The Art of Eating: No ordinary cookbook launch

Who wields the biggest knife amongst Montreal's food celebrities? These days it seems like Joe Beef is hogging all the lime light. Martin Picard, Chuck Hughes, Nadia G, all show Montreal's cool ass zeitgeist to much celebration in TV's foodland. And who can forget the internet's numbers one champs, the lovable Lardo Retardos a.k.a Epic Meal Time? All these folk are newcomers in the arena when it comes to what makes our food or city famous. The patriarch in the scene is none other than James MacGuire. 

The  Maestro at work: MacGuire and his medium

Saturday's launch of the Art of Cooking cookbook, at Appetite for Books, featured an appearance by MacGuire who contributed recipes to the book. The book is a collection of recipes from the Art of Eating magazine from the past 25 years.

MacGuire's restaurant, Passe Partout (located on Decarie boulevard and not the kid's TV show - note this is not the most appetizing link), and most importantly his bread, is the story of legends in Montreal's storied great foods. The Art of Cooking, author and magazine publisher, Ed Behr praised MacGuire's "encyclopedic knowledge" of French cooking at Saturday's launch. In case you did not know Passe Partout's baguette garnered praises from the New York Times. Next time you are munching on a baguette from Première Moisson, Au Pain Doré, or the amazing Arhoma give thanks to MacGuire who is responsible for bringing the great French baguette to Montréal and reminding us there is more to our city than just bagels.

But is it Art? MacGuire's holey loaves on display

MacGuire's reputation in the annals of Montreal's food culture was evident at Saturday’s event as food journalists Julian Armstrong, Lesley Chesterman, and Barry Lazar were all in attendance. Montreal jazz great Vic Vogel, another Montreal legend, even made an appearance confirming MacGuire's place in Montreal's pantheon of individuals who make our city great.

Attendees of Saturday’s event got a special and rare treat, a taste of James MacGuire’s bread. Perhaps even better we got to hear some bread making tips from the master himself. All we can say is that if anybody is in Vermont please pick us up a bag of King Arthur flour.

Blast from the Past: Memories of MacGuire and Passe Partout

More Food Network All-Star Discounts



Pick of the litter?

 The Food Network might want to start holding some open auditions for their Next Food Network Star. The Barefoot Contessa, Giada, Flay, Fieri, Rachael Ray and Alton Brown are on the Food Network's all-star lineup but their books are on the discount racks at Winners in downtown Montreal. We kind of felt sorry for Fieri when we saw his new book on the same discount shelf a while back, at least he is now surrounded by friends. Is this a sign that the Food Network has jumped the shark? No surprise, the Food Network Stars have become caricatures of themselves starring in self-referential shows. Do we have to watch another show where these people just eat food in front of the camera? Note to Food Network execs: better start dusting off those old episodes of Iron Chef from Japan.


At least we have each other



Next Stop the Bargain Basement on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

Poor Guy Fieri, we noticed his new cookbook, Food: Cookin' it, Livin' it, Lovin' it, (published May 3, 2011) is slummin' it on book shelves at Winners. This might be a new record in publishing, from publication date to discount rack in less than a month.

Is the cult of Fieri starting to wane?

Quadruple D's : The 4th 'D' if for Discount

La Revanche du Chef: Bob Le Chef purchases own cookbook being sold online

Bob Le Chef noticed a used copy of his cook book for sale on Kijiji (online classifieds). The Chef decided to purchase the copy himself in person. Classic moment, Chef Bob says, "so you did not like my cook book," and the woman realizes the author is standing in front of her. She had not even tried any of the recipes.

P.S. The book retails for $32.95 plus taxes so the $10 price tag was a bargain.

Read this: Interview with Nathan Myhrvold

Vanity Fair article featuring the author of the 6 volumed, $500, cookbook, Modernist Cuisine, that is on the science of cooking. 

We have hard so much about this book but we found out that one of the volumes is "spiral-bound and printed on washable, waterproof paper so that it can be propped up amidst the splatter and heat of the kitchen, as cookbooks traditionally are." We think this is a great idea.

