And then, God created Bacon - #foodiemeet

#foodiemeet, for those who are not in the know, is a series of Toronto foodie get togethers created and organized by Suresh Doss and Andrea Chiu.

In their own words:

"We started out on Twitter as a one-off meetup for foodies but have developed into a regular food/drink event for local food lovers. We’ve organized tutored wine tastings, a miracle fruit party and a winery tour of Prince Edward County. Every one of our events have sold out which proves that Torontonians love to learn about food and drink."

Fastforward to "#foodiemeet bake off edition", held December 13th, 2009 at Samovar Room.

The challenge went out about 2 months ago for bakers to participate in a charity fundraiser for The Stop, a local outreach centre in my neighbourhood at the Wychwood Green Barns.

"Located in Toronto’s west end, The Stop works to increase access to food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community and challenges inequality."

The Stop is a charity that is close to the hearts of many in the Toronto food community, and I immediately knew I had to pitch in and enter an item or two in this competition. For those that know me, I am a touch competitive. Just a touch. So I decided to start to taunt some of the boys and see how strong we could come, because after all boys like to "crush it!" So, off the bat I want to congratulate my boys @ortdavid and @ekkridon who both came away with prizes, and I hope my taunting helped to up your games. I look forward to a rematch!

I started to formulate what I would make for the event, always in the back of my mind knowing that I would bring 2 items including my ever popular signature treat, the Triple Threats. Some of my ideas included incorporating maple, almond, lime, coconut, pomegranate, and fig. But wait a second, I also am really into combining the savoury with the sweet so the ideas started to morph, the testers were lined up like prisoners about to be shot, and the testing began. My theme was shortbread, something I had been wanting to play around with for a while, and perfect timing for the competition being that it is a traditional holiday treat. I am far from traditional in my kitchen, and the ideas that formed in my head were the following:

1. Pomegranate Fig Shortbread - Israeli influence

2. Coconut Lime Shortbread - Island influence

3. Maple with Pig Candy - The Canadiana shortbread

I jumped right in to the bacon version, as I had a feeling this would be the winner at the end of the day. First I just made shortbread with almond meal and then put the pig candy on top.

The feedback was helpful from the victims, I mean testers, and I had some work to do. I didnt want a classic shortbread texture and crunch so I had to figure out how to adjust accordingly. Also, the bacon needed to be combined in the cookie so it came with every bite and hit the palate as almost an afterthought that grew in intensity to balance the sweet of the cookie.

My kitchen philosophy is to use what tools you have without fancy gadgets, and to make as much from scratch as you possibly can. I made the almond meal from scratch, blanching the almonds and grinding them in my blender with a touch of sugar (so the oil didn't clump the meal), and using some tips online I used whole almonds with the skin and blanched, and pealed them.

Blanched almonds ready to go

The almond meal, finished product

Well, the blog I found and used lied and I had to work on my technique a bit in order to do this task efficiently. It was a good lesson, and my fingers were not happy with me, but I digress. Almond meal is in the house.

Lessons learned, I was closer to a final version of this treat, thanks to many testers including Suresh and @popNina,  Shabnam from @teaemporium, who thanks to this process has become a friend, and my friend Chef Steve at The Local Co. (who is a fantastic chef, if you havent visited him please do - 3 words - braised veal cheeks). Steve suggested the maple frosting in the final version, so I have to give Chef props for that as it kicked them up to a whole new level of deliciousness. Just what I was looking for. I briefly played with the pom/fig cookie but, while it was good, I just wasn't feeling it for the competition, so I stuck to the Canadiana version to make it perfect.

There are tails to be told about the process, but I guess you will just have to ask me in person, this post will be way too long if I regale on all of the adventures and mishaps. Lets get to the recipe, and its final product. A combination of recipes and techniques I found online, and through much trial and error this is the original @foodie411 creation.

The unbaked final version getting ready to go in the oven

True North Strong and Frees - Almond Maple Shortbread with Pig Candy and Maple Frosting.

I made 2 versions of this, a single and double bacon version.

