Movember Calendar

You may be wondering what's with the lack of posts lately. Thinking we're slackers. Maybe even not so dedicated after all...

We've been hustling harder than ever actually. A few weeks ago, we hosted a dinner with some close friends and began our efforts of raising awareness and money for Movember. We've compiled a calender with all these new "would be posts", most of which can't be viewed on our blog. A few of Justin's best pieces have made a return, but for the most part, it's all fresh.

The calendar is selling for the low price of $20 (but higher donations are accepted). All proceeds are directed towards Movember. We received our first 100 calenders this evening and have already sold quite a few. We're looking to go back to print next week for more.

The calendar has everything you would expect from a Dedicated to Deliciousness piece of work.

To get your hands on one and donate to a good cause, send us an email to dedicatedtodeliciousness@gmail.com. Or post on the D2D facebook page. Or privately message us. Or send a courier pigeon if your old school. Shit I'll give you a free calendar if you courier pigeon me.

Also feel free to check out our D2D Movember page if you wish to simply donate: http://ca.movember.com/mospace/574006/

The Gratest Potato

With the end of November within sight, the holidays are just around the bend. I figure, we at Dedicated to Deliciousness should start posting some recipes that will inspire some awesome holiday feasts. So here is a very simple recipe that requires few ingredients, and has a tasty outcome. A slight twist to a Swiss Rösti, sweet potatoes are used instead of a regular spud, but you could definitely use either. The sweet potato increases the nutritious factor though, and definitely ups the delicious factor, as well. 

The addictive quality of food increases significantly when it is shredded, grated, pulled, shaved, julienned, minced, crumbled, whatever. It's a fact. These methods expose more surface are to the taste buds than, say, simply biting into a chunk of the food. It also makes it look more interesting too.

You will need:
2 Large sweet potatoes, grated
2 Eggs, beaten
2 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
1 Medium Onion, very thinly sliced, julienned or if you have a food processor, grated
Couple springs of fresh rosemary
Sour cream or mayonaisse
Splash of vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While that heats up, squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the grated sweet potatoes. Use your hands working in batches or throw the whole load into a clean kitchen towel and press the liquid out, using the towel as a strainer. Then toss the strained potatoes in a large mixing bowl, followed by the onion, and half of the cheese. Add some finely chopped rosemary for a little something extra if you're into that. Then slowly pour in the beaten eggs as you mix everything together with yours hands.

Splash some oil in a deep baking pan or dish and grease it up with a brush or paper towel. Dump the whole mixture right in the pan and spread around evenly, but try not to compress the potatoes too much. Throw it in the oven for 15-20 minutes, pull it out, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes, until it is golden brown and the edges are crispy.

Cut into squares and garnish with a dollop or sour cream, or mayonaisse if you want a heavier flavour, and a small sprig of rosemary. Makes for a great side dish or a course by itself. 

Inhale.

The Pull of Pork

There is no denying that pork is an incredible and delicious variety of meat. Not only is it delicious, but it is relatively inexpensive and you can create so many tasty meals with it. It isn't very difficult or laborious to cook up some drool-worthy, melt in your mouth meat with a cheap chunk of pork. Using a tough cut like the shoulder, also called pork butt (don't worry, there are no asses involved), or a picnic roast, you can achieve some soft, succulent meat that falls apart from the mere poke of a fork. Some might protest the method of cooking I used, claiming that the only way to make pulled pork is by smoking it, but lets get real here. It's the middle of fall, and its fucking cold in the country. Fact. So, instead of having to go outside to change the wood chips in the smoker I don't have in my city apartment, I achieved delicious meaty goodness in the comfort of my overly warm home. By simply braising the pork shoulder in beer for a few hours, I created a tender piece of tasty that pretty much fell apart from looking at it real hard. That tender.

