New Chip off the old block… There’s a surge, a small but significant one, in the neighbourhood bistros in Toronto. Usually the bistro adheres to the French model, onion soup, seafood bisque, escargots, mussels, steak frites, apple tart. But now young Torontonians are refashioning the genre in their own image, adding and subtracting ingredients at will, putting their own spin on familiar dishes. The price is good, coming in under $100 for two - as long as you forget the wine (the albatross around Toronto’s neck) which can easily double the food bill.   more »

Lobster bisque, Chicken Veronique, Coffee ricotta mousse, Patatas Arequipa (made with McCain’s frozen potato wedges), Dhal Curry, No-Panic Hollandaise – are among the doable cheats. Many recipes do require tweaking with substitutes for British cheats. Problem is that British supermarkets (according to industry analysts) are about five years ahead of us in terms of innovation and nuanced marketing. Not only is there a far greater variety of processed food but the packaging is more flexible. When I went looking for a small (167 ML) can of coconut milk, I could only find one standard – 400 grams.

I found lots of applicable cheats, fresh pinapple and mango chunks, Thai curry paste, fresh pesto sauce but some of the most significant were unavailable. I had to go to an upscale grocery for canned lobster bisque, but I couldn’t find fresh dressed crab, frozen chargrilled aubergine slices, half-fat crème fraiche,  frozen squid,ready- prepared diced mixed carrot and swede, canned fried onions, buttermilk pancakes (For delicious-sounding Kaiser’s pancakes I’ll have to make my own). It was galling to discover that while I can only get McCain’s wedges and fries here, British supermarkets stock other kinds, including rosti. I could’nt find frozen mashed potatoes which cancelled my plans to make Delia’s famous/infamous chocolate cupcakes and wild salmon fishcakes both requiring Aunt Bessie’s discs of frozen mash. Cultural differences explain why I couldn’t find such English passions as toffee sauce and edible commercial meringues for Eton Mess.

Cheat’s value is as much inspirational as practical. There are enough adaptable ideas in the book to keep collage at bay a little longer.

Last year I fulfilled a long ambition: I made an authentic lobster bisque. I dusted off Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, II, and embarked on a marathon requiring strength, endurance, persistent attention to detail, not to mention dropping a wad on ingredients. Didn’t matter. The bisque was bliss. Only problem, I was exhausted and almost fell asleep before I served it. This year I turned to the lobster bisque in Delia’s How To Cheat At Cooking. A can of lobster bisque, coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger, Thai fish sauce, a few coriander leaves, and I was done in twenty minutes. And it was delish. So why I wonder is Cheat a cause celebre in Britain? Why are cries of betrayal and treachery filling the air?   more »