Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup; Back in Vancouver while waiting for the new Planet Hollywood Restaurant to finish construction, I took on a catering position for a very well-known off Broadway play called Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. The 150 paying guests would first go to the church and be part of the couples ceremonies. There were play actors sitting at different tables that would interact with the wedding family. Some were real funny, some were bitter, lots were just drunk uncles and many misfits humour. It was a fun job three times a week and later after the church...

Wok Fried Pork Belly Bacon Stuffed Shrimp. One of my favourite Mandarin recipes using tasty white gulf shrimp recipe I was given from Kwong Chows in China Town. I was taken there by one of my employers who was showing me the dishes that he would like duplicated and served in his newly constructed restaurant in the Scarborough Tele-Direct Tower called Charade. We ate at several landmark China town eateries about a dozen times trying the Eight Precious Pearl Duck, Frog Legs, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Pot Sticker Dumplings and this shrimp dish Woo-Hip-Har or Wok Fried Pork...

Louisiana Jambalaya Creole’

LOUISIANA JAMBALAYA CREOLE’ One of my favourite jobs back in the early eighties was chef for a turn of the century musical called One Mo Time. I took on this position because it gave me a chance to be in New York and it was something I wanted to add to my repertoire. While there I was to be mentored by Sara Waxman and introduced to Chef Paul Prudhomme well known for his avant-garde approach to Creole Cuisine and the art of blackened grilling Louisiana style. The producers of this musical wanted to have an authentic Creole style menu that would compliment this dinner...

Waterloo County Mennonite Summer Sausage...

Waterloo County Mennonite Summer Sausage. One of my main objectives was to get a good sampling of some Waterloo County Mennonite summer sausage directly from the source. I have tried several of the farmers market varieties like; original Recipe Schneider’s Summer Sausage in a cloth sock is still produced in small batches, Original recipe KW Fiedlermeat. Noah Martins, Kitchen Kutting’s, Heidelberg Foods, Stemmler’s and many more across the Canadian prairies still using original ingredients and seasoned smokers with …old age. Some of the sausage meisters use the...

Browns Social House Restaurant

Thekitchenman was privileged to meet the two passionate chefs from Vancouvers Browns Social House Restaurant Group. Director of Kitchens Operations Chef Brian Everett to the far right and Culinary Development Chef Jeffery Young. Opening a new location this summer on Hespeler Road. I know from my many visits to their other eateries that this will be very much appreciated here in Cambridge. If you have not been to a local Browns Social House restaurant in your part of the hood, then may I suggest that you visit one soon in Waterloo on Northfield Drive. These two young Chefs...

Pioineer Beef BBq on a Bun

Beef BBQ on a Bun Back when my dad worked at the Iroquois Hotel during the 50’s, it was a very busy hotel and known for its good food. A lot of kitchen help was needed and a lot of the area mom’s filled the many positions as cooks and restaurant help. As the decades changed a lot of the ladies were trained to be good cooks and carried on cooking in other Galt/Preston/Hespeler restaurant kitchens. They were the one’s responsible for cooking up good fare in places like The Knotty Pine, Preston Pioneer BBQ, Moffatt’s, Breslau and numerous other dinning establishments...