Cooking the Google Way

Much to the dismay of Microsoft, Google is the most used search engine is the world. It's incredible how much this company has affected our lives since its inception in 1997, and one of the latest features from the boys out in Mountain View, California is Google Helpouts, a new service that connects you to experts, live over video chat, to get help with issues ranging from home repair, learning a new language, or general lifestyle advice. Many of them are completely free, so here are some suggestions that many be of interest to the wired foodie.

• Basic Cooking
  
  Need help cooking? Rouxbe chefs are here to help with your questions about basic cooking, recipe troubleshooting or to simply help you get dinner on the table.


• Improve your Food Photography
  
  Be the darling of Instagram with these tips from Earl Lee, a food blogger with over 5 years of food photography experience.


• Kitchen Catastrophes Solved
  
  Is your soufflé sad? Your stew lacking spice? Your steak kinda grey? Run out of menu ideas for a dinner party? Let Sherród Faulks, the creator of Sunday Supper Club video series help.


• Learn about Coffee: Advice from Roasting to Tasting
  
  Baristas aren't the only people who know from coffee, become more of a coffee connoisseur with the advice for this small batch hand roasting expert.


• Top Chef University
  
  Want to cook like your favourite Top Chef? Got some money you want to spend? If you answered "yes" to both of these questions, you now have access to over 50 hours of video cooking content, 220 video lessons and footage from 11 of the most popular contestants from the Emmy Award winning show.


• Urban farming basics: how to grow your own vegetable garden
  
  In this Helpout, you'll get information about garden size, what to grow, where to grow it, how to take care of your plants, as well as tips on the herbs and vegetables you should pick for your climate and personal preferences, and how to make it work with available space for planting.

Favorite TV cooking shows

With the new fall season about to begin, I can't think of a better time to talk about some of my favourite cooking shows, listed in alphabetical order.

• Chopped (Food Network Canada)
  Premise: Four chefs must take a mystery basket of ingredients and turn them into a dish that is judged on their creativity, presentation, and taste in a short period of time, anywhere between 20 to 50 minutes. The competitors are given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients. The show is divided into three rounds, Appetizer, Entrée, and Dessert.  After each round, a panel of judges critiques the dishes and decides which chef is eliminated from the competition, or "chopped". The final two chefs are then judged not only on their dessert course, but on the entire meal presented by each chef as a whole. The winner then receives $10 000.
  
  I don't what I would do if was told to make a dessert using avocado, oyster sauce, tofu skins, and star fruit in 30 minutes. Seeing these chefs work under pressure with ingredients they wouldn't normally use, and still managing to make something that tastes and looks good is fascinating. This show is food porn at its best.



• Chuck's Day Off (Food Network Canada)
  Premise: Whether it's roping steers with Mexican cowboys or diving into sinkholes, the viewer gets a look into what the host does in his off hours when he's not at one of the two restaurants he's a part owner of, and sees  the dishes he makes for the people he meets along the way.
  
  I'm not buying the idea that this is what this chef does with his time off from working at Garde Manger, and Le Bremner in Old Montreal, but like any reality show, it needed a hook. I stumbled across this show when I was looking for something to watch during dinner. Host Chuck Hughes believes in  a cooking style that stresses keeping things simple, fresh ingredients and having fun, and it shows with his laid back presence on the show. Don't think though that he's a cooking lightweight though, he's the youngest Canadian chef (only the third to do so) to win "Iron Chef America", defeating Iron Chef Bobby Flay.



• Iron Chef (Food Network)
  Premise: This defunct Japanese cooking show was a cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient.
  
  I first saw this show when I was visiting a friend in London, Ontario while we were killing time before hitting the local bars. The over-the-top theatrics and English dubbing were what made the show for me; for that reason, I've never been a fan of Iron Chef America. Bobby Flay and Mario Batali got nothing as interesting as this opening.



• Man v. Food (OLN)
  Premise: Series host Adam Richman visited restaurants that offer big food offerings before facing off against a pre-existing eating challenge.
  
