Anna & Kristina spend one entire day tackling five recipes from Julia Child's iconic cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1", the recipes being onion soup, green beans, scalloped potatoes, chocolate soufflé and pate de canard en croute (duck wrapped in pastry), the latter considered a difficult recipe to master. Partly due to the complexity of the menu, Anna and Kristina, as well as their guest taster, renowned French chef Alain Raye, are skeptical about how successful the meal will turn out. In the end, the food brings some smiles and laughs to Chef Alain. In addition, Anna and Kristina do product tests associated with two of their recipes, one on onion slicers, and a taste test comparing heritage and Pekin ducks.
Anna and Kristina tempt their sweet tooth by making recipes from the award winning cookbook, "Pure Dessert", the recipes from which seem to have a twist unusual to desserts. Their guest taster is executive pastry chef and fourth generation chocolatier Thomas Haas and his two children. Chef Thomas is worried about the lack of success he anticipates with their attempt solely because baking, different than cooking, can at times be more a science than an art; the recipes need to be exacting to be successful. Anna and Kristina attempt five recipes: ice cream (the recipe in the book is a plain crema version, but they decide also to make a vanilla version to compare the two), tarragon tuiles, chocolate pudding, ice citron vodka chocolates, and honey caramels. They give themselves four hours to complete the recipes, which unlike cooking recipes is spent primarily in letting the desserts set. For the caramels, they taste test various types of honeys. And they test saucepans for heat distribution and how well they stand to physical abuse.
Anna and Kristina tackle recipes from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's seventh cookbook, "Cook with Jamie", which purports to be able to make its users a better chef. So they figure that there is no one better to be their guest chef taster than David Wong, an award winning executive chef and culinary instructor, whose culinary philosophy is strong on research. The two prepare seven recipes: overnight slow roasted pork, fresh crunchy prawns, asparagus risotto, beet salad, a green salad, shortbread (the best in the world according to the cookbook), and a fruit filled meringue. Jamie, through the cookbook, strongly recommends using fresh local organic food products, Jamie comparing commercially raised meat to cheap running shoes. So Anna and Kristina decide to make two pork roasts, one with organic meat and one commercially raised meat to see if there really is a difference. They also decide that there is nothing fresher than going to catch one's own food, so they go out with some commercial prawners to catch some spot prawns for their meal. For the green salad, they test salad spinners.
Anna and Kristina are testing recipes from the South Asian cookbook, "Mangoes & Curry Leaves". Unfamiliar with many of the ingredients listed, the twosome head to Vancouver's Little India neighborhood for inspiration, and get more than just culinary inspiration. They attempt seven recipes in four hours: tandoor naan, crisp fried okra tidbits, lamb kabobs, tamarind potatoes, star fruit chutney, cachoombar salad, and gulab jamun (fried sweet dough). They do a taste test of store bought garam masala - a South Asian spice blend - to see how it compares to home made, and a test of mortars and pestles, needed to grind spices which are so key to South Asian cooking. Regardless of how the cooking goes, they are nervous about the meal since South Asian food is one of their favorite cuisines, and the guest chef tasters are Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala, husband/wife owner/chefs of the renowned Vij's Restaurant in Vancouver. But Anna and Kristina will at least look good for their guests no matter how the food turns out.
Anna and Kristina test recipes from "Betty Crocker's Cookbook". They decide on making eight recipes, all to be completed in two hours: chocolate chip cookies, picadillo chicken paella, macaroni & cheese, cheese biscuits, Caesar salad, beer battered fish, breaded pork chops, and cheesy hamburger hash. Being a cookbook that purports to have easy and quick recipes, the two believe they can ace preparing this meal. They decide to test the ease of the recipes by having two non-cooks also prepare two of the dishes. Anna and Kristina are unprepared for what can go wrong when they don't pay attention. The guest chef tasting the food is Stella Shurety - better known in the restaurant world solely as Stella - the British owner/chef of The Diner Restaurant in Vancouver, she who specializes in the type of home cooking purported by the cookbook. Nonetheless, she will be a tough chef to please. Anna and Kristina also taste test dark ales for the fish recipe, and stress test wooden mixing spoons. Anna finds out some distressing news about the hygiene of her own personal wooden spoons.
In making recipes from the Japanese cookbook "Nobu West", Anna and Kristina think they've come across their most difficult cooking challenge thus far. The primary issues are an unfamiliarity with many of the ingredients and with some of the cooking techniques, and an intricacy of the recipes. They also learn that some of the equipment needed is specialized, and as such test sushi knives against chef knives in slicing maki rolls. They are also intimidated by their guest executive chef taster, Hidekazu Tojo, the owner/chef of Tojo's Restaurant in Vancouver, known as one of the premier Japanese restaurants in the world. Chef Tojo has his doubts as well at how well Anna and Kristina will do. The two attempt seven recipes: beef tataki, toro miso, bo herring sushi, frothing Dungeness crab, popcorn shrimp, pear gyoza, and a drink called sake mule. For the crab recipe, they blind taste test fresh cooked crab versus canned crab. At the end of the day, will their predictions of disaster come true?
The 2007 25th anniversary edition of the award winning cookbook, "Silver Palate", is the book from which Anna and Kristina will be cooking. Their guest executive chef taster is Karen Barnaby, the executive chef of the Fish House Restaurant in Stanley Park in Vancouver, and a cookbook author herself. Anna and Kristina attempt an ambitious menu of cassoulet, creamy mushroom soup, shrimp & artichoke salad, saffron rice, hunter styled carrots, gougere (cheese puffs), and crème brulee. They are most concerned about the cassoulet, which takes a minimum of two days to prepare and has nineteen steps. Chef Karen is skeptical if they will be able to complete the recipe in the time they've allotted. For the mushroom soup, they hope to be able to harvest wild mushrooms with the assistance of a mycologist. In addition, they test the heat resistance capabilities and handling of various over mitts, and Kristina wants to try out an unusually designed egg separator.
Can heart healthy cooking be tasty? That's the question posed by Anna and Kristina in testing "The New Lighthearted Cookbook", which solely contains heart healthy recipes. To their chagrin, most of the recipes are light on the addition of salt, which they consider necessary for flavorful cooking. Will their guest chef taster agree? He is Eric Arrouze, a personal chef to the stars who specializes in healthy cooking. His philosophy on the matter is the best ingredients are needed to make simple foods taste good. For him, Anna and Kristina will be preparing eight dishes in four hours: whole wheat oatmeal bread (prepared in a bread machine, but baked in a standard oven), hamburger patties, cucumber relish, broccoli & mushroom dip, mushroom stuffed zucchini, tofu Alfredo, curried chicken crepes, and blueberry flan. In addition, they taste test low fat plain yogurts (with one full fat variety thrown into the mix), and product test various bread machines.
Anna and Kristina are not looking forward to testing their latest cookbook "How to Grill" as use of a barbecue is generally the domain of the male. They are however looking forward to getting out of the house as they are going to be cooking outside at Nat Bailey Stadium for the players of the Vancouver Canadians triple-A baseball team. They will also be cooking for their guest chef taster, Bob Haselbach, also known as BBQ Bob, a two-time barbecue grand champion. They learn from Chef Bob the difference between barbecuing and grilling. Anna and Kristina's all day barbecuing/grilling menu consists of beer can chicken, Texas brisket, Kansas City pork ribs, stuffed "hot dogs" (they will be using veggie dogs to provide a vegetarian option for their food tasters), corn on the cob, grilled stuffed cabbage, smoky potatoes, and roasted pears. They are caught up in two debates: if there is a difference between gas and charcoal barbecues, and if it is better to husk or not husk the corn for grilling. They also taste test veggie hot dogs with a bunch of unsuspecting baseball players. At the end of the day, they find that barbecuing is easier than other activities taking place at Nat Bailey Stadium.
In testing recipes from "The New Intercourses", Anna and Kristina place a lot of pressure on themselves. The cookbook deals with foods with aphrodisiac qualities and serving such food in a sensual manner, so they are going to be serving their meal not only to a guest chef taster, but also to their blind dates. The chef taster is Daryl Nagata, an executive chef who among other things creates a special Valentine's Day meal in cooperation with an herbalist to incorporate aphrodisiacs into the meal. Anna and Kristina are preparing seven dishes: black bean salad (which they all don't understand can be an aphrodisiac due to the gaseous after effects), avocado and pine nut salad, shucked raw oysters, sausages in fig sauce, rabbit in mustard sauce, quick chocolate croissants, and indoor s'mores. Anna and Kristina and Chef Daryl each talk about the sensual qualities - or non-sensual qualities as the case may be - of the dishes chosen. In addition, Anna and Kristina, with the assistance of a forensic scientist, test the myth of oysters as aphrodisiacs. And they test a variety of pastry brushes on an unusual painting surface.