Cookies:

1 cup of butter at room temperature

1 cup of sugar

2 cups of four

1 cup of almond meal

2/3 cup of real maple syrup

1/2 (or more) package of bacon, made into Pig Candy

• Preheat your oven to 350
• Cream butter and sugar 
• Add remainder of ingredients and mix thoroughly 
• Combine the dough into a tightly packed ball and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight
• Remove and roll into cylindrical cookies about the size of a large persons thumb. I used a big spoon to break off proper amounts of dough
• Bake for 15-18 minutes until you can see the edges starting to brown
• Remove to a cooling rack so the bottoms dont become hard

For the double bacon version you will get flat and more chewy cookies due to the extra fat, so if you want them more crunchy you will have to use less butter.

Frosting:

2 cups of confectioners sugar

1 cup of real maple syrup

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 tablespoon of butter

Whisk all ingredients together and drizzle over fully  cooled cookies, the frosting will need about 15 minutes to cure and harden before they can be removed.

The final product waiting to be packaged and shipped off to Foodiemeet

Everyone truly brought their A games and there were so many wonderful and truly ingenious treats, if you didn't attend you mustn't make the same mistake next time. Sadly, I was on a total sugar overload from days of baking and sampling (including a day of baking shortbread @jo_jo_ba's house with @bbqmommy and @ugogirl) and could barely look at, let alone sample all of the decadent goodies, although I did manage to sneak a few treats. Everything was amazing.

When I got home I was still buzzing from all of the love and sugar. Everyone REALLY enjoyed my cookies and that is my reward and why I bake. Thanks to everyone for the feedback and support.

After I got some real food into me, and by real I mean a special treat from my homeboy @busterrhinosBBQ (smoked stuffed potato skins with brisket), I clearly had not had enough sugar as I sat down with a tub of cake from Kirsten of @CakeorDeathCA and a spoon and went to town. I am not a well man.

Once again, Suresh and Andrea you both amaze me and the efforts you put forth are truly inspiring. A great time was had by all and it was a great opportunity to meet so many great people that I had been wanting to meet for so long. I cant wait until the next Foodiemeet and the next bakeoff!

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream.

Long time coming, chiming in on the burger debate.

It has REALLY been a long time since I have felt like writing, for various, and mostly unimportant reasons.  I really do enjoy writing and I am going to try to be on more of a schedule and post at a better frequency. So, to catch up I am going to do a few post of places I have been to in the past months and do a review wrap up, of sorts.

Issue 1 - Burger Edition

1. W Burger Bar

2. Oh Boy Burger Market

3. Craft Burger

W Burger Bar

Upon entering W Burger Bar, you might think you have stepped into an alternate universe where burger joints are fancy and, to be quite honest, look like you are about to dine on Asian fusion. The servers were all dressed the same, in the strangest pink tee-shirts and skirts. Interesting start upon being greeted in a pleasent manner and seated in the large and expansive space.  Also, the servers use computers to take your order, and I do not know if our server was new, but she seemd to have problems with the gadget she was using to input our order.

The Orders:

ME - Chocolate malted milkshake, Bison Burger (Sauteed onions, horseradish, and chipotle ketchup, spicy chilli poutine (to share).

HER - The Aussie-Rules PURE Burger (BBQ sauce, beets, pineapple, fried egg).

The Comments:

Mine was a bit on the dry side, and the meat didn't have any discernible flavour or spice to it, but the milkshake was really nice and the malted addition was worth the additional $1.00. Hers was quite interesting and the combo of flavours did seem to work nicely. Now the bad news, we both got really sick! Mine was a stomach ache, likely due to the combo of the spicy poutine and the milkshake, but my friend was woken up at 1230AM with a mad dash to the toilet. So while the flavour of the poutine was good I feel that there was something not so kosher about it, seeing as we both had issues.

Verdict: I will not rush back, but I know some people have had good experiences here.

Oh Boy Burger Market

Second on our stop of Toronto burger joints is Oh Boy, and I might start with a big fat Yiddish - Oy Vey. I believe that Joey McGurk hired high school students to staff his kitchen, as they were disorganized, slow, and were openly bickering behind the counter IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS. Thankfully the food was decent, so the trip was not a total waste. Nice decor, for a burger place, much more appropriate than a W Burger Bar, but max seating in booths is for 4 and we were 5. A small uncomfortable stool was added for the person that was unlucky enough to show up last. The rest of the staff was friendly and helpful.

The Orders:

ME: The Hog Town combo.

