6 Tips On How To Host An Epic Party

September 29, 2016 in Lifestyle, Guides

As the Toronto Catering Showcase is slowly approaching on October 16th, we have teamed up with a couple of the top catering companies in Toronto to provide you with the best tips and tricks on how to host an epic party for your friends and family to enjoy. As seasoned catering companies, both Elle Cuisine and Parts and Labour Catering have both been in the catering industry for many, many years. They will both be serving up delicious food to hungry guests among ten other catering companies at this year's Toronto Catering Showcase held at The Bram & Bluma Appel Salon (Toronto Reference Library).

If you want inspiration on how to plan your next big party or event, this is the place to be! For $65 you will receive an all-access pass to the showcase of caterers giving you complete accessibility to the food, craft beers, music, and wines for an afternoon of pure epicurean indulgence. This is an exceptional catered experience like no other, a party held for you, planned and prepared by the best in the business.

However, not everyone is a professional caterer or party planner like these well established companies, so with the help from Elle Cuisine and Parts and Labour Catering, we have put together some helpful tips to hopefully let you be the host/hostess with the mostess.

Here are a few key tips for stress-free hosting.

Have a Welcome Drink Ready

When a guest comes to your door it's a nice treat right off the bat for them to have a drink in hand allowing your guests to let loose right away. No one will be complaining when you are starting the alcohol off early!

Prep in Advance

Make sure to get as much food prep done in advance as possible. In the professional food world, this is what is called "mise en place." All your chopping, measuring of ingredients, etc. can be done hours if not days in advance. You can pre-cook most of your menu items so that finishing/re-heating them won't require as much of your time and attention when guests are over. This will help reduce your sense of urgency the night of, and will make you look like you're a superman/woman in the kitchen.

Choose Your Menu Wisely

It's important to plan the menu according to your kitchen set up (appliance availability, counter space, number of burners), your skill set, and your schedule for the evening. For example, if you only have one oven and need to cook a roast at 425, you should be sure that the sides for the same dish can go in at the same temperature, or that there is an alternative way of heating them simultaneously. The more organized you are, the less stressed you will become throughout the night.

Don't Forget to Account for Allergies/Food Restrictions

Make sure you know your guests dietary restrictions. The worst thing is for a guest to arrive and to not be able to eat! It makes for an awkward and uncomfortable time for the guest and for yourself.

Make Use of Rentals

Rentals will keep your night and clean up stress-free! Being a great host means you enjoy the evening along with your guests. If you're worrying about clean up as you go, you'll never be fully relaxed. Most people wont have enough glassware for their guests to keep drinking all night long. Rent glassware and china/cutlery so that you don't have to worry about the constant clean up or a huge pile of dishes at the end of the night.

Interactive Food Stations

The hottest trend in catering and parties right now is interactive food stations! This is where guests are engaged with the creation of their own food. Gone are the days where only chefs prepare food in a hidden kitchen. The whole aspect of seeing and knowing what is going on is more fun, so where you allow your guests to interact with you in the process of making their own food, another level of enjoyment and excitement is unlocked. S'mores station anyone?

If you want to see these 6 catering/hosting tips put in action, the Toronto Catering Showcase is where you will want to be next month. As stated previously, top catering companies like Elle Cuisine and Parts and Labour Catering will be there. The other 10 catering companies putting together this exceptional culinary experience include 10tation Event Catering, Food Dudes, Presidential Gourmet, Encore Catering, Eatertainment, en Ville, L-eat Catering, Toben, Kiss the Cook Catering, and Daniel et Daniel.

To purchase your tickets, please visit HERE. Limited quantities are available so make sure you get them before they sell out!

Recipe - Chocolate & Hazelnut Popsicles

September 18, 2016 in Recipes

One of my favourite recipes I've come across this year is delicious, fun to make, and probably one of the easiest things I've learned to do all summer! At the focal point of this recipe are organic ingredients supplied by PRANA who promote wholesome living through good nourishment. All of PRANA products are certified organic, kosher, vegan, gluten-free, gmo-free, preservative-free, sulfite-free and, above all, free of compromise.

This recipe is perfect for the entire family and very kid friendly, so feel free to have the young ones help out in the kitchen on this one. You even get to make your own almond milk at home!

