Kayahara

This is one of my favourite treats to make when I have leftover risotto. I just put the leftovers into a mold (usually a square or rectangular plastic sandwich keeper) and refrigerate them. Once they’re thoroughly chilled, usually by the next day, I unmold, cut to shape, bread, and shallow-fry until golden on the outside [...]

Thanks to some local friends whose garden was starting to look a little overgrown, I managed to lay my hands on some tomato leaves to cook with. I figured the best way to experiment with them was in a dish that already included tomatoes. My favourite go-to pasta sauce is amatriciana, which uses bacon and [...]

Faced with an abundance of radishes, I set about skimming through my cooking library for recipes to make use of them, or at least ideas for a starting point. There were two pieces of information that kept cropping up. First, that there are three major kinds of radishes: red, Asian (such as Japanese daikon) and [...]

If you followed my advice and made up a batch of falernum for the Zombie, by now you’re probably wondering what else you can mix with it. Here’s your answer!
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, like many rum-based drinks, is essentially a riff on the original Daiquiri. The trinity of rum, juice and sugar can produce [...]

If any condiment has a claim on being Canadian, I’d argue that it’s mustard.
Sure, people have been making mustard since ancient times, but look at how things stand today: Canada is the world’s largest exporter of mustard seed, and one of the top 5 producers overall. I think that’s enough to qualify the piquant hot [...]

Tomorrow, I’m leaving on vacation for Japan, where I’m planning to enjoy lots of noodles and dashi-based dishes. I’ll definitely be taking lots of pictures, and if I get a chance I’ll post some here while I’m gone. Otherwise, posting will be pretty sparse, but I’ve got lots of great topics planned for when I [...]

I’ve been cooking a lot of Japanese food this year, in preparation for an upcoming trip to Japan, and time and again I’ve come back to one observation: dashi is the heart and soul of Japanese cooking.
Dashi is to Japanese cuisine what veal stock is to classic French cuisine, only more so. The most common [...]

With the weather being so unusually warm this spring, I’ve been drinking a lot of rum cocktails lately. Among rum drinks, none are tastier or more complicated than the family known as faux-Polynesian, or “Tiki,” drinks. And among Tiki drinks, none packs a bigger punch than the Zombie.
Originally devised by Don the Beachcomber in the [...]

So it turns out that distilling alcohol at home is technically illegal, which somewhat limits your options for making your own hard liquor. Only somewhat, though, because modern bar culture has spawned a wide variety of often fancy bottles that all hold what is essentially a blank canvas: vodka. Lacking a still, vodka is the [...]

Lately, I’ve found a new hobby: duck hunting.
Okay, I haven’t actually been going out with a gun to shoot them down out of the sky, but I have been prowling all the local grocery stores to find them. I’ve spent the better part of the last month on a mission to make duck confit, and [...]