In an attempt to persuade the deviled egg to choose between it’s inherent devilish nature or become a good egg we have two sides to the argument. To present both sides of the argument Conversations with a Cupcake and Kitchen Scraps have agreed to disagree on the subject of good versus evil in order to lure the Deviled egg to see their point of view. The inherently angelic Brooke from Conversations with a Cupcake will attempt to persuade the egg that it is a good egg. While the irreverently devilish Pierre from Kitchen Scraps will use every rotten-egg trick in the book to get the egg to join the dark side. In the end it will be the reader who decides wether or not the Deviled Egg is good or evil.
The Devil’s Advocate
This is not even a debate, you’re a devilled egg!
Unless you are planning on getting an egg-corcism, you are going to remain a rotten little egg until the day you get fried. So, forget about what’s fair or fowl, eggsercise your rights to be your own egg.
I imagine you’re a little scrambled at the moment, but let’s face it, you’re a bad egg so just try to egg-roll with it or you’ll end up going soft. Toughen up that shell.
You may not be an egg-head, but you’re smart enough to know you’re on an egg-celerated spiral down if you join those other whitey yolkels in their cardboard coffins. You might as well be humpty-dumpty, cause you’ll never be able to put yourself back together again…
It’s not that I’m trying to egg you on, but for the record, the chicken came first… what do you expect, you got no feet? Life can be such a cruel yolk. Speaking of bad yolks… when was the last time you even got laid? Maybe it’s time to meet some older chicks and forget about being such a good egg.
See what Brooke over at Conversations with a Cupcake has to say about being a good egg… and have your say at the reader poll over there.
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Plus a very big special thanks from Kitchen Scraps to Conversation with a Cupcake for coming up with this great idea and initiating such a fun, cool collaboration. And now without further ado, here is the recipe courtesy of Conversations with a Cupcake….
CRIMSON SMOKED DEVILED EGGS
Inspired by kokkina avga–the ruby hued eggs exchanged during the Greek Pasha (Easter) celebration–these red-deviled eggs recieve ample amounts of color and flavor from beets, smoked paprika, and a hit of cayenne pepper. Don’t be alarmed by the untraditional mixture of ingredients. You’ll find the taste is both gloriously good and devilishly delicious.
INGREDIENTS
12 eggs
8 1/2 oz. can sliced beets, drained and pureed
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. smoked paprika
1/2 t. salt
2 T. sour cream
1 T. mayonnaise
1 t. onion powder
1/2 t. red icing paste
2 T. microplaned smoked parmesan or romano
2 T. sliced fresh chives
PROCEDURE
To boil eggs (without that devilish grey ring around the yolk): Fill a large pot with enough water to fully cover eggs. Cover with a lid. Bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit an additional 5 minutes. Drain water from pot, then cover eggs quickly with ice. Allow to sit five minutes more. Carefully crack eggs, remove peels, cut in half and place cooked yolks in a medium bowl.
To yolks, add beets, red pepper, paprika, salt, sour cream, mayonnaise, onion powder and icing coloring. Mash with a fork until well mixed and smooth. Spoon or pipe mixture into center ofegg whites. Garnish with a sprinkling of cheese and chives.
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Big huge thanks to Conversations with a Cupcake for coming up with the recipe and the idea to collaborate on such a fun project.
Curling offers up plenty of thrills and chills, but don’t expect many spills. If there is one thing curling fans hold onto harder than their lucky tams, it’s a cup of hot coffee. It’s not that the cold bothers them, it’s because curling fans just love coffee… and doughnuts.
Here is a rock-solid recipe for all those hot-blooded fans who love curling, coffee and doughnuts. Make your own Tim-Horton-doughnut-and-coffee-ice-cream-sandwich (aka; Cold Curling Rocks) to enjoy at the rink or anytime you just need to cross that hog line. These bad boys rock!