Anna and Kristina are excited to be cooking from television chef Giada De Laurentiis' first cookbook, "Everyday Italian", as they love comforting home made Italian food, on which this cookbook purports to focus. All the better if the recipes are easy to make, and contain ingredients on most Canadian pantry shelves. Because of the ease of the recipes, they are attempting more recipes than ever before, nine, in the span of five hours: tapenade, prosciutto wrapped bread sticks, roasted red pepper salad, spinach & mushroom ravioli, polenta with Gorgonzola, osso bucco, eggplant rollatini, tiramisu, and garnished store bought pound cake. Their guest chef taster is Gennaro Iorio, the executive chef at La Terrazza Restaurant which specializes in old-styled Italian dishes. Because Italian meals center on family, they will also be serving the meal to Chef Gennaro's Italian family. Despite the supposed ease of the recipes, miscalculations on both Anna and Kristina's part may sabotage the meal. Meanwhile, they product test different food processors, and taste test various canned tomato brands.
Anna and Kristina have a number of special challenges in preparing a meal from recipes in the "Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook". First, they are preparing a total of nine dishes: hot buttered rum, rosemary breadsticks, blinis with caviar, glazed carrots with ginger, Brussels sprout salad, turkey with pear chestnut stuffing and giblet gravy, potato chive soufflé, cranberry chutney, and bouche de noël for dessert. Second, they want to live up to the exacting standard of the cookbook's celebrity author, Martha Stewart. Third, this meal will be an actual Christmas dinner. Fourth, their dinner guests will be Anna's family, including her mother Sally Beattie, her older sisters Lisa Samstag, Laura Bincik and Amy Wallner, and Amy's infant daughter Chloe. And fifth, their executive guest chef taster is Sally, who is a caterer by profession and who has always been in charge of the elegant Wallner family Christmas dinners. Will this dinner live up to that Wallner family Christmas dinner standard? In addition, they product test hand held electric mixers, and taste test various brands of rum for their hot buttered rum drink.
Anna and Kristina are making recipes from the cookbook "New Food Fast", containing elegant recipes which purportedly can be made quickly. As such, they give themselves a challenge: make four recipes between the two of them in thirty minutes. The four recipes are white bean tuna salad (ten minutes), sweet chili prawn cakes (twenty minutes), rack of lamb with gremolata (thirty minutes), and Amaretto French toast (ten minutes). They will start their cooking at exactly the same time their guest chef taster Dino Renaerts leaves his restaurant, which is thirty minutes away. Chef Dino is the executive chef and sommelier at Diva at the Met, a high end restaurant located in Vancouver's business district, the restaurant whose lunch clientèle is made up primarily of business people who want and need a quick meal fast. Despite the relative ease of the recipes, Chef Dino thinks Anna and Kristina have bitten off more than they can chew within their time allotted. He feels that the two working together may be more of a liability than benefit. A slow oven may ultimately be their downfall. Meanwhile, they taste test canned versus home cooked beans with some experts on another type of beans. And they product test different types of hand whisks.
Fitting with today's health conscious society, Anna and Kristina are testing recipes from the cookbook "The Best Light Recipe" which provides healthier versions of classic high fat recipes. Beyond their main cooking challenge, Kristina also undertakes her own challenge of using tips from the cookbook to lighten up a chocolate cupcake recipe she already has to see if the results still taste good. For their main meal, they are making roasted artichoke dip, chicken Caesar salad, fettuccine Alfredo, oven fried chicken, and New York styled cheesecake. With the latter, they are making the lower fat version in the cookbook as well as a full fat regular version for comparison purposes. Their guest chef taster is Julian Bond, who among other things was named rising young chef of the millennium by a national newspaper and is a culinary instructor. He believes that natural fats, such as butter and animal fats, are required for flavor and are on the most part healthier than many fat substitutes. Therefore, he is skeptical of the cookbook and dismisses recipes that, in their alterations to be lower calorie, fundamentally change what they purport to be. He shows his skepticism by bringing Anna and Kristina special gifts. Chef Julian may be in for a bit of a surprise. Meanwhile, they test the durability and heat capabilities of various celebrity chef endorsed non-stick skillets.
Anna and Kristina travel to Tuscany to test the cookbook, "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking". There, they decide first to go to cooking school to hone their culinary skills. They better be paying attention as their guest executive chef taster is Umberto Menghi, the owner of the school who admits that he thinks the two are going to "screw up". The two have extra pressure in pleasing him as they will feed him immediately after he gets off a trans-Atlantic flight. In just under five hours, they attempt seven recipes: tomato bruschetta, asquacotta (a Tuscan peasant soup), Tuscan meat rolls with porcini mushrooms, fettuccine with butter & sage, sautéed chicken with lemon & parsley, ham & potato croquettes, and zuppe Inglese for dessert. As they are making homemade fettuccine, they get a lesson on hand made pasta from a local Italian woman, and test various pasta rollers and cutters. As an essential ingredient of Italian cooking, they also ask locals to blind taste test various North American supermarket brands of olive oil.
Based on the restaurant of the same name, Anna and Kristina cook recipes from "The French Laundry" cookbook. The cookbook's recipes of five star gourmet fare are intricate processes not to be rushed, and as such they decide to make two recipes only in eight hours: pig's feet with green lentils, and crème de farine with poached apples and ice cream. They are especially concerned about how to prepare the pig trotter for cooking. To match the ambiance of the cookbook, Anna and Kristina travel to the Okanagan Valley to cook in the kitchen of Terrace Restaurant, which is the restaurant of the Mission Hill Estate Winery. In 2008, the restaurant was rated in the top five of all winery restaurants in the world. Their guest taster is the restaurant's chef de cuisine, Michael Allemeier who hopes the two have passion in their cooking. He especially hopes they put passion into cooking the pig's feet, which he considers a special treat. Despite the cookbook specifying a specific variety, Anna and Kristina taste test apple varieties for their dessert, a perfect test for the apple growing Okanagan Valley. They also put various types of cutting boards to the test.
In tackling recipes from the cookbook "Campground Cookery", city slickers Anna and Kristina head on a camping trip on the shores of Alouette Lake. The cookbook strives to have gourmet recipes that can be cooked outside on open fires. The recipes they will be attempting are braised beef round steak, grilled trout, reflector oven zucchini parmigiana, bannock, campground coffee, sweet potato stuffed apples, and cherry filled pudgy pies. One of their first tasks is to catch trout out on the lake, and if they don't, they will down one recipe. And if they do manage to catch a trout, they will have to figure out how to clean it. The other challenges they face are building a fire, and figuring out how hot it is since it doesn't have a heat gauge like a stove or oven. Their guest chef taster is Chili Thom, a gourmet chef and outdoor guide. If they and/or the recipes fail, they will have to hope that Chili, like most outdoorsy west coasters, is relaxed in his attitude. In addition, they evaluate chef knives based on their handles, and taste test canned cherry pie filling with expert pie makers.
Anna and Kristina have six hours to prepare four dishes from renowned Mexican food chef Rick Bayless' cookbook, "Mexican Kitchen". Much like Bayless, Claudia Ibarondo, the executive chef of Vancouver's Tequila Kitchen Restaurant and the guest chef taster, wants Americans to know authentic Mexican cuisine, as opposed to Tex-Mex, which is what most Americans think is authentic Mexican food. The four dishes they will be preparing are guacamole, pork tacos with pickled red onions, braised chicken in Oaxacan black mole, and cajeta pudding. The multi-step mole is one of the most difficult of Mexican dishes to prepare, which causes Anna and Kristina's smoke detector to go off. Chef Claudia doubts if they will be able to conquer that specific recipe. Regardless of the success or lack thereof of the cooking, they hope that Chef Claudia will at least bring some tequila to drown their sorrows. In addition, they test various electric cast iron griddles, and taste test various types of hot chili peppers to decide which to use in their guacamole.
