missmadeleine's Profile
What Did/Does Your Dad Cook Best?
My parents split up when I was 20 and my mom passed away almost 3 years ago. She was a good cook and an amazing baker. I never ate store-bought bread until I moved out. My dad did much of the cooking at home when we were young, simply because he was the first one home from work. I learned to cook mostly from watching him & helping him after school. At 67 he is super fit and still loves to cook and eat, and has always had a sweet tooth for homemade treats. He still makes most of these things that I remember from my childhood:
- brown sugar or chocolate fudge (flavored with canned Fry's cocoa)
- strawberry ice cream (we kids took turns turning the metal pail full of cream, sugar, etc. that was set down in a larger container of coarse salt)
- moose, deer, wild duck, goose, rabbit (my mom would eat the game he hunted, but she refused to clean or cook it); he still makes delicious pan-fried duck breast and duck stew
- beef stew
- baked beans
- yellow pea soup with a big smoked ham bone
- pies - apple, cherry, peach, pumpkin
- chocolate cake
- a weekly fry-up he called "hash"; it always started with a big knob of butter and a chopped yellow onion or two in a huge cast iron frying pan. To that he added chopped leftover meats (beef, pork, chicken, salt beef, turkey...any and all that was in the fridge) & veggies (usually boiled potatoes, carrots, cabbage, peas, turnip, sometimes parsnips or green beans). The whole mixture was slowly browned and turned sort of like a giant fast-food hash brown
- seafood chowder with bacon, onion, lobster, cod fish, big clams (bottled by my grandmother in Prince Edward Island)...yum. This is still his go-to first course for Christmas dinner
Now I am hungry!
Looking for Whelcks (sea snails)
You need the needle, or a bent safety pin, to hook the tasty little swirl of meat out of the shell!
'Tis the season...for parsnips
Parsnips are delicious. Never heard of coring them, but then I have never tasted a bitter one. If anything I find them very sweet. They are a "secret" addition to my mashed potatoes, especially those I'm using to top shepherd's pie ...I cook 2-3 in the same pot and mash them right into the potatoes with the butter, cream, s&P. The parsnips add a certain delicious richness that is very tricky to identify!
Looking for Whelcks (sea snails)
I have not eaten whelks, but Rodney's Oyster House sometimes has periwinkles which are also a sea snail. On the east coast they are collected from rocks... as kids in Newfoundland we called them winkles or wrinkles! Delicious steamed in sea water.
Fluffernutter?
I am in Toronto, Canada, and I have always known what a Fluffernutter is!
Cilantro - Love it or Hate it?
In my family, the women, including me, love cilantro, and all the guys hate it! To me it is the most delicious, fresh-tasting addition to soups, salads, etc.
Are there any foods you just cannot bear eating any way except straight up and delicious?
Lobster must be absolutely unadulterated, and that means no butter, nothing! Same with oysters. I just want to taste the salt water...the aroma and flavour remind me of my grandmother's house.
What do you put on your street meat?
OK, so I'm guilty (but not ashamed!) of liking the corn relish (Bicks and others make it...), plus hot mustard or hot peppers and chopped onions. I'm totally anti-bacon bits, and would never put mayo on a hot dog or sausage...nor on any other hot sandwich except a toasted club.
New Year's Day - what is your food tradition?
Hi LL, yes definitely turkey for Thanksgiving, but I'm in Canada, so Thanksgiving is in mid-October, so Xmas is not too soon to do it again! Unfortunately, as I hinted in my original post, the Xmas turkey (and the trimmings) not always great depending on who's hosting dinner that year.... : ) Those are the years I do my own turkey on Jan 1 !
New Year's Day - what is your food tradition?
Didn't get to do it this year, but the usual is Roast Turkey with all the trimmings, because we crave a "good" turkey dinner after having been deprived of same at MIL's Christmas day... We love her to bits, but....
Is it common to pair Brie-like cheese (Pierre Robert) w. honey?
I just ate this at a New Year's Day house party, but hadn't seen it before; the cheese had been placed in a baking dish, drenched with LOTS of honey then baked. It was delicious scooped onto slices of crusty baguette.
What's That One Thing You Can't Go A Week Without????
Coffee
Fresh fruit / berries
Yogurt
Beef - a steak or burger that I prepare at home
Pasta
drive-through Chinese: does it exist anywhere?
There is a drive-through Manchu Wok in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Manchu Woks are typically found in mall food-courts. The food generally is bland, greasy and heavily corn-starched. Lots of room for improvement!
Tuna Salad Sandwiches
One of my favorite sandwiches, with a glass of (skim) milk! I have never used fresh tuna, but good quality canned, solid or chunk only, not the dreaded flaked! Packed in oil, vegetable broth, or water...your choice. I start with "lots" (at least a cup, total, per can of tuna) of finely diced fresh crunchy stuff, celery, onion, apple, cucumber, radish, carrot, whatever I have on hand. Toss with salt and pepper, moisten with 1/2 mayonnaise and 1/2 plain yogurt, then fold in the tuna, gently breaking it up. Do not mush it up, do not mash it... Keep it chunky and crunchy. Don't let it sit around either or the fruit / veggies juice out and it gets watery. Spoon into fresh whole wheat pita pockets, or onto crusty bread...MMMM! A meal in a sandwich (and when my girls were still at home, one of their favorites. Only now do they realize how nutritious it is!)
What to do with Raspberry Jalapeño Jam?
Yum! There is a grilled-cheese-party thread on this board. Check it out! Your Raspberry Jalapeno Jam sounds like a great fit.
Best Method for Blueberry Storage?
Hi there, I'm brand new to this site and I actually joined today so I could reply to your question! This is my first post ever! I have personal experience storing "a lot" of fresh blueberries. Several years ago I was on the East coast and picked enough wild blueberries to fill a gym bag. I was flying home the next day. My mom and I packed the chilled unwashed berries in a couple of dozen clean margarine containers. To ensure a tight-fitting lid, we added a folded paper towel under each lid, over the berries, then taped each one shut for security. The containers went into her fridge overnight. The next day they went into the gym bag and I checked the bag at the airport. About 6 hours later, at home, I placed the containers in my fridge. We ate those blueberries for about 10 days, opening and washing only as they were being used. I can honestly say that the last container was as fresh looking and fresh tasting as the day I picked them. I could have frozen them, but chose not to. It was unbelievable. No crushing, bruising, spoilage... nothing. I had to share this with you. Enjoy your blueberries!
