Le Cellier: Canadian Opinions

[Aladora]

Lol. Before this thread, I never realized that in English tourtière is tortiere. And what is tourtière for you? I’m asking because even in QC there’s debate about that. Many label a meat pie as tourtière when the real thing is more a stew of venison with pastry on top so not really a pie.

And don’t start me on what Disney (both WDW and DLR) call poutine!!!

I used to make tourtière with a French Canadian friend of the family. We always made a pie made with ground or minced meat that had a flaky pie dough on the bottom and top.

I've been in BC for almost 26 years now and really miss those tourtières!

 

[FigmentSpark]

While we're adding to the food wish list, can we add an authentically Canadian Philadelphia Cheese-steak? Not the kind you get in Philly, but the good ones you get in downtown Toronto... or Montreal. Oh yes... and Montreal smoked meat sandwiches on rye.... yes, they could do quite a nice "food truck" business at that pavilion.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Lol. Before this thread, I never realized that in English tourtière is tortiere. And what is tourtière for you? I’m asking because even in QC there’s debate about that. Many label a meat pie as tourtière when the real thing is more a stew of venison with pastry on top so not really a pie.

And don’t start me on what Disney (both WDW and DLR) call poutine!!!

Me? Tourtière is a meat pie made with heavily spiced ground meat with flaky crust -- NEVER a fan.

And poutine (AKA heart attack on a plate)?!?!? OMG that has to be my all-time fav food but the swill that some places try to pass off as that gotta be fresh cut thick fries that have been twice fried so they are soft & flaky inside but nice and crispy outside, thick WHITE cheese curds that are squeaky in your teeth (none of that grated mozzarella or orange cheese?!?!?!?) fresh are best if you can find them, and thick brown gravy that is hot enough to melt the curds into a wonderful stringy mess. I will, on occasion, allow some crispy bacon to grace mine but traditional is where it belongs (ok i do admit that i will liberally douse it in malt vinegar if there is the REAL stuff handy) Then there is the old, how do you pronounce that dish? Poo-teen or Poo-tin
I was introduced to this divine dish in (of all places) a McDonald's in the small town of Cowansville just south of Montreal almost 30 years ago by a teenager who didn't speak a word of English:
ME: "Qu'est-ce que Poutine?" (didn't know if i should make it feminine or masculine )
HER: "uhm... Poutine est Poutine (extreme confusion on her face, like DUH LADY!) Veux un pue?"
And history was made!

 

[starvenger]

I feel like poutine has now become a catch-all phrase for gravy-type stuff on fries, sometimes with cheese. Not sure when exactly this happened.

 

[Mumketeer]

Lol. Before this thread, I never realized that in English tourtière is tortiere. And what is tourtière for you? I’m asking because even in QC there’s debate about that. Many label a meat pie as tourtière when the real thing is more a stew of venison with pastry on top so not really a pie.

And don’t start me on what Disney (both WDW and DLR) call poutine!!!

You are right it is tourtière.

Ours was made with veal, beef, pork, butter, onions, butter, cloves, parsley, more butter, a pint of Molson Canadian no exception to the rule. Pie crust had to be made with Lard just like Mme. Benoit. One year, my grandfather had a moose in the freezer so that was what went in it. It was so good. And then we had shortbread and empire cookies for dessert! We only had this at Christmas though.

 

[Mumketeer]

The best poutine was always from the places that you would least expect. But that gravy had to be brown enough and hot enough to melt that squeaky cheese making strings of happiness. Some times it would be so hot that if they didn't have those little two prong wooden forks it would melt those wimpy plastic forks. You knew you were in the right place if they had the little wooden forks.

 

[samsteele]

Let's also add to the list: real Ontario butter tarts. With flaky pastry not the tasteless commercial shells. Served hot with a scoop of real vanilla bean ice cream melting on top. Sigh.

 

[isabellea]

Me? Tourtière is a meat pie made with heavily spiced ground meat with flaky crust -- NEVER a fan.

And poutine (AKA heart attack on a plate)?!?!? OMG that has to be my all-time fav food but the swill that some places try to pass off as that gotta be fresh cut thick fries that have been twice fried so they are soft & flaky inside but nice and crispy outside, thick WHITE cheese curds that are squeaky in your teeth (none of that grated mozzarella or orange cheese?!?!?!?) fresh are best if you can find them, and thick brown gravy that is hot enough to melt the curds into a wonderful stringy mess. I will, on occasion, allow some crispy bacon to grace mine but traditional is where it belongs (ok i do admit that i will liberally douse it in malt vinegar if there is the REAL stuff handy) Then there is the old, how do you pronounce that dish? Poo-teen or Poo-tin
I was introduced to this divine dish in (of all places) a McDonald's in the small town of Cowansville just south of Montreal almost 30 years ago by a teenager who didn't speak a word of English:
ME: "Qu'est-ce que Poutine?" (didn't know if i should make it feminine or masculine )
HER: "uhm... Poutine est Poutine (extreme confusion on her face, like DUH LADY!) Veux un pue?"
And history was made!