As busy working women, Anna and Kristina are really hoping they will love television personality Nigella Lawson's latest cookbook, "Nigella Express", as it purports to contain good tasting recipes for traditional comfort foods that are quick and easy to make but that are still good enough to serve at dinner parties. Their guest executive chef taster Stephan McIntyre is skeptical. The philosophy of Chef Stephan, the executive chef at Burgoo Bistro in Vancouver, is that slow cooking is the way to go if one wants to develop flavor in food, and that shortcuts in cooking are not worth it if they compromise the overall quality of the dish. To see if the recipes are indeed quick and easy, Anna and Kristina attempt six recipes in two hours: breakfast bars (akin to granola bars), roquamole (a combination of guacamole and a sour cream & cheese based dip), chicken liver salad, macaroni & cheese, high speed hamburgers & fast french fries, and chocolate pear pudding. They are confident that they can easily complete the recipes in the short time frame, but too are skeptical that Chef Stephan will like them. They are most worried about the macaroni & cheese as a slow cooked version of it is a specialty at Burgoo. Because the recipes are written for a British sensibility where ingredients are often measured by weight rather than by volume, Anna and Kristina test various kitchen scales. And along with eighty women, they taste test a number of different commercially available granola bars.
Anna and Kristina aim the food they're cooking to a younger demographic: children. The cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious", professes to have healthy recipes that are kid friendly. Many of the recipes contain vegetables purées to hide the vegetables from discriminating kid palates. While they prepare the meal - lasagna (with sweet potato and cauliflower purée), tortilla "cigars" (with squash purée, which is supposed to resemble cheese), blueberry lemon muffins (also with squash purée), brownies (with carrot and spinach purée), chicken nuggets, (also with spinach purée), and green eggs (ditto to the spinach) - they are also babysitting a bunch of kids, who will be fed this meal. Another person being fed this meal is their guest chef taster, Mary MacIntyre. A former pastry chef, Chef Mary has opened her own family friendly aka kid friendly restaurant called Little Nest in Vancouver which aspires to good tasting and healthy food for both kids and adults alike. Because of the number of purées they had to make, Anna and Kristina test various blenders. And a bunch of kids and Anna taste test butter substitutes (melted) on popcorn.
Anna and Kristina have high hopes for the recipes from "The Oprah Magazine Cookbook" solely because everything associated with Oprah Winfrey seems to turn to gold. The cookbook is comprised of recipes from sixty different contributors to the magazine. In their pre-tests with the cookbook, both were so far impressed with their dishes. However it all counts when their guest chef taster comes in for the prepared meal. That person is Melissa Craig, the accomplished twenty-something executive chef of the high end Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler. For her, Anna and Kristina are making five dishes in five hours: beet salad with grilled red onions & manouri cheese with a kalamata vinaigrette, callaloo soup, Moroccan chicken with cous-cous, homemade gnocchi with sage pesto, and maple syrup pie. For their recipes, they taste test different types of chicken broth, and they product test different pepper mills.
Anna and Kristina test recipes from one of the most influential books - not just cookbooks - of all time, "The Joy of Cooking". They are using the 75th anniversary edition of the book. From the book which has gone through transformations over its history but which still retains many old fashioned recipes, they are making both new and old dishes, six in total, in four and a half hours: caldo verde, grilled salmon with watercress mayo, cheese soufflé cockaigne, ham steak with red-eye gravy, green beans with onions, tomatoes and dill, and plum pudding with hot foamy sauce. Their international guest chef taster is Tom Douglas, a Seattle based restaurateur who owns no less than five restaurants. He considers "The Joy of Cooking" one of his favorite cookbooks. Regardless of Chef Tom's evaluation, Anna and Kristina are hoping to feel the joy when they're cooking. Meanwhile, they test various potato peelers and taste test various types of salts as finishing salt.
Anna and Kristina are excited about tackling recipes from the cookbook "Thai Food" if only to be able to learn about many of the exotic ingredients unfamiliar to them. They are making six recipes in eight hours: egg mousse with pineapple, corn & salted duck eggs, crispy fish cakes with sweet pork salad, pad thai, chicken curry with basil, ginger & peanuts, jasmine rice, and egg white custard with coconut. Their guest chef taster is Brian Marchesi, who has worked at some four star restaurants and now owns and cooks at Chada Thai Restaurant in suburban Vancouver. Although Anna and Kristina think the dessert will be the easiest dish, Chef Brian is most worried about that as Thai desserts have a certain delicacy to their nature. Kristina has another challenge when it comes to the meal, doing a task that ends up consuming most of her time. In addition, they taste test different varieties of canned and powdered coconut milk and wonder if it measures up to making one's own coconut milk from fresh coconuts. They also product test different pineapple corers and slicers.
Anna and Kristina are making recipes all using one ingredient, "Garlic, Garlic, Garlic", which is also the name of the cookbook from which the recipes come. Every recipe in the cookbook does contain garlic, even the desserts. The six dishes they will be attempting, which contain in total ninety-one cloves of garlic, are: bagna cauda, gazpacho, artichokes with a mint vinaigrette, spiral bread loaf with onions & garlic, garlic chicken (which in itself contains forty cloves of garlic), and a honey garlic sauce for ice cream. They are a bit nervous about especially the dessert, but also their guest chef taster, Andrea Froncillo, the owner/executive chef at The Stinking Rose Restaurant in San Francisco, he who eats, lives and breathes garlic. The restaurant goes through approximately forty tons of garlic per year. As Chef Andrea is flying in directly from San Francisco, Anna and Kristina and their meal are at the whim of the chef's flights and their possible changes. In addition, they product test garlic mincers and compare them to mincing garlic using a chef's knife. And they taste test different varieties of garlic.
Before testing the cookbook "Jewish Home Cooking", Anna and Kristina take a field trip to New York City, the North American center of Jewish food. The cookbook strives to teach the home cook not only about traditional Jewish home cooking, but how it has transformed itself within North America and how to make it more healthily than it was a century ago. They attempt to make six dishes: gefilte fish, whitefish salad, chicken soup with matzo balls, pot roasted brisket, potato knishes, and challah. Their guest executive chef taster is Jeff Nathan, the owner/chef of Abigael's on Broadway, arguably the premier kosher food restaurant in New York City, if not the US. Flying in from New York for this meal, Chef Jeff is hoping the two will be able to pull off the meal, but will be brutally honest with them if it is not up to standards. Despite some problems specifically with the knishes, Kristina manages to do some damage control. Anna is not so lucky with the matzo balls, but is proud of her work on the recipe which she placed the most focus, the challah. In addition, they test various smokers to hot smoke whitefish, and they taste test various brands of jarred kosher dill pickles.
Self-professed carnivore Anna, in preparation for her and Kristina testing the cookbook "Vegetarian Meals" by Good Housekeeping, went meatless for a week in the lead up to the big meal. Going meatless was not as big an issue for Kristina. They will be preparing six dishes: sweet potato stew, lo mein with tofu, carrots & snow peas, leek & goat cheese quiche, microwave carrot risotto, tofu 'egg' salad, and nacho casserole. Regardless of their carnivorous status, Anna and Kristina are skeptical if they will like the recipes - based most specifically on the over-use of prepared food products and under-use of added flavorings - let alone impress their guest. Their executive chef guest taster is Yves Potvin, a French chef renowned for making soy based protein products. The meal could be even worse than Anna and Kristina envisioned because of something outside of their control. In addition, they product test various produce cleaner fluids against washing with a vinegar/water solution and washing with plain water. And they taste test different brands of goat cheese.
Going against the general societal trend, the mission of the latest cookbook that Anna and Kristina will be testing is to show the public that cooking with "Fat", specifically animal fat, is a good thing, especially in adding flavor to food. In four and a half hours, they are preparing five dishes: roasted marrow bones, miso & orange roasted pork belly, vegetable cake, chicken Kiev, and beignets. They have added pressure for the meal in that their executive chef guest taster is Andrey Durbach, not only the chef of a group of high end restaurants in Vancouver including La Buca, but also a former high school colleague of Kristina's who intimidated her then and intimidates her now. Hopefully an admission by Chef Andrey about high school life will soften the blow if he doesn't like the food. In addition, they taste test store bought salted butters against their own home whipped butter. And they product test various thermometers specifically for deep frying.
