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Food and drink: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Fussless feeding of your cold, hungry (m)asses

The mountains are frosted white — nearly two feet of snow in the past week and that’s bound to be topped up by the time you read this — and skiers and riders are pumped with the opening of Whistler Mountain yesterday and Blackcomb today.

Sure, we all know there is The B.S. (Before Skiing) of Whistler, as the local museum video reminds us — namely that skiing, and the other “s” sport, snowboarding, aren’t the be all and end all of the resort. But on a chilled day like today, it hits deep in your bones that they are its raison d’etre . And with the Peak 2 Peak Gondola about to swing into action, the concept is only heightened.

So how do you feed your weary self after a day on the slopes?

I sometimes wonder what Joe Houssian would eat when he gets home all knackered. Or Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise — but, hey, those guys have room service.

And sure, you can stop for a Subway sub or a Sushi Village special on the way home, but sometimes you just want to go home, if you know what I mean. So if you’re tired of nuking leftovers or slicing weenies into Kraft dinner, and a homebody of a roommate who loves to cook or a good-natured mom who lives up the street aren’t viable options, then you’ve got to get creative.

Crock-Pots — remember those things from the ’70s? — or slow cookers, if you’re into the non-brand thing, are making a comeback. Think of them as a perfect surrogate mom who doesn’t ask any embarrassing questions but has a great hot meal on stand-by the minute you walk in the door.

You can pick up a decent new one for $50 or less; Value Village carries the original oovy-groovy retro models for less than half that price.

Go for one with at least two timing options — on high for 2-3 hours means, what, a few quick runs? Or low for 7-8 hours gives you a full day swooshing and carving.

Even though they’re always touted as being “energy efficient”, the jury is still out on just how much of an energy saver they are. One study puts a Crock-Pot’s low setting for 7-8 hours on energy par with an hour’s worth of oven use. Another says they are more efficient than using a stove.

Either way, a Crock-Pot or slow cooker will serve you well for certain dishes, say, a roast when you throw in the vegetables, too, so you aren’t using a stovetop as well. And how cool would that be to have a big old roast beef all tender and juicy for dinner when you get home, and you’ve barely lifted a finger?

But one way they will save you, hands down, is the temptation to buy expensive pre-packaged/prepared food, which is often pretty bad both in terms of taste and nutrition. And while it’s nice to eat out sometimes, they’ll definitely let you be the boss of your dining out habits, instead of leaving you stranded in the I’m-starving-and-I’ve-got-no-options loop.

As for size and shape, if you want to do roasts, especially roast chicken, an oval one is nice. I always liked M.F.K. Fisher’s idea of wealth — having a cold roast chicken in your fridge that you can pick at anytime. A Crock-Pot will definitely make you feel like a wealthy woman — or man — with such luxury at your beck and call.

As for size, most Crock-Pot recipes mean you’re cooking with the thing two-thirds full. Depending on how many people you want to feed at one sitting, or how much leftovers mean to you, you might want to consider a 4- or 5-quart one to cook for four people.

And don’t think that Crock-Pots are just for retro meat-eaters. Lots of recipes today for slow cookers are vegetarian, sampling from exotic world cooking that’s as hip as a double Americano: Creole Black Beans, Carrot Orange Bisque and Brunch Florentine are just a few of the tasty offerings from the official Crock-Pot website.

 

CROCKLESS BUT NOT POTLESS

Of course, if you aren’t into appliances or seeking a Crock-Pot shopping experience, a million tried-and-true recipes have evolved over the years to feed the cold, hungry, rosy-cheeked masses back from a day of snow sports.

Whistler Recipes , available from Whistler Museum & Archives, has the following offering from Ruth Howells, about as home-grown as you can get. You can prep it in the morning, pop it in the fridge, then bake it once you get home:

 

Hamburger “99”

1 1/2 lb. ground beef

3 medium onions, sliced

2 cans mushroom soup

4–5 medium potatoes, finely sliced

1/2 c. grated sharp cheese

Pre-heat oven to 350. Cook the ground beef and season to taste. Remove excess grease if necessary. Add the soup; heat till bubbly. Line a greased casserole dish with layer of finely sliced potatoes, followed by half the sliced onions. Pour beef mixture over this. Add the remaining onions and sliced potatoes. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about an hour, or until the potatoes are soft. About 15 minutes before serving, sprinkle the cheese on top and broil to form a crust.

 

And here’s a favourite from my family. My mom used to serve this to a ravenous crew after a day tobogganing. We would have been skiing, honest, but our hills were pretty pathetic in Edmonton.

 

Joyce’s Patio Baked Beans

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. instant coffee

1 tbsp. vinegar

1 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 c. water

1/2 tsp. salt

Pre-heat oven to 350. Mix together in a saucepan and cook over low heat for about 5 min. In the meantime, cut one onion into thin slices and arrange in alternate layers with 2 large (20-oz) or 3 regular-sized tins of pork ’n’ beans in a 2-qt. casserole. Pour over the hot sauce, and cover & bake in a 350-degree oven 45 min. At this point stir in 1/4 c. cognac, rum or a good brandy (not vital, but it sure adds a nice touch), and place 4 slices of good bacon cut into 1-inch pieces on top. Continue baking without a cover for 30 min. longer. Serves 4–6 hungry skiers, boarders or tobogganers.

 

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning freelance writer who always has a couple of tins of pork ’n’ beans on the shelf and doesn’t mind saying so.