Marion Kane: Food Sleuth®

Bites from the Big Apple

For various reasons, including Canadian Thanksgiving, I had to return to Toronto halfway through the recent New York City Wine & Food Festival. I figure I’ll catch up with the likes of Bobby Flay, Martha Stewart and Alton Brown when they do their stuff in Miami during the South Beach version of this Food Network event in late February, 2011.

Meanwhile, here – in no particular order – are the results of my sleuthing as I spent much of four fabulously sunny and surprisingly balmy fall days walking the streets of Manhattan, nibbling and noshing as I went.

The Meatball Shop, 84 Stanton St., in the Lower East Village is must-visit haven for fans of the versatile, ubiquitous in almost every culture, often delectable food: the meatball. Choose from the lists of meatballs, sauces and side dishes. There are also sliders, subs and pastas incorporating the house specialty. A cozy room with a comfortable bar and friendly, helpful servers. And the prices are right. Read more…

Ultimate Roast Turkey — Back by Popular Demand

Here is the roast turkey recipe that changed my life when I made it for Thanksgiving. It is based on a Martha Stewart version that I streamlined, adapted and improved. My gravy is old-fashioned and the best.

The result: magazine cover looks and superbly moist, evenly cooked flesh.

Dear cooks, you’re welcome. Read more…

Martha Cooks Crustaceans

MIAMI – This year’s recent South Beach Wine & Food Festival was a royal occasion, in more ways than one.

“Viva Espana!” was a culinary celebration and key theme headed up by the King and Queen of Spain at this four-day, non-stop, over-the-top annual event packed with noisy parties, glitzy grazing and back-to-back cooking demos by celebrity chefs.

Sponsored by the Food Network and Food & Wine magazine among others, this star-studded feast on the beach is never dull. Read more…

Miami Must-Eats

The annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival took place this year from February 19-22 in Miami.

As usual and even in tough economic times, this glitzy, pricey, never-dull four-day event sponsored by, among others, the Food Network and Food & Wine magazine, was sold out.

Attended by more than 30,000 people and founded by a fellow called Lee Schrager in 2001, it is the biggest culinary celebration of its kind in North America. Read more…

Martha My Dear …

It took a flurry of e-mails and phone calls between publicists and p.a’s but I finally obtained an audience with Martha Stewart: one of the most powerful women (up there with Oprah, methinks) in North America and now the come-back queen of cuisine.

She was one of the stars at this year’s annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival: a four-day feast on the beach that took place from Feb 19 to 22.

Like everything in Miami – home to the SUV, boob-jobs, tanned abs and obscenely large restaurant portions – the event was a non-stop, over-the-top wing-ding. Celebrity chefs cooked up a storm, the King and Queen of Spain attended celebrations of Spanish food and there were all manner of before- and after-parties at swanky hotels like the Raleigh and Delano. Needless to say, the booze flowed freely. Read more…

Recipe Mistakes can be Serious

A recipe mistake can be downright dangerous.

Take the case of Aunt Vertie’s Sugar Cookies: a confection that appeared in a 1991 issue of Gourmet.

Unable to find wintergreen extract, the magazine’s testers substituted wintergreen oil in that recipe: a substance sold in some pharmacies to treat sore muscles. Read more…

Marion Kane, Food Sleuth®

Marion Kane has been a leader in the world of food journalism for a few decades. She is an intrepid populist whose work combines social commentary with a consuming passion for all things culinary. For 18 years, she was food editor/columnist for Canada's largest newspaper: the Toronto Star. She lives in Toronto's colourful Kensington Market and is currently a free-wheeling freelance food sleuth®, podcaster, writer and cook.

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