The cookbook that Anna and Kristina are testing, "The Best of the Best and More", is a compilation of recipes from the previous six "Best of Bridge" cookbooks - with some updates - as well as a few new recipes leaning toward current food sensibilities. First published in 1975, "The Best of Bridge" was a compilation itself of recipes from a group of friends who played bridge together. The cookbook authors purport that the recipes are easy but gourmet quality. Anna and Kristina are skeptical as some of the recipes, which seem to be a throwback to olden times, do not seem to match the new sensibility of eating healthier and fresher foods. They in particular do not like the over use of prepared foods, such as canned soup. And they think that some of the newer recipes have what sound to be an odd combination of flavors. In three hours, they are preparing six recipes: phyllo wrapped samosas, Regina beach coleslaw, hamburger soup, fettuccine Alfredo with sambuca & cranberries, classy chicken, and fruit cocktail cake. Unlike all their other meals, they will not be serving this one to a professional chef, but rather to talk show host and cookbook editor Vicki Gabereau, who is nonetheless a food aficionado. Vicki is not skeptical of the cookbook - how can millions of cookbook buyers be wrong? - but of Anna and Kristina's ability to pull it off based on feedback from one of their previous "victims". Vicki's prophecy may be self-fulfilling, despite the ease of the recipes. Anna and Kristina also product test can openers, and they taste test various types of cabbage, both eaten raw and in coleslaw.
In testing the cookbook "The Cake Bible", Anna and Kristina are only attempting one cake, but are facing their most daunting challenge yet. The one cake they will be making, which is a three day process, is a wedding cake for a real wedding. Being a small wedding, they are making a three tier white cake, but one on which they will be adding all the trimmings: lemon curd mousseline filling, homemade fondant covering the cake, and royal icing pearls and red hand made marzipan roses as decoration. For a self-admitted opinionated bride, the cake is an important aspect of the wedding, so they have no room for error. An error in even one step could ruin the entire cake. Providing advice is expert pastry chef Sylvia Weinstock, renowned in New York society circles for her elegant cake creations. In the end, Anna and Kristina have advice for those wanting to make their own wedding cake to save money: don't! In addition, they test different types of food coloring, to see which is most true to color. And they test ball bearing rolling pins to see which material is the best.
Anna and Kristina are testing recipes from the cookbook "Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics" by television chef Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa. The cookbook strives to provide recipes and tips for low hassle entertaining. They will be testing the cookbook by attempting six recipes in three hours: pomegranate cosmopolitans, Italian wedding soup, bruschetta with peppers & Gorgonzola, coq au vin, roasted butternut squash salad and pumpkin roulade with ginger cream. They may have a bigger challenge than usual since their guest taster is not a chef per se, but rather renowned and opinionated food critic Jamie Maw who because of his profession tells it like it is. His critiques are not only on food itself but everything associated with the dining experience. As such, chefs and restaurateurs can be intimidated by him. Anna and Kristina, despite some hiccups along the way, are buoyed by Jamie's final comment to them post-meal. In addition, Anna and Kristina taste test various brands of bacon, and product test cocktail shakers.
Anna and Kristina are excited about the concept of the cookbook that they are testing, "Entertaining with Booze" as they have been know to imbibe when whey are at parties. However as they pretested some recipes, they found that the added alcohol was more often than not not needed to provide additional wanted flavor, and often had the exact opposite effect of making the dish off tasting. They are hoping that on meal day, things might be different. They are attempting six recipes in two and a half hours: Ruby Tuesdays, a BLT salad, roasted stuffed pork with a cognac sauce, caramelized onion & pear pastries, beer braised mussels with coriander & orange, and chocolate Cabernet peace offerings. They guest tasters know a thing or two about booze. They are Neil Ingram, the co-owner and sommelier at the acclaimed Boneta Restaurant in Vancouver, and Michaela Morris, a wine consultant. Regardless, they can all either compliment or drown the taste of the meal, depending on how the meal turns out, with a nice glass of wine. In addition, Anna and Kristina take a trip to Mission Hill Estate Winery to learn about what to look for in a good Riesling. And they experiment with different methods of storing an open unfinished bottle of red wine, the test being how the wine tastes after several days.
Anna and Kristina are testing recipes from "The Flexitarian Table", which purports to solve the problem of having to cook meals for the household that has both meat lovers and vegetarians. The concept is to provide a basic framework for a recipe that can be made either with meat or as a vegetarian option, with the vegetarian option not being an "afterthought" as many vegetarian dishes in mixed meals often tend to be. The guest taster has some doubts. He is Nico Schuermans, executive chef and owner of Chambar Belgian Restaurant and neighboring Medina Café in Vancouver. Being Belgian, Chef Nico is used to a meat based cuisine, and is skeptical about claims that such recipes can be so easily converted without additional flavorings on the vegetarian side. He will have a chance to try seven dishes made by the twosome which they will prepare in four hours: spring vegetable & apple salad, crispy pressed chicken, crispy pressed tofu ("crispy pressed" being one of the convertible recipes), a slow cooked braise with white wine & escarole in both a lamb shank version and a vegetarian red bean version, cauliflower polenta, and pizzoccheri casserole. Being Belgian, Chef Nico would like a good Belgian Trappist beer with his meal. In addition, Anna and Kristina test Dutch ovens to see which material cooks a pot roast the best. And they taste test different varieties of extra firm organic tofu, plain.
With the trend toward tapas styled meals for at home dinner parties, Anna and Kristina test out recipes from a cookbook called "Small Bites", which only features recipes typical to cocktail parties. They attempt six recipes in two hours: margarita, celery & fennel soup with chilled grapes, prosciutto wrapped melon, seafood spring rolls, saffron chicken skewers with tomato jam, and raspberry meringues. Their guest chef taster is caterer Jonathan Chovancek, whose company, Culinary Capers, specializes in cocktail party type meals. Beyond the taste of the food itself, Anna and Kristina learn from Chef Jonathan two other important aspects of catering cocktail parties: the ease of eating the food served, and promptness of service. In addition to cooking, Anna and Kristina test manual citrus juicers through setting up their own lemonade stand, and decide if Serrano ham goes better with melon than prosciutto.
The actual cooking may not be the most difficult aspect of Anna and Kristina's latest cooking challenge, but understanding what all the unfamiliar ingredients are. They are tackling six recipes from "Chinese Kitchen", a cookbook that strives to provide its users with knowledge to cook authentic Chinese cuisine, and not the Chinese fast food that so many North Americans know as Chinese food. They admit that the actual cooking will also be a challenge, as food is more than just sustenance within the Chinese culture and as such it will be difficult to impress their guest chef taster, television chef Martin Yan. In the five hours of cooking, they are preparing basic cooked rice, hot & sour soup, sweet & sour pork, shrimp marinated in green tea leaves, beggar's chicken, and glutinous rice cake. They are most concerned with the chicken dish - the most difficult in their estimation - and the rice dessert, as Chinese cuisine is not known for its sweets. For the shrimp recipe, they taste test green teas to see if there is a difference between tea made with loose leaves and tea made with tea bags, which is generally made with what is considered inferior tea. And they test which material makes the easiest to handle chopsticks.
Anna and Kristina feel that cooking from the cookbook "Alinea" is a daunting task. A year after it opened in 2004, Alinea Restaurant in Chicago was voted the best restaurant in America. The cookbook is a companion to the restaurant, where the food they serve looks as much like works of art than things to consume. Much of what they prepare at the restaurant is through the magic of molecular gastronomy. An immediate difficulty for the two is to find the ingredients required in many of the recipes. They are attempting only three recipes in five hours: black truffle explosion with romaine & Parmesan, bison with braised pistachios, potatoes & sweet spices, and caramel popcorn liquefied. Their guest chef taster is Warren Geraghty, executive chef of the famed West Restaurant in Vancouver. His concern is that the two may not understand the unusual cooking methods and the preciseness which some of the recipes require. Chef Warren also stresses the importance of presentation with such dishes. Regardless of how their attempt at cooking the dishes turns out, Anna and Kristina do give the A&K stamp of approval to the actual restaurant. Because one of the recipes calls for its use, Anna and Kristina also test vacuum sealer machines and bags.
Anna and Kristina take a departure from their regular testing of a cookbook to the testing of a magazine, specifically "Gourmet". A monthly, "Gourmet" was first published in 1941 and offers its readers a wide variety of recipes, from the simple everyday to the more challenging for the true gourmet. In five hours, they are making five dishes, each taken from a different edition of the magazine: mozzarella (from scratch), pupu platter, buffalo salmon with watercress, Argentinian beef with chimichurri, and twelve layer mocha cake. Their guest chef taster is Pino Posteraro, the executive chef of the famed Cioppino's Restaurant in Vancouver and who was named 2008 chef of the year by "Vancouver Magazine". Despite the apology that Anna offers Chef Pino on his arrival - they failed in their attempt to make one of the dishes - would they be able to impress him with the other four? Their cause may be helped in what the chef doesn't know about their day. In addition, Anna and Kristina take a field trip to Mission Hill Estate & Winery in BC's Okanagan Valley to learn about pairing wine to food. They also product test rimmed baking sheets to see which material is the best to use.
