Will Today’s Picky Children Make a Future Duller Culinary World? – Dr. Dusty is in the House!

Chef Dr. Dusty Pettes from Ballygiblin’s original question was:

Question: Do picky children become adults with infantilized palates whose restricted tastes will make for a duller culinary world?

Hang on a second while I grab my stepstool I am about to climb onto my soap box………

Being picky is now being taught, are parents to blame?, is it the restaurant and the competitive marketplace that make businesses  bend over for picky and choosy eaters who believe they can change the menu options to suit their liking, is society to blame for creating a generation of entitled assholes….

For a generation, many North American parents have indulged children’s picky eating tendencies by sticking them in an endlessly repeating loop of chicken fingers, burgers, pizza, plain pasta, mac and cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Anyone who has sat down for a meal with youngsters over the past 25 years will recognize this list of typical “kids’ foods.” Pushed out of the picture, to varying degrees for different children, are fruits and vegetables and anything else that might challenge them, from spicy delicacies to unfamiliar proteins.

I feel that the less meals that are cooked at home and  the meals that consist of microwaveable pre-cooked crap the more likely that a person grows up no knowing how to cook anything more than the simplest of items. It is a shame and I believe that makes the masses become more lazy with their food choices and thus in turn more picky when dining out.

Mealtimes for children were quite different just a few decades ago. As a general rule, people who grew up in North America and are now over the age of 30 recall that when they were children, kids ate what the adults ate. Families usually dined together at the table. There might have been foods you didn’t like; depending on the rules of the house you might have been expected to try them or even finish them.

With the advent of countless convenience and snack foods, from pre-cut fruit that won’t spoil, chicken nuggets pressed into “fun” shapes and food items changed into more suitable colors to foods kids could assemble themselves,  have helped transform the landscape of how food was perceived and help kill the traditional family dinner  even grocery stores have increasingly sold meals that resembled fast food many of them portable and/or frozen and have ready to go hot  dinners.

The war has not been lost, we can change the way we perceive foods as a whole. A few pieces of advice I read are:

Sit with children and serve them the same meal you get. Serve them challenging foods and encourage them to eat, but don’t force them. Fighting about it can create negative associations for that food. Listen to kids’ ideas about what they want to eat, but don’t turn the menu into a point of negotiation once dinner has been decided upon. Involving children in food preparation sharpens their appetites, so involve them whenever possible in grocery shopping and gardening, and let them watch you cook!

Thanks for reading but…

Enough of my opinion, Jamie Oliver called and he wants his rant back!!

Dusty Pettes

#EatCP

My little bakers assistant helping me kneed the dough

In action with her first ever homemade bread dough

Dusty Pettes–Ballygiblin’s

151 Bridge St, Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V6
(613) 253-7400

Balls to the Walls! CHEDDAR STUFFED ONION BACON MEATBALL BALLS – Chef Dusty Pettes

Meet Chef Dusty Pettes

BBQ Chicken

It Ain’t Easy Being Green Thai Curry

Pig Candy — Cooking With Chef Dr. Dusty from Ballygiblin’s

Want to be a Food Network Star?

Dusty Pettes’s Kitchen Confidential

The Soups of Summer — Dr. Dusty is in the House!

Balls to the Walls! CHEDDAR STUFFED ONION BACON MEATBALL BALLS – Chef Dusty Pettes

By Ballygiblin’s chef Dr. Dusty Pettes from Carleton Place   Ok here is a little photo tutorial to make a crazy cheddar stuffed onion & bacon wrapped meatball. It is literally and figuratively quite a mouthful !!!! There are substitutions that can be made using different types of ground meats but I used fresh lean ground from Anderson Farms in Ashton mixed with a little bit of homemade bbq sauce, diced onions and brown sugar, cumin & chili powder. 1.Carefully peel the outer layers of a large onion 2. mix up your meat mixture 3. cut up some of your favourite cheese 4.stuff the cheese inside the meatballs 5.stuff the meatballs into the onion 6.wrap them up with bacon 7. oven bake them until an internal temperature of 75 degreesGreat to premake and refrigerate and then toss on the bbq when company comes over!! Enjoy #EatCP I would say that is Delicious Meatballs for Dummies. Want to see the finished product? As Dusty said: “It is a foodgaszm”! How to pair wine with meatballs? Do you dare? Many Italian-style reds, including Barbera and those made with Sangiovese (like Chianti) have enough heft for the meat. Ballygiblin’s 151 Bridge St, Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V6 (613) 253-7400 Meet Chef Dusty Pettes BBQ Chicken It Ain’t Easy Being Green Thai Curry Pig Candy — Cooking With Chef Dr. Dusty from Ballygiblin’s Want to be a Food Network Star? Dusty Pettes’s Kitchen Confidential The Soups of Summer — Dr. Dusty is in the House!