The 2009 Tim Hortons Brier Curling Championship is throwing down at the Saddledome from March 7-15. It’s impossible to know who will own the house, but you can bet you’ll spot a few Kenora dinner jackets, some painted screaming faces and plenty of coffee and doughnuts.
INGREDIENTS
A 1-pint container of vanilla icecream
1/3 cup cold Tim Hortons black coffee
6 honey glazed Tim Hortons doughnuts
PROCEDURE
Pop the ice cream into the micro for 30 seconds to soften it slightly.
In a big bowl use a fork to mix one scoop of ice cream with the coffee until they are smooth. Add half the remaining ice cream and stir it to incorporate. Add the rest of the ice cream and stir until the whole mess is pretty smooth, but a few little lumps is fine.
Pour the coffee ice cream back into the ice cream container. You’ll have a little extra that won’t fit in the container, feel free to slurp that back right away. Put the ice cream back in the freezer to firm up for at least 2 hours.
Place the half-dozen box of doughnuts in the freezer so they can firm up too.
When the doughnuts are frozen solid, use a serrated knife to cut them in half like a bagel. Go slowly as they are brittle, but it’s easier than squishing them when they are soft.
After the ice cream is firm, run warm water on the outside of the container until the whole thing can slide out easily. Lay it flat and slice the ice cream cylinder it into 6 disks. I like to make the first cut in the middle and cut each half into threes.
Place one icecream puck in each doughnut like a sandwich and place them all back in the box and into the freezer get rock solid.
If you are eating them directly from the freezer, they might benefit from a quick 10 seconds in the micro. If you are taking them to the rink keep them on ice and let them warm up and soften slightly before you chow down.
Goes great with hot coffee for dunking.
Makes 6 Cold Curling Rocks… enough to feed the Lead, Second, Vice, Skip, Coach and Coffee-Runner.
There is a fine line between desperately creepy and lovingly affectionate. To help you navigate such a thin line skip tearing out your heart and make this hot and sticky bleeding heart radicchio. The vegetarian option makes it a great choice for vegetarians with a morbid sense of humour.
Radicchio is a small tightly wrapped red leafed lettuce with a slightly bitter taste. Slow braising this bitter lettuce in tomato juice and maple syrup creates an amazingly sticky sweet richness that only comes from putting some true love into your food.
Desperately creepy
• getting a name tatoo
• making a mixtape
• writing a song
• pulling out your beating heart
Lovingly affectionate
• getting a name tatoo
• making a mixtape
• writing a song
• making bleeding heart radicchio
INGREDIENTS:
1 radicchio
1 Tbsp oil
2 pieces of bacon, sliced (optional)
1 cup of tomato juice
2 Tbsp maple syrup
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp chili flakes
PROCEDURE:
Peel away the rough outer leaves of the radicchio. Cut the radicchio in half. Get a medium frying pan on medium heat.
If you are using bacon, add it now with the oil and cook until browned and slightly crispy. Move the bacon to the sides and place the radicchio flat side down in the oil.
If you are not using bacon, just heat the oil and lay the radicchio flat side down in the oil.
Sautée the radicchio flat side down for 10 minutes to develop some caramelisation on the bottom side.
Pour in the tomato juice and maple syrup. Sprinkle in the salt and the chili flakes. Bring the liquid up to a boil before covering the pan tightly with tin foil. Blap the whole thing in the oven for 2 hours. Uncover and let stand for 10 minutes before serving to your loved one.
St. Hubertus is the patron saint of hunters, but he wasn’t always a saint.
Growing up as a hunter in the 7th Century, Hubertus was as wild spirited as the game he hunted. He was quite trigger with his bow and arrow and killed not just for food, but for the bloodlusting thrill of the hunt. His lack of restraint and remorse made him a terrible threat to the balance of nature.
