Homeschooler Needs Help

[MiniGirl]

We are wrapping up our study of North America by talking about Canada. Friday, for dinner, I would like to do a traditional Canadian dinner. I have a recipe for a canadian blueberry dessert, and someone also suggested maple syrup over vanilla ice cream. What about the main part of the meal though? Would steaks be considered "typical" Canadian fare?

I would appreciate any local recipes you'd be willing to share. Thanks.

 

[Tantor]

I have never heard of blueberry dessert being traditional (although I could be wrong)
We do make Butter Tarts though and those are truly Canadian fare. Here is an easy one for you.....you can even go and get the premade tarts (I do that sometimes!!)

http://gocanada.about.com/od/wheretoeatanddrink/r/butter_tart.htm

Here's another website with LOADS of recipes

http://joycesfinecooking.com/canadian_recipes.htm

 

[irisesareblue]

I'm from the Maritimes and come from a French Canadian background. I don't know if this would be considered typical Canadian fare, but I always have tourtiere when I go home to New Brunswick - it's a type of meat pie and is popular in the Maritimes and Quebec.

Basically, it's a savoury pie made with ground beef, ground pork and mashed potatoes. You use chicken broth to hold it all together as a filling in a double crust pie sheet and you put in spices like salt, pepper and sage (poultry seasoning). Here's a link to a recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/french-canadian-tourtiere/Detail.aspx

I like the idea of maple syrup over ice cream - you could also shave ice and have warm maple syrup over the shaved ice (it would normally be over snow but the shaved ice would be a good substitute).

Unfortunately, asking about typical Canadian is kind of like asking about typical American food. We're a melting pot of sorts from all different sorts of cultural backgrounds so anything from Pierogies (Ukrainian) to Tourtiere (French Canadian) would be considered Canadian - it just depends on where you live and who settled the area you live in.

The one thing all Canadians agree on as truly Canadian might be TIM HORTON'S - gotta love Timmies!

have a great time!

 

[irisesareblue]

And yes, by the way, after reading your OP, steaks would be considered typical Canadian fare.

 

[MiniGirl]

I like the idea of maple syrup over ice cream - you could also shave ice and have warm maple syrup over the shaved ice (it would normally be over snow but the shaved ice would be a good substitute).

Unfortunately, asking about typical Canadian is kind of like asking about typical American food. We're a melting pot of sorts from all different sorts of cultural backgrounds so anything from Pierogies (Ukrainian) to Tourtiere (French Canadian) would be considered Canadian - it just depends on where you live and who settled the area you live in.
The one thing all Canadians agree on as truly Canadian might be TIM HORTON'S - gotta love Timmies!

have a great time!

Thanks ya'll for the responses. I am definitely going to check out the links after the kiddos go to bed.

Even as I was posting, I figured folks from one province would consider one dish typical and someone from elsewhere would have a different answer. Like you said, it is the same as here. The food I grew up on in Louisiana is far different than what I ate when I lived in NYC, so I completely understand what you're saying. I'm in Florida now, so there is no way we can do the maple syrup over snow. That's just not going to happen. LOL!!! I thought of steak because of Le Cellier. LOL!!!!

The blueberry recipe I found in a couple of our resource books. (It was almost the exact same recipe, so I was thinking it must be fairly common.) We can skip it though. I'm sure my girls would like the ice cream better anyway.

Anyway, thanks again. I can't wait to look at the links provided, and that tourtiere sounds like something my dh would absolutely LOVE.

 

[aanderson5]

Some traditional Canadian foods that come to mind be:

Poutine (fries covered in cheese curds and gravy),
Tourtiere (discribed by PP),
Beavertails (fried dough, shaped like a beavertail, buttered and sprinkled various toppings - my favorite sugar, cinnamon and lemon)
Nanaimo Bars - recipe would be easy to find
Montreal bagels
Montreal smoked meat
Maple syrup
Smarties (the chocolate ones)

I am sure there are more.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Here are some links to some recipes from Le Cellier in Epcot, from Allears

beef barley soup- http://allears.net/din/rec_bb.htm

their famous cheddar cheese soup- http://allears.net/din/rec_chsoup.htm

chocolate Canadian club cake- http://allears.net/din/rec_wc.htm

cream cheese mashed potatoes- http://allears.net/din/rec_ccmp.htm

filet mignon- http://allears.net/din/rec_filmig.htm

maple glazed salmon- http://allears.net/din/rec_mgsal.htm

you can go to the page itself for more recipes http://allears.net/din/rec.htm

 

[granolacruncher11]

From Saskatchewan, anything with saskatoon berries! Puffed wheat cake also seems very western Canadian to me but I could be wrong, LOL. This is a great question, I hope you get many more responses.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I would also suggest salmon, be it smoked, glazed, or barbecued. A desert could also be apple pie too.

 

[sympatico]

In Nova Scotia blueberry dessert would be popular as well as lobster, haddock, scallops, clams (most seafood). Apple desserts also since there is a big apple growing area in the Annapolis Valley. Lots of blueberries grown also in northern part of the province.
Rappie pie is popular with the French acadian population.
There's lots of regional favorites just as there would be across the states.

 

[OffKilterMom]

How about try each course from a different region? For example

appetizer - fish chowder - BC
-Bannock -traditional native-canadian flatbread (yummy)

Main- Alberta Beef or Atlantic Salmon or Quebec Tourtierre

Dessert- Ontario Maple syrup, Maritime Blueberry Pie, Newfoundland Bakeapple (or cloudberry as some call tem) Cheesecake

There's tons of other options - these were just the first to spring to mind.

Have fun

 

[briarberry]

Don't forget the most typical Canadian food of all - Tim Horton's coffe and a doughnut.