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No food screams Superbowl to me like chili. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest football fan, but I love watching any sports game when there are high stakes. Speaking of stakes, I would gamble that this chili, created by Chef Anne and her team, will be your new go to recipe for game day. Hut, hut, hike y’all! Make about two liters, or enough for six healthy servings Ingredients 800 gr ground beef, preferably from the blade 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced 1 celery stalk, washed and finely diced ½ pc red bell pepper 2 tbsp garlic, peeled and minced 2 tbsp chili powder 1 tbsp Spanish paprika 2 tsp ground coriander 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp dried oregano 1/3 cup tomato paste 1/3 cup water 500 ml plum tomatoes, canned 1 tbsp chipotle, canned 1 heaping cup red kidney beans, canned, drained 1 heaping cup black beans, canned, drained 1 cup beef stock 3 tbsp fresh cilantro, leaves picked, washed, and chopped 1 tsp brown sugar 1 tbsp lime juice to taste salt and pepper Method In a large pot over a medium heat, brown the beef in 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Once brown, drain off excess oil and set the beef aside. In the same pot, warm up 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and add the onions and sweat for five minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic and sweat for two minutes, or until fragrant. Add the bell peppers and celery and continue cooking and stirring for another few minutes. Turn the heat down to low and add all of the dried spices. Stir well and cook for five minutes, or until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and water to the pot, and stir well, creating a loose paste. Simmer for ten minutes to create your chili base. Season with salt and pepper. Pass the tomatoes and the chipotle peppers through a food mill or food ricer. If you don’t have a food mill, use a food processor, but bear in mind that the tomato seeds may leave a bit of a bitter taste in your chili. Not the end of the world, but a decent reason to get a food mill. Add the tomato/chipotle mix and the cooked beef back to the pot, as well as the drained kidney beans. Add the beef stock, and stir to mix everything together. Bring the chili to a simmer on a low heat, cover, and simmer for about 2 hours, or until the beef is tender. Stir every once and a while to prevent the meat from sticking to the bottom. For the last 15 minutes or so of cooking, add the black beans and the cilantro. This will help retain the structure of the beans. Add the sugar and lime juice, and adjust seasoning. The chili should be tangy and spicy with a hint of sweetness.

2019 = Pig. Yay!

According to the Chinese astrological calendar, 2019 is the Year of the Pig. Now that’s a chronological event Sanagan’s can really get on board with. Our domestic and heritage breeds of pork, as well as wild boar will enhance any dishes you may be considering for your Chinese New Year feast.

Gwenyn Huang has only recently hung up her meat hawker apron at our Kensington store so she can dedicate more time to her studies in Literature at University of Toronto. We asked Gwenyn what pork the Huang family likes to prepare for Chinese New Year. Here, in her own literate words, Gwenyn outlines the preparation of pork belly fried in red wine dregs.

One of the many dishes we make in our family is pork belly fried in wine dregs. The wine dregs, which is the sediment left over from making Foochow red wine, is fermented and has a very strong flavour and is bright red. It dyes the pork bright red as well, which is why it's so appropriate for the new years. In China, red has always been a festive colour that symbolises fortune and prosperity.

Only a little is needed for any recipe since it's so pungent, which is good because it's hard to come by. (The real stuff is.) My family has a jar that we guard very jealously! But for special occasions as important as the New Year, possibly the biggest holiday in China, we bring it out for sure. But first, we heat a lot of oil and deep fry cubes of pork belly. Then we strain the lot and while the excess oil drips away from the pork, we heat a little bit of oil in a pan. We throw slices of ginger into the hot oil and let it crackle and then a heaping tablespoon (no skimping on New Years) of the wine dregs. We fry the wine dregs for a few seconds, carefully since it burns easily, and then toss in the pork belly. Once all the pork belly is coated and bright red, it's ready to go!

Thanks Gwenyn. When should we come over for dinner?

