Culinary Curiosities

The latest buzz on restaurants, chefs, bars, food shops and food events. Sign up for the Dish newsletter for weekly updates. Send tips to thedish@torontolife.com

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October 24, 2011 | 12:42 pm

Cake Wrecks, the Internet’s favourite catalogue of cake catastrophes, comes to Toronto

A faithful reproduction of our national flag

Imagine serving a cake decorated with the words “Happy Hallowen, Trick or Troat.” Or perhaps sperm-shaped spirits. Or a ghost wailing “ooooooB.” These are just today’s atrocities on Cake Wrecks, a blog that catalogues the worst professional cakes on the planet, from egregious misspellings to stomach-churning colours to incomprehensible design choices. Blogger Jen Yates is making her first-ever stop in Toronto to promote the release of her second book, Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets “Festive.”

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October 18, 2011 | 12:39 pm

Jessica Pollack explores pljeskavica, the “Balkan burger” (now at Hrvati)

Over at the National Post, Jessica Pollack digs deep into an unlikely 2011 food trend: pljeskavica, a meat patty–based dish common to various parts of southeastern Europe. Armed with a copiously annotated graphic, Pollack deconstructs the “Balkan burger,” spending a full fifth of the article on the lepinja, its unique, spongy bun (a sample: “the doughy bun has a spongy quality that lends an unexpected lightness, the closest references that come to mind being naan or the crust on Toronto hotspot Pizzeria Libretto’s pies.”). After tasting an authentic raw onion pljeskavica in Ottawa, she turns to a more Americanized smoked-mozzarella version at Toronto’s Hrvati Bar, the new Croatian watering hole with a menu by Rodney Bowers. It’s worth a read—not only will you learn what kajmak and ajvar mean, but you’ll also know how to pronounce them when you order. Read the entire story [National Post] »

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September 29, 2011 | 3:07 pm

VIDEO: Fresh ingredients to fully baked pizza in 90 seconds flat—from a vending machine

Although this is far from the first pizza vending machine out there, we’re rather tickled by how seriously this video’s narrator seems to be taking the whole thing. But we have to admit it’s pretty impressive: rather than simply reheating a pre-made pie, this automated pizzeria uses fresh ingredients and assembles it before your eyes. At full tilt, the machine can crank one out every 90 seconds—and if that seems too long a wait, the device comes standard with a 37-inch flat-screen TV to keep you distracted. The company responsible for this triumph of culinary engineering is Pizzametry, run by a New York jeweller and the retired CEO of a battery manufacturer. Five machines are currently in production. Sadly, no word yet on any orders coming from this side of the border. [h/t Eater]

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August 22, 2011 | 1:42 pm

Ex marks the spot: eight culinary innovations at this year’s Canadian National Exhibition (including deep-fried cola)

Four culinary delights at this year’s CNE (Images: Gizelle Lau)

In the days of yore, people flocked to the Canadian National Exhibition to see the year’s prize cows, pigs and horses. It’s only fitting that in these fallen fast-food times, people now gather round the warm, greasy glow of the deep fryers in the CNE Food Building. Indeed, gawking at the year’s fried fare has become something of an annual tradition, so we headed back to the Ex this year to bring you eight gut-busting indulgences, including this year’s headline grabber: deep-fried Coke cola.

See photos of all eight, along with a readout of our regret-o-meter »

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August 16, 2011 | 1:28 pm

Health-conscious Coca-Cola draws the line at deep-fried Coke, presumably for the children

Deep-fried cola: who could resist?

Every year people pile into the food building at the CNE to taste whatever new deep-fried wonder is being served up (also: food on a stick). The good news is that even after last year’s trailblazing deep-fried butter, the fires of culinary innovation are still burning strong in 2011, with one Exhibition-ist, Andrew Motta, inventing deep-fried Coke. The bad news is that The Man apparently can’t handle having his mind blown, so he’s sent his goons to stop this amazing invention.

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June 2, 2011 | 5:20 pm

The latest in the annals of crazy-looking animals: a bright blue lobster from PEI

Not the lobster in question, but equally blue (Image: Richard Wood)

In the latest installment in our never-ending search for Canada’s Next Top Crazy-Looking Animal, we are proud to point you in the direction of this really cool blue lobster, recently caught off the coast of P.E.I’s north shore.

CBC News reports:

Blair Doucette landed the lobster in North Rustico. Only about one in four million lobster is blue. The colour is caused by a genetic mutation.

Wendy Doucette, Blair’s wife, told CBC News in 30 years of fishing he has never seen a blue lobster. They are considering donating the lobster to a local aquarium.

We have to admit: if it were up to us, we’d be sorely temped to see how it tastes.

• Electric-blue lobster caught off P.E.I. [CBC News]

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May 27, 2011 | 11:41 am

It’s back: KFC introduces the Double Down 2.0 to Canada, now with slightly less sodium

It’s baaaaaacack: the Double Down returns to Canada on June 1 (Image: KFC Canada)

In what seems more like fodder for competitive eaters and Twitterers than legitimate news, KFC has just announced that the Double Down will be making a triumphant and greasy return to Canada on June 1. The sandwich, which features bacon and cheese squeezed between two pieces of the Colonel’s famous boneless fried chicken, seems more like something Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman would dream up in his sleep than a legitimate fast-food product—but, hey, there’s clearly a market for it.

