Balance of Food

Making tomato bread a worthy dish at home

You may have been to Spain and had one of the better tapas dishes: Pan de cristal con tomatoe. Otherwise, the dish is known as tomato bread.

You can't readily find the local Spanish bread or the amazing Spanish tomatoes. Yet you can replicate the dish in a decent manner and save a bunch of money.

The ingredient list is simple: tomatoes, bread, a garlic clove, kosher salt, and extra virgin olive oil. This is why quality is so crucial.

Ideally, you have a local source for tomatoes and crusty bread. You can even find local garlic this time of the year.

Cut the bread into thick slices. Toast said bread. When lightly toasted, cut a garlic clove in half. Rub the halved garlic clove on the toasted part of the bread.

Cut the tomato in half down the equator of the tomato. Grate the tomato. I mix the kosher salt and olive oil into the tomato mixture.

Spoon the tomato mixture on the toasted bread. Eat.

Pan de cristal con tomatoe is one of the best known Spanish tapas. This menu is from the Jose Andres restaurant Jaleo in Chicago. The $14 price tag is reduced to $7 if you go during the Sangria Hour as defined by 4-6 pm local time. We don't know if the portion size is reduced as well.

The Spanish tomatoes and the wonderful bread do make a difference. Still, you can replicate this dish at home, especially with local tomatoes still in bloom.

The beauty of pan de cristal con tomatoe is that you are experiencing amazing local ingredients simply prepared. If you can make toast, you can make tomato bread. This can be a local dish, whether you are in Seville, Madrid, or Barcelona as well as Toledo, Spain, er, Ohio.

Your local version will likely not be as good as getting the same version late at night in a tapas place in Spain. Your local version will taste better than a lot of foods you can get anywhere in the world.

Eating local is easier and better in California than in New Hampshire. Tomato season is a lot shorter in New Hampshire than California. Yet everywhere in the United States has a local tomato season, however short that might be.

This is an ideal time for local tomatoes. Savor them while they are here. Throw a tapas party and serve pan de cristal con tomatoe aka tomato bread. They might think you went to Spain instead of the local farmers market.

Food shows downplay the wonderful impact garlic could have in a dish

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

BalanceofFood.com world food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com travel coverage

With rising costs for restaurants and buying items in the grocery store, fancy dishes such as this one can be made for relative pennies. You can freeze the sliced bread you don't use. You can even save the cut garlic gloves for a later dish so you aren't wasting the garlic.

A baguette at the farmers market isn't that much more than a regular, lesser quality loaf of bread in a grocery store. Tomatoes at the local farmers market taste way better than what you find at a grocery store. More of your money goes to local vendors who keep the money in the community.

If you are a relative novice cook, making tomato bread can boost your confidence with little risk of messing up the dish.

photo credits: me; Jaleo restaurant in Chicago

Gift a umami filled bottle for a party instead of wine

We know the drill. Someone throws a party. You are the guest and you bring a bottle of wine as a gift for being invited to the party.

Your humble narrator loves being a guest but hates buying wine. Would love to have a system like a wedding shower with a registry, and you pick a bottle of wine from their list.

Wine is my blind spot. I could buy a 40 oz. bottle of La Fin du Monde, a great Quebecois beer. I could bring some great Michigan fruit-related hard cider.

I don't really want to bring alcohol to a party these days. I do so because the unofficial rules require this.

If I were throwing the party, I wouldn't mind a couple of bottles of wine for cooking. I would want to invite people who would know me well enough and say, "In lieu of wine, I'm bringing you a bottle of Red Boat Fish Sauce." I would love that instead of a bottle of wine.

Fish sauce is the key, though Red Boat is one of the best. Umami in a bottle. I cook with fish sauce quite a bit. I would use up a bottle of fish sauce. I wouldn't drink it, unlike a bottle of wine.

A bottle of quality fish sauce is comparable to the cost of a decent bottle of wine, so the cost factor isn't an issue.

You aren't even limited to fish sauce.

