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Joys of summer: hanging out with chef Tyler Florence at the Jays game

Tyler Florence at the Rogers Centre (Image: Karon Liu)

The summer may be over, but we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to watch a Jays game with chef Tyler Florence in the coveted 400 seats at the Rogers Centre—especially considering he was letting us taste one of his new creations. Florence was in town with the California Table Grape Commission as part of a five-stadium tour to promote, well, grapes. Specifically, he and his colleagues want the fruit to be sold in cups at the concession stands as a healthy alternative to peanuts and Cracker Jacks. After throwing the first pitch, Florence rushed upstairs, grabbed a beer and waxed poetic about healthy eating.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

September 24, 2010 | 11:35 am

2 Comments

How to make Canoe’s braised pork and split peas

Chef Anthony Walsh’s mother taught him how to cook pork so tender you can eat it with a spoon. Here’s his recipe

(Photograph: Edward Pond; Illustration by Jack Dylan)

“I started cooking when I was about 14, largely because I hate doing dishes. I have four brothers and a sister, and growing up, we’d always have friends over. All we’d do is eat, eat, eat. My mother—Ann Coughlin, a good Irish girl—would cook up this amazing pork for the masses; for her, it was like water off a duck’s back. Her conviviality mixed with culinary know-how is what inspires me as a chef to this day. Cooking for someone is one of the most intimate things you can do. You have to take time to take care of your guests. At Canoe, our version of her braised pork is about as comforting as it gets. We’ll never be able to take it off the menu.”

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The Dish

DIY Gourmet

September 2, 2010 | 11:09 am

1 Comment

A magazine with issues: Gourmet comes back to the newsstand—sort of

Gourmet magazine may have kicked the bucket last October, but its recent death twitches have some wondering if a resurrection is in the offing. First, June saw the launch of Gourmet Live, an iPad app that provides access to recipes, food essays and the like to fans of the foodie rag. Now Gourmet is making a print comeback in the form of three newsstand-only editions, one of which is due to hit shelves next week.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

August 23, 2010 | 12:51 pm

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The original surf and turf: how to make Cava’s macho paella

Chef Chris McDonald’s secret? Killer sofrito. Here’s the recipe

(Image: Edward Pond; illustration by Jack Dylan)

“Paella is the Spanish equivalent of North American barbecue: it’s cooked by men, over a fire, outdoors. I love that atavistic approach to food. The important thing to remember is that making paella is a commitment. You’re dumping everything into the pan and leaving it to cook. When it’s in, there’s no turning back. Thankfully, slightly scorched rice on the bottom just adds to the charm.”

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

August 4, 2010 | 12:08 pm

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Best of the City 2010: 14 picks for the top food in Toronto

Leaf fan: Matchbox Gardens grows rare and wonderful lettuces (Image: Jay Shuster)

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

July 26, 2010 | 2:11 pm

7 Comments

A sticky situation: how to make Union’s finger-licking ribs

Chef Teo Paul describes his 20-year quest for the perfect ribs

(Photograph: Edward Pond; Illustration: Jack Dylan)

“Back in the ’80s, there was this place by our house, near Dupont and Davenport, called Mickey’s Ribs. The kitchen just did ribs to go. It took them an hour to make them, and they were expensive as hell—my dad would only get them as a special treat. They were unbelievably awesome. So for the past 20-odd years, I’ve been trying to recreate them. When I opened Union last year, I put side ribs on the menu and called them sticky ribs, because that’s want I wanted—that amazingly saucy, meaty, sticky goodness. But they weren’t sticky. For three months, the three other chefs and I talked about them every night. We played with the liquid ratios and tried different cooking times. Then, one night, because the oven was full, I put them on the bottom rack. That was the ticket. They worked perfectly. Here’s what you do.”

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The Dish

Opening

July 9, 2010 | 11:00 am

14 Comments

The Toronto Temperance Society: College Street’s “secret” speakeasy

Members only: the interior of the Toronto Temperance Society (Image: Jon Sufrin)

There may be no decoy phone booth in the vein of New York’s secret bar, Please Don’t Tell, but a door on College Street betrays no hint of the Toronto Temperance Society (TTS), a newly renovated space above Sidecar where some of the city’s best cocktails are painstakingly crafted for members only. TTS just opened on Thursday, and it’s the kind of place where martinis are always stirred (sorry, Bond) and where bartenders—quite dapper in their suspenders and bow ties—get a kick out of procuring hard-to-find bitters.

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The Dish

DIY Gourmet

June 22, 2010 | 4:48 pm

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Lazaruslicious: Gourmet Magazine rises from the dead, thanks to the iPad

It’s a sign of the times. Gourmet, the quintessential foodie digest that died last October, has suddenly been revived, thanks to a new iPad application called Gourmet Live. The free app will be available this fall and will give users premium access to recipes, food essays and tons of delicious photos. In the spirit of new media communities (read: minutiae swapfests), the app will also allow users to share articles via Facebook and Twitter, as well as tag favourites and access popularity rankings.

