Serious Rhubarb Jam

              Serious Rhubarb Jam Rhubarb was a plant my grandmother tended with gusto. She would cover the early spring plants with a wooden ash bushel basket.                By doing this the leaves would be smaller and the energy and sugars would collect in the stalks. I found that the stalks are more reddish and do taste better. She made this no nonsense rhubarb jam that she used for pancakes, squares, chutney and crumbles. She used it for a marinade and for braising a shoulder pork roast.  She also insisted that it was used as a...

Drunk on Scotch BBQ Salmon Salad

Drunk on Scotch BBQ Salmon. I started fishing with my dad back in 1955.  My dad would take us kids fishing down to the Hespeler Speed Dam or Puslinch Lake. We would catch some stream trout or lake pickerel pike, perch and pumpkin fish. These small Sun Fish from the Pumpkin Fish strain were what we would catch most all day. My dad told me way back then that these small fishes would feed you better than a big old bass. The pumpkin fish have more good omegas and nutrients in larger volumes than any other fresh water species that he told us back then. Like perch they can be...

Pioineer Beef BBq on a Bun

Beef BBQ on a Bun Back when my dad worked at the Iroquois Hotel during the 50’s, it was a very busy hotel and known for its good food. A lot of kitchen help was needed and a lot of the area mom’s filled the many positions as cooks and restaurant help. As the decades changed a lot of the ladies were trained to be good cooks and carried on cooking in other Galt/Preston/Hespeler restaurant kitchens. They were the one’s responsible for cooking up good fare in places like The Knotty Pine, Preston Pioneer BBQ, Moffatt’s, Breslau and numerous other dinning establishments...

Ruby Red Grapefruit Cake

My dad being a chef had lots of his pre 1950’s retro recipes that were handed over to me as I mastered them to his specs. He was more concerned about the flavour quality obtained and was not as finicky in the way it’s final presentation. I like to describe my way of being taught baking by my dad as colonial style. Now don’t get me wrong, my father was a very tolerant baker and over his 40 years as a Hotel Chef taught lots of lady bakers to be personal when it comes to making a cake. The fancier you like if you have artistic abilities or the time allotted standard approach...

Chicken A La King.

Chicken a la King canned meals my mother would sometimes buy for me to eat after school when she worked shifts. I would open and pop it into the oven and simply pour the creamy chicken and vegetables over some buttered toast and it tasted beyond wonderful. I have a chicken a la King major craving to taste that creamy chicken over toast again. I created this one pot dish from stove to oven and it was way better than any of those canned or frozen entrees from back in the day. It was simply scrumptious and it came together so easily. I poached my own chicken and made some...

Welsh Lamb Popsicles

Welsh Lamb Popsicles A good meat market is the go to place if you are looking for Welsh Lamb for Easter So much more tender flavor than Australian or Ontario . Welsh Low-land grazed extra special Welsh Lamb that comes from the lush, natural pastures of North Wales mainly from the Conwy Valley and the Vale of Clwyd. I’ve  followed chef Rick Stein’s recipe for Lamb and this rack will be perfect to refine it to perfection. If you’re a lamb connoisseur like me, this is the lamb other lambs wish they tasted like. I believe as a chef that one must continuously...