LCBO Food & Drink Spring 2017

TREND SPOTT ING

chip replacement The toasted, seasoned seaweed sheets known as gim (or kim nori ) have become wildly popular in recent years. There is another seaweed snack from South Korea that, quite frankly, blows them out of the water: seaweed chips or crisps. In these, squares of laver or kelp are baked or fried in a crackling bat- ter of glutinous rice. They’re salty, sweet and crunchy, and it’s impos- sible to eat just one… bag. Brands to look out for are Chomperz from SeaSnax and the baked seaweed crisps from Bibigo.

GIN UP After successfully infusing vodka with chanterelle mushrooms, the front of house team at Actinolite restaurant in Toronto decided to further experiment with savoury spirits. They struck gold with the combi- nation of Broker’s Premium London Dry Gin ( LCBO 605162,

$27.95) and dulse, a reddish purple seaweed from Canada’s east coast. The recipe is simple: fill a glass jar with dried dulse, cover with gin, and infuse for two weeks; fine strain and refrigerate indefinitely. The result is a salty, briny spirit that is so evocative of the sea that you can practi- cally hear gulls cry. General Manager Merrin McHugh was so smitten with their new gin that she created homemade tonic syrup to complement it in a uniquely refreshing G&T.

A Discovery to Savour

More than a century ago, Kikunae Ikeda, a chemistry professor at the Imperial University of Tokyo, set out to learn why dashi, the Japanese cook- ing stock, tastes so good. In 1908, he discovered that glutamate was respon- sible and it came from kombu, a type of kelp used to infuse the broth. Since this lip-smacking, savoury experience did not fall under sweet, sour, salty or bitter, he called it umami, which roughly translates to “delicious taste.” Today, chefs use the “fifth taste” as a secret weapon, boosting dishes with umami-rich ingredients such as bacon, soy sauce and Parmesan cheese.

FOOD & DRI NK SPRING