• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Combine above ingredients and mix well.  Add

• 3 eggs and mix well

Slowly stir in 2/3 cup of water and mix well.  Cook on a hot griddle or Le Creuset Crepe Pan with plenty oil untill brown.

KIND OF LIKE COMFORT FOOD, BUT STRONGER.

In Culinary school we were given an assignment in our Gastronomy class.  To write about ” Transformational foods” kind of like comfort food, but stronger, as if you were back in time.  This is my somewhat romantic essay.

  ” There is a time once a year when my family gathers for celebration.  We eat and drink, we get rowdy and obnoxious.  We tell tall tales which seem to grow longer and longer, we play cards and laugh.  The food abounds, heavy rich and nutritious.  We spare no expense for such feasts, we are happy to share all that we have with whoever shows up.

  The feast begins two weeks in advance, you can feel the excitement welling up each and every day.  i begin to think, create recipes, dishes, and menus in my mind, just wheels turning spitting out ideas.  These ideas are never written down, just stored in the back of my mind for future reference.  The anticipation grows but neither myself or anyone else shows their excitement, a glimpse perhaps, but not their true joy.  Everyone knows that a few days ahead are the best the year has to offer, so after 12 long months the feast is near, and electricity runs through our veins.

  Only one week left and soon 4 days, time has become unbearable.  I have called everyone, and formulated a list of guests.  Everyone is busy preparing the same as I, with such little time I will prepare an apple pie, perhaps a giant batch of the world’s greatest chili.  Yet while time runs slow, it seems to always go to fast and most often I accomplish nothing.  The day is here its the thirteenth, but most often the fourteenth, because there is always work or something which interferes.  Sometimes we just need another day to get ready.  Nevertheless, just like clock work we leave by the fourteenth, headed for our spiritual homeland.  We have many hours of travel a head, and is made longer by our inevitable stop at the grocery store.  Five people barrel out of the car like pirates looking for booty.  We travel our separate ways, ripping every delicacy and vice off the shelves and into the cart.

  This feast is known as Deer camp, it takes place every Nov. 15 at our cabin in the woods of Northern Michigan.  The land was left to us by my great-grandfather, born a lumberjack, man among men, master woodsman, surrounded by the freedom of the seemingly endless woods.  Deer camp is not really about deer hunting, its a time for freedom from daily life, its an escape, an ideal, a feast celebrating life.

  Our cabin is basically a shack, without any modern conveniences, no electricity or plumbing.  We cook on an antique gas stove, water is brought in large jugs.  All of the heat is provided by a wood stove, which doubles as another cooking source.  This all effects the way we cook.  Our menu is almost always the same, hot coffee, eggs, bacon and pork sausages.  French toasts and hot 3/4 inch thick Buckwheat cakes, offered with honey straight from the honeycomb on the table, maple syrup, and sweet cream butter.  They are most often smothered with all of the above.  I cannot leave out country toast, which is made by placing bread directly on an open burner, partially blacken it, turn and repeat, then smother with butter, there is nothing better.  Breakfast is served in the tradition set by my great grandfather.  So at 4:00  in the morning when you hear the old woodstove rattling, you know that “day lights at the door” and you best get up.

  Before noon time you always have worked up another appetite.  Lunch consists of tons of lunch meats and cheeses, served with beans or chili which has been slow cooking all day long, these often last until dinner time.  Dinner is always fat, juicy steak, if were lucky wild game.  There is bread baking in the dutch oven, covered in hot coals.  Stew is always the most unique dish, for we are always out of seasonings and going to the store is out of the question.  It becomes a catch all for whatever is on hand, but some how the best food is always improvised.

  Whenever I run into these foods I am transported back to this place.  The foods change flavor, and I can smell the aroma of the food mingling with wood smoke, as if I were back in the confines of our small cabin.  A kind of homesickness sets in.  These foods bring about nostalgia, Lumberjacks, Woodsmen alone in the wilderness.  No matter how I try, a stack of buckwheat pancakes or any of these foods for that matter, rips out my soul for a time, leaving me longing for next year.”

• 6 oz cream cheese
• 3/4 powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 TBSP milk
• 1 container whipped topping
• Graham cracker pie shell

Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar and mix.  Add peanut butter and milk and mix.  Fold in whipped topping reserving some for the top.  Put in a graham cracker pie shell and chill.

• 2 1/4 cup sifted flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2-3 over ripe bananas)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon ( to sprinkle on top)
• 1 TBSP sugar ( to sprinkle on top )
• ( optional but recommended is adding 6 oz chocolate chips)

Sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda.  Cut in shortening.  Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla.  Mix until blended.  Drop by spoonfuls on a ungreased cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Bake at 400 deg. about 12 min.

