Several days ago, Sean McDonald from Com.motion (causeacommotion.com) invited foodiePrints to attend a sponsored luncheon and micro-brew beer tasting he and his client were organizing as part of the 250th Anniversary celebrations of Guinness' flagship stout product. Jenn and I graciously accepted, warning he and his Managing Director, Ed Lee, that we knew precious little about beer.

The luncheon would also mark the beginning of Ottawa resident Simon Halpin's coast-to-coast journey to meet Canada's greatest brewers. Simon plans to document his experience through photos and a blog. He begins his journey at the ByWard Market's Heart and Crown by meeting Fergal Murray, Guinness' brew master, on a one day stopover from Ireland. Also assembled were

• brewer Mathew O'Hara from Beau's All Natural Brewery
• brewer Donna Warner from Scotch Irish Brewing
• Christopher and Norah Rogers, owners of the Barley Days Brewery

Guinness' 250th Anniversary celebrates founder Arthur Guinness' signing of a 9000 year lease in 1759 at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin. As part of its celebrations, Guinness held a contest, asking Canadians what they would consider to be a remarkable experience. Over 800 entries were submitted. Halpin's winning request was to tour Canada's local breweries and record the stories of the people who run them. Judges felt that this entry reflected the core characteristics of its founder: inspiration, dedication, ingenuity, and effort.

Guinness
Even with my little understanding of beer, it was not difficult to see that Fergal Murray is a master of his craft, producing quality stout from a single recipe on a multi-national scale. From the tidbits I could decipher, the breweries that produce Guinness work extremely hard to ensure every fluid ounce produced conforms to an exacting standard. This ensures a uniformity of experience no matter where a pint is drawn. In Ireland, there are even inspectors who verify that Guinness is properly served. As Murray pointed out, their product is entrusted to the pubs that serve it, making imperative that it is served well. Accordingly, there must be the same passion from "keg to glass."


Fergal Murray illustrating the art of a properly drawn Guinness and settle

Fergal Murray and Simon Halpin examining finished pints as fine lines form

Perhaps such is why Guinness has a world-wide following. Despite its operation being of the size that it "purchases 40% of the world's hops", every pint of Guinness should taste the same as if it were drawn in Dublin.

Then again, there is the flavour.

When I was introduced to Murray, Lee mentioned that I had never partaken of a pint of Guinness whether drawn correctly or served at the proper temperature. I thus had my first with direction from Guinness' brew master himself.

My first guinness
Murray's instructions involved taking a pint in my hand with my elbow up so I could angle the glass such that the nitrogen bubble head thins. Then, I drew a mouthful through the thinned head, trying not to take any of the head in the process. Drinking Guinness this way delivers its three characteristic flavours (sweet, bitter, and roasted malt) and a smooth aftertaste. With that, I became a statistic. I partook of one of the approximately "4 million pints of Guinness, draught or extra stout, served each day."

Then, food was served and so were samples of beer from the micro-breweries, each brew master presenting theirs and each asking Murray his thoughts.

Beau's All Natural

Clock-wise from top left: Matthew O'Hara, Bottles of German Alt and Lug Tread, Glass of Lug Tread vs Pint of Guinness
Among Murray's comments were praise for the Beau's brewing team, Beau's bottle return program (Operation Come Home), their lagered ale (Lug Tread) and their alt (Festivale). However, he questioned how the local brewery, that is one of only two in Canada certified organic, can grow their business. The ceramic bottle for the Lug Tread is heavy, difficult to ship, poor for shelf life, and time consuming to clean. Likewise the alt is also heavily packaged.

In response, O'Hara pointed out that Beau's is positioning itself to move to a bottled line possibly coming in October. Though, their intention remains to produce local products that are shipped and consumed as freshly as possible. This means that their beer currently doesn't go past Kingston.

