Best Life Ever

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SIDEBAR- Making Montreal Smoked Meat

Smoking
There are two types of smoking: cold and hot. Cold smoking, a centuries old practice of preserving meat, is done by using temperatures below 100 degrees F/37 Celsius. Hot smoking, the method that we’re using, occurs when cooking between 150-200 degrees F/65-93 degrees. Any higher and you’re just cooking it.

The Brisket
The beef Brisket comes from the breast of the cow. You can get 4 bone 5 bone or 6 bone brisket, which refers to the amount of meat. Because of the heavy workload that that area of the cow engages in, the brisket one of the least tender (and therefore most inexpensive) cuts, but it’s ideal for our slow cooking approach, which breaks down the collagen in the connective music tissues, making it tender. Not all butchers will always have them in stock, if no luck at your local, try a Kosher butcher. Get them to leave the fat on.

Curing
Curing is basically a way of preserving meat by rubbing it with a mixture of salt, nitrites, sugar and seasonings. My mixture included salt, peppercorns, brown sugar, dill seed, coriander seed, mustard seed, celery seed, fennel seed, garlic and onion powder. The meat is then left to dry- I used a large plastic container kept in a cool corner of my kitchen. Once a day, remove the brisket, drain any liquid in the container and reapply your dry rub. Caplansky does this for 3 weeks, I did mine for 5 days.

Prep
Next, leave your brisket to sit in a bath of water for several hours. Rinse, repeat with fresh water for another hour. Very important now is to let your meat sit, exposed to air, for at least 24 hours. This will allow a pellicle (a layer of protein) to form on the surface of the meat, which prevents spoiling, seals in moisture and provides a surface for the delicious smoke to adhere to.

SIDEBAR- Building a Clay Pot Smoker
Though this model is credited to Alton Brown, host of the TV show Good Eats, people have long prized cooking with clay because of its ability to hold heat and create a moist cooking environment. Moroccans have the cone-lidded Tagine, Indians the Tandoor, the Spanish the open Cazuela, in Provence, the Tian. Given the finicky aspect of all these inter-connecting items, I suggest doing this all in one go to avoid buying parts that won’t work together.

The Pots
The bigger, the better, as you want your meat to be as far from the heat source as possible. Make sure that the pots are not glazed. From there, it’s pretty simple: 1 large pot (with drain hole) for the base and 1 slightly smaller pot (with drain hole) that will fit snugly into the base. Without a tight fit you’ll lose precious smoke. FYI: It took 5 stores and several hours to find 2 that worked.

The Heat
With the long slow process of smoking, an electric burner is the only way to go. This seems easy if you’re able to find a simple burner that fits snugly into the base of your pot, with the cord running out the drain hole, but that was not my experience. What I eventually settled on was a single 1000-watt burner encased in a square metal casing. This of course did not fit snugly into my pot. With some slight MacGyvering, I removed the burner from its casing and placed it inside the pot, with its two wires for grounding and temperature control tucked in the casing underneath the pot. In most of these burners there is an automatic shut-off to prevent over-heating, that many people recommend soldering in some way to allow it go full steam for hours. I did this accidentally during the afore-mentioned MacGyvering.

The Smoke
Though you can buy smoking boxes, a thick metal pie plate will do. Place directly on the burner. Both wood chips and chunks will work, chunks being longer burning but harder to find. They must be hardwood however, as cedar, fir, pine, spruce, or any other woods with evergreen needles will give your food a bitter taste. Mesquite, Hickory, Oak, Apple, Cherry, Alder, the variety is endless and does produce a distinct, observable difference in taste. Soak the wood- some sources say 4 hours others say several days. Either way, the longer they soak, the longer they’ll last.

The Temperature
Take a meat thermometer and place it in the drain hole of your top pot, blocking the escaping heat and giving you a temperature reading. What my cheap version lacked in precision it made up for in clean aesthetics and cheapness.

The Grill
Another aspect of this set-up that seems easier on paper than in reality: finding a store that will sell you a perfectly fitting round grill without a BBQ attached to it was impossible. I got lucky by using the smaller round grill (that supports the coals) in my BBQ and wedging it into place.

Alright, first: I don’t like these online courses. They feel like busy work when I don’t think we’re short on actual work. Maybe it’s just the way that I learn, but I don’t feel like I retain much from them. Some of them feel like they’ve got little bells and whistles that exist only to justify their status as a “course”. I mean, drink water and don’t wear jewelry? I’m jumping on specifics, but a lot of the information provided is common sense.

For me, trial and error (which especially applies to my experiences recording sound) is the best teacher. Same with editing software- it wasn’t until I was sitting in front of it and actually working on a project that it clicked in. The Sound Mixer activity was closer to being practical, but given how basic it was, again, I’m not sure it taught me anything.

I’m enjoying this course, excited about my project but I strongly dislike these online dealies. I’d go as far as to say I loath them.

Yolanda’s Crossing was, for all intents and purposes, a documentary, while the Las Vegas piece was more what I’d had in mind when wanting to take this class: an interactive 2.0 way of getting into an issue. Maybe I’m simple, but that countdown clock almost single-handedly sold me. It pulls a casual passerby in and basically gives the reason for the need for this story, in (what I imagine) is a very easy-to-design way. The time-lapse video (pictures?) are compelling and the interactive maps, like the clock, help make this real for the reader: essentially, this is the problem, here are the issues involved in it and, in case you were wondering, here’s exactly where it’s occurring. Very Cool. Maybe I’d have a different opinion had I watched it first, or perhaps I’m just heartless, but I moved through Yolanda’s Crossing fairly quickly and it left little impression on me as a multi-media piece.

-Chez Schwartz (Documentary), http://www.chezschwartzfilm.com/

-Schwartz’s Hebrew Delicatessen: The Story, Bill Brownstein (Vehicule Press)…there is also some material on smoked meat in Brownstein’s Montreal 24: Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a City

-Part of my project is learning (2 steps fwd, 1 step back) from sites like these, with a DIY component: http://www.smoking-meat.com/ (many other examples)

- The River Cottage Meat Book, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

-Review of Caplansky’s in Globe
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081115.wkates15/BNStory/lifeFoodWine/home & Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/449936 & Toronto Life
http://www.torontolife.com/features/heres-beef/

Smoker Gadget
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/the-go-to-gadget-guy-for-chefs

Interview Sources:

Already Secured, will record audio interviews.

-Zane Caplansky, Caplansky’s Deli, Toronto (416-500-3852)

-Bill Berenholc, Lesters Deli (514 213-1313)

-Eiran Harris, Jewish Public Library Archives (514-345-2627, ext. 3015)

Other possibilities

-Alton Brown, host of Food Network’s Good Eats and originator of clay pot smoker

-sampling of Deli customers, “streeter” style

-Food writer, on subject of home smoking/foodie phenomenon

I was able to place photo and text on Vuvox. Any attempts to get more complicated ended in anger.

First Smoke