JULIAN ON JERKY

There are some good reasons for making jerky at home.  Of course a major component of DIY projects is saving money.   Making a high quality product is also of major concern.  And by doing things ourselves, we have more control over the ingredients and practices involved in the process thus possibly leading to a product that meets our personal desires and a healthful product.  Regarding jerky, the process is relatively simple and safe, the results can easily exceed commercial products and with attention to detail and methodology, some money can also be saved compared to the price of commercially available jerky.

 Jerky meat is expensive! That's one reason why commercially made jerky is well over $50 a kilo.  What is the best way to get top quality jerky meat at the lowest possible price?  Buy more  meats when they are available at sale prices. If you, or if you know someone who hunts or fishes, take full advantage of a bountiful harvest or gifts or barter opportunities.  When you get large amounts of meat, do your slicing immediately and then freeze it in batches of the size that will fit your marinating bowl.  (For freezing fish especially, see my article The Salmon Are Here....Now What?) Then when you want to make jerky, place the lump of frozen slices in the bowl and pour the marinating spices over it and leave it in the fridge until it thaws and can be mixed. Then dry as usual.  

Try to avoid putting liquid additives into your marinating bowl.  Firstly, most of these will be poured down the drain.  Secondly, all the remaining moisture will ultimately have to be dried in the oven.  There is plenty of moisture for marinating purposes already in the meat and you will find some of this in your marinating bowl the morning after when the salt has drawn it out.  Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce have excellent flavour but are very dilute.  Dried soy flavour would be a better choice if it is available but not if it is more expensive than ordinary soy sauce.  Worcestershire sauce is mostly malt vinegar but I like the taste as well. 

Leave your marinating bowl uncovered in the fridge.  This will start the drying process as soon as possible.

While the combination of ingredients in the marinade does affect flavour of course, and you will make adjustments for your taste as you gain experience, the main object of the exercise is to evaporate the water out of the meat.  Meat is over 75% water and almost all of this needs to be removed.  If you dry your meat with no additives at all it will still taste great!  In traditional times, when the only purpose of making jerky was to preserve meat, the only additive if any was salt.   Increased salting will lead to reduced drying times and greater preservative qualities but it will concentrate salt in the final product and may be more or less desirable to your taste buds. 

 That's another reason why jerky is so expensive.  Like so many foods, you are paying for meat that is mostly water and which literally vanishes into  thin air and IS money down the drain.  I'm a big fan of saving money but I like to pick my battles.   In my blog Tax Free Booze in the Great White North, I rant on and on about how easy it is to enjoy huge savings when making homebrew...the essential point here is that when making homebrew, one isn't beating the industry price, one is beating the GOVERNMENT PRICE.  No matter what we do to our jerky we won't be able to to beat commercial makers by very much because there's not much tax on food in Canada.  But we can avoid the additives and preservatives found in commercial jerky that we don't want.  So is home made jerky cheaper than commercially made jerky? The short answer is yes it can be.....but only slightly.  If one shops for meat at the lowest possible sale prices, doesn't drive too far to get it, buys and uses additives and packaging frugally, air dries his jerky or at least uses a 110v convection oven  AND doesn't put a high price on his labour then he can beat the price of commercial jerky.  

These guidelines form the basis for all my jerky recipes including beef, pork, salmon, turkey etc.

Directions and Basic Recipe

• 2 pounds beef round, brisket, or whatever lean is on sale....the less fat the better.  
• cut it into thin strips as thinly and as evenly as you can... .slight freezing and a thin sharp knife help but don't worry.
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• for fish jerky, either leave the skin on or slices should be around twice as thick as for beef to avoid crumbly jerky
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika and or  chili powder, paste or any or as much hot spice as you like.

1. Place beef strips in the bottom of a large bowl. Pour all ingredients over beef. Mix to assure all the meat is evenly coated.  Marinate, uncovered in the refrigerator  overnight....longer is fine if you don't get to it right away.
2. Arrange the meat strips on a wire rack or perforated tray of some kind and put it in a 70 degree Celsius (158F) oven and place a foil lined tray underneath it to catch the drips.  In a conventional oven leave the oven door slightly open.  Dry at least 4 hours then turn the slices over and continue drying until the desired texture and colour is achieved.   Store in an airtight container or resealable bags.