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, the former cook in me screams "No! Don't do it! Why put yourself through the madness of going out to eat on one of the busiest nights of the year!" As I've matured in life and career, I still feel the same way! Don't get me wrong, any night can be a great night to go out and experience one of the hundreds of excellent restaurants that Toronto has to offer, but during the mad rush of Valentine’s, why not let Sanagan’s transform your dining room into a romantic restaurant table for two. This year, we're offering the following menu for two, with only the beef requiring actual cooking on your end: House Made Duck Liver Parfait with Blackbird Demi-Baguette Winter Greens Salad with Vinaigrette 2 Beef Tenderloin Steaks, with Potato Gratin, Green Beans Amandine, and Brandy Peppercorn Sauce Cochinitos Cookies with Cinnamon Sugar All you need to do is pick up a beverage or two and settle in for the night. The entire package will cost $80 and quantities will be limited, so order yours today by emailing info@sanagansmeatlocker.com (for Kensington Market pickups) or gerrard@sanagansmeatlocker.com (for Gerrard St. pickups), or calling in at 416-593-9747

Family Day is important to Sanagan’s because it’s right in our motto: Quality Meats and Poultry from Ontario Family Farms.

The people at King Capon Farms have been part of the Sanagan’s family from the get-go supplying us with their outstanding poultry. If you come in and buy a leg or a breast or a regular whole chicken, it’s probably coming from King Capon, which has been owned by the same family since the 70’s. King Capon chicken is free-run, barn raised, vegetable grain fed and air chilled. Their birds also benefit from on-site processing saving them from stressful caged trips on the back of a truck.

Michelle is the mother hen of the operation. We asked her what she likes to cook for her family. “For a quick dinner” replies Michelle, “I make my mother’s recipe: chicken strips dipped in an egg wash, breaded, pan fried with lemon squeezed over. On a cold night I’ll do a chicken chili. I’ll grind the chicken with a hand mincer — we eat the leftovers because we can’t keep enough of those boneless skinless breast around — beans, onion, red pepper, canned tomato. It’s just something you do, you don’t write it down.”

And for a big ceremonial family meal? “We had capon for Christmas. And they were good.”

So whether your family is nuclear, extended or just you and a friend watching Netflix, enjoy Family Day and eat some King Capon chicken.

The most important thing about a New Year’s party? Have fun! What’s not fun? Stressing about the food. As a guest you want to bring something portable, pleasing and easy for the host. As a host you want to serve a celebratory spread that doesn’t require being in the kitchen until next year. A charcuterie board selected from Sanagan’s deli counter does it all.

To start with, here are some seasonal Sanagan’s exclusives and house-made items that will really flatter your New Year’s platter.

Mangalitsa: Our special speck, copa, bacon and prosciutto from the rare-breed Hungarian Mangalitsa pig. (Ontario-raised, of course.)

Premium Pâté en Croute: Our decadent pastry-encased pâté gets even decadenter over the holidays. We’ll be packing them with things like venison, smoked duck breast and foie gras. Naughty? Nice? You should still get a slice.

Holiday Terrines: Our in-house charcutier has whipped up various recipes to bring a touch of luxury to your celebrations.

Boudin Blanc: A delicate white sausage flavoured with black truffles.

Pickles and Condiments: Beerhall and Old Yeller mustard, pickled red onions, giardiniera, red current and cranberry jelly. All made by our Kensington kitchen team.

THE FIVE POINTS OF THE CHARCUTERIE BOARD STAR

Lets look at the essentials that will make your tray tres bon!

1. Cold Cuts and Sausages

Salamis, hams, cured meats and dried sausages; nothing says Buffet the Appetite Slayer like a big spread of these bite-sized delights. The cold cuts are served as melt-in-your-mouth deli slices and the sausages can be chopped into rounds for variations in texture and shape.

2. Terrines and Pâtés

These rich traditional preparations are the essence of festive nibbling. Spread these around and your New Year’s toast will have never had it so good.

3. Cheese

Party snacking without cheese? No whey! Sanagan’s Kensington is proud to carry a selection of Ontario cheeses. Hard, soft, creamy and washed rind classic styles are available from artisanal producers like Monforte, Fifth Town, Back 40 and Forfar. If you're a Gerrard shopper, you can visit our neighbours at The Pantry for a similar selection.

4. Condiments and Pickles

The acidity of the pickles, the sweetness of the jellies, the bite of the mustard; they all add essential counterpoints of flavour, texture, colour and moisture to your board.

5. Grains

Fill ‘em up with crackers, toasts and bread. Even though we’re a butcher shop, we can help here too. Evelyn’s and our neighbour, Blackbird Bakery constitute Kensington’s cracker collection. And Gerrard’s got you covered with fresh Blackbird bread, daily.

THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF HAM AND CHEESE

As a starting point, you could budget 100 grams of proteins per guest. So for 10 partiers you could select 330 grams of cold cuts and sausage, 330 grams terrines and pates and 330 grams of cheese. Then add in your garnishes, bread and crackers and your guests will be greeted with the sight of charcuterie board that elegantly yet emphatically decrees — let the festive munching begin!

The above is a very approximate formula for an inexact art. Most customers will just come in, and with the help of a Sanagan’s meat hawker, build their charcuterie board navigating between their eyes and their wallet.

January is definitely a time of year when people start thinking about losing those couple of pounds they put on over the holidays, but it’s also a time of year when everyone gets sick. I have a three-year-old at home so I figure I’m going to be sick constantly for the next few years. But I try to fight it, and one of the luxuries of running a butcher shop is that I have almost constant access to a hot cup of bone broth. Bone broth is like a Snuggie for your insides. We make it on site, and sell it by the litre as well as hot, dispensed like coffee out of an urn. People go nuts for bone broth this time of year, and while we’re happy to make it for our customers, it’s quite an easy thing to create at home. Here is the version we make at the store. Makes 4 liters Ingredients 1 kg chicken carcass bones ½ kg beef knuckle bones, cut into small pieces (ask your butcher) ½ kg beef marrow bones, cut into small pieces (ask your butcher) 2 tbsp tomato paste 2 pc Spanish onion, peeled and cut into quarters 2 pc garlic bulbs, left unpeeled and cut in half width-wise 4 pc medium sized carrots, peeled and cut in half width-wise 4 pc celery stalks, washed and cut in half width-wise 2 pc parsnip, peeled and cut in half width-wise 5 tsp salt 2 tbsp whole peppercorns 6 pc bay leaves 8 branches fresh thyme Method Preheat the oven to 375°F. Ask your butcher to cut up the beef bones as small as they feel comfortable doing so. Spread the beef bones and the chicken bones out in a roasting pan and place in the oven. Roast for forty-five minutes, or until golden brown. Take the bones out of the oven and put them into a large stock pot. Add the tomato paste, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and parsnips to the same roasting tray, and stir them around to pick up some of the fat from the bones. Put into the oven and roast for another forty-five minutes, stirring once or twice, until the vegetables are golden brown. Take the tray out of the oven and scrape the vegetables into the stock pot. Pour a cup of water into the roasting pan and place it over a medium heat on the stovetop. As the water comes to a simmer, use a wooden spoon to scrape all of the good bits of roasting bones and vegetables from the bottom of the pan, and add that to the stock pot. Pour 4.5 cups of COLD water over the bones and vegetables in the stock pot. If the bones aren’t completely covered with the water, add just enough to cover them. Add the salt, peppercorn, bay leaves, and thyme to the pot and place over a medium heat. Bring the broth to a simmer, then turn the heat down to low. The broth should be just bubbling, maybe a bubble or two every ten seconds. Allow the broth to simmer at this temperature for at least eight hours, carefully skimming any scummy water off the surface. After the eight hours, strain the broth through a large colander, and then again through a fine mesh strainer. This extra step just helps ensure a clearer broth. Taste the broth for seasoning, and add more salt to your liking. And now you have plenty of bone broth to keep you warm and healthy throughout the month. Added bonus, the calories in this healthy drink will help you resist those chocolates and cookies that are leftover from Christmas. Or not…

It was very early into my time working at Mistura, a mainstay of Toronto’s Italian dining scene, that I had my first exposure to cotechino. Bollito misto may not be the most well known Italian dish, but it is very classically Italian, relying on quality ingredients that have been simply prepared. This was the first time I had seen the dish, but while it was new to me, most of the ingredients were pretty common. The one that stuck out was the delicious cotechino sausage with its exceptional texture. It isn't a common ingredient in Toronto, and I haven't had much of a chance to work with it since, until our resident Charcutier Scott started making his own.

Like most great charcuterie, cotechino was born of a need to conserve limited meat supplies for the longest possible time. Rumour has it that this sausage's use dates to the early 1500's in Northern Italy. It is very similar to the traditional zampone, with the main difference being that zampone are typically stuffed into the hind trotter from the pig. The French produce a version of their own (which Scott has also played around with) called sabodet.