Link to the full article here: Out to Lunch: Nathan Myhrvold

Top Chef Canada Episode 2: So long Rebekah, it was short but sweet

There is bittersweet irony with the fact that Chef Rebekah Pearse was given the chop on this week’s episode of Top Chef Canada because it featured a Canadian cheese challenge. Chef Pearse, the Calgary based cupcake Queen of the now defunct Nectar, was immortalized in the Top Chef Canada previews with her catch-phrase “cheese” as the punch-line to "we stand on guard for...” Coincidently we have just spent the entire weekend testing recipes from Chef Pearse’s recently published cookbook. Quite simply, Sweet Seasonal Desserts is sensational!

It is Sunday evening, I am exhausted from baking but excited about tomorrow's episode of Top Chef Canada. Resting on the couch with my copy of Pearse’s, Sweet Seasonal Desserts, I see that it looks a little worse for wear. The back cover is sticky from the Keegan’s Spiced Pecans. A few pages are soggy from where I made the Whisky Caramel Sauce that we drizzled on the Sweet Potato Pecan Tarts. We also prepared, without any literary collateral damage, the Fromage Blanc with Lemon Lavender Shortbread. Despite the exhaustion and maimed cookbook it was all worth it. All recipes were delicious and garnished rave reviews from our co-workers who reaped the benefits of our weekend experimentation.

Some were speechless when they tried to explain why their Happy Monday treat tasted so good. Others were fascinated with the levels of flavour. A few demanded recipes. High praise for people that have never been ones for cooking dessert let alone pastry. Our basic repertoire consists of cookies and squares at the Pilsbury Bake-Off level. Pastry has always seemed like an enigmatic art to us. Pearse’s recipes produce great results and we are definitely more popular at the office as a result.

Market Inspiration

Sacre Bleue, I mean Black Biere

We started our weekend baking marathon by making Keegan’s Spiced Pecans. We made a trip to Atwater market for inspiration but also to find pecans and special beer for making the spiced nuts. We were also on the lookout for fresh cheese for the fromage blanc and silicone moulds that are required to make the dish. For the spiced pecans, Chef Pearse recommends a "Hazelnut Nectar Beer, or any dark nutty beer" Are you starting to get a picture of the taste? Pecans infused with liquid sugar hazelnuts and the deep taste of porter beer. We opted for a La Noire Soeur (the expression is a homophone for darkness in French), The Black Nun, from Le Grimoire Microbrasserie. This dark beer has really strong chocolate notes so we knew it would be perfect. When cooked the pecans had a sweet sticky caramel coating. We were so excited with the delicious results we mentioned it to Chef Pearse on a Facebook thread. Chef Pearse responded, suggesting that we use our pecans to make her Sweet Potato Pecan Tart. Oui Chef, we thought and added this dish to our list of weekend pastry projects. Our pastry guru's advice arrived just in time because we were devouring the nuts, they really are that good, but we had just enough left over to make the tarts.

Sweet Potato Pecan Tart: Our Taster Can't Wait

The Sweet Potato Pecan Tart is comparable to pumpkin pie but the combination of spiced pecans (that taste like nutty caramels), roasted sweet potato, vanilla tart shell and Whisky Flavoured Caramel is the creation of a unique tasting experience. Besides the levels of flavours there are also pleasing contrasts in textures. The nuts add soft bite to the silky, creamy sweet potato filling. Each bite is slightly sandy and crisp with the taste of vanilla from the pastry shell. This was the first time that we ever tried making any kind of pie dough. The recipe produces a dough that was very easy and forgiving to work with even when fixing rips and tears.

Fromage Blanc with Lemon Lavender Shortbread

Fromage blanc, this recipe is surprisingly easy to make. The result is visually appealing with a taste like cheesecake. The fromage blanc itself has a slight citrus taste and the combination with the Lemon Lavender Shortbread only enhances this flavour. Both, the Vanilla Tart and shortbread doughs smelled sweet and delicious even before being cooked. Lemons and Lavender, need we say more?

After reading a few books on the art of pastry this was the first time at attempting some of these feats. As pastry newbies going into a weekend adventure we were able to produce some outstanding desserts. Across the board all the recipes we tested were extremely successful so Pearse's book offers you a little taste of life as a Dessert Queen. Following the recipes in Sweet Seasonal Desserts will make you more popular with your friends so if you would like to purchase a copy it is available at Amazon.

Chef Pearse posted on her blog her thoughts on being ousted on episode 2. You can read Pearse's post "Robbed" here.