September 1, 2018
The funny thing about bouillabaisse is that like a lot of ‘fancy’ foods it has a very humble upbringing. Think of oysters, snails, frogs’ legs, caviar: all these expensive foods started out as very affordable foods. Some were used to encourage drinking (oysters and caviar), others were little better than fertilizer (lobster), and some came to be on the dinner…
August 1, 2018
Let’s Eat Outside The concept of eating outdoors is, of course, not new. We have been eating outside for most of human history. But it’s now a special occasion to gather with friends outdoors, everybody contributing something to a casual feast. The history of the word in English is fairly recent, being mentioned in a letter in 1748, but it…
July 1, 2018
It’s actually grilling First things first. When you cook outside on the ‘BBQ’ or ‘barbeque’ you are not technically barbequing, you are grilling. There are arguments to be made that grilling is just a fast version of barbequing but we will just leave those aside for the moment. Barbeque is all that smoke-and-low-heat stuff which is its own beast and…
June 1, 2018
Olive a little more, please… Olive oil is a simple product. At its best: perfectly ripe olives, minimally processed, bottled, and on your table as fresh as possible. Olive oil is at its core, just fruit juice, but unlike most fruit juices this one is full of good fats and surprising flavours. For almost 10,000 years this product has been…
May 1, 2018
A Fancy Name for Simple Soup Say you have some shells and bones left over after processing your catch and selling the meat to the local swells, what is a poor fisherman to do? Why, create an inexpensive soup that will eventually be one of the pricier broths to end up on any menu all over the world. There are…
March 31, 2018
From simple to complex, the hamburger is a blank canvas Hamburgers, burgers, Hamburg steak, Salisbury steak. Only something so loved and so ubiquitous could have so many names, not to mention the myriad variations: elk burger, veggie burger, roo burger. The history of this modest lunch is a bit murky. Chopped steak and chopped steak sandwiches have been popular for…
March 1, 2018
Seaweed: Guest Chef Sarah Forrester Wendt of My Plum, My Duck shows us the versatility of our ocean’s briny delicacies Despite living in a place surrounded by ocean, seaweed isn’t something that shows up on our dinner plates as often as it did in the past. Sure there is the goma wakame we see at sushi restaurants (and even the…
February 1, 2018
Soup “Only the pure of heart can make good soup” – Beethoven The history of soup goes back a long way. Some 20,000 years ago archaeologists say the Chinese were making a form of soup, based on pottery sherds found in Jiangxi Province, China. Soup is also responsible for our use of the word ‘restaurant’. The word was first used…
Created By Chef Ilona Daniel Serves 4-6 1 small package Jiangxi Rice Noodles, prepared according to package directions, set aside 3 eggs, scrambled, set aside 3 fresh red chillies, thinly sliced 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced 1 lb (one bag from the grocery store) bean sprouts, mung beans are better if you can find them About a cup of…
January 1, 2018
Braising There’s no better remedy to winter’s chills than a big, hot kitchen stove. While these wood-fired behemoths once doubled as a home’s main heat source, our modern appliances are often overlooked as a source of warmth during this darkest and coldest month of the year. When I am thinking of warm, comforting, cold weather cooking I am drawn to…