sir_jiffy's Profile
Shiso Plants in Montreal?
You may have some luck with seed catalogues. Most are available online.
Traditional Eating in Bologna / Gubbio / Modena
Osteria Bottega was the name of the restaurant.
Traditional Eating in Bologna / Gubbio / Modena
No it's not, I'm pretty sure about that as I remember trying to finalize my decision between Serghei and the one I finally went to... It's a little to the south of the Piazza Mazzore (sp?), on a little North/South street...
Traditional Eating in Bologna / Gubbio / Modena
My advice would be to look for the annual restaurant guide published by Slow Food (Osterie d'Italia 2012 is the latest version). Only in Italian, but it doesn't matter if you can read a menu in Italian and google some adresses. I had excellent meals throughout my trip by just looking for recommandations in the guide (extra tip: look for the snail symbol), and especially in Emilia-Romagna. The best meal of our trip was at a trattoria in Bologna whose name escapes me right now, I will try to find it in my version of the guide at home. It was really classical regional cooking, we had Tagliatelle alla Ragu, Squash ravioli, Rabbit and stuffed courgettes. Mortadella as antipasti. Everything was out of this world.
Montreal food tour
Well...Brighton needs to work out a little appetite before hitting all of those places...Hence the "easy" start!
Maybe a little brownie at Olive and Gourmando to get the ball and the belly rolling?
Montreal food tour
If you MUST have something to eat between Bernard and Bellechasse, there is always Adriatica bakery.
:)
I second the suggestion of walking north on St-Laurent from the river, exploring a little between Parc and St-Denis on perpendicular streets.
Some personnal favorites on the way:
Chinatown, there seems to be a new barbeque joint there on Gauchetiere
Charcuterie Hongroise or Fairmount for some classical Eastern Europe butcher fare and hot cold cut/sausages sandwiches
Schwartz for smokemeat if you havent experienced it yet
Librairie espagnole for some iberian products if so inclined
Fairmount Bagel
Kouing Amann, for croissant and kouing amann on Mont-Royal
...
Final Arrival at JT Market. Without stopovers it's about a 60 to 90 minute walk. With stopovers, you could easily be looking at a leisurly walk that could fill (and you) up for most of the morning and the afternoon.
Hungry NYers with a baby
Enjoyed brunch/lunch at Voro with my little one on a few occasions on the weekend, but I dont remember if they had a high chair or not. For an early breakfast, depending on when you are planning to come, you might as well look for a good bakery and gorge yourself with croissants in a nearby park or something.
I haven't had the evil eye yet at all the places I have been, buth then again, when I'm going for dinner, I'm usually in at around 5h30PM so I'll be able to get back home without screwing too much with his routine. Restaurants are usualy pretty happy to get the ball rolling that early as they know they'll be able to turn the table. Going there early also allows for optimal table selection, making sure the stroller doesnt get in the way of the server or the other guests.
Wedding reception at a restaurant: on Grand Prix Weekend... help please?
Like a few others, I would advise to stay as far as Downtown as possible. Little Italy might not be a safe bet as well since there is some kind of F1 event going on as well there during GP weekend. M sur Masson, L'entrepont or L'héritier (its cousin) strike me as good ideas, but book ASAP.
Any good kim chi in Chinatown?
I saw some huge jars at the korean/japanese grocery store on Ste-Catherine, near du Fort. They seemed kinda artisanal. Can't vouch for quality since I didnt buy any.
Visiting Montreal Mid-April - Must visits please
I disagree about the Banquise. I haven't tried Maam Bolduc, but I found Banquise's offering to be more than satisfactory and is my goto Poutine place in the city. There is a "Je ne sais quoi" to the place late at night.
My Montreal Butchers Review
Editing problem...The following section should be related to Boucherie du Marché:
"Best in JTM for range of cold cuts, bacon (dont remember source) is excellent, large variety of sausages but of average quality (tendency to crumble...not enough fat? emulsion no good?)"
My Montreal Butchers Review
Here is a preliminary overview of JTM'S butchers:
FERMES ST_VINCENT: Bio fare. $$$$$$$$$$$. But it's bio. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. 24$/kilo for Beef stew meat? Come on.
