DÉPANNEUR LE PICK UP

This Saturday, May 26, 8pm!

Atelier de fabrication de saucisses animé par Szef Bartek

- Szef Bartek vous donnera une petite présentation et une démonstration de la fabrication de saucisse
- En suite, en groupes de deux, vous allez fabriquer vous même des saucisses de porc pour apporter chez vous (0.5 kg ou 4-5 saucisses par personne)
- Nous vous servirons des saucisses préparées par Bartek durant l’atelier, pour que vous n’ayez pas faim !

Tout ça pour seulement 40$ !

Écrivez à lepickupevents@gmail.com pour réserver.
Espace limité !

Ceci est événement bilingue!

Photos de la dernière Saucissession en février 2011:

http://depanneurlepickup.com/events/2011-02-21-photos-szef-bartek-+-his-saucessession

Sausage making workshop lead by Szef Bartek

- Szef Bartek will give a brief talk and a demonstration of sausage making
- Then, in groups of two, you will make your own pork sausages, which you will take home (0.5 kg or 4-5 sausages per person)
- We will serve you sausages prepared by Szef Bartek during the workshop to stave off hunger!

All this for $40!

Write to lepickupevents@gmail.com to reserve.
Space is limited!

This is a bilingual event!

Photos from the previous Saucissession in February 2011 can be found here!

Curious about the BBQ on Sunday, with Brooklyn chef Berlin Reed?

Well, we definitely were – so he gave us a sneak peek at Sunday’s mouthwatering menu…

1st course: RIBS. (spare and baby back) with braised greens, sweet potato cake, offal.
2nd course: CARNITAS + EISBEIN on a tostada.
3rd course: CHOPS, mac ‘n’ cheese, slaw, pickles.
4th course: SMOKED FRUIT TART, maple-bacon dirty pretzels, fresh cream.

Hungry yet?

The BBQ begins at 6pm on Sunday, May 13, and is $30. For pork lovers, this is an insane deal! Emails us at lepickupevents@gmail.com to save your spot!

We’re thrilled to announce that our next workshop at Le Pick Up will feature the talented duo behind Montreal’s own Pork Futures. Take it away, Andrew!

Do you know the difference between hot smoking and cold smoking? Do you know what a pellicule is. Or, why your cedar plank salmon sometimes tastes bitter? Have you ever tasted smoked salt and wondered whether you could make that? Do you like to roll your own? Bacon, mackerel, cheese?

Few people know that a smoker can be made out of an old gym locker, a garbage can, or a filing cabinet. Smaller household items are just as good. We’ll show you. We’re two passionate DIYers who’ve learned a lot from trial and error, from books, from family knowledge, and from little old Italian men who are happy to share their secrets.

In this workshop we’ll show you some plans for a basic smoker, and you’ll learn about safe temperatures, the flavours of different woods and recipes to prepare meat, fish or anything else for smoking.

We’ve done all the work: now, come pick our brains for a couple of hours, see how it all works, taste some goodies and walk away with some confidence that you, too, can smoke it at home.

The (outdoor, weather permitting!) workshop will begin promptly at 5pm. Registration fills up extremely fast, so please email us at lepickupevents@gmail.com to save your spot! The class costs $30 and will be followed by a sampling of Nick and Andrew’s own smoked goodies.

We hope to see you there!!

RSVP AT lepickupevents@gmail.com!

[All photos from Pork Futures tumblr — yum.]

The renegade traveling chef and butcher behind The Ethical Butcher project is heading to Montreal for a full weekend of cutting, curing and cooking!! On Saturday, May 12, join Berlin Reed as he guides an eager crew of Montreal meat-eaters in breaking a whole pig carcass into cuts ready to be grilled and sauced at the Whole Hog BBQ on Sunday, May 13!

All participants in the workshop will have a hand in preparing cuts for Sunday’s festivities. Everything from knife skills to boning and curing to marinating will be covered as this unique workshop and dinner shows the full spectrum from whole animal to tender, smoky decadence.

Using a humanely-raised, local pig, Chef Berlin will lead participants in dry-rub techniques, homecuring bacon, quick-searing and slow-cooking on the grill and share secrets to heavenly sauces. At the end, everyone will get to take home their very own slab of bacon!

At Sunday’s BBQ, expect to see grilled chops, pulled pork, fresh grilled ham steaks, ribs and more! Drawing from his Alabama roots and travels through the American South, Chef Berlin will bring the heat with a perfect array of sides and sauces to make your barbecue experience memorable. From GF cornbread and fresh baked rolls to sop up your sauce, to bright crisp slaws and homemade pickles to keep your palate ready for the next bite, this will be one day you won’t soon regret.

Sign up for the whole shebang!! It is surely the best deal and a rare opportunity to not only follow your meal from farm to plate, but to participate in each stage of its journey!