When his bloodlust got out of hand, a deer showed up and told him to settle down. Normally, Hubertus would have shot the deer between the eyes with an arrow and sent his dogs after it, but when this holy deer showed up with a glowing white cross between its antlers, Hubertus knew this was no ordinary deer. Hubertus turned over a new leaf and began to exercise some self-restraint and ethical hunting practices. The holy deer was pleased with the change and Hubertus was dubbed the Patron Saint of Hunters because he would hunt only for food and maintained the natural balance.
Here is a great recipe for hunters (or gatherers) using venison or elk tenderloin and Jagermeister(not just for Jagerbombs).
The addition of Jagermeister (German for ‘Master Hunter’) to the black currant and wild mushroom sauce adds a great herby aroma and ties into the story of St. Hubertus (check out the holy deer on the bottle). The wild rice and brussel sprouts complete the meal and you will be surprised how well these two overlooked foods pair up.
Oh deer, what is Venison?
In the loosest sense of the word, Venison can apply to any wild animal hunted for sustenance and can include everything from moose to raccoon. Most hunters would consider Venison to be the meat from any wild hooved animal and generally refers to Elk, Deer and occasionally moose or boar.
But according to the scientific community, venison is the technical term given only to the meat from a deer meant for human consumption and does not include elk or Moose in the category.
For the purposes of this recipe, we are going to take the broader sense of the word Venison that includes elk, deer and moose, so feel free to use the New York Cut from any of these animals for this recipe.
Translation of the poem on the Jagermeister bottle…
It is the hunter’s honour that he Protects and preserves his game, Hunts sportsmanlike, honours the Creator in His creatures
Venison steak with black currant,wild mushroom and Jagermesiter sauce with brusseled up wild rice
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
2 New York cut Elk or Deer steaks
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 shallot, finely minced
25g of mixed dried wild mushrooms
2 oz Jagermesiter
2 Tbsp Black currant jelly
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup wild rice
6 brussel sprouts, shaved super thin
1 Tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter
pinch nutmeg
PROCEDURE
Pour one cup of boiling water into a bowl with the dried mushrooms. Cover and set aside to soften for 30 minutes while you prepare everything else.
Grab one medium pot and two frying pans to get started. Get two cups of water into the medium pot and bring it to a boil. When it boils add the wild rice and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 20 minutes then add the shredded brussel sprouts, put a lid on it and reduce the heat to low. After 20 more minutes, remove the lid, add the butter, nutmeg and salt. Stir it all together.
In a medium pot, sweat the shallots with butter over medium heat. Scoop out the softened mushrooms with a slotted spoon and place in the pan with the butter and shallots. Set the mushroom liquid aside for making the sauce.
Crank the heat up to high on the mushrooms and cook for 2 more minutes stirring occasionally, to develop some colour.
Pour out the Jagermeister shots and add them carefully to the mushrooms, being careful of not letting them catch on fire. Cook out the alcohol smell for 2 more minutes before adding the mushroom liquid to the pan. Pour the liquid slowly without pouring in the gritty sediment at the bottom of the bowl.
Add the black currant jelly and the vinegar, stirring to incorporate. Continue cooking on high for 15 minutes to reduce the sauce and concentrate the flavours.
In the meantime, get your other pan on the stove over medium heat and let the dry pan heat up for 5 minutes. Prepare your steaks by drizzling with oil and seasoning with salt.
Gently place the steaks in the hot pan with space between all of them. They will sizzle and spit, but that is what you want. Do not move them once they are in the pan. Just let them mellow out and get brown. Cook on each side for 3 ½ – 4 minutes only and remove it from the pan when they are done. You can pour your sauce into the steak pan to pick up all the browny goodness.
Serve a scoop of wild rice with a ladle of the sauce. Lay the steak jauntily up against the rice, finish with a some more sauce on top. Enjoy with an ice cold shot of Jagermeister.