APPRECIATION FOR FINE PERIOD PIANOS

The pianos that I actually have in my stock are ones that I find interesting for different reasons such as superior tone, a beautiful cabinet, a famous maker's name or some other characteristic that makes the instrument historically significant.
Most pianos that interest me are made before the depression (1930).  The great depression was the watershed point for the piano industry. The overwhelming majority of piano manufacturers did not survive the depression and those that did were nearly broke.  Prior to the depression as many as 200 companies made pianos in Canada.  Only  about 6 continued after the depression and now there are none.  In the USA, the numbers are proportionately larger and they paint a similar picture. 
So the best pianos generally speaking were made between about 1880 and 1930.  They are considered modern pianos because the  parts are standardized and still available and because pianos are made the same way today.  Good post depression pianos are rarer and more expensive whereas pre-depression pianos usually need or have had restoration to some extent. 

It's possible to get an old piano with the cabinet style that appeals to one's taste because styles changed from fancy to plain and back again over the decades.  Like tone quality, cabinet style cannot be changed, nor can it be ignored since a piano is large and the pianist sits facing it.  So even though cabinet style cannot be heard, it must be seen and usually that makes it important.  It is the first thing to look for.


Tone quality is inherent and generally speaking cannot be improved.  It is part of the manufacturing process and is the major thing that skilled makers strive to create.   High quality tone cannot be seen of course, and in some ways requires an experienced and/or educated ear.  Once discovered though it becomes desirable beyond anything else. It is sought second after cabinet style for the simple reason that tone only exists when the piano is played, whereas cabinet style is always visible.

The way the piano feels to the hands when it is played is the third way that pianos are perceived.  The piano is a machine made of wood, metal and felt and there are considerable differences between the way pianos play.  This is called the "action" of the piano.  New pianos run more smoothly, quietly and key response is quicker than is the case in pianos with worn actions.  Also, higher quality pianos have more complex actions and they play better too, just like other machines.

When searching for a good piano I like to have balance in all three of the above areas.  Just a nice cabinet isn't enough any more than a piano that sounds great but has poor cabinet condition is acceptable.

Look for period details that are no longer available today such as ivory keytops, solid brass hardware, top quality rosewood, ribbon and watermark mahogany, birds eye maple and quarter sawn oak cabinets, frescoes, purfling, and other details found on the cabinet and on the gilded plate inside the piano. Note chip carving, marquetry, beveled edges, fancy
fallboard decals and special attention to marks such as serial numbers and makers signatures. 

High quality period pianos were made by craftsmen who specialized in making various components.  Often the key maker would sign his work on the side of a bass note for example.   Look for other signatures and dates on the action, cabinet parts and soundboard.

To find a great piano is more about the work of locating it than it is about the money.  Upright pianos especially are available in the hundreds of dollars generally rather than thousands.  Even a piano that has had significant maintenance over the years and is a fine instrument as well can usually be had for a couple of thousand dollars more or less. Quite a bit of money and effort can be saved by finding a piano that has new strings and/or hammers.  A refinished cabinet can sometimes be a good thing depending on the quality of the work done.  
If you're in the market for a grand piano in Canada, the search  will be more difficult.  The number of grand pianos made compared to uprights is about 500 to 1.  And of those grand pianos made, most are small inexpensive instruments, barely superior if at all to a large upright.  The rule is beware any upright piano less than 48" tall and beware any grand less than 6' long.  Yes a nice Steinway in the 5'10" size might attract consideration....but not by me.  In general, the best tone and quality of construction are found in pianos that fit that simple rule.  Expect to pay between $5,000 and $15,000 for a good to great grand piano.  The best deals are found in the very largest pianos because few rooms can house them and moving is cumbersome. 
A big nicely restored upright should be a pleasure to see, hear and play....a big, nicely restored, grand piano should wow the senses!

WHY IS CANADA A BACKWATER OF THE MOBILE PHONE WORLD?

