I have added a new vendor to the Great Places to Shop in Kamloops post. I was remiss in not including Gary’s European Sausage and Deli on the original list. Please check it out, and if you have any suggestions of places to try, please let me know! You can find the post here.
Category Archives: Eating In
Food preparation at home
Christmas Cooking Photos
One of the things I enjoy about the holiday season, is having a bit of time off to do some cooking. I try to get in some baking, and then after our traditional Christmas Eve Chinese Dinner (thank you Moon Wok) I settle into cooking for the main event. Here are a few pictures from the last two years.
I am trying to get better at both photo taking and working with the photo’s here, so this is serving as a bit of a practice for me. It is interesting, the second most difficult part of creating content for me is the photo’s. I am working to get better at it, but regardless I hope you are able to find some inspiration in the pictures.
New Recipe – Short Rib Stew
Hi all
So continuing with my sporadic recipe developments, I have posted a new recipe for a stew I have been making for a few years now. This is my favorite version of it, and it utilizes beef short ribs.
It is -25c outside today, so it seemed to be a good day to post something with that ‘stick to your ribs’ quality.
All the best from my kitchen to yours
Scott
Great places to shop for specialty food in Kamloops
As I start this post, this weekend marks the first weekend of December 2020, ahead of what promises to be a very quiet and different Christmas. Work has been extremely busy for me, and the last couple of weeks before we break for Christmas promise to be more of the same.
Kathy was working today, and as it was a gorgeous day and I am spending FAR too much time cooped up in my basement office, I decided to make a trip out to restock the pantry a bit. Coming into the colder weather, the food I cook tends to be a bit heartier and heavier, helps to ward off the cold. So, while working to minimize my travels out and about, I did need to make a few stops.
Kamloops is actually very fortunate to have some truly hidden gems when it comes to places to shop for food. Fresh St Market has just opened up, and they have some great ingredients that you won’t find at the major retailers. They also have a very good online shopping tool and refrigerated lockers outside the store where you can pick up the order. We tried that the other night, and it worked out great.
But today was about some of my favorite ‘mom and pop shops’.
My first stop was Fratelli Foods on Victoria St. I picked up a few packages of gnocchi, but my main reason for stopping there was to get some San Remo balsamic vinegar. I got onto this ‘high must content’ balsamic after a recent trip to Di Muzio’s Ristorante on Victoria St. I will do a post on this kind of balsamic later but suffice to say it is completely different than what you will find on the shelf at any grocery retailer.
After Fratelli’s, it was off to one of my favorite specialty food places, 4 Oaks Oil and Vinegar. I have covered 4 Oaks before here and I very
much like their olive oils and vinegars, but they usually have a very good selection of a specialty pasta out of Oregon, Pappardelle’s. These folks make some amazing dried pasta in all sorts of flavours. 4 Oaks carries a great selection, and I am quite eager to try the Hickory Bacon flavoured pasta!
In addition, I found they now have a great selection of different
flavoured mustards being made in 100 Mile House by Wildcraft Organics, as well as several other products by small manufacturers from around BC. I really encourage anyone go and check out 4 Oaks, you will be pleased you did.
I then popped in next door to Gourmet Greens Produce Market
and took a quick wander. There I came across some pickled Ukrainian sausages by ‘Two Pickled Uke’s Brand’ in Surrey. I have to say that I got them more as a curiosity, but having tried them, I will definitely be back for more. With those in hand and some Blackwells Eggnog for good measure, I was out the door and off to my next stop.
If you have ever ventured to Salmon Arm to the Shuswap Pie Company for their awesome homemade pies, both savory and sweet, then you know how good they are. But during this time when travel is being frowned upon, it is not the best idea to venture to the “home office” to get a fix. Good news is, they have a place in Kamloops that carries a particularly good selection their pies in frozen form. Twin Rivers Market is that place, and they really do have a very good selection. They aren’t the cheapest pies, but they are well worth the money. So, with a Raspberry & Rhubarb fruit pie, a Sausage, Apple & Sage Pie as well as a Steak and Stout pie in my hands, I was off to the next stop.
Last stop was Summit Gourmet Meats to order the Christmas Pterodactyl. Not a fan of turkey personally, but the Chief Taste Tester loves it so I will do one for this Christmas. While there I browsed the case, and noticed they had a tray of Mincemeat. Now mincemeat tarts are my dessert crack, so was intrigued enough to grab a small container to taste test. Suffice to say I will be going back with a bucket for more. Summit has great meat, and I love being able to talk to the butcher and ask for specific cuts of meat cut to what I need for a given cook. They also have great sausages, the Chief Taste Tester is a huge fan of their turkey sausage so it is well worth the trip. With that I was loaded up and headed for home.