Check out this unique recipe made by Marie-Josée Richer, co-founder of PRANA below!

Ingredients:

2 cups homemade almond milk
2 tablespoons of hazelnut butter
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla pod
1/8 cup guar gum (optional)

Directions:

How to make homemade almond milk:

Soak almonds for at least 12 hours in pure water with ½ tsp sea salt.
Rinse almonds well.
Blend several minutes until smooth and creamy.
Strain mixture into a large bowl through a sprout bag, cheese cloth or kitchen towel.

Place all the ingredients in a blender.
Mix at maximum power until blended.
Pour into moulds and let set at least 4 hours in the freezer.

Enjoy!

Contest - Toronto Catering Showcase

September 12, 2016 in Contests

We have partnered up with The Toronto Catering Showcase to give one lucky winner a pair of free tickets valued at almost $150 to one of the best food experiences this year! These tickets will give you complete access to an afternoon of pure epicurean indulgence from 12 of the best caterers this city has to offer on Sunday, October 16th (1PM to 5PM) at the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon.

Eat and drink until your hearts content (literally!) where delectable culinary masterpieces will be paired perfectly with exceptional wines and local craft beers. This is an all-inclusive pass that will give you and your guest access to all of the food and drinks these caterers will be serving.

Head on over to our Instagram page to enter!

Deadline to enter is at 11:59PM EST on September18th, 2016. 1 random winner will be selected and announced the day after!

Good luck everyone!

Interview with Masterchef Canada's First Winner - Eric Chong

August 06, 2016 in Interviews

Step out of your comfort zone. Follow your passion. Do what you love.

Easy to say, but difficult to execute. And yet these are the inspirational sayings that Eric Chong, the first winner of Masterchef Canada, has lived by to get him exactly where he is today: being the proud owner of his very own restaurant R&D alongside his business partner, Michelin Star Chef Alvin Leung. These culinary milestones may not have been realized had he not taken a leap of faith and submitted an audition tape to participate in the inaugural season of a cooking competition with no measure of success at the time of its filming. South of the border, Masterchef is one of the biggest cooking shows and competitions, with millions of people tuning in every week. However, the success of American-based reality TV shows does not always translate to success with Canadian viewership (think Bachelor Canada. Yes, there really was a Canadian spin off, and you haven’t heard of it for good reason). It was a shot in the dark for Eric, but as it turned out, it was a risk well worth taking.

Recently, Eric was invited to this year's Redpath Waterfront Festival, which welcomed the Royal Canadian Navy for the first-ever Urban Fresh Navy Cook Off . Top Naval Chefs from coast to coast were selected from their chosen formations to participate in the final stage of the 2-hour competition, which took place in the galleys of the HMCS Goose Bay and HMCS Kingston docked at Harbour Square Park. This exciting Navy Cook Off was then live-streamed on a large screen in the park where four judges, including Eric Chong, chose the winning team. Similar to the Mystery Box Challenge from Masterchef, the two Naval teams were required to create an entrée and dessert incorporating ingredients from a standard pantry along with ingredients from a mystery box, the contents of which were kept secret until moments before the challenge began.

While the Navy Cooks toiled away in the kitchen, I had the chance to sit down with Eric one-on-one at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel to talk about his journey from aspiring chef to successful restaurateur. We started our interview with where it all began for Eric—season 1 of Masterchef Canada—and his belief that he could win it all after he took that initial step of submitting his audition tape that would forever change his life.

"I strongly believed that when I filmed it—the audition tape—that I could win it all. Probably as the competition started, my confidence slowly dipped off because it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and a lot more stressful," Eric recalled. "With all the behind the scenes stuff, it was quite difficult. It was still a good experience, and I would do it again."

It wasn't all peaches and cream being part of a cooking competition that was televised to millions of Canadians every week. Not only did Eric have to cook his heart out each week or be in fear of being eliminated, but the logistics of filming was something he did not expect to be so challenging.