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May 26, 2011 | 11:52 am

Check out liquid nitrogen–poached doughnuts and other molecular miracles from a recent Modernist Cuisine demo

John Placko uses goggles while working with liquid nitrogen (Image: Renée Suen)

What’s it like to sear caramel on a -34 °C anti-griddle, poach doughnuts in liquid nitrogen (around -196 °C), or use low temperatures to slow-cook food in vacuum-sealed pouches in a thermal immersion circulator (that’s sous vide for those in the know)? Although they may seem like leftovers from some ’70s sci-fi movie, these modern cooking techniques are starting to move beyond professional kitchens and into homes, buoyed in part by the March release of Nathan Myhrvold’s staggering six-volume Modernist Cuisine. In honour of the 2,500-page tome, The Cookbook Store hosted a two-hour workshop, which saw many of Toronto’s hottest chefs and industry tastemakers piled into Nella Cucina’s upstairs cooking studio, including Grant van Gameren (The Black Hoof), Nick auf der Mauer (Porchetta and Co.), sommelier Jamie Drummond, Dinah Koo (Koo and Co.) and Lucy Waverman.

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May 5, 2011 | 2:21 pm

Environmentalism vs. health throwdown: two Girl Scouts launch petition against cookies made with palm oil

Girl Scout cookies: delicious but potentially habitat-destroying (Image: Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar)

This story has all the right ingredients for a made-for-TV movie: multinational food producers, the war on trans fats, a dash of environmentalism and two young heroines caught in the middle of it all. Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva, two Grade 10 Girl Scouts from Ann Arbor, Michigan, have launched a petition to the Girl Scouts of the USA to stop using palm oil in their signature cookies—and not because it’s high in saturated fat.

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April 29, 2011 | 12:19 pm

Can you really tell the difference between fancy salt and the regular kind? Harold McGee knows

We’ve always wondered if there really is a difference between that expensive gourmet salt and the good old-fashioned salt shaker variety. Doesn’t it all just kind of taste, well, salty? Author Harold McGee, of On Food and Cooking fame, takes up the matter in a recent New York Times article, and his findings are mixed: yes, some salts do taste more or less salty than others, with hints of flavour from other ingredients, but only if one has developed a hypersensitive palette (which, we assume, McGee has). A few highlights, and a few salty facts, after the jump.

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April 15, 2011 | 2:29 pm

Watch a video of a gender reveal party, the Internet’s favourite new food trend (there’s cake involved)

The gender reveal party is the latest food trend to explode across the Internet. For those yet to be invited to one, here’s how it works: following a prenatal ultrasound, the technician, instead of revealing the baby’s gender to the parents, writes it on a note and seals it in an envelope; that envelope finds its way to a local baker or friend, who makes a cake that’s either pink or blue on the inside; and finally, with great trepidation, the cake is cut at a party full of family and friends. Screaming and jumping typically ensues, regardless of the outcome. While we haven’t heard of any Toronto bakers getting in on the action—yet—check out this fab pink-and-blue-polkadotted creation from this Guelph baker.

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April 7, 2011 | 11:43 am

New calorie-counting app gives iPhone users another excuse to obsessively photograph their food

Counting calories can be a pain. For all the lazy dieters out there, salvation has arrived in the form of a new iPhone app by the workout and nutrition site DailyBurn. With Meal Snap, users start by taking photos of the food they’re eating (not a great stretch for snap-happy iPhone users who already take photos of their every meal), with an optional caption or description. The app will then calculate the nutritional breakdown of your meal, log it and track your caloric intake over time. Then you can overshare about it via Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare (hashtag #TMI is optional).

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March 29, 2011 | 10:19 am

New bacon inhaler (yes, that’s right) arrives right on trend

A couple of years back, we told you about Le Whif, a French product that allows you to taste chocolate without the hassle of actually chewing by inhaling a puff of chocolate micro particles. Now, with equal parts excitement and revulsion, we present BaconAir: the world’s very first bacon inhaler that “combines the deliciousness of bacon with the unrivalled health benefits of 95 per cent Himalayan oxygen.”

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March 28, 2011 | 4:42 pm

Toronto FC kicks off the season with a new menu at BMO Field and a home win. We sample the former

Executive chefs Tony Glitz (Real Sports Bar and Grill), Robert Bartley (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) and Chris Zielinski (Air Canada Centre) (Image: Renée Suen)

Toronto FC’s first home game of the season took place last Saturday against the Portland Timbers (Toronto won 2-0), but fans of the city’s Major League Soccer team have a different reason to cheer at BMO Field: a greater variety of food. The venue already has a reputation for serving some of the better concession choices in North America, but Robert Bartley, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s culinary director and executive chef at BMO Field and the ACC, is adding 11 more options. The new items draw mainly from the ever-popular southern barbecue card, supplementing current selections like chip butty, scotch egg, souvlaki and a Montreal-style smoked meat sandwich. Bartley told us that the food underwent a rigorous development process that included a 40-member focus group and multiple one-handed eating-while-walking trials. We sample some of the new additions after the jump.

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March 7, 2011 | 11:46 am

Lady Gaga considering legal action against breast milk ice cream purveyor

Lady Gaga’s legal team is accusing the Icecreamists of being “deliberately provocative and, to many people, nausea-inducing”

While Lady Gaga may enjoy being outrageous—she arrived at this year’s Grammys in an egg-like vessel in which she’d reportedly been incubating for 72 hours before her performance—she apparently doesn’t have a taste for human breast milk ice cream. Gaga’s lawyers began legal proceedings against the ice cream parlour Icecreamists for its latest flavour, which was recently confiscated by authorities over health concerns. The problem? It’s called “Baby Gaga.”

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