Trying to negotiate the world of mobile communications technology these days is like trying to kick a field goal when somebody's moving the goal posts all the time and changing the rules during the game.  The combination of choosing the right handset and the right carrier plus keeping the monthly bill down to a king's ransom requires research.  I like my monthly phone bills to be well under $100 and I don't like surprises.  But many of my friends have regular bills well over $100 and of course with data packages and roaming charges incurred on a business trip, running up much bigger bills than a $100 is very easy. 
I was a Rogers customer for 9 years then Telus and Koodo  and now Wind Mobile. Recently, after a big and unexpected long distance bill from Koodo, I've been shopping for a new carrier.  Also, as a discount carrier offering basic service and handsets Koodo doesn't offer much in the way of data packages or web surfing devices. Koodo doesn't permit tethering.  In addition, the CDMA devices lack SIM cards so changing devices is difficult. But keeping the bill under $100 is easy. 
There doesn't seem to be any unlimited data package available in Canada on 3g and 5gigs seems to be the limit across the board.  That package will, after taxes of course, leave chump change, if any, from a $100 bill every month.  Wind Mobile has its Infinite Laptop and in certain areas this may be useful to some.
I started looking for high speed, mobile web access with cutting edge handsets and what I found is that not only are Canadian carriers expensive and offer very limiting data packages and handsets...they offer technology that is dated by comparison to Asian, European, Scandinavian and US markets.  Yes my constantly texting friend!  Canada, known as a communications technology leader lags behind other areas of the world in mobile communications at the consumer level.  The Federal government recently auctioned off a couple more licenses to try and free up the Canadian market because everyone knew that we were getting taken to the cleaners by Rogers and Telus.   But it's been a couple of years since then and not much has changed.   Services offered by the new and discount carriers like Wind and Koodo  are spotty and gold plated packages offered by Telus and Rogers come at nearly solid gold prices.
Splashy ad campaigns try to convince consumers that cell phones are cheap and that service is great but this generally is not my experience.  The companies are all just trying to charge top dollar for splintered voice plans and selling megabits like French truffles.
It stands to reason that developing reliable wireless communication systems using cutting edge technology costs big money, but the big phone companies certainly have lots of money.  In fact it seems that they have so much money that they don't feel the need to invest it in up to date technology.....this is so Canadian...it reminds of the BCLDB trying to limit the selection of products in the stores because the bureaucrats think that the status quo is adequate. While adjacent markets like Alberta have thousands more products available.

 One of the big complaints I have is the "not coming anytime soon 4g network." Rumours about Rogers  launching  it's 4g network in time for the Olympics proved to be just that... we're still not sure which Olympics....it certainly wasn't the 2010 Olympics.   4g web access is offered in 36 American cities but nowhere in Canada.  It's up and running in Norway and Sweden, the UK and elsewhere but not one place in Canada has it.   It's true that 4G is still centered in major urban areas but Canada has major urban areas doesn't it?
Having read the news about the fabulous speed offered by 4g I wanted to make sure my new handset is 4g ready so I began comparison shopping.   Of course the latest iphone is 4g is ready isn't it?  No! it isn't!  the iphone4g refers to 4th generation of the handset.    4g ready iphones aren't predicted to become available until summer 2011. Oh, so which 4g ready handsets are available in Canada now?  Answer....NONE! That's right my chatty Canadian friends....not only is 4g not available in Canada, there are no 4g ready phones either.   Not the  Samsung Epic nor the HTC Evo.  I'm stunned by this.  Nokia, the largest maker of mobile handsets in the world doesn't even have a store in Canada and will not ship to Canada via its online stores.  The N900 is a year old already and Nokia has announced that this the last model in the line.  The N900 is  my current mobile device of choice....no iphone for me thankyou...I had to buy it on Ebay but I it is an unlocked quad band smart phone that runs Maemo 5, a Nokia version of Linux.  NONE OF THESE DEVICES HAS EVER BEEN SOLD IN CANADA! I still get people asking me about my N800 with it's bluetooth folding keyboard all the time because hardly anyone in Canada has ever seen one to this day and it's borderline obsolete!
So what's the problem here?  Do I have to just get a dated iphone like a good little Canadian and pay through the nose for it for years and then get slammed with a whack of stupid taxes as well while my neighbours to the south surf the web at a 100 mbps. 
Hst, 911 fee and and the government regulatory recovery fee......I will do my level best to NEVER pay these taxes.  All bureaucracies should be starved at least half to death.
And while this is going on giant, ridiculous, hippopotamus and bird ads are constantly telling me how fabulous Telus is.  Can anyone tell me that I should be impressed?
I would never buy a laptop or a desktop that was locked to my ISP for three years so why should I buy a phone that is locked to a service provider for MANY MONTHS BEYOND THE AVERAGE WORKING LIFE OF THE DEVICE.  We should be buying the UNLOCKED devices we want and then shopping for a provider that wants our business.  I know we don't want to write $500 cheques for our phones but this is the best way to avoid getting locked to an expensive plan. 
Here's what I want from my governments, the network providers and the hardware manufacturers.   Open market competition between network  providers stimulated by the CRTC's licensing arrangements,  less money spent on flashy ad campaigns and more money spent on upgrading the networks...unlimited data packages....AND A FULL LINE OF CUTTING EDGE HANDSETS AVAILABLE TO THE CONSUMER.  Oh and keep it under a $100 a month, please and thank you.... if you don't mind....and you're welcome.

