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CRASH COURSES STARTED OVER THE WEEKEND AT CANADA HOUSE CLINICS IN CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI
January 15th, 2019
T.H. Sea Creations and Canada House Clinics have started doing Crash Courses on Location. The first one was held in Charlottetown on January 11th and had a great turn out. Over the weekend we had 24 students! We're so pleased with the class, we're trying to set up another group of classes later in the Spring. Check back for updates on when/where the class will be held.
CANNABIS CHRISTMAS DINNER: MONTAGUE CHEF SAYS HOME COOKS SHOULD 'START LOW AND GO SLOW' WITH DOSAGE
Dec 22, 2018
MONTAGUE, P.E.I. - The Guardian
It’s a new twist on a familiar question often heard at the Christmas dinner table: “Honey, can you please pass the cannabis-infused gravy?” And for Neil Menzie – owner, chef and instructor with T.H. Sea Creations, a catering business in Montague – the question he’s hearing more as Christmas approaches is “how do I make cannabis-infused gravy?” “I’ve had a few calls on it, for sure,” Menzie said. “We go into people’s homes and teach them how to cook with cannabis from the comfort of their own homes. We (also) do an infused Christmas or infused holiday dinner (such as Thanksgiving).” Menzie has been a chef on P.E.I. at different places for about 10 years. He launched his business on Oct. 17 – the day recreational cannabis became legal in Canada.
In the new year, he’s also planning to offer cooking classes for clients of Canada House Clinics (formerly Marijuana for Trauma). He also holds information sessions as well as three-hour courses on how to make cannabis-infused butters and oils, rather than complete meals.
People can buy cannabis oil for cooking, but he prefers to make his own infused oils and butters from dried cannabis.
In general, he’ll use five to 10 milligrams of cannabis oil as the range for a total meal. For example, one part of the overall meal – say carrots or mashed potatoes – may be infused with two milligrams. With stuffing or the turkey meat, he prefers to infuse the butter and gravy. But for a first-time client, he recommends 2.5 to five milligrams.
“One of the rules of thumb that I always go by is ‘start low and go slow.’ You can always eat more but you can’t eat less.”
The cannabis also takes longer to take effect since it’s ingested rather than smoked. Ingesting cannabis gives the user a “body stone.” Menzie prefers to infuse the gravy that is poured on the turkey meat with cannabis or rub the turkey breast with cannabis-infused butter rather than infusing the meat directly. In fact, he said he hasn’t tried injecting a turkey breast directly with cannabis and then cooking it in the oven, so he isn’t sure if that method would work. A potential issue is that THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) starts to degrade when it is cooked at 350 F. “So, if you’re going over that, then it’s always best to add it in after,” he said. And, once cannabis-infused beverages are on the Canadian market, he is interested in trying to cook a turkey in a similar way as cooking a “beer can chicken.”
Menzie said, legally, he can’t infuse food and bring it to someone’s home for their consumption, nor can he bring cannabis to a home and cook with it. The cannabis for cooking must be supplied by the client.
https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/business/cannabis-christmas-dinner-montague-chef-says-home-cooks-should-start-low-and-go-slow-with-dosage-270643/
COOKING WITH CANNABIS: EPISODE 82 - CANADIAN CANNABIS UPDATE PODCAST
December 7th, 2018
We were featured on the Canadian Cannabis Update Podcast. It's a great Canadian Podcast based out of Calgary and part of the Cannabis Media Collective. Check it out, Cooking with Cannabis Episode 82!!
https://soundcloud.com/cannabismediacollective/ep82-cooking-with-cannabis-an-interview-with-t-h-sea-creations
MONTAGUE CHEF LOOKS TO TURN POT LEGALIZATION INTO A NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Oct 17, 2018
MONTAGUE, P.E.I. - The Guardian
A Montague chef is looking to take cooking at home to a new high.
Neil Menzie will launch his business, T.H. Sea Creations today, teaching people to cook with cannabis in the comfort of their own home. Today is also the day cannabis goes on sale legally across Canada. Menzie will start off with an information session at Hot Shots bar in Charlottetown from 6-8 p.m. He’s also accepting bookings for his catering service at neilmenzie@gmail.com and thseacreations@gmail.com.
“I’m going to be offering cooking classes to people in their homes and that’s going to be cooking with cannabis,’’ Menzie said. “I’ll be teaching people different recipes other that the different edibles that they might have heard of before, like brownies, cookies and candies.’’
It also helps Menzie’s cause that edibles aren’t going to be sold at cannabis stores, at least not right away.
“I want to take it from what it used to be (used in) into something that’s more accessible to everybody, like doing pastas, curries and pasta breads.’’
Menzie said a 2017 study by Dalhousie University on edibles showed 46 per cent of people in Canada wanted to try it, but only 20 per cent knew enough about cannabis to cook with it at home. “So, there’s about 80 per cent of the people out there that really have no knowledge of it that could gain some from it.’’ Menzie has worked as a chef on and off for the past 10 years. He was head chef at the Catch Kitchen and Bar at West Point and at Captain Jacks in Charlottetown. He also served as sous chef at the Big Orange Lunchbox in Charlottetown before it closed.
“I (also) know a lot about burgers and stuff like that. Another thing I’m going to try and push is a way to do stuff like burgers, just everyday food; try to figure out how to make that infused.’’ Menzie said he’s been doing lots of research online, following chefs doing similar work in Colorado and California. Ask him why it’s fun to cook with cannabis and he’ll talk about how discreet it is as an ingredient. No matter what it’s used in, no one need know it’s in there. “It (also) gives you a different experience that when you’re smoking it and there’s less room for carcinogens, the negative effects from smoking or vaping. It’s a totally different effect. I know there are going to be a lot of people who don’t want to smoke (cannabis) once it does become available.’’
As for how what Menzie cooks up would affect a person, he said it depends on a person’s weight and how much is put into the food.
“It usually doesn’t take effect for an hour but the effect could last anywhere from five to 24 hours.’’ Menzie also plans on offering a holiday cooking class around Christmastime for things like cannabis-infused mashed potatoes and gravy. One of the big reasons why he’s offering to go into people’s homes to do all this is so that people won’t be driving themselves.
“People won’t be driving under the influence,’’ he stressed. “They can just . . . spend the night at their house, go to sleep if they want right after the class or do whatever they need to do in order to feel comfortable because we don’t want to leave a bad taste in their mouth, figuratively and literally . . . and we want the food to be good.’’
Some fun questions we asked chef Neil Menzie:
Most important tool in the kitchen – Knives and a good cutting board
Favourite celebrity chef – Jamie Oliver because he thinks outside the box
Most difficult ingredient to work with – Cannabis
Must-have utensil in the kitchen – Good frying pans
Last book read – “The Flavour Bible. Helps with figuring out new recipes
Favourite movie – “Burnt”