THEM: 2 Bison Boy Combos, 1 Oh Boy Classic with 3 Cheese Combo, 1 Oh Boy Classic Combo, one side of deep fried pickles.

The Comments:

Friend #1 upon sitting down with his bison "I will never come to this place again, why did you drag me downtown for this shit", referring to the mess going on behind the counter. His burger was overdone, and he was not happy. He did mention that the fries were great, which they were. He was not a fan of the deep fried pickles either, but the rest of us enjoyed.

Friend #5 upon tasting friend #2's onion rings exclaimed that, "these are the best onion rings I have ever had", and while I would not go that far (A&W are one of my favourites) they were not bad.

Friend #3 did not have much to say, which means he likely enjoyed his meal. He was unhappy, however, that the women on the website were, "way hotter than the broads serving us, whats up with that?"

My burger was juicy enough and had a decent flavour. It was very messy though as the toppings were overloaded based on the bun/meat ratio. A positive twist is that they have bun choices, all from Ace Bakery (other burger joints take note!), and a wide menu with a lot of variety, so even vegetarians in the group could enjoy themselves.

Verdict: would not go back, there are far better places to drop $15 for a burger but was worth visiting.

Craft Burger (Yonge St.)

"What do you mean you don't have the option of bacon on a burger, whats wrong with you people?" That was my reaction when after looking at the menu board I inquired if the gentleman was joking that there was no bacon available. "We just don't have bacon" he explained, to which I replied with a very puzzled look on my face, "Why, I mean I just don't get it". He went on to mention that the owner was Muslim, and while that may not be the sole reason for not allowing the addition of lovely swine to a burger, he wasn't here to answer my questions. I replied: "Well, I'm Jewish and I want cheese AND bacon on my burger". He was not impressed, but suffice it to say that this did not significantly marr my experience at Craft, which I had heard so many good things about. Moving along now.

The Orders:

ME:  Craft Spicy (With caramelized onions & spicy chipotle mayo, lettuce and tomato) with fries and a Boylans Black Cherry (I am obsessed with Boylans so I was a happy boy).

HER: Without the option of bacon, she decided to have the Lamb Burger (Fresh Ontario lamb, cilantro-feta spread, lettuce and tomato) with onion rings and a Boylans Root Beer.

The Comments:

Meh. You know it was good but I felt that the actual meat was not overly flavourful. The toppings made up for it, but I feel a burger should have a pronounced flavour that can be enjoyed without accoutrement. Speaking of the toppings, I did not feel there was sufficient spice on the "spicy burger" so I would not suggest ordering it. My friend seemed to really enjoy hers and I know she has been back since, so it seems there is hope for Craft Burger. Fries were excellent, as were the onion rings.

Verdict: I will have to go back and give it another shot, mostly based on the experiences of others that have said good things. Maybe because I was being deprived of my pig fix I didn't give them a fair shot.

In our next issue of the review round up:

1. My Place, A Canadian Pub

2. Tacos El Asador

3. Vinny's Panini

4. KOS Restaurant

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream.

Project Pink

Good people do good things, and I have good friends. My friend Darryl, in conversations with others on Twitter, have decided on a challenge to support breast cancer. I know we all love breasts so lets get out and support this very important cause. If we collectively buy 1500 sandwiches in the next month Darryl will dye his hair pink. Not only that, but they are donating $0.50 of each sandwich sold, but there are more details so click here.

You can read my thoughts on Buster Rhinos here. If you know me, or follow me on twitter you know my feelings about this place. It is well worth the 40 minute drive from my place, at any given moment, to be able to have real southern BBQ here in Ontario. They also sell their product to take home, which is nice when you have a craving and cant make the 2 hour round trip.

I want to thank twitter for the good friends I have found, and relationships that mean so much to me. You all know who you are.

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Smells

Not that I havent been eating or cooking, but I have been unmotivated to write. Maybe nothing has been inspiring me or maybe I am just lazy. With the changing of the seasons, a lot of people have been down and getting sick, im my opinion daylight savings is total bull shit. I will try to put together some more substantive posts in the coming days, but in the mean time I wanted to share with everyone a picture essay of my visit, a while back, to an Indian grocery store that I found up by my sisters in Thornhill.