PRINCE NOIR: Large variety of alternative meats and fowl, so could be a good option if you're looking for Hare or partridge for example. Very pricey though (90$ for a turkey? Come on). And I cannot get over the fact that everything is shring wrapped in the counter already. I much prefer to view the meat in the refrigerated counter and to be served by someone.
BOUCHERIE DU MARCHÉ: French-style butcher. Price point is ok. Seems expensive for some items vs the competition (e.g. pork and poultry), but quite competitive for others (beef, bacon). Large variety. Good and friendly service.
VOLAILLES DU MARCHÉ: Lots of frozen stuff, limited exposure so cannot comment more.
Best in JTM for range of cold cuts, bacon (dont remember source) is excellent, large variety of sausages but of average quality (tendency to crumble...not enough fat? emulsion no good?)
BOUCHERIE MILAN: unknown
CAPITOLE: home-made porchetta from time to time, good italian-style sausages, good overall quality, a little pricey though, certainly more than Milano.
NORDEST: pseudo-organic beef, and some lamb. Good quality, although the lamb shoulder roast was really fatty (rolled shoulder roast, that had almost as much fat as pancetta)
PORC MEILLEUR: great pork. pricey. Quite similar to Saveurs de Charlevoix, IMHO, but specializing in pork.
SAVEURS CHARLEVOIX: Veal and Lamb. Pricey, but great quality on the lamb side. Cannot vouch for the veal.
BALKANI: good for central/eastern europe sausages.
AN-NASR: unknown, imagine it's Halal. Indulge in their merguez sandwiches in the summer time.
L'OLIVIER: unknown, imagine it's Halal
Around JTM:
MILANO: Great service, can provide various cuts not usually on offer elsewhere, good quality, prices surprisingly low.
AL_KAHAIR (corner JT and Henri-Julien): best merguez in town, friendly service, dependable for cured olives, lemon confit and great harissa. If you're looking for veal 'amourettes', you just found your place. Good selection of Veal. They just got bigger by merging with the lebanese shish taouk place that used to be next door. Imagine it's halal.
ST-VIATEUR (Beaubien and St-Dominique): Good source for latino (south-american) cuts and sausages, good prices, good quality. Owners are of chilean descent IIRC.
MARCHÉ ORIENTAL (St-Denis, near JTM): Good place for cheap pork belly and shoulder for sausage-making.
ZINMAN: unknown, specialized in poultry and fowl as far as I know.
MONDIAL (Casgrain, opposite of JTM): unknown, imagine it's a latino-style butcher.
Generally, these are the places I will buy meat at more than once a year, in order of frequency:
Boucherie du marché, Marché oriental, Al-Kahair, Milano, NordEst
On a related notes, which of these do you think butcher from carcasses and not only repackaging cryovac packages of subprimal cuts?
I would think Milano, Boucherie du Marché, Al-Kahair
Maybe Capitole and Milan
best place to buy wood chips for smoking?
Canadian Tirelire in Blainville have them out, I dont know if they are already putting out their spring/summer display though. They had a couple of grills on display, which I found a little odd for this time of year.
best place to buy wood chips for smoking?
I found that Canadian Tire often has the best selection regarding wood chips, although in small (2lbs or so???) quantities. Price is around 4 to 5$ per bag. Otherwise, you could look for some specialty BBQ places, but the amount of smoking I do does not warrant an in-depth look to find the cheaper alternatives.
Selection can be better in stores outside of Montreal (e.g. Blainville vs Villeray/St-Michel).
Quick Help With Cooking Frozen Tourtiere (Meat Pie)
The meat is probably already cooked (right?), so that shouldn't be a problem. I'd go to 350-400 for about 45min to get a crisp golden crust and facilitate the evaporation of the moisture loss from the meat filling, then drop down the temps a little to get it to temp all the way through. Bottom crust might get a little soggy, but I bet it will be great anyway. Nothing that a mound of ketchup can't fix...
Fiddleheads in Montreal
MAYBE (and this is really a maybe) frozen at Marché Hawaii or at Adonis, but I doubt it. Forget about fresh IMHO. I would look for a suitable subsitution or going an alternate route.
