What is your channel called and what is it about?

Breaking Bread with Roger Mooking is a podcasty cooking show. Together, we cook time-honoured favourite family recipes of world-renowned figures of arts and culture. We then sit down and share that meal that we made together. It is broadcast on Amazon Live and the Amazon Live Channel on Amazon Prime.

When did you start it? What motivated you at the beginning?

We launched our first episode in 2024 with Kardinal Offishall and in early 2025 with Alessia Cara. I love storytelling, and I am infinitely curious. Knowing that food is the greatest connector of people and clearly something I am passionate about, I wanted to create something where we can have an immediately intimate connection with our guests through their favourite family foods, every family has one of these

Who were you inspired by? Any influences?

Martha Stewart, Bruce Lee and Mike Tyson have formed the foundation of the life you see. Martha for her dedication to excellence and sharing nothing but the best meticulously and steadily. I did an event with Martha a couple years ago, and she loved my cookbook, so that was cool. Bruce Lee for his dedication to craft, discipline and overcoming barriers faced by immigrants worldwide. Mike Tyson for the inspiration to never give up, and being able to evolve dramatically in one lifetime. From each, I take the bits and pieces I know and appreciate and have cobbled together a kind of architecture that is on solid ground.

How would you describe your audience?

I get 8 to 80 year olds of all walks of life, backgrounds, political stripes, income levels, and communities. I live in food, arts and music perpetually, so the community is vast.

What is your creative process? Do you have people who work with you?

My process is to destroy the last process I did. A great artist once told me that once you sign with a gallery, the gallery will want more of that same thing to build a consistent sales funnel for collectors. Then the artist is subjected to having to do the same thing over and over. This sounds like creative death to me. So I’m always pushing my own limits and the limits of my collaborators in every craft. Usually, this process entails doing too much and stripping things away to distil the essence of all of that energy.

How do you monetize your content? Do you also have another job?

My only job is spreading love and connecting people, although my tools are broad and the “jobs” are beyond numerous. Also, I don’t make content, I make art, it’s about craft and storytelling. I don’t think there is a word on the planet I hate more than “content.”

What is your favourite piece of content you have created?

I don’t make content. My favourite album of mine is Eat Your Words. My favourite full-body experiential art installation was The Burn. My favourite restaurant I’ve ever done is Twist by Roger Mooking at Pearson International Airport. My favourite recipe is on my current menu at the airport, it is Egg and Nori, it’s so simple and delicious. Often, I will run into customers from my previous restaurants, and a decade later, they remind me of a dish they dream about to this day that I completely forgot about. The creative output is so much, I can’t remember it all. 🙂

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

Building community and connecting people through food, music and the arts. This is the root of culture; this is how we behave in the world with one another and in the environments we inhabit. To be a cultural contributor for my entire adult life and to be able to influence and inspire others as an example of exploring all of your multitudes is a gift. The invasion of privacy, at times, can be annoying, especially when I’m enjoying precious family time in public.

What are your future plans for your channel?

Keep watching.

Where can we follow you?

Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

PAY IT FORWARD: Who is another Canadian content creator that you love?

I’m not a content creator, and I have no interest in that ecosystem. I make my things and then share them with the world through the entire media landscape, from traditional to contemporary places. The distribution network is simply about telling the story of the world that I just built, or the activation I just installed or the new menu. It’s not about the “content,” it’s simply a way of using the “content” landscape to show and tell stories. We’ve been telling stories around campfires with sticks for many, many centuries. Even with the vast online world, if I start a fire and grab some sticks and some marshmallows, everybody knows what they are doing for the next while.