A bottle of banana ketchup from the Philippines.

A jar of ajvar from Eastern Europe.

Get some Romesco sauce from Spain.

How about dark sesame oil from Japan.

Find a good adobo sauce or butter chicken sauce.

Add flavor to an otherwise bland kitchen instead of yet another bottle of wine.

A fun little trick: Love using ajvar but it goes bad very quickly. Pour the contents into an ice tray to freeze portions.

Let the ice cube serving of ajvar thaw in the refrigerator and use in a dish. A small amount adds a lot of flavor to a dish.

The idea is that you might go down a certain, unnamed aisle in the grocery store and wonder what to do with a condiment that isn't typically in your pantry. Once the condiment is in your pantry, then you feel compelled to research ways to use that in your meal planning.

Would you rather have 10 bottles of wine, 3 of them that could have been better? Would you rather have 7 bottles of wine and 3 umami based containers?

Maybe you don't cook too often and a bottle of banana ketchup would gather dust in your cabinet. Fish sauce is subtle as long as you don't smell it. I do smell it but I can handle that smell. Tastes way better than the smell.

A Romesco sauce and ajvar have ingredients you will recognize. This could be a way to travel without leaving your kitchen.

Ethnic food aisles should be seen as an opportunity without stigma

BalanceofFood.com world food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com travel coverage

You may not want 10 umami containers after a party but the gift of umami can bring unexpected joy. Maybe you put Romesco sauce on your scrambled eggs, like you would with a Mexican salsa. Maybe you add an ice cube or two of ajvar to a Sloppy Joe mix.

Maybe you have chicken thighs in your freezer, which would pair well with adobo or butter chicken sauce.

Try a little bit of anything new in your kitchen. Wine has its limits in cooking. Umami has more unleashed possibilities to add flavor to your food.

photos credit: me

Bourdain Day 2023: Celebrating a loss with food

Journalists work hard not to be the story. Anecdotal stories are nice yet not very insightful. On Bourdain Day 2023 (which is Sunday), this story is anecdotal, hoping this can inspire others.

Anthony Bourdain kept pouring into my head last month after my long estranged brother passed away. Like Bourdain, the end path to escape this world was sufficiently similar.

I ended up inheriting a few food-related items: some food, a heavy cast iron pan, and a Le Crueset dutch oven. The latter 2 items were on the stove, like they were ready to be used really soon.

When we went through the kitchen, there was a porcelain doll. His friends said her name was Gladys. I said, "oh, after our grandmother." The people in the kitchen didn't know who Gladys was.

Speaking of cast iron pans, I fondly remember Gladys making sausage biscuit gravy in a cast iron pan when we were kids. I didn't even know this existed before she made the dish. The dish was glorious. My mother (daughter of Gladys) was surprised how much we both loved the sausage biscuit gravy. My mother never made that for us, maybe because she knew her version would pale by comparison. I still remember that sausage biscuit gravy with great fondness.

The fact that we held our grandma in high regard is part of the cooking legacy for both of us.

Turns out, my brother and I both loved cooking Italian food despite the fact that neither of us had a drop of Italian blood. We both grew up on Ragu spaghetti sauce and Kraft already grated Parmesan cheese in the green cylinder so we both took great lengths to escape that childhood path. We both learned what a real ragu is in Italy.

My brother was known for making Sunday gravy. This is ironic a bit given that Bourdain Day is on a Sunday this year. A long cooking sauce to break down the connective tissue of the meat in the sauce. That would have been a good memory of cooking in the kitchen.

The Bourdain No Reservations episode in Naples is worth the watch to see an Italian grandma making a Sunday gravy.

The reality is that if I were the one cooking the Sunday gravy, my brother would tell me everything I was doing that was wrong. The definition of "wrong" was doing things differently than how he would make the dish. That would not make such a good memory.

Using his cookware. Eating his food. This will spark thoughts about him as treasures will do. That is a good legacy, whatever our differences might have been.

