Canada, eh? I'm not yet sure if there is a pattern to how she picks the countries but one thing is consistent, they have all been countries about whose diet I know nothing...
My cousin is married to someone from Canada, so I hit him up for the scoop on all things Canadian. Other than the somewhat well known poutine, he didn't have much advice to offer. I also remembered that Phil (Somebody Feed Phil) had traveled to Canada so we re-watched that episode to see if we could glean some useful information.
Phil was in Montreal, and he ate Poutine, and what was described as a uniquely Montreal bagel. But beyond that there wasn't anything quintessentially Canadian on the show!
So off I went to visit aunt Google. After about 30 minutes of searching I was able to find quite a few options. We picked poutine (I know, boo! predictable). Honestly though - fries and melty cheese. Need I say more? And for dessert pouding chomeur aka unemployed man's pudding.
Poutine: This is the recipe we followed. And as expected here are some things we did differently (and some things we learned along the way!)
- Russets/Idaho potatoes are the best for fries
- For best results, double fry your fries. It takes time, but it is worth it
- As an experiment, we did the second "fry" in the air fryer as well as the conventional way. While using the air fryer definitely made it convenient, the conventional double fried fries were crisper
- Poutine is hard to photograph!
Pouding Chomeur: Known as the poor or unemployed man's pudding this is was an easy sweet treat for them to put together since they always had access to maple syrup and most people had cows so butter was always available.
If you have never heard of this dessert, try it! It is easy to make and incredibly satisfying. This is the recipe I used. I'm glad I only made 1/2 the quantity - it was rich! A few tips:
- Be sure to use a deep pan, and set it on a pan before putting it in the oven. the batter tends to bubble up and can get messy/burn in the oven
- Use all the "sauce" in the recipe - the result is a pudding that is luscious. Cutting back the amount will result in a dryer more cake like dessert
- Berries/ice cream really help cut the richness and complement the pudding. We ate ours with vanilla bean ice cream
Overall the poutine was process intensive largely because making the fries took time, but the dessert was super easy and quick. I highly recommend you take time to try both out.
It does seem like butter is a mandatory ingredient in Canadian food with the addition of ketchup if it is savory, and maple syrup if it is sweet!
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