Our house-made cotechino is a combination of pork meat, fat and skin, and flavoured with ground coriander and warm spices such as allspice, cinnamon and ginger. It's the use of the pork skin that leads to the unique texture of the cotechino.

While you could, I suppose, use cotechino in most any instance where you would use regular pork sausages, there are a couple of applications we would specifically recommend for you. The combination of most accessible and traditional would be as part of your New Year's Eve dinner, served with lentils (which represent the prospect of money to come in the new year). Less traditional but equally delicious would be in place of our regular breakfast sausages at any holiday brunch. And then there’s bollito misto. This is a fantastic use of the product, but much better suited to someone who has a full day to devote to the prep, and 11 friends to share the meal with. However you choose to enjoy our cotechino, come in for it soon as we only make it through the holiday season. Felice anno nuovo!

Does anyone else remember what was written on Ben Affleck’s cricket bat – the one he used to beat on little kids – in Dazed And Confused? Fah Q. I was sixteen when that movie came out and I thought that cricket bat was hiiiiiilarious. So decades later, when the internet became as ubiquitous as caesar salads, web pages would have all of their Frequently Asked Questions jumbled together under a heading that I thought sounded like the website was telling people off. I seriously thought it was a nerdy web joke that nerds high-fived each other over as if they just beat level a billion on World Of Warcraft or something. (Same with “lol”, the WORST acronym ever, which I assumed meant “lots of love”.) Anywho tiddlywinks, I’m going to try and answer some of the more common questions people have when they come into the shop. All questions, by the way, are valid and NOT stupid. You know the old saying “there are no stupid questions, just stupid people”? Well, that’s a bit of a mantra of mine. If you never ask the questions, you’ll never get the answers, and that would just be stupid. So with that in mind, here we go! Q. Why is there sawdust on the floor? A. The sawdust helps us keep the floor clean, actually. When bits of meat or drops of blood fall to the floor they’ll get balled up with the sawdust to make for an easy sweep. Same as when you were in kindergarten and you drank too much paint and had to barf it all over little Suzy and the floor. The teacher would put sawdust down to clean up your mess. Little Suzy would just have to spend the day covered in barf. Q. Is all of your meat organic? A. No, it’s not all certified organic. I source my meat from small local farmers who raise their animals humanely and without the use of antibiotics and hormones. We try to have a close relationship with the people responsible for the animals; I find it’s more personal this way and we know what we’re getting. I do bring in certified organic products from time to time, and our chicken eggs from the Webers are organic, but I find it is hard to have a reasonably priced meat counter when everything is certified organic. Q. How often do you get deliveries? A. We get our meat in at different times of the week, but generally it goes like this: lamb comes in either Monday or Tuesday; chicken, Tuesdays and Thursdays; beef, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; game, Thursdays; pork, Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Q. Have you ever cut yourself on the bandsaw? A. I nicked myself twice (Peter). Never, because we’re not that careless (everyone else). Q. What are Silkie Eggs? A. Silkie is a breed of chicken that is smaller than the usual hen that we normally get eggs from. Therefore the eggs may be slightly smaller, but they are huge in flavour. The Silkie eggs we get are organic and pasture-raised from the Webers out near Paisley, ON. Oh yeah, and they look like this: I know, right? Q. (This one usually directed towards the women who work in the shop.) How did you get into butchery? A. Well, we all come from a restaurant background, where we loved to cook and produce beautiful food. It is a challenge at the restaurant level to experience butchery though, so working at the shop satisfies our desire to learn this trade. You sexist pig. Q. How do you cook goat? A. Well, that is a question best answered in an entire blog post, but basically goat is cut into smaller pieces and stewed, although I have heard of recipes for roasting whole goats or simmering it gently in milk. Think of goat like lamb’s tougher older cousin. Joe Pesci to Justin Bieber, if you will. Q. Do you accept stagiers? A. Of course! Just pop by the shop or email us with your info and we can chat about opportunities. Q. How are your chickens raised? A. I get in a few types of chickens from a few different farms. We get certified organic pastured birds from near Paisley, which are raised in an open cage system. Basically these chickens are out of doors, weather permitting, in a large fenced-in area. The fence is moved around a few times a day so the chickens have fresh grubs to eat. We also get Rhode Island Red chickens in from Elora, which is a heritage breed of chicken that has a delicious meat; some compare it to chicken eaten in France (where chickens are treated like gods, so I’ve heard). Finally I get the majority of my conventionally raised birds from Sharon, ON, where King Capon Farms raises a lovely cross-bred bird without the use of antibiotics or hormones. They are fed grains supplemented with vitamins and are air chilled (this means they aren’t tumbled in a nasty ice water bath after the kill. Yummy! Q. Who did your design work? It’s amazing. A. That would be our dear friend Scott McKowen, whose illustrations can be seen internationally from book covers to theater posters. His company, Punch and Judy, has been instrumental in creating the Sanagan’s identity. It helps that he seemed to understand exactly what we wanted from the get go. And c’mon, that cleaver is boss. You can find examples of Punch and Judy’s work at www.punchandjudy.ca. Stay tuned for more answers to common questions. We’ll call the next entry Fah Q 2. I swear.