Anna and Kristina believe that cooking recipes from "A Cowboy in the Kitchen" will be a breeze because of the perceived unrefined nature of chuck wagon cuisine. To get inspired, they are preparing their meal outdoors at Stump Lake Ranch. Their executive chef taster is flying in all the way from Texas for the meal and will be difficult to please. Terry Chandler is the owner and head chef at Fred's Texas Café in Fort Worth, he who also runs real chuck wagons at cattle ranches. He feels that the quality of the beans and biscuits are the true measure of any chuck wagon feast. In addition to sourdough biscuits (they are not making beans), Anna and Kristina are preparing four other dishes in five hours: jicama & carrot coleslaw, smoked rib-eye steaks, son-of-a-bitch stew, and pecan pie. For one dish, Kristina bribes Anna to do the unsavory work required. At the end of the day, Anna and Kristina vehemently disagree with Chef Terry's assessment, but not in the way they have with previous guest tasters. In addition, they test different styles of knife sharpeners, and they taste test different varieties of what are considered premium beef.
"A Good Catch", the latest cookbook that Anna and Kristina will be testing, is a compilation of recipes from several different chefs. The common theme is the use of sustainable seafood. Their guest chef taster is Robert Clark, the executive chef at among other places C Restaurant in Vancouver. This restaurant was one of the first restaurants to sign on to the Ocean Wise program, which promotes the use of only sustainable seafood products in a restaurant's menu. All cooked outside in three hours, the two will be preparing five dishes: shaved geoduck salad, gingered cantaloupe soup with spiced crab & prawns, baked halibut with herbed pesto & warm spring salad, cedar planked glazed salmon (which they attempt to catch themselves), and oyster pie. They may have an extra challenge in pleasing Chef Robert, who dislikes little in terms of food, but detests cantaloupe. Regardless of how the meal turns out, Anna and Kristina do admire the thought of using only sustainable seafood, but may not be too pleased with some of the more unfamiliar seafood ingredients. In addition, they taste test different varieties of raw oysters.
Anna and Kristina have taken on their most intimidating challenge in tackling recipes from "Chef Daniel Boulud Cooking in New York City" if only because Daniel Boulud is a three star Michelin award winning chef and one of the most renowned and famous chefs in the world. Because they want to make sure they perfect the recipes, they are only making three dishes in five and a half hours: white asparagus with poached egg dressing, open lobster ravioli with pea purée, and coconut rochers for dessert. They will not have one, but three guest chef tasters, who are all intimidating in their own right. The first two are Stephane Istel and Dale MacKay, the executive chefs of DB Bistro Moderne and Lumière respectively, both which belong Chef Daniel's group of restaurants. But Anna and Kristina do a first in this series in that the third guest taster is the cookbook author himself, Chef Daniel Boulud. Will the meal be up to what Chef Daniel's expectations of recipes from his cookbook are? Meanwhile, Anna and Kristina product test miniature greenhouses for the peas they will need to grow for their ravioli recipe. And they taste test various brands of Dijon mustard.
Anna and Kristina go into preparing recipes from the cookbook "Lucinda's Authentic Jamaican Kitchen" with just a little skepticism, despite author Lucinda Scala Quinn's pedigree as head of Martha Stewart's test kitchen, if only because of her not being Jamaican. They are making six recipes in three and a half hours: rum punch, ackee salt fish with Johnny cakes, beef patties, paw paw pepper sauce, jerk pork, and pineapple upside down cake. Their guest chef taster is Prince Rowe, a born and bred Jamaican and executive chef at Kingston 11 Reggae Café in North Vancouver. Before trying the food, Chef Prince is even more skeptical about the cookbook's claim to authenticity, especially as the dessert itself is not typical Jamaican fare. Anna and Kristina think they themselves will like the food, but aren't sure if it will meet Chef Prince's knowledge of what is truly Jamaican. As they are going to cook the pork on an outdoor grill, they product test miniature outdoor grills. And they compare different ethnic varieties of hot sauces.
Anna and Kristina go into testing recipes from the cookbook "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives", based on the television show of the same name, with a sense of ease as they figure that diner food - standard American cuisine - can't be that difficult to cook. They also go into the process figuring that diner food is not something one would always want to eat because of the high calorie content. They will be preparing seven recipes in four hours: Captain Crunch french toast, Cheryl's coleslaw, pork & sweet potato empañadas, inside-out burgers, Mike's Chili Parlor chili, peanut pie, and the XXX root beer frost. Their guest chef taster is Olympic gold medal winning figure skater Brian Boitano, who now hosts his own cooking show. His passion for cooking came after his skating career ended as it allowed him to get away from the constant need to count calories. Although diner food may appear easy, he wants the food packed with flavor. Anna and Kristina admit they are in awe of their guest not so much for his cooking prowess but his athletic prowess. Anna and Kristina soon find out that although they think the recipes will be easy, that does not mean that disasters cannot occur. And a little improvisation may be the key to success. In addition, they test both metal and synthetic flippers, an essential tool for use on a diner grill, and they taste test different varieties of root beer that are easier to find in Canada than the one listed in the recipe.
Anna and Kristina find that their next cooking challenge is a bit daunting because the cookbook they are testing, "How to Cook Everything", is a huge 2,000 recipe collection that spans a gamut of cuisines. However, the purpose of the book and its recipes seems to be to provide useful advice to the novice chef to be able to cook anything using generally available pantry ingredients, and thus the actual cooking should be simple. They are preparing six recipes in four hours: baba ganoush, gougères, cherry tomato salad with soy sauce, almond stuffed braised squid (which they hope to catch themselves off the coast of Washington State), butternut squash pansotti, and lemon meringue pie. They are even more daunted by their guest taster, Frank Pabst, the executive chef at Vancouver's famed Blue Water Café. They equate his name with perfection. Chef Frank does have high expectations for Anna and Kristina, and doesn't believe they can live up to his expectations. Because of Chef Frank's reputation, Anna in particular is fanatical about perfecting one of her Achilles heels, namely the pastry for the pie. But she is able to pass along a short cut tip to Kristina which makes Kristina's day regardless of how the food turns out. In addition, they test different types of graters needed to grate the lemon zest for the pie.
As busy working women, Anna and Kristina like the concept of the latest cookbook they are testing, "The Skinnygirl Dish", as it purports to simplify cooking for the non-cook. In addition, the recipes are lower calorie versions of many standards. In reading through the cookbook however, they feel that author Bethenny Frankel, one of The Real Housewives of New York City (2008) takes the simplicity to too far an extreme where cooking is deemed to be a non-enjoyable experience, and food itself is solely sustenance. Their executive chef taster, Manouschka Guerrier, one of the Private Chefs of Beverly Hills (2009), concurs and believes that if Anna and Kristina follow the recipes to a T, the food will be awful. Regardless, Anna and Kristina attempt to make seven recipes in only three hours: mojitos, artichoke & spinach dip, sweet tomato soup, dungeness crab tian with avocado & mango, wasabi tuna sliders with pickled ginger & cucumber relish, lower fat pasta carbonara, and 1-2-3 cookies. Despite the ease of the recipes, Anna and Kristina are pressed for time to complete the meal preparation before Chef Manouschka's arrival. Will the food be as bad as all three are expecting, especially the carbonara made with soy milk? In addition, Anna and Kristina taste test different types of milk substitutes as the recipes in the book are milk free, and they test different types of muddlers needed to make the mojitos.
Anna and Kristina are starting at the end and finishing at the end by preparing recipes from "Le Grand Livre de Cuisine", a cookbook containing recipes solely of high end desserts. They have never been more intimidated by any cookbook as it is used by professional pastry chefs who require little instruction, which is what this cookbook seems to provide. However, the book's author does refer to home chefs using it, which provides a little comfort to the two. They are preparing four recipes in four hours: caramel variations (which in and of itself has five different components, which are then assembled together), pistachio nougats, crepe Suzette, and Louis XV bread (which is shaped to look like a fanned open book). Their executive chef guest taster is Thierry Busset, a Michelin star award winning pastry chef, who intimidates Anna and Kristina as much as the cookbook does. Chef Thierry doubts they will be able to master the recipes because of their difficulty and preciseness. As Anna and Kristina go through cook day, they nearly decide not to complete their meal preparation due to frustration. Meanwhile, they test different styles of flours to see what the results are going to be for a quick bread. And they test mixing bowls made of varying materials to see the appropriate use, if any, for each.