As usual, the workshop registration is very limited, so email us at lepickupevents@gmail.com to secure your spot. The class will begin promptly at 8pm and cost $40.

Reservations are ALSO required for the BBQ ($30), which will begin at 6pm and run through the evening. Sign up for both events ($60) and save money!

We hope to see you there!!!

Here at the Dep, the month of May will focus on a very important topic: Getting totally and completely ready for summer. We’re going to host three weekends of BBQs and culinary workshops that will prepare and excite you for a summer packed with barbecues, outdoor picnics, and all manner of grilled meats! Stayed tuned for full description of the events, but here’s a sneak peek:

MAY 12-13: A weekend with The Ethical Butcher, including a “Butchery to BBQ” workshop, as we are taught the basics of breaking down an entire pig carcass!

MAY 19: A workshop with the locally based duo Pork Futures, with a night focused on learning how to build you own smoker — as well as the basics and techniques behind both cold and hot smoking! Oh, and plenty of smoked snacks to follow the class!

MAY 26: A reprise of one of our most popular workshops: making sausages with Szef Bartek!

It’s going to be an incredible month, and we can’t wait to get started!

Last month we held a great workshop with fermentation expert Haley Butcher, the chemist behind 100% Ferments. We made jars of sauerkraut, fermented Moroccan carrots, and homemade yogurt! Thanks to everyone who came out — and stay tuned, Haley will return this summer to lead another fermentation class!

[Poster by Joshua Bastien]

In the spirit of Ostara, at the apex of spring, in celebration of renewal and fertility, and all things related to powerful and creative goddesses, and to new beginnings, and plants busting through soil, and ending hibernation, and drinking in light…

The Depanneur Le Pick Up presents three artists on Saturday, April 14 who bend cosmic circuits and channel good vibes, straight up with no distortion.

Laura Crapo (aka Laura Borealis): Laura emerged from the creative cocoon of the preeminent era of Halifax rock music, (as photographer/videographer for Eric’s Trip, Thrush Hermit, Superfriendz, Sloan) and has meta-morphed into a solo musician reiki master who makes otherworldly folk music for folks of this world and others. Lovely, haunting.

Rhonda Sweder: Imagine Kate Bush morphing into Leadbelly, and then Diane Cluck and Julie Andrews rewriting the Sound of Music together with Ziggy Stardust playing Von Trapp. Imagine if Lilith Fair was curated by Dorothy Ashby and Kim Gordon! Deep and rich, soaring and evocative, songs for voice and guitar.

Catharine Allan: Catharine is a clairvoyant medium and astrologer, and she also practices healing with sound. Catharine will be playing a solfeggio tuning fork, accompanied by simple sung songs. The vibration of this tuning fork is for love, and repairing DNA.

8$ / Doors at 9:00 + fresh juice for sale, from the bounty of Mother Earth

Fun news!

We’re happy to announce that we will be hosting fermentation expert Haley Butcher of 100% Ferments to a lead a workshop on the science and methods of fermentation, one of the world’s oldest cooking and food preservation techniques.

Haley will lead us in creation of two different kinds of fermented vegetables, as well as a tutorial on how to make your yogurt at home! With her background in microbiology, Haley will provide many scientific insights into this fascinating and mysterious process.

Haley’s fermented goodies are available for sale under her canning name 100% Ferments, where she offers everything from Lebanese pickled turnips, sour spiced beets, kim chi, tangy curtido, and zesty salt-cured lemons. She also runs the popular ‘Culture Club,’ which features a different jar of lactofermented vegetables each month.

The workshop will begin promptly at 8pm on Tuesday, March 27 and is $25 to register. All supplies are included!

To register, please get in touch with us at lepickupevents@gmail.com.

We hope to see you there!!

Photo by Natasha Pickowicz

Big thanks to everybody who came out to the Dep’s first-ever Tropical Staycation! Here are some behind-the-scene photos from that glorious night. The menu included:

-Spicy Le Pick Up beer nuts
-Jerk chicken with rice and peas, stewed kale, and Caribbean slaw
-Chocolate-rum cake with rum whipped cream and passion fruit and mango relish

It was so much fun that hopefully this will become an annual Le Pick Up tradition!

Photo by Natasha Pickowicz

[All photos by Natasha Pickowicz]

Thank you Chef Merida for an enlightening and delicious night of vegan cuisine! We’ll never look at the humble cashew the same way again.

Too broke to jet somewhere tropical this winter? No way to relax on the beach, soaking up the sun? No fear!

Our next special dinner of 2012 will transport you somewhere warmer! We will feature a Caribbean-inspired feast, complete with jerk chicken, tropical desserts, and other spicy delights. The night will be led by none other than one of our own — Jeremy Felker!

The dinner will begin promptly at 8pm on Friday, February 10. The set menu will be $20. Seating is limited, email me at natasha.pickowicz AT gmail.com to reserve your spot!

