Kenk

I find that some sort of star or rating system is important in a restaurant review. This has to be taken in contest with how the reviewer established how the rating is made. In this thread Lesley does a good job in describing how she assigns stars. I have also read a good description of how the Fat Guy determines good from bad restaurants. This makes it easier to understand the review. The other aspect of the star ratings is to ensure that the rating system not is too optomistic. Then the review becomes meaningless. I read reviews in Toronto and Ottawa that are meaningless because I hardly ever see anything critical in them but I see a star rating. What does the stars mean? What does the review mean? The reviews I read from New York are interesting but because I have no perspective on the food there I cannot gage how to interpret what they mean to me. A star system at least lets me be able to get a Idea what the reviewer means in a shorter time when I visit restaturant in the area.

I am looking for whole carcasess. I also like to know what the animals are fed(grass, grain(no meat please)). I am looking for sources in eastern Ontario but can use sources in SW Ontario too. send me any Info you can. I also am looking at a good balance of fat and lean in the animals. I noticed a shift toward meat that is too lean in common sources. As for Icelandic lamb, I can imagin they grow lamb(sheep) there, but I can only remeber eating Icelandig herreng.

Hey Jinmyo, Sounds like shabu shabu or chinese fondue. mmmm.

wesza, You usually will find ginger beer at a Caribbean store or any place that sell Caribbean food products. The other place to find ginger beer is a store that has specialty item from the UK. Where I live you can find ginger beer in every major grocery store. One store has its own house brand in 2 liter bottles(about 2 quarts). I like to make my own sometimes.

I am looking for other sources.

I am looking for good recomendations where to get good local lamb in the Ottawa/Hull region. I like good grass fed lamb but I am also looking for a friend of mine who may want grain fed. Either side of the Ottawa river is fine, both is better.

I grew some habaneros a couple of years ago. The hot sauce I made was the hottest thing I ever tryed. This really wasn't my goal but this stuff was so hot I was affraid of the stuff. The smell of the stuff made you start to tremble. This stuff really hurt when you used too much. The stuff tastes great. Try adding vinigar, salt, garlic. Blend it cook it put it in sterilized jam jars. You might want to try adding some orange juice.

Starbucks. I think it is crap and expensive. I still buy it some time just so I end up hanging out there.(nice chicks) When I drank it 2 days in a row, I could not stand the smell of the place for 2 weeks. The other horrible coffee was a vending machine at work. The machine itself is fine, the coffee was weak but could be used to strip paint the cafine content was so high.

For Rosh Hashana, Please replace the butter with olive oil for this chicken recipe.

Keep the seeds and in the pepper. Go buy a pack of red pepper flakes from a Korean market. On of the standard products found there are seedless red pepper flakes. These have and excelnt flavour.

I can't hold this in any more but when it comes to food handling and cleanliness, Ontario is a backwater. Southern Ontario in particular has an awful record. There are some signs things Toronto are improving but you still have to be very careful when buying any thing from any store or restaurant. Again if you see some practices out in the open that make you nervous, there are more not that far under the surface. A chef cannot be world class without excelent food handleing practices.

Personnaly I like Lavazza! I find it is consistantly well roasted and has a full bodied taste and smell. It is also much better than most specialty shop high end coffees out there. It is also a lot less expensive. Yes the grind is not perfect but I regrind the pre-ground or buy beans by the Kilo. If you have a recomendation for a brand that competes let me know. As for the busboys seving esspresso, Why not. All but a few coffee places is the coffee that good. A lot of restaurants are also using automatic machines that do a good job depending on what is put in and the settings. Really if you have everything set up correctly it is not that hard with professional equipment to make a good esspresso/cappucino. Training should take 10 minutes. By the way, I would find a nice thing to say about busboys before drinking anything at your next restaurant meal.

I get very discouraged whenever I get served runny loose Tzatziki on souvlaki. Or when Tzatziki is lightly buttered on the souvlaki. Only a good large blob, of thick, garlicy Tzatziki that oozes in all directions and where it gets on your nose, chin and mixes with the other juices in the souvlaki to run down your elbow should be used.

I hate ketchup on hot dogs. I would never want to eat horseradish with roast beef.

