St. John’s, Newfoundland – New York Times

It isn’t too often when the place where you live gets mentioned in the New York Times (unless you happen to live in New York), but here you will find a good tour of St. John’s and vicinity – in the column called 36 Hours.

I often wonder how Newfoundland is perceived outside of Canada as a destination for travel – apparently, we’re doing everything right.

So, You Want Wine With That?

Food and wine pairings can sometimes be as easy as a Sauterne and foie gras, but you have to scratch your head as what to drink with a bitter melon soup.
There are restaurants all over the world specializing in food and wine pairing. Go to any winery on the Niagara Peninsula and you will generally find a tasting menu which artfully balances the vintner’s own wines with good food. But who said wine is only good with food at a fancy restaurant?
I am a proponent of having a glass of wine with food – all food. It is one of the joys of cooking to pair every day food with a relaxing glass of wine.
I tend to lean towards the obvious pairings of wine and food. I love red wine and red meat and the more hearty the food the more robust the wine. For your next roast of beef try Chateau Neuf de Pape. While it is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet grapes it tends to be robust and drinkable at any price point. For fish and poultry (excluding game fowl) I like crisp whites. I lean towards grassy chardonnays on summer days and oaky ones in the depths of winter. Give any one of these a try. I am sure that you will enjoy them.
For something completely different consider some of these unconventional pairings:
To me, fast food is a last resort, but sometimes I just have to go with a classic: a double Big Mac combo: the sweetness of the “secret sauce” (Thousand Island dressing) can withstand almost any red, but I prefer a Canadian Vintage Cabernet Franc. The earthiness and the slight bitter note as well as a long finish balance the perceived sweetness of the pickles and sauce.
For red meat, especially home made and grilled burgers which have less sodium and processing, I tend to go for a good hearty red, although, I have been known to throw a cheap $9.00 bottle of Hungarian table wine on the table with great success.
Regionally speaking, I like the new world grapes as much as the well favoured old world varietals. When cooking at home for myself or entertaining, I try to keep wines regionally specific to the foods being served. This makes sense when serving veggie loaded KD (American). A Cabernet Franc (Canadian/American) goes perfectly. The dryness of the Cab Franc grapes cuts through the fattiness of the cheese sauce and gives the acidity needed in rounding out flavours.
Moving away from national foods, I am a proponent of sparkling wine and Chinese food. This is for a couple of reasons: the first is if the food is spicy, as I tend to like it, there is some sweetness to balance the heat and the carbonation settles the stomach.
Indian food is good with a Riesling or Gewürztraminer (preferably German) or a crisp oak aged Californian Chardonnay as the tannins in red wines tend to make curries bitter. Indian beer is a close second behind favoured wines as the bitterness of the hops and the lingering yeastiness of the beer fails to adequately balance the entire meal.
When choosing wine, the key is to be favourable to your own palate. If you like a certain wine, then go for it. Whether the food goes with it is secondary to the pleasure that wine gives you. However, the secret to good wine drinking is keeping an open mind about everything and at least attempting to match the food and wine. For me, half the fun of making a meal is looking through the racks of wine in the store and making a different choice for the meal.
While you peruse the shelves for that new experience remember to take along a note book to record your findings. If it works then you have a good chance of making a successful pairing again. I use a hard backed book. The front serves as a diary for the food I make from my imagination and the back is reserved for an ever growing list of wines as well as detailed tasting notes.
Just remember to have some fun with wine. A little planning will go a long way to making the question “would you like wine with that?” a memorable, and more importantly, pleasurable experience.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the fulll extent of the law.

For portion control, look to the container

CNN has an interesting article about the effects of dieting and the use of utensils as a part of healthy eating.

Work in progress

I have started to produce a workable, albeit not searchable (yet) culinary dictionary for this site concentrating on the more obscure references as opposed to the standard dictionary entries. Keep checking back, it will grow daily. Suggestions or comments are always appreciated and welcomed.

The Gill and Clarkson show

Here is a great example of food writing, humour and a biting review of food. The Times of London has two things I never miss – Jeremy Clarkson in the motoring section and A.A. Gill in Food and Drink – both writers are sarcastic, and brilliant as well as being the funniest writers to be found in any newspaper. These two need their own show. Read ‘em and weep.

