ISO Hearty Canadian Grub

I'm not Canadian. But as this winter's progressed, I've been hearing more and more about what our friends to the north nosh to keep warm. Poutine was always kind of a punchline for me, until I started reading some descriptions and testimonials from friends visiting Canada, and I started thinking about how good it must be. My roommate came home from a New Hampshire Xmas raving about his mother's Tourtiere pie.

Where in Chicago can I get ahold of this stuff?

Please?

Hi ndgbucktown--

As the board's resident Quebecois, I fear I must report that I know of nowhere in Chicago where you can get any of the dishes you seek. I have just returned from a week at home in Montreal where I ate tourtiere several times, always washed down by the excellent beers of St. Ambroise, so I can understand your cravings.

I am planning to experiment with some tourtiere recipes this winter, and I will try to post my findings on the board.

Patrick

I must admit to some considerable ignorance regarding cuisine of the Great White North. I'd assume Quebec has its own French-influenced chow, but I'm somewhat in the dark regarding, say, typical BC or Newfie stuff. I mean, these regions do have their characteristic foods, do they not?

David "More of a Southern Boy than I thought" Hammond

here's what google came up with ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_cuisine
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-69-1371/li ... dian_food/
http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/canada/toc-cuisine.html

My canadian wife rattled off this list, and said she doubted any of it could be found in the chicago area:

Tourtiere
Nanaimo bars
Poutine
Saskatoon berry tarts
Butter tarts


And then stuff that is quite popular in canada, for better or for worse, that are possible, but difficult, to find in Chicago:

Arrowroot cookies
Aero bars
Smarties (not the sugar discs, but the M&M clones)
Peameal bacon


And the popular-in-her-neck-of-canada-for-reasons-unknown:

Kraft dinner with cut up hot dogs.


To answer hammond's question: most dishes that are considered local specialties aren't unique preparations, but are just celebrations of a high quality local ingredient - dishes involving canadian cheddar, fiddleheads, bison, venison, salmon, etc.

The problem is that there doesn't seem to be much distinctly canadian technique.

ndgbucktown wrote: Where in Chicago can I get ahold of this stuff?

As an ex-pat Montréaler, my $0.02 is that you would never look to a restaurant for tourtiere or other Quebecois delicacies. My grandmother made tourtiere that you would dream about at night months later - a double lard crust, equal portions pork, veal and beef, and highly spiced. The only close facsimile that I can recall came from a sugarbush (basically a maple syrup factory with an all-you-can-eat dining room attached) in the Eastern townships. I would find a recipe from a reasonably authentic source and dive right in and make it yourself.

Canadian cuisine seems pretty regional to me and therefore hard to pin down - lots of German, Ukrainian and Mennonite fare on the prairies, more anglophile traditions in Ontario, BC and the Maritimes, and different First Nations traditions sprinkled throughout. And I second Gleam's point that a lot of what I associate as distinctively Canadian - outside Quebec, at least, which has a distinctive cuisine - is product rather than recipe: cold pressed canola oil, grass-fed Alberta beef, Lake Winnipeg pickerel and smoked goldeye, Saskatoon berries, caribou and elk, etc. My favorite restaurants in the whole world are places like the River Cafe in Calgary that meld French technique with Canadian products.

Fillay

For fans of Canadian food, donuts, or hockey -- and if you like all three, then you're really in luck -- there's a delightful and insightful essay in Food Nations (edited by Warren Belasco) called "'Eddie Shack Was No Tim Horton': Donuts and the Folklore of Mass Culture in Canada." The article's author is Steve Penfold, a graduate student at York University completing a dissertation examining the history of the donut in Canada, who "hopes that York will one day endow a Chair in Snackfood Studies." He sounds like an LTH sort of fellow.

Hello! Someone directed me to this thread from another board. I am also a Canadian living in Chicago. Born in Montreal.

Your best bet to get authentic poutine in in Chicago is to do this:

-Buy a deep frier (skip buying the frozen fries, it isn't the same)
-Go to Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha, WI and buy white cheese curds (this is also a must, unless you want to make NYC Disco fries (with regular melted mozzerella cheese, which aren't the same)
-Go to jewel and buy a 5lb bag of russet potatoes, 4 packets of Jewel brand powdered chicken gravy, 32oz. Kitchen Basics brand chicken stock, and a gallon or so of peanut oil.

step 1 - wash potatoes and cut potatoes into fries

step 2 - start cooking the fries like this website tells you to: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/rec ... RD,00.html
(salt the fries while they're still hot after the second round in the frier)

step 3 - mix the powdered gravy with the stock in a pot and bring to a bare simmer. Let it reduce some.

step 4 - put hot fries in a bowl, top with cheese curds and then add the gravy to slightly melt the curds.

Enjoy.

I did this last weekend and it's the best poutine I've had since moving from Montreal.

gleam wrote:And then stuff that is quite popular in canada, for better or for worse, that are possible, but difficult, to find in Chicago:

Arrowroot cookies
Aero bars
Smarties (not the sugar discs, but the M&M clones)
Peameal bacon

I know this is highly pedantic and doesn't really add much to the dialog in this thread, but I feel honor-bound to point out that I am fairly sure that Smarties were developed a few years before M&Ms, making M&Ms the clones!

Both Aeros and Smarties (which are actually English) can be found at Cost Plus World Market, by the way. There is one right by my work and I spend far too much of my hard-earned money on Aero bars.

By the way, thanks for the Poutine recipie, $0.00/gal. I will certainly give it a go soon!

LionRock wrote:Both Aeros and Smarties (which are actually English) can be found at Cost Plus World Market, by the way. There is one right by my work and I spend far too much of my hard-earned money on Aero bars.

Aeros, Smarties and other Anglo favorites can be found at the Irish Shop in Oak Park, my source for odd candy in the area. (Hint: check expiration dates; I've purchased some almost-past-its-prime stuff there).

Hammond

Yes yes, Smarties have been around longer than M&Ms, I know. Call it cultural bias. And note that I said "popular in canada" rather than canadian products

And thanks for the cost plus tip for the aero bars. I've also seen them at fox and obel, but they're absurdly expensive there.

Truth be told, the thing that seems constant about smarties, aero bars, and basically all other mass-marketed english/canadian chocolate bars I've had -- with the exception of cadbury's -- is that the chocolate is truly awful. Aero bars in particular. Truly, truly awful stuff. I can't see why people would enjoy it. And yet beth loves them.

gleam wrote:Truth be told, the thing that seems constant about smarties, aero bars, and basically all other mass-marketed english/canadian chocolate bars I've had -- with the exception of cadbury's -- is that the chocolate is truly awful. Aero bars in particular. Truly, truly awful stuff. I can't see why people would enjoy it. And yet beth loves them.

Ed, wow, you are suddenly lashing out at edibles everywhere -- first chicken ravioli, now this ( )!

You're correct, of course. The "chocolate" hardly deserves the name (more like brown wax). With Aero bars the attraction is the melting bubbles.

Hammond

gleam wrote:Yes yes, Smarties have been around longer than M&Ms, I know. Call it cultural bias. And note that I said "popular in canada" rather than canadian products

And thanks for the cost plus tip for the aero bars. I've also seen them at fox and obel, but they're absurdly expensive there.

Truth be told, the thing that seems constant about smarties, aero bars, and basically all other mass-marketed english/canadian chocolate bars I've had -- with the exception of cadbury's -- is that the chocolate is truly awful. Aero bars in particular. Truly, truly awful stuff. I can't see why people would enjoy it. And yet beth loves them.

Interesting. I'm not disagreeing with you (although I certainly love them too) but I always thought that the mass-marketed American chocolate bars I have eaten have worse-tasting chocolate then their english/canadian counterparts. Although I still eat them, of course.

I guess it's a matter or taste (or, of course, what you grew up eating).

Oh, mass-marketed american chocolate is awful too. The reason I mention it is because Beth and other canadians always sang the praises of canadian/english chocolate, how much better it is, etc. And it really isn't. It's the same bad chocolate.

There's good american-made chocolate, good canadian-made chocolate, good english-made chocolate, but the mass marketed varieties seem, to me, to be universally bad.

The aero bar is the worst of the lot (worse than anything I've ever had from a US maker), but, as hammond says, you don't buy it for the taste, you buy it for the texture.

I've noticed poutine on the menu at Pizzeria Aroma in Edgewater (on this page at the very bottom):

http://www.grubhub.com/details.jsp?cust ... menuPage=3

I've never tried it, so I can't tell you if it's any good, but it could be worth a shot.

Poutine here. No kidding.

You could argue that Max's ghetto fries are poutine Chicago-style.

Max's Italian Beef
773/989-8200
5754 N. Western Ave.
Chicago

Hi,

I was just-this-much-closer to Canada by going over the Wisconsin border to Woodman's this evening.

While showing a friend the interesting selection in the International aisles, I found an area of English food products. I identified at least two items from today's discussion:

Aero


After the rousing endorsement above, I did not bother to buy.

Are these your favored Smarties? Is the price reasonable?


My friend purchased several rolls of the Fruit Gems to the right. We were in the candy section earlier where she was looking for this exact product.

There were a lot of other English foods there like Spotted Dick, treacle, ect.

Woodman's also sells frozen pasties.

Woodman's
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Take I-94 north, exit at Highway 50 turn east at very next stoplight turn left and it is on the northeast hill.

Regards,

LAZ wrote:You could argue that Max's ghetto fries are poutine Chicago-style.

LAZ,

Just got back from dinner, but that beautiful pic of ghetto fries is making me hungry.

Hammond

Those are indeed the right smarties, and that's a pretty good price for them, especially in the states.

I don't particularly enjoy them, but I don't enjoy plain M&Ms either. Peanut butter M&Ms all the way, for me. Mmm.

David Hammond wrote:Just got back from dinner, but that beautiful pic of ghetto fries is making me hungry.

Hammond,

No kidding, hungry indeed, I especially like the way LAZ has them dressed with plenty of giardiniera and onions. Really nice picture, I think that may be the first ghetto fries pic posted on LTH.

Truthfully, while LAZ's pic does appear delicious, I've had the ghetto fries at Max's and prefer fries served plain, then dunked in Max's excellent giardiniera. Good Italian beef at Max's as well and the broasted chicken is , long as you catch it when it's been freshly made.

Enjoy,
Gary

Last night's insanely awesome night of homemade poutine inspired me to check out Max's ghetto fries today.

Not even close.

I know many on this board have a weakness for them, but, whoa, eating them made me feel like the ugly American. The heavy barbecue saucing of everything lent a sweetness that threw everything off...it was poutine in a literal translation sense; a mess.

Gravy, cheese, and fries (all a bit on the salty side) make for a sublime experience. Ghetto fries fulfilled my worst suspicions: that they were a joke more than they were a dish. Unbelievably overhyped. I won't be back.

ndgbucktown wrote:Gravy, cheese, and fries (all a bit on the salty side) make for a sublime experience. Ghetto fries fulfilled my worst suspicions: that they were a joke more than they were a dish. Unbelievably overhyped. I won't be back.

Confession: I've never had ghetto fries. Still, there is no reason why this preparation has to be bad. The ingredients are all there for a tasty mess -- with the fried potato, fresh onion, etc., it would seem to have possibilities...and the LAZ pic looks so good.

Hammond

Hi,

Over on Cooking and Shopping there is a concurrent discussion on cheese curds. Where I offered the following information:

It's been my understanding that poutine began sometime in the 1950's ... anyway there is an interesting history of poutine, which made a claim interesting to many here:

The famous California burger chain In-N-Out Burger has an off-menu item which qualifies as a poutine: French-fries, animal-style. , where the french fries are grilled with special sauce, onions and cheese. Note that In-N-Out never officially acknowledges their (otherwise) famous off-menu items (author's favorite: hamburger, protein style).

David Hammond wrote:
Confession: I've never had ghetto fries. Still, there is no reason why this preparation has to be bad. The ingredients are all there for a tasty mess -- with the fried potato, fresh onion, etc., it would seem to have possibilities...and the LAZ pic looks so good.

Hammond

Eh...while I agree that fries are a pretty good canvas for most things, this combination simply does not work. Among my complaints:

* The fries are the Sysco brown-bag frozen fries. Not a good start.

* The dominant taste is barbecue sauce...and really uninteresting barbecue sauce, at that. There's no tang to speak of, just sweetness. The onions packed no punch, and the giardinera added oil, but not much in the way of crunch or taste. The "recipe" on the wall specified two pumps of Merkt's cheese sauce per order, and we clearly got four. I don't know if the dude working was trying to hook us up, but it was overwhelming. Fortunately, my colleague ordered a massive pepper/egg sandwich, which soaked up a lot of the ghetto fries' juices.

So, what do you really taste? Sweet cheese fries. Gross.

Eppure si muove.

Still, I must contend, this is a flavor combination that COULD work marvelously.

So the fries were Sysco trash, the sauce sad, the onions punchless. Nonetheless, this is a dish with palpable possibilities, is it not?

You say Max’s is trash – okay, never had ‘em, but I believe you.

Still, this could be an excellent dish, could it not? Crisp, rich, hot, sweet…what is not to like?

I now have a goal in life (and I have been waiting for one): to make (or perhaps just eat) good ghetto fries.

It can be done.

David “You Cannot Kill a Dream” Hammond

Old joke I recently read in Robert J. Sayer's fantastic SF novel Hybrids

Canada could have had British culture, French cuisine, and American know-how ... but instead ended up with American culture, British cuisine, and French know-how.

Now I'm not dissing Canada. My mum was born in New Brunswick and I am often forced to stand and loudly sing "O Canada" while juggling miniature maple leaf flags in my ill-fitting mountie uniform before being allowed at the adult dinner table.

-ramon

I confess I did not eat the ghetto fries pictured, but snapped a photo of somebody else's order. When it comes to fries, I'm a purist -- I don't even use ketchup. I don't care for poutine, either.