*A quick Christmas 2021 update: I still love Summit meats, but they have changed the mincemeat for this Christmas, and unfortunately I am not able to sing it praises as I had last year. It is suet free, so those who are looking for a vegetarian/vegan option may find it interesting however.
*An addition to the list
I was a bit remiss on not listing Gary’s European Sausage and Deli on my list. I am a frequent visitor to Gary’s, they have a great selection of smoked sausages and deli meats. They make much of their own product, and carry a nice selection of imported European foods as well. They are now offering delivery service within the Kamloops area, which is a nice added bonus.
More now than ever, if you have a chance to go past the regular big box grocery retailers and spend a few min checking out these great places owned by local folks, I really encourage you to do so.
Hopefully, this post will help give you with a few ideas of places and products to check out in our home town.
Stay safe and enjoy!
Scott @ SCK
Cooking by Sous Vide
Sous vide cooking was pioneered in the 1970’s in San Francisco. It is a fairly simple concept – vacuum pack the item being cooked in a waterproof bag and place it in a container of water that is set to the temperature that the finished product is desired to be. The Immersion Cooker circulates the water and maintains a constant temperature to provide perfect results every time. There is a particularly good chance that at some point you have had food done by sous vide, they are fairly common in restaurant kitchens around the world.
When cooking a meat such as steak, you select the temperature you want the meat to finish at, and then leave it be. I vacuum pack the steak (usually after a trip thru the smoker) with a pat of butter and a bit of thyme and cook it at 128.5 degrees for 1-2 hours. The result is a perfectly rare / medium rare steak from edge to edge, and after a quick sear on the grill or cast iron skillet to it is a thing of perfection.
The other great advantage of sous vide is your window for the meat being perfectly done is up to an hour or more… not 2-3 min before it is past the point desired. It takes much of the stress out of cooking meats when entertaining, the meat will be ready for 1-2 min a side on the grill, with no ‘rest’ required when the rest of the meal is done. It works excellent for proteins, as well as eggs, custard, cheesecake… anything where a precise control of temperature and gentle cooking will be of benefit.
A vacuum bagger is a nice accompaniment, but perfectly adequate results can be achieved with Zip Lock Freezer bags in most cases. The immersion circulator work in any pot or container, I have a cooler bucket that I use for smaller cooks, and a regular travel cooler for bigger cooks. I cannot impress upon you my intrepid reader on how much I believe in this cooking technique. I have turned a few friends on to it as well, and they are equally enthralled.
There are now several different brands on the market, I prefer the Anova brand, particularly the wifi model which is a bit higher power than its smaller sibling. They seem to go on sale with some regularity, and the discounts can be rather good. I will put a link below for the version that has replaced the model I have.
Here are a few pictures of some of the results I have achieved with the sous vide.
Pork-a-polooza
A couple of weeks ago, one of our local ‘Mega-Mart’ stores ran a special on whole pork legs. I picked up a couple, and tucked them in the fridge for the week. My thought was to do them both up in a big pig roasting weekend, so when Friday night arrived, it was time to get going.
I decided to do one as a smoked pork leg, and the other in a simplified version of a Cuban style roast.
So, first up on Friday night was the Cuban style. I unwrapped the 22lb leg (both were about the same size), and gave it a very thorough rinse in the sink. I chose to go with a recipe I located on line, and you can find it here. I stayed fairly true to the recipe, but did decide to up the flavor with an injection into the meat as the leg can be fairly lean. I cut the skin as directed – make sure you have a very sharp knife as the skin is thick and tough and will be a bear to cut without a very sharp knife. On went the rub, and back into the fridge it went. I then made up the injection liquid, and put it in the fridge to keep.
Saturday morning, it was the smoked legs turn. Again, I went thru the unwrap and rinse process. Then I cut the skin into a cross hatch pattern, about 1 inch square. Then I gave it a good solid rub with a spice rub mix that I did up for it. It then got tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and returned to the fridge for some time to marinade itself.
Jump forward to Sunday morning – I was expecting temps right around freezing, so I decided to go old school and do the smoke leg on the gas grill with plentiful supply of Applewood chips for smoke. What I was not expecting, was this…
No matter, the deck where the grill is located is covered, so not really an issue.
