by An important part of travel is trying the local delicacies. Without further ado, I present the items we tracked down in Montreal.
Crêpes are a traditionally French food, so Montreal – the only spot in North America where the official language is French – is definitely a place to have them. A crêpe is a very thin pancake, typically rolled or folded, and served either savory or sweet.
I had one for dinner our first night, with egg and cheese (savory). The crêpe was made from a wheat flour base that I wasn’t exactly crazy about, but as our plane ride had left me a bit queasy, it hit the spot well enough.
Later we went to breakfast in a crêperie. Doug had a legitimate breakfast crêpe with eggs, cheese, and meat, but I ordered a dessert crêpe that I justified as breakfast because it had fruit. It was delicious and without regret.
Tarte au sucre is “sugar pie”, and there was no way I was leaving Montreal without having some. Just look at it!
It’s a dessert popular in northern France, Belgium, and Canada. Wikipedia says it “is somewhat similar to the American transparent pie (the name in the Midwestern and Southern United States for a pecan pie made without the pecans), the English Canadian butter tarts and the English treacle tart.”
It took a little effort, but we tracked one down in a bakery (pictured here). Later we ordered it in a restaurant (cover photo), just for research purposes. Both were delicious and highly recommended.
We went to La Binerie Mont-Royal for dinner, as it had a few items on our list of Canadian foods to track down. It was set up like a lunch counter, though I think there was also some regular dining elsewhere. Doug ordered the “Traditional Quebec Meal,” which was an easy way to knock off several things at once.
Homemade pea soup (soupe aux pois maison) and baked beans (fèves au lard) are two dishes that have been a staple in Quebec for hundreds of years. Both filling and nutritious, and will warm you up over a cold Canadian winter; both feature legumes that store well, too. A key ingredient to the pea soup is ham, and the Quebec version of baked beans is made with maple syrup and pork, so neither of these are for vegetarians.
Meat Pie (tourtière) is a French Canadian dish that is served throughout Canada but which originated in the province of Quebec (where Montreal is located). It is considered a traditional Christmas and New Year’s Eve dish.
The Montreal version is made with potatoes and finely ground pork, and cinnamon and cloves are what give it its distinctive flavor. Ketchup, maple syrup, molasses, or cranberry preserves are all possible condiments.
Other versions of the recipe might use minced pork, veal, beef, fish, or wild game.
Meatball stew (ragoût de boulettes) was not on our radar heading into the restaurant, but it turns out to be another dish made unique with cinnamon and cloves, along with ginger. Mashed potatoes (purée de pomme de terre) and steamed vegetables (légumes à la vapeur) rounded out the main meal.
A classic Québécois dessert was also something we were seeking: Pouding Chômeur (Poor Man’s Pudding). It dates to the Great Depression, when families were looking for cheap, easy desserts made with easy-to-find ingredients – in this case, it’s a simple cake that’s been amped up with maple syrup. Poor a little cream on top, and you’re ready to rock.
Montreal has its own style of bagel, and it was delicious. It is thinner, sweeter and denser than the New York-style bagel we are used to; it also has a larger hole. It is made with malt and egg but no salt, and it boiled in honey-water before being baked in a wood-fired oven.
The two predominant varieties are black-seed (poppy seed) or white-seed (sesame seed). While we did find lots of other varieties, what we didn’t find was just a plain bagel! I had bagels from two different shops and loved them both equally. Given the choice, I prefer these to what we have in the states — but that might be my sweet tooth talking.
Tim Horton’s is Canada’s answer to Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s a coffee and donut shop whose quality seemed interchangeable with Dunkin’ Donuts to me. It was founded in 1964 (vs. Dunkin’s founding in 1950) by Canadian hockey player – you guessed it – Tim Horton. Now owned by Burger King, it is Canada’s largest quick-service restaurant chain, with more than 3,800 locations in Canada. That’s a Canadian Maple Donut on the left; it was very dense.
Our hotel was right on the edge of Montreal’s Chinatown, which made it relatively easy for us to find Peanut Butter Dumplings (also known as Hunan Dumplings). Though inspired by a dish cooked in Szechuan, China, these are actually a Chinese-Canadian food found only in Quebec. The meal is made by covering pork dumplings in a sweet-and-spicy sauce featuring full-fat peanut butter and Szechuan peppercorns.
Maple taffy (tire sur la neige) is another traditional Quebec item. It is made by pouring strips of boiling maple sap onto snow; after it sits a few moments to thicken, a popsicle stick is used to roll it up on one end. It’s still chewy, and you can take bites of it. Obviously, this is something you buy “on site” made fresh. It was very good!
Cornets (which means “horns”) are mini sugar cones (think ice cream cone) filled with maple sugar, maple syrup, or maple butter. So you basically take some sugar and fill it with more sugar. The versions we got were maple sugar, maple syrup, and a mixture of both (we didn’t see any maple butter). I normally am allll about the sugar, but I couldn’t finish even one. The appeal of these was completely lost on me.
Pets de sœur – which literally translates to “nun farts” – is a French-Canadian dessert made from pie dough layered with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. It’s rolled, sliced, covered with more brown sugar, and baked, after which you can yell “the farts are done!” What’s not to love? It’s a traditional Christmas dessert in Quebec. People who like to go rogue may use molasses, caramel sauce or maple syrup in lieu of the brown sugar.
Beaver Tails are a deep-fried pastry dough vaguely resembling a beaver’s tail and topped with decadence. We purchased ours from a Christmas market food truck, and got one topped with Nutella (pictured) and another topped with powdered sugar. It was chewy and delicious, just as expected; it tasted a lot like funnel cake.
Doug’s Montreal-style smoked meat sandwich was more than $20 US before the tip, but it’s the price to pay to dream. Montreal-style smoked meat is, according to Wikipedia, “made by salting and curing beef brisket with spices. The brisket is allowed to absorb the flavours over a week. It is then hot smoked to cook through, and finally is steamed to completion.”
It’s similar to New York pastrami, but it uses a different cut of meat and is “cured in seasoning with more cracked peppercorns and savoury flavourings, such as coriander, garlic, and mustard seeds, and significantly less sugar.” (again, per Wikipedia). It’s typically served on light rye bread with yellow mustard.
It’s practically illegal to go to Canada and not get some poutine, which is made of French fries topped with cheddar cheese curds and brown gravy.
This dish originated in rural Quebec in the 1950s, but took its time spreading further afield – it didn’t arrive in Quebec City until 1969, or Montreal until 1983!
Though originally considered an “unsophisticated” food of the type to be found in roadside stops and “greasy spoon” diners, today it is considered “cuisine” and it can be found everywhere from fast-food to fine dining establishments.
Poutine is available across Canada, and has gone international, as well, with as limitless variations available.
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