BeaverTails in Tobermory, Ontario

During our road trip/camping adventure in August, where we camped at Cypress Lake campground in the Bruce Peninsula National Par, we made our traditional trip into Tobermory.  This quaint little harbour village is simply delightful to stroll about on a beautiful summer afternoon.  This was our first time visiting with the grandkids so the village to on an extra sparkling charm as seen through the eyes of little ones!

When our kids were young, one of our stops in Tobermory was BeaverTails, located on the north side of Little Tub Harbour, beside the Blue Heron Cruises Ticket booth.  They have been specializing in unique whole wheat pastries stretched to the shape of beaver tails then float fried in canola or soy oil.  These delectable pastries are served piping hot, topped with butter and a choice of other toppings.

We slowly walked down the hill from the Sweet Shop to Little Tub Harbour enjoying the unexpected warm weather.    We wandered around the harbour, marveling at the crystal clear water dotted with ducks between the boats.  The kids headed up up the hill to pick-up a part for their tent so Grandma and Papa with the two little ones continued walking.  All of a sudden, Little Miss C (age 6) sniffled "I don't want to eat a beaver" which sent Master A (age 4) into immediate distress.  So here we are with two crying grandkids heading towards BeaverTails.  Trying to calm them without ruining the surprise, we quickly made our way closer to BeaverTails when Little Miss C spotted...

...the BeaverTails sandwich board outside.  Now, she is a quick little one who is an advanced reader for her age.  She spun around to console her brother with a "Don't worry A, they aren't real beavers!"  I don't think he believed her but we showed him the sign.  Through the tears a small smile appeared.

Beavertails are a delicious Canadian pastry than can be made at home.  It is more the method of cooking that gets the delicious results.  The prepared dough is quickly dredged through the hot oil on each side then fried until cooked through.  BeaverTails cooks each beavertail as ordered so they are always fresh and piping hot.  Each beavertail is about 10 - inches long, just the perfect size for sharing.

We ordered a cinnamon and sugar (pictured) and a triple trip with chocolate, peanut butter and reese's pieces (not pictured) beaver tail.  Grandma and Little Miss A, standing on tippy toes, watched the beavertails being cooked while Papa and Master C found a bench to sit and people watch while enjoying the beavertails.  Any tears were long forgotten as the grandkids eyes grew big at the sight of the beavertails.  I have the cutest picture of Master C giving the high thumbs up sign, a gesture he uses for foods he really likes.  Talk about cute!  Their parents arrived back just in time to finish off the beavertails. 

Beavertails are a must have when in Tobermory!  If you are in the area, be sure to stop by BeaverTails to enjoy a delicious, piping hot treat while taking in all the sights and sounds of this quaint little harbour village.  I'm sure you will love them as much as we do.

Harvey's Revisited

During our recent move we ate out and had take-out a bit more because it was practical when living for fifteen days between two houses and during the settling in period.  Once we were back from our fall vacation the first week of October, we quickly got into the routine of cooking at home again.  We generally go for wings at Crabby Joes on Tuesday nights and to our favourite English fish & chip restaurant on Friday nights leaving five nights a week most weeks for home cooked meals.  The weather has been getting gradually nastier so we even skipped going out the last couple of Fridays in lieu of have a nice home cooked fish dinner.  My husband surprised me last week by bringing home Harvey's burger and fries.  He seldom does this because he knows I usually have dinner on but that particular night he had a couple of meetings so was running late for dinner.  It's a good thing I didn't have dinner on!

I wrote about the Canadian restaurant chain, Harvey's before.  By far, Harvey's is one of the very few fast food restaurants I will eat at.  Their charbroiled on a flame grill burgers are very much like the burgers we make at home on the outdoor grill.  The burgers are deliciously unpretentious with custom toppings of your choice.  What is really nice is you can order a topping like pickles on the side.  They are quite generous if ordered this way. 

Pictured is the old fashioned cheese burger with fries and dill pickle slices on the side that my husband brought home for me.  He had a double original bacon burger and we shared the fries.  It was a delightful taste of summer on a cold, dreary, rainy evening.