Scotch Irish

Left: Donna Warner, Right: A stubby of Black Irish Plain Porter
Murray remarked that he enjoyed the chocolate flavours of Scotch Irish's porter and discussed with Warner various issues with yeast and how to ferment with multiple generations.

During the discussion, I was taken aback by how both the Guinness breweries and microbreweries nearby operate with similar standards, exacting precision, and documentation as accredited analytical laboratories. For instance, to produce consistent good beer, yeast has to be ensured an environment where the pH, temperature, and relative concentrations of sugars (glucose, fructose, and sucrose) are precise. Else, off flavors can be produced.

Barley Days

Clockwise from left: A Manley MacDonald painting on a case of Harvest Gold Pale Ale, Chris Rogers presenting Fergal Murray a copy of his family's license to bottle Guinness Extra Stout, Two Bottles of Barley Days' Ales
Murray discussed with Rogers how Barley Days' golden pale ale developed such a remarkable golden colour. Then, the discussion turned to the subject of the Prince Edward County brewery's seasonal ales from its spring time Sugar Shack Ale which employs maple sap to its Christmas-time Cherry Porter which employs sour cherries.

Rogers also recounted the rich history behind the name of his brewery. Here is a summary from the brewery's website:

In the latter half of the nineteenth century (1860-1890) Prince Edward County enjoyed boom days. Bay barley, reputed to be the best malting barley available, along with hops, were grown in the County and exported across Lake Ontario to breweries in the United States. Farming, shipbuilding, and shipping prospered and this period became known in local history as The Barley Days.

In fact, the Wind and Sail dark ale's artwork (pictured above) includes a schooner to pay homage to shipping barley to the United States.

Pub Food
As this is a food blog, food-wise we were served two fixed courses (an amuse bouche and a salad) and another dish of our choosing from the menu.

Clockwise from top-left: pan-seared shrimp in a hoisin-Guinness glaze on pumpernickel, salad with dried cranberries and applewood cheddar drizzled with a Harp vinaigrette, fish cakes appetizer, and fish and chips
Bearing in mind that the Heart and Crown is a pub first and restaurant second, I have to make some allowances for from frozen pub fries. Unfortunately, I found the salad completely unbalanced with unwieldy flavours coming from the applewood cheddar.

I also have some misgivings about the Heart and Crown's poutine (instant gravy that had skinned and coolish fries), which I ordered, but it meets the characteristics for poutine (fries, cheese curds, and gravy) and is served very generously.

In fact, the Guinness Brew Master was served it as a regional specialty of Eastern Ontario, his first poutine.

Fergal Murray's first Poutine
His reaction when he saw the plate: "Lads, I can't possibly finish all of that." After eating his fill of a third of the serving, he remarked that cheese goes remarkably well with "chips" and such a dish would be appropriate sustenance for a "guy going for a day's soakage."

I guess it was a day of two firsts and much enlightenment on my end in the world of brewing beer. To end, I have to echo Murray's words to me as he shook my hand to leave, "Keep drinking Guinness!"

Particulars:
Heart and Crown
67 Clarence Street
Ottawa
(613)562-0674‎

Beau's All Natural Brewery
10 Terry Fox Drive
Vankleek Hill
1-866-585-BEER (2337)

Barley Days Brewery
13730 Loyalist Parkway ( Highway 33 )
Picton (Prince Edward County)
(613)476-PINT (7468)

Scotch Irish Brewing
866 Campbell Ave.
Ottawa
(613)728-7845

Eight months ago, I finished foodiePrints' piece on poutine and sent it into the blogosphere. Is it definitive? Far from it, but it combines just about everything I could gather together on the subject as of Fall 2008. Odds are it will be a living document. Already, some Quebec foodies have pointed out to me that some regions of the province feel that authentic poutine is served with a sauce brun. Elsewhere, it's a white sauce. I'll be looking into clarifying this in the near future.