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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 Dish

From the Print Edition

April 26, 2010 | 10:37 am

1 Comment

How to make Jamie Kennedy’s perch with seasonal nettles

The famed chef gives a maligned weed some locavore love

Jamie Kennedy: The Dish, yellow perch with stinging nettle

(Image: Edward Pond)

Stinging nettle is one of the first plants to emerge from the detritus of winter, and as anyone who has been stung by it knows, it’s a nasty weed. But Jamie Kennedy, the city’s top locavore chef, isn’t put off by a few prickles. He forages for it near his home in Prince Edward County and is boldly putting it on the menu at Gilead Bistro this month as a complement to yellow perch. Once cooked, nettles taste like spring: fresh, vital and green. For newbie foragers, Kennedy offers this advice: wear gloves, try High Park, but stay away from the dog park. If all else fails, lemony-tasting fresh sorrel (available at most grocers) is a good substitute.

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The Dish

DIY Gourmet

March 18, 2010 | 9:16 am

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Thuet’s upcoming cookbook now has a title and release date

More details of Marc Thuet’s cookbook are out as he and Biana Zorich prepare to head out west to work on the second season of Conviction Kitchen next month. The Post reports that the surprisingly expletive-free title is French Food My Way and that the book will be released in November. This may be cutting it close in terms of promotion, since the chef is scheduled to shoot a third season of his reality show in the States starting in September. The book includes 100 recipes covering breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus desserts and special meals for get-togethers.

• Celebrity chef Marc Thuet has new cookbook coming: French Food My Way [National Post]

The Dish

DIY Gourmet

December 9, 2009 | 3:46 pm

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Just Ducky: chef Jason Inniss shows us how to make Amuse-Bouche’s honey-glazed roasted duck

duck_amuse-bouche__ If pigs could fly, they’d be ducks, according to Jason Inniss, chef and co-owner of the endearing west-end restaurant Amuse-Bouche. As with pork, every bit of the bird is usable, and Inniss cooks them beak-to-pope’s-nose, from confit to rendered fat to roast breast to stock. He’s a stickler for conscientious thriftiness. He serves his honey-glazed, roasted duck breast with Swiss chard cannelloni, and even the discarded chard stems have a purpose; he sautées them with house-made spaetzle as a side.

• Get the recipe »

The Dish

Read All About It

December 9, 2009 | 8:44 am

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London named world’s top vegetarian city, banning Christmas cookie decorations, more French wines under $30

Beware the bedazzled cupcake (Photo by Ilena)

• How safe are dragées, those weird decorative silver balls that often find their way onto desserts during the holidays? The FDA suggests that they should be used only for decoration, and they’ve disappeared from California after a lawyer argued that the silver could build up toxicity in the body over time. We couldn’t help but wonder who would miss the gaudy garnishes, but some are apparently enamoured with them. “I think Christmas is going to have to come to an end,” said one melodramatic caterer of California’s dragée ban. “How can we decorate cookies without those silver balls?” [Epicurious]

• London, England, has been declared by PETA to be the most vegetarian-friendly city in the world, beating out New York, Melbourne and even Mumbai. PETA cited London’s pantheon of meat-free restaurants and its variety of meatless ethnic cuisine as reasons why it trumped all other cities. The famously vegetarian Paul McCartney lauded the decision: “After 40 years of touring as a vegetarian, I’m proud to say that when it comes to eating, there’s no place like home.” [Daily Telegraph]

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The Dish

Read All About It

November 21, 2009 | 11:50 am

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Coolio gets a cooking show (yes, that Coolio), Rachael Ray bests Martha Stewart, recession ruins champagne sales

• Mid-’90s rapper Coolio has traded in rhymes for recipes. The Ghetto Gourmet now has an on-line cooking show and a new book called Cookin’ With Coolio. Mixing African-American and urban foods with such world cuisines as Asian and Italian, Coolio has crafted what he calls “ghetto fusion,” offering dishes like chicken lettuce blunts, Coolio caprese salad and cold shrimpin’. Although the rapper said he grew up in the kitchen, there might be an ulterior motive behind his food: “If I can get [a woman] to eat my food, I can [seduce her]”—meaning, we think, that he can follow a rump roast with some serious back. [Boston]

• We are sad to report that the tussle between food mavens Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray ended before it had a chance to get interesting. In the end, Ray won the Miss Congeniality belt, and Stewart was simply outclassed. After appearing on the Rachael Ray Show, Stewart condescendingly remarked on Nightline that while she herself is a teacher, Ray is a mere entertainer. Instead of slinging back insults, Ray gracefully acknowledged Stewart’s strong talents and admitted that when it comes to food she’d rather eat Stewart’s than her own. Now, Martha, could you teach us how to strike it rich on the markets? [New York]

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The Dish

DIY Gourmet

November 9, 2009 | 12:36 pm

1 Comment

Nice rack: how to make Didier Leroy’s unapologetically decadent lamb Wellington

(Photo by Edward Pond)

Classic French cuisine is enjoying yet another buttery comeback. And no one makes it quite like Didier Leroy, the chef and owner of Didier, this city’s most unapologetically Gallic restaurant. His lamb Wellington is decadence wrapped in more decadence. While he makes his own puff pastry (a process that takes two days), he suggests buying a quality butter-based version. A word to the wise: take the Frenchman’s advice.

• Continue reading for Didier Leroy’s full recipe for lamb Wellington »

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