oil over the flesh of the pumpkin and liberally apply the spices to it. Place face down and put in the oven for 25 minutes, flip over and bake for another 20 minutes.

4. Medium dice onions, leek and celery.

5. In a stock pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat and sweat out the celery, leek and onions. 

6. Add the vegetable stock and sachet to stock pot and bring to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are tender. 

7. Remove pumpkin from the oven and separate skin from flesh. Transfer half of the flesh into the blender with half of the contents of the stock pot and pulse on high until well mixed. Repeat with the second half.

8. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the soup, removing pulp. Bring to a gentle simmer and add the coconut milk. Remove from heat and season with salt and lemon juice.

9. Ladle 8oz of soup into a bowl and garnish with pumpkin seeds, goat cheese, lemon rind and chili oil.

The final product was almost exactly how I wanted it to turn out. It was visually appealing, creamy, well-seasoned and between the cheese, the soup and the pumpkin seeds, it had good contrasting textures. Both the lemon zest and the lemon juice provided the perfect amount of acidity that cut through the heavy coconut milk and as well as a subtle aroma of citrus. 

I ran some across the hall to my neighbour Katie, who doesn’t really cook at all, who loved it. Although it’s hard getting any feedback out of someone who doesn’t really know what to look for, she agreed with me regarding the presentation and texture. One thing she did mention, however, was that when she heard me say pumpkin soup, she expected it to be more orange. I agreed with this and looking back would have liked to add carrots for flavour, colour and body.

In terms of challenges for this recipe, there weren’t too many that I ran into. However in a kitchen as small as mine, timing is everything and if I’m not cleaning as I go, it will get very cluttered very quickly. There were a few odds and ends to clean after I plated but I was very happy with the result otherwise. Making soup from scratch is incredibly rewarding and will always teach me something new. Regardless of how many times I make a dish, there is always room for improvement. That being said, I will apply things I learn to the next time I make this soup or any other creamy soup for that matter. One thing that I realized is that I should have dried out the seeds a little more to achieve a more consistent crunch, they were a bit too cooked on the outside and not enough on the inside. Other than that, like I said, I was very happy!

[hughbereats]

I will never stop loving pasta

[hughbereats]

I’d love to say it happened while I was doing something cool but it didn’t. Lesson learned - use the tool that is appropriate for the task

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Back to basics for Thursdays knife skills Lab

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Proving to daddy that I’m not a fool

Making the most out of my typically tiny Toronto kitchen!

Anthony Bourdain dropping pearls of wisdom until the day he died.

[hughbereats]

Brie Brulée appetizer for Tim’s Bachelor Party - May 2018