That said, Ottawa sure has a lot of tweeps twittering away. Just take a look at Ottawa.meme.ca's growing list. Also, take a peek at Ottawa Start. Our fair city of a little over 874 thousand people (1.15 million if you count the entire metropolitan area) has dozens of "notable tweeps" and many more online.

So, yesterday evening (June 10, 2009), I put up a query with a hashtag (#bestpoutineinottawa) to local tweeps:

foodiePrints Jun 10, 11:37 PM
Ottawa tweeps, @pfqrst has put in her 2 cents for best poutine in town: corner of bank & maclaren. What say you? #bestpoutineinottawa

Fast Food Grocery
Pam's (@pfqrst) is the Fast Food Grocery at the corner of Bank and Maclaren. Its OttawaPlus.ca profile has an added comment referring to poutine. It received honorary mentions in Ottawa Xpress' 2006 and 2007 "Best of Ottawa" lists for poutine. It's often referred to as "the poutine place across from Barrymore's."

Speaking of the Ottawa Xpress' "Best of Ottawa" lists, under the poutine category, the Elgin Streeet Diner (374 Elgin) has taken the top prize for the past 4 years (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008). Other honorable mentions include Sasha's (next to Dominion Tavern, 33 York), The Works (all locations), and The Chip Wagon (corner of Bank and Sunnyside).

Elgin Street Diner
An endorsement for Elgin Street Diner comes from @PaulLomax

PaulLomax Jun 11, 05:07 PM
@foodiePrints Elgin St Diner, even...

A second, from @jessrawk

jessrawk Jun 11, 05:37 PM
@foodiePrints I'll definitely second the Elgin Street Diner!

Glen's
Here's my 2 cents. I feel poutine is amazing street food and some of the best comes from snack trucks. When asked, I am known to refer to the "truckiness" quality of the poutine experience. My fav is Glen's on Richmond.

foodiePrints Jun 10, 11:55 PM
One my fav places for poutine in Ottawa is Glen's on Richmond Road:http://bit.ly/hHsAr #bestpoutineinottawa

Archie's Bunker Restaurant
Jessica's (@wangmo) fav is Archie's in Gloucester (1162 Cyrville):

wangmo Jun 11, 06:03 AM
@foodiePrints @pfqrst It has to be Archie's off of Cyrville? #bestpoutineinottawa

Unnamed at the corner of Cooper and Bank
@ChromeSushi's fav "truck poutine" is a truck at the corner of Cooper and Bank

ChromeSushi Jun 11, 08:51 AM
@foodiePrints If we're playing that game my favourite 'truck poutine' is the yellow truck at Cooper & Bank #bestpoutineinottawa

Jp's/Eric's (aka: Crispy Fries)
One of @momomoto's fav's is Jp's/Eric's

momomoto Jun 11, 09:33 PM
My vote for #bestpoutineinottawa depends on how far out we can go. If Alfred counts as in Ottawa, Kennebec. If it doesn't, then JP's/Eric's.

According to OttawaFoodies and Eric Monmart (presumably THE Eric), there are now two locations run by "JP's crew", one at the corner of Merivale and Hunt Club (Canadian Tire) and another at Clyde and Baseline (Value Village).

Unfortunately, I don't think the township of Alfred, Ontario counts as part of Ottawa. I could be wrong. However, I'll be sure to check out Kennebec Restaurant on 472 St-Philippe Street the next time I swing by that locale.

I will keep adding to this list any and all tweets for however long the hashtag survives.

For inspiration, click on the Hockey Forum Boards, hfboards.com. There, the Ottawa Senators' sub forum has an older thread on the subject of "Best Poutine in Ottawa/Gatineau."

It's always good to know of a decent place for poutine when you're in the neighbourhood. Besides, I want to know of a place I can hit up for poutine when all the trucks have gone home.