The post My Digital Life: Cooking Show Host Roger Mooking appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

A Vegan Chili the Meat Lovers Will Beg For

Serves: 8
VEG AN | DAIRY- FREE | GLUTEN- FREE | NUT- FREE

Ingredients:

Cajun Tartar Sauce

• 1 sweet potato, cut into ½-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
• 1 Tbsp avocado oil or other high-heat cooking oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced (about 1 cup) 1½ lb (680 g) veggie ground round
• 2 cans (each 28 oz/796 ml) diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1 can (19 oz/540 ml) kidney beans, drained and rinsed (about 2 cups)
• 1 can (19 oz/540 ml) mixed beans, drained and rinsed (about 2 cups)
• 1 can (10 oz/285 g) sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 can (5.5 oz/156 ml) tomato paste
• 1½ Tbsp chili powder 5 dashes of hot sauce
• Sour cream, for garnish (optional; omit to keep it vegan)
• Shredded cheese, for garnish (optional; use plant-based cheese to keep it vegan)
• Cilantro leaves, for garnish
• Sliced avocado, for garnish(optional)
• Green onion, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Place the sweet potato on the prepared pan and drizzle with the avocado oil. Season generously with salt and pepper and toss to coat, then spread out in a single layer. Roast for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring halfway through, until fork-tender.
3. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the ground round, break into large pieces, and cook, without stirring, for another 5 minutes, allowing it to brown. Flip and break into smaller pieces and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until the other side is browned (it doesn’t have to be fully cooked through, as it will finish cooking in the slow cooker).
4. Transfer the onion and ground round to a slow cooker (or see the tip for stovetop cooking instructions). Stir in the roasted sweet potato, tomatoes with juice, kidney beans, mixed beans, mushrooms, tomato paste, chili powder, and hot sauce. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 12 hours or on high for 4 hours.
5. Ladle the chili into bowls and, if desired, top with sour cream, cheese, cilantro, avocado (if using), and green onion. Enjoy!

STORAGE: Store the cooled chili in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in an airtight container or sealable freezer bag for up to 3 months. To serve, reheat on the stove or in the microwave (thawing first, if frozen), and top as desired.

***
The Feel-Good Meal Plan by Lindsay Pleskot. A fresh new flexible approach to meal planning to help you get through your busy schedule. Get prepped for the week in under two hours, with affordable, flavorful, nutrition-packed meals on the table in 30 minutes or less every night of the week. Registered dietician and mom of two, Lindsay Pleskot guides you through meal planning and prepping to spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying nutrition- and flavor-driven food with your family.

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Braised Beef Brisket

Serves: 8 to 10

Ingredients:

Cajun Tartar Sauce

• 1 (5-pound/2.25 kg) untrimmed flat-cut brisket
• Kosher salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
• 2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, smashed 8 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary 3 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste 4 cups beef stock
• 2 batches Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes (page 102), for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. Season the brisket generously all over with salt and pepper and set aside on the counter for 30 minutes.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, lay the brisket in the pot and sear until golden brown on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Remove the brisket from the pot.
4. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, celery, and carrots to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes, until the vegetables begin to brown. Add the garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 more minutes.
5. Pour in the beef stock, return the brisket to the pot, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover with a lid and transfer to the oven. Braise the brisket for about 3½ hours, until the meat is fork-tender.
6. Cool the brisket in the liquid, covered, in the fridge overnight. Letting the brisket cool completely in the liquid allows it to soak up all the flavour, as well as cool it enough to handle and slice.
7. Once cooled, remove the brisket from the liquid. Place the pot with the liquid over high heat and gently mash the cooked vegetables in the liquid. Bring to a boil and reduce the sauce by half. Strain it through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Return the sauce to the pot. Discard or compost the solids.
8. Slice the brisket crosswise against the grain into ¼-inch-thick slices and carefully return to the sauce. Heat the brisket over low heat until warmed through. Divide between plates and serve with brown butter mashed potatoes.

Chuck’s Home Cooking by Chuck Hughes. The first cookbook in 10 years from the Celebrity Chef, TV host and restaurant owner. Chuck’s Home Cooking features Chuck’s favourite go-to recipes to cook for his family, whether it’s an easy weeknight dinner, a delicious weekend treat, or a dish to impress on special occasions. Juggling work and a young family, Chuck knows first-hand that the hustle of everyday daily life can make mealtime feel like a chore—but with his simple planning and prep-ahead methods, delicious dishes with bold flavours come together with ease!