Herbs – fresh is better

Herbs. You have them in your cupboard even as I write this. Just for me, take a little peek and see what is there. I’ll bet that most of you have at least thyme and oregano but how many of you use them?
Fresh herbs are always better for cooking. They are used at the end of the cooking process for that direct hit of flavour and bright colour, whereas dried herbs can withstand the entire cooking process.
I enjoy the pungency of the fresh herbs of summer. Basil especially is a favourite of mine, with that heady aroma filling the kitchen as the leaves are plucked, rolled and finely sliced – that to me is a fragrance of summer.
Lucky for us, we can find fresh herbs all year long so we can enjoy them even when the sun doesn’t shine. Here’s what you can find in the local stores:
Parsley – two varieties, flat leaf or Italian parsley and curled leaf or regular parsley. Italian parsley has a more robust flavour and makes a great component of light salads. Curled leaf parsley makes pretty garnish and has a slightly weaker flavour than the flat leaf.
Thyme – there are many varieties available to the public now and some have overtones of other flavours like lemon. Fresh thyme can be used in just about any dish.
Rosemary – Not just for Sunday lamb dinner any more. This hardy and woody herb is strong and pungent and when freshly cut, it is sticky to the touch.
Basil – Green, purple leaf and all varieties in between. Useful for garnish, fantastic aroma to finish fresh pasta, and a great flavour balance to tomato or oil based sauces. Basil is also wonderful over chunky potato salad.
Mint – Chop up finely and add some vinegar and sugar (to balance the acid) and voila, mint sauce for lamb (don’t forget the rosemary). Varieties include chocolate mint – it is a dark leaf mint with “chocolatey” overtones and fantastic for sweets. A leaf or two placed
on top of chocolate pudding goes a long way in impressing your guests.
Herbs should be treated with the same respect you treat fresh cut flowers. Get a container big enough to fit all the herbs standing up. By standing the herbs up and letting them sit in a bit of water (about 1 inch), they last a lot longer. If you wish, wash all the herbs now, but be warned, soft leaves like basil start to decompose when wet, so
they are better left dry. Dry them very well with a clean dish towel. When the herbs have been washed and dried, wet a piece of paper towel and lay it over the top of the herbs like a blanket. The extra dampness over the top will help them from drying out and they will
remain fresh much longer. Change the water daily (if you can) as you would with some flowers and they will last up to two weeks.
When some of the herbs become a little tired try making salsa verde – it is fantastic with baked fish and on grilled meats or even spooned over hot new potatoes.

Salsa verde
1bunch of parsley
1bunch of basil
6 sprigs of mint
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 Tbs of capers, drained
12-14 anchovy fillets (optional: found in the cooler isle, near the butter)
1Tbs of grainy mustard
Juice of ½ lemon
1/3 cup of olive oil
Pepper

Remove and discard stalks from herb leaves.
Place herbs and the rest of the ingredients minus olive oil and lemon juice in a food processor. Blend until slightly chunky. Add some of the oil and lemon juice. Pulse several times to blend. Taste for consistency and adjust the seasoning. If you haven’t used the anchovy you can add a small handful of green olives to add to the salty component. Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow flavours to develop.
If you have any excess herbs then the best thing to do is dry them out. Take the herbs and tie them in bunches. Leave enough string on the end to tie it off. Choose a cool, dry place in the house and hang the herbs upside down until completely dried. This should take about one week.
When deciding what herbs to use next, remember – fresh is better.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Every wine has a story

Serious oeniphiles love to discuss the aspects of wine and its historical significance and regional importance. Wine, and wine appreciation is an all consuming passion.

Like all regional divisions, there are distinct camps of wine people, most of who are completely convinced that one wine is better than another.

Some are ardently opposed to “New World” wines e.g. USA, Australia, Chile, Canada for harboring practices like aging wine in stainless steel tanks instead of oak barrels, screw caps replacing cork and for generally “bastardizing” the noble pursuit of winemaking.

The other camp believes that the Old World wine e.g.: France, Italy, is overpriced and out dated, and that the new techniques of winemaking are actually producing better wine, because they can control all the elements associated with the wine making process, as opposed to leaving nature determine how it will turn out and making a more consistent product.

Another discussion point amongst the distinct groups is the differences between regions in terms of “terroir”. Terroir is the soil, air, water, and temperature as well as characteristics which makes one region different from another. Even still, there are some people who believe that the vinification (wine making process) and the varietal (grape type) produced should be a discussion point for terroir. I feel that is going a bit far. The wine making process has not really changed that much over the thousands of years it has been produced around the world.

France, and especially the Bordeaux region, is noted for hard clay like soil and long hot and dry summers, making it perfect for the wines which they grow – generally speaking, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Verdot red varietals and for white; Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. However if you spin the globe heading West, the Niagara region of Canada, is on the same latitude. There the soil is clay red, and has a consistent temperature (until the snow falls and then Ice wine can be made) and surprise, they produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc (very well), Merlot and for whites as well as Chardonnay, they produce a good Sauvignon Blanc.