Over a year ago (November 14, 2007), Marianne White from the CanWest News Service, published a piece entitled "The Curd Degree." In it, she interviews Charles-Alexandre Theoret, the author of a book entitled "Maudite Poutine!" (rough English translation: Damned Poutine). The book, which seems to be only available in French, follows the emergence and growing popularity of the iconic Quebec dish of fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. All the while, its author posits that how the dish has been viewed reflects Quebec and its relationship with the rest of Canada.

For instance, poutine was once described as "fat lumberjack food." Today, the dish is recognized internationally and is even served in New York. There, it has been described as "a staple from Quebec, embarrassing, but adored." Theoret further states in his interview that "as poutine stature grows...the emblematic junk food could succeed where no Canadian politicians have -- bringing together the two solitudes."

Perhaps to test Theoret's theory, the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC commissioned a picture of famed French explorer Samuel de Champlain, holding a plate of poutine, to advertise its annual (2008) Canada Day party. The result: quite a few feathers were ruffled by the advertisement, some belonging to a French-language rights group that demanded the ambassador's resignation. According to cbc, the image was intended to "play" on Quebec City's 400th anniversary. It was also featured on a website, which is why the image can still be found on the Internet.

The following month, from August 29 to 30, the residents of Drummandville, Quebec dedicated an entire festival to poutine. The town of 67 000 claims to originate the dish. Accordingly, restaurateur Jean-Paul Roy invented poutine in 1964 for his diner, Le Roy Jucep, which still stands today. The Canadian Press estimates that approximately 1500 servings of poutine were served during the first day of the festival, most being of the classic variety. Further, at $23, the most expensive preparation from the festival was a variation of Chef Martin Picard's legendary foie-gras poutine, which still graces the menu at his Montreal restaurant, Au Pied de Cochon.

According to Theoret's book, poutine originated in 1957 in Warwick, Quebec. There, restauranteur Fernand Lachance remarked to a customer on an order, "Ca va te faire un maudite poutine" (rough English translation: It's gonna make a helluva mess). The order mixed fries and cheese curds together in the same bag. Lachance added gravy as an after thought to keep the fries warm. The customer enjoyed his "mess." Poutine was born. Unfortunately, Lachance's restaurant, Lutin Qui Rit, eventually closed, so there is no monument to mark poutine's birth.

The coverage of the Drummandville festival also higlights that poutine, as a dish, has evolved several regional specificities. Restaurants in the Drummondville region add pureed tomato to their gravy for acidity and sweetness. Restaurants in Montreal use a chicken velouté. Additional variations have also appeared that go beyond adjusting the classic recipe.

• Poutine Itallienne - Substitutes marinara sauce for the traditional gravy
• Poutine Bourguinonne - Adds ground beef and fried onions to the traditional gravy
• Poutine BBQ - Substitutes heated BBQ sauce for the traditional gravy
• Poutine Mole - Substitutes a Oaxacan black mole sauce for the traditional gravy
• Disco Fries - Substitutes shredded cheddar cheese for cheddar cheese curds

With so many variations, a website dedicated to the Montreal poutine, decidedly establishes the fundamental characteristics of poutine: "a heap of crispy French fries topped by a handful of cheddar (cheese) curds, and a chicken (sometimes veal) based sauce." It further states that great fries do not make a great poutine. Instead, it is the combination of "curds and sauce" that make poutine a "trascendent culinary experience." The cheese curds need to be fresh. They need to squeak when eaten. The sauce is best if it comes powdered from a pouch, labeled St. Hubert. This is because St. Hubert brand sauce packs contain thickened chicken-stock, seasoned with pepper and onions, in other words chicken velouté.

Personally, I feel that a good poutine could benefit from good fries. Take for instance the fries under the fois-gras poutine at Au Pied De Cochon (above). The fries look Belgian. That is, they seem to have been double fried to produce an extremely crisp exterior, while maintaining a tender interior.

