whats the food like in canada?
Aug 22nd 2013, 3:47 pm
#61
Assimilated Pauper
Joined: Mar 2005
Location: Ontario
Posts: 40,018
Re: whats the food like in canada?
Souvy, yes, dbd, is right it is all in the timing and practice... since I've moved to Canada...my kitchen is awaiting restoration and I can't afford the lamb! However, you should par boil your spuds (a good chipping potato is best for roasties) at high boil for ten mins, then drain off the water and shake the pan a bit to roughen up the edges, they need to be pretty dry. Put a heavy bottomed roasting dish on the hob, and put a good lob of oil in it...I used to use Goose fat, but I can't get it here, so I use Duck fat here, or I have used Colza, and when it's hot pop your spuds in and brown them very quickly for a couple of minutes, then put the pan in the oven and 50 minutes later you will have great roasties.
(I too am now starving!)
Aug 22nd 2013, 3:49 pm
#62
Slob
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Ottineau
Posts: 6,342
Re: whats the food like in canada?
Can the spuds be dipped in honey-Dijon?
Aug 22nd 2013, 3:54 pm
#64
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 12,830
Re: whats the food like in canada?
We have not starved and cook food at home, so I guess it is not that different. We often go to grocery stores. I have never got into all this going out and shooting your own, grow your own, brew your own hooch. Seems like way too much effort. I did try dive bombing a moose some years ago, but the bugger moved and I missed, nearly hit a tree in the process.
Living off the land seems to have gone by the wayside, I guess there are only so many roots and berries one can take.
I don't give a rats about the price of cheese, although the rats seem to like it, caught a whopper the other day with $5 worth of cheese on a $2 rat trap.
The price of wine and whether you can get gravy granules or squash is of no interest either. Tell a Canadian you want squash and you'll get a vegetable.
I don't shop in the 'British Stores', there is nothing I miss enough to pay those prices.
Move to another country, embrace it for what it is.
Aug 22nd 2013, 3:55 pm
#65
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 47
Re: whats the food like in canada?
We're in Vancouver (Kitsilano). You can bring some food goods over, have a look on the CBSA website (Canada Border Services). I wish I'd brought a crate of coffee and a huge box of Walkers Cheese & Onion crisps!! Not missing anything else (yet). Food is definitely more expensive here but I believe that depends on province and what items the government subsidizes, the cost is balanced by lifestyle though as recreation is much cheaper.
do you just put coffee in suitcase then ? Canada sounds such a beautiful place
Last edited by lyn1972; Aug 22nd 2013 at 3:59 pm. Reason: forgot a word
Aug 22nd 2013, 4:00 pm
#67
Pictou County Superstar™
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: On top of the Green hill, NS
Posts: 4,219
Re: whats the food like in canada?
Another couple of tips to make the "perfect" roast. If you do make your own gravy, which you should, is to use a red wine to deglaze the dish the meat was cooked in. While scraping all the nice bits of burnt stuff into the wine, let it reduce right down, to a third or a half of the original volume. You can chop and mush the onion you roasted with the beef into this mix. Add a bit of flour to thicken and add the water you cooked the vegetables in. Drink the remaining wine during this process.
The other tip is to not use supermarket vegetables. Instead, go to a farmers market and purchase their produce, as it often contains an unusual additive called "flavour". Peas and carrots go well with beef but I'd probably save the sprouts for a roasted bird. Instead, do a cauliflower cheese. If you can afford the cheese.
The other tip is to not use supermarket vegetables. Instead, go to a farmers market and purchase their produce, as it often contains an unusual additive called "flavour". Peas and carrots go well with beef but I'd probably save the sprouts for a roasted bird. Instead, do a cauliflower cheese. If you can afford the cheese.
Aug 22nd 2013, 4:03 pm
#68
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 404
Re: whats the food like in canada?
Aug 22nd 2013, 4:03 pm
#69
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Dec 2008
Location: Winnipeg
Posts: 1,497
Re: whats the food like in canada?
