Cuisine of Quebec
Québec is home to many unique dishes and is most famous for its poutine, tourtières, pâté chinois, pea soup, fèves au lard, cretons and desserts such as grands-pères, pouding chômeur and St. Catherine's taffy.Québec's unique dishes are the traditional fare of the holidays, as well as the temps des sucres, a time in March where families go to sugar shacks.[2] Food critic Jacob Richler wrote that Québec's cuisine is better defined than that of the rest of Canada, due to its language barrier with the dominant culture of the United States and having had more time to develop.The most important ones were l’acériculture (the process of harvesting maple sap and creating maple syrup), ice fishing, and boucanage (in which fish or other meat is smoked for preservation and flavour).11 Food preservation was always important in pioneer times, due to long winters and to the frequent voyages of coureurs des bois.Because tensions with the young United States alleviated, the period following the Aroostook War in 1839 saw increased interaction between Québec and New England.Jewish specialties like bagels and Eastern Europe-style smoked meat became popular, resulting in the creation of Montréal-style smoked meat and Montréal-style bagels.17 The 1950s saw many changes in the eating habits of the Québécois for a variety of reasons: the popularity of fast-food grew enormously, raw milk was banned, and many fruits and vegetables became available year-round thanks to refrigerators and larger supply chains.It also set the stage for high-quality products to be created in Québec and for the emergence of Québécois restaurants, for example Lafleur, Valentine, La Belle Province or St-Hubert.From the 1980s to today, a desire for higher quality foods, more spending power, and an influence by immigrants from Europe —particularly Italy, Greece, France and Portugal— has led to the rise of the creation and production of high-quality cheeses and alcoholic beverages across Québec, as well as a return to recipes of the terroir.13 Immigration from Greece has popularized gyros and brought about slouvaki pitas.[13] Finally, NAFTA and the new culture of Quebecers vacationing south has resulted in the adoption of Western-style sushi and Tex-Mex dishes like nachos, fajitas, salsa, chili and burritos.[14][15] Historical poverty led many families in Québec to hunt for food until the mid 20th century.19 Tourtières were stuffed with the meat of the tourte, or passenger pigeon, which used to be common and easy prey.When available, Québécois eat meat from moose, deer, hares, ruffed grouse, wild turkey, waterfowl and more rather than that of livestock.[16] Game is also sometimes given as a gift.As for seafood, lobster and crab are caught in Gaspesia, la Côte-Nord, and the Magdalen Islands to be sold to the rest of Québec.[18] Other fished species include lake trout, yellow perch, walleye, muskellunge, Northern pike, micropterus, rainbow smelt, Greenland halibut, mackerel, lake sturgeon, lake whitefish, Atlantic cod (Eastern Québec), Atlantic herring (Eastern Québec), American eel (between Trois-Rivières and Cap-Chat), ouananiche (a kind of freshwater salmon; Lac Saint-Jean),2 frostfish (Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade), deepwater redfish (Saguenay fjords), capelin (coastal villages), and brown bullhead (Îles de Sorel).[26][27] Spices common in traditional recipes are linked to local production and historical commerce: salt, savory, cloves, cinnamon, parsley, thyme, sage, nutmeg, quatres épices, chives, garlic, oregano and bay leaf.411 Thanks to globalisation, a wider selection of international spices are available today, like turmeric, curry powder, allspice, cumin, cayenne pepper, etc.In recent years, chefs have attempted to create excitement for the flavours of the boreal forest; among them are green alder pepper, sweetfern, caraway seed, sweetgale, and juniper berry.