Oh, did I mention it was 5 am?
The smoke leg was brought out to the counter, and unwrapped. It needed an hour on the counter to warm up a bit, before going to the grill. I made a simple injection of apple juice and butter with a bit of salt for the roast, and injected about a cups worth into the leg. I mixed some remaining dry rub with applesauce, and rubbed about half of it all over the leg. Off to the grill it went.
I used a mix of soaked Applewood chunks, and dry Applewood ‘shreds’ as a kindling and started them on the grill over a burner on low, and due to the colder temps, I had to run the right burner on low as well, with a bit of foil on both sides of the leg to keep the direct heat off the meat which was in the middle of the grill.
Next up was the Cuban. An hour at room temp to come up in temp a bit, then I injected the liquid into the leg. Again, it was about a cup of liquid to help flavor the meat, and keep it moist.
It went into a tray and into the oven it went per the directions. This one is much simpler, it is a ‘set it and forget it’ cook in the oven.
Attention then returned back to the smoke leg on the grill. This leg is a bit needy of attention, you have to monitor temps, change wood chips and keep an eye on it to make sure that nothing goes amiss. I went thru about 8 trays of chips during the smoking time, which went from 6 am until noon. I wasn’t using a heavy smoke, so I was able to smoke the longer time without turning it sooty or bitter. I sprayed the chips in each tray with apple juice, and every half hour or so after the first 5 hours of smoking I sprayed the leg with the juice as well.
After about 3 hours, I gave it another light brushing with about half of the remaining apple sauce and spice mix. The remaining was brushed on after about 8 hours of the 10 hour cook time.
Now, cooking any chunk of meat this large is a time consuming process. Fortunately I planned the day to do the cooking, and it coincided with the Barrett-Jackson car auction on TV. Something that I really appreciate having when doing a project like this are my remote thermometers. These allow me to monitor the temp of the grill, and each of the two roasts while watching the tv or doing whatever. It really helps me keep an eye on things, without having to unweld my butt from the couch…
Fast forward a few hours…
About 3 pm the Cuban hit temp. It smelled great, and looked great too. I pulled it from the oven, tented it and let it sit on the cutting board to rest for an hour. At 4:30 we sat down to dinner, garlic bread, rice and grill roasted corn with mizithera cheese, and sliced Cuban pork. I had a defatted the drippings, and concentrated them on the stove. After adding a bit of fresh oregano, it was good to go. I spooned the sauce over the slices of pork, which carried the herb and lemon flavours a bit further. We were both very happy with the result, and I really can’t think of much I would do differently next time.
The recipe I was using for the smoked leg was a bit vague on finishing temp, so I went with pretty much what I would do with a pork shoulder. That was ok, but it did overcooked the meat a bit. I was hoping to get it to pull, which the recipe said it would, but not at 190 degrees internal temp apparently. Next time, I will stop the cooking about 150-160, and then just chop the pork for the pulled pork effect.
I made up a vinegar based bbq sauce for it, and when the pork was reheated with a sufficient dose of the sauce, it did come out quite nice. The vinegar gave it a nice bit of zing, and Kathy really liked the pork with it, and in the end that is what matters. A few things learned, and a lot of really good eats as the result of the time spent.
The final outcome of the weekends efforts was about 25 pounds of prepared meat that we bagged into individual portions and placed in the freezer. They will be super handy on the days when cooking all day isn’t an option, and there is a lot of good food that was gained from a bit less than $60 worth of meat.
Enjoy!
4 Oak Oil and Vinegar
As I mentioned in an earlier entry, I had opportunity to drop by 4 Oak Oil & Vinegar here in Kamloops a few weeks back. 4 Oak is one of the first gourmet specialty stores in Kamloops, and hopefully the first of many. Living in a smaller center, gourmet stores are uncommon, and while the ‘mega-marts’ are starting to carry a selection of specialty items, you can’t get the level of selection, service or knowledge that comes with a specialty shop such as this.
This is definitely the case with 4 Oak. I was fortunate to be able to spend the better part of an hour with Judy, the manager of the store and I learned both about the shop, and the products they carry. 4 Oak is a family operation, owned by a family from Quesnel. They have a shop a Prince George, and then the store here in Kamloops, where they purvey a great selection of olive oils, balsamic vinegars and interesting gourmet items. They take pride in the design and appearance of the shop, and offer the customer a unique experience where you can taste the products to get an idea of what the differences are, and what goes with what.
