Originally published March 17, 2014.
The single most important decision in making porridge is the style of oats you choose to cook. For my breakfast, the only acceptable style is steel-cut, sometimes called Scottish or Irish oats.
Why Quick Oats and Minutes Oats are The Worst. Quick oats and minute oats produce porridge with a nauseating texture. The grains are rolled and cut fine so that they cook quickly, but the oatmeal has a gluey mouthfeel. My theory is that the extensive processing produces a very fine oat-dust, and as soon as this oat-dust is hydrated, it becomes a thick paste. Whatever the cause, porridge made from quick oats subtly sticks to the back of the mouth, triggering a … Continue reading.
It recently dawned on me that I don’t have any sausage recipes on this site. Which is crazy. So I’m going to post a bunch. For details on procedure and technique, I have two posts linked below. Also… I happen to be teaching a sausage-making class for Metro Continuing Education on October 19, 2016.
I wanted to create an artisan version of the little sausages you get at dive-y breakfast institutions like the Commodore. The kind of diners that that pour you bad coffee all morning.
North American breakfast sausage is usually made entirely of pork. It is ground quite fine and mixed to emulsify so that it has a very delicate texture. It is often flavoured … Continue reading.
When you order hash browns at a diner, you’re liable to get any number of things. In my experience, all hash browns can be broken into two broad classifications:
Hash Browns Made from Cubed Potato. Also called home fries. This is the less interesting of the two classes.
Hash Browns Made from Grated Potato, bound to varying degrees. Highly bound and cohesive varieties include McDonald’s Hash Browns, Tater Tots, and Jewish latkes.[1] Loosely or not-at-all bound varieties would be found in corned beef hash. Hash browns made from grated potato are similar to several traditional European potato dishes, notably the Swiss rösti. They are superior to those made from cubed potatoes because they have a much higher … Continue reading.
In grade eight we studied Japan. I remember learning that they eat cold rice and pickles for breakfast. I was revolted.
Many years later, in the summer of 2010, Lisa and I hosted an Austrian student named Dominik. He was staying in Edmonton to work at some of the hotel kitchens in the downtown core. He usually started work late enough that I had time to cook him breakfast before he left. We went through a few days of yogurt and granola and toast and the like. One day he started work even later than usual, so I made scrambled eggs and hash browns.
The expression that I had made when I first heard about a breakfast of cold rice … Continue reading.
The personal website of Edmonton chef Allan Suddaby
