Country Cook

Baked beans, eggs, bacon, tomatoes, tuna salad, salmon salad, cinnamon and sugar, PB and J, roasted or fried meats, kippers, sardines, cold cuts, ham, meatloaf, hamburger patties, cheddar, olives, olive oil, garlic, salt, butter, antipasto, roasted peppers, roasted eggplant, various left overs, cheeze whiz, any thing I can think of.

My old 70s edition J of C is dirty but now days I mostly use a cook book as a guide or entertainment. I also print recipes off the net. The newer books are pretty much pristine.

Faxe strong Danish Lager (one a day is enough).

Drums, for esthetics, ease if eating and cartilage content. , oh yeah and crispy skin.

Geez, that was the first one that popped into my mind when I read the first post! Yes, Dog n Suds! Also similar but not as fun, A&W Root Beer stand. I was thinking too that the Magic Pan for crepes was quite fun in it's day. ← They actually still have both in Williams Lake, BC although I'm pretty sure the Dog n Suds chain is no more and this place just carried on with the name (and location). Still very popular with the car cruiser set!

I think eating cheap cheese help me appreciate the good stuff when I splurge on it, can't abide processed cheese though. I bought some processed cheese slices for the dog and even she's getting sick of them .

Freezer top over under is my preference. As a country boy who shops twice a month frozen food is an important part of my diet, and being tall I would not want to bend over and ponder my meal selection all the time . I also think it is important to only use what you need, one new energy efficient fridge no freezer or back up fridge saves me 2 KWh/month.

Congratulations to Scott! Is that a Canadian Team's highest finish yet?

Last year on vacation I bought them at a fish shop and ate them plain "out back" like a greedy little racoon. Next time I will bring my oyster shucker and a little bottle of tabasco.

I've always wanted one of these. http://Knifezone.ca The D.H. Russell Trout & Bird (#2) is actually designed for what you are doing and it looks great.

If you want to try something truly unique one of our local ranches distibutes a really good grassfed jerky. They have a distributor in Vancouver. Here is the website: http://www.pasture-to-plate.com/start.php

Potato Mountain and the Potato Range is in the Chilcotin (BC Central Interior) and is indeed home to "wild potatoes" or Claytonia Lanceolata. You need a helicopter, horse or ATV to access the area (unless you want to do a multi day hike from Tatlyoko Lake) and all that for a marble sized white tuber that takes quite a bit of effort to dig up. Most tourist go in the late spring to see them flowering (the eastern species are called spring beauties) along with other alpine flowers. They were once an important food source for the Tsilhqot'in First Nation but know it would be rare for any of them under 50 to have even eaten them. From what I have heard they are quite tasty but I have never put forth the effort or had the opportunity to try them. Wild onions are much easier to gather.

There is a necessity for those of us that hunt and fish to preserve our bounty . Someone with knowledge of curing and preserving becomes sought after in my rural area. Of course the fact that this and cooking in general becomes a hobby is no less a reason to do this at home.

My Grandfathers were definately the worst cooks in our family because they did not cook . Their generation born around 1900 generally didn't. I sill remember my Mom's Dad reheating my lunch in the oven in tupperware , my other grandfather would have been challenge by opening the fridge .

A Russet will do fine.

Bellevue Kriek Chimay Blanche Nostradamus Duvel Hoegaarden

New Potatoes simmered in cream finished with butter, chopped mint and salt/pepper. A convection baked russet cooked till the crust is crisp and the inside flakey, with your favorite toppings.

Gay Lea from Australia is my favorite licorice. Good strong taste and nice chewy texture. I was raised on Panda Brand and being a Finnlander it is hard to believe Aussie licorice is better, but it is!

I was taught by a chef last week and would be pleased to pass on the advice. Let me know. ← That would be great ^__^..... but yeah, I guess a smooth steel works the best? I haven't seen anyone use a smooth one before so I had no idea.. ←

Try baking a russet @ 375-400 degrees F for forty minutes or so. Convection is the best for a crispy skin!

wood burns better

That reminds me of my childhood

For cooking I use coarse pickling salt as it has no none-caking agents or iodine, it is pure NaCl. I like Maldon or grey seal salt for finishing. (At least the 6th thread on salt I've commented on over the years) .

When I was a kid in the 70's nobody worried about eating a bit of raw hamburger, it never interested me much but then my dad found a local butcher in Thunder Bay Ont. (Heinz at the Brent Park Store) who had incredible beef, dry aged 4-5 weeks, each side selected with his eye for quality and perfectly cut. All ground beef was ground to order after Hienz chastized you about grinding up his beautiful cuts of meat. We used lean ground beef like tenderloin for steak tartare, it was great!, we made the real thing with tenderloin too. I remember in the early 80's at a German restaurant being served steak tartare by a microbiology student, good tartare, unappetising discussion. Lately I tried some German Meittwurst (raw pork sausage), yummy!

Tim Horton"s Canada's largest Doghnut chain is named after a hockey player who died in the 70's my BIL has always called it "Deadmans Doghnuts". I couldn't pronounce worsterchestershire sauce as a kid so I called it "stuff".