TAX FREE BOOZE IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH!

Booze and taxes.  Here are subjects that are very important to Canadians....how to acquire the former and avoid the latter.  There's good news and bad news on these subjects.  The good news is that if you are willing to do a little manual labour and research, all your booze can be totally tax free...the bad news is that if you buy your booze at the store, or order it at the bar or restaurant, no matter where in Canada you live, you are going to pay a crushingly high rate of tax.  Taxes on taxes, taxes on retail mark-up and tips on taxes.  With few exceptions in Europe and N. America and none in Canada, one, two and three hundred percent tax rates on all alcoholic beverages are the norm.  Governments are addicted to the cash flow ( The BCLDB counts its profits in the hundreds of millions yearly!) and to a large extent, Canadians still have an historically, cultural, guilt complex about sin taxes and we like paying liquor tax because it relieves us of feeling guilty about drinking booze.  But for those of us who hate paying taxes, especially sin tax on our booze, this blog will explain how to get top quality booze, tax free, with the minimum of equipment to buy,  the least amount of space consumed and the least amount spent in time over all.
There really are only two kinds of booze in the world.  The first is soft booze (beer, wine, cider.)  The second kind is hard booze made from these by distilling (vodka, whiskey, rum etc.)  One must ferment sugar first even if the goal ultimately is to make hard liquor.   For example, whiskey is distilled beer....beer with some of the water removed.
So let's start with soft booze.  No matter what kind of soft booze you prefer, the process is the same.  We mix up a sugar solution and add yeast to ferment the sugar into ethanol.  There's lots of technical info available free on the net about home brewing.   But here's how an urban dwelling Canadian with limited space, money and time can efficiently home brew.
The basic amount to brew most efficiently is 23 liters....that's about 5 imperial gallons.  A brewing vessel of this size will take up 30 cm., that's about 1 sq. ft. on your kitchen counter...but it won't fit in your appliance garage...and you'll need a shelf or cupboard that will hold 12-2L pop bottles. So if you if you aren't prepared to dedicate this much space to your home brewing kit then you should just go to the liquor store right now.  So get a 5 gallon  plastic bucket or glass or plastic carboy (Craigslist has lots)  If you want wine get a kit from your local Ubrew supply store or grocery store.  If you want beer buy 2 cans of malt extract ( 2 beer kits.)  If you want cider buy 23L of apple juice or frozen concentrate. Other kinds of fruit juice, and honey will also work well.   Minute Maid or Welch's frozen concentrated fruit juices are perfect, especially when on sale.  Adding additional white sugar will raise the alcohol percentage.  In any case either mix up the concentrate with warm, NOT HOT, water from your tap or in the case of apple juice warm up enough of it to make it all tepid, pour it all into your nice clean container and sprinkle in the yeast that you bought at the home brewing store or that came with the kit or use bakers yeast if you're desperate and put a clean towel over the top.  Next go to your garbage room or recycling center and collect 12-2 liter pop bottles with caps and wash 'em.  When fermentation is complete ( about 5 days)  siphon the booze into your bottles leaving 2 fingers of space.  To make beer or cider fizzy dissolve a 3/4 cup of sugar in hot tap water in a measuring cup. Trickle it equally into your 12 bottles and put the caps on.   This isn't necessary with wine or if you intend to make hard liquor. Wait 10 days or so and then if it's ready, or if you're ready, chill it in the fridge and drink it.  If you want to take your booze out with you, decant it into another 2 liter bottle and avoid disturbing the sediment in the bottom of the bottles.  I do not remove the labels from my bottles since pop bottles disguise booze nicely when at the beach or wherever.  As soon as your booze is bottled, start another batch.  23 liters seems like a lot but it won't last long and if you don't start another batch you'll run out and start getting taxed at the liquor store.   This kind of booze is totally legal and totally tax free in Canada.   All the necessary equipment and supplies are available anywhere or can be ordered online if absolutely necessary.  It's easy to make beer, wine and cider for about a buck or two a liter! Yes home brewing can be taken to higher levels but keeping it dead simple as I've described will provide basic booze for drinking and cooking at a cost of about 25% of liquor store prices generally...yes that's right....75% less than liquor store prices!
