Dave Fortin

Fruity and sweet, with a great crunch. SUPER productive.

It's a type of Aji Fantasy, a cross-breeds. You can get seeds easily online.

A mason jar filled with strawberry, peppers and brine ready for fermentation.

Fermentation Friday should be a thing. Here is an idea I had before going to sleep. I grow Aji Strawberry peppers every years but never did a sauce with strawberry with it. Since they were dried hard, I steamed them for about half an hour, or until leathery before adding them. 🍽️

A sharp cheddar and Gruyere cheese bread.

Oh I don't mind, it wasn't a traditional reuben. It's my personal recipe that I do at home when I want a awesome reuben.

Toasted cheese bread, fatty pastrami, Swiss cheese, creamy coleslaw and sweet mayo.

A Montréal Reuben sandwich. Toasted cheese bread, fatty pastrami, Swiss cheese, creamy coleslaw and sweet mayo.

Best of both worlds sandwich. Not enough good "smoked-meat" sandwich places in Montréal have a Reuben on the menu. It's kind of sad cause I kind of prefer it to the classic mustard and rye bread kind, and our pastrami is much better than the NY recipe. Good thing I make the best homemade pastrami. 🍽️

Thank you so much. Yes, Ham is the secret to a happy life.

Here, the garden nursery is going well. What kind of tomatoes do you grow?

Can't waste too much time with bacon. It's serious business.

No worries for that, I've got so much fun in a kitchen.

A plastic tub full of freshly smoked maple hams.

Easter ham harvest has started. I used to make only 2 of them for Easter but now I've got to produce for all my family and friends. And I couldn't be happier. Made with a pork loin and an industrial amount of maple syrup, it's really difficult to go back to the store bought kind after eating this. 🍽️

Because fried chicken is serious business. That, fried calamari and also snack sticks.

Thank you. It was awesome.

Yes, marinated in seasoned buttermilk for about 8 hours.

A close up of a fried chicken sandwich with mayo, lettuce on a sesame buns.

If you are around the Montréal region and you heard a loud CRUNCH it was probably me bitting inside this magnificent sandwich.

For me, 2/3 flour and 1/3 potato starch is my go to recipe for fried chicken. Only flour ain't crispy enough.

I ate 3 sandwich. That is all. 🍽️🍝

Thank you. And it was delicious.

A big bowl of fried calamari.

I think I already mentioned that I was obsessed with fried calamari. This is one beautiful batch. Using panko crumb instead of doing wet clumps is a really good idea. 🍽️🍝

Started out with a pineapple, mango and habaneros fermentation in a 3% salt brine.
6 weeks fermentation.
Then with a immersion blender I mash everything together, then add one cup of rum. I then emulsify it with 50 ml of oil and about 3-5 g of xantam gum. Mix until really bubbly.

The greatest burgers on a plate. Fully stacked and dripping.

I needed a good homemade burger for a while. I'm happy now.

Double cheese
Pure butter brioche buns
Homemade bacon
Emulsion of a fermented pineapples, mango, habanero, rum hot sauce.
Onions, lettuce, roasted peppers.

The kind of burger that let me forget about my woes for a beautiful moment. 🍽️

A classic one I always do is my "Sumo Crush" sauce. I wanted a sauce that had that Orange Soda taste (like some Crush Soda) and vanilla was the missing ingredient. Randomly found some Sumo mandarin and the recipe wrote itself and became an instant hit.

This was the best season of Star Trek

For me it's a big part of the fun of making fermented sauce. Why do it bland when you can make it spectacular™️.

A mason jar filled with finger hot peppers, ginger, pink grapefruit, habanero peppers, vanilla and kumquat ready for fermentation.

Went to the fruit store to get some lettuce for a ceasar salad. What do I see? Fresh kumquat? Time for a finger hot pepper, ginger, pink grapefruit, habanero, bourbon vanilla and kumquat fermented hot sauce. If you haven't tried a citrus and vanilla hot sauce yet, you're missing out big time. 🍽️

Freshly sliced homemade bacon.

When I started making charcuterie, one of my goals was to make the perfect bacon. It was a long and difficult task. Either it was too salty, didn't cook right, shrank too much, caramelized to the point of burning, etc. This batch, this final recipe is THE ONE. Now I can die happy. 🍽️

Meat and white beans in a plate.

Spent the day making some delicious Cassoulet. They're not alot of smell in a home more welcoming than beans slow cooking in white wine with duck, pig cheeks, Toulouse sausages and some rosette de Lyon. That's something I always make in big batch cause it freeze great. 🍽️

I can definitely say that the tone has change here in Quebec.

A French poutine. A plate with fries, cheese curds, pepper sauce and thin slices of steak.

Of all the specialty poutines I make, the French Poutine is my favorite. It still features home fries cooked in tallow and fresh cheese curds, but instead of the classic brown sauce, I use a green pepper sauce with melted blue cheese. It's finished with thinly sliced pepper steak on top.
🍽️

Written in the stars I guess