Now that the history and political science lessons are over, it's time to put the characteristics to test:
Exhibit A:

Styrofoam container, dripping with gravy

Food court poutine

Cheese curds, check! Freshly made fries, sorta check! These fries are from frozen. I'm pretty sure that potatoes do not naturally come pre-cut or covered in frost from a plastic bag. Also, because the Franx Supreme in my building's food court specializes in hot dogs and hamburgers, I doubt the gravy is fresh, so...Instant gravy, check! While it was a little salty for my liking, this is poutine.

Exhibit B:

$8 USD brick of fries with cheese
Source: Really cool photo essay on a visit to the Los Angeles County Fair

Cheese curds, zilch! Freshly made fries, check! Instant gravy, zilch! Cheese fries, brick or otherwise, are not poutine.

Exhibit C:

Sweet Potato Fries, topped with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar
Source: Related entry on a re-visit to the Los Angeles County Fair

Cheese curds, nope! Freshly made fries, sorta! These are not strictly potato fries. Instant gravy, notta! While this is not poutine, I think I just found an unhealthy dessert that I want to try making at home...

There are some food abominations that defy explanation, logic, or even appetite. These dishes go to extremes, epitomizing sweetness, fattiness, saltiness, or savoriness. They are foods that common sense would have you avoid. At the same time, they incite a bizarre compulsion to seek them out and eat them. To date, I have come across three dishes that fit into this category: angel food French toast, fois gras poutine, and the Luther burger.

Alright, let's start with the angel food French toast. Angel food cake is traditionally seen as a completely guilt-free confection, low in fat and cholesterol. It is a light and airy cake that is made without egg yolks or baking powder. In fact, because it is leavened entirely by egg whites, special care needs to be taken to cut the cake. Straight edged blades will compress the cake before cutting it. A better method involves taking a pair of forks and tearing the cake to portion slices. Once portioned, what do you do with leftovers? One solution is to re-introduce egg yolk in the form of a French toast batter. Both images and recipes are available on the web at the Food Network and Kaboodle. Personally, given how difficult it is to successfully bake a tall angel food cake, I feel that using it to make French toast defeats the purpose. Why not just go all the way and make a sponge cake? Even so, I find my mind drifting to this recipe every time I consider making angel food cake...

Poutine is Quebec comfort food, a signature dish consisting of fries, cheese curds, and thick gravy. In its original form, it is already excessive, starchy, rich, and savory. Sometime in 2004, Chef Martin Picard decided to re-invent the dish at his Montreal restaurant "Au Pied de Cochon." He added foie gras to the dish. According to the New York Times, he also re-invited the gravy, employing pork stock, flavouring it with foie gras, and enriching it with egg yolks and cream.

I first encountered the Au Pied de Cochon poutine in an episode of No Reservations with Chef Anthony Bourdain. During the segment on the restaurant, Chef Bourdain partakes of almost 14 courses of excess. The fois gras poutine was his third or fourth dish. The image of the fois gras poutine comes from the thisisgonnabegood blog, where one contributer and his family decided to partake of the same multi-course meal of excess. When next I visit Montreal, I will definitely make it a point to visit Au Pied de Cochon. However, I'm going to stop at the foie gras poutine course.

The title of this blog entry comes from the March 14, 2008 edition of Greg Dean's RealLife online comic. The strip in question has the character Greg exclaiming to his wife, Liz, that he has found the "Greatest Epicurean Achievement in the History of Man" and he must eat it. The achievement consists of a hot dog that is wrapped in a hamburger patty, deep fried and served on a submarine bun (hoagie roll in American parlance) with chili, cheese, onions, bacon and a fried egg. When Liz responds that she will be taking out a life insurance policy out on Greg, Greg discovers that the same restaurant also serves a hamburger on a Krispy Kreme doughnut bun.

While the "hamdog" and doughnut encased burger sound like foods that are typically served at a carnival or American state fair, both exist and originate in a restaurant called Mulligan's in Atlanta, Georgia. Mulligan's menu lists the burger as the "Luther Burger." It is also served as a unique concession at Atlanta Grizzly baseball games, where it is marketed as "Baseball's Best Burger."

