The Canadian Cuisine Tour Trivia Quiz

Answer: Buttered fiddleheads

While Atlantic Canadians are fond of a snack called dulse (dried seaweed), I don't know if they eat a lot of seaweed salad, and pine nuts aren't a spring thing. There are lots of apples grown in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, but I made up apple blossom puree. No, the delicacy that Nova Scotians look forward to is tender, green fiddleheads, the tops of young ferns. They're so called because their shape resembles the head of the neck of a fiddle. (Makes sense, eh?) They're very popular in Nova Scotia (and other provinces in Atlantic Canada). They're best served fresh, although nowadays transplanted Nova Scotians can enjoy this down-home delicacy straight from the supermarket freezer. However, frozen is never as good as fresh! If you can lay your hands on fresh fiddleheads, try this traditional recipe.

Ingredients: 750g-1 kg (1-1/2 to 2 lbs) fresh fiddleheads; boiling water for steaming; 1mL (1/4 tsp) salt; 45mL (3 tbsp) melted butter; 10 mL (2 tsp)lemon juice.

Method: Wash the fiddleheads thoroughly in several changes of cold water until there are no brown shreds of the papery covering left. Steam over boiling water until tender (approx. 10-15 minutes). Combine melted butter and lemon juice. Sprinkle the steamed fiddleheads with salt, place them in a preheated serving dish, and pour butter/lemon juice over them. Serve hot.

Answer: Stale bread soaked in milk or water

Newfoundlanders traditionally use hard tack (aka ship's biscuits) to make their favourite dish called Fish and Brewis. Brewis nowadays is stale bread soaked overnight to soften it. If you'd like to sample Fish and Brewis, use this recipe and invite five friends over.

Ingredients: Four loaves of stale bread; 900 kg (2 lbs) salt cod; six to eight potatoes, peeled and diced;
There are two traditional toppings from which to choose:
a) Scrunchins' - 250mL (1 c) salt pork, finely diced; 500 mL (2 c) finely diced onions.
b) Gravy - 50 mL (1/4 c) butter; two medium onions, chopped; 30mL (2 tbsp) flour; 250mL (1 c) water.

Method: Soak hard bread overnight in cold water and soak cod overnight in a large pot of water as well. When ready to prepare the meal, change the water on the cod, add the potatoes to the cod in the pot and simmer gently until cooked (about 20-30 minutes). Remove from heat and drain. Meantime, heat soaked bread until it comes to a boil, then drain. Combine cod, potatoes and bread and mash them together.

Scrunchin's Topping: Place salt pork in frying pan and cook over medium heat until grease is drawn from the pork. Add diced onions and cook until pork is crisp and onions are tender. Spread on top of fish/potato/bread mixture.

Gravy topping: Melt butter in pan, add chopped onions and fry until onions are soft. Add water and bring to boil, then add flour to thicken the gravy. Pour over the fish/potato/bread mixture.

Enjoy!

Answer: Potatoes

Every Stompin' Tom fan knows that PEI is the home of Bud the Spud. PEI's rich, red soil produces fine potatoes, and who doesn't like potatoes? You can boil 'em, steam 'em, roast 'em, bake 'em, fry 'em, deep-fry 'em and serve them mashed, hashed, sliced, diced, whipped, in soup or salad, a la Lyonnaise or Duchess-style and so on and so on. You can even make pancakes, bread, cakes, doughnuts, and scones with the humble potato. At our house we like potatoes in all their guises, but one of the favourites is Potato and Bacon Soup. Try it, you'll like it.

Ingredients: Two large potatoes, peeled and diced; one large onion, coarsely chopped; 15mL (1 tbsp) vegetable oil; 125mL (1/2 c) bacon bits*; 500mL (2 c) vegetable stock; 250 mL (1 c) whipping cream**; salt and pepper to taste.
* I use soy bacon-flavoured bits because my husband is a vegetarian.
** You can substitute light cream if the whipping cream violates your dietary requirements.

Method: Boil or steam potatoes, drain. Saute onions in heated oil until they are golden-brown. In large saucepan or soup kettle combine potatoes, onions, bacon bits, stock, salt and pepper, cover and bring to a rolling boil. Puree and return to pot. Add cream and heat through. Serve (it's great with pumpernickel bread).

