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- Anna Wallner and Kristina Matisic evaluate all aspects of a cookbook currently available on Canadian bookstore shelves.
- This magazine meets make-over show is set to help viewers get to the roots and results of great style.
- It's time for a change. Chefs have always told Anna & Kristina that there's only so much you can learn by following a cookbook. To really wrap your head around food, you've got to dive into the culture that created it. After more than a decade of testing products and recipes, Anna & Kristina are leaving the comfort of their gourmet kitchen behind as they head to Oaxaca, Mexico to explore the culture and learn about local food from the locals. To pay their way, they'll be throwing a huge party, with just 7 days to prepare an authentic festive meal for a young girl as she celebrates her coming of age. No more fancy appliances, no more step-by-step recipes and no more make up artists. Perilous roads, backbreaking labour, a thousand fresh tortillas and a grumpy old guy are just some of the things Anna & Kristina have to take on as they hit the road and put themselves and their friendship to the test. The pressure is on and a family is depending on them. Can they deliver? They just might be COOKED!
- In the new original series, Buy.o.logic, host Isla Traquair goes under the microscope and formulates a prescription for a better and healthier you. Her goal is to find the best products for viewers and their families based on performance, ingredients and price. Each episode of Buy.o.logic spans the health horizon to showcase multiple segments including: A & K-Approved, where Anna Wallner and Kristina Matisic, best known from "The Shopping Bags", tell us which products make their busy lives healthier and easier. Isla Asks, answers all those embarrassing questions you don't want to ask with Buy.o.logic's medical expert Dr. Dave Hepburn. Buy.agnosis, where Isla goes to the medical pros to get to the bottom of common complaints and how to beat them. Then Isla, tests the products that will help the most with what ails you. Flash Mob Testers giving audiences different opinions from everyday people on products and lets the viewer know which of the products tested the mob likes the best. Inside Isla, is when Isla personally experiences medical testing.
- 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 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 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.
- 2008–201222mTV EpisodeAnna & 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.