Everybody goes a little cuckoo-crazy this time of year.The days grow shorter, colder and more dreary, and the decreasing amount of sunlight has a negative effect upon our mental fitness. You either need a trip to Hawaii or some comfort food to keep your spirits up through our long winters. Sadly, tropical vacations may now be out of reach financially (how’s that RRSP doing?), but the cure for our Seasonal Affective Disorder state can be found within the skin of the plentiful, and pennywise, winter squash.
Don’t let that tough, seemingly impenetrable exterior stop you. People fear what lies beneath that hard shell, which is a shame because beneath its gruff exterior this perfect fall veggie is a gold mine of nutritionally dense complex carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. What’s more, it’s crazy delicious.
To conquer your squash phobia, you must first put down those out-of-season Mexican strawberries and pick up a gourd. Choosing a squash is easier than you think. For the most part, they’re immune to manhandling and can easily survive the short truck ride from the farm to our local markets and stores. Don’t worry about surface scratches or dirt; you won’t be eating the skin, so just make sure there are no gashes or soft bruises. Load up on a variety of squash now and if you store them in a cool dark spot, they’ll last all winter and probably most of next year.
Deciding which to choose is the least of your worries. From the gnarly skinned hubbard to the elegant delicata and the smooth, familiar pumpkin, gourds all have something special to offer. And don’t worry about what to do with them. There are many ways to cook a squash: puréed in soup, spiced in a tagine, cooked into risotto or baked in a pie.
This brings us back to the real root of our fears: people are most afraid of what they can’t see. To combat that, take our fall-vegetable Rorsquash test, a series of photographs of seemingly randomly squashed squash that are designed to trigger your innermost dining desires. Based upon what you see in these photos, you’ll be able to figure out your squash personality, and through that, unlock the secret to a veggie feast and a SAD-free fall.
Butternut squash
Figure No. 1: You see the remains of an orange-fleshed acrobat that fell from a tightrope to its doom
You must be eating way too many nuts, because you are what you eat. To get back on track, you need to switch to toasted pumpkin seeds.
First, gut your squash by cutting it in half and scooping out the insides. Free the seeds from the gunky stuff and place them in a bowl. Pour in a little oil to coat, and add plenty of salt and some seasoning like paprika or cinnamon. Evenly distribute the seeds on a parchment-lined baking sheet and toast at 160 °C (325 °F) until they are crispy and delicious. Scrape them into a bowl to cool and pick up the phone; sharing the seeds can help you make some meaningful connections with well-adjusted humans who simply don’t see what you do in this photo.
Acorn squash
Figure No. 2: You see roasted squash swimming in butter and salt
You over-complicate your life with meaningless pursuits when you should be trying to simplify things.
Take any winter squash and cut it in half or quarters. Scoop out the seeds and set them aside for roasting. In a deep baking dish, toss in the squash pieces and pour in a cup of water. Tightly cover the dish with foil and put it in a 175 °C (350 °F) oven. After 45 minutes, remove the foil and check for doneness. The squash is cooked when the flesh is tender and you can pull it easily away from the skin with a spoon. Serve hot, with loads of cold butter and plenty of salt.
Delicata squash
Figure No. 3: You see a colourful squash salad
You are restless and can not easily find satisfaction with the ordinary. Clearly, you are tired of the same old cold-weather comfort food and long for brighter flavours.
Select a thin-skinned squash, such as delicata or small pumpkin, so you’ll be able to eat the skin when it is roasted. Slice the squash into rounds or wedges, remove the seeds and place the pieces on a baking sheet. Lubricate generously with oil and season with thyme or rosemary and plenty of salt.
Bake the squash at 175 °C (350 °F) until it is tender and has developed some golden-brown colour. Remove the squash from oven and let it cool slightly. Plate the warm chunks or wedges and top with wedges of fresh tomato, whole pitted black olives, grated Parmesan cheese, strips of prosciutto and a splash of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. Finish with a drizzle of dark-green pumpkin-seed oil for a surprising aromatic effect.
Buttercup squash
Figure No. 4: You see a bowl of hot, creamy Squash soup
Your life is in shambles, your house is a chaotic mess of disorganization and you crave order.
