Poutine, Smoked Meat & the World's best Bagels
While you're in Montréal, indulge in at least a couple of Québec staples. Though you'll find them dolled up on some menus, these are generally thought of as the region's basic comfort foods:
- Poutine: French fries doused with gravy and cheese curds. Its profile has risen outside of the province in recent years, and a four-page essay in The New Yorker magazine in 2009 posited that the "national joke" may be becoming a national dish. It's a perfect symbol, wrote Calvin Trillin, "for a country that prides itself on lumpy multiculturalism -- whatever impact it has on another point of pride, the national health-care system."
- Smoked meat: A maddeningly tasty sandwich component particular to Montréal whose taste is similar to pastrami and corned beef.
- Cretons: A pâté of minced pork, allspice, and parsley.
- Tourtière: A meat pie of spiced ground pork, often served with tomato chutney.
- Queues de Castor: A deep-fried pastry (the trademark chain originated in Ottawa) the size of a man's footprint served with your choice of sweet or savory toppings. The name means "beaver tails."
- Tarte au sucre: Maple-sugar pie, like pecan pie without the pecans. A French-Canadian classic.
- Bagels: Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with just a touch of sweetness. Join the national debate and choose your favorite between two longtime bagel rivals, St-Viateur and Fairmont.