What the Truck? The Glue of our National Identity is The Chip Truck

Ballygiblin chef Dusty Pettes said on Facebook today:

If the Kingston area is called the 1000 Islands Region I think The Carleton Place area should be called The 658 Chip Wagons Region.

In Ontario, chip trucks are everywhere, yet their place in culinary history is a mystery. Over 63% of a chip stand’s sales are french fries, and if you’re asking for the nutritional breakdown, you’re not their core customer. Did you know chip trucks were illegal in Montreal until 2013?

Montreal finally lifted its 65-year-old, prohibition-style ban on street food/chip trucks in 2013. The Montreal ban on food carts dates back to 1947, when the city banished its “chip” wagons on the grounds they spread litter, flouted traffic rules and unfairly competed with small businesses. Think of the job Creation and Additional Revenue it created in Quebec:

1. 400 new jobs for street vendors
2. 400 new licenses for street vendors
3. 400 new licenses for the push carts
3. A new Quebec government department: Office de la push carte de snack
5. 6 new companies to create “Le push cartes”
6 6. people to investigate how certain “push carte” vendors got the choice spots in Montreal after paying their extra 3%

What is our fascination with chip wagons and those sizzling golden crispy morsels that enfold the fluffy potato inside? Is it be lingering insatiability our Irish ancestors endured during the potato famine? Or perhaps, as Collingwood writer Ian Chadwick thinks, they are what gels our sense of Canadian nationhood.
“There is one single, unifying element that defines our Canadian culture in absolute terms,” writes Chadwick, “a skein that runs through the warp and weft of the Canadian psyche. It’s not our language, not our universal social programs. . . It’s not even the animosity we hold each other in — the bipolarization of English versus French, east versus west, everyone versus Ontario. No, — it’s the chip wagon.”

Chip trucks are “so ubiquitous, so familiar, that people just don’t see the historical aspects,” laments the Canadian culinary history expert. Honestly there has got to be some probably cultural funding for this somewhere.

The pictures from Cravings Food Truck on Highway 7 where yet another Poutine was sampled. Sampling is all I can do now I swear. They have such a unique menu from Newfoundland Poutine, Schnitzel, Nordic Hot Dog, Vienna Burger, Gluten Free Fish Taco that it is worth a stop that’s for sure. Such nice people too! Someone had told me their Poutine Sauce had a kick to it. It’s actually reminiscent of the original french fry sauce I enjoyed as a teen in Quebec on my Patates Avec Sauce. It’s the real deal!

Cravings, 10451 Highway 7, Carleton Place K7C 0C4
TWITTER CRAVINGS FOOD TRUCK

Related reading:

In Memory of Mike Moldowan — The Man Behind the Fries

Flippin’ Sweet — School’s Out For The Summer at Law & Orders!

Treat Them Like Potato Kings — The Potato King

Buds Has the Spuds in Carleton Place!

Law & Orders — A Little Slice of Heaven on The Side of the Road

Where Can You Eat for $5 in Carleton Place on Victoria Day Weekend?

Update: Maryanne L. Oney has closed her chip truck and wishes to thank everyone who supported her. She said it was very hard to close it as I enjoyed it very much and the people who did show loved our food. Hugs to her.

From Kaladar to Carleton Place – The Spud Box is Open!

The Soups of Summer — Dr. Dusty is in the House!