You know those people who say they hate winter? You know the type; walking speedily and angrily through the icy streets of Toronto all bundled up in two wool sweaters, knitted scarves, long johns, enormous wool coats, and toques with those silly flaps that cover their ears. They are walking speedily because they HATE being outside as soon as the weather dips below 5˚C. Cold weather is like the Death Star to these people. As soon as you think it’s gone for good it pops right back up again. They are walking angrily because they are upset with themselves for continuously choosing to live in this climate. They know they can move somewhere else, like Vancouver, where the temperature is a little more moderate (unfortunately it rains all the time and three quarters of the population have grow-ops in their sheds – FACT), but they choose not to. It could be because their families are here, or their lovers, or their butcher – who knows. All I know is once December’s first frosty night rolls around these people are speedily and angrily walking around saying poetic things like: “arrrgh, this weather sucks” or “why do I live here again?” Well, I’m gonna tell you why you should still live here and why the cold weather DOESN’T suck. Braised meat. There are a lot of reasons to enjoy winter in the city. You can go crazy sledding down the hills at the St. Clair Reservoir (be verrrry careful though…my dad almost got himself killed going down those slopes). You can have a skate and hot cocoa at Nathan Phillips Square. You can build a kick-ass snow fort and battle little kids in Withrow Park. And you can braise meat. This is, in my opinion, the single best thing about the colder weather. Summer is great and all, with its banana hammocks and grilled sausages, but when the temperature cools off a little and the sweaters come out, I crave stews and braises. (I also crave a bourbon, a little Ella & Louis on the hi-fi, and my sweetheart wearing a Snuggie® and a smile, but that’s a story for a more adult blog.) In fact, I have a beef shoulder in the oven right now, swimming in simmering liquid flavoured with onions, carrots, celery, red wine, and beef broth. That’s how I roll when it’s raining and ten degrees out. Ain’t no thing. But it can be. I can be a pompous jack-ass sometimes, as can most people who already have the power of cooking on their side. People who know how to cook should share their knowledge with people who can’t, but not in a way that is condescending, patronizing, or elitist. This attitude will just turn people off cooking. So I’m going to turn the jack-ass knob from ten down to like, four. I hope it works because I really want everyone to enjoy a nice bit of braised meat. Everyone should have at least one braised dish under his or her belt; a dish one can dream about while looking out of one’s office window watching the rain/sleet/snow/Armageddon-Hail fall. Question: What is braising? Answer: Braising is searing, and then simmering a piece of meat in flavoured liquid until it is tender. Question: How is it different from a stew? Answer: Quite simply put, you braise a big piece of meat and you stew little bits of meat. Really, that’s about it. Question: Why do we need to differentiate the two? Answer: Well, I guess we don’t really, except it’s kind of like saying a sunflower and a daisy are the same thing. They aren’t. I love a stew. A properly made bœuf bourguignon is probably one of the most delicious things ever. But there is something a little magical about taking a big, hard, tough, rugged muscle and turning it into a luxurious, soft, fork-tender pillow of protein. You know that feeling you get when watching an old movie at Christmastime? You know what I mean – that warm, reflective, teary type of movie that reminds you about what it was like to believe in Santa? That’s how a well-made braise makes me feel. It takes a long time to make, but once you open the oven and remove the pot lid it’s like revealing a bit of heaven. It’s probably what the Nazis were expecting when they opened the Ark of the Covenant. But a good braise will only melt your face in the same way a wicked Slash solo will. In ecstasy. Common Braising Cuts: Beef: Boneless Blade (Best for pot roasts) Chuck Short Ribs Brisket Shank Oxtail (It’s not from an ox; it’s from a cow) Cheek Tongue Pork: Anything from the shoulder – Boston