Rah Rah Ricardo

I’m going to screw with your heads and do something completely out of character. I’m going to recommend a cooking magazine and give praise to a Food Network show. Well… Food Network Canada.

It’s not that I’m charmed by the pretty hair or the Osmond-like smile, although the Quebecois accent melts my knees a little, but ever since the first episode of his show last fall, I’ve been really liking Ricardo and Friends.

Ricardo Larrivée is a food journalist and cook from Quebec where he’s had a show on Radio-Canada (the French version of CBC) for some time. Last fall he decided it was time to take on the rest of the country and signed a deal for 26 episodes of his weekly show (shot in English) for Food Network Canada.

Around the same time, his team (because I don’t assume he’s superman and is doing everything alone) rolled out a magazine to be published five times a year (seasonal, plus a holiday issue). It’s the first magazine in Canada to be published concurrently in both French and English.

I got the premiere issue as a freebie at the Gourmet Food and Wine show and was suitably impressed. The winter and spring issues soon followed and impressed doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

The magazine is almost intellectual in its approach to food and cooking with a regular section called Food Chemistry that explores the hows and whys of the way food cooks. In one issue microwaves are discussed, while in another, the science of cooking eggs. There’s plenty of seasonal recipes, and a section of a week’s worth of menus and related recipes. These are a bit heavy on the meat, but there’s always a couple of vegetarian options that actually look worth making.

Presentation is huge in Ricardo’s repertoire and some of the dishes are gorgeous. In the holiday issue, he makes a celery soup with celeriac and then regular celery, pouring the green onto the white and then blending the two to look like a Christmas tree. In the winter issue he painstakingly punches holes in carrots to make “button soup”. And white chocolate made to look like cabbage leaves is the perfect garnish for a baby shower cake.

The magazines are beautifully laid out and intelligently written. There’s a nationalism obvious within the pages, minus the rah-rah cheerleading so prevalent in similar magazines from south of the border. And you never feel condescended to – there’s nothing twee or cutesy in these pages, only food that is elegant and pretty and charming.

Even the “done in 30 minutes” section doesn’t rankle me like it does coming from some other Food Network personalities. The recipes all seem lovely, nutritious and well-thought out, and there’s no one ranting about how we know you’re busy and don’t have time and who wants to spend all that time in the kitchen anyway, blah, blah, blah… That’s not to say Ricardo isn’t enthusiastic – you can tell he loves what he does in every issue of the magazine and every episode of the show, but it feels a lot more genuine than it does from say, Martha Stewart or Rachael Ray.

If you’re a cooking magazine fan/collector, I highly suggest you seek out Ricardo magazine. It’s a beautiful collection of recipes and food articles that will inspire and refresh you.