Frugal Kitchens 101 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is our Thankskiving Day Feast.  The Canadian Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the second Monday of October since 1957.  Thanksgiving is the ultimate in celebrating Frugal Kitchens because it is very much a celebration of the harvest. Today's feast menu for six: turkey with stuffing and gravy, mashed roasted garlic potatoes, niblet corn, green beans, homemade bread, homecanned cranberry sauce, and apple pie.

For the most part almost everything on the Thanksgiving table comes from the garden or local farmers.  All the wonderful local produce that makes the Thanksgiving meal like squash, green beans, apples, onions, potatoes and so much more are in season and quite inexpensive.  Turkeys tend to be a bit on the expensive side ($1.95/lb or higher) in Canada thanks to the pricing boards but enterprising Canadians raise their own turkeys or catch a wild one or shop in the US where turkeys can be had for as low as 29¢ per lb.

The real star of the meal is always the turkey and for me a turkey is about as frugal as you can get.  I can get a 22 lb turkey for about $10.50 or less depending on the sales.  That size will give a lovely Thanksgiving dinner for 8 with left overs for a few meals, the carcass to make soup and 14 - 500 ml jars of turkey stock.  Essentially the savings on stock alone more than pays for the turkey (store bought cost for same amount about $20.86) meaning I'm ahead by $10 and all of the meals were free.  In perspective even buying turkey at $1.95/lb that would cost $42.90 is still an excellent value considering half the price can be recouped simply by making stock.  For those who do not can, stock can easily be frozen.  Turkey is one of those meats that just goes a long way all the way around making it one of the most frugal meats you can buy. 

Sanders Cafe and Museum in North Corbin, Kentucky

I do a lot of genealogy and family history so have always been interested in how our ancestors ate and stored foods.  It is especially interesting to see what kind of equipment our ancestors used along with their methods of food storage.  Being foodies we are both interested in the history of foods and that includes restaurant foods.  We stopped at Sanders Cafe and Museum in North Corbin, Kentucky on our way home from our vacation home.  Sanders Court and Cafe is the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The Colonel Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum is located in Corbin, Kentucky off of I-75, Exit 29 then go 1 mile south on 25E, turn right on 25W one half mile.  The directions sound a little confusing but it is only because 25 bends around.  The quaint white building is rather easy to find. It is how the restaurant appeared in the 1940's.   There is a historical plaque outside of the museum that is well worth reading.  This is very much a working museum with dining tables set up amongst the various displays.  Rooms like the kitchen and motel display are blocked off from roaming through with a low glass barrier.  To the furthest side behind the rounded entrance (back middle of picture) is the restaurant where you can order eat-in or take-out.  We didn't order anything but certainly enjoyed looking through the displays!

The original Sanders Cafe kitchen like many commercial kitchens is not large but it was well organized.  Harland Sanders started Sanders Court and Cafe in 1930 where he originally fried chicken in an iron skillet.  Despite being in the trying times of the Great Depression he was quite successful.  He certainly did not use a lot of fancy equipment but he did put out exellent food.  The kitchen obviously was utilitarian with function first.  He realized that frying the chicken in an iron skillet took 30 minutes so in 1939 Colonel Sanders altered his cooking method to us a pressure fryer that would reduce the cooking time allowing him to serve more patrons quicker.  And thuse was born Kentucky fried chicken.

I work with pressure canners and cookers a lot so can really appreciate the logistics of what went into using pressure cookers as a pressure fryer.  Pictured on the top are the two 4 qt Mirro-Matics with single Wisconsin valves.  Both have weights as regulators and one has a custom made metal label for Kentucky Fried Chicken.    The lower pressure cooker is a double Wisconsin valve pressure that was in used from the 1960's until the advent of self-contained pressure fryers.

I mentioned the logistics of using a pressure cooker as a pressure fryer.  Pressure cookers are designed to operate at 15 lb pressure which is one reason they should not be used for pressure canning.  The second problem is a pressure cooker can only be filled 2/3 full so that really restricts the amount that can be cooked in a pressure cooker so at best these pressure cookers could only put out small amounts of chicken at peak time but it would be faster than pan frying.  It just boggles my mind that he was able to achieve this without blowing up a pressure cooker!

These are exactly the same types of pressure cookers I have in use and certainly the same type available to the general public during that era.  In fact very little has changed with the design of modern pressure cookers.  Modern pressure cookers should not be used as a pressure fryer though.  There are specific pressure fryers meant for home use but unless you are frying a lot of chicken they are really a bit on the expensive side at $230 or more for the unit. 

Magnolia Plantation in Tifton, Georgia

There are always so many great foodie finds to discover when on a road trip.  Quite often there are billboards along the highways announcing various food stops of interest or as my husband calls them tourist traps.  It is often better to get off the main highway to find some of the more unique shops but that isn't always possible.   It is surprising just how many great foodie places can be found just off the highway exits!

