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I’ve been called a food snob. What with my $22 bottles of balsamic vinegar, penchant for foie gras and routine indulgence of Lanson champagne; although I do love all of these things, I’m anything but a snob.

I also love many humble, everyday foods. In fact, hot dogs are one of my favourite summertime treats. I like a good quality hot dog and it needs to be grilled until it’s just ready to burst so that the skin is crunchy and the hot dog is super juicy. During the 90’s Martin and I lived next door to Maple Leaf Gardens; there was an excellent hot dog cart downstairs at the corner of Carlton and Yonge. Their hot dogs were so good that sometimes I zipped 26 floors down the elevator just to pick up one of these stellar hot dogs for lunch or supper.

Hot dogs, I’m pleased to see, are being rediscovered and given TLC by a few savvy restaurateurs. When I was in Vancouver recently I noticed a Gourmet Hot Dog place on a trendy downtown street and here in Toronto there is a newish place called Buddha Dog that I’m hoping to try out sometime soon.

Until I can get to one of these venues that respects the hot dog for the pleasure it truly is, I’ll be buying Kwinter’s hot dogs, the best I’ve found at my local grocery store, to cook on my home grill.

Hungry for more? Check out these blogs that celebrate the hot dog:
http://www.hotdogkids.blogspot.com/
http://www.roundonline.com/dogblog
http://wvhotdogblog.blogspot.com
http://www.thehotdogtruck.com
http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2008/04/22/day-113-pocket-dogs/

I make a conscious effort to use this forum not as a place to rant but as an opportunity to highlight beneficial news and tips. But this announcement that functional beverages will soon be available for pets begs to be ridiculed. Seriously, this launch must be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.

With stats about the global human food crisis as bleak as can be, this kind of product just irks me to no end. Please, if you feel compelled to buy one of these drinks for Fido, stop yourself and make a donation to Unicef or another charity that helps hungry people instead.

April has been a crazy month for me. I’ve been in Vancouver, Edmonton and New Orleans as well as carried a full workload of creative projects at work. As a result, I really didn’t feel like heading into the kitchen for the Daring Baker’s Challenge this time around.

Don’t get me wrong, I had nothing against the recipe or the group but I just didn’t feel like doing anything extra with my one free Saturday at home this month. But, since being part of a group occasionally requires effort and compromise, I pulled out my mixer, found my sprinkles and got baking. After all, the recipe for cheesecake pops, chosen by Elle and Deborah, is simple and well written by Jill O’Connor. (Regular readers will recognize Jill’s name as one of the authors I showcased in December during Book Week and this month’s DB recipe is from her book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey that I recommended in that post.)

So, I entered the kitchen feeling optimistic that things would go well. Unfortunately, when I unwrapped my room temperature cream cheese, one of the bricks was strange: curdy and sour smelling. Definitely not worthy of use. So, I tossed the bad brick into the compost bucket, got out my calculator and scaled the recipe down by 20%. To compensate for using a smaller volume of batter, I used a 9-inch (23-cm) cake pan (one of the same ones I used for last month’s challenge). I was a little worried that my math might not lead to a usable cheesecake but fortunately my calculations worked out and it all turned out well.

To compound my good luck, an hour after I finished making the lollies and was wondering what in the world I would do with them (we aren’t big on cheesecake at our house), the phone rang. It was a friend who I was able to persuade to come over the next day with her husband and sweet tooth daughter for a casual Sunday meal. My young friend loved the lollies so much that she took home the leftovers to share with her grandmother and asked for the recipe so that she can make them for her own birthday party. Perfecto!

As part of my Big Gardening Adventure where I’m going to reduce my food miles for produce to 0 as often as possible, I’ve chosen three kinds of heirloom tomato seeds to start from seed and then grow using organic means:

• Brandywines
• Aunt Ruby’s German Green’s
• Cherokee Purple

All three of these varieties are supposed to mature within 70 to 75 days so if all goes well, I should have a pretty abundant crop of colourful tomatoes to share by the end of July (the line up starts from the left!).

In the past I’ve written that you should start tomato seedlings indoors no more than 6 weeks prior to transplanting the tomato plants to the garden, but I started mine earlier this year due to the crazy extended winter weather. The general concern with starting seeds too soon is that the young plants can become leggy and weak. To prevent that problem, I’m going to transplant my seedlings into larger pots in enough peat moss to help support the bases. We’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime, here are my tips for successfully transplanting and growing tomato seedlings. Print this page or bookmark it so that you can come back to this info later in the spring and summer when you need it.