Anthony Bourdain talked often about eating with people he might have disagreed on numerous fronts. Food brings people together, which is why we celebrate Bourdain Day each year on his birthday on June 25.

Bourdain Day 2022: Coming out of a worldwide pandemic

Bourdain Day 3: How Anthony Bourdain helped me get through a pandemic

On the second Bourdain Day, how Anthony Bourdain would handle a worldwide pandemic

Bourdain Day is a way to celebrate the love of food and food cultures

The mourning process has as many layers as 3 pieces of baklava stacked up on a plate, even if you are estranged. I love the idea of enjoying his Sunday gravy at the same table with him. A nice Italian loaf made into garlic bread by rubbing a split garlic clove over the bread to fare la scarpetta. That is the act of mopping up every drop of the sauce with the bread.

We both learned that ritual at a homemade Italian restaurant in the small town where we grew up. Not that either of us knew the word scarpetta as kids. I do love that sauce and the memories behind that sauce.

The conversation might have pleasant tones here and there. Most of the conversation would be critical thoughts and observations that unfortunately dominated a lot of conversations we did have. Still, the idea of having homemade Sunday gravy with him would be worth that risk.

The best I can hope for is to make Sunday gravy with that Le Crueset dutch oven and think of my brother. Sure, there would have been criticism of how my version was inferior by comparison. I wouldn't expect any less.

From what we could tell, Anthony had a good relationship with his younger brother, Christopher. Not a perfect relationship but reasonably good. I've been thinking about Christopher, now having a better idea of what he has gone through. A lot of differences and similarities. My sibling likely loved Anthony Bourdain and saw him as a role model. We had that in common, if my assumption is correct. If nothing else, we could have traded our favorite Bourdain adventures over Sunday gravy.

I do promise that I will have good memories every time I use something food-related that belonged to my brother. That is a legacy I can appreciate.

photo credit: me (x3); Instagram Anthony Bourdain

Mourning the loss of your favorite restaurant

Ouch. Surprised at how much this hurts. An end to decades of The. Best. Smoked. Meat. In. Montreal. https://t.co/BQsZWjSNEt

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 9, 2023

The funny part in Canadian politics is that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn't often give his personal opinion on matters. Yet Trudeau declares the best smoked meat in Montréal as The Main comes to a close on St. Laurent Boulevard.

Canada has a parliamentary democracy so even the prime minister represents a riding. The deli was in the Laurier--Sainte-Marie riding, south of the Papineau riding Trudeau represents in the House of Commons in the federal capital of Ottawa.

Your humble narrator has eaten at The Main at 3864 St. Laurent Boulevard, a prominent north-south running street. (Technically, north-south in relation to the St. Lawrence River. Trust me, when you are in Montréal, you have to follow that logic.)

The smoked meat was quite good. I need more practice to know which smoked meat is the best, something I won't get to do at The Main anymore.

I have also had the smoked meat at Schwartz's at 3895 St. Laurent Boulevard. The famous Schwartz's can be spotted if you are sitting in The Main. You can see the much longer lines at Schwartz's than you saw at The Main. Yet the prime minister of Canada has officially gone on the record as saying The Main had better smoked meat than Schwartz's.

The smoked meat is also very good at Schwartz's. There is more of a carnival atmosphere at Schwartz's as you may have seen on food TV shows or perhaps a trip to Schwartz's.

If you spent enough time in Montréal, you could sample smoked meat from both places. Maybe one for lunch and the other for dinner.

Trudeau isn't the only major celebrity who loved The Main. The late Leonard Cohen was also a big fan of The Main.

Montréal has a bagel battle: you get asked which bagel you prefer between St-Viateur and Fairmount. Your humble narrator is on Team St-Viateur. The Fairmount bagel is better than most bagels you will ever eat, just not a St-Viateur bagel.

If one of those were to go down, eating a Montréal bagel wouldn't be as awesome, even if your place was the survivor.

End of an era with closure of The Main, an iconic Montréal deli (The Current CBC Radio)

Some might think the smoked meat battle isn't confined to the 3800 block of St. Laurent Boulevard. Yet the competition was mostly The Main vs. Schwartz's.