My Great-Grandma Cole made these all the time.  They were one of my favorities as a child.

• 6 Idaho potatoes, med, peeled, raw
• 1 lg or 2 med yellow onions
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2-3/4 cup flour
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• sage leaves rubbed fine to taste
• crisco as needed

Grate potatoes into a large bowl.  Grate onions over potatoes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add 2 whole eggs and mix well.  Add sage to suit your taste.  Add water and milk and mix well.  Add flour until thickend.  Fry in a hot frying pan or griddle using plenty of Crisco until good and brown.  Top should be dry before turning.

Serve with sour cream or apple sauce.

This is a Family favorite recipe.  It was a tradition for my Grandpa to make these at midnight on Christmas Eve.

This time of year as the weather gets chilly is a great time for Hearty Italian dishes. Pasta, onions, garlic and cheese! Fill your kitchen with delight full aromas and enjoy some great food that will keep you warm on a cold day!

BASIC TOMATO SAUCE

• 3 cups high quality canned plum tomatoes
• 5 TBSP olive oil or butter
• 1 clove of crushed garlic
• 1 Large onion diced small
• Fresh chopped Basil or Italian parsley

Heat oil in a pan and saute’ garlic until brown.  Then remove.  Add onion and sweat over medium heat until soft and translucent.  Add tomatoes and salt to taste and slowly simmer about an hour.  Add chopped herbs at the very end.

TOMATO SAUCE WITH ROSEMARY AND BACON

This is a yummy sauce you must try!  Traditionally made with Pancetta, but we will substitute bacon.

• Tomato sauce prepared as above
• 6 slices bacon, cut into thin julienne strips
• 2 teaspoons dry or fresh rosemary chopped fine

While tomato sauce is simmering slowly cook the bacon until golden brown.  Add rosemary and cook for 1 minute.  Add everything to the tomato sauce and simmer 15 minutes.

SAGE BROWN BUTTER

This is an excellant simple preperation for pasta, like any simple preparation seasoning with salt and pepper is critical!

• 6 TBSP butter
• 1 TBPS fresh chopped Sage
• cooked pasta
• parmesan cheese

Place butter in sauce pan and cook over medium heat just until the butter foams and turns golden brown.  Then quickly swirl in chopped sage and remove from heat.  Pour over pasta and season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

ALFREDO SAUCE

• 2 TBSP butter
• 1 tsp flour
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup parmesan cheese
• fresh ground or cracked pepper

Heat butter over medium heat until melted and stir in flour and cook until incorporated.  slowely stir in heavy cream and continue and stir over medium heat until almost boiling.  Remove from heat and stir in parmesan and pepper.

I am in no way critical of ” Organic ” food, I incorporate locally grown food in my diet as much as possible.  As a Chef I have many scattered thoughts on the issue.  First of all I personally believe that food grown on a small-scale has more flavor and has more nutritional value and doesn’t necessarily require the expensive Organic label.  A large amount of valuable information is out there and available to make your own informed opinion, however a lot of it is disputed for political reasons.  I could go on and on about various aspects, but I am going to focus on my personal issues I have experienced as a Chef.

COST

As a Professional Chef you have many decisions to make.  Organic food is more expensive, you need to balance quality with costs.  Are your customers willing to pay more for Organic food in your Market???  The answer is different for every Chef, especially in this Economy.  Can your prices compete with other Restaurants in the area?  This a very competitive business.  I would love to always use the products that I deem to be the very best as a Chef, but the reality is you can’t!  In a sense you are making a decision for every customer that walks through your door.  They all want a great meal and experience, but most don’t give a damn if it’s Organic.

SOURCING

Very big problem for a Chef.  Can you get a reliable consistent source for a reasonable cost?  Very challenging problem and adding to this complexity is Ownership.  Some of the better sources for Organic products are small farmers.  Owners are open to a host of potential problems in regard to Liability and Food Safety.  Taking any risk in these areas have the potential to put you out of business.  So many small producers that I would use for my table at home do not meet the criteria to get in the restaurant’s door.  One more complexity you experience as Chef is most Owners like to pay their bills on terms 14 days 30 days,etc.  So I have also been frustrated by not being able to use certain products because the Ownership is reluctant to do things on a cash basis.

THE ” NEW ” DILEMMA!

The new dilemma facing consumers and Chef’s is the double edge sword!  A lot of the appeal of Organic food besides taste and nutrition is the idea of small-scale, local, sustainable agriculture.  As people have been becoming increasingly attracted to such products the marketing people at the big mega companies have taken notice!  An increasing trend is for Organic companies to be bought out and become subsidiaries of the large corporations.  While this trend may reduce costs and make Organic more available to more consumers, the Ideals behind the choices we make are being watered down.