It's a Saltscapes tradition: each year we use our annual Comfort Food Recipe Contest as an excuse to explore a different part of Atlantic Canada, while sampling some fabulous home cooking by way of the contest submissions. In 2009 we travelled to the Yarmouth and Acadian shores area of Nova Scotia. Being the new guy-and the only guy-on the tour I opted to meet up with the gang in Yarmouth, where the judging would take place.

Roy Doucet, a chef instructor at the Burridge campus of Nova Scotia Community College, hosted the contest judging, which is to say he prepared the 10 finalist recipes-five pork entrées and five chocolate desserts-that our judges would sample and evaluate. I had the opportunity to work with Roy earlier in the summer for the Festival Acadien de Clare, and it was a pleasure to see him again.

We had a great team of judges: Ray Zinck of CJLS Radio; chef Bruno Sieberath from Chez Bruno, in Yarmouth; Nicole Boudreau, tourism development officer for the Municipality of Clare; and chef Vaughn J. Perret, from Trout Point Lodge, East Kemptville.

Armed with rules and scoring cards, they got down to the business of tasting. Roy served each dish individually, starting with pork and ending with chocolate, impressing the connoisseurs with the quality of the entries.

The Saltscapers sampled the finalist recipes as well-and afterwards retreated to the so-called "haute-rustic" Trout Point Lodge, nestled in an Acadian forest beside the Tusket River. Roughing it never felt so good! All in all it was a great way to spend a working day.

From there I headed home, while the others continued on their fact-finding mission. No details were shared. Apparently what happens in Nova Scotia's South Shore stays there… unless, of course, it makes it into a story.

Thanks to all who entered their recipes in the contest. You didn't make it easy for us!

Grand Prize Winner

Doris's Cuban Cups

Sometimes the simplest things can have the greatest impact. That was the case with our Grand Prize Winner: Doris's Cuban Cups, which are easy and quick to make.

Sharon Squires of Paradise, NL, acquired the recipe from her friend Doris Biller, originally from Newfoundland and Labrador, and now living in Ohio. Although Sharon makes them year-round she particularly likes to make them at Christmas, and includes a plate with each gift she gives.

For friends and family who don't like chocolate, Sharon uses three cups of butterscotch chips and thee cups of peanut butter chips. In fact, any combination works fine as long as you have a total of six cups of the combined ingredients.

The treats are very sweet; Sharon suggests using mini baking cups for small portions. (The recipe has been tested in a square pan with unfavourable results.)

When Sharon isn't testing new recipes she enjoys reading. She also enjoys her job at the Canada Revenue Agency in St. John's, where her co-workers will testify just how delicious her Cuban Cups really are.

View this recipe in our recipe index.

Chocolate Desserts Category

First Prize

London Smog Bars

Carmen Phinney loves stories, and she loves food. It's no wonder that stories accompany many of the recipes she's collected over the years. The story about her Nanaimo Bars, aka London Smog Bars, is about her friendship with Elizabeth Cooke.

Now a psychiatric nurse in Yarmouth, NS, Carmen met Elizabeth in Toronto in the 80s, when they were both involved with a group called East End Literacy. They shared mutual friends and a love of music and food. Carmen remembers mentioning at one point that she didn't have a good recipe for Nanaimo Bars, one of the few sweets she particularly enjoyed. Elizabeth's face lit up: she had one of the best Nanaimo Bar recipes around, although they were actually called London Smog Bars, and she gave Carmen the recipe.

In mid-life, Liz was diagnosed with MS. She died in February 2004.

Whenever Carmen thinks of Elizabeth, she is reminded of a 1998 New Yorker article in which Nancy Franklin, eulogizing Brendan Gill, says: "Next to him, your life couldn't help looking like something that hadn't had its morning coffee yet." That's how Carmen felt about Liz.

Carmen had never met Liz's mom, Wilma, but did have a contact number for her, and called to tell her that the recipe had won a prize the Saltscapes 2009 Recipe Contest; she also mailed her the prize, a $100 gift certificate from Wheaton's. Wilma was delighted.

View this recipe in our recipe index.

Second Prize

Helen Kenny's Chocolate Surprise

For Sara Deveau of Rollo Bay, PEI, the timing of her recipe winning in the Saltscapes 2009 Recipe Contest was poignant.