Use a butternut, buttercup or hubbard squash and roast it according to the instructions above. Scoop out all the flesh and place it in a blender. Cover with warm water and blend until velvety smooth. (Add more water if necessary.) Pour into a pot and slowly heat it through. Add salt to taste, some grated ginger and a knob of cold butter. Serve in a sparkling white bowl with a little dollop of sour cream and fresh cracked pepper. Savour the smooth simplicity.
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- Butternut squash
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- Delicata squash
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- Acorn squash
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- Buttercup squash
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- Tiny pumpkin squash
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- Golden Buttercup squash
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- Golden Hubbard squash
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- Blue hubbard squash
As we plough horns-first into the year of the ox, be warned it’s going to be a slow ride.
The ox is outstanding in its field, ranking second in the chinese zodiac cycle. Dedication and head-down hard work are necessary to maintain the stability the ox requires to be productive and successful.
Your patience with this slow braised oxtail recipe will reward you with fall-off-the-bone meat, a gorgeous rich sauce and a meal that will inspire others to work as hard as you to achieve the same success.
Don’t bother with get rich quick scams like microwave dinners, think inside the ox with this slow cooked dish.
INGREDIENTS
4 rounds of oxtail ( approx 2 lbs)
¼ cup flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 orange, zested and juiced
10 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
20 shitake mushrooms
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups of water
½ soy sauce
½ cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 large nob of ginger, cut into 1 cm slices
Serve with cooked short grain white rice, sliced green onions and sautéed snow peas
PROCEDURE
Preheat oven to 300˚F.
First, prepare the orange by using your vegetable peeler to pull off three or four long strips of the orange peel (aka: zest). Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice into a bowl and set aside.
Get a large ovenproof pan (no plastic handle) on the stove over medium heat. Don’t set the heat any higher than medium for the whole cooking process. While the pan heats up sprinkle the flour all over the oxtail. When the pan is hot, add the oil and wait until it gets hot (it’ll ripple when you tilt the pan). Knock off the excess flour and carefully place each oxtail on a flat side and just leave it to get brown.
When you’ve browned each side remove the oxtails and set aside.
In the same pan sautee the garlic and mushrooms for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and orange juice, stirring until the tomato paste blends in.
Tip in hot water, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, ginger and orange zest. Give it a stir to incorporate.
Gently place the oxtail into the liquid. The oxtail should be half submerged, add more hot water if necessary.
Bring the liquid to a simmer, cover tightly with tinfoil and blap the whole thing into the oven.
Braise for 3 hours.
Meanwhile, slice the green onions and whip up a batch of short grain white rice in the rice cooker.
Take the pan out of the oven and remove the oxtail to set aside.
Pick out the orange zest and the big slices of ginger and discard. On medium low heat simmer the sauce and mushrooms until the sauce is thick and sticky. There is a lot of sugar in the sauce, so be careful not to burn it.
Serve a scoop of rice, an oxtail and a scoop of saucy garlic mushrooms in a bowl. Top with green onions. Heat up a tablespoon of oil in a pan and quickly sautee some snowpeas right before serving.
Serves 2 hardworking people.
Filed under: scraps
While the snow falls outside make a hot and steamy batch of spicy Chai Tea to tease and titillate your senses. The long, slow build up of aromas will wrap your body, mind and soul in a warm, tantric embrace. This spiced tea will help ignite the embers of passion with an exotic, intoxicating aromatic mélange that is sure to have you hoping for more snow to fall.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of water
1 big nob of fresh ginger, sliced
1 orange, peel* and juice
2 cloves, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, star anise pods and
6 coriander seeds
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
5 pink peppercorns (optional)
2 tea bags
2 cups of %10 MF cream
* Use a carrot peeler to remove 4 strips of orange peel to add to the aromatic blend, then slice orange in half and squeeze out the juice
In a small pot combine all ingredients except the cream. Bring to a rapid boil over high heat and boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and leave it for at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours to steep. Strain the spices out of the liquid and bring back to a boil. Add cream and serve piping hot in a nice bowl with a little sprinkle of ground cinnamon to tickle your nose as you sip.