Chicken cutlet sandwich
The smoked meat/sandwich stall at the train station near Place Ville-Marie (Gare centrale?) has them. It was my preferred option when going to the train station for lunch while working nearby.
ISO Fatback
For larger endeavours (50 to 100 pounds batches of sausage, there is BSA in Anjou, who sells casings to butchers but are also open to the public). Dont remember the price per pound of casing, but it amounted to 0,25$/pound of sausage.
Agreed for the sausage patties. Unless you have a dedicated stuffer (KAattachment is worthless), you're better off going this route.
Willing to trade MSM for MC bacon porker? Your posts on another thread have me salivating for the last couple of weeks...
ISO Fatback
Sadly, "Good butcher" and "Price is good" are usually pretty much exclusive...:( If you need grinded, not much choice but to go to a butcher shop. I grind mine, so I am a little more flexible, and usually go the "Price is good" way...
Locally, Mayrand usually has some whole pork shoulder, cheapo, but you need to grind yourself. Otherwise, asian grocery stores are also a good bet.
Since the shoulder has relatively little fat nowadays, i usually mix in some pork belly (about 2/3 shoulder, 1/3 pork belly) and that gives a satisfactory mix fatwise. Asian butcher counters could probably grind it to order for you if you ask nicely (at least Marché Oriental on St-Denis near JT).
ISO Fatback
Sausage season is upon us again and the annual quest for pork fatback begins once more. Any ressources for pork fatback, in reasonable quantities (5 to 10 kg)? Usual round of butchers and asian markets leaves me fatless...Any distributors willing to accomodate a small private order?
ISO unpeeled nordic shrimp
Seen some unpeeled on occasion at Atkins in JTM and peeled ones a little more frequently as well since crab season began. They seem to have a limited supply, so it's prolly best to go early on on friday and maybe saturday, when they get their shipments (not sure about other days). They are almost certain to be out by sunday afternoon.
Acetate sheet - where do you buy them? + other culinary equipments
For the blowtorch, I would suggest staying away from the cute little way overpriced handheld piece of crap they usually sell and make a trip to your closest hardware store. A propane torch with the igniter should set you back around 15$, while the little handheld kitchen torch will usually retail at double that price or more, have a quarter of the tank and a lot less firepower. Bonus points for the slightly concerned faces of the guests when they see you finish their brulees with it :)
Pink Salt aka Saltpeter needed
I have to disagree with your statement that there is no reliable place to purchase pink salt in Montreal, see my previous post in the beginning of the thread.
Yes, I stumbled on it while looking for sausage casings (and even then, I stumbled on the store selling sausage casings in bulk), but it is available in Montreal. I paid 4$ for 1 kg, and can vouch to the tasty bacon it produced.
Advice in "Charcuterie" is solid and prudent throughout. You seem to be taking a little too much word for word the challenge organizers' request for buying the book. They just seem to indicate that the recipes they will follow will be taken from that book, which is the only "relatively" main stream book published on the subject. Following your logic, I would have to buy the book again to participate, even if I already own it, because the rules states that I have to buy the book.
Libraries are a wonderful resource if you want to try your hand at something without buying the book. Charcuterie is available at the Bibliotheque Nationale for those interested.
ISO Best fresh corn tortillas.
For tortillas, I always like Tortilleria Maya, on Casgrain on JTM.
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Tortilleria Maya
5274 Boul Saint-Laurent, Montreal, QC H2T1S1, CA
Looking for short ribs
Bought some at Boucherie St-Viateur on Beaubien, a little east of St-Laurent on a few occasions.
Private Room for 12 in Montreal? Casual, Quiet, and great Food a necessity!
I ate at Graziella last week, and there seems to be a couple of private rooms at the basement level.
Empanadas in Montreal
I largely preferred the empanadas at NAPO then those at the Chilenita. I also liked those at a Greek-Chilean bakery (probably an old greek bakery that has been taken over by chileans) on Jean-Talon, a little west of Parc (I think it is Riviera Bakey based on a google street view recon mission...), but these are cleary more chilean than argentinean in style.
is there a great bakery and coffee shop in old montreal?
slight preference for Fairmount, but you could go either way.
is there a great bakery and coffee shop in old montreal?
You can actually get anything to go at Olive & Gourmando.