Alright so what about hard liquor.   To make this stuff you are going to have to distill, on the stove top, the soft booze you've fermented.  Just like the soft booze, the best way to start is to keep it simple.   You are going to have to buy a distiller or make one from plans on the net. You can do it with the pot and bowl technique but these are very time consuming projects.   My recommendation is to buy a distiller and keep it in the kitchen just like a juicer.  The purchase of a beautiful and professionally made distiller from Mile high Distilling will cost you several hundred dollars but as Canadians we all know how much a 26er of vodka costs.  If you don't then this article won't be very useful to you. There is a type of counter top, electric, air cooled distiller called Mr Distiller that is available in Canada that has to be the easiest way to make hard liquor in the kitchen.  If you order this distiller now before you start making your wine, by the time your wine has fermented, Mr Distiller will have been delivered and you'll be drinking brandy by the middle of the afternoon...YES my tax paying Canadian friend!  This thing makes a 26er an hour of hard liquor and it's under $300 bucks.  We are trying to keep it cheap, quick and simple here so if your family and friends drink any kind of hard booze on a regular basis, no matter how much you spend on your still, you'll get that money back on your investment very quickly.  Distilling that 23L bucket of 13% abv. wine you just made will produce several 26ers of vodka! Yes my crantini drinking friend...you can buy a top quality home distiller that will make vodka for 3 dollars a bottle.   A full 23L container of soft booze will likely produce around 3 liters or so hard booze depending on how strong your soft booze is at the start. Brewing equipment is one of the best investments a Canadian imbiber can make. Because it eliminates completely all the tax payable on the most highly taxed and widely consumed product in the country!  There's no tax on tomatoes so it doesn't make sense to grow and can yer own tomatoes from a financial perspective....at one dollar per can, it's impossible to improve on the economies of scale achieved by factories.  But beating Canadian liquor store prices by half or more is child's play because the price.....well it's mostly tax.
Ok so maybe getting a Coke bottle full of homebrew and 20 nuggets and going to pigeon park isn't the way to impress your particular date.  Maybe you could lower your standards.  Maybe he/she will warm up to chicken n' hooch.   Maybe tuna sashimi and Grey Goose at the Blue Water Cafe could wait until the economy improves or hell freezes over.
Of course for the Canadian who wants to be truly frugal, the best way of all is to double dip so to speak...first we make our own booze then we drink it in a place that is paid for by tax payers....a public place.  This is the way to truly have a satisfying Canadian night out.   Parks work well but discretion is the key.   Drinking in public in Canada is generally illegal but it is tolerated if we don't flash the containers around.  The problem with drinking home made crantinis in public parks is that it often leads to the removal of clothing which is also illegal in Canada in public places generally and that tends to draw the attention of uniformed civil servants that are paid with tax dollars..... so don't take too many bottles to the park.
Here's one more thing, speaking of hell freezing over which is exactly what  happens every winter in Canada.  If you get a deal on sugar and make a few liters of pure ethanol you might be able to run your alcohol stove to keep warm at the park and boil your hotdogs and dump some in the tank of your Tempo to mitigate the ass whipping that occurs every time we swipe our cards at the PetroCan.....booze isn't the only highly taxed liquid in Canada......but even with the tax it's going to be tough to beat the price of gas with your stove top distiller.
Old myths can be generally considered to be just that.  You won't blow up the place nor will you go blind....probably.   Little to no pressure is produced during distilling nor are poisons produced.  Your hard booze won't be anymore toxic than your soft booze except as a result of over consumption.   There's a lot of confusion about what is and what is not legal when it comes to making booze. Many weird, funny, stupid and Prohibition Era laws remain in force all over the world.  I'm not about to start giving legal advice here.  But it appears to me that if you don't try to sell your booze and stick to drinking it, here in Canada, you'll be ok. If you're discreet and make good hooch you'll be able to trade it for pot...and eggs...and uh....
So if you spend $1000 a year at the liquor store you can save 75% of that by spending an evening or two every few weeks "cooking booze" in your kitchen and also have the satisfaction of knowing that you're starving the bureaucracy.
So why don't all Canadians have a little fermenter bubbling away on the counter, a little distiller boiling away on the stove?  After all it's no more difficult than making bread or apple pie plus doing the dishes and the cost savings are massive. It's more wide spread than you might think.   Most Canadians ARE discreet.  There are home brewing supply shops in most towns and cities and on the net.  Well some mitigate costs by using a ubrew service and  this certainly is better than the liquor store but costs double what home brewing does and will incur the hated HST on the service portion of the bill.  But most of us just don't bother.  Maybe this rant will encourage a few folks to start home brewing...after all, the gov't wants me to homebrew...that's why there's no tax on it!  I'm just being a good Canadian.