This recipe makes two hearty helpings. Double up if your family is larger than mine.

Answer: Pork and potatoes

Poutine is generally understood by Canadians to mean the chips/gravy/cheese curd concoction that's a fast food favourite in Quebec, but poutine rapee is nothing like that. It's a traditional Acadian New Brunswick treat that is usually served up on high days and holidays like Christmas and Easter. Although it has a French name (Acadians, after all, are French - remember 'Evangeline'?) it is descended from a German potato dumpling recipe brought to Acadian New Brunswick in 1765 by Pennsylvania Dutch settlers following the expulsion of the Acadians ('Evangeline' again). There's a similar treat in Acadian Nova Scotia called rapure (rappie pie in English), but rather than being dumpling shaped, rapure is served flat.

Ingredients: 450g (1 lb) minced or cubed salt pork*; 10 potatoes, peeled and grated; 4 potatoes, boiled and mashed, seasoned with salt and pepper.
*If you use salt pork, soak it in cold water overnight to remove the excess salt, and cube it just before making your poutine rapee.

Method: Extract the water from the grated potatoes by squeezing them in a cloth. Mix the grated potatoes with the mashed potatoes, adding more seasoning if necessary, and form them into balls about the size of your fist. Using your thumb, make a hole in the centre of the potato ball and spoon 15mL (1 tbsp) pork into the indentation. Close up the pork-filled hole with the potato mixture and gently lower the poutines into a large pot of salted boiling water. Keep the water boiling and simmer the poutines for two to three hours. Serve hot with butter, salt and pepper, or as sweet treat with brown sugar or molasses. They're also good with mustard.

Answer: Tourtiere

Since creme brulee, maple syrup mousse and maple syrup pie contain no meat, it's a safe bet that tourtiere is the right answer. You'll find scores of 'traditional recipes' for the tasty tourtiere - this one was handed down by a friend's grandmother.

Ingredients: 225g (1/4 lb) each ground beef* and ground pork; 1 onion; 1 clove garlic, minced; 75mL (1/3 c) water; two celery stalks, chopped; 1 large carrot, chopped; 15 mL (3 tsp) chicken bouillon; 1 large potato, peeled and grated; 1 bay leaf; 1mL (1/4 tsp) cinnamon; 1/2mL (1/8 tsp) cloves; salt and pepper to taste; 1/2mL (1/8 tsp) nutmeg; 15mL (1 tbsp) water; 1 egg yolk; enough pastry for a covered pie**.
*You can substitute veal for the beef if you prefer.
**I prick the bottom of the pie shell and bake it at 325 degrees F until it starts to turn golden.

Method: Brown the meat with onion and garlic in a large frying pan, and then drain off the fat*. Stir in water, celery, carrot, bouillon and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, take out the bay leaf and add grated potatoes and spices. Spoon mixture into pie shell and cover with top pastry. Combine egg yolk and water and brush the top crust lightly to create a glaze. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve with brown gravy and any side vegetable or salad.
*Reserve the fat to make the gravy.

Answer: Maple syrup backwoods pie

I suppose the pioneers enjoyed a form of maple syrup freezer pops (see note)* but that would be more like a treat than a dessert, wouldn't it? Maple syrup gelati wouldn't be found on the pioneer menu. While there is such a thing as maple syrup ham glaze, it's not a dessert, is it? Therefore, the correct answer has to be the Backwoods Pie (and believe me, Ontario has hundreds and thousands of hectares of backwoods!) Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: 30mL (2 tbsp) butter; 250mL (1 c) firmly packed brown sugar; three egg yolks; 125mL (1/2 c) milk; 250mL (1 c) maple syrup (the real thing, not that ersatz maple-flavoured stuff!); 1mL (1/4 tsp) nutmeg (freshly grated is best); three egg whites; enough pastry for a single-crust 9-inch pie; 250mL chilled whipping cream; 5mL (1 tsp) white sugar (optional); dash of salt (optional); one or two drops of vanilla essence (optional).

