ottawa foodies

For those who use semi sweet chocolate chips, Costco currently has fair trade, 51% cacao semi sweet chocolate chips for sale. They are cheap at $10.79 for 2 kilograms. I recently paid $24 a kilogram so at Costco you get twice as much for half the price, plus they are fair trade to boot.

Costco is now selling frozen ALL BUTTER croissants, made by Bridor. They always did carry croissants made by the same company but they were made with something other than butter. I baked a couple up this morning, ate one, and am still licking my lips. We all know that with Costco, what is here today could well be gone tomorrow (the most recent item being fresh pork dumplings) so if you are a fan, I'd go get 'em now. I found them at the Merivale road location.

FYI : Innis Rd Costco seems to be out of Basques charcoal. They do however have ample supplies of foodcourt pizza which is doughy, greasy goodness.

Probably the cheapest and biggest fast food lunch money can buy. $5.06 (tax-in) gets you what you see here -- 1/4 lb hot dog with self-serve toppings, a huge tray of fries, a cup of gravy, and a bottomless cup of pop.

Unfortunately, it all tastes pretty nasty. The tastiest food items there are the most expensive: the chicken strips and the smoked meat sandwich.

Just before Christmas I got 2.7 pounds of Leonidas Belgian Chocolates for $17. This is a fraction of what they usually cost. Also have found great deals in produce - packs of pomegranate arils and morels when in season. And I do not normally enjoy rotisserie chicken (I think most vendors use up old chickens this way) but recently stood in line with about 15 other shoppers waiting for the next batch. Only problem with costco is if you see something you like, buy it, because you may never see it again. And if you ever want a slab type party cake with supersweet and rich icing (I confess I crave this kind of birthday cake experience once in a while) Costco's are much better/cheaper than any birthday cake you will find in a grocery store bakery.

Gosh I love their "no questions asked" return policy! They really don't ask questions!

Last time we were there was about a month ago, and we bought some of the Genoa Salami (2 pack) that we always use for pizza meat. Wasn't til we got home and had one half of it open that we noticed the other half was nasty bad because the package had become compromised. I didn't want to run back for $3 so I tossed it in the freezer til the next time we went.

Then I lost my job and we weren't really planning to go again any time soon - until we got a cheque for $75 from them as money back because we are on the higher-level plan, whatever they call it. The delta in price from the regular membership is a lot less than our annual return cheque so it saves money.

So out we went to blow the $75 - we decided 2/3 on staples but the other 1/3 on treats we otherwise could not afford being unemployed. Anyway, I digress. I walked in and went up to the customer service counter and told her the meat was bad. She didn't care when I tried to tell her that we bought it a month ago and already ate the other half of the package because we'd opened it first. She just started ringing it in, and gave me back my $7 and change for the FULL package! Nice!

I said "That was simple! Gosh I love this place!" And I do, for that very reason!

I have to say cheese is one of the only reasons I keep a Costco membership. They sell large wedges of incredible and hard-to-find cheeses at good prices.

I recently tried one called "Zurigo" (the Italian name for the city of Zurich in Switzerland). It is made by Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser in Quebec (www.fkaiser.com/cheese.htm) and is truly amazing.

The taste is a bit like Oka but even better. The rind stinks to all hell but the flesh doesn't. And it's low fat but you'd never guess that from the texture (12% fat, less than half that of most cheeses). Highly recommended!

The smoked meat sandwich at the food counter (not the one pictured here) is pretty good and it makes use of the single-serve Dunn's smoked meat packages sold in the refrigerator section as well as the triangular (and mis-named) Costco "ciabatta" rolls.

I did something different though... I bought a whole slab of Dunn's smoked brisket in a shrink-wrapped package near the cheeses and deli meats. The hunk of brisket was around $12 and would easily fill smoked meat sandwiches for 4-5 hungry people.

I cut the brisket crosswise into three pieces and steamed them for 2.5 hours. The end result was a gorgeously supple mass of tasty cured meat. This sandwich was incredible! (pictured here)

If, like me, you prefer the uber moist style of smoked meat (e.g. at Nate's Deli) to the more dry product sold at places like Schwartz's in Montreal, you will love this hunk of brisket!

