Winter is a time where most of us seem to have more time to cook. The solution to this is a slow cooker, every kitchen needs one of these, you can now find them quite inexpensively at your local department store. Today, Tony writes about one of his favorite recipes, pulled pork.

PHOTO CREDIT - Tony Lacroix, OurHometown.ca

Cornwall - January 4, 2012 - I’m talking about food and all that is related to it. Yes, food is one of my passions! This is my first column and I invite you to come along for the ride on the foodie express and hope that my column will expand your knowledge of the food universe.

What is a foodie you may ask? The dictionary describes is as follows: (fu’ dee), n. Slang, A person who has an ardent or refined interest in food; a gourmet: To proudly carry the name foodie you can not only LOVE food, but also live for it (not saying that you need to eat like a glutton, but cherish the gentle fluctuations of taste from one food to the next). Yearning for a constant new culinary experience is the true calling of the foodie. Generally, you know what you like, why you like it, know why some foods are better than others and want to have good tasting food all or certainly most of the time. This doesn’t mean that you can’t eat cheese puffs every now and again (I at times do crave these), but it does mean that you won’t fool yourself into thinking that it’s a nutritionally balanced meal.

Do you have to know the difference between a English cucumber and a Lebanese cucumber? No, but you might be interested to find out what it is. Do you have to only shop at gourmet food shops or farmer’s markets? No, but you still look for good, fresh and quality produce and ingredients. Are there some foods you just don’t like or weird foods you like? That’s ok - it doesn’t make you any less of a foodie. Just like food, learn about food and, most importantly, eat good food.

Now to the meat and potatoes of my entry: winter is a time where most of us seem to have more time to cook (and we’re normally a little more hungry too). The solution to this is a slow cooker, every kitchen needs one of these, you can now find them quite inexpensively at your local department store. The magic of the slow cooker is that it’s really hard to ruin a meal with it, all you need is to be patient... it can take a bit of time for cooking. This is one of my favorite recipes:

Ingredients: 4 lb pork roast, 2 onions, sliced, divided, 5 or 6 whole cloves, 2 cups water, bottle of BBQ sauce, 1/4 cup of maple syrup, salt & pepper

Preparation: Place sliced onions at the bottom of slow cooker. Stud pork roast with cloves and season with salt and pepper. Place roast on top of the onions. Pour maple syrup over the roast and add enough water to fill the slow cooker two thirds of the way. Cover and cook on low 8 to 12 hours. Remove roast. Remove cloves, bone and fat as well as any water, onions and grease remaining in pot. When pork roast is cooled a little, use a fork to pull it apart until it’s all shredded. Place the pulled pork to the slow cooker. Mix in BBQ sauce then cover. Heat on high for 1-3 hours. Serve on large buns with sides of coleslaw or salad of your choice. For a bread-free option: serve in smaller amounts wrapped in Boston lettuce. Have left-overs of the pulled pork? Add some to your omelet or even better put it in a Frittata!

- Here’s the scenario: you’re back home from a shopping trip where you found THE kitchen gadget that you’ve always wanted, but there’s a pesky label on it and it’s not coming off... don’t worry! All you need is your hair dryer, in a small swinging motion heat the label for about 10 seconds, try peeling it off, if it’s still stuck, heat again (this trick works on most labels).

- Have a grimy wood cutting board? Take a good amount of Kosher salt with a few sprinkles of water, rub in a circular motion on all surfaces and let sit for 10 minutes and wipe clean.

- Have some fruit cake left over from the holidays? Cut it into half inch slices and prepare it as you would French toast and voila! you now have a new twist on a family favourite.