THE SALMON ARE HERE.....NOW WHAT

Harvest time always presents the same problem...how to preserve nature's bounty.  When it comes to salmon, for the urban dweller, either canning or freezing will make sure that some of those fabulous, 30 million plus Fraser River Sockeye are available for the months to come.  Of course neither method approaches the succulent texture and flavour of fresh salmon.  Certainly canned salmon, even Sockeye salmon doesn't stand up very well to the high heat processing  and results in grossly over cooked fish.  In addition to this,  if one has to buy salmon as opposed to having a gift or catching it, canning doesn't save money.   213gm cans of sockeye salmon are currently available at the Real Canadian Superstore for $2.00 each.  That's less than $10.00 a kilogram.   Fresh, head off, gutted, Sockeye are on sale for $8.80 a kilogram.....hardly a windfall of savings there for a day of cutting, packing, and canning, plus buying salt, cans and maybe ice as well for transporting.  So, the next best choice would be freezing.  Of course, nothing is simple in life and while one could just buy the bagged salmon and throw them in the freezer, for me, this would result in fish that is flavourless and difficult to deal with later, considering table preparation.  But salmon can be successfully preserved by freezing in a home kitchen setting just as well as in commercial facilities.    But like most home projects time must be on your side.   if you don't have a few hours to dedicate to your salmon, consider just buying cans or paying for fillets or steaks.   The price at the Superstore for fresh salmon fillets is currently about $20.00 a kilogram....is it worth it to butcher one's own salmon to save about 50%?  I think it is but I understand that for many the convenience of prepared steaks or fillets is well worth the extra money.   For the rest of us, here's how to fill your freezer full of West Coast Sockeye Salmon at the best price with commercial quality results.
First of all,  choose small salmon.....less than 2 kilogram fish.   I find it tiring and difficult, not to mention dangerous to butcher large fish bones with a fillet knife.  Of course it can be done.... a cleaver, plank type cutting board  and a mallet will help a lot.  I cut off the tail and collar and all the fins and save them for stock.  Then cut off the tail section from the vent back and split that along the backbone.  The rest I cut into fairly thin steaks.  Filleting the entire salmon by removing the backbone, the ribs and the pin bones is more than I usually do in the interest of time.   Put 5 kilos of ice and 3 kilos of salt in a picnic cooler or one side of the sink.   Put your salmon in your preferred serving sizes into ziplock freezer or sandwich bags, squeeze out the air and drop them into the icy brine. When the salmon bags are frozen,...should be 15 to 20 minutes, put them into your freezer....if you use cheap sandwich bags, use your salmon within 3 months or at least place the small bags in a few large freezer bags to prevent freezer burn.  And that's it!   Now you have quick frozen salmon in serving size portions that defrost and cook quickly and have retained as much of the succulence and flavour of fresh fish as possible.  
Why is it necessary to pre-freeze the the products in brine before putting them into the freezer?   Here's why.   Home freezers aren't very cold and use air to create freezing conditions inside.   They aren't intended for freezing fresh food, they're intended for keeping food frozen that is already frozen.  Putting wet fish or fruit into a freezer that already has other frozen food in it will raise the temperature inside the freezer so much that the other food will get warmer and it could take days for the temperature to fall back to well below freezing during which time ice crystals form and spoilage bacteria form causing flavour and colour loss.  This is especially true of chest freezers.  Above or below the refrigerator type freezers that have the circulating fan can be used for freezing small quantities of fresh food but not if the freezer is already full.  Absorbing the cost of salt and ice and making a heat sink is the best way to quickly and economically mimic commercial freezing processes.  You can save the brine for next time by funneling it into PET bottles or freezer bags and putting that into the freezer as well.  For  ultra convenience later, you can  season your salmon before freezing.  Add fresh or dry dill, pepper etc. Salt draws moisture so I salt after cooking,