The funny story is how I ended up at The Main. I was in Montréal heading for Schwartz's. There was a small incident involving the fire department. Nothing significant but I wasn't going to eat at Schwartz's that afternoon. I saw The Main across the street and had their smoked meat.

The sandwich and food was very good. So was Schwartz's. That stroke of fate meant I got to try both places.

This report from CBC News gives an all too familiar explanation for the demise of The Main. Things weren't as good as they used to be. Quality allegedly shifted after the death of the long-time owner Peter Varvaro when the deli was then sold off. Like when you are dating a person and that person seems to change and not for the better.

BalanceofFood.com Canada food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com travel coverage

I hope to get back to Montréal this summer. A city I adore and have not been there in too long. I have a list of favorites in Montréal and plan to try some places where I have never eaten.

Even if you have been somewhere before, that approach is wonderful. Some of your favorites and perhaps, some new favorites. Unfortunately, The Main will not be one of them. I would have trusted the opinion of a Montréal person — the prime minister of Canada. Guess I will settle for the second-best smoked meat in Montréal.

You may not be into smoked meat, bagels, or even Montréal. You can likely adapt this story, like Mad Libs, and use this as a template over one of your favorite restaurants.

Twitter capture: @JustinTrudeau
photo credit: CFCF Montréal/CTV News
video credit: YouTube/Educate@DIYdocufilms

The difficulty in finding the old Grade B maple syrup

Spring time means maple syrup. The prime time to attach the buckets to the taps of maple trees in Quebec and Vermont.

Buying maple syrup used to be simple, especially if you loved the dark stuff. You didn't have to look for fancy or vague adjectives. All you needed to see was Grade B. There were several Grade As with different descriptions but if the label said Grade A, you could ignore the bottle.

The powers that be changed all of them to be Grade A variations. Ugh. Now you had to read the various descriptions. Unlike the above photo, you didn't have the comparison as you stared at maple syrup containers in the grocery store.

If your palate debates between the subtle nuances of Golden Delicate Taste and Amber Rich Taste, you might not appreciate where some of us are in the maple syrup world. Dark is better and not as easy to find.

Every grocery store, conventional or upscale, had Golden Delicate Taste and Amber Rich Taste. As easy to find as Log Cabin syrup (buy real maple syrup instead).

Finding Dark Robust Taste was also relatively easy to find. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods had Dark Robust Taste along with some conventional grocery stores.

All of these new descriptions were Grade A maple syrups under the old and new classifications. So what about the old Grade B?

Grade A Very Dark Strong Taste was impossible to find at conventional grocery stores. No tag, no product. Trader Joe's does not carry this category either. Whole Foods doesn't carry this category in its house brand. We did find a bottle of Grade A Very Dark Strong Taste maple syrup at Whole Foods.

So good news. We found one bottle at one store. Wow. Except. The cost differential between the old Grade A and the Grade B was visible but not significant.

When we shopped for this Grade A Very Dark Strong Taste at the Whole Foods store, the Grade A Very Dark Strong Taste maple syrup was $19.49 for a 16 oz. container. The Whole Foods version of Dark Robust Taste (next best) was $18.29 for a 32 oz. container.

More than twice as expensive as the next level. No Whole Foods discount for the good stuff. The old Grade B should be more expensive but not by this much.

The old Grade B was typically produced later in the season. Dark, thicker, more minerals, more maple flavor.

You could make a Golden Delicate Taste level argument that conventional stores shouldn't have to carry the old Grade B maple syrup aka Very Dark Strong Taste. They did before the reconfiguration.

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Carrying the Very Dark Strong Taste category is in their wheelhouse. They don't.

We don't think there is a maple syrup conspiracy to hide the good stuff from us. We also don't believe in coincidences.

What was Grade B was easier to find under the old system.