I was lucky enough to have an Indian friend of my sisters, and her two cute sons, join us to give us a tour of some of the ingredients. She cooks mostly vegetarian at home and one day soon, I hope to return with her to buy ingredients and cook together. I would like to learn more about this type of cooking and hope to learn some tricks to make decent Indian food at home. I hope she knows some good meat recipes as well, as we all know I need my meat.

Enjoy...

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

As a P.S. they have wonderful cheap samosas, I will have to go back to buy some pakoras very soon.

Peace, Love and Ice Cream.

About being a brand whore

I really like whiskey, and I really like Macallan. No, I am not just saying that because I was invited by Matchstick to a Macallan tasting at One at the Hazelton Hotel last night, I REALLY enjoy Macallan. In fact 2 of the three bottles I currently have at home are Macallan.

I am now, and have always been a huge brand whore, loyal to very few brands that I enjoy and identify with. I am a marketers wet dream, and being from a marketing background myself I do enjoy programs that are effective. I didn't need to be sold on the product, but gaining knowledge makes me a better brand ambassador, which is what both Macallan and Matchstick were looking for. I can thank my paternal grandfather for my love of brands as in his pantry growing up there were always cans of Lipton noodle soup, Fudgee-O's, Green Giant canned peas (to go in the soup), and many others. We tend to find security in memories, and brands are no exception. I don't use all of the same brands as my family used growing up but the majority are things I grew up around.

You want to invite me to a scotch tasting? Macallan? Really? Don't mind if I do! I do enjoy being with good friends and enjoying some nice whiskey, what else could a guy ask for?

Our expert for the evening, Marc, was delightful, informative, and even a little bit adorable. We kind of wanted to bring him home, but then who wouldn't as he has access to some nice "liquid" as he puts it. We learned about colour, body, nose, taste, and finish. The 6 pillars of the Macallan brand, what makes them stand apart from the crowd, and why they are one of the world's most awarded and admired Single Malts. Another important lesson, the difference and characteristics of Fine Oak and Sherry Oak cask matured spirits and how to spot them based on colour.

Left is the 15yr I drink at home (Fine Oak) and the Cask Strength 10yr (Sherry Oak)

On the left the Macallan 12yr (Sherry Oak), and the left the Macallan 10yr (Fine Oak)

I am not a person who claims to have a fine tuned palate or for that matter senses, but Marc showed us ways to identify a nose that we previously may not have noticed. It was life changing. Toffee? Yes it really smells like toffee. Ooh caramel, I smell it. Exciting stuff.

In total we tasted 5 Macallan liquids throughout the evening.

10yr Fine Oak

12yr Sherry Oak

15yr Fine Oak

18yr Sherry Oak

Each is unique in its own right, and all are lovely examples of the diversity of the Macallan brand. The only one missing a profiling photo was the 21yr. If I had to pick a favourite it would be the 18yr, too bad it is almost $300 a bottle. As mom would say, "you can thank me for your expensive taste" - ya, thanks mom! Now I am craving something, I clearly cannot afford. Oh, and thanks to Marc and Macallan for that as well.

Happy drinking.

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream (covered with a whiskey sauce!)

PS CLICK HERE to fill out a short survey, and Matchstick will make a $2 donation to The Redwood, a family support shelter that offers assistance to those less fortunate.

Manda Muffins

This one goes out to all my homies! Well, not all of you but just one special one with whom I had the most lovely day this past week that was long overdue (Yes I know you are all special, some in a more "special" way than others. Love all my bitches, for real).

Ok seriously, we are here to talk baking. Again. We know how I loves me to make with the baking and creating and eating. Thats the whole point, right? Well, here is a preview of the finished product before I continue with my story. 

Thee muffins are the product of a "falling in love" story. Can I share this online Manda? Too late! I will be as brief as possible, we know I can ramble on when i'm writing. Ok, ok, I wont share your story, calm down...I had slept in, and the plan was lunch or coffee, but after weeks of not seeing each other we decided to spend the day roaming the city. Starting off we met up in "our neighbourhood" (inside joke) and walked over to Sam James Coffee Company for a little java fix to start the day (yes folks, we have a winner - another fan of Sam's). All said and done, our day covered 14+ kilometres of walking with stops in Queen West, Kensington, and the Annex. Boot shopping, a little lunch at Ackee Tree, up to Kensington for a little treat at Wanda's Pie in the Sky (a favourite stop of mine when i'm in the area) and then meeting up with another friend and a quick stop at La Tortilleria for some fresh tortillas and back to buy boots for Manda on Queen at which point we called it a day and headed back home. 

