He’s a B.C.-based chef with a big TV personality. Spencer Watts, in his latest series Comfort Food and its accompanying cookbook, aims for a balance between “quick and easy recipes for a Tuesday and longer, more technically driven recipes for the Sunday pot stirrers.”
Q: How do you define comfort food?
A: Comfort food means different things. Mac and cheese is comfort food in North America, but in the Philippines, comfort food is another thing, like adobo chicken. A lot of my comfort food is grounded in nostalgia and memories, but I want to find inspiration from all over the world.
My mom was always interested in Chinese cooking and Indonesian flavours, so that was my go-to growing up. Eating dim sum and sushi at five years old, those flavour profiles have been relevant throughout my life. I thank my parents for introducing me to those foods; they’re pretty delicious.
Q: We usually associate comfort food with the cooler months, but is there summer comfort food?
A: In places that have four distinct seasons, cuisine and ingredients change with each season. So yes, in summertime in Canada, comfort food is outside, on the barbecue. My parents had a cottage on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, and we would fish all the time for spot prawns, crab, salmon, and cod. I have very, very fond memories of catching prawns with my father. My mother would clean them, and I would make Creole butter. Every time I smell that butter or I’m around spot prawns, it reminds me of those times. That is the beauty of comfort food. It is a time machine.
Q: What’s your favourite meal to cook at the cottage?
A: One pot wonders. And anything that’s going to make the house smell delicious. You want people to walk in and think, “Man, Grandma’s here!”
I don’t think it’s a bad thing to stir the day away, especially at the cottage. There’s something really beautiful about taking your time with food and treating ingredients with respect and care. For me, an entire day in the kitchen—maybe stopping to do something else for a few minutes—that’s a good day. Sometimes you want to try something new or gain a new skill. Saturday or Sunday at the cottage is a perfect excuse to do that.
Q: Is there an ingredient cottagers should use more?
A: Cheese. There’s so much fun you can have with it—it’s great in appetizers, main courses, even desserts—and it makes the place smell delicious. Lean into the cheese.
Q: And something you don’t cook at the cottage?
A: Let’s leave the shucked oysters for the oyster bar.
Q: Tips for cottage cooks?
A: Before a cooking session, I sit down with a coffee for 10 minutes and write down the jobs I’m going to do—what will take the longest and the quick, little things at the end. Build a structure for your day of cooking, because there’s nothing worse than starting one thing in the kitchen and then wondering what to do next.
I’ll also get all the larger pieces of equipment out, and check that I have everything I need. If I’m baking, I’ll get the ingredients out before I start. Write out a complete, detailed grocery list before you go shopping. Some cottages I’ve been to are very remote, so you have to bring in whatever you need, because that’s all you’ll have to cook with.
In a professional kitchen, we’d call all of this mise en place. Everything in its place sets you up for success. You can transfer this idea to a cottage—or any—kitchen.
When you’re organized, with a list of tasks, and a friend at the cottage wants to jump in and help, you’re ready—and your friend can actually be really useful.
Q: Are there any times the cooking didn’t go as planned? Any memorable cottage disasters?
A: Yes, usually when I’m cooking on wonky equipment. I was at a cottage, making some drinks in a blender that was probably from the 1940s. I turned it on, and it went haywire. The jar shot off the pedestal, the lid flew off, and there was Bellini cocktail all over me and all over the cottage. And that’s not even the only time I’ve exploded a blender. Cottage blenders are my nemesis.
Best spuds in show
Photo by Liam Mogan
Don’t get too comfortable on the couch, potatoes—we’ve got some new tricks for you to learn.
1. Mashed
Yogurt instead of cream or butter adds tang to mashed potatoes, as do apples cooked in butter (about 1 part apples to 3 parts potatoes). Wasabi, Dijon, or horseradish adds bite. About ½ tsp Marmite dissolved in ¼ cup of hot cream (plus some butter, of course) per serving of mashed potatoes makes for a tea-coloured, extra-savoury side.
2. Smashed
Boil new potatoes until tender. Find, heat up, and oil your old waffle maker. Smash the potatoes and cook in the waffle maker until crunchy and golden. Or try this intriguing Korean smash: 500 g new potatoes, boiled until tender, flattened to 2 cm, then simmered in a skillet until golden in ¼ cup each salted butter and honey (plus thyme or rosemary).
3. Loaded
Go south for loaded, messy air fryer fries. For Peruvian salchipapas, top fries with crisp fried hot dog slices and rosada sauce (mayo made millennial pink with ketchup); eat with a toothpick. Valparaíso-style chorillana is a meal: fries smothered in caramelized onions flavoured with wine and applesauce, topped with sliced grilled steak and a fried egg.
This story originally appeared in our Spring ’26 issue.
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