On the surface, the new cookbook that Anna and Kristina are testing, "Three Sisters Around the Greek Table", one with home styled Greek recipes, is perfect. It looks great, Greek food with its bold flavors is popular, the recipes are not overly complicated or difficult, the directions seem straightforward, it has great features such as a listing of preparation time for each dish, and it is award winning. Will this on surface perfection translate into their meal? They are preparing six dishes in three hours: olive tapenade with goat's cheese on pita chips, stuffed grape leaves, bread salad with asparagus and tomatoes, moussaka, one thousand layers of vegetables (in reality, only five layers), and custard purses. Their guest taster is restaurateur and cookbook author Harry Kambolis. Although none of Chef Harry's award winning restaurants, such as Nu, C, and Raincity Grill, are Greek, he himself is ethnic Greek. He admits that his cultural background makes him opinionated, which he will be when evaluating Anna and Kristina's attempts to prepare the type of food he grew up on. In addition, Anna and Kristina test different types of cherry pitters to pit Kalamata olives, and they taste test different varieties of feta cheese.
Anna and Kristina are hoping to have some fun while testing the cookbook "Bite Me", which takes a lighthearted approach to cooking food using everyday ingredients. They will be preparing seven dishes in three hours: chicken tostada cups, stacked sushi, mango and cranberry salad, meatloaf with mushroom gravy, sweet and sour halibut, pasta puttanesca, and fudgy double layer chocolate cake. Their guest taster is New York based executive chef Sam Talbot, who may be best known for his appearance as one of the more popular contestants on the cooking show Top Chef (2006). Instead of being judged as he was on that show, self-professed laid-back guy Chef Sam will be doing the judging on the one thing he takes very seriously in life, namely food preparation. In preparing the meal, Anna and Kristina notice two themes in all the dishes: the use of a lot of sugar, and extremely long ingredient lists, the latter which they find somewhat surprising for a cookbook purporting to have easy recipes. By the end of the meal, Chef Sam provides two extreme evaluations to Anna and Kristina. As the cookbook also provides comments on must have and "dust collector" kitchen gadgets, Anna and Kristina test different varieties of one of the gadgets in the latter group, namely avocado slicers. Will Anna and Kristina concur with the cookbook authors that avocado slicers in general are dust collectors? And they visit a local cranberry farm to learn about the fruit's harvesting.
Anna and Kristina are holding "Williams-Sonoma 'Christmas Entertaining'" - the latest cookbook they are testing - to a slightly higher standard if only because meals for the holidays need to be just a little more special than usual. The cookbook provides several set menus for differing holiday entertaining situations. For three and a half hours on meal day, they are preparing the 'Christmas Eve in the City' menu, which consists of six recipes: Belgian endive with crème fraiche, capers and ahi tuna, shrimp bisque, crab salad with green apple and grapefruit coulis, beef tenderloin with shallot and Syrah reduction, twice baked potatoes, and almond apple tart. Because the cookbook provides not only recipes and menus but also tips and advice on all aspects of entertaining, they will be judged by not one but three guests, each with their own expertise: chef, cookbook author and cooking instructor Caren McSherry who will be judging the food, Vancouver sommelier of the year Kurtis Kolt who will be judging the wine pairings with four of the dishes (based on twelve wines he has previously provided to them, but not telling them which wine may go with which dish), and party planner Colin Upright who will be judging décor (Anna and Kristina will be using a set centerpiece outlined in the book). Despite the fire in the kitchen, will Anna and Kristina create that festive atmosphere and meal associated with Christmas?
Anna and Kristina are going back in time metaphorically in testing "Gordon Ramsay's Family Fare", a cookbook whose primary goal is to get families, in whatever their form, back to eating meals together at least three times a week... and not by sitting in front of the television set while doing it. The cookbook includes some set menus, recreating, albeit in a slightly higher class form, what Gordon Ramsay himself grew up on eating for Sunday dinners. For three hours on cook day, they will be preparing the set menu entitled 'Mediterranean flavours', which includes five dishes: pan roasted scallops with cauliflower purée, herb crusted rack of lamb, pommes boulangère, zucchini Provençale, and baguette bread & butter pudding. Their guest taster is executive chef Rob Feenie, one of Canada's true celebrity chefs and who now is the food architect for the Cactus Club chain of restaurants. Chef Rob vows to be honest but fair in his judgment of the meal. In addition, Anna and Kristina go to a local sheep farm to learn about sheep and lambs and lamb cuts of meat. And as they are sitting down to a meal with Chef Rob, they travel to London, England to learn about dining etiquette from etiquette expert, Liz Brewer.
Anna and Kristina travel to the 'Ksan First Nation Village in northern British Columbia for inspiration in testing the cookbook "Where People Feast: An Indigenous People's Cookbook", one of the few cookbooks on the Canadian market focusing of the cuisine of Canadian aboriginal people. This cookbook specifically focuses on the indigenous cuisine of the Pacific northwest. They are preparing seven dishes: buffalo hominy corn chowder, "just like Grandma's" bannock, stir-fry herring spawn on kelp, Indian tacos, poached half-smoked wild salmon, Gitsegukla wedding cake, and pine needle tea. As the book suggests, they will go back to the land themselves to do much of the prep work, such as smoking their own salmon and collecting pine needles for the tea. Their guest taster is Ben Genaille, an aboriginal chef and cooking instructor who founded one of the few cooking programs in North America focusing on indigenous foods. As an instructor, Chef Ben will critique the meal as he would if prepared by his students. With help from the book, will Anna and Kristina be able to get over the hurdle of not knowing how to work with some of the unusual ingredients (in Kristina's mind, "spawn" is not a food but a horror movie)? In addition, they test different fillet knives to fillet whole fish.
Anna and Kristina aren't sure if Kristina's own ethnic Croatian background will help or hinder their efforts in testing "The Best of Croatian Cooking", one of the few Croatian cookbooks published in the English language. Kristina admits that she hasn't kept up with the cooking traditions of her family, but has had many an excellent Croatian food dinner cooked by her mother, to which Anna can also attest. They will be preparing six dishes in four hours: cheese burek, Dalmatian octopus salad, fried sardines, stuffed sauerkraut rolls, kashtradina, and chocolate chestnut mocha torte. Both Anna and but especially Kristina are facing who they believe will be their most critical guest tasters to date: Kristina's own mother Jasenka Matisic and her best friend Zdenka Zifkovic, who are renowned as the best Croatian chefs in their social circle. Jasenka has always told Kristina like it is when it comes to cooking, especially about Croatian food. Anna feels having Jasenka as a guest taster is sweet retribution as Anna's own mother was previously a guest taster on the show. Kristina admits that she is not looking forward to her mother being critical of her in her place of work. As Anna and Kristina prepare the meal, they have issue with the size of the octopus they bought, and with the stickiness of the non-stick pan they use for the torte. They also attempt the difficult task of making phyllo pastry from scratch. In addition, they test meat mallets, which they will need for the octopus. And they taste test different brands of instant coffee, which will be used in the torte.
Anna and Kristina hop across the pond to jolly old England to test "Marguerite Patten's Best British Dishes", a cookbook unabashedly British and unabashedly old fashioned. They realize that some people would be put-off by the sheer idea of this cookbook as old fashioned British cuisine and good cuisine have historically not gone hand in hand. They are cooking six dishes in four hours: scotch eggs, faggots (which are meatballs made with pig's organs), Yorkshire pudding, pease pudding, rabbit stew with dumplings, and rice pudding. Their guest taster is renowned British chef Andrew Nutter, one of the new breed of British chefs taking his native cuisine into the modern age. He is even more intimidating to Anna and Kristina in that he is friends with the cookbook author Marguerite Patten, who was one of the first celebrity television chefs ever. The most controversial dish for the pair is the rabbit stew, Anna and Kristina who have two polar extreme views about hunting wild rabbits themselves (which includes gutting and skinning the animals), and even eating an animal known to have been previously alive in their sights. Ultimately, however, the rice pudding becomes the problematic dish. In addition, they test tea infusers with the Baron and Baroness of Masham.
