Topper's Grilling Advice!

[Chef Boi RD]

In the restaurant I made pansotti (round ravioli), crab and tomato with duck stock as a sauce, beef short rib with red wine reduced to a paste and walnut presto, cod and cauliflower with oregano cream

That’s some dish, what restaurant did you work in?

[Topper]

Three separate dishes, there was always a pansotti on the menu. When I started it was stuffed with dungeness and tomato compote and a reduced duck stock sauce with fresh chervil, next menu was beef short rib stuffed with red wine and walnut pesto, last menu I was there for was bacalau stuffed with oregano cream.

Reducing a bottle of red wine until it is the consistency of thick paste is pretty wild.

The Chef had a Michelin 2 star place in France before coming to Vancouver, a great guy and a phenomenal mentor. We made some damn amazing food. No fussy plates, no scalopini, solid food with balls of flavour.

Restaurant is no more, but while I was there it was always in the top 3 Italian restaurants in Vancouver and always at the top of the Wine Competition for it's cellar. Most expensive bottle in the cellar was $4,500.

One of the old man Bosa brothers used to come for lunch every Friday, I had to have a vegetarian pasta special on the lunch menu for him and he'd have that and $300-$500 bottle of wine. Marcello, of Commercial Drive pizza fame, was also a semi regular for lunch.

I remember one night was exceptionally slow, closing time was 10pm but we had only 2 tables all night. Just after 9, chef gives us the ok to start cleaning up. Ten to ten, kitchen is cleaned and we are just about to change out of our whites when a table of 5 comes in the door. They immediately ordered $2,500 worth of wine and the appy order hit the kitchen. Not one thing from the menu. We're cooking from scratch, most of our mise doesn't fit what they ordered but we have all the ingredients in the kitchen so we're good.One AM, desert orders come in and as they hit the pass, Chef tells us to do a bit of clean up and get changed to go. As I was leaving, chef is making cheese plates and cigar smoke is wafting in from the dining room. I'm guessing that table dropped over $7,000 that night, maybe closer to $10,000.

[Chef Boi RD]

Three separate dishes, there was always a pansotti on the menu. When I started it was stuffed with dungeness and tomato compote and a reduced duck stock sauce with fresh chervil, next menu was beef short rib stuffed with red wine and walnut pesto, last menu I was there for was bacalau stuffed with oregano cream.

Reducing a bottle of red wine until it is the consistency of thick paste is pretty wild.

The Chef had a Michelin 2 star place in France before coming to Vancouver, a great guy and a phenomenal mentor. We made some damn amazing food. No fussy plates, no scalopini, solid food with balls of flavour.

Restaurant is no more, but while I was there it was always in the top 3 Italian restaurants in Vancouver and always at the top of the Wine Competition for it's cellar. Most expensive bottle in the cellar was $4,500.

One of the old man Bosa brothers used to come for lunch every Friday, I had to have a vegetarian pasta special on the lunch menu for him and he'd have that and $300-$500 bottle of wine. Marcello, of Commercial Drive pizza fame, was also a semi regular for lunch.

I remember one night was exceptionally slow, closing time was 10pm but we had only 2 tables all night. Just after 9, chef gives us the ok to start cleaning up. Ten to ten, kitchen is cleaned and we are just about to change out of our whites when a table of 5 comes in the door. They immediately ordered $2,500 worth of wine and the appy order hit the kitchen. Not one thing from the menu. We're cooking from scratch, most of our mise doesn't fit what they ordered but we have all the ingredients in the kitchen so we're good.One AM, desert orders come in and as they hit the pass, Chef tells us to do a bit of clean up and get changed to go. As I was leaving, chef is making cheese plates and cigar smoke is wafting in from the dining room. I'm guessing that table dropped over $7,000 that night, maybe closer to $10,000.

Do you remember the Italian Restaurant in the old house across the street from the Penthouse called Iaci’s? Old family friends, very close. My aunt worked there for years.

[Topper]

Was that Lucy Mae Brown? Also had a small after-hours lounge in the basement. Interviewed there once, kitchen the size of a closet. Andrey Durbach ran that place, awesome chef.

[Blob Mckenzie]

I know how to cook salmon, but I’m in a pinch as a couple of different folks are stopping by. I have a nice slab of Coho and a bigger chunk of Spring. I want to do it on the Weber. I don’t slather it with Mayo. Got chives, dill ,,garlic, basil, oregano, butter, evo, any advice old timer?

[Topper]

Make sure the skin is bone dry then a skiff of EVO on it. It is your only hope of not having it stick. Salt and pepper on the flesh side. Mix dill with melted butter and and refrigerate. Salmon should be medium rare, or rose" in the centre.

Cook the salmon skin side down, lid closed and do not turn. Once off the grill Put a slab of the dill butter on it.

I hate salmon on the grill. Very difficult to keep it from sticking. I put a slab of cast iron on the grill if I'm cooking salmon.

Lately I've been brushing a skiff of maple syrup on the flesh side just before serving then hitting it with a torch to add a maple sugar crust like a cream brule crust.

