In France “À la Beauceronne” means prepared with corn shoots and baby corn cobs. In Québec “À la Beauceronne” seems to mean prepared with maple syrup. Language Notes In France, the Beauce region is southwest of Paris. It is to France what the great plains are to North America — the breadbasket where corn and…
Québécois Food
À la Poutine
“À la poutine” means garnished with cheese, and drowned in a meat gravy sauce. The reference is to “Poutine Québécoise.”
Beurre Fermier
Beurre Fermier is “Farm Fresh Butter”, or more literally, “farm butter.” It is made and sold in France and Québec, Canada, by small producers right on their farms. It’s often made by hand without the use of electrical machines, just as it would have been made a long time ago. As Beurre Fermier is made…
Bleu Bénédictin Cheese
Bleu Bénédictin Cheese has a mild taste compared to a blue cheese such as Stilton. Made from pasteurized whole cow’s milk treated with Roquefort penicillium mould, it is a semi-soft blue with a rind of blue mould dusted with whitish-grey. It is cream-coloured inside, with bluish-green veins of mould. It is aged for three months….
Bleu du Lac St-Jean Beans
Bleu du Lac St-Jean Beans are an older variety of bean that has been kept alive in the Lac St-Jean region of Québec. When dried, the beans are white, and about the size of a kidney bean, but straight, without the bend.
Cantonnier Cheese
Cantonnier Cheese is a semi-firm, Port du Salut style cheese, created as an adaptation of Oka Cheese. It is a farmhouse-style cheese, made from one farm, and with milk from a single herd of cows, though no official definition of the term “Farmhouse” exists in Canada. The cheesemakers had to obtain special permission from the…
Chantecler Chickens
Chantecler is a breed of chickens developed in Québec. They were bred for their resilience to cold, and their willingness to be a prolific egg-layer in the winter. There are two types of Chantecler chicken: a white one, and a partridge one. Another type, “Fauve Buff”, is under development (as of 2008.) Chantecler Chickens have…
Chevre Noir
Though made from goat’s milk, Chevre Noir is not like other chevres: it’s actually more of a cheddar. The cheese is made in rectangular bricks. Though coated in two layers of black wax, the cheese is bone-china white inside, with a hard, crumbly, smooth texture that is toothsome, and develops some minute, highly-flavoured lactose nodules…
Cretons
Cretons © Paula Trites Cretons is a pale potted meat spread made in Québéc. It is also eaten by Acadians. It consists of ground pork and lard mixed with milk and breadcrumbs. Seasoning can include onion, garlic, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, celery, parsley, chive, etc. The texture should be creamy and velvety, not grainy,…
Cumulus Cheese
Cumulus Cheese is a soft but not runny cheese that looks like Brie or Camembert, with a white bloom on its rind and a slight mushroom smell. It made in rounds from raw cow’s milk, and allowed to ripen for 60 days. The rounds end up being approximately 3 1/3 pounds (1.5 kg) each. Cumulus…
Ermite Cheese
Ermite blue cheese is made at a Benedictine monastery called Abbaye Saint-Benoît-du-Lac in Saint-Benoît-du-Lac on Lac Memphremagog, Québec It is a mild blue cheese, with tangy aftertones and an aroma of mushrooms. In texture, it is crumbly with a slight grittiness. The cheese is made from pasteurized whole cow’s milk treated with Roquefort penicillium mould….
Fameuse Apples
Fameuse apples (aka Snow Apples, Chimney Apples) are small-sized apples with pale yellow skin with red flushes, or an entirely red skin. The flesh is white, sometimes with red streaks and is juicy, mildly tart and sweet. The tree is very cold hardy, and very productive and reliable, producing the same amount of apples almost…
Feuille d’automne Cheese
Feuille d’automne Cheese is sold in small rounds, about 180g each. It is a soft, washed-rind cheese with a slightly-brown crust, with small traces of white mould on it, and a slightly nutty taste. The rounds are made from unpasteurized whole cow’s milk, and ripened for 60 days. The rounds are washed every 2 or…
Fortin Family Beans
Fortin Family Beans are white beans, with a brown ring around a white spot on their side. They grow in flat yellow pods on dwarf plants that produce high yields. Fortin Family Beans can be used as green beans when young, or be allowed to mature for drying into a dried bean. History Notes Fortin…
Galettes
Galette is a French term for a round, flat baked good that can be anything from what in English would be a cookie, a scone, a flat cake or a buckwheat crêpe. In the English speaking world, Galette is generally taken to mean smallish rounds of flaky pastry, treated somewhat like a free-standing small pizza…
Galvaude
Galvaude is a version of poutine, a gravy and potato dish made in Québec. It consists of French fries, with gravy on them, topped with chopped or shredded cooked chicken and cooked green garden peas. Some versions, such as that made by Chez Claudette on Laurier Street in Montreal, also add white cheddar cheese curds…
Guédille
A Guédille is a hot dog bun (“pain à chien-chaud”) served in Québec with lots of fixings, but without the wiener. The bun is a soft rectangular roll. Sometimes the bun is heated, sometimes it is not. To toast the bun, you open it up without breaking it, butter both sides on the inside, and…
Herbes Salées
Herbs salées is a salted herb mixture made in several parts of French-speaking Canada. A traditional way of preserving herbs, it is used as a seasoning ingredient in cooking.
Héritage Doré Beans
Héritage Doré is a bush bean for drying. The beans are oval, with a glossy, beige to light-mustard colour. On their sides, they have a white eye with a brown ring around it. Héritage Doré Beans are about 2/3 inch (66 mm) long and 1/3 inch (35 mm) wide and 80 to 100 days from…
Hot-Dog du Lac
A Hot-Dog du Lac is a Montreal Steamie that is dressed with mayonnaise, then thinly-sliced cole slaw, then hot, crunchy, golden-brown French fries.
Lac-Saint-Jean Tourtière
Known as “Tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean” or “Tourtière Saguenéenne”, this version of tourtière as made in the the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Québec is a meat pie made in a deep casserole such as a Dutch oven, and consequently the pie turns out large enough that one will feed a good-sized crowd. It is a traditional dish…
Le Veillon Cheese
Le Veillon Cheese is a soft, reblochon-type cheese with a white bloom on its washed rind, and a butter and almond taste. It is made from raw cow’s milk in 200g rounds, which are ripened for 60 days. The cheese is made by Fromages Chaput et Les dépendances du Manoir in Brigham, Montérégie region, Quebec….
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is a viscous liquid sweetener produced from the sap of maple trees. It has a pronounced taste that is also complex and nuanced.
Montreal Beauty Crab Apples
Montreal Beauty Crab Apple is one of the largest crab apples so it is easier to use. The tree produces white blossoms, then plum-sized apples up to an inch in diameter (2.5 cm.) The skin is orangey-yellow-green, sometimes with red splashes. Cooking Tips Makes good jelly.