Costco now carries Better Than Bouillon chicken and beef base. The chicken base costs $5.39 for a 454g jar. I didn't check the price on the beef base but I imagine it's around the same.

Costco has both a 2.5 litre tub of semi-solid kefir (has the consistency of yogurt)and a 2 litre jug of kefir (has the consistency of butter milk). I have been using both for since December of last year. Very tasty and reasonably priced.

Costco is once again carrying Basques All Natural Lump this year. The price is unchanged from last year -- $11.99 for an 8kg bag.

I have also used Basques on my egg although I normally use Maple Leaf. I have never noticed any chemical smell nor does it affect my ability to control temperatures. I did find that it sparked more when I lit it compared to Maple Leaf. From what I gather, black smoke is not uncommon once the charcoal has been lit so that should not be a worry.

www.nakedwhiz.com

I can't comment on Basques as I use Maple Leaf which I love, but the above link will take you to a site where they rate various charcoal. This won't answer your questions but you might get some useful info out of it.

I have been burning my first bag of Basques charcoal ( I had a lot of Royal Oak from the last Canadian Tire sale) and I have a few questions for those of you that have used it before:

Do you find that it burns really hot? I find that the temp on my BGE can really get away from me with this stuff.

Do you find that there is a faint chemical smell to the smoke it gives off?

The Egg was clean (ish) but the charcoal gave off a thick, black smoke at one point on a new burn. Normal?

No real complaints but just looking for some feedback.

Thanks!

Basques maple charcoal is available now at Costco at by far the best price around. $12 for an 8 kg bag. (ref: Forum - Charcoal Best Prices Best Brands)

I've been using nothing but Basques ever since trying it 3 years ago. Wonderful stuff!

I tried these out yesterday. For anyone from Manitoba used to Winkler (Winkler)(Shantzenfeld)/Altona (Pioneer) farmer sausage these are an interesting alternative. They are a bit fattier that a tradition farmer sausage and have a maple flavouring (not overly strong).

Just tried these excellent Double Smoked Farmer's Sausages from Costco ($11.39 for a 1.5 kg package containing 8 giant sausages). I warmed them over charcoal until their skins became lightly crispy and the results were great. They are very meaty and not noticeably greasy. Half a sausage would be a sufficient portion for most people.

They come from Harvest Meats (harvestmeats.com) in Saskatchewan.

Costco's Mango Mousse Cake is not bad and the price is very good too. However, I do suggest the kitchen to reduce the sugar level though.

No "roll mops". Looks almost like the photo of the jar I posted, but bigger

Oh, man. That's good to know. I acquired a taste for pickled herring when we were in Copenhagen, and it'll be good to get some here.

Sure, it won't be the same (since the stuff we had doesn't sit in liquid for months on end), but it'll go well with aquavit nonetheless!

Zy, is this 725g of which you speak the stuff labelled "roll mops"?

A large 725g bottle at a really good price - easily the cheapest you are going to find. Brand name is "Feature Foods", and you can usually find it in the fridge right next to the entry to the "big salad room". This stuff is exceptional! I've been enjoying it a lot lately on salad

Costco currently has big boxes of *fresh* chanterelle mushrooms available for about $7. They're from Richmond BC, and require a bit of cleaning, but are very very good.

I just came back from Costco...major restraints required this morning but I did indulge and buy Rillettes de Canard made in Quebec.

OMG! just like in France. I picked up some ACE bakery baguette on the way home and OD'ed on this marvelous duck fat/meat concoction.

If anyone is interested, I found them in with the cheeses, $6.99 for 250grams (I think).Needless to say enough to make yourself sick off of it.

We have a new find at Costco, azumagourmet Calamari Salad! (Chuka Ika Sansai). It is a gluten free refrigerated salad with lots of marinated squid, ginger, bamboo, kelp, mushrooms and other tasty bits. Its got a sesame oil base with a bit of heat. I highly recommend picking it up. If you enjoy wakame (seaweed salad), you'll probably like this.