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All stories relating to fat

Five expert tips on finding the ultimate steak

Carnal wins: Mark Schatzker hunts for the best steak in the world (Image: Pixel Puzzling)

It took Mark Schatzker three years to find the perfect steak. The Toronto-based journalist, traveller and lifelong beef lover was sick of the less-than-revelatory variety available hereabouts and set out to find the best a cow could give. The Globe recently hung out with Schatzker to eat steak and talk about his new book, Steak: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef. Here, five pearls of beefy wisdom we gleaned from that encounter.

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The Dish

Culinary Curiosities

April 28, 2010 | 8:33 am

12 Comments

Tim Hortons adapts to American way of life as doughnuts become hamburger buns

(Image: myinnerfatty.blogspot.com)

When Tim Hortons started opening locations in the United States a few years ago, we mused that a distinctly Canadian operation might have trouble assimilating. How would Timmies fare in the world of Krispy Kreme and Starbucks? Well, today our worries are put to rest. Thanks to a recent blog post on My Inner Fatty, we can see Tim Hortons doughnuts are fitting in nicely with the American way of life.

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The Informer

Mayor May Not

April 26, 2010 | 3:39 pm

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Mayoral debate more confusing than funny

We’re sure there was some real comedy and some real debate on Saturday, but none of it was at the mayoral debate, held at the Green Living Show. Because of the setting, the candidates all tried to out-green their rivals. Things got weird as Rocco Rossi claimed that selling Toronto Hydro was necessary to fund Transit City; George Smitherman accused Sarah Thomson of supporting Rossi’s sell-off (she denies it) and Rob Ford accused Smitherman of stealing his ideas. If the audience was confused, well, we can’t blame them.

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The Informer

Guergis-Jaffergate

April 22, 2010 | 1:26 pm

1 Comment

Among Jaffer’s problems: double chin

Troubled ex-MP Rahim Jaffer was arrested for drinking while intoxicated, is an alleged cocaine user, and is accused of using his wife’s position as a cabinet minister to conduct private business. But the Edmonton Sun is the only paper brave enough to say what everyone’s been thinking: Jaffer’s put on a lot of weight.

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The Hype

To-Do List

April 21, 2010 | 12:53 pm

4 Comments

The Weekender: The Cake Show, Burlesque’s Most Wanted and seven other weekend events

1. GREEN LIVING SHOW
Demonstrations, workshops and speakers cover everything eco-warriors need to know about greening their lives. And we do mean everything: transportation, fashion, tourism, food, wine, health and education are all covered. April 23 to 25. $12, or free with a piece of “e-waste.” Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, 100 Princes’ Blvd., greenlivingonline.com/torontoshow/.

2. THE CAKE SHOW 2010
A must-attend for sweet-toothed Torontonians, this afternoon-long event is hosted by the Bonnie Gordon School and features beautiful creations by past and present students. Check out the exhibit of “cake art,” live decorating challenges and a cake-tasting contest. April 25. $10. Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St., 416-440-0333, thecakeshow.com.

3. DANCEWORKS PRESENTS CIE. LA OTRA ORILLA
The Montreal-based flamenco troupe Cie. La Otra Orilla spices things up at Harbourfront this weekend with two performances of EL12, a piece that contemporizes the traditional Andalusian dance and explores the style’s distinctive 12-beat rhythm. April 23 and 24. $28. Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 231 Queens Quay W., 416-973-4000, harbourfrontcentre.com.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

April 8, 2010 | 12:01 pm

29 Comments

The eight best bets in St. Lawrence Market

St. Lawrence Market, with its beckoning butchers and weekend crowds, can be a trick to navigate, so we compiled a directory of our favourite market finds.

The peameal sandwich from Carousel (Photo by Daniel Shipp)

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The Dish

Read All About It

March 29, 2010 | 2:16 pm

1 Comment

Junk food and cocaine pretty much the same thing: study

Jonesin' (Image: Alexey Krasavin)

Science is perfecting the art of proving the patently obvious. A new study published in Nature Neuroscience recounts how lab rats that were fed bacon, sausage and cheesecake became dependent on the high-calorie goodies in order to feel good. The co-author writes that, much like other pleasurable activities (sex, drug use), eating can trigger the release of feel-good chemicals in the brain, which can lead to addictive behaviour. The rats that were given the high-fat diet also had access to healthy rat chow, but they ignored it. This all demonstrates two things that have been evident for decades to any pet owner who’s gone through a breakup: 1) fat feels good, and 2) the deliciousness of sausage transcends the animal kingdom.