You will need:

- 3-4 pound pork shoulder/butt/picnic roast (will make about 6-8 servings)

- Paprika

- Chili powder

- Fresh ground black pepper

- Sea Salt or kosher (haha kosher salt and pork...)

- Dry mustard powder

- Garlic powder

- Onion powder

- A few bottles of Red or Dark Ale

- Vegetable oil

- Cider vinegar

- Worcestershire sauce

- Hot sauce 

- Bread-like vessel or tortilla wraps

- Coleslaw

First, rinse that pork shoulder and pat it dry with some paper towels. Then in a bowl combine all your dry spices with a fork. Then rub that flavour all over that pork. Rub it real good.

In a rather large pot or pan over medium-high heat, pour in a respectable glug or two of vegetable oil. If you have a dutch oven (heavy pot with tight fitting lid), you can use this for the whole cooking process. Once the oil is heated, get your pork in their and give it a good browning all over. This step is key in achieving optimal deliciousness.

Once that pork is all browned up, place it in an appropriately sized, deep oven safe dish or pan. If you have the luxury of a dutch oven, then just keep it in there. Pour a beer or two in the pan, then tightly seal the top with aluminum foil, or throw the lid on the pot. Now stick that sucker in an oven pre-heated somewhere around 250-300 degrees for 4-6 hours. Check on it at the 4 hour mark, and if its tender and can be pulled apart with a fork, its done. If not, leave it in longer, you really can't over cook this.

Once that pork is tender and falling apart, remove it from the oven and set it aside. Pour the liquid in a sauce pan if you need to, and get that shit rocking over a medium heat. You want to reduce the liquids by simmering away the water in it. This will make for a more bad ass flavour. When that sauce is simmering away, add a few splashes of cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. You can even add a bit of pre-made BBQ sauce if you feel the need. While the sauce continues to simmer, get to forks and start shredding that pork by inserting the utensils and pulling them away from each other. Shred it to your desired shreddedness, then toss all the meat into that sauce you've been reducing. Keep it cooking for a few more minutes, or until you just can't wait any longer.

Serve that pork up on some nice buns, or in a wrap with some coleslaw on top, some pickles and some sort of potatoey goodness. Now you might ask yourself, gosh darn, why does this taste so delicious? Well, slow cooking does that by melting the fat and turning it into FLAVOUR! Also, pulling the pork apart exposes more surface area that will come in contact with your tongue, much like how shredded cheese is tastier than biting a chunk of the block. 

Note: In the coleslaw I added some fresh cilantro to mix things up a little bit, and it worked really well. If you like cilantro, definitely give it a try.

Mo-Dedicated

Fall brings on some interesting behaviours from curious characters. Gearing up for winter, people embrace the transition to a new season in their life, or they resist it and shelter themselves until they accept it, or some combination of both.

Either way, the behaviours are usually accompanied by good food and facial hair.

D2D will be participating in Movember.
We are grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful like-minded friends that are helping us with various efforts along the way.

Movember is now a massive cause, raising awareness and funds to fight prostate cancer. It's also a great month for all the ladies that just can't get enough of the essence of manliness.
At Movember, we're all about being manly and staying alive mostly, which entails eating good. Yep, I said eating good.

We're working hard on a calendar that will be available for purchase at month end. Details are on the way, but you can count on some delicious recipes and dirty moustache pictures. All proceeds will go to Movember.

Calendars are important so that you don't wind up like Guy on the couch. This one is also important because it will be funny, charitable and teaches you how to eat good.

Please check out Movember's website, and the Dedicated to Deliciousness page for more details.
And check in every once in a while for delicious recipes and updates on the calendar.

May we live in health for many seasons to come...

- Dave

Ottawa Food and Wine Show

On Friday, November 5th, I was invited to the Ottawa Food and Wine Show with the crew from bv02 for some tastings of local restaurants and all sorts of beer, wine and booze. Thankfully we arrived pretty early and avoided  getting stuck in huge coat check lines and got straight to business. Unfortunately, due to technologically related issues, all the photos taken are temporarily unavailable, so I'll keep this short and sweet, and mostly point form from here on.

