TicTac

My grandfather was raised after being born in England, in Burma. Would love to hear more about the curry.

Apologies for the lack of visuals - Oven roasted wings (v crispy!) Greek Yogurt Dill dipping sauce Roasted Spuds in chicken wing fat Sauteed Zucchini & Peas tossed in at the end for good measure (and because the little rugrat loves 'em).

Smoked tomato vinaigrette.

I can offer a number of ideas in the GTA and Northern reaches (I am in Old Thornhill) - the churrasco sort would be perhaps out of your typical range, at Eglinton and Mt Pleasant - Churrasco Villa - is excellent. In the same area (S/E corner of said intersection) is a great pub that brews their own beer and often has cask ale. Next door is a Cheese Emporium.

And if you enjoyed Nando's, I can offer another suggestion of even greater taste and quality!; if so desired.

Anna - were you aware Nando's also serves chicken liver?

The pork belly and Matsu's look esp. interesting. What City/restaurant - nonkeyman?

Oh come on now, that wee bit of snow stopped ya!? Up in the Great White North we had freezing rain last night, I had chicken marinading in Greek spices - my wife asked if I was still going to BBQ - 'If you want real Greek food' I replied, as I headed out to the deck. Then again, I did have a freshly carved path through the snow courtesy of my 3 year old taking advantage of the first years snow and erecting the inaugural snowbeast (I hesitate to call it snowman due to its rather odd characteristics)

All great ideas - thanks folks! Now to locate some raw stainless steel!

Toda - Shai. Mostly curious in the actual baking methods. I have for some time now been interested in getting a piece of steel for my oven (I have a gas wolf range) as currently I just bake my pies on a baking tray (not pre-heated) which is not ideal. Do you put the steel under the broiler to heat, or full blast, heat - then turn to broil and bake under the broiler? Very interesting technique if that is the case, as I would think the top would burn before the rest cooked... What type of steel specifically should I be getting were I to purchase one? How did you season it so it doesnt rust?

Not sure if you have tried this combination (or even like these ingredients for that matter...though I recall you enjoying a nice blue) - Once done caramelization, de-glaze with some decent balsamic - Blue cheese goes great if added both as a pizza topping, as does a bit of rosemary.

Curious to hear more about your pizza cooking technique, Shai.

Could very well be - no debate that I am of an eccentric breed

I love bread too. I just had the most amazing (outside of France) french baguette (Rahier, for anyone from Toronto) for lunch, and could eat it just with churned butter. But I wouldn't think to eat that with a big plate of say, Carbonara for example. I wonder where that (the metaballs/garlic bread) phenomenon started...

If a sauce/gravy is present, you don't have to convince me. But in my examples, both of the carbs (pasta and rice) are there to do that very job, take on the sauce. I have nothing against carbs in any way shape or form - I simply don't understand the phenomenon (specifically bread with pasta, but the post above with risotto reminded me of my perceived conundrum)!

No disrespect - but could someone explain the following... I never did quite get the whole 'bread with dinner' concept. I understand (and love) the traditional bread course, but please explain: - Bread with pasta - Bread with risotto Sorry, maybe it's just me!

You can never have too many Canucks in a room! Welcome! My folks just got back from a trip to NB and raved. I have been to NS and PEI but not yet NB. On the list, heard the red sand beaches are amazing. Would love to see some shots of your place and property, R&T.

At least one good thing came of last night (rotut's legal herbs, of course).

It might come from both the stem and via the cap - I have noted soaked stems as well in the past. But I have also noted mushrooms growing seemingly hanging under (attached to) a fallen tree totally protected by the rain, and dry when other exposed ones are soaked.

I have found (and it may be unique to this variety which is extremely thick fleshed for an oyster) that even one good rainfall will saturate the exposed ones. The nice thing is with the Elm Oysters is they only grow on trees, which makes drying time that much faster. At the end of the day, 9/10 times my desired preparation of a mushroom will entail high heat searing with salt to remove water content and concentrate flavours. Thus I choose to introduce as little water to the beasts as possible. Every chef I have worked with and known would never expose their prized fungi to water. Any tiny bit of dirt that my brush might miss gets incinerated by the heat and turns into roughage, and who cant use more roughage...!

Perhaps you might pause to offer thought as to the nature of my inquiry. In this case it is related to the absorption of water comparing farmed/store bought mushrooms vs. wild varieties. I am also not sure what you are washing off your (what I am assuming are store bought) mushrooms... I barely brush mine and they have all sorts of tiny bits of dirt, etc. Some even have worms (I save those for stock though, my wife gets creep-ed out at the thought, regardless the additional protein). Regardless, it all gets annihilated once it hits the smoking hot pan.

To each his/her own. No water will come in contact with my beauties! I am not a fan of button/cremini mushrooms, nor portobello's for that matter - when I do buy in stores it's Oyster/Shitake and if available Chanterelles and Morels. I do have a client who is a mushroom farmer, I will inquire more about this next I see him. I can assure you all however, the absorption ability of wild mushrooms is tremendous.

I can assure you that the water was fully saturated in the meat of the mushroom. If the opportunity presents itself I will document for you all the differences. They are most easily noticeable. Perhaps given the variety of mushrooms I eat are grown in the wild and not mass produced they behave differently. Who knows. What I do know is that it is counter intuitive to introduce something you wish to get rid of (and have a little as possible to begin with) in the cooking process. No reason why a simple small painters brush wouldn't suffice in any cleaning endeavors. Of the many chefs I have known none wash their mushrooms.

Myth? Not so. Allow me to substantiate my claim. As some of you might be aware, I love foraging for mushrooms. The best time to do so is right after it rains (actually a day or two after, to be exact). The reasoning behind this is twofold; primarily, mushrooms thrive in damp conditions hence the rain sends them into periods of rapid growth spurts, however; if there is a fair bit of rain or the mushroom is exposed; guess what? It becomes SATURATED in water. As in, a mushroom in the same rain storm exposed to the rain vs. one not, will be 3-5x heavier due to the absorption of water. I have also cooked mushrooms both 'protected from the elements' and others not as lucky and the cooking time is exponentially longer for those saturated fungi and the end result is never as good. The same would be re-created if washed - to a certain extent, but especially soaked, in water. Books and people on the internet can tell you all they want, but until you have seen these beauties in their natural environment and see how the react under different conditions, all that is is hot air!

Mushrooms don't absorb water?? What?!?! Mushroom's are nature's sponges. You never wash a mushroom! Take a brush and remove any dirt cut the stems, but do NOT wash your mushrooms (unless you like soggy, mushy, watery nonsense; of course).