"I’d say just the hours and the time it took to put the show together," he said when asked about his most stressful times. "You are locked in a hotel, no phone, no Internet for about six weeks, and then you have to wake up early, drive, commute to the studio, do all the make up, and film for about 12 hours for only half an episode." Eric also shared how he wished he could eat more during the filming of the season, or at the very least, sample the food the other contestants would cook up. "I’m not going to say they didn’t feed us. It’s just you really don’t get to eat that much. I know it’s funny because it’s a cooking show, but you never get to eat much of your own food let alone anyone else's. You cook it, then you just leave, walk off, and then break."

This has always been one of the most intriguing parts for me when watching a reality TV show: the action behind the scenes. What actually happens when the cameras go off?

"Cameras off, you are actually sleeping or reading cookbooks, or practicing cooking in your own kitchen," Eric revealed. "Fortunately enough, the hotel that they put us in had a kitchen, and it was like a suite. It was good to practice. I think everyone was just way too nervous to just relax, so it would either be just reading up on cookbooks, practicing recipes, or just catching up on sleep." One thing that Eric confirmed is that the contestants really have no idea of what the challenges would entail ahead of time, and that, when they were only allowed an hour to cook a dish, they did not get a second more. "A lot of people don't believe that when they say 60 minutes, you only get 60 minutes. And when they reveal what we're about to cook in that week's episode, that's the first time we've ever seen it."

If you have seen Eric's season of Masterchef Canada, you would remember that he was very upfront about his parents not entirely supportive of his pursuit of becoming a chef. Prior to the show, Eric studied Chemical Engineering at McMaster University (my alma mater!), and his parents hoped he would eventually find himself a stable, well-paying job in this area. As they saw it, being a chef was not as glamorous as being a lawyer, doctor, or an engineer in his case. However, the tides turned after Eric won the title of Masterchef Canada and the accompanying $100,000 grand prize. So what exactly do his parents think of him now as a full-time chef?

"They are 100% supportive now. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten this far without having won Masterchef Canada. I think had I not won, for sure I probably would still be an engineer. If I didn’t win, then of course Alvin wouldn’t have partnered up with me, and that was a big swinging point for my parents’ support."

After the show’s conclusion, Eric partnered with Masterchef judge and 3 Michelin Star Chef, Alvin Leung (a.k.a. the Demon Chef), to open R&D (short for Rebel & Demon), a modern Asian restaurant in downtown Toronto. With a nickname like the Demon Chef, one has to ask just how intimidating Alvin really is.

"He’s probably the most eccentric guy you will ever meet. He takes his work extremely seriously. You can’t get 3 Michelin stars without being a perfectionist," Eric stated. "He runs his business like a dictator, he demands what he wants, he gets what he wants, and anything less than that will piss him off severely. But outside of work, he’s probably the nicest, most generous guy you will ever meet. The demon chef is a good name. He is extremely serious and scary in the kitchen, but outside of the restaurant when we go eat, have dinner at each other’s houses, he is super nice, super generous, and a really funny guy. Loves to joke around."

Bearing an uncontainable grin, Eric also mentioned that Alvin is something of a kid at heart. "He's like a big kid sometimes. He’s a huge Batman fan, collects all the Batmobiles, action figures, movies, all kinds of Batman memorabilia. He’s like a kid in a candy store when he is shopping for Batman."

It's now been over a year since R&D opened alongside Alvin, and Eric noted that since its unveiling, his biggest challenges have been the management of costs and maintaining the quality of his dishes. "The most key thing in a restaurant would be consistency. If I were to cook a dish, and a new guy were to cook that same dish, the customer shouldn’t know the difference. So that is a pretty scary thought when you think of it that way. I need to train him to be just as good as me, if not better. So definitely training the cooks for consistency is a huge challenge in running a restaurant."

During this time of our interview, the Marlant team from Nova Scotia and the Marpac team from British Columbia had already begun duelling it out for the Navy Cook title, and it was up to Eric and his fellow judges to decide on the winner. So just what was Eric looking forward to most about being on the other side of the fence as a judge?

"I think it’s just exciting to see new blood cook food. I know they have a senior cook and a young aspiring one, but it’s just exciting to see what they can come up with, especially in that super small kitchen. It’s Hong-Kong-style small. Very impressive."

There are two prototypes of extremes of judging on a panel. The “Simon Cowell” judge—blunt, outspoken, and critical—and the “Paula Abdul” judge—kind, supportive, and encouraging. When asked which role he would likely assume, Eric laughed and said he would probably be more like Paula Abdul.