According to wikipedia, a traditional Luther burger consists of a hamburger patty, a slice of sharp cheddar cheese, two rashers of crisped bacon, and a sliced Krispy Kreme "Original Glazed." It is even served in Google's cafeteria in New York.

Apparently, a variation on the Luther burger is being served at county fairs. The "Deep Fried Krispy Kreme Chicken & Swiss" replaces the hamburger and cheddar cheese with a grilled chicken patty and processed Swiss cheese. It was spotted by Jonco, the author of the bitsandpieces1 blog, sometime in 2006 at Charlie Boghosian's "Chicken Stand." There, he also found deep fried spaghetti and meatballs on a stick, deep fried cheeseburgers, deep fried coca-cola (cola syrup mixed with funnel cake batter), and fried Moon Pies.

Here is a how-to video on making a "Los Angeles style" Luther Burger using Krispy Kreme doughnuts and In-N-Out burgers.

Sometime during June of last year, I blogged about a top 10 list of "tips when heading out to a restaurant." The tips were paraphrased from an article that appeared on MSN Money. I then added tidbits from Macleans Magazine, my personal experience, and Chef Anthony Bourdain's seminal book Kitchen Confidential. Both Chef Bourdain and the article from MSN Money recommend against heading out to a restaurant on Mondays. Their reasons have to do with potentially being served the weekend's leftovers and the head chef more than likely being off.

Chef/Owner Arup Jana of the Allium on 87 Holland Avenue is not only present on Mondays, but he's serving made-to-order tapas from a menu that changes weekly.

What is/are tapas? According to wikipedia, tapas is the name for a cuisine of appetizers that originated in the Spanish cooking tradition. At Spanish restaurants, instead of ordering courses, patrons can order many different appetizers and combine them for a full meal. Spanish restaurants even specialize in serving specific taps.

The snack-based meal, however, is not new. There are similarities between tapas and dim sum from Chinese cuisine. Dim sum is a brunch-style meal that consists of a variety of single-themed small dishes served with tea. Some are dry fried. Many are steamed. Some are braised. Others are baked.

While the tapas served at Allium is neither Spanish nor Chinese, it captures the spirit of the snack-based meal: a large selection of small dishes with varying ingredients, flavours, and textures. Allium's tapas is more of a French-bistro style tasting menu. When served, waiters happily pair dishes with local Canadian wine. After all, Allium is a bistro.

The following are pictures from a November 2007 visit to Allium for tapas

Given the menu that Monday, we decided to each order 3 dishes and sample each other's choices. This way we could sample 6 wonderful creations. Our theme: surf and turf.

We started with Chicken Skewers and the Frites. Our chicken skewers came glazed in light soy, honey, and very finely chopped cilantro. They were plated on a mayonnaise-dressed carrot slaw, garnished with soy bean sprouts, and accompanied with a honey dip. The chicken itself was white meat chicken breast and it was tender. Yet enough heat was applied to gently caramelize the honey glaze. It tasted sweet, slightly salty, and savory. The slaw was a little watery, but the dish worked nonetheless.

Regarding the frites, every worthwhile bistro serves wonderful fresh-cut fries. Allium is no different. However, these fries were a departure from the glassy fries Jenn and I remembered. While the fries we were served were carefully fried, they simply weren't the fries Jenn and I were familiar with from dining at the Allium in the past. The fries we had had before were thick cut and plated in a tower. They were exquisitely cooked so that they were extremely crisp on the outside and buttery soft on the inside. In comparison, these fries were thinner and did not sport the same crispy exterior. Nevertheless, they were served in abundance and taste great with the slightly spicy chipotle aioli. Please note that this is a slight twist on the straight creamy mayonnaise that Europeans seem to enjoy with their fries.

More follows:

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