I was never a fan of tourtière or meat pie (not fan of both version in fact). Sometimes I will eat a small piece at Christmas, especially if it's homemade. I think I bought one for our local community kitchen fundraiser in November 2016 and it's still in my freezer...

Poutine is pronounced poo-tin and it's feminine. My sister always says let's go eat ''une pout!" but that's a slang I never use. The only place in Mtl I would eat poutine before I became dairy-free was the restaurant chain Lafleur (although the poutine at Five Guys and La Banquise look pretty good too but I will never have the chance to try one unfortunately). My local Lafleur is super close to YUL (I live 5 minutes from the airport) and the last time I went, there was a hockey team from Ontario staying at the Holiday Inn just next door. It was so funny when they saw my daughter's poutine I had ordered for take out! I didn't stay until they ordered but from their expression, I'm sure many of them ordered one!

I love vinegar on fries! YUM! But I never tried it on poutine. Might be good. I always preferred the classic (fries, curds and gravy) but I also liked to order a some sausage pieces on top as extra once in a while. As for gravy, I don't like mine too thick and not too much of it because I like my curds to keep some consistency. My sister, the pout fan, is a big fan of italian poutine (spaghetti sauce instead of gravy). For other acceptable variations, maybe we should send Disney the menu from Ashton menu (local chain from Quebec city where I grew up): http://chezashton.ca/les-frites-et-poutines/

So 30 years ago, that was probably the era of pizza at McDonald?!? They poutine is far from the best but at least they use real cheese curds.

 

[Lexx1214]

Lol. Before this thread, I never realized that in English tourtière is tortiere. And what is tourtière for you? I’m asking because even in QC there’s debate about that. Many label a meat pie as tourtière when the real thing is more a stew of venison with pastry on top so not really a pie.

And don’t start me on what Disney (both WDW and DLR) call poutine!!!

In my family there’s a debate about real tortiere, each of my aunts has her own recipe. Lesson learned: never admit it hitch tortiere you had a piece of on Christmas Eve otherwise you’ll have to try all the others and then do a comparison lol

 

[Mumketeer]

We used to eat it on Christmas Eve, but then we stopped eating turkey so now it is Christmas Day. Butter tarts are yummy but only if they don't have raisins and french fries are great with mayo!

 

[Lexx1214]

Let's also add to the list: real Ontario butter tarts. With flaky pastry not the tasteless commercial shells. Served hot with a scoop of real vanilla bean ice cream melting on top. Sigh.

But no raisins!!!! I think raisins in butter tarts is the true dividing issue of our country

 

[starvenger]

In my family there’s a debate about real tortiere, each of my aunts has her own recipe. Lesson learned: never admit it hitch tortiere you had a piece of on Christmas Eve otherwise you’ll have to try all the others and then do a comparison lol

I don’t know if anyone watches Top Chef Canada, but the Elimination Challenge had them reinvent a celebrity chefs signature dish, and one of them (which I ranked as toughest) was tourtiere.

 

[kiford]

Many label a meat pie as tourtière when the real thing is more a stew of venison with pastry on top so not really a pie.

To me it's always been ground pork with onions and cloves in a pie shell. I usually add a bit of garlic too.

 

[AlisonDawn]

My DH and I went in October 2016 and as I recall, we both really enjoyed it. It reminded me of the steakhouses I used to go to when I lived in Alberta. Nothing too fancy, but the service and ambiance was really nice. I think they could change the menu to make it more "canadian" though. It's not like I eat steak for dinner every day. And I can't say I've ever had pretzel bread before that meal either.
Funny story: when I went to order the Nanaimo bar pie for dessert, the server IMMEDIATELY got excited and asked if we're Canadian too; all because I knew how to say "nanaimo" correctly. She said it's pretty entertaining watching people try to pronounce it

 

[merfsko]

To be honest I feel like they’ve missed an opportunity to have a fast food/quick serve kiosk here. You could serve poutine, Halifax donair, smoked meat sandwich, beaver tails, and the ubiquitous “Toronto dog” (guaranteed to get you sick or your money back). And coffee is poured double double by default.

When I first started visiting WDW in the early 2000s, there was a Beaver Tail stand! Despite the fact that I live within a 20-minute bike ride from Beaver Tails so have regular access, I'm still sad that they're no longer in Epcot.