Hour Community » Grocery

Top-notch backwoods cuisine

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:00:00 +0000

The maestro of maple, Martin Picard, has put out another extravagant book as a paean to Quebec cooking and ingredients. The chef-owner of the Plateau’s Au Pied de Cochon opened a sugar shack out in St-Benoît de Mirabel a few years back that showed the world that top-notch backwoods cuisine is possible. It’s easy to assume the book will revel in porcine excess, given Picard’s reputation to maintain. Sure, there’s a lusty, apocalyptic sugar shack story, and recipes for Confederation beaver (including foie gras, of course), but the book is also very technical and informative about the maple syrup making process. There are clear, step-by-step, well-photographed instructions on what you’re likely to attempt, such as maple macaroons, salmon jerky (if you’ve a convection oven), duck drumsticks, marshmallow cookies, and so much more if you’ve got a bit of gumption and love of maple. If necessary, mix up a maple daiquiri first for courage.

Au Pied de Cochon Sugar Shack
by Martin Picard, $69.99

Addicted to spuds

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Marie Antoinette wore potato flowers in her hair to try to lend status to and encourage consumption of the "lazy root" to the French populace. It took a long time for potatoes to catch on in Europe, but Antoine-Auguste Parmentier, an army pharmacist who subsisted on potatoes in captivity during the Seven Years War, was their champion. Either he or Louis XVI (sources vary) helped matters by conspicuously guarding a potato patch by day and purposefully leaving it defenceless at night so that those who figured something worth guarding had to be good could sneak in and steal the plants. French fries probably started as pommes Pont-Neuf, quarter-moon fries sold by Parisian street vendors. They crossed the channel to England in roughly 1870. Funny that the country that now lives on fish and chips was slow to appreciate potatoes, unlike Ireland and Belgium, where the nutritious tuber thrived in the climate and fed the people cheaply.

Potatoes!

Let them eat cake

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0000

One perk to being a stay-at-home freelance writer is that one minute you’re scrabbling on the floor hoping there’s a second Lego hook for the other twin, the next minute the doorbell rings and a nice woman is delivering you cake. Two cakes, actually. That you completely forgot were going to arrive, even though you’d been emailed by Felix & Norton’s kind PR person just yesterday. All Lego put aside, the boys flocked to the table to admire and devour the 5-by-8-inch layered bricks studded with chocolate chunks. These cakes are a new product by Montreal-based cookie titans Monsieur Félix and Mr. Norton, going strong after 27 years but ready to diversify. My boys aren’t the most discerning when it comes to desserts, and their previous snack was a kale-banana smoothie goosed with flax seed oil, but they were unanimous in their delight. "Yum yum!" "I love it!" they declared. "This tastes like icing, like real icing!" Even they could tell the cakes were made with real butter. The whipped cream layer in the Ebony & Ivory made the whole divine; the caramel in the Ménage-à-Trois added a gorgeous note.

Felix & Norton Cakes
Now available at IGA for $14.99
www.felixandnorton.com

Happy feet

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0000

The north of Spain is famous for its espadrilles, those canvas and jute rope shoes that make sense in a sunny clime. A new store on St-Denis Street is hoping Montrealers will fall for the casual, comfy style. Along with importing the handmade shoes from La Rioja, Spain, the owners are bringing in various Spanish dry goods. Nougats of different kinds, a variety of marzipans and, for cooking savouries in a terracotta cooking vessel you may as well buy too, there’s olive oil, pimenton, rice. Apparently older Basque natives are delighted to find Gorrotxategi brand sweets, particularly the xaxu, creamy little almond tarts.

L’Espagne à vos pieds
4518 St-Denis St.; 514-214-6454
www.espadrillestore.com

You be the judge

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Many years ago, roaming the aisles of a supermercado in Mexico City, my brain popped a few neurons when I picked up a plastic-wrapped corncob that had a section of fat, swollen, grey and black and furry kernels. Corn smut. Fungus. A scourge among American corn farmers, a delicacy in Mexico called huitlacoche. I quickly came to love the stuff, inky, toothy-mushy with a murky, dusky, mysterious taste, a little tangy, if I recall right. I ordered it every chance I could in restaurants, on tacos, in quesadillas, soup. But it’s been a long time since I’ve had the mushrooms, because they’re tough to find in Montreal. The puerile but entertaining Steve of thesneeze.com’s "Steve, don’t eat it!" says huitlacoche smells like corn that forgot to wipe. Diana Kennedy, who exposed Mexican cooking to Americans much as Julia Child did for French, calls the fungus "perfectly delicious." Seek it out, and you be the judge.

