Dad's Rotisserie Pork Roast

Dad's love of entertaining and cooking for crowds has always inspired me. My childhood memories from the cabin are full of large dinners with family friends, usually involving a large peice of meat cooked on the rotisserie. I'm lucky that some of dad's cooking creedos have stuck with me: brown everything (sugar, butter, meat), always use the full fat option (cream, butter, cuts of beef), some recipes take time and the one thing I'm still trying to learn: relax in the kitchen!

I realized last weekend as we were grilling up this roast why Dad always chose it for those summer weekends when cooking for crowds: you can prep everything the night before, then by the time you're a few beers deep, all you have to do to get dinner on the table is sit out on the deck in the sun, looking like a hero as your roast sizzles to perfect doneness. I don't often cook pork, but I remeber Dad's pork roast being as good as beef. I picked this one up from Costco, it could easily have served twenty people, and cost me a total of $30! It came out so juicy and flavourful. If you've never tried it before, it's so worth it, and it's not at all like ham.

I had to trust Dad for this recipe, something that doesn't come easily to me! When he brought out the cumin and curry powder I was weary - told him I didn't want an Indian pork rub, but he just laughed and told me to trust him. What resulted was the perfect rub to compliment the pork. Using the rotisserie was easier than I expected, and I feel as though it's a dying method that no one uses anymore. I'm definitely going to bring it back this summer! We were lucky enough to share this roast with dear family and friends after a pretty classic day at Brereton - a bit of work, walking the dogs, and a lot of shooting the shit at the Kippen's picnic table.  

Grilled Chorizo and White Cheddar

Last weekend was glorious. Sparkling fresh fallen snow, bright blue skies, and campfire cooked sausages; I would never tire of winter if every weekend was spent at the cabin. Dave and I cross country skied out to Pine Point Rapids, close to our cabin in the Whiteshell. At the far point of the 6 km loop there's a warm up shack that's usually stocked with fire wood. When we showed up to the rapids one group was just leaving and had already started a nice fire in the grate outside - a perfect spot to cook up our picnic for two.

Admittedly this is another random grouping of ingredients more then it is a recipe. Without question, the most important take away from my Articling year was the patented move of combining grilled chorizo with white cheddar in one mouthful. There's a good chance that if you've been to our house or cabin in the past six years - we've fed you this. It's become quite a staple among our friends.