Method: Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add egg yolks and beat in well. Stir in the milk, maple syrup and nutmeg. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff and fold into the mixture. Pour the mixture into an unbaked, unpricked pie shell and bake at 450 degrees F for ten minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for 30 to 35 minutes more, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is set. While the pie is baking, chill a mixing bowl and beaters or whisk. Pour chilled whipping cream into chilled bowl and beat or whisk until it stands in soft peaks. Be careful not to overbeat, or you'll end up with butter instead of whipped cream! If you like your whipped cream sweet, stir in sugar, salt and vanilla essence at this stage. Let the pie cool a little before serving it topped with whipped cream or with whipped cream on the side.

*Funtrivia member Lady Caitriona has reminded me that it was not uncommon for the pioneers to pour maple syrup on snow, let it freeze and then eat it like a lollipop, so that could qualify as a freezer pop, I suppose. On the other hand, when I wrote the clue I was thinking of those long cellophane tubes containing coloured sugar water which one freezes to produce freezer pops - that's what they're called in my neck of the woods, anyway. Every year, at the annual Festival du Voyageur held in Winnipeg every February we still make maple syrup lollipops by pouring maple syrup on snow and letting it freeze.

Answer: Wild rice

You can eat birch bark and maple buds if you like, and Basmati rice is okay in its place, but I'll choose wild rice every time. Wild rice has a distinctive nutty flavour and is delicious served with venison or wild goose. It is actually the seed of a tall grass that grows in shallow waters at the edge of freshwater lakes. It is harvested by canoeing into a stand of the grass and using wooden rods called knockers to knock the seeds off the grass and into the canoe. Sounds simple, eh? Actually, it requires a great deal of skill.

To cook wild rice, stir 250mL (one cup) of wild rice into 1.5L (six cups) of boiling salted water. Boil gently for about 50 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the kernels just split open. Drain and serve (or use in the recipe I've provided). If you overcook the wild rice it will turn into a pile of mush. Wild rice is cooked in much the same way as pasta and you should start with cold water! Here's the recipe for wild rice casserole.

Ingredients: 675 mL (1-1/2 c) uncooked wild rice; one medium onion, diced; 1 medium green pepper (seeds removed), diced: 750mL (3 c) fresh mushrooms, sliced; 200mL (3/4 c) celery, diced; 225g bacon (or any ground or cubed meat), diced; 250mL (1 c) uncooked peas, fresh or frozen; 125mL (1/2 c) soya sauce or chicken broth; pepper to taste.

Method: Follow cooking instructions above to cook the wild rice. Brown the bacon (or meat) in a pan, drain off fat. In a little oil or butter, stir fry the mushrooms, onions, celery and green pepper until tender, then toss with cooked rice. Add meat, peas, soya sauce (or broth) and season with pepper. Stir fry over medium heat until warmed through. Turn mixture into casserole dish and serve.

Answer: Saskatoon

I haven't checked my atlas, but I've never heard of cities named Loganberry and Mulberry in Saskatchewan. There is a place called Batoche. However, it's not named for a berry but for one of the original settlers, a fellow named Xavier Letandre. His nickname was Batoche, a corruption of Baptiste, (and no, I don't know how they got Batoche from Baptiste). The berry in question is the saskatoon, the anglicized version of the Cree misaskwatomin (which means - surprise! - saskatoonberry.) Saskatoons were used in the making of pemmican, a mixture of meat, suet and berries that formed a dietary staple of the aboriginal people. Nowadays saskatoons, which grow wild and can also be cultivated, are used to make pies, jams, jellies, wine, cider, beer and are often dried and used in cereals and trail mixes. If you can lay your hands on some saskatoons try making these Saskatoon Muffins (if saskatoons are not available, I suppose you could substitute blueberries).

Ingredients: 125mL (1/2 c) rolled oats; 125mL (1/2 c) orange juice; 375mL (1-1/2 c) flour; 125mL (1/2 c) sugar; 5 mL (1-1/4 tsp) baking powder; 2mL (1/2 tsp) salt; 125mL (1/2 c) canola oil*; 1 beaten egg; 250 to 375 (1 to 1-1/2 c) saskatoons.
Topping: 30mL (2 tbsp) sugar; 1mL (1/4 tsp) cinnamon.
*If canola oil isn't available, use any vegetable oil. Canola, by the way, is another Saskatchewan agricultural product.

Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Soak rolled oats in orange juice and set aside. Mix dry ingredients together (except for 30mL sugar and 1mL cinnamon - they're for the topping). Combine oil and egg. Add rolled oats mixture and the saskatoons and stir. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold together, taking care not to overmix. Spoon muffin mix into 12 large muffin cups. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over top of each muffin. Bake at 375 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes.

Answer: Over 60%

Alberta is ideal cattle ranching country, with rolling hills leading up to the foothills of the Rockies, and prime beef cattle is Alberta's number one agricultural product. More than 60% of all the beef eaten in Canada comes from Alberta, where there are more cattle than people (as of 2007, the human population was just over three million and the beef cattle population was five and a half million. That's a lot of steak and rump roast on the hoof.) While Alberta, like the rest of Canada, is a multi-ethnic society with a cuisine to match, there's nothing more essentially Albertan than a barbecued steak dinner. Gone, however, are the days of steak with a little pepper and salt grilling on the barbecue. Next time you have friends over for a barbecue, try this Grilled Steak with Mushroom-Wine sauce recipe.

Ingredients: Four 230g (8-oz) steaks (loin T-bone, porterhouse, or filet mignon), at least one inch thick; 45mL (3 tbsp) butter; 230g (1/2 lb) mushrooms, sliced; 50mL (1/4 c) white wine; 30mL (2 tbsp) minced parsley; 2mL (1/2 tsp) dried tarragon, crushed; 1mL (1 tsp) instant beef bouillon granules.

Method: Lightly oil the grill and fire up the barbecue with mesquite charcoal briquets to medium-hot (that's when the edges of the briquets turn white). Slash any fat around the edges of the steaks, every four inches, and grill 8 to 10 minutes on each side (this will give you medium rare steak which any Albertan will tell you is the way steak should be cooked. If you grill the steaks for any longer than 10 minutes, you start to lose moistness and flavour.) While the steaks are grilling, melt the butter in a large skillet and saute mushrooms over high heat for about one minute or until they are tender. Add wine, parsley, tarragon and beef bouillon granules and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Serve the steaks on warmed plates with the sauce poured over. Add baked potato and Caesar salad for a perfect meal.

Answer: Nanaimo bars

Nanaimo is a town on the east coast of Vancouver Island, with a population of just over 78,000. Nanaimo folklore has it that sometime in the 1970s a local housewife entered a baking contest with delicious chocolate squares which she dubbed Nanaimo bars in honour of her hometown. She won the contest and put Nanaimo on the map. No one seems to known who the lady was, but in 1986, another contest was held to find the ultimate Nanaimo bar and the winner was Joyce Hardcastle. Here's her winning recipe.

Bottom layer.
Ingredients: 125mL (1/2 c) unsalted butter (European style cultured); 125mL (1/2 c) sugar; 250mL (1 c) coconut*; 1 egg, beaten; 425mL (1-3/4 c graham wafer crumbs; 125mL (1/2 c) finely chopped almonds; 50mL (5 tbsp) cocoa.
*Joyce's recipe doesn't indicate whether you should use shredded or flaked coconut, but I opt for shredded.

Method: Melt butter, sugar and cocoa in the top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat and stir in graham wafer crumbs, coconut and almonds. Turn mixture into ungreased 8x8 inch pan and press down firmly and evenly.

Second layer.
Ingredients: 125mL (1/2 c) unsalted butter; 40mL (2 tbsp and 2 tsp) cream; 30mL (2 tbsp) vanilla custard powder; 500mL (2 c) icing sugar.

Method: Cream all ingredients together well. Beat until light. Spread over bottom layer in pan.

Third layer.
Ingredients: 120mL (four 1-oz squares) semi-sweet chocolate; 30mL (2 tbsp) unsalted butter.

Method: Melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Remove from heat. When cooled, but still liquid, pour over second layer.

Place the pan in the refrigerator and chill until top layer is firm. Cut into squares and see if you can eat just one!