Orange Orange

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I’ve become, slightly to my surprise, the kind of person who really appreciates good linens. Not necessarily fine ones that young ladies traditionally lay aside for their trousseau, but dishtowels and napkins that brighten everyday mealtime tasks. I wandered into Zone Orange, pulled/repelled by the hipster Raplapla dollies in the window, intrigued by a sign’s promise of coffee, and ended up admiring screen-printed linens with bold silhouette designs of an upscale Etsy ethos. Among the pretty and funky ceramics were some flat-bottomed ice cream cones that I could imagine sipping espresso out of. I also liked the "Flirty Everyday Housewife Apron" line, reminding me to get out my mum’s old aprons from her stint in Portugal in the 60s. And the potato mashers with politico faces as the crushing end? Brilliant. If you’re not so kitchen inclined, there are vintage eyeglasses frames, pillows, Mtl icon tees, onesies, and, oddly, lucky carp made out of upholstery cloth.

Galerie Zone Orange

410 St-Pierre; 514-510-5809
www.galeriezoneorange.com

An excellent latte stop

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0000

The space is so tiny and changes purpose so often, my mate thought it rotated businesses as a kind of performance art. But the excellent latte stop La Distributrice could be here to stay. Experienced and friendly baristas craft lattes and espressos for passersby, of which there are many on this stretch between Saint-Denis Street and the Mont-Royal metro. They also sell beans from Detour Coffee roasters, and will knowledgably expound upon them all for you. Since I’m a bit of a dilettante, flitting from blend to single varietal, experimenting to see what suits my gear and me best, I really appreciate their enthusiastic expertise. Lately, I’ve gotten hooked on their Dark Horse espresso blend, perfect for my morning macchiatos.

La Distributrice
408 Mont-Royal East

Organic fare on the Plateau

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Already a community mainstay in NDG, Ecollegey has sprouted up in the Plateau across the street from tree-filled Lafontaine Park, which makes it an easy stop-off after romping in the playground and searching for ducks. The store only carries organic fare, from vegetables and fruits to meats and breads, becoming a welcome stop for a neighbourhood that increasingly cares about the provenance of its food. The staff are always helpful and open to suggestions as they’re working to increase their range of goods. They’re also unfailingly cheerful to your children, even when the dear sprogs are lying on the floor.

Ecollegey
4050 Parc de la Fontaine ; 514-906-4050
www.ecollegey.com

A robust selection of cheeses

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0000

No need to head to Atwater or Jean-Talon Market for fine cheeses with Verdun’s Fromagerie Copette & Cie in the hood. The store boasts a robust selection, from Morbier and Mimolette, and has a particular emphasis on Quebec’s own dairy goods such as Victor et Berthold, Le 14 Arpents and El Nino. Of course, the personable owners offer charcuterie to go with the cheese, and you can buy some excellent bread there that comes from Hochelaga-Maisonneuve’s Arhoma bakery to slap it all on. On Sundays, Verdun locals go to the fromagerie to be warmed by fresh Liégeois waffles.

Fromagerie Copette & Cie
4650 Wellington; 514-761-2727
www.fromageriecopette.com

Grocery

Maeve Haldane — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Tucked on a small street across a park, husband-and-wife team Thierry Devaux and Christine Bourgeois run a lardon-sized butchers of whole-hog renown. Université de Montréal students and profs stream in for the deservedly popular made-to-order sandwiches on baguette (go to the back counter to order and watch the assembly). If thinking ahead to supper, they’ll pick up some of the best beef in town, Kamouraska lamb or perhaps some stuffed rabbit and smoked sausage. Though for a fine evening, they might walk out with some foie gras au torchon. And those who are particularly well schooled would never leave without some excellent bacon, sliced to their desired thickness.

Boucherie de Paris
5216 Gatineau Avenue; 514-731-6615