-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Jim Weller <=-

 JW> Chinese-Canadian restaurant ... shrimp curry ... that Roslind
 JW> likes a lot.

 ML> Not all inauthentic abominations are bad-tasting.
 
Some are in fact an improvement over the original dish. Not
necessarily the "Red Apple" shrimp curry though.

 JW> Sadly neither the bar nor the restaurant survived very long.
 JW> The location killed them. They were in a roadhouse a few miles
 JW> out of town

 ML> Okay, how did they manage to establish in the
 ML> roadhouse, and why did the roadhouse exist in
 ML> the first place. One would expect that such a
 ML> facility be at least half a day's journey away
 ML> from  settlement. Okay, if it was old enough,
 ML> that might have been by horse, so not that far.
 
It wasn't a true roadhouse in the original sense of the word. It was
merely on a highway at a major junction slightly outside of a town.
A major construction company that had become a fairly diversified
property owner (a mobile home park, the town's movie theatre, the
only liquor store and the best hotel downtown which housed the best
restaurant (the Back Eddy Steakhouse whose bottled seasoning salt I
have mentioned here) owned a large parcel of land that was zoned
industrial. They managed to get it re-zoned and it was less than one
tenth the cost of commercial land in town. The town's economy was
expanding thanks to the diamond mines, just like Yellowknife's, so
they thought it was a good idea to have a second hotel along with
another restaurant and a bar. It worked for while until the 2008
recession. Both hotels were running at under 50% capacity. The two
bars and two restaurants were all struggling as well. So the owners
shut down one of the establishments to save the other one. My
relatives came out of it not too badly. By mutual agreement the lease
was cancelled, some back rent forgiven and the hotel owner took over
the balance on the installment loans on the fixtures and equipment.
So although they didn't get anything for the FFE the stuff wasn't
repossessed and their credit ratings remained intact.

Since then the place has reopened a few times as a short term
construction camp with the hotel rooms used by contractors'
employees, the kitchen and dining room became the dining hall and the
bar re-purposed as a rec hall with wireless internet, computer desks,
a super large TV screen, ping pong and pool tables etc (but no booze).

The yard is full of parked gravel trucks, loaders, dozers and so on
along with a couple of shop buildings and garages.

My last tourtiere recipe. The turmeric in the pastry is a nice touch
and the pickled beets are de rigueur. (Roslind says, so is green
tomato chow chow!)

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
 
      Title: Tourtiere a Mon Arriere Grand-Mere (Michel Boucher)
 Categories: Canadian, Pork, Pies, Tnt, Groundmeat
      Yield: 6 Servings
 
      1 lb Ground pork
      1 sm Clove of garlic, minced
      1 sm Onion, minced
    1/2 ts Salt
           White pepper
           Savory
           Ground
           Cloves
           Small amount of water
           Pastry:
      2 c  All-purpose flour
      1 ts Salt
    1/2 ts Baking soda
      1 pn Turmeric
    1/4 ts Savory
    1/2 c  Pure lard
    1/3 c  Ice water
    1/3 c  Butter
           Serve with:
           Pickled beets
 
  Although, technically, you can have tourtiere contain any sort of
  meat (beef, pork, veal, beaver, salmon, etc.), the traditional
  winter dish is made with only ground pork.
  
  Count 1 lb of not too lean ground pork per tourtiere (you want
  more than 10% fat...I have found that that's too lean).  Mix meat,
  per lb, with: one small clove of garlic, minced, one small onion,
  minced, 1/2 tsp salt, white pepper/savory/ground cloves to taste,
  roughly 1/4 tsp per lb. (in other words, taste the meat; this has
  to be achieved by experimentation as usually you will be making
  more than 1 lb of meat at a time), a small amount of water (as
  much as fits into your hand - it keeps the meat tender and helps
  to steam it a bit as well as browning it)
  
  Saute the meat gently until it is lightly browned, no pink, and very
  little liquid is left (if it looks like it will cook too long while
  waiting for the liquid to evaporate, drain some it). Place into
  prepared pie plates. Bake in 350F oven for 30-45 minutes, until
  surface is browned. Serve with pickled beets.
  
  As you can see, it isn't a precise thing. Also, always use white
  pepper (if you don't already) in preparing any dish.  Black pepper
  is fine for the table, but white pepper is best for flavouring
  during the cooking. The water trick is common when cooking pork.
  It keeps the meat from hardening in the cooking process.  I also
  use a few judicious handfuls of water in pork meat when making
  ragout de boulettes (or as it's sometimes called "ragout de
  patte") and the meat is always VERY tender.
  
  Keep in mind that a tourtiere is not a very strong tasting dish.
  However, it should be fragrant when coming out of the oven.
  
  For a very good crust, Madame Benoit offers the following:

  Stir the flour, salt, baking soda, turmeric and savory together in a
  bowl. Cut in the lard, or mix with a pastry blender or two knives
  until the particles are about the size of peas.  Add ice water by the
  tablespoon (15 mL), stirring with a fork or the tips of your fingers,
  until just enough has been added so that you can pat the dough into a
  ball. (Since flour varies, you may not need all the water.)  Handle
  the dough as little as possible at this stage.
  
  Roll out the pastry, dot with the butter, and roll up toward you like
  a jelly roll, and roll out again in a flat sheet.  Roll out again 2
  or 3 times.  Refrigerate a few hours before using.
  
  Michel Boucher

MMMMM


Cheers

Jim


... Jim Henson once used Kermit as an oven mitt.

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