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It’s Hip To Cook Retro With Vintage Cookbooks
It’s fashionable to cook retro right now, and to do it using old recipes from outdated cookbooks.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT Blame it on Julie & Julia (both the book and the movie) if you want to, but it’s fashionable to cook retro right now. Who could have guessed that when New Yorker Julie Powell spent 365 days in the early oughties cooking every dish from Julia Child’s 1961 classic, Mastering The Art Of French Cooking (volume one), that both her book and Child’s classic would reach the top ranks of The New York Times bestsellers list—and that curious cooks across North America would take a new interest in making old dishes from recipes found in outdated cookbooks? Read more
One Of These Pickles Is Not Like The Others
Which of these baby dill brands has chef Glenys Morgan in a pickle: Safeway, Western Family or Bicks?
The F Spot!
What’s With The Costco Oil, Olive?
The turn on: Foodies will tell you that the subtleties of olive oil in a dish can make a good meal exquisite. Kirkland Signature Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made from fresh-picked, cold-pressed olives grown in Tuscany. The description on the bottle reads like a wine label with harvest year and an analysis of the colour, overtones and bouquet.
What’s the deal: Kirkland Signature Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which comes in an attractive one-litre bottle, is only $12.69 at Costco.
Why we’re excited: The olive oil aficionados at www.onlyoliveoils.com give Kirkland Signature Extra Virgin Olive oil a five-star rating, a much higher ranking than they give other boutique brands that easily go for triple the price per ounce.
How long will the pleasure last: As long as Kirkland and Tuscany keep Costco supplied.
Where’s the F Spot: All Costco locations in the Lower Mainland.
—Submitted by Natasha Irvine
What’s The Deal With Spices Prices?
Exploring the (better-priced) outer reaches of the spice aisles.
CHEAP + GOOD | Shopping for spices recently at the Superstore at Main and Marine Drive in Vancouver, I felt like the victim of a bait and switch con game. Little identical glass jars of McCormick Gourmet spices were being sold for identical prices even though the weight of their contents was vastly different—a 7-gram jar of bay leaves cost the same as a 43-gram jar of ground cumin—$6.69. A few feet away, Club House was selling a 13-gram bottle of bay leaves for $3.49.
On closer inspection, I was surprised to learn that McCormick Gourmet and Club House are owned by McCormick Canada, which means if you buy their “gourmet” product, you are paying almost twice as much buck for half as much bay, or, put another way, you are paying a whopping $4.87 for that little glass jar. Read more
One Of These Peanut Butters Is Not Like The Others
Which of these organic peanut butter brands made chef Glenys Morgan feel like a nut: MaraNatha Natural No-Stir, O Organics, Kirkland Organic, Nuts To You Organic?
The New Potluck
Cheesy tuna casseroles and Jello salads are definitely not on the menu.
Seared Ultra-Rare Albacore Tuna Salad
DEALS ON MEALS | One adjustment I’ve made to my budget the past year is to limit restaurant dining in general and high-end restaurants in particular. But by no means have I forgone the fine dining experience—I’ve just changed the venue. The latest take on potluck—a.k.a. The New Potluck—redefines the word to include communal menu planning that results in a restaurant-quality meal for a fraction of the cheque, and without the service charge.
How is The New Potluck different from your average dinner party? Simple: all the hard prep work and cost of the meal is shared. How is it different from the old potluck? Also simple: boring tuna casseroles and three-bean salads have been replaced with a sophisticated dine-out style menu. Read more
One Hot Cooker
The inexpensive Praktfull commercial-style range does everything the high-end ones do.
BEST BUY | Terri Brandmueller is a fierce recreational cook who entertains with complete confidence. Never one to shy away from a complex dish or a complicated technique, she once hauled home an entire suckling pig to roast in her scrappy old oven just because it was one of the cooking items on her bucket list. For most of her life, she has managed to “be a good cook on some pretty marginal stoves,” she says, “but I’ve aspired to having a nice one.”
Brandmueller got the chance to install a dream range last fall when she renovated her Vancouver kitchen, but she suffered sticker shock when she saw the prices. The freestanding Wolf 36-inch duel fuel range was nudging $12,000; Kenmore’s version was $6,000. Even her least favourite range, a G.E. Profile, was around $2,500 at The Home Depot. Read more