It’s time to get fat.
Winter is coming and if you keep eating like a bird, you’ll have to head south. But if you are planning to stay in the chilly North it’s time to start eating like a Grizzly bear.
Getting fat for winter is not something you should approach lightly and there are a few things to consider before you start plumping up your big bear butt. Eating like a Grizzly bear requires time, resources and dedication.
During the fattening process bears need to consume vast amounts of food that we humans consider to be low calorie. It is easy getting fat while you’re eating pancakes, but try packing on the pounds with berries and salmon. During their eating peak, Grizzlies will consume 5-10% of their weight in food per day. That requires substantial dedication to eating and foraging.
It’s not as easy as a single visit to the nearest fast food joint for your daily fat intact, they have to forage through forest and mountains and rivers to find the food they need to pack it on. Foraging means burning major calories and that means more food to make fat.
Two months before hybernation bears effectively turn into omnivorous zombies. Something switches in their brain that allows the to eat for 20 hours a day. The technical term is hyperphasia, but feeding frenzy sums it up nicely.
During hyperphasia they give the illusion of being more docile, but if you were to approach a bear while in this trans-like state it would become startled and would result in a dangerously defensive bear.
When calories are scarce bears can be especially grumpy, but during salmon spawning bears will gladly rub shoulders while they plump up on the plentiful fatty fish. However in the great stretches of barren land a bear will fiercely defend his plot.
A bear’s diet depends their geography. In Banff the most plentiful calories come from soap berries (an aquired taste by human standards). Tthey fill out their diet with a limited selection of tubers, nuts, shoots and whatever else they are lucky enough to find. As a result of a fairly limited source of protein, the mountain bears are half the size of their west coast counterparts. The Coastal bears have plentiful salmon for protein and juicy berries for sugary carbs. They enjoy better variety with the additionf of wild carrots, rutabagas and sometimes shellfish and seaweed.
While Grizzlies are not true scavengers, they are definitely opportunists, seizing anything that is slow enough to be in the wrong place at the right time.
The pros and cons of honey are always a balance between sweet pleasure and stinging pain, but clever bears will wear a mud mask to protect their eyes and nose from prickly bees. High up in the seemingly barren mountain tops certain bears have discovered that moth larvae have more calories by weight than any other bear food and are worth the effort of flipping over rocks to get them.
If you are hungry in the bush, you can eat what the bears eat, but a steady diet of larvae and parsnip shoots would not be very appetising. You increase your chances of survival by eating what bears eat, but decrease your chances when you start tailing a hungry bear.
Common-sense would tell most of us to avoid bears for our own personal safety, have you considered how dangerous you are to a bear’s well-being?
For grizzlies, much depends on dinner. If you stop your car to watch a bear feeding along the side of the road, it can have a devastating effect on the bear’s ability to reproduce. A frightened bear gets stressed, being stressed takes more calories to make fat, the amount of fat on a female will directly effect the number of cubs she is able to have.
Delayed fertilisation starts in the spring when bears mate. Instead of becoming pregnant right away the female carries the male’s seed in her body until such time that she is fat enough to have a cub. If she gets enough calories during the fall, her body will naturally fertilise the egg, if she does not get enough calories the result is no cubs.
Many scientists wondered how a bear can hibernate without having muscular atrophy. But recent research shows that bears will actually sleep walk and stretch to keep their muscles from atrophying.
If anyone says they haven’t been to the bathroom for 4 months, you could say they were full of crap. Except for bears who hold it in for the duration of hybernation and have interesting digestive adaptations that help circulate fluids to maintain body functions.
How do they hold it all in? Prior to hybernation the bears munch a bunch of bark that acts as a fecal plug to keep it all in.
