Aversion to buttermilk could be cured by new recipes

As a youngster and even as an adult, I cringed every time my Mother would pour herself a glass of buttermilk and seem delighted in the taste.

She pointed out that my favourite pancakes contained buttermilk as one of the main ingredients and I responded that the buttermilk was absorbed by the eggs and flour and thus the offensive taste disappeared.

I have maintained my aversion to buttermilk but have bought it occasionally for special recipes — and in the end, flushed most of the litre container into the sewer system so as not to develop a sour odour in the kitchen sink.

A cookbook I found in the back of the cupboard is the inspiration for some buttermilk recipes. And it says unused buttermilk may be frozen in 1/4 cup portions in muffin tins and then put into bags in the freezer. •

BUTTERMILK POT ROAST

3-4 lb. beef pot roast

2 tbsps. flour

1 tbsp. dry mustard

1 1/2 tsps. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 tbsps. vegetable oil

1 beef bouillon cube

1/3 cup water

1/2 cup buttermilk

6 medium carrots, cut in 2-inch pieces

2 cups Brussels sprouts

1 cup buttermilk

1-2 tbsps. flour

Combine the first amount of flour with the mustard, salt and pepper. Dredge the roast with the mixture.

In a large skillet or Dutch oven with a cover, brown roast in oil. Pour off excess drippings. Add bouillon cube and water. Heat and stir to dissolve bouillon. Cover and cook over medium heat for 2 hours, adding more water if necessary.

At the end of 2 hours, add the first buttermilk, carrots and Brussels sprouts. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until meat and vegetables are tender. Remove roast and vegetables to a heated platter.

Blend the 1 cup of buttermilk with flour and thicken for gravy. Slice the meat on the platter with the vegetables. Serve the gravy on the side.

• • •

BUTTERMILK POTATOES

2 tbsps. butter

2 cups raw potatoes, peeled and chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 cup buttermilk paprika, if desired

In a large skillet, melt butter and add potatoes.

Cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently until potatoes are lightly browned.

Add salt, pepper and buttermilk. Simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender and liquid is thickened, about 10 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with paprika before serving. Makes 4 servings.

• • •

BUTTERMILK CUSTARD PIE

1 unbaked pastry or crumb pie shell

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 tbsps. flour

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. vinegar

3/4 cup buttermilk

In a medium bowl blend eggs, sugar, melted butter, flour, vanilla and cinnamon. Stir in vinegar and buttermilk.

Pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake until done, about 20-25 minutes more.

Cool on rack and then chill in refrigerator. Serve with fresh berries.

Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel. net

Cultural Centre to host premiere of film about former businessman Gale Chow

After over three years of production, the National Film Board is releasing a documentary about the experiences of Chinese people in Moose Jaw as told through the eyes of retired businessman Gale Chow.

The Moose Jaw Cultural Centre will host the world premiere of the 16-minute short film “A Passage Beyond Fortunate” on Wednesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. The document will be in English and Cantonese.

While residents are encouraged to RSVP through the centre’s website for catering purposes, this is a free community screening that will be followed by a Q&A with the director and family.

The documentary follows the Chows — and incorporates archival family material — as they reflect on the “popular but untrue myths” surrounding Moose Jaw’s underground tunnels. Filmmaker Weiye Su also offers a homage to the “culturally significant but buried history” of Chinese Canadians in Canada’s Most Notorious City.

Besides the public screening here, the NFB will make the film available starting May 22 for streaming on its website to mark Asian History Month.

An NFB film crew visited Moose Jaw in February

2020 to shoot footage of Gale Chow during a Chinese New Year celebration. After a delay because of the pandemic, the crew returned in October 2021 to shoot more film of the Chows packing — Gale and his wife Myrna moved to Regina to live with their son Kyle — and some of the businesses Gale either worked at or owned.

“When the tunnels started, they never talked to the Chinese community,” Gale recounts in the film. “They say

Chinese people lived in (the tunnels) and hid in here… not that I know of!”

According to the film’s synopsis, the Chows reflect on the harmful myth about the tunnels and the entanglement of their family’s overlapping roots in Moose Jaw — dating back to the 1880s — while surrounded by old, framed photographs and documents.

“Within the city’s warm sepia landscape, the Chows share the experiences that have shaped their lives and the way anti-Chinese immigration policies fractured their family’s settlement in Moose Jaw,” the synopsis continued.

“As they (prepared) for an inner province move, Gale and Myrna (packed) up the visual lineage of their family: dense photo albums, heirloom ceramics, a beloved erhu played by Gale for 20 years — the evidence of a deep sense of identity still maintained in their family.”

Myrna and Gale’s warm laughter echoes throughout “A Passage Beyond Fortune” as they display photographs of their younger years and participation in local activities, exchanging networks of care through regular volleyball games and celebrations of Chinese New Year.

“‘A Passage Beyond Fortune’ is not only an homage to the Chows’ fortune of stories,” the synopsis added. “It’s a tender archive containing the buried and blurred histories of those whose lasting cultural imprints have offered new ways of connecting with ourselves and our communities.”

As the film’s tagline says, “A city’s fortune is only as rich as its stories.”