Fun food spots around the world

Your dining bucket list?

I know that as a self-professed gourmand and general food geek, I tend to have more of an appetite than most for all things food.

When Hubbie and I travel, we look for local specialties at markets and research traditional foods and well-known restaurants. But I wonder, what does a regular person consider as food worthy of a bucket list?

This week I offer up a few destinations and foods that I have found and bookmarked over the years. If you’re inclined to send me your feedback on this list, or add your own items, I’d love to hear from you. (You can email me or comment on my Happy Gourmand Facebook page.)

First of all, let’s consider nostalgic foods. You know, the comfort food you remember as a kid that might still be made somewhere at a tiny shack by the beach or on Main Street in a random town. Here are some examples:

Doughnuts—My pick would be a place I discovered online during the pandemic, Bread Ahead Bakery in London, England. (link: https://www.breadahead.com/bread-ahead-locations ) They make filled doughnuts with fillings I dream about. On this side of the ocean, I can vouch for The Doughnut Plant in New York City. (link: https://www.doughnutplant.com/ ) In Canada, it’s hard to pick one—even polls and contests don’t agree which is best. Doughnuts are a hot topic here. Did you know Canadians eat more doughnuts per capita than anywhere else in the world?

Burgers–Q Burger in Qualicum Beach (link: https://www.qburger.ca/ ) on Vancouver Island has won awards and hit many top 10 lists. (And that’s a bucket list-worthy destination.) If you want a longer road trip, why not try Cindy’s Diner in Fort Wayne, Indiana? (link: https://www.facebook.com/p/Cindys-Diner-100063583240777/ ) It’s a classic 1950s style diner, with old-fashioned breakfast and lunch dishes. Its slogan is “We serve the whole world, 15 at a time.”

For a bit of contrast, there are the more unique places. Some are truly once-in-a-lifetime experiences and others are hidden gems that offer special memories. These are often hard to put on a lis—you stumble on them and discover you’ve hit the jackpot when you’re there. But here’s a few to get you thinking:

5.8 at Hurawalhi, Maldives (link with picture: https://www.hurawalhi.com/dining/undersea-restaurant/ )—This intimate restaurant at an elegant resort is completely underwater. Turtles may swim by as you dine. If seafood is your thing, this seems pretty darn epic, doesn’t it?

Perhaps you’d prefer something on land? Well then, Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales, England, (link: https://tanhillinn.com/ ) is just the place for you. This 400-year-old inn has a village pub, even though there is no village for miles. It sits atop a hill along the Pennine Way, the oldest of England’s national trails. (You could easily work off the calories ahead of time, cycling or walking there.)

If you’d like to have the chef in attendance, then there are many options, of course. In the Okanagan we have made a name for ourselves for this style of event. On the other side of the world in Cambodia is Chef Nak, (link: https://www.chefnak.com/ ) where chef Ros Ratanak has made it her mission to showcase her culture and food.

Of course, there are traditional foods in each country, each region and even, sometimes, in each town. Would your bucket list wish be to dine at an upscale restaurant or squeeze into a cozy pub or diner? Perhaps you’d rather visit a local market and pack a picnic to enjoy on a hike or in a park? If you’re like me, you love all those things and try them all everywhere you go.

If any of this inspires you, I encourage you to check out “Somebody Feed Phil” on Netflix. Phil Rosenthal created the series, “Everybody Loves Raymond” but he now shares his love of food as he travels all over the world. It’s a cheap dinner date if you don’t mind tasting vicariously.

Then, you’ll be prepared if you suddenly are asked, “where you want to go?”

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

Cooking secrets—why do we do it that way?

Learning cooking secrets

Have you ever cooked a dish and wondered why you did it that way instead of differently?

This happens with cooking often, especially with recipes that are passed on. I think all families have stories of something that had to be “just so” but often no one knew why. Sometimes when we find out why, it’s not what we expected.

I talked to one lady when we catered at her house and she recounted how her grandmother had the perfect roast beef for Sunday dinner. Of course, I was curious, so I asked for details.

“The seasoning was really simple, just salt and pepper,” she said. “Then Grandma always cut the ends off the roast before putting it in the roasting pan and into the oven. She baked it at 375 F for 20 minutes per pound, and it came out perfect every time.

That’s how my mom taught me,” she continued. “It wasn’t until I got married and my husband asked how cutting the ends helped that I realized I didn’t know. We asked Grandma the following Sunday. It turns out she only did it because the roast wouldn’t fit in her pan!”

There are many cooking hacks we learn as kids. My dad was convinced that one side of the aluminum foil worked better for cooking, and that ice cubes made from hot water would freeze faster. When I learned in science class that neither was true, he was blown away.

My mom used to tell us as kids that we had to play quietly if she was baking a cake – no jumping around or the cake would fall. I was careful even as an adult, until I read an article in a cooking magazine that tested slamming the oven door on a baking cake. As long as the batter is beaten the proper amount, it will bake as it should even if you slam the door – or jump around.

Here are a few other cooking myths you may have heard:

• Chicken is cooked when it is no longer pink – not necessarily. All poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 F to avoid food-borne illnesses (I just renewed my FoodSafe certificate, so I can assure you this one is important.)

• All parts of a chile pepper are not equally hot – the white pith attached to the stem is the hottest, then the seeds, then the flesh.

But there are some bits of advice passed on that do ring true, but not for the reasons we might have thought.

• You should add salt to the pasta water, but not because it makes it boil faster – it simply tastes better.

• Searing meat creates a lovely, delicious crust, but it does not seal in the juices, so use your thermometer to ensure it’s cooked to your liking. Beef and pork can be safely cooked to “medium” (145 F)

Let’s keep passing on those old recipes and telling those family stories. And let’s not be afraid to ask why we do things a certain way.

Maybe we’ll get a great story, or we might even learn something new.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

Busting myths and misinformation—the food edition

Interesting food facts

This week I wanted to give you some tidbits for your coffee break chats or random texting conversations—whatever it is people do in between activities nowadays.

You’ll learn the real answer about white chocolate, whether wasabi or chiles are more volatile and the answers to another burning question you might never have thought to ask.

•••

I am a dark chocolate fan and have been all along. I love the bitterness of the higher cocoa content, but I know others who prefer the creaminess of milk, or even white, chocolate. But is it truly chocolate if it’s white?

The catch is white chocolate contains cocoa butter, the fat component of the cocoa bean. Often commercial white chocolate is made with cocoa butter that has been “deodorized”, but in its natural state it does have a subtle chocolatey aroma. In fact, it was this delicate nature that may have made it the most coveted kind of chocolate when it first became a confection.

Chocolate bars are made by separating the cocoa butter from the solids and adding just some of it back when it is pressed into molds. The extra butter was a wonderful coating for many medications – smooth (making them easier to swallow), it melted in your mouth, and it tasted pleasant.

Artisanal white chocolate bars have the smooth taste and the natural aroma without any industrial additives, making them a delightful choice to change up your chocolate experience. They are indeed chocolate, and can be created with many variations and at many levels of quality like milk or dark chocolate.

•••

When we speak about the fiery nature of tastes like chiles, hot mustards and horseradish, the sinus system plays a large part again.

It is more about the connecting passageways that changes how we perceive these flavours, however.

Chiles have a component called capsaicin, which is what makes us feel the heat sensation. It bonds to a certain receptor that runs from our mouth and nose to our brain. It is not volatile unless you heat it. Have you ever cooked chiles on the stove and felt that choking, burning sensation? That’s the capsaicin becoming volatile from the cooking.

The component in mustard powder and horseradish is isothiocyanates and they bond to different receptors so they act differently in our bodies. The receptors they connect with are more prevalent in our noses, so that is why we often feel that rush of heat up our nose from a shot of wasabi or hot mustard. Being volatile however, the isothiocyanates dissipate faster than chiles.

Mustard and horseradish will hit you faster, but chiles last longer. One more useful fact – capsaicin is not water soluble, so that’s why drinking water doesn’t help if you eat too many hot peppers on a dare.

•••

I have one last bit of fun for you. It has been scientifically proven that it is nearly impossible to split your Oreo cookie and have filling on both wafers.

There was an MIT study done on this (link: https://pubs.aip.org/aip/pof/article/34/4/043107/2844774/On-Oreology-the-fracture-and-flow-of-milk-s ) where they created a machine to split cookies (called the Oreometer, of course). There is a 95% probability that you will end up with the filling on just one wafer.

•••

I hope knowing those answers won’t spoil any of the fun of eating these foods. Rather, I hope it inspires you to think more about the many facets of how we enjoy what we eat.

Bon appetit!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

No joking around with April Fool’s Day food

Fun foolish fare

I hope everyone is happily ensconced somewhere with loved ones this long weekend, celebrating spring in whatever fashion suits you.

I will be with my grandkids for the long weekend, probably grateful I’ve been working out consistently, as I’ll likely be spending most of my time on the floor.

This week, I thought I’d offer you some spring recipes that are fun and festive, but easy to prepare. I don’t know about you, but I like to continue the good vibe at the table throughout spring with colourful and flavourful meals. We need to be practical with busy schedules however, and indulging doesn’t always have to mean eating rich foods that tip the bathroom scale.

My first treat for you is one of my favourites from my time in France years ago, and it’s especially well-suited for April Fool’s Day. In France, the best-known prank is what is known as an “April Fool’s fish”. You’ve been pranked when someone manages to stick a paper fish on your back without you noticing.

My French friends taught me how to make a deceptively good fish dinner and we called it April Fool’s Fish. If you’d like the recipe and the history behind the connection of fish to this silly day, click here.

Another inspiration that came from my recipe research while in France was for two recipes that became a combo – the second one was born out of leftovers from the first one.

I came up with Tart n’ Tangy Salmon as an appetizer for dinner at a weekend getaway. Because I had leftover ingredients and everyone was still around the next morning, I came up with Wake Up Salad. Maybe not necessity, but a desire not to be wasteful was the mother of invention that weekend.

I’ll post the last recipe right here, as it’s a simple one. This is a recipe I adapted while working on food trucks, feeding the cast and crew of a TV show called “Outer Limits.” I had a huge case of bananas that were getting very ripe, so I made Chocolate Banana Cake and served it with fudge sauce and vanilla ice cream.

I made a batch that was for 150 people, but the recipe I share here is just for one bundt cake. It freezes well and makes a nice treat at coffee time or in school lunches.

I hope you surround yourself with the good vibes from good company and good food, whatever inspires you in the kitchen and at your table, this spring.

CHOCOLATE BANANA CAKE

½ cup butter (or coconut oil if you prefer)

¾ cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 large/ 3 small ripe bananas, mashed

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( you can sub in ¾ cup whole wheat flour if you wish)

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp cocoa

½ tsp baking soda

¾ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract, and/or ½ tsp cinnamon add an extra layer of flavour

Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease a bundt pan and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Add in bananas and blend, then add eggs one at a time and mix well after each. Add vanilla if using.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda together (cinnamon too, if using). Add alternatively with the sour cream to the egg mixture.

Spread into the greased pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean (internal temp. 195F).

Let stand on a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar if desired, or serve with fudge or caramel sauce and/or vanilla ice cream if you want to splurge.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.