The maple syrup story as told in a new documentary

If you don't have a maple syrup preference — if you have childhood memories of the Log Cabin bottle — you might not even know that the old Grade B is so hard to find. Most shoppers stare at 3 choices: Golden Delicate Taste; Amber Rich Taste; and Dark Robust Taste. How can consumers choose when Very Dark Strong Taste is invisible on shelves?

Imagine if all you saw on Sex in the City was Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda without Samantha. Let's be honest: Samantha is the equivalent of Very Dark Strong Taste. Why Sex in the City was better than And Just Like That.

I won't judge you if your ideal maple syrup is either Carrie, Charlotte, or Miranda. I may not eat pancakes at your house. I want you to have those options. I just want my Samantha on pancakes, waffles, French toast, and as a sweetener in avocado chocolate pudding.

Dark maple syrup lovers want to find what they want. You shouldn't need a fine print reader in a grocery aisle to figure out what is out there and all options on the table should be on grocery store shelves.

Daily Show has fun with Quebec maple syrup heist

We can't mention maple syrup and not refer back to the Daily Show coverage of the maple syrup heist in Quebec. You might know the Vermont version more than the Quebec version. Maple syrup is valuable in Quebec.

Cabanes à sucre aka sugar shacks is a part of the Quebec culture tied to maple syrup.

How the climate crisis is affecting maple syrup (Ici/Radio-Canada)

Why we should appreciate maple syrup, especially good quality maple syrup.

photo credits: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada/Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers; me; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Girl Scouts cookies are a bargain with an amazing shopping experience

Grocery store shopping is terrible because you never know when they will be out of a product or the price is so high but you still might pay it for that product, if it were on the shelf.

Let's talk about a great food product that has been consistently great, hasn't gone up in price, with the coolest people selling you the product. I give you Girl Scouts cookies.

This is the time of year to buy Girl Scouts cookies. No grocery store needed. Ask on social media if someone local will sell you cookies. They will sell you cookies.

These girls know their product: the virtues of every cookie. There are old flavors and new flavors.

I pay $5/box now, during the pandemic, before the pandemic. I paid $5/box in 2023. I would have paid $6/box to get those same great cookies.

Here's a look at the 2023 Girl Scout Cookie lineup. 🤩 Flavors and names may vary depending on your area, so make sure to check https://t.co/CV3iyiXcti! 😉 pic.twitter.com/kGC4ytxNR0

— Girl Scouts (@girlscouts) January 20, 2023

I am of the opposite primary gender as these girls and the moms who are there to watch over the whole experience. I do sincerely love supporting young female entrepreneurs. I engage them in conversation about the cookies. They had mentioned Jenna Ortega. I said I think Jenna Ortega is great. I asked the mothers if they knew who Jenna Ortega was. They didn't recognize the name. I told them Ortega is Wednesday from the latest incarnation of Wednesday Addams on Netflix. Rare is the moment when I can be reasonably cool to young girls.

I personally love the interaction. I could be a grump, give my money, and take my cookies. I enjoy the experience of a brief conversation about the whole experience. They learn business skills, making change, and social interaction of people way older than they are. Have never been disappointed in the service I get from Girl Scouts selling cookies.

You might buy yours from a co-worker at the office, selling her daughters Girl Scouts cookies. You might not even know that experience of dealing directly with Girl Scouts. You are still supporting them.

(Yes, sometimes fathers and non-binary adults help sell cookies for their daughters. Good for them. Mostly, women do the selling even in offices.)

You deserve better than 'birthday cake' flavored anything

You could be a crotchety person obsessed over the fact that they still use palm oil in the cookies. I am that crotchety person in other scenarios so I can't criticize.

Maybe you are on some kind of Keto type diet and can't eat Girl Scouts cookies. You could buy them and then give them as gifts. They keep very well in the freezer.

The Girl Scouts who were selling cookies outside marijuana dispensaries: a great example of entrepreneurship. (They may not do this anymore and only applicable in areas where marijuana is legal.)