Excerpted from Chuck’s Home Cooking by Chuck Hughes. Copyright © 2024 Chuck Hughes. Photography by Marc-André Lavoie. Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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Craig Wong’s experience in the food industry goes beyond the past decade. He attended culinary school at the prestigious L’Institut Paul Bocuse in France. Then, he honed his skills in kitchens including Michelin-starred European establishments before returning to Toronto.

But it was Patois that really was his baby. The restaurant opened in 2014 on Dundas Street West with much enthusiasm from the food loving Toronto community. It wasn’t like anything else in the city. It also wasn’t a white table clothed fine dining establishment like those he had previously worked in.

This vibrant restaurant brought a new tasty vision intertwining  Jamaican and Chinese dishes unlike any other. I mean, we have tons of Jamaican restaurants and hundreds of Chinese restaurants from different regions across the city and GTA. Yes, we also have Hakka restaurants too. But this is taking the best of all worlds – flavours, spices and cooking techniques. Then, create dishes like Jerk Lobster Chow Mein and Pineapple Bun Burgers that are OFF.THE.CHARTS! And all with a fun and relaxed vibe! Patois became a league of its own.

We had a chance to chat with Craig as we reflect on the past ten years…

Reflecting on the past 10 years, what were some of the most unforgettable moments for you?

A couple that had their first date at Patois returned for their engagement celebrations. Chatting with them and knowing that they had their first date with us makes us happy.

Back in the pandemic, our team came together and set up our restaurant to sort out donated vegetables to make individual boxes, working together to give out to people in need. It was a real moment of togetherness with our staff that really brought the team together/

Shortly before her Oscar win, Michelle Yeoh joined us at Patois. I got to cook for her and dine with her, enjoying the dishes alongside her.

You’ve also brought Patois on the road and recently to Shanghai, what was that experience like? And where are there any fun exchanges?

Jamaican patties are such an iconic food in Toronto and I was so happy to share my JunePlum patties with people in Shanghai who have never had one before and didn’t even know what a patty is.

The entire trip to Shanghai and Guangzhao was transformative because of the group we were travelling with. We all come from different walks of life, some of us from restaurants, some entertainment. We are all creatives who share similar outlooks on life, but all come from a different perspective. We all genuinely got along despite our wide age gap. It was an eye-opening trip and Felt like a once in a lifetime thing but, I hope we do it again together soon.

Guangzhao is known for having a culture of eating delicacies, some of which are legal, and some are not legal. With some of our friends from the industry, we got to try some spectacular dishes. I’ll leave it at that.

Speaking of your patties…Patois added June Plum – a pantry and our go-to for the most amazing patties in the city (hard crush on the brisket/oxtail gravy)! Recently, you’ve expanded another space and now offer the Hardo Studios – can you tell us more about that?

“Hardo Studios,” is our new kitchen studio designed for recipe testing, cooking classes, intimate private dinners, and content creation. This studio, sponsored by KitchenAid, is a space for culinary innovation, a hub where people in the industry can gather, create, and share insights, findings, and food.

Now that the space has launched, I’m looking forward to collaborating with others in the space to create great content.

Tell us also about the new patio/bar (former Mignonette) as well.

We’re excited about this new partnership and looking forward to sharing more as it develops.

Tell us what you love about the Toronto food scene.

Toronto is a diverse, with lots of opportunities for young up and coming chefs to start something new. They can start a business around their passion, as I did 10 years go with Patois.

Ummm….care to share your corn soup recipe? It’s SO good!

Thanks! The soup served at our anniversary party was such a great hit we’re considering putting it on the menu as a feature! Find it at Patois coming soon!

Patois celebrates their 10th anniversary this month and to kick it off, they had a private party with friends, family, and faithful Patois OGs. It was a night of great food (yes patties, fried chicken, and pineapple bun burgers!) as libations! With support from friends at Appleton Estate Rum, Red Stripe Beer, Flying Monkeys Craft Beer, Tawse Winery, Retrokid, Chronic Ink, Tosho Knife Arts, Eatable Popcorn. And amazing DJ Mike Roc kept everyone on their feet, too!