Magnolia Plantation is located at 35 Omega Elderado Rd, Tifton, Georgia just off of I-75 on exit 55.  They specialize in pecans, peanuts, Vidalia® onions and other southern treats like salt water taffy, pralines, poppy cock and so much more.  There is also a gas station.  The building's facade is that of an old two story plantation style house complete with large pillars and porches.  As tourist traps go this one really is less touristy and more foodie!  Practically everything in the store was either food or pertaining to food (eg. cookbooks).  That in itself made for a lovely spot to just wander through the store to see all the goodies and believe me there was a lot to see.

Pecans were the main feature but peanuts were close as well.  There was a large display of home canned style goodies mainly jams, jellies, and condiments.  Most of the displays were counterstyle and bins although there were a few racks and shelves.  There was a cute open top pop cooler hold glass bottles of CocaCola® on ice.  An abundance of warm wood tones gave the bright, airy store a touch of warmth.  I really enjoyed shopping here.

I will warn you this foodie stop is not cheap though.  A 3 lb bag of pecans in the shell was $11.19 and 12 oz bags of shelled pecans were $6.97.  Jams and jellies were priced around the $6 per pint with condiments in the $4 range which is fairly normal pricing for home canned style products.

My foodie purchases at Magnolia's Plantation  included fresh roasted peanuts in the shell , shelled pecans, powdered peanut butter, Vidalia® onion relish, Ma's Cookin' by Sis and Jake (1986), and Gerorgia Hometown Cookbook by Sheila Simmons and Kent Whitaker (2008).  The grand total came to $51.11 so a bit more on the higher end for foodie purchases.  In fairness though we basically bought what we wanting not really paying attention to the price.  The pecans are a treat for a couple of our kids because we know the grandkids love nuts.  I already have a couple of ideas for ways to use the powdered peanut butter.  If we like the Vidalia® onion relish then you can be sure I will be coming up with a clone recipe to home can as well.  All in all I enjoyed our stop here and it is a foodie place we will stop at again.

Canning At Our Vacation Home - Plout Jam

Part of traveling for me anyways is discovering new foods and regional dishes.  There are very few times that I don't bring home some type of foodie item to try.  Being Canadian living mainly in Canada but traveling outside of Canada presents a few problems bringing certain foods back into Canada.  There are restrictions as to how much dairy or poultry can be brought back at one time but the fruit and vegetable restrictions are the ones that cause the most concern.  Some fruits and vegetables are not allowed while others may be temporarily disallowed.  The last thing I want to do is get to the border with a box of lovely fruit to find out I can't bring it into Canada.  So I have come up with a solution.  I take my BWB canner with me along with any necessary supplies (eg. Pomona's pectin, pickle crisp, etc) and can the food wherever we are.  Since filled jars of home canned foods come with us I have empty jars for refilling for the return trip.  Once canned bringing the fruit back into Canada is a non-issue.  This is working well so I'm considering taking my extra pressure canner with us the next trip.

On our recent trip I discovered pluots.  I simply had to try them.  As produce goes they are a bit more expensive though.  Pluots are an apricot and plum hybrid.  The fruit itself looks like a rather large red plum but without the purplish overtones.  The pit is very much like an apricot.  The flavour is a mingling of the two fruits but more of a distinct flavour.  I cut one open as pictured and immediately thought this would make for a lovely looking jam or jelly.  The flesh is a wonderful, gorgeous almost rosy pink!  The texture is firm yet juicy and the flavour really is quite unique.

Canning outside your normal environment brings a few challenges.  I've canned on camp stoves, in an RV, on the road and now at our vacation home.  Logistically you simply do not have everything you may need when canning away from home.  If you don't have a key ingredient (eg. Pomona's pectin) chances are very good you can't just rush out and buy it either.  This can create both frustration as well as a learning experience in adapting.

I brought exactly 8 tsp of Pomona's pectin with me.  That is enough pectin for 4 batches of jam or jelly.  I brought the monophosphate calcium in the original package since customs on both sides aren't really fond of unlabeled white powders.  What I didn't bring was my kitchen journal with how to make the calcium water but thanks to this blog I was able to carry on.  This is something to keep in mind though when canning on the road.  Make sure you bring your tried and true or essential recipes with you.

The pluot jam just looks absolutely scrumptious in the jars!  It was quick to make taking me only about 20 minutes.  I did learn that the water at our vacation home is considerably harder than at home.  Normally I add a bit of vinegar to the processing water but didn't for this batch and oh my gosh the jars came out almost white!  That will be a mistake I won't be repeating.

Pluot Jam

4 c chopped pluots
2 c organic sugar
2 tsp Pomona's pectin 
2 tsp calcium water
juice of one lime

Wash the pluots.  Rough chop then squeeze slightly while adding to measuring cup to measure out 4 cups.    Pour prepared pluots into large saucepan.  Mix in lime juice and calcium water.  In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and pectin well.  Bring the fruit mixture to a boil.  Stir in the sugar/pectin mixture.  Return to a low boil cooking and stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Ladle into hot jars.  Secure the two piece lids.  Process in BWB canner for 10 minutes or adjusted timing according to altitude adjustment chart for your altitude (please see canning information tab).

Yield: 4 - 250 ml jars