Okanagancook

I get my ingredients from Modernist Pantry. Great service and they have a wide range of merchandise. They use US postal service which works well to Canada.

I see that the restaurant recommendations date back to 2011 so I am wondering what is good now? We are heading out to Tofino in a week. Any recommendations? So for I have found these on Trip Advisor: Redcan Gourmet for takeout; tactofino Cantina for a foodtrucks; Spotted Bear????; Wildside Grill at the Golf Club for fish and chips; Big Daddy's Fish Fry for outdoor eating but it could be too cool; Shelter Help if you can, many thanks.

Just had a smoked beef tenderloin served with a spicy tomato jam at Beast Restaurant in Portland...great combo.

Trouble with sorrel is it turns an unappetizing green color when heated. I think D. Madison has a recipe for potato and sorrel soup where she has you cook the soup without the sorrel and then blend the sorrel into the soup just before serving. This keeps the color and flavor fresh.

We'll be in Portland next week. Have a reservation at Beast. Any thoughts on this? Any other 'must do's" while there.

Basically it was equal weights of duck breast and pork shoulder cut up into two inch pieces and salted over night , washed and then ground. 1/2 this weight of duck leg (I used chix) (this is put in whole and then deboned after it is cooked) and 1/4 weight of poultry hearts/gizzard salted over night washed and then ground. 1/2 weight pigs foot which is deboned after cooked and the skin/meat chopped. a bay leaf 1/2 c chix stock duck/goose fat to cover after it has been in the pot awhile so that the duck fat has rendered and additional fat added to cover the meat. So, cook all the meat for two hours. Drain and put the liquid in a fat separator. Debone the foot and leg meat, chop and add to the ground meat. Drain off the fat and reserve. Add the nonfat gelee to the meat and knead together. Put in jars and top with the reserved fat. hope that helps When I make this the next time I will brown the meat before packing in jars and then add the gelee...it just didn't have enough meaty flavour. You'll need to salt and pepper lots as you go and to taste. good luck.

FrogPrincesse, the ravioli dish was indeed worth the effort! Made a dint in my mint plant though! I agree that this is not a book for beginners in terms of technique and ingredients.

I've had the beef cheek ravioli dish and it has a fantastic flavor, very rich! Speaking about ravioli, I made the "Love Letters" a while back (the recipe is available here). The filling is peas and mint, with a robust spicy lamb/merguez sauce which is based on the basic tomato sauce. The flavor was phenomenal, well worth the effort. I also made the asparagus and ricotta ravioli last year for Easter using homemade ricotta (sadly, no picture). I prepared them ahead of time and froze them between sheets of parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal. They were very delicate and delicious. I've got home made marguez sausage and pasta in the freezer and fresh garden peas along with more mint than I know what to do with so I'm going to give this a go. Thanks for posting...good timing.

Recently made the beef cheek ravioli. Did not have beef cheek so used some organic beef shank. The base for the ravioli sauce is Chicken Livers Toscani. Wow. Very nice combo. I too have made the Guanciale and the Duck Bresaola. Both are very easy and very good.

The frozen product was no different than the fresh so I have 10 jars in the freezer :-)))

I am going to try a test one in the freezer. Don't see why it won't work. The rest I would store in the fridge for sure.

Zuni Cafe has a recipe for Graisserons described as scrappy bits of meat that fall to the bottom of the cauldron when making duck confit...crispy bits of meat with a flavourful gelee which also accumulates at the bottom of the pot. "A cherished stash, saved for a lucky few to enjoy as an hors d'oeuvre, sliced like pate, with pickles and toasts". This recipe makes a pot full of the cherished stash :-) All the meat is salted for 24 hours and includes (pork shoulder, duck breast, duck leg, Chicken gizzards and hearts and pig's foot. After salting for 24 hours it is rinsed and everything, save for the pig foot and duck leg with bone on, is either minced or coarsely ground. It goes into a pot with some chicken stock and covered with duck fat! Leave it to bubble away for a couple of hours. Drain off the fat and save it. Use the juices (gelee) to mix in with the meat. Bone and chop the pig foot and duck legs. Mix well. Put in jars and cover with reserved fat. Serve on melba toasts or whatever you have. Yummy. Here are some pictures of the process:

We are on septic field so use a biodegradable solution for general counter top and stove cleaning. A dilute solution of dish detergent for washing up. Also have a spray bottle of 10 percent bleach for my cutting boards.

Those look fantastic Franci. I love crumpets so be trying this recipe soon.

I use my press when forming Chinese pot stickers. Put you knob of dough in the press and gently press so you have the start of a dumpling then finish with your rolling pin....gets them nice and round.

Butter and then Lyel's Golden Syrup.....childhood favourite.

I'm going out to the garlic patch this morning to harvest a few of my scapes. Risotto it is

Yes, there is an advantage to broiling meat. When you pan fry meat or bbq, the meat is in contact with metal and as a result of high heat known carcinogens are formed. This site will explain it better than I could. http://www.cancer.go...sk/cooked-meats IMO, meat broiled in a gas stove tastes better than meat broiled in an electric stove. I agree totally. We had a gas broiler in the bottom of our gas range and the steaks came out nice and charred and evenly cooked. Miss that baby.

The solution is the BBQ Guru, simply amazing.

Truly inspiring....got my Momofuku pork belly made and the buns are in progress (used pre-cut round dim sum bun papers which I found at the local Asian store rather than hand cut parchment). Also had a go at the pig skin crackling which is in the fridge....made me get off my butt. Thanks for your efforts.

I would confirm that the on line videos allow one to do a fairly good job. We are on our third whole hog and 15 or so lambs. Very rewarding but you need good refrigeration...coolers with ice work well for us.

Sous vide venison with spatzel, demi-glaze, mushrooms and sugar peas & carrots.

The first spring after we landscaped our property we found morels coming up in the mulch! We must have gotten five or seven pounds. Slowly they have disappeared.

My brother has been to Beckta a couple of times and had the tasting menu. He raved about it.

The oxtail daube was from the SW France book. I have also made the beef daube from her Claypot book. Both were fantastic. The pig foot and skin really give the sauce that sticky yummy rich quality. The recipes are quite a bit of work and you have to start a day or two ahead of when you want to eat them.