Peter the eater

I'm defrosting a 15 lb homegrown ham which should take a few days in the fridge. The Easter dinner will include the usual suspects: steamed asparagus, scalloped potatoes and maple carrots. Followed by near lethal amounts of chocolate. ← Peter, are you intending to heat up your ham? If so for how long at what temp? What internal temp should I am for? Mine is a smoked ham... ← Plans change, my giant ham thawed well and we sawed off a few steaks for the gas grill tonight. The crowd seemed content. I say get the meat to at least 58º C (136º F) for safety's sake, lower if your guests are fun and not litigious.

KB, does squaw candy = Indian candy = salmon jerky?

Are you referring to Robert Falcon Scott? Edit: from budrichard's comment I assume you are. They would've been as frozen as George Mallory's meat lozenges after 75 years on Everest.

The thought of poutine rapee prepared sous vide just makes me smile. Thanks for that! It's all about the searching and experimenting. I want to know how poutine rapee and the common poutine are related. I'll bet Bernard St-Laurent could find out -- his radio show answers these kinds of questions. Below is a rare home made version of the more contemporary poutine featuring french fries, cheese curds and gravy:

That is beyond amazing to me. That guy has a professional counterpart who lived a hundred thousand years ago -- without the bike, of course. IMO The Secret Life of Bees is ten times better than Bee Movie. Keep it coming, PG -- nobody does it better.

Whatever consenting adults wear, or don't wear, when they cook and eat at home is fine by me. The classic European Chef's uniform has some practical features, but it's also loaded with old-school meaning and messages. A metre-high pleated toque, for instance, isn't much of a hair net but it sure says who sees themselves as a king on the chess board.

This question has me realizing that I do buy mostly local stuff where possible. Here are a few loyalties off the top of my head: green coffee beans from Honduras popping corn from Orville Redenbacher (Indiana?) mustard from France anchovies in a jar from Italy

I'm defrosting a 15 lb homegrown ham which should take a few days in the fridge. The Easter dinner will include the usual suspects: steamed asparagus, scalloped potatoes and maple carrots. Followed by near lethal amounts of chocolate.

Good question. When I lived alone I often shopped at the bulk food place -- purchase the amount I want, good price, no packaging.

My neighborhood fine restaurant has come up with an amusing and popular way to keep staff and customers happy in these troubled financial times. Some customers with good timing have enjoyed outstanding food at or below cost. Is this a lame stunt or a cool concept?

I didn't bother scaling this one since I wasn't planning to eat the skin. They're easy enough to gut, but watch out for the pointy fins. It's hard to beat a fresh fish roasted whole. Now if I could only muster the courage to eat the eyeballs.

I'd never heard of Ocean Perch until a few years ago. These creatures are hugely under-appreciated in the area where I now live. They're beautifully colored rosy pink, with a big head and big eyes for deep water. This one I bought whole weighed a pound and a third. I gutted, stuffed with lime slices, and baked unscaled for 12 minutes at 425F, and served with fries and slightly cooked mushrooms and scapes. My spouse and one of my two preschoolers approved.

There must be a solid platinum baguette somewhere in France that defines the official length in SI units.

Wow, what a question. For Sophie's Bread Choice -- I'll go with homemade . . . . . . with the olive oil dripping from my elbows.

Oyster Guy, you are quite right to point out Yarmouth to Aspy Bay is -- I just looked it up -- 350 miles or 566 km. If I make it to the 2010 Olympics (as a spectator) I would love to find a good bi-coastal oyster bar. Are you an Official Olympic Oyster Supplier?

That's why I buy small amounts of smoked herring or mackerel -- as an addition to other things like chowder. I don't think I could sit down and eat a bunch of smoked fish as is, it's over-the-top smoky.

For anyone who's living in a non-urban non-dense place, this is a huge consideration. I'll estimate 90% of my groceries come from three or four places that are 20 km from my home, and they're not all clustered together. I know that some places have good prices for this or that, and others vice versa. At some point, for price or convenience or the larger ecological reasons, you've got to make a wise choice.

Some of the best Atlantic oysters (Crassostrea virginica) do in fact come from Nova Scotia. Malagash Oysters from Tatamagouche Bay, and Aspy Bay Oysters from Cape Breton are very, very nice. Yarmouth County's Eel Lake Oyster Farm is a personal favourite -- the Ruisseau: There are, of course, plenty of excellent choices from New Brunswick and PEI.

You're probably right, but there's something special about devouring a communist pig. Filipino lechon is world-famous. Would you say it's worthy of being the National Dish?

Nice looking lechon. Did you get some skin? I had something similar in Cuba a while back and it's the sweet crunchy skin that I remember most.

Six drums marinaded for an hour in sesame oil, white vinegar, garlic salt, salsa, sugar and liquid smoke. Roasted at 325F for two hours, served with basmati and steamed asparagus:

Is that similar to smoked paprika?

Maybe you could develop a Banana Diana.

I'm a big fan of Sam Adams. I only get it while I'm actually in Boston, so it's nice to go back and relive the memory. Have you tried the Utopias? Potent and delicious. And I like the other seasonal brews from The Boston Beer Company.

I use liquid smoke and I like it. I stay away from processed groceries as much as possible, but there's a place for liquid smoke in my fridge because it can save a whole lot of time and energy. In fact, I'm using Haddon Hose Hickory on a bunch of turkey drumsticks for dinner tonight. The label says there are only three ingredients in this product: water, condensed smoke, and a common food emulsifier (polysorbate 80). My understanding is that it is no more or less dangerous than regular smoke from a health point of view.