The difference between the two regions is startling – one region is touted as one of the greatest wine making regions in the world, probably the most important and influential region in the world. The other is dismissed, and by all accounts, still classified as wine suitable only for tetra packs and spigot boxes. The question is why?

My only answer would be because Bordeaux, for hundreds of years has been the epicenter for winemaking – the techniques that global wine producers use, were mainly developed by the French. On the other side, Canada, for use in this example, has been on the international scene only in the last 50 years. So history comes in as part of the mystique of the wine region as much as the wine itself.

Next, comes availability. France as a dominating country producing over 530 million liters of wine per year as compared to Canada (in 2002 figures) 75.9 million liters. With so little Canadian wine in the world market it is difficult to compete for space, coupled with the fact that there is very little support for the export market of Canadian wine (even wine that is top rated) in European markets because we are seen as only being able to effectively make ice wine.

We only have to look to history to see the time when Californian wines were treated with the same disrespect. Heavy oak Chardonnays and boxed wines were the only things produced with any success – how times have changed. Now the California reds and most of the whites have a comparative nose and body feels with the big players in the French and Italian markets. In fact, in a recent taste test, as recreation of a tasting from the 1970’s, Californian Bordeaux trumped the Grand Crus of France.

I think, given time, more drinkers will see the value of Canadian wine. Unfortunately, St. John’s is limited to several large retailers (the Molson’s and Lebatt’s of wine in Canada) so some of the boutique wines are lost in the shuffle. But take it from me, there are nearly 100 wineries in the Niagara region, and half of those are award winners, and half of those again produce Grand Cru like wines, and that’s only Ontario. Every wine has a story to tell, if only we could all listen.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be proseccuted to the full extent of the law.

Stripped Down and Bare

I started the New Year with hopes and promises to eat a better quality of food, I was thinking this week that more people are talking about food and how important it is in our lives. I have been tossing the ideas around the house of the need for chefs and consumers to get back to basics. It is now time to strip away all the pretensions of cookery and bring it back home.
There are many celebrity chefs who are into “stripping down food to the bare essentials”, and the one who comes to mind is Jamie Oliver whom we all know as the Naked Chef.
What I think is the real key to this resurgence in the simple things is that for the most part, people are scared of food.
Food is bad for you – apparently. There are so many negative associations with food that most people assume that all food is bad. Well, I am afraid they are wrong.
Food is a fuel source. We need to get around and to heal ourselves and keep going about our daily lives. My wife, at one time, was scared when it came to food and she would
have been a lot happier if the food came in pill form and she could have one whenever she was hungry (she still says this sometimes to get me going).
I love food and I am guilty of having some bad food habits – like eating all the time. Unfortunately, I like to eat too much, and the only thing I need to strip down is a few pounds. However I see the need for something different. Instead of stripping
down I think we need to concentrate on building, and specifically, skills. We need to have a national directive to teach young people how to cook.
In other parts of the country, a course in culinary arts is offered in the school system. It teaches kids the skills of a kitchen, but it subversively gets them interested in food and therefore broadens their appreciation for food. Not only does it bring an appreciation for
food, but it teaches a life skill that is dying in a world of fast food take out and online delivery services.
A recent survey in the United Kingdom revealed that 33% of Britons can’t or won’t cook. As Canadians, we are bombarded with reasons why we can’t or are unable to cook, but it still comes down to the fact that cooking is as simple as applying heat to food.
Perhaps this column should be here to strip away all the preconceived notions about food. Just as a seasoned chef balances sweet, salty and sour, as well as spicy, we need to balance the routines of our food habits and teach ourselves that food is good for us.
Good food does not have to be boring nor be bland. Here are some essentials needed to make anyone feel good about what they eat or make.
Cook by Colour – if it is colourful it is good for you. The more colour on the plate means a better balance of healthy foods. Greens are leafy, reds are high in vitamins, yellows look pretty on the plate. Moderate the amount of beige food (a.k.a deep fried) and substitute more of the red, green and yellow.
Cook the foods you like – I cook a lot of ethnic foods – Asian stir-frys, Indian curries – foods with a lot of flavour. Remember when I wrote about my cheats and the invention of a pre-packaged curry pastes? I can go from zero to dinner in under 30 minutes with a gem of a product like that. And I am not afraid to say that I like using them – a lot. Just following the directions will make enough for one meal, but I add a lot more vegetables and it stretches for lunch the next day.
Don’t be afraid of making a mistake – food is one of the easiest ways of spicing up life, so live a little. Try that recipe that you said you would get around to trying, for you might just open up a whole other world of food possibilities, and feel good about doing it too.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted ot he full extent of the law.

