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Before there was grenadine, there was raspberry syrup. Okay, maybe that’s not literally true, but if you read early cocktail books, like Jerry Thomas’ Bartender’s Guide, you’ll see plenty of references to raspberry syrup… and none to grenadine. It’s an indispensable ingredient in the East India Cocktail and Clover Club, and makes a pretty fine [...]

If the noodles are the body of a bowl of ramen, the broth is its soul. There are lots of different styles of broths, from basic dashi to chicken stock to intense, pork-based tonkotsu, or any blend of the above. These are then seasoned with a tare or kaeshi sauce concentrate, which roughly determines the [...]

It would be hard to read the first issue of Lucky Peach and not come away with an increased appreciation – and appetite – for ramen noodles. From the instant noodles that students subsist on to the most obsessively produced restaurant ramen in Japan, the magazine lovingly explores every aspect of this bright star in [...]

With temperatures around here breaking records, it seems like the perfect time to look at one of summer’s greatest coolers: iced tea. When I was growing up, iced tea was always a manufactured product, with no relationship to the real tea my mother would drink by the pot every day. Instead, it came as a [...]

Is it possible for a blue drink to be good? People in some quarters spend a lot of time debating what, exactly, constitutes a craft cocktail. There’s lots of debate, but I’m sure most would agree that any drink that’s blue probably doesn’t qualify. But, as Jeff “Beachbum” Berry points out in his book, Beachbum [...]

Like everyone else, lately I’ve been reading the first issue of Lucky Peach, the new quarterly food magazine put out by David Chang and Peter Meehan, and it reminded me of the incredible flavour combination that is miso and butter. I find it so amazing that these two staple ingredients from two wildly different culinary [...]