Now if you have any money and energy left,  go pick some of those late summer blackberries and blueberries and freeze them in the same way!

SALMON SEASON AGAIN IN PARADISE...THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST

I have to use the term Pacific Southwest as a British Columbian...it seems reasonable doesn't it?  I'll say Pacific Northwest when I'm in the Point...Roberts that is!
I was in my local Buy Low Foods store on the weekend and a cooler full of fresh Sockeye salmon grabbed my attention.  Yes it's salmon season again and it seems that despite last years disastrous and  mysterious disappearance of the Fraser River Sockeye .......they're back in good numbers again this year....we hope.
Head off, gutted and bagged, fresh, small Sockeye salmon were offered at $8.90 per kilo.  That's $.89 cents a 100gms. and around $4.04 per lb. (the country went metric in '76 didn't it?) That's a very low price for one of the world's most prized food fishes.   Consider the price of Blue Fin tuna or Atlantic lobster by comparison.... both would be many times the price.....perhaps ten times the price...even farmed Rainbow trout head on is over ten dollars a kilo and farmed Atlantic salmon even more.  Not having to buy the head lowers the price by about 10%.  It makes good stock but it's useless otherwise except for presentation and for the cheeks.
So for these couple of months, like the bears and eagles of the west coast temperate rain forest, we can feast on Sockeye.  And, while those creatures always eat their salmon sashimi style, humans get to make mouthwatering dishes that range from the BBQ to all the many ways to savour salmon.
One of the greatest kitchen gadget inventions to benefit salmon is the waffle iron type sandwich grill commonly known as the George Foreman Grill.  This item cooks both sides of the salmon fillet or steak at the same time while providing a moist, non stick, cooking environment and even better while cutting cooking times in half compared to a single sided heat source the necessity of turning and risking breaking the fish is eliminated.  These grills are widely available new and cheap or even free on Craigslist. I highly recommend this style of cooking for salmon.
So despite the pressures on wild salmon stocks from over fishing, loss of spawning habitat and sea lice kill, the resilient and fabulous west coast salmon are still there in numbers that permit even those with modest incomes to enjoy this fabulous delicacy.  Speaking of delicacies, my rant last year during the frightening dearth of Sockeye about the much maligned Pink salmon is worth another mention.   The  Pinks are back and the price is unchanged in the last few years.  Real Canadian Superstore
has head off, gutted, 2 fish per bag, fresh, small pink salmon at $0.39 per 100gms.  As an indication of just how cheap that is, consider that a 218gm. can of Pink salmon is in the $2 range generally....that's two and a half times the price and canning has to the be among the worst indignities that can be perpetrated on the little Pink.  Fresh Pink salmon should be first of all considered as sashimi or cooked quickly and carefully and eaten immediately.   Next freezing and or smoking are the methods that in my view most celebrate the Pink salmon.  For Julian's favourite  Pink salmon cooking technique here's a link to my blog of last summer.  In fairness, canning Pink salmon, traditionally, has been the preservation method of choice.  In decades gone by, it was the only way to preserve the salmon for future sale, which all arrived within a period of a few weeks.  There's was no flash freezing at sea.  Small fishing boats were lucky if they even had ice aboard to help them get to the cannery with their catch still fresh. But canning, while it has it's obvious advantages, certainly doesn't preserve the delicate flavour, and succulent texture of fresh Pink salmon.

