Crockpot Cooking
Growing up, most of us probably never thought about what it took to get dinner on the table every night. It’s only as an adult that you may find yourself reflecting on this and acknowledging the challenge that it presents day in and day out – even for the best of cooks! Let’s face it, one of the most-asked questions in any household is “what’s for dinner tonight.”
I still wonder how my mom used to manage it all. A full-time job and four kids do not make for light work! I think it is fair to say that it’s one thing when you have the time and energy to cook, but when you have to get family meals on the table mid-week, it’s a whole other ball game. One of my mom’s vices was her crockpot (slow cooker), and a family favourite was her corned beef (also known as brisket). Nancy (my mom) could turn it on in the morning, leave it all day, and then come home after work and get dinner on the table for all of us with minimal effort. According to my sister, “we usually ate it in the winter, and Mom used to make mashed potatoes and cabbage. There were never any leftovers.” I called my mom and asked her about this meal. She regaled me with a story about how three of us, independently, made corned beef on the same night. Oddly enough, while writing this story I discovered that my brother Donald made corned beef on the same night as I did this week!
Slow cooking (braising) has had an amazing resurgence, as have lesser-known cuts of meat (budget cuts are hip!). And as far as I am concerned, they never disappoint. While my mom used to just pop her brisket in the slow cooker and cover it with water, my sister tells me she adds a few garlic cloves to her cooking water while I (being who I am) add chopped carrots, onions, celery and a few peppercorns to boost the flavour of the cooking broth. After being cooked all day the meat is so fork-tender that it almost melts in your mouth. You don’t even need a knife to cut it!
It always intrigues me that my siblings and I each develop our own take on Mom’s recipes, but we all agree that nobody does it better than she does.
Andrea Stewart
It’s not surprising that three of Andrea Stewart’s favourite foods are bread, butter and champagne, since her approach to all things culinary has always been pure and simple. This experienced, creative and enterprising chef and editor approaches cooking and eating with a solid appreciation for fresh, local and seasonal ingredients. Andrea’s journey with food began while living in France, working as an au pair for Grace Jones. While feeding the young offspring of the famous singer, she was tempted on a daily basis by the busy, colourful French food markets. Later on, she spent a summer at Ecole de Gastronomie Francaise Ritz-Escoffier and fell in love all over again with everything France had to offer. Upon returning to Canada, she was accepted at the acclaimed Stratford Chefs School and after completing her first year she headed to New York to further sharpen her skills, working alongside some of the finest (including Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto) and catering Martha Stewart’s executive meetings. Andrea returned to Toronto in 1996, and further immersed herself in her career, working at some of the city’s top food fixtures, including Mildred Pierce and Ace Bakery. She eventually took a side-step out of the kitchen and into the halls of magazine publishing, landing a position as Food Editor of Wish Magazine in 2004. While inspiring busy Canadian wonder-women to cook from scratch, she published her first cookbook, Wish, Market to Table. From street food to fine dining to unfamiliar grocery stores, food still motivates Andrea at every turn. She recently sold everything but a prized collection of cookbooks and moved to the U.K., where her culinary library spans the two floors of her London flat. She won’t rest until she has cooked from every one of them!