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Cod au gratin - Newfoundland style

7/30/2018

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Against all odds, cod au gratin - consisting of cod, cheese, and white sauce -  has stood the test of time and entered the culinary Pantheon. How could this be? Is it just comfort food, raising memories like codfish from the depths of the ocean? Or is it “proper” food, a dish worthy of attention from the most discriminating of palettes? Of course, it’s both. It is, after all, simply delicious.
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The recipe below stays true to the basic traditional Newfoundland cod au gratin. There are, of course, hundreds of variations out there. But I’ve served this one to the most discerning critics: regular Newfoundlanders used to the taste of nan’s cod au gratin. And mine has passed, with flying colours.
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Newfoundland cod au gratin

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Moose stew - Norwegian style, Newfoundland made

2/18/2018

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This recipe was born out of a last-minute Nordic-themed dinner party. Just days before, my friend Alvan had regaled me with the story of his first moose hunt. A story which, having ended successfully enough to land me with several kilograms of stewing meat in my fridge, could be told in retrospective humility. It checked all the boxes of hunting lore: earnest amateurism, a bewildering chase, the breathless moment before a rifle is fired. Afterwards, it was my local Norwegian connection, Kristin, the sveltest sportswomen to have donned a hunting cap on this island, and incidentally the possessor of the hollowest legs I’ve ever encountered, who suggested  - or, rather, told me - that I should cook Norwegian-style moose stew for the dinner party. The next day, three recipes appeared in my inbox, all idiosyncratically translated from arcane Norwegian sources. Alright, I thought. Norwegian-style moose stew it would be.
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Norwegian-style moose stew with Brussels sprouts

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Cooking up a running plan - how to eat for running

11/17/2017

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“What do runners eat?”

Maybe I was just peckish. Or maybe I was subconsciously preparing for my conversion to a “real” runner. Whatever the case, this thought occurred to me shortly after I registered for my first running race in the fall of 2017. The race wasn’t your typical 5k charity fun run, either. It was the East Coast Trail Ultra Marathon, a 50 km race on the sinuous East Coast Trail which skirts the rugged coastline of Newfoundland’s most eastern shoreline. And so in the length of time it takes for a confirmation email to travel to an inbox, I started to question my decision of becoming an ultra-runner. Suddenly weighing heavy on my mind was the fact that I had done exactly no running training whatsoever at that point in my running career. To stand a chance in the race I would clearly have to start running (a lot) and I would have to adapt quickly to life as a runner. Among other things, I realized, that would mean eating the right food.
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Here I am apparently elated during the Cape to Cabot 20km road race in 2017. After signing up for the East Coast Trail Ultramarathon I decided I should try my hand at a few other races first. At this point I had discovered that I had an advantage as a cook when it came to training for running.

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Maple syrup - and how to tap your own trees

3/29/2017

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It’s sweet, it’s sticky, and brunch just isn’t the same without it. Maple syrup is a natural sweetener made entirely from the sap of maple trees during the spring season. Part of the magic of maple syrup is that anybody living in the North Eastern part of North America can easily make it at home from their backyard maples. And by virtue of its DIY-worthiness, I’ve dedicated an entire post to maple syrup.

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In this article I’ll show you how to tap maple trees so that you can make your very own syrup at home. When to tap, what to tap, and how to turn maple sap into maple syrup - it’s all here and it’s all based on my own recent experiments with the fine maple trees of Newfoundland. I’ll also share some tips for purchasing your own tapping equipment (for a song) and point you on your merry tapping way to sweet local events like the upcoming Pippy Park Maple Syrup Festival which will be held in St. John's on April 2nd. 
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My very first batch of home-made maple syrup.

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Seaweed - on collection and cooking

2/25/2017

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Prehistoric plants, aquatic foliage... food?

Seaweeds thrive in coastal waters the world over, from the warm tropical beaches of the Caribbean to the jagged palisades of the Arctic. Some, like the Atlantic wakame
(Alaria esculenta) thrive in the most unlikely of places - among the rockiest, wave-smashed shores of Newfoundland, for instance, where they seem to draw their energy from the winter storms that batter their coast. Defying any sort of reasonable growing season, wakame grows to its full strength to coincide with the last of the winter storms in March. And when the seasons change and the winter storms are over, wakame finally returns without a trace back into the sea, as if the calmer summer months are too dull to be bothered with. 
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Atlantic Wakame waving in the sub tidal zone, exposed during an early February spring tide
And its story doesn’t end here. The mysterious wakame leads a second life: one in the kitchen, where it has played an incredible role in cooking traditions going back hundreds of years. Wakame and other seaweeds are essential ingredients in dashi, the Japanese stock which forms the basis of many of that nation’s favourite soups and stews. It was seaweed that led researchers to discover the so-called “fifth taste,” umami, which has since been found in many other foods like Parmesan cheese and cured meats.
This post is the first in a series about edible seaweeds. I’ll let you know what I’ve learned from my recent adventures out to the frozen beaches of Newfoundland in search of sea vegetables - and what I’ve done with them back at home to prepare them as ingredients for food.

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Partridgeberries - sweet life on the frozen barrens

1/4/2017

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January on the coastal barrens of Newfoundland. It's freezing and blowing to gale. The perfect time for picking partridgeberries!