And to leave you with a classic bear joke…
So there is a bear answering the call of nature, he turns to a nearby rabbit and asks if the rabbit has any trouble with scat sticking to his fur. The rabbit says no, so the bear reaches over and picks up the rabbit…
FALL FATTENING MENU
This menu has two cheats to make it more palatable for humans: salt and butter. If you want to get technical, cooking the food is also a cheat since bears rarely cook anything other than oatmeal.
CEDAR SALMON W/ DRIED BLUEBERRY PESTO + RUTABAGA MASH + WILD CARROTS
600g salmon filet (cut into 150g portions)
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup toasted pinenuts
1 rutabaga
1 bunch small carrots, with green tops
salt and pepper
Preheat your oven to 400˚F.
Peel and dice the rutabaga. Get it into a pot of salty water and fire it up on high heat. Cook the rutabaga until they are very tender and starting to fall apart. It is almost impossible to overcook a rutabaga, but it is easy to undercook one, so just let it cook for a long time. The longer you cook them the more natural sweetness will be enhanced. When they are done cooking, drain and mash with butter and salt.
Meanwhile, in a mortar and pestle or a food processor combine dried blueberries, toasted pinenuts and a pinch of salt. Blend on low and use a little bit of warm water to get the desired thick pesto consistency. When it is a smooth paste, set it aside at room temperature for later.
Cut your salmon into 150 g portions, season with salt and pepper. Wrap them in a piece of cedar paper and line them up on a baking sheet with the seam of the cedar paper on the bottom. It will look like a row of wooden canneloni.
Place the washed peel carrots (keep greens attached) into the pot of salty boiling water with the green sprigs hanging out of the water, careful not to let them touch the heat source. Boil the carrots until they are tender. Then for 1 minute, submerge the greens in the boiling water to quickly cook them. Drain and serve hot.
Serve the salmon in the opened cedar plank on a plate with a scoop of rutabaga, two or three carrots and a generous spoonful of blueberry pesto.
Serves 4 hungry bears.
Sourcing
Get some cedar sheets at the Cookbook Co. in Calgary or Gourmet Warehouse in Vancouver. They are thin and pliable and more delicate than your average cedar plank. While you’re there, grab some dried blueberries.
MUDDLE BLACKBERRIES W/ HONEY + HAZELNUTS
2 pints blackberries, raspeberries
2 ounces gin
2 juniper berries, crushed
drizzle honey
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, crunched
Place the gin, crushed juniper berries and blackberries in a small pot over medium low heat. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the berries are very soft and the liquid gets a little syrupy.
Portion out the berries into bowls and drizzle on some lovely runny honey. Top with toasted crushed hazelnuts.
Grouse Mountain Bear Sanctuary,
Grouse Mountain, Vancouver, BC.
www.grousemountain.com
Feeding time is 10 am and the bears are hungry
Banff Information Center
224 Banff Avenue, Banff, AB
403-762-1550
Call ahead for showtimes.
Filed under: scraps
The Chinese year of the pig has been over and done with for quite sometime. After a year of eating a nose to tail of pork, should we have expected to be served everything but the ‘squeak’ during the Chinese Year of the Rat? I want to know if trend-setting New Yorkers would scurry from the chance to savour it’s most notorious vermin? I went on a rat hunt to find out.
As heavenly as pork can be, pigs are not exactly saints. Pig’s wobbly culinary rise has overcome such obstacles as Trichinosis scares, non-kosher relations and adorable spokespigs like Babe and Wilbur. But, the rat is a whole nother beast.
The Brown Rat (aka Norway Rat) and the Black Rat (aka Roof Rat) thrive in New York’s overabundant waste. You would recognise them from your subway commute or the dumpster in your back alley. They are giant, greasy vermin that make grown men shudder.
In spite of being persecuted, poisoned and verbally abused rats are adaptable enough to thrive in a city that loves to hate them.