• TAG Vodka: I wouldn't consider myself a fan of vodka, but this stuff was great, and its from Ontario. Go local brands!! I have to say, I found it much more drinkable, mixable and shootable than some of the premium brands like Grey Goose, yet it costs a couple dollars more than a bottle of Smirnoff. And the bottle looks pretty rad, with a cork top! Definitely check this out at the LCBO.

• Petit Bill's: Lobster Poutine is to die for. Definitely made me want to go check this Westboro restaurant out. Plus the staff were super friendly.

• Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co: Goat, sheep and cow's milk cheese, all made in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Had an awesome little sample plate and went back for another. Their cheese is amazing and can be found all throughout Ottawa. You can pick some up at Farm Boy, La Bottega NiCastro, Il Negozio NiCastro, NiCastros, Piggy Market, Jacobson's Gourmet and Grace in the Kitchen.

• Microbrews: I do enjoy a nice glass of wine, but I have to say I enjoy beer much more. Thankfully there was a great selection of local microbreweries from Ontario and Quebec. Beau's Organic was sampling their amazing Lug Tread Lagered Ale, and their seasonal Night Marzen. Mill Street was in the house, and I tried some of their Lemon Tea Beer. Interesting to say the least, could be quite enjoyable on a 30+ day on a patio, but wasn't really feeling it this time of year. Brasserie McAuslan from Quebec has a great Oatmeal Stout, and I sampled the light and refreshing Apricot Wheat Ale. Finally, the Clocktower Brew Pub was sampling some of their finely crafted beers. I already am a huge fan of their Kolsch beer, so I sampled some ByTown Brown, and the Pumpkin Ale. The Brown was excellent, and although I'm not usually a huge fan of pumpkin spiced beers, this particular brew was easy to drink and not overpowering. If you like a good beer and tasty food, definitely check out one of their three locations throughout Ottawa.

• Sliders: Apparently they're all the rage right now, as several different restaurants were serving them up. Tiny sized food is always fun isn't it?

• The Wakefield Mill: I had the Bison Tartare, which was quite delicious and flavourful. I'd love to get some recipes going with Bison meat as it is super tasty and surprisingly healthy. The staff at the Mill were quite friendly as well, so I'm looking forward to making the trek out to Wakefield to check this place out.
• Silk gloves and cocktail dresses: I feel as though this comment should actually be up on Miss Jones' blog. Why were their so many women adorned with long gloves and dresses? I feel as though I missed some sort of memo, or otherwise I would have worn my tux... Seriously though, its a food and wine show, not a formal art gala. Maybe I'm just a hater.

Anyway, I wish I had some photos to post, but computer malfunctions are to blame for that one and not my lack of diligence in taking them. I definitely got a little shutter happy, and hopefully the photos will be recovered soon and maybe I'll have them up before this is completely out-dated. Check out Dot Dot Dot for another perspective and some pics.

We're all Scavengers

A few friends of ours are organizing what is being proclaimed as "the most delicious weekend of your life". Equally dedicated to all things food and all things Ottawa, they are out to show people a good time in the deep dark corners of Ottawa's food scene.

I encourage anybody who happens to be in Ottawa on Saturday November 13th to take part, and scavenge their way through the city. A token $50 per team is required, which heads to the Ottawa Food Bank to feed those who are not fortunate enough to have the luxury of sitting at home on full stomach's reading food blogs all day...
They are donating their time and expertise to make sure 100% of the entry fee goes to the Food Bank.

A small fee, a great time, a great cause and a new appreciation for some hidden spots that will impress your friends and eventual partners, once they figure out you're the shit for knowing how to show them a guaranteed good time. In finance, they call that dividends. Mmmmm Dividends.

Check it here: http://www.ottawafoodiechallenge.com/

-Dave