[28] Buckwheat became popular because it could grow well on the Canadian Shield.1 Nowadays, a few other cereals have managed to gain a small presence: quinoa, wild rice, chia seeds, and barley.The most commonly used vegetables in traditional Québécois cuisine were those that can easily be preserved to last throughout the winter, either kept in a cool storage area like a root cellar or brined in jars.In modern times, Québécois also cook with store-bought tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, lettuce, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, avocado, microgreens, radish, shallot, spinach, parsnip, eggplant, artichoke, kale, leek, rutabaga, sweet potato, celery, lentil, peanut, soybean, chickpea and others.Finally, as these plants were banned on the continent in the early 20th century and were, with time, forgotten, all types of gooseberries or currants are virtually unknown to Quebecers.These had wider menus serving fast food staples like hamburgers, hot-dogs, fries and club sandwiches, alongside some traditional meals like pea soup, pouding chômeur, etc.[67] Nowadays, foods usually served in Quebec fast-food establishments include: poutine and its variants, steamies, Michigan hot dog,[68][69] pain à la viande (onions and ground meat on a hot-dog bun),[70] frites-sauce, hot chicken, hot hamburger, hamburgers, pogos, onion rings, fries, coleslaw, spaghetti, caesar salad, pizza and its variants, the combination meals of pizza-ghetti and pizza-caesar, sandwiches, submarine sandwiches, club sandwiches, Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and platters,[71] shawarmas and a Quebec variant called shish taouk, gyros and the Quebec exclusive souvlaki pita, roasted chicken, chicken fingers, lasagna, mac n cheese, grilled cheese[72][73], fish n chip, guedilles (lobster roll), cheese sticks, chicken wings, ice cream, and finally soft drinks.It has long been associated with Québec cuisine, and its rise in prominence has led to its popularity in the rest of Canada, in the northern United States, and internationally.[74][75][76] When Canada was part of the French Empire, colonials used their Canadienne cattle to create a variety of soft, semi-soft and soft-ripened cheeses to eat.[77] Following the Conquest of New France, the British began importing hard cheeses like Cheddar.15 In the 1960s, the banning of crude milk made most of the old cheese-making techniques and recipes, which up to that point had been successfully passed on for centuries, disappear and become forgotten.After they discovered that it was useful for preserving food, they decided to start smoking their meat in the boucanage fashion, following their usual brining and/or spicing.This technique is often used today to make Montréal smoked meat, which is then often cut up in narrow slices to be added to dishes as an ingredient.
PoutineCentre-du-QuébecMaple syrupMaple butterMaple taffyMaple sugarCheese curdsErmiteIce ciderMontreal Steak SpiceBetteraves marinéesCipâteCretonsFèves au lardMontréal bagelMontréal smoked meatOreilles de crissePâté chinoisPâté au saumonPizza-ghettiSteamiesTourtièreDate squareGrands-pèresPets de sœursPouding chômeurSt. Catherine's taffySucre à la crèmeTarte au sucreAcadian foodsFricotPoutine râpéeRâpureSoupe aux gourganesTourtière du Lac-Saint-JeanQuiaudeCanadian cuisinePacific NorthwestRocky MountainTorontoMaritimeIndigenousQuébecspruceCaesarCaribouMoose milkNewfoundland ScreechWhiskyYukon JackBritish ColumbiaOntarioPrince Edward CountyNova ScotiaLondon fogAtlantic codCloudberrycheeseFiddlehead fernHarp sealMcIntosh (apple)Red Fife wheatRed Gold potatoSaskatoon berrySockeye salmonSpartan (apple)Steak spiceWinnipeg goldeyeYukon Gold potatoAll-dressedBannockB.C. rollBûche de NoëlBuffalo burgerBumbleberry pieButter tartCheeziesCherry BlossomDonairFiggy duffFish and brewisFlapper pieFried doughGarlic fingersGinger beefHodge PodgeJohnnycakeKetchup chipLobster rollsmoked meatNanaimo barPeameal baconPemmicanPizza cakePoutchine au sacRappie pieRubabooSchmoo torteSxusemToutonWhite breadAcadianCanadian-ChineseCountry foodTlingitPancake breakfastJiggs dinnerKitchener-Waterloo OktoberfestRéveillonSummerlicious and WinterliciousTaste of the DanforthThanksgivingFranco-OntariansFrench cuisineNew Francefur tradingQuébec's wintersFirst NationsBritish cuisineAmerican cuisinetourtièressugar shacksJacob RichlerAcadian cuisineNorthern FrancePoitevin