We grill year round but during the months of November and March, the weather tends to be the nastiest.  Quite often it is raining or drizzling or sleeting or whatever else Mother Nature wants to toss at us making it not the nicest grilling weather.  It doesn't help that its dark by 5 PM in November either.  It's nice to have an alternative like Harvey's where the burgers are very close to homemade to enjoy should the craving for a grilled burger arise during those months.  Now the biggest difference between our homemade grilled burgers and Harvey's is the actual burger patty.  Our homemade burger patties are handmade, never flattened or frozen into a pattie so if you want to make one Harvey's style you need to flatten the patty using a burger press then freeze and grill from frozen without thawing.

Ugly Fries

Poutine is a truly Canadian dish, uniquely French-Canadian cuisine.  There are three key ingredients to good poutine.  They are white cheese curds, real gravy not packaged* or from a tin and fresh-cut fries.  When I first wrote about poutine I mentioned that some call this wonderful side dish ugly fries.  In reality ugly fries while they resemble poutine are quite a bit different.

The only thing poutine and ugly fries have in common is the basic concept of topping French fried potatoes with cheese and gravy.  In a flavour comparison poutine wins hands down.  The reason is three fold.  Fresh-cut fries form the base and if you've ever had fry truck fries you will know how much better they taste than the anemic, thin fast food fries.  The potatoes must be fried in pure lard for an authentic taste.  French-Canadian gravy is very dark and thick with the consistency of molasses.  True poutine uses fresh white, cheddar cheese curds.


In comparison, ugly fries (pictured) are closer to American Gravy Cheese Fries.  The fries are cooked from frozen.  The gravy quite often comes from a tin can or a powdered mix.  The cheese is usually shredded mozzarella rather than cheddar but in this case the cheese was a mixture of shredded mozzarella and cheddar.  While the taste is not authentic poutine, ugly fries are quite popular.

*Some in Quebec use a packaged vegan gravy by Warwick.  It is one of the best poutine gravy mixes available.

Pork Loin (2) - Peameal Bacon

If you recall a few days ago I bought a pork loin so instead of making one extremely long post on what I did with the pork loin I decided to break it down into a few posts.  Anyone following this blog will know one of the first things I do when I get a pork loin is to cut a piece for making peameal bacon.  Peameal bacon is a true Canadian delicacy, one we enjoy on a fairly regular basis not only for breakfast but as a low fat, fast cooking dinner meat. 

I cure my own peameal bacon made from pork loin bought on sale.  Even full priced pork loin is cheaper than store bought peameal bacon so curing it is still cost effective.  When making peameal bacon it is important to use a kitchen scale as the amount of cure is dependent on the weight of the meat.

The middle section of the pork loin came out to just a little over 2 pounds.  How's that for guestimating?  I find this is a nice size for a chunk of peameal bacon as it is the ideal size for baking.  When sliced this will be enough bacon for 4 - 6 people for breakfast or 2 servings for dinner with left-overs.

Cured meats hold a certain mystic about them.  Many see the ham, bacon, corned beef and other cured meats as something difficult to make themselves.  However, curing meat is one of the easiest things to do.  There are two types of cure, brining and dry cure.  Brining uses a salt solution with or without additional seasonings.  The meat soaks in the solution for a given period of time to cure.  Then it is removed, rinsed and ready to use.  Dry curing uses the curing salt and for some meats (eg. peameal bacon) sugar is added.  The meat is placed in a zipper style freezer bag then the dry cure is poured onto both sides and rubbed in.  The meat is then refrigerated for the required number of days, turning at least once daily.  Once the meat has cured, it is soaked in plain water for 15 to 20 minutes to remove excess salt then any additional coating is added (eg. cornmeal for peameal bacon).

I use Morton Tender Quick for curing meats.  This is a nice product that gives good results.  It is a mixture of the curing salts and sugars meant for fast cure.  You should be able to find it in the baking aisle of the grocery store with the other salts.  Cured meat is not cooked as a result of the curing so it must be cooked prior to consumption.  Cured meats have a characteristic pink or red colouring when cooked.  The meat will be pink throughout on meat with a full cure.  Once the meat has been cured it can then be smoked but that is another topic that I will go into greater detail as I do a bit of smoking so watch for that topic coming soon.