A chef, a cheat and his dinner

My wife is constantly asked, “What does your husband do?” To which she replies, “Oh, he’s a chef.” The eyebrows generally raise and the excitement in the voice quickens, “Oh, you are so lucky, you must eat well!”

Truth be told, we do eat well, and I have to do the dishes too.
However, to eat well without spending all my time in the kitchen, I will let you in on a little secret of the cheffing world —are you ready? Cooks cheat.

“Cheat at what?” you might ask. A cook cheats in the way that a magician cheats: the audience believes that the bunny rabbit was never up his sleeve at all. Cooks in restaurants cheat because the cheating works and they can get away with it. An unhappy customer who sends back food could indicate that a whole table worth of food should be re-done. That little hiccup, on a very busy night, could ruin the flow of service. A few cheats will prevent a crisis.

The French have a saying, “an ounce of sauce covers a multitude of sins.” How many times have you eaten in a restaurant and seen that one person in your party of four has a bit of extra sauce on an otherwise well-planned plate? It’s a diversion. The beef or other type of meat has possibly dried out a little or has been cooked to just the wrong side of perfection. The cook adds a little more sauce to the plate to make it look luxurious and tosses on that tall, poke-you-in-the-eye garnish to wow you, and presto, the sleight is made. You might notice the food is a bit overdone, but who cares? There’s sauce to mop up and it tastes so good.

Not all restaurants do this. In fact, I worked at one restaurant where an over cooked steak landed the grillardain (grill chef) a one-week vacation – without pay. Perfection is the only acceptable standard for any high-end restaurant. That being said, I’m not perfect in the kitchen. I have made my fair share of mistakes, but every mistake I made, I fixed. This is where cheats become a handy tool in a cook’s arsenal. I cheat in my home kitchen. I cheat because I know the end result tastes like it wasn’t a cheat at all. So, with that confession, I give you some of my home cheats.

One pre-packaged box of macaroni and cheese —as simple as it sounds — can be the first step in creating a gourmet meal. The little box holds 4 servings of pasta (really child size). Cook pasta, add your own sauce (admittedly, the flavor of powdered cheese product is sometimes a heart-warming thing), toss in lots of sautéed garlic and vegetables, top with freshly grated parmesan and a few leaves of fresh basil, and you have a meal in 10 minutes.

Fresh frozen vegetables —I clean and blanch fresh vegetables in boiling water and then freeze them in portioned bags. Feeling like a lazy man, I pull one out a few days later and toss it into a sauté pan — no cutting, no mess.

One container of low-fat sour cream —a cream sauce taste with half the fat and half the time to reduce as there is less water content than a full-cream sauce.

And finally, a jar or two of curry pastes – I won’t proselytize the merits of a good curry, but a good curry is a beautiful, beautiful thing. I have a good spice collection and I am able to blend the coriander, curry powder, pepper, turmeric and other lovelies into the right proportions but sometimes letting someone else do the work for me is like going out to eat.

I have one last cheat for you, one to dazzle your next dinner guests. Take that empty sour cream container used in that cream sauce, and cut out the bottom and place in the centre of a nice dinner plate. Place your starch of choice (mashed potatoes, rice) inside, pack it down lightly and remove the container. Place your freshly cooked chicken breast on top at an angle. Place vegetables around and drizzle on your new sauce over the chicken. Garnish with a thyme or chive sprig.

What looks great, tastes great. The worry is over – now if only I could get someone to do the dishes for me.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

How we eat now

I just found this series of clips from the New York Times in a discussion with former Times food critic Ruth Reichl on the changing face of food and in particular, in America.

Ruth Reichl when she was the critic for both the LA Times during the 1980s and for the New york Times for the early 90’s saw both regions grow out of their shells and into the international spotlight. As Editor in Chief of Gourmet magazine, she is now changing the face of magazine writing to reflect the changes in taste and trend throughout the country and to highlight trends around the world.

The most amazing part of the interviews was the sharing of her transformation from critic to little old lady when she was the critic of the NY times. She was an advocate for the everyday gourmet -the people who would have loved to be in her shoes, and sample some of the best foods in the world. I like her as a critic. She was unabashedly critical; knowledgeble anout all subjects on food and most of all, she wrote so that even the person with no inkling of knowledge about food, would have a good time reading it. Now that, is powerful.

So I give you the clips - watch them all – I did. (They are listed under conversations)

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted tot he full exent of the law.