By Ballygiblin’s chef Dr. Dusty Pettes

The only thing I really like about soups is making them. I never really eat much soup, don’t get me wrong stews & chili I love I could eat stew or chili a few times a week and not get bored, but for some reason soup has never been my thing.
Summertime is never a really big time for soups unless you feel like trying some cold soups. There are the so many choices for cold soups that are fun and easy to make for the summertime heat. Here are a couple I have tried and tested.
Give them a try and enjoy some unique and cool (literally) soupsWatermelon & cucumber Gazpatcho

Ingredients

2-1/4 lb (1 kg) seedless watermelon
1 English cucumber, peeled
1 sweet red pepper
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded
3/4 cup (175 mL) diced red onion
1/4 cup (60 mL) chopped fresh basil
2 tbsp (30 mL) lime juice
2 tbsp (30 mL) sherry vinegar or wine vinegar
2 tbsp (30 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt and pepper
1/2 cup (125 mL) crumbled feta cheese
Preparation
Finely dice enough watermelon to make 1 cup (250 mL); place in bowl and set aside. Chop remaining watermelon and place in blender.

Finely dice enough cucumber and red pepper to make 1/2 cup (125 mL) each; add to bowl with watermelon. Chop remaining cucumber and red pepper; add to blender along with jalapeño pepper, onion, basil, lime juice, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, cover and refrigerate until cold.

Sprinkle with feta for garnish

Cool spiced peach soup
Ingredients

1/2 cup (125 mL) sliced almonds
4 cups (1 L) sliced, peeled peaches
1 cup (250 mL) peach juice or mango juice
1 cup (250 mL) orange juice
1/4 cup (60 mL) lime juice
2 tbsp (30 mL) liquid honey
1 tsp (5 mL) ground ginger
1/4 tsp (1 mL) cardamom
1/4 tsp (1 mL) cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1 pinch ground cloves
1/2 cup (125 mL) buttermilk or plain yogurt
2 tbsp (30 mL) amaretto liqueur or apricot brandy
Preparation
In small skillet, toast almonds over medium heat, stirring often, until golden, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

In large saucepan, combine peaches, peach juice, orange juice, lime juice, honey, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, salt and cloves; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until peaches are very soft, about 12 minutes. Let cool.

Ballygiblin’s

151 Bridge St, Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V6
(613) 253-7400

Meet Chef Dusty Pettes

BBQ Chicken

It Ain’t Easy Being Green Thai Curry

Pig Candy — Cooking With Chef Dr. Dusty from Ballygiblin’s

Want to be a Food Network Star?

Dusty Pettes’s Kitchen Confidential

Dusty Pettes’s Kitchen Confidential

When I first got into this cooking thing by a chance meeting dropping a friend off at his part time job, I never expected to learn a trade, start a career or become a chef.

In the early years one of the other chefs told me to read a book by Anthony Bourdain to get a little perspective on the kitchen lifestyle or what becoming a chef really means. That book is Kitchen Confidential, The book on which the short lived tv series by the same name staring a young Bradley Cooper was spawned.

I have actually owned 3 copies of this book, I never lend it out any more. I have read it many times, I always turn back to it when the common feeling of unworthiness/doubt that rears its ugly head in this business gets too heavy. It is inspirational and urge aspiring chef s to give a few good reads, there is also audio book versions for ipod generation to plug into their ears.
Few people on the planet have lived the kind of globetrotting and adventure-filled life that chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain has. Here are some of his rules to live by that have inspired me:

1.) “Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have.”
2.) “If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel – as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them – wherever you go.”
3.) “Don’t lie about it. You made a mistake. Admit it and move on. Just don’t do it again. Ever”
4.) “What nicer thing can you do for somebody than make them breakfast?”
5.) “Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life – and travel – leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks – on your body or on your heart – are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.”
6.) “You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together.”
7.) “Your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
8.) “Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom…is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.”
9.) “I don’t have to agree with you to like you or respect you.”
10.) “Good food is very often, even most often, simple food.”
11.) “We know, for instance, that there is a direct, inverse relationship between frequency of family meals and social problems. Bluntly stated, members of families who eat together regularly are statistically less likely to stick up liquor stores, blow up meth labs, give birth to crack babies, commit suicide, or make donkey porn. If Little Timmy had just had more meatloaf, he might not have grown up to fill chest freezers with Cub Scout parts.”
12.) “Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.”
13.) “Luck is not a business model.”
14.) “There’s something wonderful about drinking in the afternoon. A not-too-cold pint, absolutely alone at the bar – even in this fake-ass Irish pub.”
15.) “Under ‘Reasons for Leaving Last Job’, never give the real reason, unless it’s money or ambition.”
16.) “It’s very rarely a good career move to have a conscience.”
22.) “Without new ideas success can become stale.”
23.) “But I do think the idea that basic cooking skills are a virtue, that the ability to feed yourself and a few others with proficiency should be taught to every young man and woman as a fundamental skill, should become as vital to growing up as learning to wipe one’s own ass, cross the street by oneself, or be trusted with money.”

Ballygiblin’s

151 Bridge St, Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V6
(613) 253-7400

Meet Chef Dusty Pettes

BBQ Chicken

It Ain’t Easy Being Green Thai Curry

Pig Candy — Cooking With Chef Dr. Dusty from Ballygiblin’s

Want to be a Food Network Star?

Want to Be a Food Network Star? It’s Not All It’s Chopped Up to Be!

Life is not all fun and games working in a restaurant. Just because life looks glamorous on the Food Network, is that what it’s like in real life? Our local chef Dusty Pettes from Ballygiblin’s wrote a blog about what life is like in the real war zone of a commercial kitchen. He called it:

What you can expect from working  in a professional kitchen..

A summary of some of the fun ways working in a kitchen changes you. They might not all apply to everyone who cooks, but I am sure there are a few of the things on the list people in my line of work can relate to.

-You’ll almost always have open wounds on your hands and arms.
-You’ll never meet new people because your social life deteriorates into non-existence.
-You’ll find it hard to start relationships because alone time will become a precious thing.
-You’ll lose your social skills.
-Your sense of humour will degrade into the politically incorrect and socially unacceptable.
-You’ll eventually start swearing like a sailor and you won’t even notice yourself fucking doing it.
-You’ll realize all your conversations go back to food.
-You’ll notice everyone you work with starts to remind you of a pirate.
-You’ll either lose a vast amount of weight or gain a vast amount of weight.
-You’ll never ever have a tan ever again.
-You’ll get more tattoos.
-You’ll develop a habit, whether it be coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, cannabis, cocaine, or even red bull.
-Your feet will get destroyed.
-Your back will get destroyed.
-Your hands will get destroyed.
-You’ll always be somewhat tired.
-No matter how many time you wash your clothes they will smell like food.
-you will be pranked and be expected to prank others.
-You’ll have to ask your friends to plan everything around your schedule, which is in complete opposition with their availability, because you never know your days off in advance and you probably won’t be able to change it.
-You’ll usually become very highly strung
-You will not tolerate people’s lack of efficiency and common sense
-You’ll spend the largest part of your life cooped up in a small, undecorated room with poor ventilation, high temperatures, a lot of noise, humidity, no natural light and no windows, with a small group of sweaty people who will become your only social interactions.
-You will work longer hours.
-You will spend all your waking hours on your feet.
-You will not cook gourmet dinners at home. You’ll be too tired, and too fed up of cooking.
– You will be the subject of abuse, whether physical or emotional. Officially, it will be as a test of character. In reality, it will be as a form of entertainment.
– You will end up spending so much time at work that your colleagues will know you better than your partner/family/friends do.
-You will meet and form strong bonds with types of people whom you’d previously never even have imagined sharing conversations with.
-there is a constant state of stress.
-You will never be irreplaceable and will be expected to constantly give 110%.
-You will not be allowed to call in sick for a hangover.
– You will be expected to place your work before any other part of your life in your list of priorities.
-Your hard work will go mostly unnoticed.
-You will be expected to treat your superiors as absolute masters.
-You will work for a bunch of assholes.
-It will become very difficult to watch friends cook.
-You will be expected to cook for family gatherings such as Christmas. Luckily, at least one year out of two, you will be working on Christmas.
-Holidays are not really holidays
-You will have to work many years in menial positions before attaining any level of authority in the workplace.
-The better the restaurant is, the longer the work hours become, the more pressure you end up under, the more unhealthy your lifestyle will become, the more likely you will be to develop a habit, the more competitive the people around you will become, the less sleep you’ll get, the less you’ll eat etc.
-You will constantly make mistakes, and every time you do make a mistake, someone will notice it and make you understand that you are clearly a subhuman because only a subhuman could make such a mistake.
-If you are a woman, you will constantly be the subject of misogynist remarks and jokes, sexual harassment, belittlement and remarks about your menstrual cycle.
-If you are a man, you will constantly be the subject of misogynist remarks and jokes, sexual harassment, belittlement and remarks about your menstrual cycle.
-None of your friends or family will understand what is involved in your work and you will never be able to make them understand.
-You will develop a creepy obsession with knives..
-If you are the right type of person, you will thank your lucky star every single day for the rest of your life for making you take the best decision you ever did and become a chef. And you will fall in love with your job and never look back.