Judy was very knowledgeable about the products, and took a great deal of time showing me around, helping me play with mixing different oils and vinegars. She explained to me the differences in the various grades of olive oils, and how they can change from year to year and season to season depending on where they come from, and like wine how the year was in that area.
4 Oak works with a supplier out of California for their oils and vinegars, and they offer oils that meet the Ultra Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil standards. More information on the UP standard can be found here. The balsamic vinegars they carry are also of the highest standard, and in an amazing array of varieties and flavours. The real treat of 4 Oak is that with pretty much the entire selection of products you are welcome to try before you buy.
In addition to a variety of sizes available for each product in their lines, there are sample packs available. Depending on which one you choose, they offer a great selection of themed flavours that you can take home to experiment with. If you know a ‘foodie’ and you’re looking for a unique gift idea, this is a great place to check out.
There’s also a great selection of other gourmet products, many of them from around BC. They carry the Pappardelle’s Pasta line out of Denver, which offers some very interesting flavoured dried pasta. I have created a Shrimp pasta dish using their Lemon Ginger Fettuccine that my Chief Food Taster really liked. I will post that one to the site as soon as I have a chance to work thru it and come up with a final draft. You can find more info on Pappardelle’s by following this link. I really liked the product, and I look forward to getting creative with a few other products in their line.
I really recommend that you go to 4 Oak and check it out. Give yourself some time to enjoy the experience, taking some time to talk with Judy about all of the wonderful products that they offer. Don’t be shy to dive in and do some tastings, experiencing the varieties of products and the way that you can mix and match oils with vinegars. This is a great shop, and really worth our support to make sure that not only it does well, but others may bring different gourmet shops to Kamloops after seeing 4 Oaks success here.
My thanks to Judy for all her help, and I hope to see you there!
- Here is the recipe I have created with the the Pappardelle’s Lemon Ginger Fettuccine available at 4 Oaks
OK, that works…
One of the fun things for me about cooking is finding a new ingredient, and then building it into a dish of some kind. It’s a creative challenge, and sometimes you find just the right combination of ingredients that makes you go ‘WOW!’
The other day I had the opportunity to stop in at a specialty store here in Kamloops that carries an amazing selection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars. 4 Oak Oil & Vinegar will be the subject of an upcoming post, but fighting the dastardly Russian website spammers has kept me from getting to it yet – but I digress…
One of the (many) other items they carry is a line of pasta out of Colorado that is really unique. I picked up a couple different ones to try, one of them being a Lemon Ginger Fettuccine. This is a flavoured dry pasta, so it appealed to me as a base for something to create.
Tonight I decided to rummage around and see what I could come up with. Working with what I had on hand, I created a sautéed prawns with white wine and butter sauce to go with the noodles.
One of the most rewarding things for me in cooking is having the one I love most in the world tuck into a creation, and look at me with that ‘OMG’ look in her face – it makes me feel very proud and is all the reward I need for the effort. Tonight I got that look. As we talked after finishing dinner , Kathy said she was giving it a “three yummms up”.
The pasta was incredible, and I think the prawns did it fair justice. I’ve written down the rough recipe, and over the next little bit I will formalize it and post it on the site. In the meantime I highly recommend you take a trip to 4 Oak and check them out. Find something inspiring, and give it a go. And when you get ‘that look’, please share!
Enjoy!
Longing for Summer Smoking
As I look out the window, the snow is gently falling upon the landscape. Maybe it’s my head cold, maybe it’s the fact I am not looking forward to shoveling the white stuff later, but I am seriously longing for summer right at the moment.
One of the things I miss most of the warmer season is being able to get out and run the smoker. With the colder temps here in winter, I just can’t maintain enough heat in the smoker, so until I sort out an enclosure for it it remains a project for warmer days.
I am a member over at the Bradley Smoker Forums, and a member there and his wife have come up with a dry rub that is a huge hit with all there, and an absolute favorite of mine. Jan and Larry have let me reprint it here, which was very kind of them.
So as the snow falls, I am going to just hang out here inside thinking of warmers days and well rubbed and smoked meats.
Enjoy!
Must Haves – Item # 7 – Rice Cooker
Alton Brown is a favorite celebrity chef of mine and he has a basic aversion to ‘Unitaskers’, those being kitchen gear items that only do one thing only. I have to agree with him in most cases. Now, I don’t know how he feels about Rice Cookers as it is by definition a unitasker, but I know that I find mine indispensable.