And the celebration continues as the Patois team is intruding on exciting new items and nostalgic menus that highlight their culinary journey! Look out as they bring back favourite dishes from the past decade and the future!  There will also be giveaways including contests — see their Instagram page for details.

Congrats to Craig, his wife Ivy, and the entire Patois family. We wish you many more years ahead!

Website | Instagram | Facebook

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Plantain Bread With Cream Cheese Buttercream

Plantain Bread

Ingredients:

– 254 g All-Purpose Flour (Sifted)

– 200 g Brown Sugar

– 3/4 Tsp Baking Soda

– 1/2 Tsp All-Spice (Ground)

– 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon (Ground)

– 1/2 Tsp Nutmeg (Ground)

– 1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt

– 1 Tsp Wray & Nephew White Rum

– 1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

– 340 g Very Ripe Plantains (almost completely black)

– 60 g Plain Sour Cream

– 2 Eggs (Large)

– 42 g Unsalted Butter (Melted)

– 42 g Vegetable or Canola Oil

– 100 g Roasted Walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 8 1/2”x “4 1/2 Loaf Pan with unsalted butter.

2. In a small bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, baking soda, all-spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, kosher salt and roasted walnuts together then set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix rum, vanilla extract, ripe plantains, sour cream, eggs, butter, and oil together. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients, folding until just incorporated (do not over mix).

4. Place in greased loaf pan and place into preheated oven. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean with small crumbs.

5. Remove from oven & cool in loaf pan for 20 minutes then transfer bread onto a cooling rack.

Cream Cheese Buttercream

Ingredients:

– 250 g Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)

– 115 g Unsalted Butter (Melted)

– 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

– 250 g Powdered Sugar (sifted)

– 1/4 tsp Nutmeg (Ground)

– 1/4 tsp Cinnamon (Ground)

– 1/4 tsp All-Spice (Ground)

Directions:

1. Combine Nutmeg, Cinnamon & All-Spice. Place in a small frying pan on low-medium heat & remove once aroma is released.

2. In a medium bowl, place cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, & the toasted spices.

3. Using a hand mixer, whisk ingredients together until smooth.

4. Set aside & use as desired.

***

My name is Trevane “Tre” Sanderson. Born & raised in Scarborough, ON – currently living in North York, and working in downtown Toronto. I am a passionate chef, who loves to create & draw inspiration from my Caribbean roots.

Almost always being the youngest in the kitchens that I worked in, I always felt like I had a lot to prove. Growing up with older siblings, we were constantly trying to better ourselves & be the best we could be at whatever we did. I took an interest in cooking from a young age, being the first to help my mom while she was in the kitchen. As I got older, I started to get into making more meals at home and would try to come up with creative dishes using what I found in the pantry. I started to read more cookbooks and draw inspiration from legends like Chef Thomas Keller & Chef Anthony Bourdain. The more I read, the more I dreamed of becoming one of the best chefs in the world. As I started my cooking career, it was tough to gain the respect of my senior chefs & it was clear early on I had to really grind to earn it. It wasn’t easy at first a lot, but I kept at it. Some days I’d question myself and think about changing careers, but deep down I knew I wanted to become a chef & really push toward greatness.

My approach in the kitchen is to keep an open mind and never stop learning from others around me – I believe you can learn from everyone. I also try to be calm and consistent, paying attention to the smallest details as it makes all the difference in the final product.

Being on Top Chef Canada Season 10 was so much fun, some of the most fun I’ve had in a kitchen, but the hardest I’ve ever pushed myself. Having the opportunity to cook alongside some of the best Canadian Chefs and create dishes for some of the most esteemed judges was simply incredible. I’ve watched every season of Top Chef Canada and envisioned myself being on the show eventually, so actually being on set was so surreal. Being a part of the 10th Season made it even more special – truly an amazing experience that I will never forget!

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