Ballygiblin’s

151 Bridge St, Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V6
(613) 253-7400

Meet Chef Dusty Pettes

BBQ Chicken

It Ain’t Easy Being Green Thai Curry

Pig Candy — Cooking With Chef Dr. Dusty from Ballygiblin’s

Take That Winter! — BBQ Chicken — By Chef Dusty Pettes from Ballygiblins

I love me some  BBQ chicken. One of my most favourite go to BBQ meals would have to be to be some nice fresh and juicy BBQ chicken drumsticks and thighs with some (sweet) potato salad, fresh fruit and of course a few beers.  One of the best ways to get your chicken to retain the moisture when using a dry heat cooking method is using a simple brine. Make it up a few hours ahead of time and then when you are ready to eat the chicken will be nicely brined and this will help keep the chicken moist on the grill. BBQ chicken Time!!! Ingredients Brine: 2 quarts water 2 tablespoons kosher salt 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a large knife 4 sprigs fresh thyme 6 chicken legs and thighs, still connected, bone in, skin on(can use breast but I prefer legs and thighs)Barbecue Sauce: 1 slice bacon 1 bunch fresh thyme Extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped 2 cups ketchup 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup molasses 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1tsp chili powder 1 tsp ground cumin 1 ts paprikaDirections For the brine, in a mixing bowl combine the water, salt, sugar, garlic, and thyme. Transfer the brine to a large  re-sealable plastic bag. Add the chicken, close the bag and refrigerate 2 hours (if you’ve only got 15 minutes, that’s fine) to allow the salt and seasonings to penetrate the chicken.Meanwhile, make the sauce. Wrap the bacon around the bunch of thyme and tie with kitchen twine so you have a nice bundle. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme and cook slowly 3 to 4 minutes to render the bacon fat and give the sauce a nice smoky taste. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly without coloring for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, give the sauce a stir, and turn the heat down to low. Cook slowly for 20 minutes to meld the flavors. Once the sauce is done cooking, remove about 1 1/2 cups of the sauce and reserve for serving along side the chicken at the table. The rest of the barbecue sauce will be used for basing. If you make extra, store it in an airtight container for the leftovers Preheat outdoor gas or charcoal barbecue to a medium heat. Take a few paper towels and fold them several times to make a thick square. Blot a small amount of oil on the paper towel and carefully and quickly wipe the hot grates of the grill to make a nonstick surface. Take the chicken out of the brine, pat it dry on paper towels. Arrange the chicken pieces on the preheated grill and cook, turn once mid-way, basting the chicken for a second time half way through remaining cooking time. Serve with extra sauce. Cooking time will be different depending on the grill but make sure to cook the chicken to 165f or 75c. #EatCP

Ballygiblin’s

151 Bridge St, Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V6
(613) 253-7400

Meet Chef Dusty Pettes

It Ain’t Easy Being Green Thai Curry

Pig Candy — Cooking With Chef Dr. Dusty from Ballygiblin’s

Carleton Place- The Happiest Damn Town in Lanark County

For the Facebook Group:

• The Tales of Carleton Place and Just a Little Bit Farther Up the Line

It Ain’t Easy Being Green — Cooking With Chef Dusty Pettes — Thai Curry

Now that the menu has changed at Ballygiblins and made way for a few new favourite dishes, I would like to talk about one of the recipes that I will miss the most. I am sure to re-visit this one on another menu at another time because It has a bit of heat and is incredibly fresh using a great amount of spices, herbs and vegetables. I would eat so much of this every time we made it. The Green Thai Curry is a rich blend of curry spices and a green thai paste. The paste can be bought at speciality food stores or if you feel adventurous you can make your own.
Keep in mind this is a batch recipe.For the paste puree all the ingredients into a paste
1 tablespoon sliced cilantro roots or stems
1 tablespoon coriander
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons galangal
1/4 cup garlic
1 Kaffir Lime
3-4 tablespoons sliced lemongrass
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup sliced shallots
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
1/4 cup Chili Leaf Optional
10-15 Green Thai Chili PeppersGreen Thai Curry4 lg red onions
¾ bag of spinach
2 cups butter
6 tbsp cardomon
6 tbs coriander
3 tbsp cumin
3tbsp garam masala
12 tbsp minced garlic
5 tbsp salt
3 tbsp pepper
200 gram green thai paste
100oz can of tomatoes
½ lb fresh cilantro
8 cups veg stock