Generally speaking, I don’t care for ‘converted’ rice, no matter who’s uncle made it. It is quick… and that is about all I will say for it. I much prefer a good basmati or jasmine rice, and a medium grain brown rice like Sunbrown Calrose Brown Rice is even better. But, they take time to cook, and in our 24/7 busy world, that isn’t convenient.
Enter the rice cooker. A good rice cooker allows you to put the water and rice in the machine in the morning, set the time you want it to be ready, and walk away. The result is perfectly cooked rice ready when you want it, all with minimal fuss.
Like everything, rice cookers come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. When I purchased mine 15(?) years ago, it was one of the better ones available, and I needed to go to an Asian kitchen store to get one. Now, they are much more readily available, and of course on Amazon. The one I went with back in the day was a Zojirushi rice cooker with fuzzy logic and timer. I love it, and it has served me very well. When I have to replace it, it will be with another Zojirushi model.
The fuzzy logic bit basically means that the unit detects when the water in the bowl is absorbed, and turns the unit down from cook to keep warm. It also determines the correct cooking time for the amount of rice to ensure that it is ready at the right time. I really recommend this feature. The timer is also highly recommended, as it gives you that ‘set it and forget it’ function.
I have had opportunity use a more basic rice cooker, and it really did do a sub-par job. It was small, and tended to boil over and cook the rice unevenly. Size and quality really do matter with rice cookers.
One accessory that is a great help when working with ‘real’ rice is a rice washing bowl. Any regular rice should be rinsed very well under cold water until the water runs clear. This removes the surface starch from the rice grain, which is left in place makes for sticky / gummy rice. By washing the rice, you end up with a light, fluffy finished product.
If you like rice with your dinners, even from time to time, this is a great investment for your kitchen.
Enjoy!
A new source of recipes
I am pleased to have been able to add a new section to the site. It features a selection of recipes from Cook’s Country, Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen.
There are some great recipes from these test kitchens, and I am a huge supporter as most of you know. If you go to the recipes tab on the main menu, then go to the bottom you will find the page where they reside. Alternatively, here is a link.
You are required to sign up for a 14 day free trial membership to access the recipes, but in my mind it is well worth it.
Check them out and enjoy some great food should you choose to have a go at one or two!
Enjoy!
Must Haves – Item #6 – Chef’s Knives
One of the biggest challenges I sometimes encounter when helping to cook in others kitchens, is not having sharp knives. I will be the first to admit, I am a bit of a knife snob. A bit of one, not obsessive to the point of owning very expensive fine quality Japanese stainless cutlery, but I do love a good quality knife.
There are a lot of technical considerations when it comes to knives: stamped or forged, Hi Carbon or Stainless Steel, handle style, tang style and blade size and shape being just a few. I am not going to ramble on what think may I know about the subject, there is much better information available out there on the ‘net than I could put together here. I do encourage you to do some research before you chose a knife, as you want to make sure you invest in a quality product.
After doing my own research, my personal choice is the Wusthof Grand Prix II series of knives. I feel they offer a good balance of quality, availability and price. They are forged from high quality stainless, so while they take a bit more to sharpen they hold their edge very well. I have a selection of them, my favorite being the Santoku blade for most of my kitchen work.
I also have a Victorionox Chef’s knife, which was my first good kitchen knife. They are also a very good knife, but are a bit lower quality steel so require a bit more work to keep them sharp. However, they are also considerably less expensive, so not a bad choice for the burgeoning knife-o-holic. This is the knife a lot of professional chef’s use. I just like the Wusthof feel and steel a bit better.
One of the things currently happening in the world of knives it seems, is that the traditional 22 degree blade bevel common on western knives is giving way to the sharper 15 degree blade bevel of Asian knives. My knives are all 22 degree, but I will be changing a couple over to 15 degree by regrinding the edges in the next little while. This can be done at a knife sharpening shop, or by using a knife sharpener such as:
Once you have a good knife (or 2, or 10), the next most important thing is to keep them sharp. Dull knives cut cooks – sharp knives slice the food. A steel is super valuable on a day to day basis to straighten the edge, which will make the knife cut better. However, from time to time when steeling the blade just doesn’t get the result, then you need to regrind the blade to sharpen it up.
Then, once you are addicted to your knives, grab a chef’s roll for them so that you can take them with you to spread the word of how wonderful good knives can be!
Enjoy!
Next Up – Rice Cooker