My favorite show on TV, Good Eats, is being cancelled. It’s been a staple on the Food Network for quite some time with some spotty broadcasting by Food Network Canada (stop changing the broadcast time!). Still, I got the cookbooks at Christmas and there will always be reruns!

Galleria Supermarket, a Korean grocer in Richmond Hill, has expanded southward. Their new location at Don Mills and York Mills is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. The Don Mills corridor is really expanding since the “Shops” opened up two years ago.

This supermarket focuses on Korean products but worthwhile to visit even if you don’t cook Korean food. Lots of premade delicacies are available. There’s also a very large hot food section where the cooks prepare everything fresh within your view. There’s also a fresh tofu machine, a bakery, a side dish “bar” and butcher.

Galleria Supermarket
865 York Mills Road

Found this article on Improving Food Photography. Some good tips found there.

First heard on Twitter then confirmed in person, Le Pain Quotidien is closed – bankrupt. Now where am I going to get my bread?

Earlier this year, Dynasty on Bloor St. closed. It’s being remade into a bistro. The good news is they found a new location – the “cursed” upper floor of 69 Yorkville. I say it’s cursed because restaurants have come and go from that location many times in the past few years. However, I predict that the owners of Dynasty will have a successful run out of it. It opens December 18, 2010.

The best pulled pork is done in a smoker, however living in a condo leaves a few less options for smoking. I made due with this recipe over the weekend and was happy with the result. The recipe is an amalgamation of a few different recipes online:

1. Take a bone in pork shoulder and brine it overnight in a salt/sugar/water solution in the fridge.

2. Remove the pork shoulder and dry it off. Coat it with a dry rub and rub it into the meat (salt/sugar/onion powder/garlic powder/paprika/salt/pepper/parlsey)

3. Roasted uncovered in the oven at 250F for five hours.

4. Remove the roast, wrap it in foil with some apple juice and roast for another hour.

5. Remove roast and let it rest for an hour.

6. Pull apart with forks and pour over vinegar sauce (cider vinegar/pepper flakes/salt/sugar/tabasco/worschire) and serve with some hamburger buns and topped with coleslaw.

I’m a little amazed at why Toronto’s foodies haven’t raved about the great Korean food that has been growing in the city in the past few years. Toronto Life are acknowledging some of these new small shops with an article about Toronto’s Best Korean Food. If you haven’t been to an authentic Korean restaurant, it’s definitely worth a try.

The Globe and Mail wrote about Taste Buds and Molecules: The Art and Science of Food with Wine where François Chartier demonstrates new types of wine pairings. A second article summarizes some of the best findings:

Bloomy cheeses (such as Camembert, Brie or Époisses)

Conventional pairing: red Burgundy. New pairing: oak-aged chardonnay from the New World. Reason: Diacetyl, found in the cheese, helps give butter and cheese its flavour, and oaky chardonnays taste buttery.

Blue cheeses (such as Stilton)

Conventional pairing: vintage port. New pairings: Sauternes, late-harvest gewurztraminer, fino or manzanilla sherry, or New World oaky chardonnay. Reason: a host of aromatic molecules and fatty acids that resonate with the wines. Port remains a good alternative, but try a relatively young, 15-year-old vintage.

Roast pork

Conventional pairing: light-bodied red. New pairing: white wine aged on its lees (yeast sediment left over from fermentation), such as a roussanne from southern France, or an oak-aged white, such as a full-bodied California chardonnay. Reason: Pork is rich in lactones and so are the wines.

Braised beef

Conventional pairings: Barolo (a tannic, high-acid red from Italy) or, in the case of boeuf bourguignon, red Burgundy, which usually is light- or medium-bodied. New pairing: rich, voluptuous reds, such as grenache-syrah-mourvèdre blends from Australia, or an Italian Amarone. Reason: The wines’ velvety texture will harmonize with the rich, saucy meat.

Lamb

Conventional pairing: cabernet sauvignon. New pairing: grenache-syrah-mourvèdre blends from the Languedoc-Roussillon or Rhône Valley regions of southern France. Reason: Lamb shares aromatic compounds found in thyme; many southern French reds display notes of herbs. If the lamb is cooked with rosemary, try riesling; the pine-scented herb and wine both contain terpenes.

Sushi

Conventional pairing: sake. New pairing: semi-sweet riesling, such as a spatlese from Germany. Reason: “Sushi is complex,” Mr. Chartier said. “There are a lot of different things in a sushi dinner – pickled ginger, wasabi, soy sauce. The best wine to manage all of that is a sweet wine, but not too sweet.” Alternative: wheat beer.

Smoked salmon

Conventional pairings: Champagne or whisky. New pairing: oak-aged whites, especially oloroso or amontillado sherry. Reason: Smoked fish develops aromatic compounds found in charred wood barrels.

Curries

Conventional pairing (at least in Britain): lager. New pairing: aged white wine, such as a vin jaune from the Jura region of France or a Sauternes from Bordeaux or tokay from Hungary. As whites age in bottle (after, say, five years), they begin to develop the flavour of sotolon, a highly aromatic compound found in curry.

Spicy food (such as Thai)

Conventional pairing: beer or cold water. New pairing: sweet or high-alcohol whites, such as California viognier or medium-sweet riesling. Reason: Carbonation fuels the fire, while sugar and alcohol (though ideally not over 14.5 per cent) will tame it. “You can’t drink water, you cannot drink an acidic beverage, you cannot drink carbonated beverages,” Mr. Chartier said. Alternative: sweet Nigori sake.

Pizza

Conventional pairing: Italian red such as Chianti. New pairing: Depends on the toppings, but if you like green peppers, a cabernet franc such as a Chinon or Bourgueil from France’s Loire Valley. Reason: The bell pepper and the wine are high in herbal compounds known as pyrazines.

This is a great article on what to put in your cupboards to eat healthier.

This TV show is on PBS on Saturday at Noon. A great show from Gourmet magazine that showcases Foodie culture around the world.