"It really depends on the competition and the type of cooks. I mean, these guys do not cook professionally by any means, so I don’t expect Michelin-Star-quality dinner. I think it would be a little cruel to be like a “Simon Cowell” in this scenario, especially when this is just to help motivate them and to help fuel their passion for cooking. You definitely don’t want to crush their dreams. I think a little bit of positive encouragement will be good."

As a seasoned professional when it comes to intense cook-offs, mystery ingredients, and beating the clock, Eric stressed the importance of cooking efficiently and not underestimating the power of beautiful plating when trying to create that perfect winning dish.

"You eat with your eyes first. The plate really needs to look nice, and it needs to be clean. I’m curious to see how they plate because I know in the navy they just have it buffet style, so I’m actually quite intrigued to see how they plate up their dishes,” Eric indicated. “Delegating tasks properly and cooking efficiently is also very important, as this is a tag team, you need to go in with a plan. As I saw for the brief moments, one chef was doing pastry, the other chef was doing savoury so that’s really a good plan in my opinion. In Masterchef, you get about one hour to cook one dish, and now they each have two hours, so if they split up the work it should be pretty good." He also added that creativity goes a long way. "If they did something that I never thought to do, then that would probably give them a lot of bonus points."

Eric revealed that later this August, his restaurant will see a menu flip that will incorporate new and exciting modern Asian dishes. However, we all might have to wait a little longer if we expect a future Masterchef Canada collaboration between Eric and this season's winner, Mary Berg, who also resides in Toronto.

"I only spoke to her briefly during the restaurant takeover episode. I don’t think we’d be doing any collaborations. I mean, I know how it is after you win. You kind of want to do your own thing, you don’t really want to have a boss or be in someone’s shadow, so I think she’s just going to do her own thing and I hope the best for her."

Time and time again, we’ve seen that Eric is no stranger to creating works of art from simple ingredients, although he revealed that beautiful plating is the last thing on his mind when cooking for himself in his everyday life.

"I don't always go all out, but I do love pasta," Eric declared. "I'll make a pasta, make a sauce. Being a chef, I try to stay healthy, try to go to the gym, so I’ll usually just have oatmeal for breakfast, an omelette, something simple, and then when I go home, like a smoothie. Whatever is quick, because usually I get home at about 1 AM. I’m not going to make a huge feast. On days off, I’ll usually cook if my girlfriend’s eating with me; if not, I’ll just go out.”

Keeping with Toronto's ever-changing culinary scene, Eric said he tries food from different restaurants each week, and described it as a good way to find inspiration from other local chefs. At the time of the interview, Eric had a dinner reservation at Omaw.

"Every week, I try a new restaurant with my girlfriend. It’s good to stay up to speed with what restaurant is good, what food they are doing, just so you can then add your own little Asian spin on it.”

When queried about his thoughts then on the best restaurant in Toronto right now (besides R&D, of course), Eric proclaimed, “Alo would be my number one for sure, probably the best meal I had in Canada. Alo is phenomenal.”

For his quick eats, Eric explained that he enjoys frequenting restaurants located in his neighbourhood. “Sansotei Ramen, Yutaka Sushi, Three Little Pigs for sandwiches, just anything close by. For higher end, I have a little favouritism towards Buca because I worked there for a few months.”

After filming Masterchef Canada, Eric spent a few months working at Buca to really get a feel of what it would be like to work inside a restaurant day-in and day-out. His employers had no idea he had won the title, as the airing of Masterchef had not yet concluded, but Eric’s pure talent landed him a full-time job.

"Alvin said that before we opened that I should work at a restaurant besides his own to see how other restaurants operate, and I was fortunate enough to get into Buca, arguably the best restaurant in Toronto. I was really fortunate enough to work there. I love their food." Eric then goes on to say that after this first experience working at a commercial kitchen, it was then when he truly knew he loved being a cook. "It was incredible. A lot of home cooks would say they would love to be a chef but that they can’t actually work 14-hour days, never sitting down once, barely eating, but I honestly enjoyed every second of it."

Step out of your comfort zone. Follow your passion. Do what you love.

You'll never know what could happen if you do these three things. It worked out for Eric and it could very well work out for you.

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