Written by Sean Wood | 25 October 2009

So you have just returned from successfully foraging in the woods. Your basket is brimming with assorted wild mushrooms. As you spread out your haul on the newspaper-covered table, savouring thoughts of the feast to come, the itchy insect bites are quickly forgotten. Now it is time to make sure you get the best out of your harvest.

The first important task is to sort through all the mushrooms, discarding any wormy or decayed specimens. Humans are not the only creatures that like to gorge on mushrooms, and soft-fleshed species like the Boletes (Ceps, Porcini, Steinpilz in other languages) can become infested by insects and worms pretty fast. Cutting through the soft flesh will reveal any trace of worm holes. Secondly, mushrooms should be separated by type: Boletes, Chanterelles, various gilled mushrooms, puffballs and any other edible species you may have come across. If you are uncertain of any mushroom’s identity, it should be put aside for later identification, and if that fails, discarded.

Written by the Tidings Staff | 29 September 2009

This 5th Annual Maverick Chefs Issue highlights 6 of the most celebrated chefs in Canada. Find out what inspires them, then go out and sample their edible creations. Read about the controversy swirling in South Africa. We bring you even more mouthwatering recipes that will keep you cooking all month long. Duncan Holmes reveals the secret of wraps, and Lynn Ogryzlo explores the culinary backstreets of Paris. Plus more than 150 wines tasted!

Written by the Tidings Staff | 27 August 2009

New for September

This month, Tidings offers you a taste of the world. Mouthwatering recipes from Italy to Australia and points in between will keep you cooking all month long. Peter Rockwell answers your questions, and we wonder about what goes into that magical notion of terroir. Plus more than 150 wines tasted!

Written by Mona Awad | 21 July 2009

Remember, reader, when we were all eating ostrich? Or when we sipped oolong tea in teeny tiny cups? Or how we added sundried tomatoes hither and thither to all things edible for the better part of the 1980s and 1990s? From rooibos to panko breadcrumbs to bullshit martinis, culinary trends, as all we foodies know, can be fickle, inexplicable, and sometimes spectacularly impractical. At times even laughably absurd. But what with the current financial crunch, trend experts predict that we will be seeing fewer frills and more function in the kitchen. Cheap, comforting soul food promises to be the culinary equivalent of the new black. Affordable stews. Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink casseroles. Liquor and lots of it.

Of course it won’t be all baked pasta shells and lentil soup. Foodie dalliances in Peruvian, Moroccan, Indian and Spanish cuisine will continue. Ditto for forays into exotic flavourings (look out for persimmon, lavender and garam masala). And though fancy-shmancy restaurants will take a dive, ‘underground’ restaurants — held in warehouses, open for one night only — will surface. Indeed, trend-wise, 2009 promises to reflect both that last belch of extravagance that comes at the tail end of an economic boom as well as the pragmatism that bespeaks a sense of tough times ahead. The good news? That pragmatism may mark the death of the more insufferably lavish trends born in the boom’s zenith and usher in an appreciation for more moderate and down-to-earth delights. So, in honour of what I hope will be the triumph of the practical over the pretentious, I have compiled a list of trends I pray will get the axe in 2009, hopefully to be replaced with my own wish list of Next Big Things.