Butt or Picnic Ribs – Back Ribs, Side Ribs, even Spare Ribs Belly Shank Cheek Chicken: Drumsticks and Thighs Lamb: Shank Ribs Boneless Shoulder Neck One thing all of these cuts have in common is that they are the hardest working muscles on each animal’s body. Shoulders especially, as they not only have to share the load of the animal’s back with its hind quarter, but the shoulder also has a big heavy neck and fat head to carry around. A lot of work that is, so the muscles are pretty tough cookies. You can’t just go and grill these cuts, as you’ll just be chewing for decades. These cuts need Tender Loving Care. Braising in Seven Easy Steps: 1. Choose a cut of meat from the list above, season it with salt and pepper, and brown it all over in a deep-sided pot. (I like using equal parts of butter and vegetable oil to do my browning). Remove the browned meat from pot and put it aside for a second. 2. Slowly caramelize flavourful vegetables IN THE SAME POT. Flavourful vegetables can be (but don’t have to be): onion, garlic, carrot, celery, parsnip, turnip, peppers, or anything else you like that has a sweetness to it. Starchy vegetables like potatoes don’t really do much here. 3. Deglaze the pot with a bit of flavourful liquid. After you have caramelized the flavourful vegetables you will notice there are brown bits at the bottom of the pot. If you add a liquid this will come off and add to the overall flavour of your braise. Liquids I like to use are: red wine, white wine, vinegar, beer, orange juice, etc. You can use whatever you like. The point is the liquid you deglaze a pot with will add to the flavour of the whole braise, so it’s best to use a strong, flavourful liquid here. 4. Add your flavour enhancers. Fancy talk for herbs and spices. Anything goes here, from bay leaves, thyme and peppercorns (classic French) to lemongrass, ginger and star anise (a little more Asian perhaps). 5. Put your meat back in the pot, and then almost cover it with more liquid. The liquid used here is more neutral, perhaps chicken, beef, or vegetable stock. Or just water. No one will judge you if you use water. Besides, if you have a nice amount of flavourful vegetables, wine, enhancers AND meat you’re basically making a broth if you add water anyway! When braising, it is important to barely cover the meat with the liquid. This will keep the meat moist while cooking without making a big pot of soup. 6. Bring the liquid to a simmer, then put a lid on the pot and put it in an oven that has been pre-heated to 325˚F. Check it once and a while until it is fork-tender. This basically means what you think it does – if you can easily stick a fork in the meat and it gives no struggle on its way out, it’s done. Depending on the cut you choose, this can take anywhere from two to four hours. 7. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! Let the braised meat cool a bit in the liquid before taking it out and slicing it. If you take the meat directly out of the pot that came out of the oven, then sliced it, any moisture you worked so hard to keep in the meat will be lost in a puff of steam. Wait at least thirty minutes. Even better to wait a few hours to let the meat cool in the liquid. Gently reheat the meat and slice it before serving, and then thicken the braising liquid (maybe by puréeing the cooked vegetables in the liquid and straining the results) and have it stream over the meat like a nice sauce should. Yeeeeahhhh!!! That’s what I’m talking about!!!! Ca-Na-Da! Ca-Na-Da! I dare anyone who “hates” winter to deny themselves the most pleasurable of all winter’s pleasures. Hey, a cold day can totally suck. Anyone who has had to walk through the snowy streets with a hole in his/her boot can vouch for that. Slush is a pain, especially on the stairs down to the subway. Driving behind snow ploughs ranks pretty high on my “things I want to shoot myself in the foot before doing again” list. But just think of that delicious braise you made on Sunday–the one you just have to heat up after work that will fill your kitchen with the lovely smells kitchens are meant to smell like; the braised meat that could even defrost Mr. Freeze. Think of that braise and I promise you winter won’t feel like the worst time of year. That would totally be those two weeks in July when it’s so hot you could fry a duck egg on the hood of a Toyota Yaris.