We hope to see you there!!

We’re thrilled to announce that the first guest chef dinner of 2012 will feature Chef Mérida of Vegan Secret Supper, a supper club based in Brooklyn, NY and Vancouver, BC. Everything is made handmade, in-house and vegan, using only local and organic ingredients.

For her dinner at Le Pick Up, Chef Mérida will present an elegant and beautiful three-course vegan feast inspired by Quebec and the winter. We can’t wait to see what she will come up with!

For more information about Chef Mérida, please visit her website and (mouthwatering!) tumblr.

The dinner will begin promptly at 8pm on Saturday, January 28. The three-course set menu will be $30. To RSVP, please email us at natasha.pickowicz AT gmail.com. Seating is very limited, so get in touch with us soon!

We hope to see you there — vegan and non-vegans alike!

Le Pick Up’s first-ever Novemberfest was a mega success. A sausage-laden, pretzel-dipping, strudel-inhaling success. Thanks to everyone who came out and had a rad time — hopefully it’ll become a Pick Up tradition!

Thank you to everybody who attended Camilla’s most recent pickling workshop. This time around, Camilla showed us all how to make pickled green tomatoes (!!!) and a spicy apple chutney, which we’ve been liberally spreading on our grilled cheese sandwiches. I’m telling you, this lady knows her stuff.

Okay. I have to say, we’ve done quite a few of these workshops now, and they just seem to be getting better and better. (Maybe now would be a good time to link to this nice piece by Eve Dumas about our workshops). It really is so inspiring to be in the company of such talented chefs and cooks, and to observe the participants learning and enjoying themselves.

Camilla’s next pickling workshop (an encore presentation of the one pictured here!) will be held this Tuesday, October 18. There’s just a spot or two left — get in touch now to save your seat!

[All photos by Natasha Pickowicz]

Back in August, we hosted an amazing night with pastry chef and preserves expert Camilla Wynne. Her workshop, ‘Preserving Stone Fruits,’ was a mega success. So much fun, in fact, that we’ve decided to hold another workshop with Camilla — this time focusing on the saltier side of preserves… pickling and chutneys!

Camilla’s pickling workshop will be held on Tuesday, October 4, here at Le Pick Up. Camilla will discuss her favored pickling and canning techniques, including an introduction to basic pickling safety. Together, we’ll make batches of her favorite seasonal pickles. Learn all you can so you can stock up on your own homemade pickles and chutneys before winter sets in!

Let’s learn more about Camilla:

Camilla is a professionally trained pastry chef who has been canning since 2002. She most recently worked at Laloux and Pastisserie Rhubarbe, but has also done stints at Les Chevres (RIP), Anise (RIP), and wd~50 (NYC). Formerly the baker behind Backroom Records and Pastries, she now sells jams, marmalades, jellies, pickles and other preserves under the Preservation Society moniker.

The workshop will begin promptly at 8pm. Each participant will have a hand in making their own preserves, with guidance and instruction from Camilla. The registration fee is $25. We are located at 7032 rue Waverly, and are a cozy and intimate space — so please register soon as there are a very limited number of spots! Cash only, please. To register, please email me at Natasha.pickowicz [at] gmail [dot] com.

We hope to see you there!!

September 21 – 24, 2011
2pm – 6pm daily

WEZY

Join geriatric dandy Peanut Brittle as he returns to Dépanneur le Pick Up for his latest engagement – a low-power radio show broadcasting directly to your picnic table. During Pop Montreal Peanut will host WEZY from DLPU’s psychedelic ice-fishing hut, airing a selection of fine music, rambling monologues about the good old days, and plenty of innuendo. It’s like Quentin Crisp meets Finkleman’s 45s. Come by for your usual DLPU delights and get a side-serving of old time radio.

Peanut Brittle, the alter-ego of Toronto performance artist Lex Vaughn, has been charming the ladies and making the gents blush since the mid-Noughties. Early adopters of DLPU may recall him serving up a Tex-Mex brunch in 2009, haranguing customers and getting salsa all over his polyester pants. Don’t miss this latest incarnation of everyone’s favourite codger-about-town.

Schedule:

Wednesday September 21

Spider Cat House DJ set and sing-along
Jeff Miller interviews PB about lovemaking in wartime

Thursday September 22
As the dep readies itself to sell VPP to VIP at the Arcade Fire show, PB guides us through the afternoon with:

The Gothic and Witchy sounds of DJ Ouija
and the experimental noize jam of DJ Pickles

Friday September 23
Friday is a great night to party, right? So we bring out the big guns with Penny Pickup, DJ Lynne T and a special intimate interview session with FOXTROTT.

Saturday September 24

Brunch.

