Experiment #1

Found my cookbook! And now I remember why I put it away last time.

Ingredients. Access to them. Don't have.

Maybe I'm approaching this from the wrong end. Maybe I need to write a cookbook using only ingredients available in places like Thompson or Gimli Manitoba. Brandy-soaked Chicken, Ground Beef in Red Wine, Sherry and a Loaf of Bread. Eh, maybe not.

Yeah, I'm making it sound worse than it actually is, but fresh vanilla beans are a little hard to come by up here, as is celeriac, fresh sea scallops, lemon grass, crayfish, kaffir lime leaves and guinea fowl.

Maybe I've just got the wrong cookbook.

So yesterday, with food supplies dwindling, I decided to make Mac and Cheese, from scratch (didn't have any of the boxed stuff) for the boys for lunch. Which reminded me of the second reason I put away the cookbooks.

Anyway, I hit my favourite internet recipe sites, just to find out the basics. That's generally how I cook. I look up three or four recipes for whatever it is I have to cook, to find out cooking times, basic common ingredients and basic common ratios. And then I make it my own.

Yesterday, for example, I looked up a few mac and cheese recipes and learned that I needed about 8 oz of cheese, two tablespoons of butter and half a cup of cream for the basic mix.

I boiled up the mac and then added about six ounces of marble cheddar, four ounces of smoked peppercorn gouda, half a cup of cream (18%), the butter and some blue cheese salad dressing. Sounds pretty good, eh?

Well, Sonwun took one look at it and said he didn't like it, even with the ketchup on it. He loves ketchup.

Sontoo, on the other hand, dug right in.

It wasn't bad, but I'll admit it wasn't great. It was a tad bland. I mean once you've had the chemically enhanced cheese flavour of Kraft Dinner, there's no going back, is there? And using whole wheat macaroni elbows, as I did, only makes it a little healthier and, again, less tasty than the KD.

I found that by adding chili sauce, the whole thing really came together. I liked it. Sonwun did not. Sontoo ate about half of his portion. To me, that is success.

Anyway, today I hope to pick up a cast iron skillet. I have a few filets of beef in the freezer and the barbecue is a big old ice block right now, and will be for the next five months or so. My internet recipe search has indicated that the best way to cook these bad boys indoors is with cast iron; first on the stove and then to the oven. Must also pick up some bacon for wrapping. YUM!

Anyhoo, that's where I'm at. Have yourselves a great Monday and enjoy the Canada-U.S. Junior Gold Medal Game Tuesday. Should be a great one!