Method

Start cooking the onions in a pot with the butter. When onions are soft add all ground seasonings. In a separate container puree the spinach, cilantro, veg stock and the tomatoes. Add the puree into the pot and bring a slow simmer. Turn off and let cool.

If you have any questions about the recipe contact me at Ballygiblins. #EatCP

Ballygiblin’s

151 Bridge St, Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V6
(613) 253-7400

Meet Chef Dusty Pettes

Pig Candy — Cooking With Chef Dr. Dusty from Ballygiblin’s

Carleton Place- The Happiest Damn Town in Lanark County

For the Facebook Group:

• The Tales of Carleton Place and Just a Little Bit Farther Up the Line

Tilting the Kilt, Vintage Whispers from Carleton Place by Linda Seccaspina is available at Wisteria at 62 Bridge Street, the Carleton Place Beckwith Museum in Carleton Place, Ontario and The Mississippi Valley Textile Mill in Almonte.  available on all Amazon sites (Canada, US, Europe) and Barnes and Noble

Pig Candy — Cooking With Chef Dr. Dusty from Ballygiblin’s

Dusty Pettes is not on the Food Network, but he cooks like he should be. You probably have seen him shopping for produce at our local Farmer’s Market in Carleton Place for Ballygiblin’s on Bridge Street  His idea behind the Ballygiblin’s menu came from wanting to use as many of the great local farmers from the area and feature their ingredients in his dishes.

I think we in Lanark County need to be behind this, as running a farm in today’s agricultural market is now very difficult; to make a profit you have to operate on a massive scale. That has caused a lot of young people to throw up their hands and walk away from the family farming business. Agriculture college enrollment has dropped 75% and there are more people getting out of farming than going into it.

So why should we care about Dusty using our local Lanark County products for Ballygiblin’s?  Yes, because, farming is the base of our country, and without secure food grown by local farmers we could be in a deep mess some day..

So Dusty has agreed to have a weekly column and this week’s recipe is Pig Candy. Nothing but Bacon jam made by slow cooking a combination of bacon, onions, brown sugar and vinegar, then blitzing the mixture in a food processor and putting into jars.  Yum!

Recipe for Pig Candy

I love bacon, bacon is great with anything. I know that might be a little cliche but I am a firm believer of the power of the pig and all it’s yummy bits and pieces. In an effort to maximize my consumption of the swine I started to make bacon jam, yes bacon jam. I wanted it to be a little spicy, a little sweet, a little bitter and a little salty to maximize the 4 flavor regions of the tongue.
Here is what I came up with:

Bacon Jam

Ingredients:
4 lb bacon, cooked and chopped
5tbsp cloves garlic, minced
4 onion, chopped
4 cup strongly brewed coffee
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups apple juice
10 tsp chipotle
6 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups brown sugar
½  tsp white pepper
Method:
1. cook off the bacon and rough chop

2. Dice the onion and cook in a pot  with a little oil. Then add the bacon.

3. add all remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer for about an hour.

4. puree the mixture (leaving it a little chunky)

Note this is a batch recipe and can be scaled down to size.

Chef Dusty Pettes

Ballygiblin’s

151 Bridge St, Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V6
(613) 253-7400

Carleton Place- The Happiest Damn Town in Lanark County

For the Facebook Group:

• The Tales of Carleton Place and Just a Little Bit Farther Up the Line

Tilting the Kilt, Vintage Whispers from Carleton Place by Linda Seccaspina is available at Wisteria at 62 Bridge Street, the Carleton Place Beckwith Museum in Carleton Place, Ontario and The Mississippi Valley Textile Mill in Almonte.  available on all Amazon sites (Canada, US, Europe) and Barnes and Noble