Food in History (file under dense but important read)

Reay Tannahill who recently died (November 2007) first published this book back in the 70’s. Since then food has undergone a revolution of sorts in that what was available in a standard supermarket then is vastly inferior to what is available today. People have gained a new found (or at least reinvigorated) love of food. This can be witnessed through the proliferation of ingredients that used to be labeled as somewhat exotic and that today are listed as commonplace. Especially in this great country, Canada, because of the wealth of immigrants that we have to this country. Who, unlike other travelers, to other countries, have to abandon much of what they were in order to assimilate. Here we decided that our tapestry is enriched by the incorporation of multiple cultures into our own and vice versa. I for one am thrilled that food has been one of the many areas that has been enriched by this factor.

Tannahill looks at the history of food from as far back as 10,000 BC. At that time the lifespan for the average human was less than forty years. This is largely due to factors such as climate, lack of appropriate nutrition, shelter and clothing. As humanity made advances in each of these areas there was an advance in our lifespan as well as our appetite.

One of the interesting points that she makes early on is that many of the “advances” we have made with regard to food and food science are in fact based on ancient principles that lacked the scientific and technological advances that we have today. She points out that the first deliberate use of fire is somewhere between 1,400,000 and 500,000 years ago depending on which theory of human evolution you ascribe to (meaning the African centered development or the Asian). With the purposeful use of fire humanity began to use that tool to cook meat that previously was eaten raw (and in my estimation may have directly led to such a low lifespan).

The importance of agriculture can not be understated. It is by far the single greatest thing that humanity has accomplished in terms of survival. By eliminating the need to forage and thus move from place to place humanity laid down the basic roots to civilization. Permanent settlements seem to have developed in order to collect harvests that used to be moved to caves, etc. That distance could have been as far as fifty miles or more. Agriculture seems to have taken hold over a 2000 year period somewhere between 9000 to 7000 BC. This shift is clearly delineated by a move from gathering to cultivating.

Perhaps through trial and error and incredible powers of observation humanity learned that by cultivating a harvest too well the next years harvest would not be as great. As such we started to leave portions of the harvest for two reasons, one to produce a better crop and two for regeneration of the crop.

With the advent of agriculture it became necessary for humanity to domesticate animals. The reason for this is simple; animals would travel around from place to place wrecking havoc on crops. This mandated a response from early settlers which was limited to three possibilities. The first was to defend the fields in a non lethal way. Force the animals to go somewhere else. The second option was to mount a battle against the animals which would lead to mass slaughter and the waste of a valuable food source and the third (ultimately the best and winning option) was animal domestication. The first animals domesticated were sheep and goats.

These two animals are clearly important to the early survival of humanity. They played multiple roles in our development. First as a food source they both were brilliant. Their importance is further understood by the use of lambs as a burnt offering to the gods first and then as society advanced the one true God, whether Christian or Jewish (and eventually Muslim). The second reason for their importance is that these animals are natural foragers. The goat was an exceptional tool for clearing fields once deliberate farming had begun. Sheep moreover were capable of clearing more than a hundred times their weight of green space in a single week. It took approximately another two thousand years for humanity to domesticate the pig predominantly because they were never a threat to crop harvests. Pigs like the same food as humans and so until such a time that there was a food surplus pig farming did not develop. Cows became domesticated somewhere between 6100 and 5800 BC.

Where did cooking develop first? Why did it develop? Is it possible to mark the delineation by saying that from fire and cultivation came settlement? What we do know is that somewhere around 5000 BC was the first evidence of “pit cooking” of meat. What we do know for certain is that the shift from pottery as the main cooking tool to metal also greatly advanced humanities cooking procedures and indeed the very flavour of foods.

From settlement it is somewhat easier to mark the dawn of civilization. Civilization, once settlement began to my mind became a fore gone conclusion. With permanent settlements there was a spread of knowledge through migrating tribes which would visit and then bring that knowledge elsewhere. That pattern continued and continues unabated today. With rapid advances of food surplus so too came population explosion. The correlation between the two is massive and had there not been the ability to produce surplus perhaps we would not know the world we know today.

