Whether it’s called meatless meat, cultured meat, or cellular agriculture, the quest is on for providing clean, guilt-free meats for consumers. Companies like Memphis Meats, Impossible Foods, Finless Fish, and Beyond Meat are developing products to exploit our cravings for meat. Venture capitalists and Silicon Valley companies, along with investors including Bill Gates and Richard Branson, are betting hundreds of millions of dollars that this technology can reshape how we eat. Meat is a major part of the American diet and at $200 billion in annual sales it’s also a hugely profitable in ..read more

Home cook or Professional Chef, the process of creating menu's, recipes and shopping lists can be a difficult task. Pen to paper, which used to be the norm, is rarely seen in the age of high tech. Let's start with a brief discussion of menu's. A menu is basically a written document composed of recipes. In a well run restaurant these recipes are usually standardized for the cooks to follow, and to ensure consistent dishes as the customer would expect. A recipe is a formula of ingredients and a list of instructions for creating prepared foods. It is used to control quality, quantity ..read more

The best chefs know how to get organized for optimal production and efficiency. Their organization begins with a professional attitude, arriving early, appropriately attired, and having an adequately honed cutlery set. Here are additional tips to help you to be productive. Start with a Prep List Professional cooking requires food to be prepped in stages and batches to various degrees of readiness and then finished and assembled to order on the line. All operations should have a checklist to work from so that nothing is forgotten in the prep stage. If the operation you work at doesn’t have ..read more

Flavor is created through balanced combinations of complementary foods, seasonings, and cooking techniques. The perception of these flavors comes together through all the senses when we eat, mainly through taste, aroma, and food textures. Each person’s ability to distinguish flavor differs; some people are more sensitive than others. While critical dish analysis comes naturally to some, most chefs must train their palates to determine ingredient characteristics, learning how to combine them in specific proportions to achieve a harmonious result. When we cooks encounter the phrase, “season t ..read more

You've been trying to eat more organic foods, both to decrease the amount of pesticides you and your family consume and to help protect the environment. But take one look at your grocery store receipt and you know that buying organic can get very expensive, very fast. Luckily, there's a way to grow your own delicious, fresh produce while having fun and learning at the same time: organic gardening! Organic gardening means you won't use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, but that doesn't mean your plants fend for themselves. There are an array of tools you can use to bolster plant health an ..read more

While you can find most types of fruit at the supermarket all year long, many of them were shipped thousands of miles to get to you. Truthfully, certain fruits are most delicious when they're in season and available in your own area, rather than sent from across the country or even the world. And nothing welcomes the annual growing season quite like the sweetness of spring fruits. Of course, we love classic winter fruits such as pears and oranges, but our palates yearn for new flavors come March. By the first day of spring, we're ready for fresh strawberries, blueberries, and mangoes ..read more

Which fruits and veggies are in season in spring? Winter begins to thaw at long last, bringing an explosion of colourful flowers, the cheerful songs of birds, and the return of fresh fruits and vegetables. Canadians are eager to embrace the warmer temperatures, venturing to restaurant patios and bringing their BBQs out of hibernation when the weather permits. Rhubarb and asparagus are the first new vegetables to appear. However, winter root vegetables like beets, potatoes and squashes are still readily available. By the end of May, Canadians begin to see the first crops of summer produce, suc ..read more

Prized for their versatility and meat-like heft and texture, mushrooms are popular worldwide—and they come in many forms. Different types of mushrooms for cooking include basic buttons, meaty king oysters, and elusive honeycomb-like morels. Below, we’re diving into the various edible mushroom varieties, from the most common mushrooms (i.e., the ones you’ll find on a slice from the local pizza shop) to the wild fungi you might spot at the farmers market. What to look for when buying mushrooms Edible mushrooms vary tremendously in size, shape and color, and can b ..read more

I'm not really sure where i am going with this one...I just really like this picture. Simple in it's elegance, yet complex in it's execution. Chefs labor over their food for countless hours to create a moment of pleasure for their guests. Plate presentation is the final step that showcases their creations. Often taken for granted or left as an afterthought, plate presentation should highlight the quality of the food and preparation techniques while engaging the diner’s senses. Effective plating should be simple enough to execute on a busy night yet stylish and visually appealing to the guest ..read more

This is a very broad topic, so for today I'm going to narrow it down to Spring & Summer cooking methods. Specifically, roasting, grilling and sauteing. Still lot's to cover, so let's get started! Animal proteins are mostly made up of water, so the cooking time and the temperature of the cooking medium affect their outcome. Cook them too much or too long, and they become tough and dry, plus their yield will be significantly diminished. Optimizing the cooking process will preserve the quality and integrity of the product without excessive moisture loss. Some products are naturally tende ..read more