These little red berries get sweeter with every frost and at this time of year they’re practically bursting with flavour. And because in Newfoundland they grow exclusively on the windswept barrens, they are rarely buried under more than an inch or two of snow. Picking them is like a magic trick: brush away the snow from some rocky outcrop seemingly devoid of life only to uncover bright red little orbs staring back at you - delicious partridgeberries. Sweet life clinging to most remote and desolate of places.

So get your hand warmers and hit the barrens! This post is about partridgeberries - what they are and where to find them. I'll share some inspiration for the kitchen, too. (Even though your best bet is probably just giving them to your nan.)
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Partridgeberries and caribou lichen: treats of the barrens. (For the keen observer, yes, there are some cranberries mixed in here, too!)

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Baking on a snow day - and an epic quest for a ficelle

12/13/2016

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I woke up this morning to something I hadn’t seen since the last winter I spent in St. John's three years ago: a snow day. While looking out my bedroom window in the morning it immediately occurred to me: instead of studying for the next day's statistics exam I could play in the kitchen all day.
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You’re right. There’s no logic there. But the term "snow day" is ingrained in people from St. John’s since childhood to mean a day where the seemingly unshakeable concepts of “deadlines” and “school” and “work “ lose all meaning in a glorious white-out of snow.
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Bakers apparently, see things a little differently, as is evidenced by Georgetown Bakery staying open today despite the blizzard. (Check out the images of Brian as he made an epic quest this morning to get his ficelle.) I agree with the bakers at Georgetown: baking is a perfect snow storm activity.

This post records some notes and shenanigans from inside a kitchen entombed in snow: how to the get the crumb of rye bread just right, how to check your oven for hot spots,  and how to get perfect crust.
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Brian makes his way up Bonaventure Ave towards Georgetown Bakery despite the blizzard

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Cod - and what I've learned from the 'food fishery'

10/10/2016

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“In Newfoundland, fish means codfish and nothing else.”

So goes a passage in The New Founde Lande, Farley Mowat’s loving memoir and history of Newfoundland. I had picked up the dusty hardcover from a used bookstore in Ottawa. Something to read on my trip back home to the island. But reading that passage got me thinking. I had never been jigging for codfish in my life. What kind of Newfoundlander was I? Later I found out that lots of Newfoundlanders these days have never been jigging, but at that moment I was struck with inspiration. “B'y jeezus,” I thought, “I need to go out and catch a fish.” And so that’s exactly what I did. This post is about the Atlantic Cod and what I learned from the Newfoundland food fishery. (Turns out, a lot.)

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Heading out onto Conception Bay on Skipper's boat "Red Beard" from the Holyrood Marina
The Atlantic cod is at home in the icy banks of the North Atlantic Ocean. It’s got antifreeze in its blood. A beautiful fish: leopard spots and on olive green back, white belly and a long elegant stripe down its flank that streamlines it with the frigid water. Five fins that unfurl like the sails of schooners that used to fish for them on the Grand Banks. An idiosyncratic whisker-like barbel sticks off its chin. King of the whitefish, its flesh is the purest white you’ll ever see. From the Vikings and Basques right up to modern North American and European fishing fleets, cod has been fished off Newfoundland for over a thousand years. Cod trade with Europe is what lured the first inhabitants to Newfoundland’s rocky harbors. Which begs the question: is there any single animal more important to Newfoundland than the cod?

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Blueberries - something new

9/15/2016

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There's just something lost in translation in the title “Blueberry Soup.”

But in Finland, where I was born, the word mustikkakeitto is a household name. And despite translating to “Blueberry Soup" in English, it's not exactly soup as we might imagine it. Blueberry soup can be served hot or cold, on its own or accompanying dessert or breakfast oats. My favourite way is served cold in a drinking glass and downed on the spot at breakfast. It's smooth, but it's not a smoothie. It's packed with flavour, but it's not too sweet. In fact, given its versatility, healthiness, and flavour, it's perplexing as to why to appears to have been banished to Northern Europe.

Personally, I think it's time blueberry soup makes the trip to Newfoundland. And if you’ve got frozen blueberries sitting in the freezer, this is a fantastic way to use them - especially if you’re looking for an alternative to the traditional pie and muffin defaults.

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Let’s see if I can convert you to blueberry soup. I’ve put a recipe up here. You can also read the full post about Blueberry Soup by clicking the "Read More" icon.

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Blueberries - why the best are found in Newfoundland

9/1/2016

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I dare you to find someone who doesn't like blueberries.

Blueberries are in season right now, and will be for a few more weeks. What's more, this year is the single best blueberry season in living memory.

So what are you waiting for? Get out and pick them!

​This post is all about blueberries. I'll follow it up later with recipe suggestions, but before that I'll hype up the tried-and-true berry a little bit. I'll explain what's so great about them, why Newfoundland has the best blueberries in the world, where to find them, and share some tips about picking your own.
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It's okay to love them this much.

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    Author

    I'm Erik, the Burnt Chef. I'm a Finnish-born Newfoundlander living in Norway. I have a passion for cooking and a deep fascination for the culinary history of the North.  Simplicity guides my cooking. Time, place, and history guide my storytelling. This is my personal blog about food. 

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