With cultivation of these new agricultural centers came new foods that people would eat. A lot of these foods came out of weeds or off shoots of the predominant plant. For example from wheat came rye and from maize and beans came the tomato. This type of cross breading also resulted in a much larger food supply which again correlates to the furthering population explosion. By 7000 BC wheat and barley were being intentionally cultivated over vast swaths of land. By 6000 BC peas and lentils. By 5000 BC Persian Gulf farmers (think Mesopotamia and modern day Iran) had figured out irrigation to a distance as far as 3 miles. This is an incredible achievement which resulted in the further development of permanent settlement along flat lands near fresh water. By 4000 – 3000 BC olives, figs, dates, grapes and pomegranates.

A note on fresh water. As we all know fresh water is the life blood of humanity. Without it we would cease to exist the way we do today. As the Persians figured out irrigation this led to the need for an administration of some sort for the canals and ditches dug to irrigate the land. This administration led directly to administration of towns and eventually to cities. Once cities began to pop up in earnest this is the true mark for me of the dawn of civilization. People were now more free to concentrate on other things that food and water. Arts, Philosophy, Medicine, etc. all began to rise up in the great civilizations and gave rise to what we know today. It took less than 7000 years for humanity to go from massively independent survivalists to interdependent members of civilization.

The dawn of civilization gave rise to new issues. One such issue has still not been resolved today. Before this paradigm shift men and women were essentially equal partners in life. The means for survival were equally dependant on the man and the woman. The woman was responsible largely for the gathering (for specific evolutionary reasons) while the man was responsible largely for hunting. As civilization developed this equality was quashed. The woman became the “home” keeper. While men tended to the flock which gave them time to think, to dream, to develop. This dawn of civilization saw massive population explosion that went from 3,000,000 at the true dawn to 100,000,000 in a 7000 year period. That is remarkable growth that ONLY could have happened with the domestication of animals and purposeful farming of crops. We had become so efficient in our farming techniques that early Egyptian farmers (peasant farmers) were capable of producing enough food for their family in a multiple of three times or more. Hence the development of trade. To put this into perspective even more crop yields in the 1950’s in Egypt were roughly equivalent to crop yields in 1000 BC. That is a truly remarkable fact.

The next post is going to deal with beer and its importance on humanity.

W.R. Whitney once said; “In the advance of civilization, it is new knowledge which paves the way, and the pavement is eternal.”

Dream big and inspired!

A la prochaine

SDM

What kind of sauce goes with dreams and auditions?

First off to my love, C, today is the culmination of years of hard work and determination. Not to mention talent and a spirit that is unparalleled. Today is your day. The day that your dreams and aspirations come to a crossroads. I know that you are going to rock it just I am rocking the kitchen because that is what we are meant to do. I love you and send you all the support I can on this your big day. You are always on the marquee of my life in bright lights and today is just another step towards your destiny and ours.

Due to the lack of ability to put in as many keywords as I would like I’m having to separate this post into several posts. We are delving my friends into the wonderfully complex world of sauces today.

What is the purpose of a sauce? What is it meant to do? Is it a vehicle? Or is it a component? As I wrote about in an earlier post there are five mother sauces in classical French cooking. They are;

Béchamel
Espagnole
Veloute
Hollandaise
Tomato

These sauces can be subdivided, built upon, reduced and made into literally hundreds of different variations. But before we touch on any of those I wanted to explain about Bouquets Garni, Sachets, Oignon Brule and Pique, Matignon, Roux and clarified butter .

These are aromatic preparations of vegetables and herbs which are used to enhance and support dish flavours. As a flavour agent these can infuse flavour into stock, sauce and soup as well as enhance the aroma. Bouquets and sachets are typically used together and bound in cheesecloth for easy removal at the prescribed time. Bouquet Garni is made of fresh herbs and vegetables ties together in a bundle. Sachets are comprised of ingredients and flavouring agents such as peppercorns, herbs and spices. Oignon Brule and Oignon Pique are flavouring agents based on whole, half or quartered onions. The first is exactly as the name suggests, a browned or slightly darkened onion. The second includes pressing things into the onion such as cloves.