Just out of interest Aviator, if/when you lived in Britain did you only ever eat British food and never try any other form of cuisine (i.e. Chinese, Indian, Italian, French, etc. etc. etc.)?
Must we live on a diet of only Canadian food now we live here, according to you?
Or can we embrace some parts of Canadian life and still indulge in things from another country along the way?
Must we live on a diet of only Canadian food now we live here, according to you?
Or can we embrace some parts of Canadian life and still indulge in things from another country along the way?
Aug 22nd 2013, 4:04 pm
#70
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 47
Re: whats the food like in canada?
Another couple of tips to make the "perfect" roast. If you do make your own gravy, which you should, is to use a red wine to deglaze the dish the meat was cooked in. While scraping all the nice bits of burnt stuff into the wine, let it reduce right down, to a third or a half of the original volume. You can chop and mush the onion you roasted with the beef into this mix. Add a bit of flour to thicken and add the water you cooked the vegetables in. Drink the remaining wine during this process.
The other tip is to not use supermarket vegetables. Instead, go to a farmers market and purchase their produce, as it often contains an unusual additive called "flavour". Peas and carrots go well with beef but I'd probably save the sprouts for a roasted bird. Instead, do a cauliflower cheese. If you can afford the cheese.
The other tip is to not use supermarket vegetables. Instead, go to a farmers market and purchase their produce, as it often contains an unusual additive called "flavour". Peas and carrots go well with beef but I'd probably save the sprouts for a roasted bird. Instead, do a cauliflower cheese. If you can afford the cheese.
Aug 22nd 2013, 4:04 pm
#71
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Re: whats the food like in canada?
It's probably better in Calgary, the lobsters are shipped live and the beef is going to be prime. I saw a travelogue that included a trip to a 'destination' seafood cafe in NS and I wouldn't mind going there at all, I'm a lobster fan! We used to have lobster night at the bar back in the '80s, get cases flown in from Pictou Island Fisherman's Co-op and boil them up out on the roof on Coleman stoves. Iirc $25 paid for 2 big lobsters and a bottle of red. 
That was a great event to volunteer at the bar as we got the leftover lobsters.
That was a great event to volunteer at the bar as we got the leftover lobsters.Of course, hereabouts, one can buy fresh lobster in the supermarket from a big tank. Personally I don't see the attraction but each to their own.
Aug 22nd 2013, 4:07 pm
#73
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 47
Re: whats the food like in canada?
Just out of interest Aviator, if/when you lived in Britain did you only ever eat British food and never try any other form of cuisine (i.e. Chinese, Indian, Italian, French, etc. etc. etc.)?
Must we live on a diet of only Canadian food now we live here, according to you?
Or can we embrace some parts of Canadian life and still indulge in things from another country along the way?
Must we live on a diet of only Canadian food now we live here, according to you?
Or can we embrace some parts of Canadian life and still indulge in things from another country along the way?
Aug 22nd 2013, 4:09 pm
#74
Bon Vivant
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2,956
Re: whats the food like in canada?
It's probably better in Calgary, the lobsters are shipped live and the beef is going to be prime. I saw a travelogue that included a trip to a 'destination' seafood cafe in NS and I wouldn't mind going there at all, I'm a lobster fan! We used to have lobster night at the bar back in the '80s, get cases flown in from Pictou Island Fisherman's Co-op and boil them up out on the roof on Coleman stoves. Iirc $25 paid for 2 big lobsters and a bottle of red. That was a great event to volunteer at the bar as we got the leftover lobsters.
That was a great event to volunteer at the bar as we got the leftover lobsters.
BTW lobster is $6 a lb at the local Superstore this week.
Aug 22nd 2013, 4:10 pm
#75
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 47
Re: whats the food like in canada?
[QUOTE=Aviator;10864054]I would leave it in the jar, otherwise you may get a CBSA dog sniffing around your suitcase, then a back room and rubber glove
rubber glove 
cant say id like that lol
rubber glove cant say id like that lol