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The Dish

Pantry Raid

March 26, 2010 | 12:21 pm

2 Comments

Butter versus margarine: the debate rages on for some reason

(Images: sylvar, Andrew Filer)

The butter versus margarine debate played out in the Globe recently, as companies like Becel (the one Sarah Polley refuses to endorse) pack in the omega-3s and pull out the saturated fats. The 1,000-word article doesn’t definitively say if one is better than the other. Rather, it talks about how the omega-3s in margarine aren’t as good as the ones found in fish oils. To save readers some time, here’s the bottom line: as long as people aren’t eating sticks of butter like Popsicles or scooping margarine like ice cream, both fats can be consumed in small doses.

• Butter v. margarine – which is better? [Globe and Mail]

The Dish

Pantry Raid

March 2, 2010 | 4:48 pm

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Celebrating the Week of Eating In with the nine “grossest packaged foods ever”

Licence to eel (Image: Tesco)

Pork brains in milk gravy contain 1,170 per cent of an adult’s recommended daily intake of cholesterol (though the upchuck factor may mitigate any long-term effects). This is just one of the meals featured in the Huffington Post’s new assemblage of “grossest packaged foods ever”—a parade of grotesqueries that break virtually every food rule in the book. Number one, Armour Potted Meat Food Product, contains traces of meat from several different species (beef hearts, separated chicken, partially defatted “tissue”). The canned eels occupying the penultimate slot are jellied, as if they weren’t putrid enough on their own. HuffPo is running the slide show to honour the Week of Eating In, which encourages readers to cook from scratch in their own kitchens. To be sure, even those faced with the barest of larders could do no worse.

• Grossest Packed Food Ever [Huffington Post]

The Dish

Read All About It

January 20, 2010 | 8:48 am

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Mariah Carey champagne, U.K. considers butter ban, Kraft and Cadbury to merge

Oenophile Mariah Carey at the Toronto premiere of Precious (Photo by Karon Liu)

• U.K. heart surgeon Shyam Kolvekar will be less popular at the nation’s morning fry-ups after his suggestion that butter should be banned to save the increasing number of young people suffering from heart problems. Adults in the country eat 20 per cent more than the recommended limit of saturated fats per month, with butter being a major contributor to the problem. Kolvekar says butter can be replaced with more heart-healthy fats, like margarine and low-fat spread. Poor Julia Child will be rolling over in her grave. [The Daily Mail]

• With the Kraft and Cadbury merger coming ever closer to reality (U.K.-owned Cadbury has accepted U.S.-owned Kraft’s offer of $19.5 billion, but shareholder approval is pending), the British are fretting about what it will mean for their chocolate. The Guardian claims American chocolate has more sugar, less cocoa solids and uses different beans than British varieties do. While British bars do tend to be creamier, we are most concerned about the fate of Creme Eggs. [The Independent]

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The Goods

Required Reading

January 14, 2010 | 12:18 pm

1 Comment

Jimmy Choo Uggs, Sarah Jessica Parker designs for Halston, Tony Blair to become fashion exec

Tamara Mellon choo-choo chooses Uggs

• Jimmy Choo designer Tamara Mellon has joined the list of people who actually admit to owning Uggs (André Leon Talley and Cathy Horyn are also on it). In fact, Mellon loves the boots so much that she’s collaborating on the design of five styles of Jimmy Choo Uggs (Chuggs?) to be available in October for a whopping $595 to $795. [Fashionista]

• Tony Blair is in the final stages of negotiating a deal to join the French luxury goods powerhouse LVMH as an advisor. The group owns, among many other companies, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs and a host of high-end alcohol brands. Blair is a close friend of LVMH head Bernard Arnault, and the pair is expected to work closely together to attract new clients. Now, if only Blair would advise his notoriously unfashionable successor on what to wear. [Huffington Post]

