The Windsor Star from Windsor, Ontario, Canada • 17

DISCUSS II AT TO PAIR WITH CHINESE TAKE-OUT. C5 INSIDE Parsnip pleasure, C3 Southern comfort. C4 Male model mayhem. C6 BREAKING NEWS AT VVINDSORSTAR.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21. 2015 THE WINDSOR STAR FOOD TOP TRENDING RECIPES Another Windsorite shows off culinary chops FOR 201 13 of tiie country's favourite recipes broken down by province, territoiy LAURA BREHAUT Postmedia News anadians were searching for comfort food in 2014.

Simplicity, economy and a return to retro or heritage recipes are the themes in Canada's top trending recipes for the year. Broken down by province and territory, the list is the result of analysis done by Google researchers Danielle Bowers and Seth Stephens-Davidow-itz. For every recipe search in 2014, the researchers calculated the highest-valued recipe for each province and territory Ontario It may not be much of a surprise that Ontario's top trending recipe search for 2014 was the butter tart. After all, the province is home to a Butter Tart Trail, a Butter Tart Tour and a Butter Tail Festival. As culinary authority, author and member of the Order of Canada Elizabeth Baird explains in an interview, butter tarts are "on an incredible high at the moment." They are of course a national as well as regional treat, but their popularity in Ontario hasn't wavered since they first burst onto the food scene in a 1900 cookbook put out by the Barrie Royal Victoria Hospital Women's Auxiliary, in which the recipe was simply called "Filling for a Tart, says Baird.

Nova Scotia "You can't think of Nova Scotia without hodgepodge," says culinary expert Rose Murray who co-authored Canada's Favourite Recipes (Whitecap Books, 2012) with Baird. The dish highlights new spring vegetables baby potatoes, carrots, beans and can be likened to a creamy vegetable stew. "I remember Marie Nightingale (Nova Scotia food writer) saying in one of her stories that when you meet a friend in the spring in Nova Scotia you don't say 'How are you but 'Have you had hodgepodge Murray says with a laugh. "And it really is a long-standing tradition," Baird adds. "Hodgepodge is something that's really bred in Nova Scotia cuisine." Saskatchewan Flapper pie, Saskatchewan's top trending recipe for 2014, is a simple vanilla custard pie with a graham-cracker crust and meringue topping.

BEATRICE FANTONI The Windsor Star Another one of Windsor's culinary talents is going in front of the TV cameras next month as a contestant on CTV's MasterChef Canada. Suzy Cui, who teaches cooking classes around the city, will compete in the Top 50 round as part of the show's second season. "It's my dream and my passion," said Cui, whose day job is as a cashier supervisor at Caesars Windsor but who teaches Asian cooking classes on the side. For an immigrant whose first language isn't English, this is something to be proud of, she said. "I think this show will change my life." MasterChef puts 50 home cooks from across Canada to the test in various challenges.

The cook that manages to impress the judgeschef-restaurateur heavyweights Michael Bonacini, Alvin Leung and Claudio Aprile takes home the top prize of $100,000. Cui credits a friend for encouraging her to put her name in. She made it to the casting call in July last year where she had just a few minutes to catch the judge's attention with her traditional Asian Napa salad and smoked salmon rolled with sweet potato. "I was so happy but I was nervous and shaking," she said, adding she is very grateful for the pointers she got from the chefs at Nero's Steakhouse to make sure she had a broad repertoire to do the show. Cui said filming in front of TV cameras was energizing.

And the judges really got her thinking about her food, she said. "It pushes your limits." See CHEF ON PAGE C2 Windsor's Suzy Cui, who teaches cooKing classes around the city, will appear in Season 2 of MasterChef Canada on CTV. Jf c-r I Rose Murray, left, and Elizabeth It's a Prairie favourite and is assumed to have been named during the flapper era of the 1920s, although by who and where is anybody's guess. "It'sjustoneof those yummy things. The custard is delicious and the graham cracker crust is a nice contrast," Baird says.

"And easier to make than a short crust," Murray adds. Alberta and British Columbia Perogies in Alberta and gomae (a Japanese side dish made with vegetables and sesame dressing) in British Columbia suggest a connection to introduced culinary traditions. "If you look down the list, the perogies reflect an enthusiasm for the Eastern European settlers (in the Prairies), as does the gomae, but the gomae would be trendy," Baird says. Quebec Pate chinois, Quebec's top trending recipe, is perhaps the epitome of comfort food. Cousin of shepherd's pie, the dish has mysterious origins and Mvak i ftfttimiJMMfatituTita Mil 1 u.uri rusk ed Whitecap Books Baird are culinary authorities and the authors of Canada's Favourite Recipes ing tradition.

Of Nunavummiut's interest in banana bread recipes in particular, Baird suggests that in a region where all fruit is imported, bananas would be the most affordable. She adds that "it's a very simple recipe, it's also just one bowl, and the results are delicious and people can succeed with it," pointing out that its affordability and ease of preparation would make it a popular choice. "We're really seeing people going back to the traditional recipes in a lot of these cases, which is kind of nice," Murray says. "We think of it as being a survival thing, particularly with bannock, but it's basic to that culture in that particular territory. And we're going back to the simple, and comfort food and traditional food of the areas.

They're classic Canadian things and this is one way of connecting with your traditional past." See RECIPES ON PAGE C2 is a long-standing Quebec favourite. It is also exceedingly simple to make with three key elements: ground beef, creamed corn and mashed potatoes. As for the name, Baird explains one theory: "It gets its name, apparently, from Quebecers who went south to work when there wasn't work in Quebec. They went into the New England states and this was apparently a dish that was offered in Chinese restaurants, which is why it was called pate chinois." Northwest Territories, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut The Northwest Territories' bannock, New Brunswick's tea biscuits, Newfoundland and Labrador's cherry cake and Nunavut's banana bread point to the aforementioned trends of heritage and economy, as well as a continuing interest in Canadian bak 11 ON CANADEL DW0R00M FURNI I utw Made from solid Canadian birth and proudly manufactured in Canada CD PI" DCI IWCDV CCT I ID I for over 25 years. Designed to last a lifetime with durability, exclusiveness rlltC UtLIV tKT jfc lUl and style In mind.

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