  Any show that celebrates gluttony the way this show does has be entertaining, and with the help of its jovial host, the show manages to walk the fine line between fascinating and disgusting.. The show has since been rebranded as "Man v. Food Nation" as Richman has wisely decided that after three seasons, it's time to treat his body better.



• Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (BBC Canada)
  Premise: Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay visits a failing restaurant and acts as a troubleshooter to help improve the establishment in just one week. He then revisits the restaurant a few months later to see how business has fared in his absence.
  
  I've been a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay ever since I saw a preview clip of his show "Hell's Kitchen" online. His fiery temper and foul mouth may be a turnoff for some, but  you can't deny his passion for culinary perfection. I like the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares better than the American version because there's more of a focus on how a restaurant runs and a kitchen works, and less about the squabbles and personal lives of the people who own and work in the restaurant. Plus, I sometimes can't believe that some of people on the American version actually work in the food industry as they're portrayed so cluelessly. But I guess that's why Ramsey calls them donkeys.
• Top Chef (Reality Channel) / Top Chef Canada (Food Network Canada)
  Premise: Chefs compete against each other in a variety of culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants eliminated in each episode. The winning chef gets acclaim and a boatload of money.
  
  Quickfire challenges; Elimination challenges; Restaurant Wars. There's isn't a foodie alive who hasn't watched at least one episode of this series. With the right amount of focus on the chefs themselves and the dishes they create, this is how a cooking competition is supposed to be filmed. Skilled contestants who know their craft (unlike some of the schlubs on "Hell's Kitchen") and knowledgeable judges who hand out appropriate praise and criticism make this show thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, even without the eye candy in judges Padma Lakshmi  and Lisa Ray.
• You Gotta Eat Here! (Food Network Canada)
  Premise: In this show, the host travels across the country, searching for great comfort food at various diners, greasy spoons, and restaurants. He then interviews the people working at these establishments, and shows how some of their signature recipes are made.
  
  This show is very similar to "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives", but with Canadian content and no sign of annoying douchebag Guy Fieri. I like how it's possible to recreate some of the dishes by watching the demos shown if the restaurant visited isn't in your area  (though you may want to check a cookbook for a similar recipe to get the amounts of the ingredients correct). When they featured the Elgin Street Diner, I learned they are not only known for their poutine, but also for their meatloaf...who knew? I've been to the ESD a bunch of times and have enjoyed their poutine, but I've never seen anyone order or eat their meatloaf. I'll have to try it the next time I'm in the area.

If there something on TV that I should (or shouldn't) be watching, please let me know in the Comments section.

Superbowl Chili

This week I was watching the episode of "Top Chef" where the elimination challenge involved teams making chili for some rodeo cowboys, and I was surprised to see that one of the recipes was similar to a recipe I've been using for my Superbowl chili. It's adapted from a recipe I found in the January 2003 edition of Maxim magazine, and it's perfect for a party to watch the big game Sunday. Go Giants!

Chop 1 1/4 cups of onions; 1 1/4 cups of celery; 1 1/4 cups of bell peppers, 3 jalapeno peppers; and 3 cloves of garlic, and set them aside. In a large pan, brown 2 1/2 pounds of stewing beef. Once done, place the beef in a large stock pot, along with all the chopped vegetables; the entire contents of a can of whole tomatoes; a can of stout (i.e. Guinness, Alexander Keith's Dark Ale); a can of tomato paste; 1 1/4 cups of your favourite spicy barbecue sauce; 2 tablespoons of chili powder; 1 1/4 teaspoons of oregano; 1 1/4 teaspoons of cumin, and a few shakes of Tabasco sauce.. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce to a low heat, cover, and let everything simmer for at least 2 hours. Stir every now and then.

The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste, so if possible, have everything in the pot and on the stove at noon so you can dig into a hot steaming bowl of chili at kickoff. You can add a can of kidney beans if you want, but I can deal without a bunch of farting football fans during the halftime show, so I usually don't. For an extra bit of flavour, put a cinnamon stick in the center of the chili during the simmering process.