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The Dish

Read All About It

January 13, 2010 | 8:47 am

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Coke-powered cellphones, nut-free airplanes, parsley’s great comeback, Beyoncé to live long

As if phones don't vibrate enough (Photo courtesy of Daizi Zheng)

• As any student knows, Coke can provide enough energy to power one through an all-nighter. Nokia has figured this out, as well, as proven by the company’s new cellphone battery, which uses enzymes to generate electricity from sugar. The fully biodegradable handset, designed by Daizi Zheng, also runs four times longer than those with the traditional lithium battery. [The Design Blog]

• Curly parsley has become the new “star of high-end cuisine,” Canadian House and Home reports. The ascent of this essentially boring herb, great garnish of roadside diner dishes the world over, marks the return of many basic ingredients to chefs’ kitchens since the recession. Goodbye, saffron spice. Hello, iceberg lettuce. [National Post]

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The Dish

Read All About It

December 5, 2009 | 9:10 am

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$135 beer, Rolling Stone to open nightclub, guilt-free carbohydrates

Well rested: the perfect steak (Photo by Robin)

• The folks at Anheuser-Busch really had us going last summer with their “I like getting it in the can” ads. (They were talking about Bud Light Lime–aren’t sexual innuendoes hilarious?) Well, they’re at it again with a new ad set to debut in Canada on Sunday, and this time contraceptives provide the ambiguity: “I like having fun, but I always use one,” or “If you care about me, you’re gonna use one.” They’re talking about designated drivers, silly. [Globe and Mail]

• Good things come to those who wait, and that cliché applies to steak, too. Apparently, the simple act of letting a steak rest for 10 minutes or so after cooking it makes a world of difference in flavour and juiciness. The folks at Serious Eats, as expected, provide a thorough explanation of why a rested steak is always better, but the proof is in the photos: once cut, a fresh-off-the-grill steak leaks copious amounts of juice onto the plate, while a rested steak leaks almost none. [Serious Eats]

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The Goods

Required Reading

October 16, 2009 | 3:13 pm

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GQ didn’t alter January Jones’s breasts, Karl Lagerfeld calls model critics “fat mummies,” Torontonian named top fashion blogger

January Jones on the cover of GQ

• The Telegraph has published a roundup of the 20 best fashion blogs. Included are some unsurprising picks (The Sartorialist, Bryanboy), but Toronto’s Tommy Ton also got a nod for the photo-heavy Jak and Jil Blog. [Telegraph]

• The 15th anniversary of Nars cosmetics is being fêted with a celebrity-packed coffee table book titled 15×15. Stealing more buzz than the tome itself is a photo inside of a shirtless Marc Jacobs in bright red lipstick and nails. The shot was inspired by a Richard Avedon picture of ’60s model China Machado. We get the pose and nail polish, but what’s with the trucker moustache? [WWD]

• Critical Shopper Mike Albo visits the Lululemon in Lincoln Square and discovers what Canadians have known for years: there’s no better gear for downward dogging than Lulus, not to mention how good they make our butt look at the gym. [New York Times]

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The Dish

Read All About It

July 28, 2009 | 8:00 am

1 Comment

Frappuccinos may lead to cancer, North Korea’s black market fast food, local food returns to its roots

In a froth: the hidden dangers of a frappuccino (Photo by Kochtopf)

• Restaurants and bars might soon have to pay thousands more for the right to play music. The Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada wants to triple the royalty fee it collects for performers and sound engineers. Dance clubs would be hardest hit, with annual bills potentially as high as $30,000. Everyone better Footloose while they still can. [Canadian Press]

• An installation artist is taking the local food movement back to its roots (literally). California surfer/artist Jim Denevan is setting up a table for 80 in between the rows of organic carrots at Dingo Farms in Bradford, Ontario on August 11. Mark Cutrara of Cowbell will be preparing the $200 meal using ingredients from the farm. Guests are reminded to bring their own plates and cutlery—we advise against disposable. [Toronto Star]

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