| A busman’s holiday is one where you have to work for the entire thing and this time of the year is a busman’s holiday for cooks. All those elves making dozens of shortbread cookies, dream bars or tree-shaped snicker doodles during the holiday season are a sad, sad lie. Instead, there’s an actual person, usually related to you, with a wild, vaguely deranged look in his or her eye, stirring batter or basting fowl.
So what to buy this flour-covered, butter-drenched, vanilla-scented person? Here are some things you can find at local purveyors that will bring a smile to the culinarily inclined.
Jollé Chef (457 - 42nd Ave. S.E., phone 256-5556): I admit to being very late to the party on the Jollé Chef, a kitchen supply store for serious cooks and gadgeteers. It’s been open for a year, but it was only last week that I happened by – and I’m glad it took me a year, because I’d be a lot poorer now if I’d discovered it earlier. Oh sure, they have a great assortment of All-Clad pots, the best knife selection in town – including Wüsthof knives, which for my money are better than Henckels – and Peugeot pepper grinders, but the attraction for me at the Jollé Chef is the stocking stuffers.
To wit: Bamboo spoons, stirrers and paddles, which appear to be wooden but will go in the dishwasher (approximately $5). A salad dressing mixer, which has a diffuser to emulsify the oil and vinegar ($13). A collapsible whisk, which takes up much less room in your drawer ($13). Stackable ramekins ($1.75 each). An extendible grater, which adjusts to sit over a bowl and is razor sharp ($40). Or, best of all, gift certificates for mobile knife sharpening. Mike from the Jollé Chef (or one of his cohorts) will come to your house and sharpen your knives for $3.50 per knife. Sharp knives are a perfect way of keeping nosy relatives safely positioned in front of the fire and away from the kitchen.
The Cookbook Co. Cooks (722 - 11th Ave. S.W., phone 265-6066): At this time of the year, Gail Norton fills her little store in the Building Bloc to the rafters with tempting stuff for cooks. The Cookbook Co. Cooks has more upscale stuff for the cook: Kitchen Grips oven mitts ($50), which are made of neoprene, and are the best and grooviest looking mitts around (they look a little like they’ve been carved out of a wetsuit). Raincoast Crisps from Vancouver’s Leslie Stowe are highly expensive ($8 for a small box), but their rich crunchiness, coming from whole grains, is the perfect foil for rich cheese.
Speaking of cheese, there’s an excellent and eclectic selection of European and Canadian, soft and hard, full-fat and skim. The store also boasts knowledgeable staff and a bargain bin in the front cooler where you can usually find something good. Recently, I bought some Pont L’Évêque cheese close to its expiry date for 50 per cent off.
The store also carries my new favourite everyday hot sauce: Piri-piri from Turner Valley’s Pepperheads ($9.95). Piri-piri is originally Portuguese (via Angola), and generally isn’t as intense as Tabasco or as garlicky as sriracha. Its citrus undertone is great. Try brushing it on a steak or chicken before you grill it – the flavours will come alive.
As for the cookbook selection, my favourite this year is The Balthazar Cookbook, from New York’s famous bistro. A big pot of moules marinière, which is the sort of cooking that this book contains, should be enough to chase away winter – at least for a while.
The Compleat Cook (second floor, Bankers Hall, phone 264-0449): Like the Cookbook Co. Cooks, the Compleat Cook is so full of stuff at this time of year that it’s daunting. Nevertheless, there are deals to be had. Le Creuset pots appear to be very inexpensive and a large Dutch oven is $250 – it’s $355 elsewhere. And really, this pot is all you need for winter cooking. It’s perfect for soups or stews or cassoulet. |
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