A standard bouquet according to the Culinary Institute of America which is sufficient to flavour 3.84 Litres of liquid contains;

1 Sprig of Thyme
3 or 4 Parsley stems
1 Bay Leaf
2 or 3 Leek Leaves and 1 Stalk celery

A standard sachet d’epices to flavour 3.84 Litres of liquid contains;

3 or 4 Parsley Stems
1 Sprig of Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
2 grams of Cracked Peppercorns
1 Garlic Clove

Asian aromatics consist of 2 parts Ginger, 2 parts Garlic and 1 part Green Onion. Then of course you have the Cajun Trinity (Mire Pois) 2 parts Onion, 1 part green Pepper and 1 part celery.

A Matignon is used as a compliment to braised or fried dishes and consists of;

99 g Ham
128 g Onion
128 g Carrot
57 g Celery
1 Sprig Thyme
1 Bay Leaf

Roux is a thickening agent for soups, stews, some dishes and sauces requiring a certain flavour. Roux will change the colour of a sauce and give it a toasted nutty flavour (Dark Roux). Roux can be made of numerous ingredients but usually includes a starch and some type of fat. I.e. Butter and Flour which then cooked to remove the cereal (read flour) taste. When making a roux you have to avoid extreme temperatures to prevent lumping. Cool or room temperature roux is easier to combine than ice cold roux because the fat is not solid. Very cold liquid should not be used as it will harden the roux thereby eliminating its thickening powers.

Roux is not limited to flour (and when using flour make sure that you use all purpose as it is the best for roux). You can also use Arrowroot, Cornstarch, Tapioca, Potato Starch and Rice Flour. Each of these has a different character that it brings to the party and are used according to the result that you are seeking.

Clarified Butter is made by heating the butter so that you can skim off the milk solids and water. By doing this the butter then is open to higher temperatures. 1 pound of butter will yield approximately 320 g of clarified butter.

A liaison is a mixture of egg yolk and cream (35% is best) to enrich and slightly thicken sauces and soups. It is also used to add body and sheen as well as enrich the dish. To thicken 24 fluid ounces add 3 parts 35% and 1 part egg yolk.

So step one of my sauce knowledge has included learning and internalizing all these things. The next post is going to touch on Brown Sauce or Espagnole.

I hope that you all are having an awesome day and are inspired. For the love of my life I include this quote from Charles R. Swindoll; “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” And your attitude is amazing. Go kick ass today lover. I know you can and will because of everything you are. I'm infinitely proud of you.

To everyone else, spread your wings and realize your dreams. It is the best feeling in the world.

A la prochaine

SDM

Reservation...

So it is now 12:29 am as I start this. I left work at midnight after making sure that the kitchen was thoroughly cleaned. However, I would not have been home yet had the car not been acting temper mental. It wouldn’t start this morning so I thought that she could use a good boot. Sure enough she is fit as a fiddle now.

It is so refreshing to get up in the morning and feel a sense of purpose, a direction, a reason for your life (other than my love C which of course goes without saying). Not only a reason for your life but an intuitive feel in and around the kitchen and the knowledge that common sense can in fact be good for something and in Reservations kitchen is in fact common.

I learned so much today that it is insane that I was able to keep it all. I did keep notes on a bog pad today but of course left it in Head Chef’s office. My day started out as I had suspected with a prep list and go figure as I had thought it started with finishing the Ravioli.

I had tried to make Ravioli a couple of times for C. It is quite a difficult task if you do not have the proper tools. However here I have the top of line rolling machine (hand cranked of course). I rolled out one sheet of dough at a time. Folded it in half, use rounds to create an indent so I could see it when I egg washed it. Insert filling after egg washing. Fold over, push out the air, and use a smaller round to press it firmly into place. Then take a larger round and centre it on the Ravioli giving you two defined circles. Not only did my Ravioli look great but they also tasted great and I got a compliment from the Chef in that he didn’t complain and kept using the ones I made. So all in all a good thing. Not only that but I came up with a better and more efficient way to prepare the filling to be inserted by rolling it into balls. Chef liked it and now I have created my own efficiencies. Talk about value added (cue my own raging laughter as I remember a day that meant something else).