Caesar (cocktail)

As a Canadian I like sharing aspects about Canada that are unique, especially Canadian cuisine. The Caesar cocktail is a good example of a uniquely Canadian drink. Born in Canada it has remained widely popular in Canada to earn the well deserved title of Canada's National Cocktail.

Caesar (cocktail)

The Caesar cocktail was created by Walter Chell at the Owl's Nest Bar in the Calgary Inn (now Calgary Westin Hotel) in Calgary, Alberta in 1969. It was to celebrate the opening of the new Marco's restaurant. The original cocktail contained tomato juice and mashed clams. The same year with the help of Chell the Mott's company began producing Clamato which is now used to make the cocktail. In the 2000's Mott's began printing the recipe on the Clamato labels including those sold in the USA however the cocktail never caught on so remains mainly a Canadian cocktail. Like so many popular Canadian foods (poutine, peameal bacon, Diana® sauce, white vinegar on fries, ketchup chips and etc) there may be very limited availability in US towns directly on the USA- Canada border but for the most part unless an ex-patriot living outside of Canada makes them they remain as only part of Canadian cuisine.

Pictured is a Caesar I enjoyed at one of out favourite boating haunts. I ordered it extra spicy meaning extra Tobasco® and pepper were added. This drink can also be ordered as a virgin cocktail meaning the vodka is omitted. Either way, the Caesar is an excellent cocktail!

Caesar (cocktail)

6 oz. Clamato juice
1½ oz. Vodka
2 dashes Tobasco® hot pepper sauce
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
celery salt
freshly ground pepper
lime/lemon wedge
1 crisp celery stalk
3 large stuffed olives (optional)
1 quarter dill pickle spear (optional)

Rim a highball glass with the lime wedge. Turn the glass upside down into a saucer with celery salt to coat well. Fill the glass to about the ¾ mark with ice cubes. Pour in the vodka then Clamato juice. Add the hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce and freshly ground pepper. Place the celery stalk or dill pickle spear and straw in the glass. Thread 3 large stuffed olives onto a bar pick and place across the rim of the glass. Serve.

Truly Canadian! - Butter Tarts

A lot of readers have likely been wondering when I would write about another truly Canadian treat - butter tarts. For those who do not know what butter tarts are they are a gooey, sweet filling inside a rustic flaky pastry crust. They are available commercially but trust me on this they are considerably better homemade.

Tart Shells

The basis of butter tarts is the crust. I was always told that cold hands make the best pastry as well as meaning a warm heart. Pastry crust must be flaky! My favourite pastry crust recipe works nicely for this recipe. The important thing to remember with any pastry dough is to not overwork it as that will make. You want to get the dough just to the point that it hold together. Roll the dough on a chilled surface if possible or use a chilled marble rolling pin. Cut the dough into 4 - inch circles (left). Hold the circle using both hands. With the thumb and forefinger pinch lightly together forming a cup then lightly push into the muffin tin. Lightly push the sides to fit the opening. Do not trim the crust! The crust should look wrinkled, uneven and rough.

Butter Tarts

Once you have your tart shells prepared you need to prepare the filling. If you have not tried butter tarts you are in for a real Canadian treat! Just look at how gorgeous these tarts are!

Butter Tarts
adapted from Kate Aitken's Canadian Cook Book, 1965. Pp. 230

pastry for 12 lg tart tins
1 c corn syrup
⅔ c brown sugar
2 eggs slightly beaten
¼ c butter
¼ tsp sea salt
⅔ c raisins
½ tsp vanilla

Prepare pastry and line tins. Pre-heat oven to 232ºC (450ºF). Mix corn syrup with brown sugar in saucepan. Cook over medium low for 5 minutes. Cool slightly. Pour over slightly beaten eggs, beating continuously. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Fill unbaked tart shells ⅔ full. Bake at 232ºC (450ºF) for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 180ºC (350ºF) and bake 15 - 20 minutes or until filling is set.
Yield: 12 tarts