Sara was born and raised on a farm in Cable Head, PEI, and was brought up on a meat-and-potatoes diet; desserts were rare, most often to celebrate birthdays and graduations. On those occasions Sara's mom, Helen, would make Chocolate Surprise, a type of pudding cake where cake forms on the bottom and pudding on the top.

Years later, when the kids were grown, Helen developed Alzheimer's and went to live in a nursing home in Souris.

Sadly many things were lost, including this favourite recipe. Sara's husband found a version in a Betty Crocker cookbook but it just wasn't the same. Sara did eventually come across the handwritten recipe among some of her mom's papers, and it's once again a family favourite.

News of Sara's win came just two weeks before the first anniversary of her mom's passing-Sara feels her mom would be pleased.

View this recipe in our recipe index.

Third Prize

Chocolate Marble Cake

Shirley Nason knows what it's like to be a stranger in a new community. With her husband, Ken, being a naval officer for 33 years, she and her family have lived across the country and overseas-Toronto, Victoria, Ottawa, Greenwich, England, and now Halifax-considering themselves fortunate for the opportunity.

What better way to meet new neighbours than over coffee and cake?

Shirley especially likes this cake because of its versatility. It can be baked as a loaf or in a springform or Bundt pan. Her son used to request it as a birthday cake with boiled icing; it's equally good with fresh fruit.

The original recipe appeared in a Monarch cookbook Shirley received as a wedding shower gift 37 years ago. Over the years she has tweaked it, making it her own.

Born and raised in Halifax, Shirley and her husband have recently returned to the Maritimes, so if you find a woman on your doorstep with a cake, it just may be her.

View this recipe in our recipe index.

Pork Entrées

First Prize

Lakeshore Pork

Erin Brodie says that good cooking runs in her family, and the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Three years ago Erin's mom won the Saltscapes Comfort Food Recipe Contest with a pudding recipe; she then encouraged Erin's aunt to give it a try, and she won in the ground beef category. Not to be undone, Erin's brother entered the Saltscapes Amateur Photo Contest, claiming a prize.

And now Erin's Lakeshore Pork adds to the winning streak.

This delicious pork dish was inspired by a recipe in a cookbook that Erin picked up several years ago while working as an occupational therapist in Ireland. Over the years she has tweaked and refined it until it has become a family comfort food favourite.

After returning from Ireland, ?Erin spent several months ?travelling throughout Australia and New Zealand. She's now happily ensconced in her own house, in her home province of New Brunswick.

View this recipe in our recipe index.

Second Prize

Apple Stuffed Pork Loin

Alice Oickle found her winning recipe for Apple Stuffed Pork Loin 31 years ago, when she was a young bride-to-be: it was in a Purity cookbook that she received as a shower gift. "This recipe is a guaranteed success for a novice cook," says Alice, who lives in Black Rock, NS-although after more than 31 years of cooking, she can hardly be considered a novice.

Alice and her husband, Clifton, have two grown children. Their daughter and her family-and often Clifton's mother-join them every Sunday for dinner, at which time they call their son in Newfoundland to get caught up on the week's activities.

Alice believes one of the reasons her recipe is successful is the use of fresh, local pork-she particularly likes pork from Meadow Brook Farms.

When asked what her favourite spice is, she is quick to answer salt, although she hastens to add that she cut the amount of salt called for in the original recipe by half.

View this recipe in our recipe index.

Third Prize

Hot Spinach Salad with Pork Strips

A trip to Spain in 2001 was to be the ideal way for Ruth Van Iderstine, from Dartmouth, NS, and her two daughters to spend some quality time together. They got more than they bargained for!

Part of the adventure, as with many vacations, is in sampling local food. Unfortunately for one of Ruth's daughters, her first taste of the local fare led to an allergic reaction-something must have been contaminated with seafood. After returning from the hospital, the three women set out to reclaim their vacation. To avoid seafood altogether the women went to a vegetarian restaurant, where Ruth had a spinach salad.

The combination of spinach, onion and pine nuts was so enjoyable that Ruth set out to recreate it when she returned home to Dartmouth. The recipe at right is the version that she eventually settled on, which she enjoys as much as the one she had in Spain. The addition of pork makes it suitable for lunch or a light dinner entrée.

View this recipe in our recipe index.