I’ll be testing my theories as the season progresses. Then, I’ll report back on how things worked out when I followed my own advice (wish me luck and, if humiliation ensues, please be kind):

• Before planting tomato seedlings, work a spadeful of compost into each hole. This should be enough fertilizer to feed the plant for the entire season.

• To help new tomato plants to establish themselves in cool spring temperatures, protect the seedlings by cutting the bases from 2L soda bottles. Place a bottle over each seedling until temperatures become warmer.

• Since hot summer weather can lead to dry soil conditions, be prepared to water tomatoes often during hot spells. Ideally the water used to water tomato plants should be ambient temperature (this is where my rain barrel will come in handy!) since cold water may prevent the roots from developing. Likewise, it’s better to water tomatoes at the base of the stem with a watering can than to use a hose that drenches the whole plant.

• When mature, tomatoes ripen to optimum flavor when grown at temperatures between 13°C and 27°C. As a result, tomatoes must be planted so that the fruit will mature when this temperature range is common in your area.

Amy Snider is the fresh face of fibre and one of my closest colleagues. She devotes a considerable amount of her spare time to working hard to make sure that she and other professional home economists get the respect they deserve. Today she tells us why we all need to revise our opinions about Home Ec.

DM: So, what the heck is a home economist?

AS: A Professional Home Economist has graduated from a degree program related to home economics (in my case a BSc. Human Ecology, Foods and Nutrition) and is registered with the provincial governing body of the Ontario Home Economics Association. (There are also associations in New Brunswick, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba).

As professionals, we can generalize or specialize in many areas such as advertising and marketing, recipe development, food styling, product research, public health, media relations, teaching and textile design.

DM: So you don’t spend all day long making ponchos and teaching kids to macramé?

AS: Very funny, Dana. As you know from hanging out with me on a daily basis, my role in the office is to oversee our recipe development practice. I am also the office authority on nutrition-related issues that come up with our clients’ recipe programs, nutrient analysis, copy writing, product development and current trends and innovations.

DM: Describe your typical workday.

AS: I don’t have a typical work day – some days I spend time at my desk researching nutrition topics, running nutrient analysis or writing and editing recipes. Other days, I’m out of the kitchen doing spokesperson work, meeting with clients, leading recipe tastings or going to trade shows to research innovations in food… There are lots of days where find myself having so much fun that I say to myself – ‘I can’t believe this is part of my work day’ – I love it!

DM: What’s the difference between a home economist and a dietitian?

AS: A dietitian often has the same undergraduate degree (BSc. in Foods and Nutrition or Applied Nutrition) but has also completed a yearlong internship (most commonly in a hospital setting) under the authority of the Dietitians of Canada. After completion they register with the Dietitians of Canada.

DM: Can you tell me three reasons why home economists shouldn’t be the punch line of my jokes?

AS: Just three?
1. We are a vibrant group of professionals who are knowledgeable in our chosen fields.
2. Look at the popularity of programming on the Life Channel, the W Network, The Food Network, TLC and HGTV as key examples of society’s interest in all things domestic. Teaching these basic life skills of nutritious food preparation, household management, budgeting, etc. are at the core of the home economics profession.
3. At the end of the day, a Professional Home Economist has the Canadian consumer at heart.

Many people imagine that being a sommelier is a dream job; after all, who wouldn’t like to taste wine for a living and match chef prepared foods to their perfect drinks?

Turns out, it’s a numbers game like most other jobs. Up and coming sommelier Jonathon Gonsenhauser gave me an inside view of his work life when we chatted on the phone the other day. (FYI: Jonathon is the sommelier at my husband Martin Kouprie’s restaurant. I chose to talk to him about his profession not only because I have easy access to him — unlike other people who can avoid me, Jonathon could get fired for not returning my calls — but also because he’s been distinguished by the Ontario Hostelry Association as one of the Top 30 young performers in the hospitality industry under 30 years of age.) He told me what it takes to be a top-notch sommelier and I’ve attempted to encapsulate our conversation with the following numeric list.

24 — Jonathon’s age.
19 — Age he started to study wine.
3 — Level (out of four) of sommelier status he’s attained.
640+ — Number of wines on Pangaea’s list.
75 to 80 — Percentage of those 640+ wines he has personally tasted.
3 — Number of days per week he meets outside work hours with his wine study group.
9 — The number of hours per week this group spends together.
6 — Number of bottles of wine made from one grape varietal that he and his study mates taste blind each Sunday.
2 to 3 — How many of those 6 bottles he and his study mates usually need to taste before someone correctly identifies the grape.
7.5 — Number of other hours Jonathon spends reading about wine on his own.
2 — Number of years before he hopes to attain master sommelier status.
17 — Number of candidates (out of 55) who usually pass the master sommelier exam on the first try.
167 — Number of master sommeliers in the world.
96 — Number of master sommeliers in North America.

Around our house we use the term ‘imaginary friend’ for anyone I know on the internet but have never met in person or talked to on the phone (yes, I do realize that needing a term for this category of people is a modern dilemma!). By that definition, Clint McLean is my newest imaginary friend. Although not primarily making his living in the food industry, Clint has taken some of the most interesting pictures of salt in its native areas that I’ve ever seen.

I asked him via email how he came to take such wonderful pictures of salt; I was too lazy to send Clint actual interview questions but he didn’t need much prompting to tell a wonderful story. Here’s what Clint had to say:

“I fell into my salt obsession; I got interested in salt after reading a book by Mark Kurlansky on the world history of salt. It’s a fascinating book and it planted a seed. (Note from DM: I read this book myself a couple of years ago and it is, indeed, a very good book.)

A few months after reading Kurlansky’s book I was in Peru visiting small remote villages in the Andes. On my way to Machu Picchu I visited Cusco where I heard about Maras, an area where there are salt terraces. I went to check them out. I got to the terraces late and didn’t have very easy light to work with for shooting but managed to get a roll or so shot.

I brought salt home from Maras, too. It’s this gorgeous clump of earth with a salt crust. I’ve since begun to collect salt souvenirs from all the salt areas I visit.

Though that trip marked the beginning of my salt odyssey as a photographer, the first salt I saw in its natural setting was near Siwa in Egypt. I was in a donkey cart driven by this 8- or 9-year-old kid and his little brother who was sleeping beside him, heading to a spring from this oasis town. The sun was half-set and the sky was beautiful as we passed what looked like little ice ponds that turned out to be salt ponds. Since then, I’ve found salt in every location I’ve visited to be equally magical. In June I’ll head out for another 6 weeks to shoot some more salt and I can’t wait to see what I find.

I don’t know that I can list what I’ve learned from these trips. I find it more about experiences than facts. Certainly I’ve learned how they harvest salt in Uyuni and how they harvest it in Taoudenni, but the trip is more about just being there. Whether I’m on my way to the salt or watching people drag salt laden boats to shore, it’s really about being in the moment. Salt is a good catalyst and focus for my travels but if it wasn’t salt it would be something else… or nothing else but capturing the moment would still be my purpose.”

Spoken like a true artist! I strongly recommend that you visit Clint McLean’s site to see his salt photos and other excellent work. Here are links to some of my favorite images on his site:

http://clintmclean.com/nonhumans17.html
http://clintmclean.com/nonhumans18.html
http://clintmclean.com/nonhumans12.html

And finally, here’s a portrait of me that Clint took:
http://clintmclean.com/humans09n.html

Celebrity chefs and cookbook authors get the media spotlight so often that it’s easy to think that they represent the breadth of the culinary professions. But, as I was reminded when I attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals annual conference last week, there are hundreds of ways to make a living in the food business. This week, I’m going to introduce you to four people who have used an interest in food to create interesting jobs for themselves. Here’s what’s on the roster:

• Monday: Culinary Cartographer Siobhan Donoghue
• Tuesday: Salt Inspired Photographer Clint McLean
• Wednesday: Precocious Sommelier Jonathon Gonsenhauser
• Thursday: Home Economist Amy Snider

Now, without further delay, on to Siobhan Donoghue, a London-based culinary cartographer I met randomly at a friend’s birthday party in New York City. If you have no idea what a culinary cartographer is, don’t feel badly. It’s a small niche, and one I may have just officially named. Basically, Siobhan creates artistically accented maps that highlight the best places to buy and eat food in any given geographical area. Needless to say, her work takes her all over the world. I caught up with Siobhan earlier this spring while she was traveling and recording the gourmet landmarks of Barcelona.

Here’s what she had to say not only about food in Barcelona but her career in general:

DM: What food trends did you note in Barcelona that you don’t see in London?

SD: Spaniards are only now starting the embrace the concept of recognizing and celebrating the origins of their food. In fact, there is a small, flourishing restaurant chain that only serves what is in season within their province. In Barcelona everyone visits the food markets daily and they always have. While London’s farmer’s markets are fantastic, they’re very much an elite experience.

Barcelona is just now discovering the wonders of Japanese food and I noticed that the Ferran Adria approach to combining chemistry and cooking is waning in popularity.

DM: What’s the most exciting or memorable food experience you had in Barcelona?

SD: The calcots. They are a combination of a spring leek and onion that are only available for a few weeks in the spring. They’re barbecued until burnt. One then removes the outer charred layer and dips the inner part of the calcot in a Romanesco-style sauce. It’s almost impossible to eat a calcot without getting it all over yourself. In fact, the restaurants provide bibs since it can be so messy. Fantastic, smoky flavour and a silky leek-like texture and sweetness.

DM: How the heck does someone get a job like yours?

SD: While working as a regional director with the travel company Butterfield & Robinson I saw a need in the travel industry, so following graduate school in New York for Interior Architecture, I started to dabble with painting old style maps illustrating the location of the food venues in New York I thought my friends would enjoy. Then I started to research European cities.

I’ve always loved old world maps that are icon driven with lots of little illustrations. My cartography is now developing into wedding maps featuring food and events along with historical and travel suggestions for their guests. I’m currently working on a map of a person’s life for their 40th birthday. I simply believe that maps can be both functional and beautiful.

DM: Tell me about your favorite map-making destination thus far.

SD: It would have to be Bologna. I was there two weeks ago updating my maps of that city only to find that it’s radically changed. The city has one of the oldest universities in Europe. The town oozes with history yet has a thriving, curious university crowd that keeps it moving forward. They’re totally food obsessed in Bologna given that the region is the food basket of the country. Homey comfort food made with the freshest ingredients is the hallmark of the region. Ingredients are everything to the Bolognese. They’ve given the world tortellini, Parma ham, salami, Parmesan cheese, mortadella, balsamic vinegar, piadina… the list goes on and on.

Hungry for more? Check out some of Siobhan’s work here:

Retail Food Map of NYC’s Lower East Side
Cured Meat Glossary
Vegetable Calendar
Christmas Cookies Featured here last December

According to my reading, preparing the site for your garden is one of the most crucial steps to ensuring your veggies have a chance to succeed.

My garden is well established but has been fallow for at least three years. During that time my habit has been to dump all the leaves, cuttings and weeds from the rest of the yard into this space. When weeds have sprung up my landscaper has tilled them under with the Rototiller. I have a feeling that my soil is going to be very rich in organic matter but also thickly populated by weeds. So, as soon as the mud will allow, I’m going to put on my gloves, grab my hoe and pull out any little shoots that are popping up.

I’ve been told that the best technique is to till the soil in the fall so that you’re all set up in the spring and can plant earlier. However, I didn’t know I was going to use this vegetable patch last fall so
I’m going to use a Rototiller this spring to break up the soil and make it easier to weed and plant (actually my mom’s boyfriend John has offered to till the garden for me if I make sure there aren’t any big stones in it first – thanks John!). I was told by a knowledgeable farmer friend that tilling too often – especially in spring – should be avoided since it forces organic matter that needs surface bugs to be broken down too far below the surface. Regrettably, I’ll have to take that chance since my soil is pretty compacted.

In the meantime, while I wait for the mud to be less squishy, I’m busy inside nurturing and transplanting my seedlings to larger pots so that I can have nice robust plants ready when planting day arrives.

I planted my seedlings in peat moss not just because it’s recommended as a good starter, but also because it was the only soil I could find at the garden centre this early in the spring that didn’t contain any chemicals. Shocking, no?

I bought way too much peat moss, though. To plant all my corn, cantaloupes and pumpkins (that’s one seed starter kit worth of cells) I thought I’d need three 9 L bags of peat moss. I didn’t even use one full bag! No matter. I’ll soon have tomato plants to transfer and it will come in handy then.

All winter I dream about sun-drenched summer evenings and eating a juicy char-grilled burger fresh off the grill. Bliss! As it happens I’m not alone. According to a study conducted by Weber Barbecues, 98% of Canadians like to grill burgers of one kind or another in the summer. Although it wasn’t super warm last night, it was sun drenched so Oliver and I did indeed grill burgers and the results were stellar!

So fellow burger lovers follow these suggestions for making terrific tasting burgers from pantry ingredients. I’ve tried to give you a summer’s worth of tips so I hope you’ll bookmark this page.

The Basic Burger

1 small onion, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp (45 mL) barbecue sauce
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper
1/4 cup (50 mL) fresh bread crumbs
1 lb (500 g) ground beef

Preheat grill to medium-high. Mix onion, garlic, egg, barbecue sauce, salt, and pepper until well combined in a large bowl. Stir in breadcrumbs. Crumble beef into bowl and toss gently until evenly combined.

Divide mixture into four. Use your hands to shape meat into 4 patties, each about 4-inches (10-cm) wide. Lightly grease grill and add patties. Grill, covered and turning just once, for about 10 minutes or until the internal temperature of the patties is 71°C (160°F). Makes 4 burgers.

10 Beyond Basic Burgers

1. Ginger-scallion: Substitute 1/2 cup (125 mL) finely chopped green onions (also called scallions) for grated onion. Omit barbecue sauce and add 1 tbsp (15 mL) minced fresh ginger and 3 tbsp (45 mL) soy sauce to meat mixture. Ideal for ground beef or pork.
2. Texas: Omit barbecue sauce and add 2 tbsp (30 mL) grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp (15 mL) chili powder and 1 tsp (5 mL) oregano leaves. Ideal with ground beef.
3. Moroccan: Omit barbecue sauce and add 1 tsp (5 mL) dried mint, 1/4 tsp (1 mL) each cinnamon, cumin and coriander seed and 1/2 tsp (2 mL) hot pepper sauce. Excellent with ground lamb, pork or chicken.
4. Lemon-dill: Omit barbecue sauce and add 11/2 tsp (7 mL) dried dillweed and 2 tsp (10 mL) finely grated lemon zest. Ideal with ground veal or chicken.
5. Greek: Omit barbecue sauce and increase garlic to 2 cloves. Add 1 tsp (5 mL) each dried mint, oregano and dill, 1/2 tsp (2 mL) cinnamon and cumin and finely grated lemon peel. Good with lamb or pork.
6. Caesar: Replace barbecue sauce with 1/4 cup (50 mL) creamy Caesar salad dressing and bread crumbs with grated Parmesan cheese.
7. Peking: Omit salt and replace barbecue sauce with hoisin sauce and substitute 1/2 cup (125 mL) finely chopped green onions for grated onion. Increase garlic to 2 cloves. Good with ground beef or chicken.
8. Thai: Replace barbecue sauce with 1 tbsp (30 mL) each fish sauce, soy sauce and lime juice. Add 1 tsp (5 mL) finely grated lime peel and 3 tbsp (45 mL) chopped fresh coriander. Increase breadcrumbs to 1/2 cup (125 mL). Press 1 tbsp (15 mL) sesame seeds into patties as they are being shaped. Good for ground chicken.
9. Pesto: Replace barbecue sauce with 3 tbsp (45 mL) basil pesto and 1 tbsp (15 mL) finely grated lemon peel. Good for beef or veal.
10. Pizza: Replace barbecue sauce with tomato sauce. Add 1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped black olives, 1 tsp (5 mL) each dried basil and oregano and 1/2 cup (125 mL) shredded Italian blend cheese.

Dana’s Hot Tips for super sizzling burgers:

• For homemade club pack convenience, make double or triple batches of patties. Layer them between pieces of waxed paper and freeze. Be sure to make patties no more than 1/2-in (1-cm) thick so that they will grill quickly and evenly from their frozen state.
• To grill 1/2-in (1 cm) thick frozen burgers, reduce heat to medium and grill for 15 to 18 minutes, turning once.
• Although choosing extra lean ground meat for burgers has health appeal, burgers made with lean and medium ground meats will be juicier and freeze better.
• For tender burgers, form patties by pressing the ingredients together lightly so that the mixture doesn’t become too compacted.
• If making cheeseburgers, drape cheese over patties and cover for the last 60 seconds cooking time.
• For optimum safety, choose meat at the grocers with today’s packaging date, then prepare and cook or freeze patties on the same day.
• No matter how you like your steak, always cook burgers to well-done to ensure that any bacteria the meat may have come in contact with while being ground is eliminated.

Get more burger grilling tips from the experts at Health Canada.