BalanceofFood.com advice coverage

BalanceofFood.com temptations coverage

You likely read a lot of "content" that is meant to be a commercial within a story. Please do not mistake this for "content." I personally like Thin Mints. I buy 2 boxes a year and put them in the freezer until Christmas. This is not an endorsement of the cookies.

The point of the exercise is a food where the price is consistent and service outstanding. This is rare in the food world, even rarer now. Your blood pressure may go up in going to a restaurant or a grocery store. Going to Girl Scouts will likely reduce your blood pressure.

Buying Girl Scouts cookies is a chance to have that rare customer service food-related experience.

Editor's note: I did take this picture with permission. I showed the photo to the adult women to make clear that no part of the girls were in the original photo.

photo credit: me
Twitter capture: @girlscouts

Bars should add good quality fruit and vegetable juices for better mocktails

We would be the last people to mock catchy slogans such as Dry January or Veganuary if they help you establish better habits. The Chinese New Year started 9 days ago. The Jewish New Year arrives in the early fall. Never too early or late to start to make better habits.

Your humble narrator has never deliberately done a Dry January. Due to medication issues, I have done a Dry December as well as a Dry January. While many people will have their first drink of 2023 tomorrow, your humble narrator will still be on the sidelines.

I didn't drink all that much before but being held to zero makes social gatherings a bit tricky. You could argue that the bar scene is more accommodating with mocktails, sparking grape juice, and non-alcoholic beers.

We hear about the intricate process of craft beers, top notch wines, and top shelf spirits. Mocktails, well, get the short end of the stick.

If you spent your youth drinking screwdrivers, taking the vodka out of the orange juice is rather easy. If you liked your vodka with cranberry juice with a splash of grapefruit juice, well, there are a few problems before and after.

A bar will stock 100% orange juice. Ask a bartender if the cranberry juice is 100%. They will tell you it is 100% (it isn't) or they don't know (likely true). That splash of grapefruit juice is rare to find but likely to be 100%.

A bar with a good stock of fruit and yes, vegetable juices would be a better option than a lame mocktail with poor ingredients (high-fructose corn syrup) at a cost close to the real thing.

All juices; all 100%. A cocktail of equal parts carrot juice and orange juice is surprisingly refreshing. The orange cancels out the taste of the carrot. A cranberry juice cocktail with a splash of blood orange juice? Sign me up.

Cranberry Caucus politicians want to protect cranberry juice, but few Americans drink it pure

Temptation of the Week: Homemade Clamato in your Caesar

The term juice bars are generally associated with young adults who are not of legal drinking age to listen to music. The juice in juice bars was not the reason young people went to juice bars.

An updated juice bar could combine celery juice with tonic water or a cucumber and watermelon juice drink or any of a bunch of different nutritional cocktails.

The bloody mary is a classic vegetable juice drink with spices. Bars don't compromise on tomato juice. Why compromise on cranberry juice?

Women might order cranberry juice drinks as relief for UTIs but can praise the antioxidants when asked.

Right now, people are paying outrageous prices for sub-standard ingredients (high-fructose corn syrup) for drinks nobody really wants to drink. They might be paying outrageous prices for good quality juices but at least they could be drinking non-alcoholic cocktails that taste good and add some nutrition along the way.

photo credit: Pure Green Chicago

Saute mushrooms, part deux: Cooking them with water

Sauté mushrooms with water seemed to be a contradiction to what we've learned about the sauté. Mushrooms in a cold pan … with water!?

Earlier this year, we tried the Alton Brown method. Waiting 45 seconds before adding the mushrooms and water. Cooking 2-4 minutes and then adding the butter. We tried this twice because, well, I added the wrong amount of water the first time. Neither effort came close to what Brown wanted us to accomplish.

I had some faith in the concept but not the method. I sauté a lot of mushrooms and slowly gave up on the idea of involving water.

America's Test Kitchen on PBS also tried to convince me to use the method. They had an experiment on how much oil mushrooms had been absorbed: raw vs. cooked briefly in the microwave. The difference in oil was significant. Again, the method sounded great but the practice needed to be effective.