My recipe is about the same as Savour Chef but here is my take. sliced Onions choped parsley choped Oregano (or dry) sliced tomatos sliced Cucumbers Kalamata olives slices of Feta Cheese Extra virgin olive oil wine vinagar lemon juice Layer the onions, spread on some parsley and oregano, layer the tomatos, layer the cucumbers, layer the feta cheese, sprinkle on some parsley and oregano, and the olives. Drench the vegatables with the Olive oil and let stand for a while. Just before serving lightly drizzle on the vinegar and lemon juice. The more olive oil you add, the more yummy sauce you will have to dunk your bread in. You only mistake you can make is to add not enough olive oil. I like to add the parsley to mello out the onion.

I do not understand how anyone can overlook the cleanliness in a restaurant. The Toronto area has an horrible history of food inspection in restaurants. Usually when a place looks dirty it is probably worse than you would expect. If you are walking through chicken droppings to your meal, turn back and head the other way.

Is the food any good there? Why would I want to go?

One of the most shocking experinces I ever had was trying to find an open restaurant at Younge and Eglington on a Sunday afternoon. I was very unsuccessful. This was a few years ago. But I don't think much has changed.

I never have a bad meal at someone home. I am always gratefull for the invitation and the hospitality of my host. The food is not anywhere near as important as the hospitality. I find this approach will surely open me up to invitations to the best meals I ever eat at someone's home. Now the worst thing I brough to someones house was a rock hard pizza. It was edible but left my jaw tired after 1 small piece. What was worse is I blamed the person who reheated it for the bad result. It was a party I went to as what I felt was an obligation and was grumpy. I discovered the next time I made pizza that I needed to handle my oven differently than the other ovens I have had. The bottom heat is very harsh and tends to cook the bottom faster than the top.

These are some of my sugestions to try, Slow Smoked BBQ Brisket Stuff the matzo balls with a shitake mushroom stuffing Avgolemono chicken soup (I love chicken soup with lemon mmmm) Galactobouriko made with honey (filo and semolina greek dessert) Lasagna Chicken red thai curry Deep fried artichokes Veal rib chocolate chile mole

It is a good idea to refresh the spices just before smoking. Adding garlic at any or all steps is a good Idea. The refreshed spices should probably exclude the ones that are harder to digest for a good finish . ie. bay leaves, chiles The best smoked meat has a dark spice coated exterior. If you give it a try let me know how it is going.

Hello Shmerel, Levitt's Smoked Meat is a pretty good product the last time I tried it and it is Kosher(click. They do a pretty good balance between modern commercial methods and traditional methods. I will get back to you after I do a re-evaluation of the present product. I do not have an exact recipe but my post above gives a good start to the spice mix. If you follow a corned beef recipe with a Club House pickling spice as a base or Make a brine of salt and sugar add lightly cracked pepper lightly cracked coriander lightly cracked allspice cracked cloves crumpled bay leaves crumpled hot pepper also whole mustard seed SALTPETER. Sodium nitrate The wood that is traditionally used in Montreal is probably Sugar Maple. The smoked meat brisket is steamed whole before slicing by "HAND" into rye slices. One of the professions in Montreal is a Smoked Meat Cutter. In Montreal usually yellow mustard is used as a condiment. When I make it at home I make it with kimmel(rye with kimmel seeds) or dark rye. The sides are sour brined dill cucumber pickles or half sours, brined dill pickled Tomatoes, pickled cherry bomb peppers, pickled banana peppers, hand sliced double fried crispy french fries, vinegar cole slaw slightly sweet, and a black cherry soft drink. Ohhhh I just can't keep my heart from fluttereing! Here is a recipe I have never tried it but hey click.

I have considered getting an indoor grill and it is clear that unless you are doing 20 steakes and burgers a day the clean up would be a pain. The best would be a natural gas grill outside because up here in Ottawa Ontario Canada, where one can grill outdoors year-round, propane does not react that well to freezing temperatures. You do not have to worry about a perfectly clean outdoor grill. By the way in winter grilling and the temperatures are below -10, oven mits are to keep your hands warm.(mmmmm Indoor grilling....)

The poutine to try has to be the poutine with smoked meat. That will really gum up the works. And yes it really exsists just like pizza with smoked meat on it. I am too affraid to try it!

Eating Olestra is eating liquid plastic. What do you think is likely to happen? The feds would only allow this as a food for humans or animals to placate the corporate morality.