Regardless of the outcome of their food day, Anna and Kristina like the concept of the cookbook, "The Pleasures of Cooking for One", which tells that even in cooking solely for oneself, a person need not make it a slap-hazard meal. As cooking for oneself can invariably result in leftovers, some of the cookbook recipes also attempt to recreate those leftovers into something new. They are cooking six dishes in three hours: steamed lobster (the inclusion of which they are both excited about since it epitomizes the spirit of the book), cheese soufflé, boeuf bourguinon, veal kidneys in mustard sauce, beef and kidney pie (which will use leftover boeuf bourguinon and veal kidneys), and biscotti. Their guest taster is Quang Dang, the executive chef at the renowned Diva at the Met restaurant in Vancouver. Beyond his own preconceived notions of what he believes Anna and Kristina and will get right and wrong, Chef Quang admits that kidneys are not his favorite but will not judge them based on this dislike. At the end of the day, the most trouble Anna and Kristina may have is having one too many chef in the kitchen as cooking for one also usually means cooked by one. In addition, they test freezer safe storage containers for design, durability, stain resistance and quality of the air tight seal.
Anna and Kristina are shopping for fresh chilies, limes, mangoes, corn and other boldly flavored ingredients in preparing southwestern American recipes from "Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook". They are preparing six recipes in four hours: pear cactus margaritas, mesa grill pretzels, sweet potato & roasted plantain soup with smoked chili crema and fried plantain, shrimp & roasted garlic corn tamales, chili rubbed short ribs with creamy polenta and cotija cheese, and warm chocolate cakes with dulce de leche. They know that they have a challenge on their hands as the recipes are complex and multi-layered. Despite some errors both on their parts and the book's part, they are hoping that the bold and fresh flavors will still come through. Their guest taster is Stuart Irving the executive chef at Vancouver's Cobre Restaurant. He is known as the bad boy of nuevo Latina cuisine. They know that his comments will be as bold as they hope the flavors of their dishes are. In addition, they taste test different styles of tequila at different price points. And they test different styles of corn cutters.
Anna and Kristina come into testing "The River Cottage Meat Book" from two different perspectives, Anna's as a true carnivore and Kristina's as not a big meat eater. They prepare a total of six recipes in four hours: paprikash of hearts, livers, and tongues, carpaccio of beef with shaved beets, salad of seared pigeon breast, mincemeat-stuffed pork tenderloins, flying toad in the hole, and perfect mashed potatoes. Beyond preparing the dishes, both Anna and Kristina appreciate the message of the book: the importance of responsible animal husbandry in using the entire animal from head to toe, and getting to know one's butcher to know exactly from where one's meat comes and how the animal was treated in its life. Their guest taster has the same view. He is Robert Belcham, the owner of Vancouver's Refuel Restaurant and Campagnolo Restaurant, both which specialize in meat dishes and which provide charcuterie to other nearby restaurants. Chef Robert will be looking especially to the doneness of the meat. In addition, Anna and Kristina learn about different cuts of pork. And they test different styles of basters.
The cookbook, "Ratio", is unlike any other cookbook Anna and Kristina have ever tested, and is really more than a cookbook. Although recipes are included, what it does provide are basic ratios that one can use to develop one's own variations on recipes. For example, if one knows the ratio of fat to flour to sugar in a cookie recipe, that ratio knowledge can be the basis for so many other cookies. As such, in the three hours they have on cook day, they will be preparing three recipes directly from the book (chicken sausages with basil and roasted peppers, lemon tart, and sponge cake with basic ganache) and three additional recipes based on the ratios provided of the previous three dishes (duck sausages with apples and chestnuts, spinach, panchetta and garlic tart, and coffee & walnut sponge cake). Their guest taster is David Robertson an executive chef and cooking instructor, who knows his cooking ratios. Anna and Kristina know that Chef David will further critique them on presentation as he is also a food stylist, which may be a little intimidating as the book contains few photographs of the finished products as the ratios have no preconceived end product. Anna and Kristina will have to wade through what reads like a textbook to impress Chef David, who suggests treating additional ingredients as one often treats salt: to taste. Anna and Kristina also have issue with techniques and knowing appropriate flavor combinations. In addition, they taste test different types of fat to use in cookies, which they will translate into the making of their tart crusts. And they discuss measuring tools essential in the kitchen.
Anna and Kristina realize that they have big shoes to fill in preparing recipes from "Food & Wine" as the book is associated with the famed A16 Restaurant in San Francisco, so named for a highway in Italy, the Campagna region the highway is in which is the inspiration for their rustic Italian dishes. They are preparing five dishes in four hours: bruschetta with braised artichoke, guanciale and chicken livers, roasted beet salad, pizza Romana, Monday meatballs, and grapefruit sorbetto. Their guest tasters are Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo, executive chefs and co-owners of Frankies Spuntino, one of the most well known and renowned restaurants in Brooklyn specializing in rustic Italian cuisine. They are known as two chefs who will tell Anna and Kristina exactly what they think. Anna and Kristina are most concerned about making them good meatballs as the Chef Frankies are meatball champions of Brooklyn. Anna however is looking forward most to the pizza, her favorite food in the world, and which they hope to impress by making both the dough and sauce from scratch. In addition, they test different styles of meat grinders. And they get a lesson in how to fillet an anchovy.
Anna and Kristina are heading up to the slopes of Whistler Mountain to do some snowshoeing, some skiing, and some cooking, specifically from the cookbook "The Ski House Cookbook", which is unabashedly 1970's retro in its aprés-ski focused recipes. With the exception of the first dish which Anna will prepare in advance (as it is not an aprés-ski dish but rather an on the ski slope snack which they will eat while off skiing), Anna and Kristina are preparing six recipes in two hours: roast beef and blue cheese roll-ups, Swiss fondue, coq au vin, Brussels sprouts with bacon, sticky toffee pudding, and glögg. Their guest taster is James Walt, the executive chef at the famed Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, he who has served many an award winning aprés-ski meal. Anna and Kristina are afraid that their simple meal will not impress Chef James, who is used to serving haute cuisine. In addition, they taste test different brands of brandy, which they will use in the sauce for the sticky toffee pudding. And they test different styles of fondue pots.
Anna and Kristina are feeling a little out of their element and comfort zone in preparing dishes from "Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook" as it is food they feel best left to the restaurateurs who know what they're doing and have the time to do it. However, as izakayas, the Japanese equivalent of a pub, are springing up across North America, they are willing to give the recipes in the cookbook a try, despite what they perceive as the finicky preparation, especially in the exacting presentation of the final product. They are preparing six dishes in three hours: spinach with black sesame sauce, fried tofu stuffed with raclette cheese, tuna with nuta miso mustard dressing, ume-shiso rolled chicken, foil-baked mushrooms, and steamed and grilled pork with salt. Their guest taster is Koji Zenimaru, the executive chef at Vancouver's Kingyo Izakaya. He intimidates them solely because of his larger than life attitude (he seeing himself an entertainer before a chef) and that his expectations are "higher than Mount Fuji". He does surprise the pair with his entrance into the house. In addition, Anna and Kristina get a lesson in izakaya etiquette.
Anna and Kristina are figuratively heading to both New York and France to test "Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook". The cookbook, written by the titled chef, includes recipes from the famed New York French bistro Les Halles, considered one of the best outside of France, where Bourdain once served as its executive chef. They are making five dishes in three hours: celery rémoulade, steak tartare, Les Halles fries, duck à l'orange, and crème brûlée. Their guest taster is Thierry Rautureau, the executive chef at two Seattle based French bistros, and who is probably most well known for his appearance on Top Chef Masters (2009). With the recipes and Chef Thierry being their guest, Anna and Kristina are feeling in a very French mood despite not actually being in France. That mood is tempered by Bourdain's straightforward writing style and anecdotes within the cookbook. In addition, they discuss different types of potatoes and what they should be used for, and they get a lesson on the importance of mise en place.
Anna and Kristina are figuratively going back to 1940's Hollywood to test the reissued cookbook "Spécialités de la Maison", which includes primarily French themed recipes from Hollywood celebrities from the 1940's. As such, the recipes are old fashioned and/or classics, gearing themselves to the palates of the era and of the wealthy. They are preparing six dishes in two hours: lobster à la Newburg (submitted by 'Helen Keller'), Neptune nonsense (submitted by Salvador Dalí), frankfurters with chili sauce (submitted by Valentina), chicken Burgundy (submitted by Katharine Hepburn), pineapple sherbet (submitted by Elizabeth Arden), and Cooper River punch (submitted by Mrs. Aikins Simons). Their guest taster should know all about old Hollywood. He is J.P. Amateau, executive chef/owner of the Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood, the oldest restaurant in the city. Chef J.P.'s family were all in the movie business, with his father being a stunt man. Chef J.P. as well as Anna and Kristina aren't sure if the recipes, which are short on preparation instructions, will stand the test of time. In addition, they taste test different brands of prepared horseradish. And they test different styles of ice cube trays.