At some point on our journey, I decided what the fall creation would be to take to brunch at my big sisters this Sunday as I am on dessert duty. Mom is back from 3 weeks in France and England so I wanted it to be something special and with pumpkin, I thought, and umm, yes, black sesame seeds. Why? Why not! You know me, im just crazy like that. Nutty earthy sesame seeds should go just perfectly with the rich pumpkin flavour and add a nice aesthetic and little pops of crunch. The finish? To add a little sweetness a cream cheese frosting with lime and topped with toasted coconut, what could be bad?  I know, I know a lot of questions today so with out further pause, here it is:

The recipe comes from Manda, a sort of collaborative effort, as she is one of my baking gurus, and is adapted from Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking: From my Home to Yours" (her favourite baking book)

Black Sesame Pumpkin Muffins with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting and Toasted Coconut.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree

1/4 cup buttermilk (I substituted Almond Milk and Lime Juice for this)

1/3 cup black sesame seeds

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

In case you have never worked with whole nutmeg, this is what the inside looks like, it is really a wonderful spice to work with and the scent it really nice and earthy.

Working with a mixer, beat the butter at a medium speed until soft. TIP: If your butter is frozen or a bit too cold to work with you can use a grater to speed up the process and grate the butter into a bowl.

Add both the sugars and continue to beat until light and smooth. One by one, add the eggs, beating for a minute after the eggs are incorporated, then beat in the vanilla. Lower the mixer speed and mix in the pumpkin and buttermilk. With the mixer at low speed, add the dry ingredients in a steady stream, mixing only until they disappear. 

To avoid overmixing, you can stop the machine early and stir any remaining dry ingredients into the batter using a rubber spatula. Stir in the sesame seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove each one from its mold and finish cooling on the rack.

While the muffins are cooling take:

1 package (250 gr.) cream cheese at room temperature

Juice and zest of 1 Lime

2 cups confectioners sugar

Combine with a hand mixer until smooth.

Then we toast a little coconut for the topping, just until the coconut is mostly brown with a few white flakes left. We don't want to burn it.

By now the muffins should be cool and we can finish them.

These are really good, trust me they are what I ended up eating for dinner. Actually you dont have to take my word for it, you can ask my buddy Andrew and his girlfriend Zofie because they were lucky enough to stop by and sample the new treats.

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream.

A simple post. An interesting creation.

ME: so I am going to make pancake muffins with syrup and back bacon. thoughts?

HER: have i died and gone to  heaven?

ME: maybe ;)

HER: yum

HER: those are my thoughts

ME: ya, I thought so too

ME: I got my muffin tins returned and had a flash of genius

ME: mix a little br sugar and maple syrup in the batter and tiny diced pieces of bacon maybe a pinch of cinnamon

HER: wow, let me know how that goes

HER: sounds sinful

ME: I need to create

ME: its a disease

ME: feeds my ego

ME: true story

HER: Yes, sigh, I know 

So here they are:

All-in Canadian Style Breakfast Muffins

1 cup pancake mix - I used half buckwheat and half bisquick (that was pure laziness, but it is easy to make pancakes from scratch)
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/3-1/2 cup real maple syrup (depending how sweet you want it, remember you will add syrup to taste for serving)
4 pcs. back bacon, cooked and finely chopped
1 tbs cinnamon (optional)
4 tsp brown sugar

• Preheat over to 375 degrees.
• Lube up your favourite muffin tins.
• This recipe will make 6 mini-muffins or 3 servings.
• Mix together the pancake mix, milk, egg, maple syrup and cinnamon. Stir enough to just combine ingredients we want it to be a bit lumpy. This will make them fluffier.
• Half fill your muffin tins and top with the chopped bacon, stirring the bacon partially through the batter.
• Bake for 16 minutes, then top each with a teaspoon of brown sugar and return to the over for another 4 minutes.

These are a really easy and tasty fall brunch treat, and I would even consider throwing a couple of chocolate chips in if you are feeling adventurous.

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream.