Québec Sugar Shack- au Cabane à sucre

Québec grows lots of maples, and makes zillions of liters of maple syrup. Like most everything else in their life, Quebeckers have figured out how to make maple syruping into a fest of food and fun. Once the season starts, local érablières [literally "mapleries"], or cabanes à sucre, or, in American English, sugar shacks, run advertisements in the Montréal papers, inviting folks out for the fun.





Yesterday, my buddy Jean took my Kansas City visitor Elam and me out to his favorite érablière about 40km north of town.




The owners live on-site in a traditional Québec farmhouse--note the sap bucket hanging on the tree: it's just a prop!





These days, the sap is collected by a huge system of plastic pipes tapped into the trees on one end





and into a sophisticated pump on the other:





Sap is then pumped to the boiler shack, identifiable by the incredible cloud of steam pouring out of the chimney!





Inside it's all mist and steam and woodsmoke and incredible fresh smells of maple syrup,





all of which can be experienced from a comfortable old broken-down living room set:






Note the scene through the window above the couch! That's the dining room, all set for the feast. Outside, everyone's getting ready, messing around with the horses and sleigh:





Since many of the dishes are sweet, we decided to go with a Loire rosé.





First treats were oreilles de Cris, "Christ's Ears", wonderfully crispy pork bits. You can see the pickled beets too.





Next up, the best pea soup I've ever had in my life--made from un-split peas--accompanied by a small bowl of cretons, Québec's answer to rillettes.





Main course was an omelette, boiled potato, ham, sausages boiled in maple syrup, and pork 'n beans.





There were two desserts: first, a crepe with maple syrup





second, maple syrup pie:





Needless to say, here were a couple of pretty happy guys!





But it wasn't over. Outside, there was a tire à neige set up.





Syrup is boiled until it's thick, then poured onto snow to chill, then rolled up on a popsicle stick.





The results are mighty pleasing!






Our outing to the sugar shack showed one more time that eternal truth: There's nothing in this life that isn't more fun in Québec!

Geo

PS. There's a short video of this excursion here.


Edited once to put in video URL.

Geo wrote: But it wasn't over. Outside, there was a tire à neige set up....Syrup is boiled until it's thick, then poured onto snow to chill, then rolled up on a popsicle stick.

I've always wanted to try this since reading about it in Little House on the Prairie as a wee lass! It's fun to see pictures, at least!

moi, j'aime bien les cabanes à sucre!

Geo wrote:Our outing to the sugar shack showed one more time that eternal truth: There's nothing in this life that isn't more fun in Québec!

Looks like a barrel full of fun. All except the sausage boiled in maple syrup, the thought makes me shudder.

Enjoy,
Gary 'pass the oreilles de Cris please' Wiviott

Gary, I must admit it: while I was crunching on those delicious bits, the thought came distinctly to my mind: "GWiv would simply *love* these things!", and indeed, he would.


About the sausages. Jean was really po'd. Back in the day, 'there would be some real sausage, ground pork, lots of nice sage, fried, then topped off for a minute or so with maple syrup, that's the way it SHOULD be done', said Jean, and he told the proprietor exactly that. Embarrassed the poor man, who could only plead expenses, labor costs, etc.

They were pretty awful.

Mhays, you should try a tire, they're easy to make. Debbie and I were over at marché Jean-Talon today. It was nice and sunny and warm, and the vendors have their tire setups in two or three places in the marché. Everyone was walking around, popsicle sticks in the mouth. Man, Spring is starting to give indications of arriving, and the annual mania is beginning.

Geo

Mhays wrote:

Geo wrote: But it wasn't over. Outside, there was a tire à neige set up....Syrup is boiled until it's thick, then poured onto snow to chill, then rolled up on a popsicle stick.

I've always wanted to try this since reading about it in Little House on the Prairie as a wee lass! It's fun to see pictures, at least!

My great-grandpa did this with the dregs of the coffee pot - super-saturate with sugar, heat until thick, pour onto snow brought inside in a pan (or, poured outside). It was magical even with Chicago snow.

Geo, thank you for this post. I visited my share of érablières as a kid. This photo in particular brings back a lot of happy memories. Nothing beats digging a popsicle stick into syrupy snow.

Geo wrote:

Ah, my misspent youth. Except my youth was, ahem, back in the day. Which is to say, before they invented plastic tubing. Which is to say, I remember tapping the trees with the aluminum (?) spigots and waiting for the damn buckets to fill. Glorious weather (usually), great to be outdoors. And even better to be at the end of the long day. Golly...now you've made me nostalgic for the 50s in western/upstate New York. Didn't think that could be done!

Seriously, thanks for the pictures and the documentation. It's a wonderful way to spend a day. Especially now that technology has replaced some of the grunt work. Lovely pictures, wish I'd been there.

My mom's parents were from Canada, and mom told me that, on winter visits to her grandparents, she enjoyed maple syrup on snow. I always thought it sounded interesting, but I was thinking more like a snow cone. I see it was much more than that. The photos make it look almost irresistible. Don't know that I want to wish for more snow, but maybe next winter I'll try that out.

Geo,

Merci bien! I really enjoyed your post, and thanks for including the pictures. When does the season end this year? Is it too late to go?

The first I ever heard of the cabanes a sucre was in a recent article in the NY Times, linked below. I think a trip to Quebec would make a nice alternative spring break for those of us who get hot and bored and sandy at the beach. The places listed in the linked article have cabins for overnight guests.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/tr ... gewanted=2

Add me to the chorus singing praise for a great report tinged with nostalgia, even if it is northern Ontario nostalgia.

In addition to the 'snow-rollers', I also fondly remember being served vanilla ice cream with syrup, something which I occasionally still do today.

Smells like a vivid memory, thanks !

Geo wrote:Inside it's all mist and steam and woodsmoke and incredible fresh smells of maple syrup,

Tnx so much everyone, I'm really glad you all liked the post. What amazes me is how many of us have experience in the Great North, whether it be NY state or Ontario or wherever. Josephine, it *would* make a nice break from the usual Spring break. I suspect that the season will go on for another 3 weeks. It got started a bit late this year and, unfortunately, most of the snow is gone, so cross-country skiing in the maple regions is a bit dicey.

When I was a kid in Ft. Collins, my mom used to do the snow + vanilla + syrup thing too. I really loved it then, might be nice to try it again.

This weekend at marché Jean-Talon, our huge farmer's market, some of the local érablières had their snow beds set up and were selling tires (pronounced "tier") for a buck each. Absolutely everyone bought one. By the end of the day, the market was most likely the stickiest place on earth!

Again, thanks for all the good words--you'll make me feel like Bridgestone!!

Geo

Geo,

Just caught this thru the link to the other thread on the new sugar shack, and let me add my voice - this is beautiful work. I have never had the pleasure of enjoying this, but it is now definitely on my list.

Thanks

d-- very pleased that you liked it. Come on up to Québec, there's an awful lot of fun to be had up here!

Geo

Wow, I've been to this place - it was great!