Passionate about low and slow cooking
Duo starts Tom & Jer Catering based on barbecued recipes
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Thursday, August 4, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Tom McOuat of the recently established Tom & Jer Catering claims no business in Yellowknife barbecues quite like they do.
Thomas McOuat, left, and Jeremy Stringer head up the new catering company, Tom & Jer Catering, where they offer a range of foods they say is barbecued exactly how clients like it. - Robin Grant/NNSL photo
|
"We're putting 16 or 17 hours into those pieces of meat, smoking them really low and slow, and it comes through in the flavour in the end," explained McOuat's business partner and the company's official barbecue chef, Jeremy Stringer.
The two aren't new to the world of succulent meat making.
Trained in fine-dining, McOuat has worked in a slew of restaurants for more than a decade.
Stringer, a food aficionado, especially when it comes to smoking and barbecuing, owns about 14 barbecues.
He said his passion formed as a young boy, watching his father grill steaks in the summer.
In February, the two guys, born and raised in the North, decided to join forces after successfully catering a wedding.
While the Tom & Jer's Facebook page displays a selection of menu options, the website is quite stark.
That's because, as McOuat said, the catering company wants to leave options open for clients to bring their unique needs, quite literally, to the table.
"On one of our menus for burgers, it just says 'burgers' because we'll give them the option to do whatever they want with those burgers - whether they're stuffed, whether they'll have jalapenos,"
McOuat said. "From the one item, we can branch out 100 different ways . We're flexible in the sense that we're willing to attempt it."
Aside from offering meat in serving sizes or buffet style, such as marinated grilled chicken breasts, Great Slave whitefish, roast beef and pork wellington, among other things, a popular option is the grilled barbecue pizza.
"We modify the charcoal grill so we can use real wood," said Stringer. "It cooks at about 850 degrees, so we can do a pizza in about four or five minutes. It has kind of a wood-type flavour."
In fact, pretty much everything they cook touches a barbecue or smoker.
McOuat said sourcing food locally is another important feature.
"We try to buy everything local here, we spread what we're buying between some of the local grocers and food suppliers in town for meat and large quantities," McOuat said.
But the passion is definitely smoking and barbecuing.
"For one job, we had a large briquette that we were using, so (Stringer) started it at one or two in the morning and got up every couple of hours to make sure that the charcoal is there," said McOuat.
"I mean that is the level of commitment. We're smoking it for16 or 17 hours and monitoring the thermometers and keeping an eye on the heat levels and everything like that - it's definitely a process.
It's something that takes the time and takes passion."
Stringer agreed.
"The key is having a passion for what the outcome is going to be and believing that it is time well spent because, in the end, when people cut into the meat and just seeing the smiles, it's all worth it," he said.