Watch it live:

Broadcasting live with Ustream

Thanks so much to everyone who came out for Bartek’s Pork Club BBQ this past Friday evening! We were stoked on the blue skies and warm temps, but even more excited about what was on the table for the evening: a grilled pork chop tagged with Swiss cheese and a few slices of local tomatoes, served with all the fixings: green beans dressed in toasted almonds and browned butter, and Bartek’s famous potato salad, made with his homemade mayo, and spiked with salty bacon, dill, and scallions. The night ended with thick wedges of red velvet cake and plastic cups filled with calimocho.

What summer should feel like, friends.

All photos by Natasha Li Pickowicz

Thank you so much to everyone that helped make last week’s canning workshop with pastry chef Camilla Wynne such a mega success. We spent the night learning about the basics of canning fruit and vegetables, peppered with plenty of Camilla’s pro tips. Everyone went home with two hot jars of preserved plums in vanilla syrup, and a nectarine-sapote jam. It was crazy fun and awesome to meet so many interesting and lovely home canners. Stay tuned — we’ll be bringing Camilla back for round 2 as she takes on pickles, brines, and vegetables! Dates to be announced shortly!

Next Friday, on September, 9, we’re stoked to welcome back Szef Bartek to our humble kitchen for a night of grilling + eating. (Remember this magical night?) The food is bound to be magnificent, the company even better. 3-8pm. Be there. After all, who doesn’t need a good porking once in a while?

Hello everyone!

We’re thrilled to announce our next workshop — and it’s coming right up!

Pastry chef and preserves expert extraordinaire Camilla Wynne will lead a workshop on Canning and Preserving Stone Fruits on Thursday, August 25 here at Le Pick Up.

Camilla is a professionally trained pastry chef who has been canning since 2002. She most recently worked at Laloux and Pastisserie Rhubarbe, but has also done stints at Les Chevres (RIP), Anise (RIP), and wd~50 (NYC). Formerly the baker behind Backroom Records and Pastries, she now sells jams, marmalades, jellies, pickles and other preserves under the Preservation Society moniker.

Camilla has been an amazing and inspiring presence in the Montreal food community (she used to make our cupcakes!), and we are so honored to have her host our next workshop.

At the workshop, Camilla will discuss the most important tenets of preserving fruits, including explanations of her own techniques, and an emphasis on basic safety. We will be making jams and preserved fruits in syrup, with a strong focus on seasonal stone fruits.

The workshop will begin promptly at 8pm. Each participant will have a hand in making their own preserves, with guidance and instruction from Camilla. The registration fee is $25.

We are located at 7032 rue Waverly, and are a cozy and intimate space — so please register soon as there are a very limited number of spots! Cash only, please. To register, please email me at Natasha.pickowicz [at] gmail [dot] com.

Thanks and we hope to see you there!

Our friends Meghan Murphy and Claudia Abbott-Barish, two lovely California-based food and food justice activists, are traveling across North American in their cherry red 1980 Ford Courier pickup truck and touring bicycles… and making a stop in Montreal! They will be hosting the workshop “Radicalizing Herbalism and Activating the Healers” at the Dep on Sunday, August 14 at 6pm.

Both have been local food and food justice activists for many years and have come to look at their herbalism studies as another side of the same coin. Feeling a significant lack of social analysis and activism around herbal medicine as they have encountered it, they have been cultivating a common desire to radicalize herbalism, and mobilize healers to realize the innate activism in their pursuit of an alternative paradigm of healing.

Not to miss an opportunity for broad geographical and social engagement, the ladies have decided to fold their road trip, cycle trip and workshop tour into one jammed-packed adventure of intrigue, physical tests, emotional and psychological trials, community involvement and anarchist hedonism.

Here’s what they have to say about the Montreal workshop:

“Using popular education, our workshop will cover a brief history of corporate power and how herbal medicinal use has been prevented in the past, barring us from actions of self-sufficiency. We will focus on why cultivating, wild-crafting and teaching about herbs creates new possibilities for us to create more healthy, reciprocal systems (social and economic) in the rest of our lives. This analysis will include examples, past and present, of how people have used herbs and herbal medicine to resist exploitation by those in power. The workshop will end with a dialogue on how to engage around these issues with members of our communities; what methods are inclusive, representative and equitable, and how to collaborate with the most people.“

They’ll also be doing fun, hands-on activities like making salves, tinctures, and tea blends. Spots for registration are extremely limited, so please email me at natasha.pickowicz AT gmail.com for a spot. Unlike our other workshops, this event will be charged on a sliding scale of $10-20. Please pay an amount with which you feel comfortable.

This workshop is aimed at healers, herbalists or self-taught herbal-medicine makers, who are interested in how their work can have a greater community impact beyond the traditional forms of engagement. That said, it is open to ANYONE who is remotely intrigued by the subject matter. Your contribution is valuable no matter who you are.

For more information, please visit their website, Root Medicine. We hope to see you there!!