What have we learned so far? Task and then, you guessed it, CLEAN. Wipe down and put away the roller, wipe down your station, put used inserts, etc into the dish pit and start the next task.

For me this involved a lengthy session of the different type of sauces (5 mother sauces in the French culinary sense). Every sauce is based in some way on these types of sauces, they are; Béchamel, Espagnol, Veloute, Hollandaise and of course Tomato, from these the world is opened to your palette and there are numerous variations (thousands to be sure).

After Head Chef (also referred to herein as Chef E) had explained these mother sauces he spent an inordinate amount of time explaining to me the method and madness of his stock, remoulage (sp?) and jus. Of course to the lay men or uninitiated a jus is just a “sauce” that gets put onto whatever and I have to admit that until today I was largely naïve as to the complexity and extreme care that is needed to create the perfect jus. In Reservation that jus is the most perfect flavour profile possible as it should be given that you’re looking at like $2 an ounce. Think about that for a minute… How much is store bought ketchup? Puts it into perspective doesn’t it!

Naturally, I respect both Exec Chef J and Head Chef E so I will not explain how they make their stock save to say that it has mire pois (ah duh), bones, water and other flavouring agents. I can however tell you that the stock I started today will take three days to turn into jus AND that for approximately 16 litres of that magnificent gold I will have to use approximately 200 litres of various wet. Did you catch that 200 turns into 16?

For the next few hours I was dutifully caught in task, chop, clean, task, chop and clean. It is so amazing. Then after chopping some hand cut fries for the saucier I came back to Chef and noticed some more prep that had to get done; Chop Parsley, Chives, Grate 4 year old Cheddar, slice Brie, Cheddar and various other cheeses, prepare an apple vinaigrette, and lo and behold there was a soup there. We had not started soup yet.

Head Chef looks at me and says; “Let’s go shopping!” A kitchen term for lets go into the fridge. Looking at the various array of vegetables Head Chef asks what I think. I looked around and proposed that we could do either a roasted red pepper soup (I think I was trying to impress him) or a butternut squash soup. He looked at me with a huge smile on his face and said; “Let’s get at it.” So naturally I had to peel the skin, cut into cubes, put onto a cooking sheet, added some maple and salt and then roasted it in the oven. This kitchen is regimented however; a good idea is clearly taken as such and can be incorporated.

After that I helped out the saucier by cutting his fries and blanching them. Damn they are so good with a little demi and some cheese. Call it 5 star Poutine but geez I might get fat (not likely but) though it tastes so damn good. While doing this the Saucier instructed me to pay attention to the Garde Manger station which naturally excited me but of course scared me. So much to learn. But of course it was exciting to be standing there and I even plated six deserts that were sent out to customers and one Foie. Me, I prepared and plated a Foie.

For those of you that don’t know Foie is one of the most sinful luxuries in the world. It is fattened duck liver which is so rich it is to die for. You can only have it in small portions (some people can do larger but not me). At any rate, the fact that I am in a kitchen that serves Foie, Sweet Breads and the like means that I truly did pick the right kitchen.

The famous American philosopher and poet George Santayana once said; “There is nothing to which men, while they have food and drink, cannot reconcile themselves.” I friends could not agree more.

Everyday when I arrive I am elated and every day when I leave I am beat tired but elated because I know that I have learned more both as a matter of fact and experientially that I will be able to put to good use for my own well being, that of my love, that of our families and friends. So stay tuned.

There is so much more to say but only so many hours in the day. I know you all would like to hear more but I really have to sleep, as I need to be in work, dressed, prepped and ready to go in less than eight hours. But fear not for there is always tomorrow.

Be inspired today and have fun in what you do!

SDM