MORE RECIPES FROM LOUISBOURG, NS Canada

Housewives and housekeeps used the same basic methods you and I use today: baking, frying, roasting and cooking in liquids; namely boiling, simmering and stewing. With the exception that they used very heavy cast-iron cookware, long handled fry pans and the spit with its jack for turning meat, fish and poultry.
In the house we are building I'm seriously considering having one of these:

Kitchen Fireplace Spitjack

I'd never have a cold house again!! Especially in Winter.

1700s Roasting Jack

Heavy cast-iron dutch oven

Clean/Season with oil, a cast iron pan

Long handled frying pan

Most of the French who settled Louisbourg came from the Coastal regions of Normandy, Brittany, southwest Atlantic coast and communities near Bordeaux. Bretons and Normans tended towards rich, creamy sauces and cooking with cider and calvados. While those from the west coast cooked with wine. Adaptions were made when certain foods were no longer available or were more expensive than in their native country. A replacement for wild boar in France, caribou became the option in the 1700s Cape Breton. 

A basic recipe and starter for Stocks and Sauces was Roux, what we know today as a thickener.

Roux
Combine equal portions of Flour and Butter! That's it!!

2 Tbsp Flour
2 Tbsp Butter
Mix flour into melting butter and cook over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to allow it to 'brown' before adding another liquid.

Use to thicken liquids like stock, wine, milk and sauces. 

Reducing Method
Allows the meat, fish or vegetables juices to simmer uncovered until the amount of liquid has reduced. This intensifies taste and provides more body to the sauce. 

I made and used the roux with the Chicken en civet I made and it thickened wonderfully without the 'floury' taste you can sometimes get. 

Try this the next time you are making a sauce and see how it works for you.

Catspaw

!! This Is Totally AWESOME !!

Have you ever watched the tv series 24 where terrorist things happen and are prevented all in the space of one hour episodes that make up a day in the life of? I confess to having watched it myself but couldn't get into it. Perhaps I would have if I`d known about this. There was one scene that top military officials in the United States objected to so strenuously that, on the basis that it jeopardized national security no less, the scene was cut and never aired. What was it? It was this:

Deleted episode from TV Series 24

And if you look really closely this cat is wearing a cat collar with bell and its red!  Seems just a little silly doesn't it?  Or does it, given the history of the military's use of cats during wartime. Like this picture taken during the Vietnam War with kitty leading the troops. 

Do you see the Siamese?

Apparently cats proved to be extremely adept at navigating the unfamiliar terrain of a foreign country. 

A program dubbed, appropriately enough, Cats - was born during the crisis of the Second World War and was highly instrumental during the Normandy invasion.

US Troops landing on Normandy Beach, with kitty paddling along side! 

It remains unclear just what role these war time cats played and the US military isn't sharing this information but I'm sure they helped the moral of the troops in a significant way.  

Is this cool or WHAT!

Catspaw