The America's Test Kitchen (ATK) recipe is a considerable side dish with red wine, chicken broth, and rosemary. I just wanted to sauté some mushrooms to put on spaghetti. Both the Brown method and the ATK approach involved at least a pound of mushrooms.

The ATK approach started with a cold pan with the mushrooms and water. The water was a ¼ cup instead of ⅓ cup for the Brown method. No 45-second wait.

ATK noted that you should wait until the liquid evaporates to then put in the oil. The Brown method didn't mention the liquid and suggests putting in the fat a lot sooner.

The mushrooms release their liquid so in using the ATK method, there is a lot more liquid. I used a timer to keep track of the progress. There isn't a precise amount of time — a few minutes definitely — waiting until the liquid disappears is the key.

Using less butter or oil or even bacon grease is an advantage to cooking with water. Less fat and more money. This is not a no-fat approach, just using the mushrooms natural makeup to use less fat.

Food TV teaches us to eat with our eyes. The philosophy results in an uglier presentation. If texture is an issue, this approach can be your new best friend. There are advantages to both paths in terms of taste: the water path means smaller pieces that feel more meaty.

Mushrooms and other vegetables can taste better with improved texture

On the surface, this anecdote means the Brown method was "wrong" and the ATK approach was "right." This is where there is art to the science of cooking. The paths are sufficiently similar. Both recipes are checked over and over before hitting the airwaves (cable?). Both are rooted in the science of mushrooms.

ATK offers more steps, which can help some cooks who follow along step by step. The Brown method has a precision with the 45 seconds missing from the ATK approach.

You may have tried both paths and found the Alton Brown method was dominant over the America's Test Kitchen approach. This is why trying more than one path can help you figure out a cooking task.

You might try one path for certain dishes and another path for other dishes. You might combine some of each method into one that suits your cooking.

The New York Times declared mushrooms to be the 2022 Ingredient of the Year. Experimenting with mushrooms is worthwhile.

Charcuterie board offers a small Thanksgiving feast without pressure or hard work

Add vegetables to processed lunch choices for flavor and nutrition

Resolve to post more pictures of home cooking in 2019

I've been enjoying Mary Berg's Mary Makes It Easy, which airs on the Food Network in the United States. As a nod to our sibling blog, CanadianCrossing.com, Berg is Canadian, which explains why she says Fahrenheit a lot and has an actual recipe for butter tarts.

I can't say I love all 4 recipes in any episode but there is almost some tidbit or a whole recipe in every episode where I find personal temptation.

There are so few cooking shows on commercial television so the ones that are good need to be noted.

I can deal with Berg's shortened language — parm for parmesan — and find it reasonably charming. You should know that Berg goes really fast in a recipe and makes great assumptions if you are not a seasoned cook. Her show sometimes feels like you are listening to a podcast at 1.3 speed because the show goes really fast.

The idea is to realize your own speed as a cook and approach inspiration accordingly. A Mary Berg idea might be your jam, as she would say, but you might need a ATK approach to figure how to work through a recipe. This is a part of the cooking process. The idea may be great, such as cooking mushrooms in water, but this only works when you find an approach or method that suits your cooking interests.

photos credit: me

How Trevor Noah and The Daily Show poked fun at the food supply

Trevor Noah and The Daily Show couldn't live up to the standard on criticism of the food industry set by Jon Stewart in that incarnation of the U.S. TV program. Still, the Trevor Noah era — which started in 2015 and ends tonight — did weigh in on food topics.

We thought an outside perspective on the U.S. approach to food would have been a natural fit for Noah's comedy. While Stewart weighed in from the desk, Noah let correspondent pieces speak for themselves.

Here are the stories we covered that The Daily Show covered in the Trevor Noah era.

Food banks now more important than ever in COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Daily Show looks into alternative meats

Will people come back for the Popeyes chicken sandwich?