But not everybody hates rats as much as New York does. Some people actually like rats.
It is now the Chinese Year of the Rat. According to legend the Rat holds the coveted first place in the zodiac cycle because of its versatility and ingenuity. People born in the year of the Rat are said to be charming, passionate and hard-working. What’s not to like about that?
Besides being a venerated animal, rat is eaten as a dietary staple in many parts of Asia including, China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Although it tends to be most popular in less affluent areas, rat is still enjoyed with great relish.
Other places in the world don’t have the built in stigma that New Yorkers have against rats.
In rural parts of Western Africa they hunt Cane Rats which are particularly prized for their succulent meat. If the USDA would drop their ban on exotic meat imports from Africa, it would be an excellent way to source organic free-range rat meat.
In the 1977 edition of Larousse Gatronomique they describe a traditional French rat dish. Cooper’s Entrecôte is made from rats living in wine cellars in Gironde, France. The rat is slow roasted over a fire made from the broken wine barrels and finished with olive oil and lots of shallots. Pairing the roast rat with a glass of wine from the same cellar is as local as it gets.
Not everyone considers rats to be an unstoppable scourge. Just outside Manhattan people have a slightly different perspective on rat.
Peter Nowakosi, Executive Chef of Rat’s restaurant in New Jersey would never serve rat in his restaurant. But that is not to say that he wouldn’t like try it sometime.
Nowakosi, an English Lit major, paints a romantic picture of a creekside burrow with river rats eating fruits and nuts from the trees along the riverbank. After cleaning and gutting the rat, he imagines slowly braising it to breakdown the tough squirrel-like meat.
The thought of braised rat and some crusty bread on the sun-dappled river bank makes your shoulder muscles relax a little… or at least stop shuddering.
But the country rat is a long way from his cousin, the city rat.
Christopher Snow, local wine purveyor and self proclaimed ‘pink-neck’ has enjoyed rat pot pie at a hunter’s banquet in upstate New York. His hunting buddies suggest using a snap-trap to catch rats.
Snow recommends boiling the hell out of them and smoking them to impart some flavour before you add the meat to soups, stews or pot pies.
For really locally sourced rat meat Snow offers the City Hall park where they get fat eating Ginko nuts in the park. They are the same rats that try to trip you on the 5/6 subway platform he warns me.
On his advice, I took an evening stroll through the City Hall park spotting eight meaty rats frollicking on the well kept grass. I stop to admire this veritable feast.
The City Hall patrol officer shudders at the idea of eating rat and admits that people do crazy things. He is patient enough to hear about some recipe ideas, but suggests I don’t attempt to set up any traps in the park.
Finding local rat in New York city is not the problem. Finding a reliable source of dependable rat meat is little more difficult. Without a USDA approved source of rat meat it will remain illegal to have rats in the kitchen … let alone on the menu.
Taconic is a rattery (rat breeder) in upstate New York that breeds rats for scientific research. The health and pedigree of the rats is so detailed it includes everything from genetic profile (eg; Strain Profile: Acy1a, Car2b, Es1b, Es3c, Esda, H6pd1b…), caloric intake and prices. There are especially good deals on retired breeders.
Unfortunately, Taconic did not respond to any inquiries about sourcing rats for human consumption.
As a last ditch effort, or a sudden bout of rat-like resourcefulness I head to the Meatpacking district to scour the streets for leads on rat meat.
I make eye contact with a big side-of-beef butcher and drop my voice so the other customers won’t hear.
‘I’m looking for a very-alternative source of meat’, I whisper. ‘Do you know where I can get rat meat?’
‘Rabbit?’ he asks, leaning in close.
I nervously glance at the other customers who haven’t overheard yet.
‘Rat.’ I try to sound confident, but feel like scurrying away.
‘R-A-T?’ he squints as he spells the word.
I nod, feeling shifty.
The big butcher shudders and suggests the subway.