Why would anyone put mayo on a salmon to cook? The mayo will break in the heat and become a grease mess.

It is asparagus season, a great accompaniment. Blanch in boiling heavily salted water for 3 minutes then into an ice water bath to stop cooking. After they've cooled, out onto a towel to dry and onto a large plate. Season with salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar and EVO. Finish on the weber for a couple of minutes.

[Cousin Strawberry]

My fast salmon recipe is to grab that golden dragon thick teriyaki sauce and slather it up and lay the fillet skin down on the grill and roast it indirect at 400° til the flakes open a cunt hair then slide your thin metal flipper between the skin and meat to remove. Toss the skin to the dags

[Topper]

My local coffee roaster changes the beans on their Paupau New Guinea coffee and are selling Jikawa Natural. Taste notes say very fruit forward with tastes of pineapple.

Their previous PNG offering was my go to so I decided to give it a try. Fuck me is it disgusting. All weird tropical fruit with little coffee that I cherish. Now I've got 2lbs of this to go through forcing myself to keep the regular 6 shots of espresso a morning going and get rid of it in two weeks.

[Meds]

My local coffee roaster changes the beans on their Paupau New Guinea coffee and are selling Jikawa Natural. Taste notes say very fruit forward with tastes of pineapple.

Their previous PNG offering was my go to so I decided to give it a try. Fuck me is it disgusting. All weird tropical fruit with little coffee that I cherish. Now I've got 2lbs of this to go through forcing myself to keep the regular 6 shots of espresso a morning going and get rid of it in two weeks.

You’re telling us that you of all people cannot create some sort of fancy dessert recipe that calls for coffee grounds with a hint of citrus fruit?

[Topper]

Last night's dinner.

Braised oxtail, charred onion, roasted garlic, fresh paparadelle, reduced beef stock.

[UWSaint]

Make sure the skin is bone dry then a skiff of EVO on it. It is your only hope of not having it stick. Salt and pepper on the flesh side. Mix dill with melted butter and and refrigerate. Salmon should be medium rare, or rose" in the centre.

Cook the salmon skin side down, lid closed and do not turn. Once off the grill Put a slab of the dill butter on it.

I hate salmon on the grill. Very difficult to keep it from sticking. I put a slab of cast iron on the grill if I'm cooking salmon.

Lately I've been brushing a skiff of maple syrup on the flesh side just before serving then hitting it with a torch to add a maple sugar crust like a cream brule crust.

Why would anyone put mayo on a salmon to cook? The mayo will break in the heat and become a grease mess.

It is asparagus season, a great accompaniment. Blanch in boiling heavily salted water for 3 minutes then into an ice water bath to stop cooking. After they've cooled, out onto a towel to dry and onto a large plate. Season with salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar and EVO. Finish on the weber for a couple of minutes.

I avoid the outdoor grill with salmon, but use a grill pan on the stove.

Pat the filet dry, both sides. Don't skip this step. Season with salt and pepper (lighter hand). Can do dry herbs to crust or cajun for kick, but salmon is flavorful and doesn't need it unless you need variety. Score the skin if you intend to eat it, drying, scoring, preheating grill are all critical steps to crispy skin.

Lightly oil (olive) preheated pan (should be fully preheated -- do not try to save time -- this is critical to fish not breaking apart). Medium to medium-high heat. Oil should be right near smoke point. Brush oil on flesh side immediately before putting on grill. I've taken to putting flesh side down first. 3-4 minutes, depending on thickness. DO NOT MOVE OR FIDGET WITH IT. Flip to skin side -- if the pan was preheated, oil lightly applied, it will not break up but will release. Another 3-4 minutes depending on thickness. During this stage, if you are into melting herbed butter or a sweet sauce (maple, teriyaki, bbq), this is the time to apply. If you don't use something sweet, finish with a squeeze of lemon and fresh herb if desired.

Asparagus is perfect side. I prefer to roast in convection oven. Trim stems (nothing should be woody), olive oil and lemon juice, kosher salt, pepper, diced garlic (more than you think) and freshly grated parmesan cheese -- more than you think. (dump garlic on asparagus first, then drizzle olive oil and squeeze lemon (half should do, but to taste), then salt and pepper, then parm). How much parm? Enough to fully cover times two. Apply only layer one to start. 375 degrees (preheat!), about 8 minutes, then apply the rest of the parm. Cook another 4 minutes or so. (cooking time is dependent on asparagus size -- I prefer medium width and these times should work -- steakhouse asparagus is stupidly gargantuan). Apply parm in two phases so you get baked in crispy bits of parm and also melty bits.

[Topper]

I prefer a flat griddle for salmon. I'd do skin side first if you want a crispy skin. Reason being is your pan is hotter when the fish hits it. I have done flesh side first but used two pans so that flipping to skin side goes into a hot second pan.

Asparagus, as with any green veggie, big pot blanching in highly salted water, never longer than 7 minutes, breaks the cell walls and frees the chloroplasts to give that bright green colour. Over cooked, they end up hospital wall dull green.