In testing the cookbook "Nourish" which takes its recipes from the Canyon Ranch Spa's restaurant, Anna and Kristina want to emphasize that the recipes are not vegetarian or "diet", but rather healthy in a fresh way that focuses on moderation and flavor indulgence rather than abstinence. To get in the mood, they travel to the Sparkling Hill Resort, where they first indulge in some of the resort's spa services, which includes Anna braving the -110ºC cold sauna. In the kitchen, they are preparing five dishes in three and a half hours: shrimp fritters with pineapple cucumber salad, tortilla soup, butternut squash tart with arugula salad, broiled salmon with cucumber lemongrass salsa, and baked vanilla pears in pastry. Their guest taster is Jesse Brune, a personal trainer and chef, probably most well known in the latter category as one of the Private Chefs of Beverly Hills (2009). They hope that Chef Jesse will be mellow after his spa treatments, despite his assertion that he will make the most of this one time when he has been asked to be "judgy". In addition, Anna and Kristina taste test what are considered healthier sweetening alternatives to refined sugar. They discuss what are considered "super foods". And Kristina has a close encounter with a ladybug.
Anna and Kristina are going through many firsts. This week will be the first time that they will evaluate not a hard copy recipe source, but rather an online source, namely the app "20 minute meals" by Jamie Oliver. The app has recipes with associated shopping lists, and instructional videos of the recipe preparation. Oliver purports that each recipe can be completed within a 20 minute time frame. To test the credibility of that claim, their guest taster will come at the start of their meal preparation - another first - so that he can taste each dish immediately at its completion as it was meant to be tasted. He is Scott Jaeger, the executive chef and owner of the famed Pear Tree Restaurant in Burnaby. Jaeger once led Canada's team in the international culinary competition, the Bocuse d'Or. Beyond the taste of the final dishes, Jaeger will also judge the timing of the meal as, as a guest, he will not want to wait for his meal to be served. Anna and Kristina are preparing two dishes apiece: Anna making grilled halloumi with tabbouleh salad, and favorite fried chicken; and Kristina making mussels in white wine and cream, and cheesy zucchini and mint risotto. They will collaborate on the dessert, banoffee banana split. In addition, they test different makes of kitchen shears. And they discuss the uses of different types of dairy cream.
In "My Father's Daughter" - the latest cookbook that Anna and Kristina are testing - the father and daughter in question are Bruce Paltrow and Gwyneth Paltrow. The cookbook reflects both Gwyneth's overall approach to food, which is in general a healthy and fresh approach (often using healthier substitutes for standard ingredients, those substitutes which include barley flour, vegenaise and brown rice syrup), and her fond remembrances of the social nature of cooking with her family while she was growing up, especially cooking with her late father, who taught her that such cooking is an expression of love. Beyond being envious of Gwyneth's overall life - which includes being an Oscar winning actress, being a singer, growing up in a Hollywood royalty family and being married to a rock star - Anna and Kristina admire the overall message of the book, but will they like the recipes? They are preparing six dishes in three hours: cold pea and basil soup, hot Nicoise salad, duck ragu, Vietnamese prawn sandwiches with homemade sriracha sauce, Lalo's famous cookies (Lalo being Gwyneth's mom, actress Blythe Danner), and homemade hot fudge. Their guest taster is Brian Malarkey, the executive chef at San Diego's Searsucker Restaurant. He is probably most famous as being a contestant on Top Chef (2006). Chef Brian, who specializes in American cuisine and seafood, will enjoy his time being the judge instead of being judged. In addition, Anna and Kristina taste test vegenaise against three more standard varieties of mayonnaise. And they test different styles of corkscrews.
Can women really have it all? Anna and Kristina dig into some cleverly titled recipes to find out. Celebrity Chef Fabio Viviani won't get down on one knee if he isn't wooed by their engagement chicken.
Anna and Kristina love chocolate, anywhere, anytime. But will their passion for this luscious treat translate to the kitchen? French Pastry Chef Bruno Feldeisen will stick it to them if they don't hit the sweet spot.
Anna and Kristina hit the road to find out what it's like to cook in a real food truck. From cramped cooking quarters to improvising on the spot to Spam Sliders - will they be able to deliver on the go?
Anna and Kristina love Italian cooking and famed chef Mario Batali is known for making some of the best. A&K tackle his renowned Bucatini all'Amatriciana; but will they be able to fill the big man's big shoes?
Is it possible to have 700 favourite recipes? Jacques Pepin says yes, but will Anna and Kristina agree. De-boning a chicken and creating the perfect omelet are only two of the tough challenges they face.
Anna and Kristina are both excited and nervous about their next cookbook, "My Pizza": excited because pizza is their favorite food; nervous because pizza is their favorite food. The cookbook's author, Jim Lahey, claims his recipes replicate what can be achieved in a commercial wood burning oven - where temperatures can exceed 1,000ºF, required for a good pizza crust - in a standard home oven, with the help of a pizza stone. As such, they, with the help of local pizza maker Salvatore Miele, test different types of pizza stones and compare the finished crusts to one cooked in a wood burning oven. In three hours, they plan to prepare four different types of pizzas - margherita pizza with basic tomato sauce, pepperoni pizza (made with merguez) with red pepper sauce, three mushroom pizza with béchamel, and bird's nest pizza - plus two additional recipes from the book, namely roasted squash and pumpkin seed salad, and corn gelato. They have two extra reasons to be nervous: their guest taster is Tony Gemignani, a world champion pizza maker; and they plan on baking the four pizzas in front of Chef Tony. They hope that being more organized than usual will end up working in their favor and producing an end product worthy to stay at home for instead of needing to go to out a pizzeria. Because good ingredients are the order of the day especially for the margherita pizza, they also learn how to make buffalo mozzarella from cheese maker, Paul Sutter.
To test their latest cookbook "Mourad, New Moroccan" which focuses on modern takes of traditional Moroccan dishes, Anna and Kristina feel they can only properly do so by traveling to Marrakech, Morocco. They are in awe of the vividness of Moroccan cuisine as evidenced by the food markets, most specifically the spice markets, which comprise an integral part of food preparation. In three and half hours, they will prepare six dishes: figs, crème fraiche, arugula & mint salad, grilled kefta, harrisa rolls, vegetable tagine, basteeya, and almond cookies. Beyond the unfamiliarity with some of the ingredients, they are also unfamiliar with their kitchen and what is available in it, on which they will blame if their meal is a disaster. They are nervous about meeting their guest chef, as she is Chafaï Choumicha, a Moroccan celebrity chef with a rock star status in Morocco. They just hope that if non-English speaking Chef Chafaï doesn't like the food, it won't come through in the translation. As they will be using one in the preparation of their meal, they also test different types of tagines available commercially in Canada against the standard terra cotta tagine used in most Moroccan kitchens.
Anna & Kristina are really hoping that they will like the latest cookbook they are testing, "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood", if only because they like homey food, country music and Yearwood as a musician. It is a cookbook filled with her family's southern favorites, and she vouches for every single recipe in the book. It is family styled down home comfort food, which means ease which in turn means sometimes shortcuts in terms of the addition of processed foods. She also makes no apologies that the recipes are by no means low fat. Anna & Kristina are preparing six dishes in two and a half hours: mama's waffles with maple syrup, Georgia pate, sweetened iced tea, baked spaghetti, chicken piccata, and red velvet cake. Their guest taster knows a thing or two about down home southern cooking as he is Park Heffelfinger, the owner and executive chef of the Memphis Blues chain of southern barbecue restaurants in Vancouver. As a seasoned chef, will he agree with Yearwood's use of all that processed food? In addition, Anna & Kristina test different models of waffle irons.
Does gluten-free equal flavor-free? Kristina doesn't think so, but Anna isn't so sure. Kristina is part of a growing movement of people eating gluten-free. Will Anna be converted or will she stick to her diet of doughy delights?
Trying to impress one judge with their cooking is usually enough of a challenge for Anna and Kristina. When they tackle a menu for 75 savvy diners will their family meal become a family feud?
If you remove oil, cheese, alcohol and meat, what's left? Anna and Kristina test this bestselling lifestyle cookbook to see if this spare fare tempts the palette of diet and exercise guru Harley Pasternak.
Anna and Kristina indulge in the sweet, fresh taste of summer with a menu including gazpacho with Dungeness crab and pacific sashimi towers. Will this meal have summer sizzle or are storm clouds moving in?
Anna and Kristina set off for Newfoundland in search of moose, cod and a good time. But amidst the screech and scoff can these dedicated west coasters pull off passable east coast fare?