The Best Canadian Dishes (or how to gain 20 pounds a day)

Beaver Tails

Beavers Tails are an absolutely decadent creation. Imagine a flattened, deep fried, yeast based dough covered with sugar and cinnamon. Also imagine eating them immediately after having them made fresh in front of you.

Here is a link for a great home-made version: Beaver Tail recipe.

Beaver Tails were first made by Grant and Pam Hooker and were adapted from an old family recipe. It was based on a German dish called Küchl or Kökle ‘little cake'. In 1980, their first BeaverTails store was opened in Ottawa's Byward Market where they are a big hit during Canada's Winterlude festival.

Beavertails at the Byward Market in Ottawa

Believe it or not there is a literal version of a real Fried Beaver Tail but I think I will pass on it.

Eating Beaver Tail

The many uses of Beavertail pastries!

Up next, you guessed it, Cod Tongue

Cod Tongues

The last time I was in St. John's, Newfoundland I saw Cod Tongues on just about every restaurant's menu. They are served lightly battered and deep fried with tartar sauce on the side. Quite good and I highly recommend them.

Stop by any grocery store and you can buy them fresh or frozen by the pound. All you need is some flour, salt and pepper, and pan fry them in some oil.

Cod Tongues

Cod Tongue Tasting Party

now, on to the really fattening stuff...............

Eating Poutine in Montreal

Poutine

I first encountered poutine in Alma, Quebec. I was fascinated because they served more than just the traditional fries, gravy and cheese curds. They put every imaginable "sauce" on the fries from spagetti to bbq sauce.

Here is the ultimate guide to Montreal Poutine. I can personally attest to the quality of the poutine at Maamm Bolduc on 4351 Lorimer. I am fairly certain I have tried all 8 variants with Poutine Bourguignonne being my favorite.

I could not say it better than this:

"The poutine sauce was a chocholate-brown, smooth, with a strong flavor that afficianados will immediately recognize; it is clearly one of the most outstanding examples of sauce available, with a perfect, high temperature. The fries stood up perfectly to the sauce, absorbing, and becoming a single plate. Regarding the cheese curds, it is usual that the cheese curds keep firm in the plate, refusing to melt under the heat of the sauce. Here, the curds melted completely, and became stringy in the sauce (though they did not liquify and become incorporated in the sauce). Normally, I would mark a plate down for this -- fresh curds shouldn't melt -- but you know when you taste it that all can be forgiven. The poutine is that great."

What could be more Canadian than Maple Syrup?

Maple Syrup

Maple syrup was first made by North American Indians. It is a simple process, tap a maple tree, collect the sap and reduce it by boiling. The longer you boil the darker it gets.

Here is the legend told about the discovery:

"Woksis, the Indian Chief, was going hunting one day early in March. He yanked his tomahawk from the tree where he had hurled it the night before, and went off for the day. The weather turned warm and the gash in the tree, a maple tree, dripped sap into a vessel that happened to stand close to the trunk. Toward evening Woksis's wife needed water in which to boil their dinner. She saw the trough full of sap and thought that would save her a trip to get water. Besides, she was a careful woman and didn't like to waste anything. So she tasted the maple sap and found it good-a little sweet, but not bad. She used it to cook her venison. When Woksis came home from hunting, he smelled the unique maple aroma and from far off knew that something especially good was brewing. The water had boiled down to syrup, which sweetened their meal with maple. Woksis found the gravy sweet and delicious. He spread the good news how the Great Spirit had guided his wife in making the delicious new food, Sinzibuckwud (meaning, "drawn from the wood" in the Algonquian tongue). Soon all the women were "sugar-making" ("seensibaukwut"), and the braves began performing the "Sugar Dance." Thereafter, maple sugar was produced and celebrated each spring after the long, cold winter during the "Season of the Melting Snow."

Making Maple Syrup

One of my favorite things to do is to put slightly heated maple syrup on vanilla ice cream.

Other uses of maple syrup : pancakes, french toast, oatmeal, beans, braised carrots. Somehow adding maple syrup to recipes just makes them so much better.

What the heck, Maple Syrup poutine :)

Last but not the least, Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich