Movin’ on up …

I will never forget that stink-hot summer that I biked home from work every day, through Forest Hill.  Which — don’t be surprised — has a HILL in the middle of it.  I used to hum the theme song to The Jeffersons every time I had to climb that hill, with a specific focus on “Fish don’t fry in the kitchen /Beans don’t burn on the grill /Took a whole lotta tryin’ /Just to get up that hill.”  Because, believe me, it did.

Happily, the move we’ll soon be making here at Order Up is a whole lot easier on the glutes.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be posting exclusively at the Order Up blog over on the main Restaurant Central site.  Much of the content will look familiar — I’ve been cross-posting for awhile now — and of course I’m still writing it, so the level of snark and general misanthropie to which you’ve become accustomed will not change.

In a few days’ time, we’ll set up a site redirect so that you’ll be magically transported directly to that page, easy-peasy.  If you’re worried about missing any posts in the meantime, just bookmark the new location.  And consider dropping a comment or two so that I’ll know you’ve found us!

Heat’s here, have a beer

According to The Power Station, some like it hot.  I am not one of those some.

So on stifling days like today, I eschew my usual brew for something frostier, and share with you the same:

• One of my favourite summer drinks is a Spanish drink called clara — it’s basically a beer cocktail made with whatever lager you have on hand, mixed half-and-half with gaseosa, which Wikipedia describes as “a mild-flavored low-sugar carbonated lemonade” (akin to Sprite or 7-Up).  It’s delicious, but decidedly low-budge — for a fancier blend, check out Cooling down with beer cocktails (Epicurious.com).

• If you’re more of a purist than I am, you’ll want to know the answer to this question: What beer trends are on tap?  According to SmartBlog on Food & Beverage, American consumers embracing craft beers, along with budget-priced canned beers.  The class divide, in beer form!

• Ever wondered if you should take a pass at a fancy beer glass?  Serious Eats: Drinks put beer glassware to the test and ultimately recommended one shape as the best multipurpose glass.  Will the chalice with the palace be the size that is wise?

• And finally, the title says it all: Just what your summer beer needed, frozen foam (via NPR’s The Salt)

Stay thirsty, my friends!

 

“For the love of all things warm and brown …”

Coffee is a polarizing beverage — you either love it or hate it.

Here in Canada, survey says: Love.  Coffee consistently tops the list of favourite non-alcoholic beverages (see CRFA’s 2012 Canadian Chef Survey) and consistently manages to get this blog written.  What’s not to love?

In that loving spirit, a roundup of recent stories from the world of java journalism:

• An awesome photo essay posted just this morning, Ever wonder why Tim Hortons coffee taste like that? A behind-the-scenes tour of their roasting plant (Toronto Life’s The Dish) takes readers, well, behind-the-scenes.  Home to sixteen staff, five tasters and an untold number of beans, the Ancaster-based roasting plant is responsible for producing the chain’s signature blends, to exacting standards.

• From Serious Eats: Drinks: Why restaurant coffee is getting bettter right now.  A hint: “(Sam Lipp, General Manager at Union Square Cafe, NYC) says shelling out for a multi-thousand dollar espresso machine isn’t the only way required to pay attention to coffee as well as please customers. “You can produce delicious coffee in a myriad of different ways,” says Lipp. You simply have to take the time to do it right.”Bonus content from Serious Eats: How to tell if a coffee will taste good and Coffee drinks: a visual glossary.

• I found this study interesting, as its conclusions extend beyond coffee shops to all casual eateries: UCI study looks at how coffee shop customers mark their spot (via The Orange County Register).  The results?  “Their findings confirm what many of us habitués of coffeehouses and casual eateries have long observed: That people not only define and mark their territory with their belongings for an indefinite period – sometimes long after the coffee and/or food they’ve consumed is gone – they also sometimes treat that space as if it were their living room or home office.”  The article also includes some tips on “preventative measures” that managers can use to keep customer from using too much space for too long.

Tomorrow: Beer!

Three culinary uses for paper clips

I promised you weird stories about food and paper clips, and here you go.

In truth, only two are weird.  Very disappointed that #3 merely uses them to hold closed parchment paper in a recipe, but I couldn’t shake the need for a third, and Google started to stall out when I encountered questions like, “How many people die from eating paper clips every year?”  <– since there seems to be no legitimate source for this kind of data, I’m going to say “zero in restaurants” and just get on with it …

From CHOW.com: How to pit a cherry with a paper clip

A quick (30-second!) video shows how you can put a common desktop object to use in solving a common kitchen problem.  Erma Bombeck would be so proud.  So would Martha Stewart who wrote about this technique nearly 15 years ago.

From National Post: Prepare perfect pork with paper clips

“This technique is legitimately cool: “When he was a college student, my uncle wanted to experiment with making traditional char siu … one day, as family lore has it, he started fooling around with a paper clip. When he bent both ends into an S-shape, he discovered the perfect hook.”

From FoodNetwork.com: Paper-clip asparagus recipe

A simple recipe for oven-baked asparagus that uses paper clips to hold closed the parchment paper.  I’m only a fan of this because my guess is that more people die from eating staples than paper clips (but still!  none in restaurants!)

Happy Birthday, pass the salmon

I was originally going to write about the awesome series of Canada Day eats that the National Post featured yesterday.  Then I got all twitchy when I realized that my news feed featured not one, but two — and leave it up to me to find three — stories featuring unusual uses for paper clips in the kitchen.  I was going to toss the Canada Day idea like a naughty salad.  Then I saw the photographs.

Square one, pleased to meet ya!

Here’s how the NatPo described the challenge:

What is the quintessential Canadian dish?  Surely our national cuisine consists of more than poutine and maple syrup (not necessarily together)?  To investigate — and to celebrate Canada’s 145th birthday — we asked chefs from across the country to whip up and photograph the ultimate “Canadian” dish.

The responses proved that not only is this a nation of considerable culinary talent, but that Lenovo makes one heck of a laptop.  Still functions despite the puddle of drool all over the touchpad!

Ten chefs were featured in the article, representing four provinces and a nation’s worth of ingredients:

• Lee Cooper (L’Abattoir Restaurant, Vancouver)
• Lynn Crawford (Ruby Watchco, Toronto)
• Craig Flinn (Chives Canadian Bistro, Halifax)
• Susur Lee (Lee Restaurant, Toronto)
• Vincent Leung (Sen5es Restaurant & Bar, Toronto)
• Roger Mooking (Host of Food Network’s Everyday Exotic and Heat Seekers)
• Anna Olson (Host of Food Network Canada’s Bake with Anna Olson)
• Andrew Springett (SAIT Polytechnic, Calgary)
• Anthony Walsh (Corporate Executive Chef at Oliver & Bonacini Restaurants, Toronto)
• Anne Yarymowich (Frank Restaurant at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto)

I’m not going to reveal which chef was responsible for which dish — you’ll have to click on the links above to find out for yourself — but the patriotic menu featured a mix of fun (roast duck poutine pizza, beavertail sandwich) and fishy mains (roasted Atlantic halibut, sockeye salmon salad, maple-and-tea-glazed Atlantic salmon, a salmon share plate and a “the great Canadian burger), twist-on-traditional desserts (wild blueberry tart, panna cotta) and a breakfast dish simply called “Eggs Canada.”

And they looked a little something like this: