For me, it’s sausages and apple sauce...any sausage, even mergez or Toulouse, Franks or Bratwurst...they all taste that little better with apple sauce!
Rhubarb strawberry pie is also a favorite. I think the influence of eastern European immigrants has also made perogies a Canadian staple. Love butter tarts and saskatoon pie is amazing 😋
My foodie friend once made strawberry rhubarb pie and on a whim he served it with a side of bacon! It was so good I now won't eat this pie without bacon. Highly recommend!
Yes to all those Ukrainians, my people! Mom made the best kutya, (secret recipe) Sour cherry, or plum pirohi, sour cream dill, mushroom sauce, Pompushki. Our aunt had an "opium garden" of poppy. Best lemon, poppy seed cake on earth. 1000 borsch!
Vareniky are the staff of life! I lived outside Canada for years and thought of vareniky and smetanya every day. When I returned I decided to eat nothing else and after about six months I started to find them monotonous and had to take a break. .The worst slavic food is cirnik. Even the Rusyn version is bad.
Well I didn't see the "Hawaiian pizza " and I know there are people don't like ham and pineapple on their pizza but YUMMY 🍍🍕😊 Also a Canadian invention 🇨🇦✌❤
ADORE Hawaiian, in my top 3. Another favourite is an obscure Italian version of goat cheese, walnuts and carmelized onion. Add the walnuts after about 10 minutes and the onions after you're taken it out of the oven.
I like cheese & pineapple, but hold the ham. Having pizza without pineapple is just wrong though. I'd rather have no pizza, than pizza without pineapple.
Yes, both the butter tarts and the nanaimo bars are incredibly rich! You would want to limit yourself to only one at a time. However, they are both very delicious! Saskatoon berry pie is also very good, and not just available in Saskatoon.
@@TheCanadiangirl4 I grew up on a farm in Alberta and we had many different wild berries on our land. My mother made some of the very best fruit/berry pies!
Caesar cocktails are absolutely delicious and put a Bloody Mary to shame. In Canada we can find Caesar juice in several flavours depending on how spicy you want. It’s a mix of clam juice and tomato juice plus spices. Nanaimo Bars are spectacular as is sugar pie. 😋
There is also a wealth of Indigenous cuisine (three sisters soup, bannock, Indian tacos, etc.) not touched on in this list. The appetite for Indigenous foods in Canada is definitely growing. I looove a good butter tart that's been warmed in the microwave for just a few seconds for the inside to become warm and gooey. Seriously nothing better. In Ontario, Muskoka Coffee does a maple coffee that is amazing. The soft sweetness mellows out the bitterness of the coffee and it is so smooth. Now I'm hungry.
I love fiddleheads. They’re a vegetable that grows in the wild in eastern Canada (I’m from western New Brunswick and they grow in my area). The First Nations native to New Brunswick traditionally use them as medicine. For me, they’re my favourite vegetable as long as they’re cooked long enough.
Totally with you on the three sisters soup. But I don't think indigenous food is a new thing - we still have primarily the same kind of crops in our area,native dishes may be a little more obscure. If I don't see some kind of squash or corn recipe in a Canadian food or recipe section, I really wonder. Grilled zucchini and corn ,with beans along side BBQ, Pumpkin soup for Thanksgiving, butternut squash summer salad , anyone?
I'm currious if we can grow the correct variety of fern here on Vancouver Island. We have LOTS of ferns. But I have to assume that if they would grow here they would definitly be grown here. And yes to squash soup and bannock. Yum. All the squashes in all their diversity actually.@@ingridpear1882
Montreal is famous for its food. I lived there for 2 years and Fairmount Bagel just 3 blocks away. Open 24 hours/day, we'd make a weekly pilgrimage to get out bagels straight out of the oven. They're so good they didn't need any toppings. Montreal bagels are available nationwide as is Montreal smoked meat and Montreal steak spice. Due to a huge collision of cultures, Vancouver and Toronto have fantastic food scenes as well: high quality, impressive variety, and an ability to create new things.
As someone who comes from BC, which is known for good restaurants and produce, I agree with this. As one Montreal taxideiver told me: Montreal is known for its churches and restaurants... only the churches are empty of anyone form Montreal.
Toronto is certainly also one of the great food cities in North America. Just the fact that it is arguably the most diverse city on the planet means that you can literally travel the world in a day just through its food scene. You can find cuisine from practically every country on Earth. This has only become more of a fact over the years as the city has changed and grown at a frantic pace. It is also one of the only places in Canada to host restaurants the have been awarded Michelin stars. Some of my personal favourite restaurants in Toronto are Pai (fantastic and super authentic Thai food on Duncan street in a really cool, funky setting), House of Gourmet (again, very authentic Hong Kong style Chinese food on Spadina Ave. with over 800 menu items), Lalibela (really great Ethiopian food on Bloor St. and on the Danforth), Gusto (mouthwatering Italian food on King St. West with a great wine list, if a little pricey), Planta (eclectic plant based vegetarian fare, multiple locations, I like the one in Yorkville), and Benares (traditional Indian food from every part of the subcontinent that is literally to die for, in a fine dining setting right by St. Lawrence Market).
@kiddcanuck they just awarded a number of Michelin stars to restaurants in Vancouver, including one to Published, voted the best restaurant in the country by food critics. (Have a reservation there in June, cant wait.)
Can’t forget about our Indigenous goodies either. Smoked salmon or BBQ Cedar wood salmon, bannock and Indian tacos!!! Yum!!! So much awesome food in Canada! From every ethnic group! We’re SO LUCKY!!! 🇨🇦
I'm in New Brunswick, where one of our favourites (in the spring) is fiddleheads, a green vegetable with a shape that perfectly mimics the end of a violin. They're a sort of baby fern, and BOY are they delicious! One has to cook them - they can't be eaten raw, but they are a superb green vegetable to accompany a meal.
Peameal bacon is a bit of a pet peeve for me. What Americans know as Canadian Bacon and peameal bacon really aren’t the same. The “Canadian Bacon” that I’ve had is a thinly sliced smoked product very much like ham. Peameal bacon is never smoked and is usually sliced a little bit thicker. It’s great as a breakfast food but for me the best way to eat it is on a soft kaiser roll with butter and Dijon mustard, although many people like to add more toppings like lettuce and tomato.
What you are describing is something similar to what Mert would call a bacon butty. And yes, it is best served on a kaiser -- without all the rest of the toppings.
My friend, if you've never had the pleasure of eating breakfast sausages with maple syrup in them, that is completely next level. By far my favourite sweet but savoury breakfast food.
I think I just heard another French Canadian mention Pea-Meal Bacon not long ago, and it has definetely popped up over the years from the older generation.
French Canadian here. Our family tortière recipe uses a combination of beef and pork as well as the spices your video mentioned. Served with homemade cranberry sauce. Yum.
This spring I once again tapped 10 sugar maples on my property. It wasn't a great year - weird temperatures. However, I was able to boil down 14 liters of syrup. Thats about 500 liters of sap collected from the trees. It is actually this year cost effective what with inflationary pressures. Lot of work though, but worth it when I use it in cooking, baking, breakfasts, and know that it came from the stand of threes I can see from the window.
A line or two of warm maple syrup poured on snow and then swirled onto a twig is a Canadian rite of passage. So so so many of us have happy memories of a school trip to a sugar-bush and making this treat.
I’m from NS and Donairs are the best! And yes, even as Donair poutine. I have eaten everything in your list- all very Canadian. I am a French Acadian and our traditional dish is called “rapure” or rappie pie which is grated potato baked with chicken or even wild game. Usually served during holidays with large family groups as it’s baked in a huge pan. Caesar drinks are so good- but usually most refreshing in the summer - sometimes a drop of tobasco sauce is added to it to make them a “dirty Caesar” lol.
I grew up in Nova Scotia and I can confirm that you need to have a Donair if you visit Nova Scotia. I would say have them at least twice if you get to come here. The first time have an original. The second time get it with cheese, then get the onions, tomato, and sauce on the side. Well that is just a thought anyway.
Fiddleheads. A type of fern cultivated only in the maritime provinces in late spring for about two weeks. Once they unfurl, they're not for eating anymore. Usually steamed or boiled and served with salt and either butter or vinegar
So two items that weren't mentioned here are the Donair (from Halifax) and lesser-known 'Blueberry Grunt' from Nova Scotia. The grunt is a blueberry pudding cake that is cooked in a pot and is so named for the sound it makes while cooking. It's a real down home recipe (I am natively from Nova Scotia but have lived in many Canadian cities across the country). Look up the Donair and blueberry grunt. Quite delicious.
I’m a little disappointed that no east coast dishes were mentioned. We have incredible seafood here, plus tons of traditional dishes. I need a Newfoundlander to chime in here, but things like Jiggs Dinner, Toutons and bread pudding are worthy of this list. Mert, would love to see you make some Beavertails! Make sure you have some Nutella on hand as a spread 🙌!
I once had a Newfoundland dish called 'Briches ' (?) Cod roe little sausages, really like them! The guys that fed it to me though I would be grossed out then the told me. I wasn't 😊
In Newfoundland we make pies, muffins, tarts from Partridgeberries (also known as Lingonberries). It is a dark red berry, not very sweet and makes wonderful pies. I use them to make a sauce for roasted beef tenderloin. I make it with the berries, shallots and balsamic vinegar reduced until it is thick and delicious.
This video has shown a lot of our favourites : Bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, Montreal smoked meat or pastrami on rye bread, steak and mushroom or steak and blue cheese meat pies, peameal bacon, maple syrup on vanilla ice cream. The maple syrup scene that you asked 'what's that' was maple syrup being rolled through snow to partially harden it and then it is rolled onto a stick - all ready to eat. Buttertarts are amazing. Bloody caesars made wih Mott's clamato juice - yumm.
If you have a sweet tooth, butter tarts are like angels and choir music and pure bliss in your mouth. Small crumbly pastry, a gooey filling of sugar and raisins and butter, and after your eyes close ecstatically after the first bite, your throat almost closes from the intense sweetness. It's not to be missed.
He said 350,000,000 Ceasars were bought a year which is about 10/person. It's also a very common cocktail to make at home. It's really easy to buy Clamato juice in Canada.
As a Lifelong Canadian senior from Southern Ontario I can express a few points. Poutine. I like it but it’s only really been a thing in this area for the past couple of decades. Butter Tarts. Loved them all of my life and you would too. Plain, with raisins, currants, or nuts, they’re all good. Beaver Tails. Not sure where they’re really popular but I’ve never had one in my area and the only time I ever did was on a trip to Ottawa. Nanaimo Bars. Little squares of heaven IMHO.
Pretty true. A lot more agriculture, field crop type foods would showcase southern Ontario more. I never heard of poutine til I was in my teens, heard of beaver tails on utube (the simple one sounds nice,and savory ones,but nothing candy loaded) ,have never been fortunate enough to try Montreal bagels,only recently had Nanaimo bars - although I've had similar things , was fascinated by the idea of maple syrup mousse,basil salmon, blueberry sauce with roast, and have been trying to find a Nova Scotia sea kelp because it makes sense to look for our own,rather than a foreign import. Honestly,beef stew comes to mind with Alberta,and venison stew or smoked fish for Northern Ontario. I've only heard that Saskatchewan grows lentils and chickpeas - so I guess lentil loaf is fairly Canadian, although I have no idea who invented the dish. I can just drool over Saskatoon berries, think of cranberries as Canadian (can't stand when Americans call them craisins,like,grapes again? And what,apraisins,cherrsins? Everything dried is not a grape.) ,enjoyed the chesnut "tourtiere " I tried . Ask me,and Canadian food is maple baked beans,corn, grilled zucchini, pumpkin soup and garden veggies.
There are a lots of food not in this. There are different foods and meals all across Canada and many are regional. How this video didn't have donair from Nova Scotia, is wild. Donair pizza, donair poutine.... so good! You could probably make a video like this for every province in Canada.
A good butter tart is awesome. I used to work at a bakery that made them fresh and they made the best butter tarts. You can get Montreal Smoked Meat in most deli's in Canada, at least the ones I've been to. Peameal/Cornmeal bacon is tasty as hell.
Beaver tails are fantastic! They can be very sweet, but still feel light because the dough is nice and thin. Nanaimo Bars and Poutine are my favourites, and I also love maple taffy cooled on snow. Not too fond of tourtiere myself.
what you were wondering about with the maple syrup, it's when you pour the syrup on snow and wrap it around a popsicle stick. Usually done at "sugaring offs" at the "cabane a sucre". Tasty. The syrup gets to a thick consistency and is sweet n cool.
Every large city has exquisite cuisine. They say Canada doesn’t have a food culture but in fact we have the world most culture when it come to food because we are so multicultural. Fusion is insane here.
Here on the prairies, (Saskatchewan) we like bison burgers, Indian taco ( they use bannock or fry bread instead of taco shells), butter tarts and saskatoon berries , which we use in jam, jelly, and pie….So delicious. But one of my favourites is flapper pie, made with a buttery graham crust and vanilla custard topped with toasted meringue. When I was a kid, my mom would make flapper pie occasionally, and it was always a special treat.
My home town in Alberta makes a buffalo burger laced with pork for flavour and some fat. The best wieners and honey products from all those bees feeding on crops like peas is coming onto the market.
Donairs, (similar to a greek gyro, just with different spices, invented in Halifax Nova Scotia, not really available outside of Atlantic Canada), with a side of a properly made poutine. My absolute favourite heart attack meal. Lol Somebody else mentioned butter tarts, about the only sweet I like, my late grandmother made the best ones. No raisins, just pecans and the filling.
@Christine Pierce do they have the obligatory donair sauce as well? I've not yet travled to BC, but I do have friends there, eventually I'll find the time and money to go see them. Lol
Lot of places here in Ottawa sell donairs but there’s one place called Halifax Donair that had the real thing and there amazing. The other donairs are really good, but nothing compared to the genuine article.
@Colin MacVicar that's what im talking about. I'm 2.5 hours drive from halifax. So i grew up with that original recipe from halifax donair. It is very similar to a gyro, but at the same time much different. Nice to hear they're expanding, 20-25 years ago we had to send donair meat and sauce to my uncle posted in petewawa (i hope i spelled that correctly) because he missed the donair meat from here.
From the East Coast, I like lobster rolls. From Central Canada, I like poutine and tourtier. From Manitoba, I like perogies. From the West Coast, I like salmon, done almost any way!
We had to bake a sugar pie for French class in highscool after translating the recipe. The one my friend and I made got the highest grade, even though it was the messiest, it was so good.
As I see in this video, lots come from Quebec: poutine, tourtiere, sugar pie, smoked meat, bagels, maple syrup which makes me so very proud of my home province. Here in Quebec, tourtiere components are highly disputed. I come from a region with its own version of tourtiere (Lac-St-Jean) that is thicker, includes cubes potatos and chunks of meat instead of grounded meat. What the rest of quebec call tourtiere, we call pate a la viande )meat pie). There is also the six-pates that is layered dough_mix of meat and potatoes-dough-meat/potatos-dough-meat/potatos-dough. We also have pouding chomeur (unemplued puding) which is a cake over a brown sugar syrup. Oh and let's not forget the pate chinois which is layers of grounded meat, corn and mashed potatos. A recent trend have people add grated cheese in the mashed potatos which makes it even better.
Nanaimo Bars, and Butter Tarts are typically both staples on a 'dainties' tray (along with shortbread, and butter cookies, and other such rich desserts) typically served in Canada at a tea service, holiday party, or as refreshment at a formal gathering. (like the formal version of a box of donuts)
In Newfoundland we make poutine that has home fries, stove top stuffing (which we call dressing), and gravy, and mah gawd it's friggin amazeballs. 🤤 Btw, a Nanaimo bar is way sweeter than a butter tart. The more you know. 🌈😂
One of my favourite savory uses for maple syrup is to combine it with yellow mustard and miracle whip used to help stick panko bread crumbs on top of salmon.
The origins of tourtiere was cipaille, pretty much a lasagna layered meat pie. Mainly game meats back then, but has evolved into what it is today. My family all gets together to make them every year usually, chicken, minced beef, pork, veal and potato. Hearty eating!
