Posted by Sheryl Kirby in news and media, what's cooking on September 26, 2007 at 7:15 pm
In The Toronto Star this week, Susan Sampson explores one of my most hated childhood foods - salt cod. Popular around the world, I'm told by many people that the stuff can actually taste darn good. Those folks have never had my Grandmother's fish and brewis. Eugh!
Also in the Star, Amy Pataki continues her quest for a decent pot pie, in the process revealing that not many people know a good one when they see it.
The beloved steak-and-kidney version was hardest to find. When I called Bloor Meat Market in the West End about the British classic, the response was, and I quote: "Eww."
(Since the shop's chicken pot pie was execrable, maybe people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw pies.)
Jennifer Bain looks at the continuing fuss over school lunches and how one school got around the junk food issue by allowing students to order from weekly menus. And Gordon Stimmell picks some whites to go with Thanksgiving dinner, including the Wayne Gretzky Chardonnay that got low marks from another local wine critic.
At the Toronto Sun, Rita DeMontis wants us all to start canning and preserving. There's even a history of the mason jar and some recipes. Not a bad idea, with some easy to follow instructions. I desperately want to do some preserving, but the thought of two dozen jars of the same kind of pickles (all to be eaten within a year) kind of freaks me out.
Also in the Sun, Elizabeth Baird has the short list for the Canadian Culinary Book Awards, plus other foodie news.
At the Globe and Mail, Chef David Lee compares locally-raised Wagyu beef with the stuff from Kobe and concludes that... they cannot be compared. Oh, come ON!
Then came the taste test. Cutting into each of the steaks was a revelation. They were both superior to any I had tasted before, but each had its own characteristics.
I concluded they should not be compared, but each enjoyed for its uniqueness.
They have their own characteristics, and their own uniqueness, but Lee doesn't bother to tell us exactly what those characteristics are. Either he doesn't want to pick one for fear of offending either of the purveyors, or his editor at the Globe needs to smack him around a bit with a red pen. Show, don't tell, Chef!
Also in the Globe, Beppi Crosariol looks at an innovative restaurant in Vancouver that serves up wine, cold cuts and cheese - no chef, no cooking, no overhead. It sounds amusing now, but wait until it catches on everywhere else and you can't get a hot meal to save your life. Crosariol also looks at the upcoming Vintages Auction, and Alwynne Gwilt explores the world of high-end marshmallows, including those from The Queen of Tarts on Roncesvalles. I once bought a bag of these and cut them up and served them with wine at a cocktail party - best finger food ever, and I didn't even lie and say I made them myself.