Daily Show addresses increased junk food in school lunches

Meals on Wheels symbol of Trump attack on food supply

McDonald's Canada kale salad high in calories, but consumers have options to reduce calories

Roy Wood Jr., who is under consideration to be a host or a rotating host, had particular fun with the Meals on Wheels segment, the junk food in school lunches, alternative meats, and the obsession over the Popeyes chicken sandwich.

Appreciating Jon Stewart, The Daily Show on food and nutrition

BalanceofFood.com Daily Show coverage

Saying goodbye to the Colbert Report

The new host or hosts take over on January 17. Hoping the new regime takes a look at the ridiculous state of the U.S. food system.

The Daily Show runs Monday-Thursday at 11 pm Eastern on Comedy Central.

photo credit: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Charcuterie board offers a small Thanksgiving feast without pressure or hard work

After huge family gatherings couldn't be a thing in 2020 or even 2021, Thanksgiving 2022 should be that time of gigantic celebration.

As much as we want a Norman Rockwell type world, maybe we aren't in that situation. We have cooked so many meals because restaurants were difficult to do during the height of the pandemic and then restaurants were too expensive.

You may not be in the best position to celebrate. You might have massive amount of debt. You may be struggling to find work. Eating out becomes an act of laughing at the prices on the menu. Well, that is if there are prices on the menu.

You want to treat yourself or maybe as a couple. You just don't want to cook a massive amount of food.

Adjusting the turkey from a whole turkey to a turkey breast or turkey legs is a long-time strategy. A duck breast would really be wonderful and then frying out potatoes in the collected duck fat would truly be a feast.

Let's say that you are too tired even for that level of cooking. You still want to treat yourself or each other in a couple.

Charcuterie board.

The presentation is festive, Instagram worthy. Lots of succulent meats and cheeses. The photo and video feature vegetables, specifically mushrooms. Wanted to include a vegetarian option for those who think charcuterie is not for them.

Assemble a list of ingredients. Someone else did the hard work to make prosciutto and that intense Gorgonzola cheese. You just buy it and put in on a charcuterie board.

Accoutrements is crucial. Think pickles or cornichons. Feeling nostalgic? Add in a sample of French fried onions. Local cranberries are a great item on a board.

A nice multi-grain cracker would be a fine choice. Leave behind the saltines for this board.

Temptation of the Week: Cranberries by themselves

You could put this together at halftime of one of the 3 NFL games next Thursday or even a slow time during one of the many Thanksgiving parades on TV.

No 4-hour game plans. No wondering if the dark meat is too done or the white meat isn't done enough. No wondering if you made too many sides.

Showing kids that fruits and vegetables have merit through watching ads

Adapting to Thanksgiving in a pandemic

Taking broader perspective on Thanksgiving meal

Mindful eating can start over the holidays and keep going

Charcuterie board offer holiday disadvantages. No gravy. No leftovers. No afternoon nap. No squabbling over which green bean casserole is best. You can fight over dessert unless you make a dessert board, which you can totally true.

Thanksgiving is designed to be a feast, a ridiculous over-the-top indulgence. Well, not really. The first Thanksgiving was designed to appreciate the food in this new world.

The European way is higher quality but smaller portions. The American way is the polar opposite. The charcuterie board might seem anti-Thanksgiving, yet you get a feast. A feast for 1-2 people with plenty of time to enjoy each other's company or binge watch a TV show. You could even do boards for the rest of the weekend since you likely won't get all you bought on the board for a single meal.

The charcuterie board idea can also be applied on Black Friday if you don't have too many leftovers from Thursday. This could also be useful if the December holiday of your choice isn't going to be a huge family celebration, unlike Thanksgiving.

BalanceofFood.com holidays coverage

Holidays can trigger those already suffering from anxiety and depression. Easing pressure on holiday eating can be a boost. Fondue offers similar benefits in that even if you are cooking your items, you don't feel like you are cooking. Not everyone does Thanksgiving the same way. You shouldn't feel pressure to conform, even if your world seems to tell you otherwise. Thanksgiving should be fun and definitely not a chore.

video and photo credit: Mushroom Council