JULIAN'S VANCOUVER TOURIST & LOCAL BUDGET INTINERARY

In Vancouver for the weekend?  Like any city it's easy to spend a lot of money on sightseeing and miss a lot of the local favourites.  Here's an itinerary that won't break the budget and will still provide the full Vancouver experience.  Many locations are known only to locals and all are local favourites.  All places are accessible by city transit except after midnight. All locations are free, cheap or moderately priced except Sat. dinner.  Click on the links for more info.  The number of $ signs indicates the price levels. 

Thursday
Brunch-De Dutch Pannekoek House E25th & Knight & other locations, see bronze scuptures in the lane behind PriceSmart store-walk
Day- Stanley Park Sea Wall 6km hike or bike-  bus n' walk or rent bikes @ Denman Bike Shop
Happy Hour & Dinner- 4pm Cask nite @ the Yaletown Brewing Co. fantastic brewed on premises craft brewed ales. $$
Later-Celebrities- $$ cab home

Friday
Brunch-Dim Sum/pot stickers in Chinatown, Hon's Won Ton House, 268 Keefer st-bus $
Day- Granville Island shopping & seaside sight seeing- ride Aquabus $4
Happy Hour-craft beer tasting in the Granville Island Brewery-bus $
7:00pm CFLfootball game BC Lions @ Empire Stadium (walk or bus) $20 +/-
Dinner- Players Chop House  
great $$$26 prime rib
Later- Honey Lounge,  $$ W Pender @ Carrall-bus there, cab home

Saturday
Brunch-Bon's Off Broadway @ Nanaimo  iconic greasy spoon diner-bus  go early to avoid line up $
Day-Wreck Beach-one of the world's best clothing optional beaches (includes happy hour)-bus free and $$ beer is available.
Dinner-English Bay Cafe deck, Yaletown Keg roof, Monk McQueens deck (Stamps Landing) Joe Fortez roof Thurlow @ Robson(make a reserv) all bus $$$
Later-Fortune Cabaret.-  $$ bus there cab home

Sunday
Brunch-Lonsdale Quay-take SeaBus $5
Day- Lynn Canyon Park & Suspension bridge hike-bus free
Happy hour- 4pm Real Ale Sunday's @ The Whip Cafe & Gallery great cask/craft ale and VERY good food-bus $$
7:00pm Baseball game-Vancouver Canadians @ Nat bailey Stadium (walk or bus) $12 +/-
Later-Martinis Pizza  whole wheat pie and $8 jugs or $4pints and 1/2 price wood oven pizza @ Yaletown Brewing Co. $ - bus

Monday
Die and fly

Must Do's and Things to consider
Grouse Grind free (North Shore), Alibi Room Gas Town) $$, Simply Delicious Sushi (Main St.) $, Fujiya Sushi $, Bridges Pub Deck $$, Amato Gelato$, La Casa Gelateria $, Tapastrees (West End)$$$, St Augustine's (Commercial Drive) $$, Steamworks  (Gastown)$$,