EPIC Spring 2013 Dessert Menu

-Jerek

My honest signature dish and how I turned my childhood obsession with fire into a positive!

Ontario Burrata

Roasted Baby Pear, Rooftop Honey, White Truffle 

Fleur De Sel, Cinnamon Smoke

MEPS

Ontario Burrata - 1oz.

Roasted Baby Pear (Honey, Bay Leaf) - 1

Rooftop Honey - Drizzle

White Truffle - TT

Fleur De Sel - Pinch

Cinnamon Sticks - 2

Blow Torch

Bordeaux Wine Glasses

Fancy Plates

Method

1) Pat Buratta dry of excess liquid, place on centre of a very dry plate.  Squeeze your eyelids shut, calmly tell apprentice to always wipe his plates dry before plating...

2) Garnish the pear attractively. This will be the height of the dish so handle with care...the pear, with flair...I dare...so stare, and share on chairs etc... be weird around the apprentice. Make sure to give off a sense of unpredictability.

3) Drizzle the honey over the cheese. Impress the apprentice by steeping the honey bottle in warm water for 2 minutes to loosen just enough to pour smoothly. Verbally mention this.

4) Slice one decent piece of truffle onto the honey.  Tell apprentice it came from Alba, Italy.  Talk up Alba, Italy while preparing this dish.  Coolly explain why only the best white truffles come from Alba, Italy. Do not mention you suspect what you're currently using is likely chinese truffles.

5) Season with Fleur De Sel.  Look very concentrated and hunched over the plate while doing so.  Keep silent and immediately upon finishing, criticize the apprentice for not being ready with step 6 which you have yet to mention.

6) Blow torch two cinnamon sticks until the two ends are amber-red.  Using two inverted Bordeaux wine glasses, hotbox them with cinnamon smoke and quickly place them over the cheese.  Make sure you get the apprentice to do this in front of the pass - right closely to where the guests you wish to impress are seated so you can truly impress everyone -yourself included.

7) Allow the apprentice to urgently call-out for servers, stare at him until a runner picks them up.

Good man.

 

-Jerek

Never compete against a Benihana Chef with 40 years experience.

BETTING ENDS!

Meet Tomio Harikawa. 
Yesterday was his last day before retiring after cooking for forty years with Benihana at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

Tomio is literally the poster boy for this 1988 Benihana advert.

Out of curiosity and the need to preserve extraordinary skills for the archives, Sous Chef Tom "I know most people" Phuong and I set up a challenge to see just how fast Tomio was at one of the most core skills needed in teppanyaki -shelling shrimp.

To make it interesting, we gave him one minute against Sous Chef Tom as he too can peel a mean shrimp (any other kitchen he would be the fastest).
HA!  The pressure was on good sir.
.

Just to note, shelling shrimp for Benihana means leaving the splayed tails on, but shelling the annoying stabby top-part.

Total naked shrimps;

Tomio "Sayonara!" Harikawa - 15

Tom "Stop laughing at me..." Phuong - 7

My favorite part is how he just cooly walks away...
I am glad we were able to let Tomio feel good about himself over the expense of us.
 

Skill like that only comes from experience. Congrats Tomio!

-Jerek

Mountain Dew has a new breakfast soda and on an unrelated topic, this week I started digging a bomb shelter in my backyard...

This is the wrong direction. Perhaps if it were more local...

This is a very bad idea.  No words will further enhance my position more so then the actual nutritional and ingredient content of this drink laid out below.

To all of you who think this is a good thing, while I am certified as a first-aid responder, no, I cannot administer the insulin for you.

Mtn Dew Kickstart - Fruit Punch 

Type: Bottles, Cans and Cartons Size: 16 fl oz


5 % Juice

Nutrition Info:
Serving size 1 container Per Container
16 fl oz %DV*

Calories 80 -
Total Fat (g) 0 0
Sodium (mg) 170 7
Total Carbs (g) 20 7
Sugars (g) 19 -
Protein (g) 0 0
Vitamin A - 0
Vitamin C - 100
Calcium - 0
Iron - 0
Niacin - 80
Vitamin B6 - 80
Pantothenic Acid - 60

Not a significant source of other nutrients.

*Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Calorie and nutrient values are rounded as required by the Food & Drug Administration.
This can produce irregularities among sizes. Product may not be available in all areas.

Ingredients:

CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHITE GRAPE JUICE
CONCENTRATE, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SODIUM
HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE (TO PROTECT FLAVOR), POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVES
FRESHNESS), ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), GUM ARABIC, CAFFEINE, ACESULFAME
POTASSIUM, SUCRALOSE, RED 40, NIACINAMIDE (VITAMIN B3), GLYCEROL ESTER OF
ROSIN, YELLOW 5, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (TO PROTECT FLAVOR), CALCIUM
PANTOTHENATE (VITAMIN B5), SUCROSE ACETATE ISOBUTYRATE, PYRIDOXINE
HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6)

Source
http://www.pepsicobeveragefacts.com/print_infobyproduct.php?bf=1372&b=1051&pf=1814&pu=1026&s=16

Related Articles

Mountain Dew Kickstart Breakfast Drink
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/11/mountain-dew-kickstart-breakfast-drink_n_2661188.html

Is it time to ban junk food?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/is-it-time-to-ban-junk-food/article9049909/

-Jerek