That's not true actually, cipaille comes frome ''six-pâte''(six-layer-pie), and indeed consist of many layers of thinly sliced potatoes, ground meat, and sometimes other garnish (my grandmother always did around 40-50 layers, for a 4-5 inches thick pie). Tourtière comes from Québec, more specifically Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean, and was traditionally made from Tourtre, however the Tourtre was hunted to extinction in 1914 and is now made from varied meats. (funny detail, the Canadian Government is currently funding a project to bring it back using ''latest technologies'' whatever that means).
Butter tarts can be very sweet. And addictive. Just had one before watching this video!! LOL Love butter tarts with pecans. I'm okay with raisins as well, but lean more toward the pecans. There are only two on that list that I haven't had: Saskatchewan berry pie and tarte au sucre. One day. Love your reactions!
Oh man, being Ontarian, I recognized that maple-y goodness on the snow immediately! Going to the sugar bush on a class trip is one of my favorite memories from primary school, the sap was running, and they were cooking up a fresh batch of syrup. Pouring it on the snow cools it and makes it solid enough that you can twist it around the stick so you can eat it like a lollipop. Fresh warm, gooey, sugary maple syrup on a stick, I can still taste it 40 years later! We have a regional food item here in Sudbury in Northern Ontario, we've taken the italian pork roast porchetta and turned it into a staple food and a game! A big part of Sudbury style porketta seasoning is dill, along with garlic, fennel, salt and lots of black pepper. The whole house fills with the most delicious savoury smell as it cooks. On the weekend, one can find a game of Porketta Bingo at local restaurants and pubs. Similar to the number calling game, you're given three playing cards, and the 'caller' goes through a full deck one by one. Once all three of your cards have been called, you yell, "Porketta!". Your winnings are a pound of hot fresh porketta ready to eat, often with a bread roll as a porketta sandwich is a thing of beauty. We love our porketta here in the gritty nickel city!
I have no idea how I lucked into his comments on all things Canadian… but I’m absolutely enjoying all the info he is putting out there about our glorious country! I especially love the look on his face!
Maple syrup is actually the best you can get when it comes to sweeteners. You should look at all of the natural advantages that maple syrup has over manufactured sugar, you would be chocked and probably will replace your sugar with maple syrup. Cheers!
Some other Canadian foods not mentioned... You reacted recently to Ketchup Chips. They're a popular snack food and a staple flavour available across the country. "All Dressed" chips are also popular, with a flavouring made by combining a variety of other 'classic' flavours ( ketchup, barbecue sauce, sour cream and onion and salt & vinegar) Our chocolate bars tend to be a mix of US and European flavours (mainly US ones) but Coffee Crisp is a popular Canadian only flavour. It's a bar made from alternating wafers and a soft foamy coffee flavouring sweet filling. Crispy Crunch is another Canadian bar, made of peanut brittle covered in chocolate. Turtles are also popular up here. They are caramel and pecan clusters, covered in milk chocolate. Every reactor I've seen (including you) has been surprised at the clip saying "Lobster is available at McDonalds". Well it's true. It's a seasonal item that McDs bring back every summer/fall (The McLobster). It's only in Atlantic Canada mainly (and New England states in the US) since that's where the Lobster fishery is, and lobster fresh off the boat can be cheap. Unlike Poutine (which all the fast food chains have adopted), it is only really a McD's thing and a Subway thing. Subway restaurants will also have a Lobster sandwich available. McLobster has been a thing since the 90's, though most agree that it isn't as good as it used to be.
Lobster is best enjoyed outside a shack on the shore in the maritimes sharing with a friend. I will never have Mclobster or subway lobster again after that.
As a child, it's traditional to go on a family or school trip to a Maple Sugar Farm/Sugar Shack to learn about the process of gathering sap and boiling it down to the sweet goodness of maple syrup, maple sugar or maple butter. Usually taken through the bush on a horse drawn cart to the various stations that explain each step of the process. There is often a pancake breakfast on site as part of the tradition.....pancakes with pure maple syrup with bacon or sausage enjoyed in a chilly cabin is what I remember. The climax of the trip for me was always the warm syrup poured over cold snow to wrap up on a stick and eat like a lollipop. Maple syrup over ice cream is great. Great memories.
My Grandad would make me pancakes every Sunday in summers, when I'd stay with him. Instead of butter, he put a thin layer of peanut butter, then maple syrup. Delicious!!
Poutine rocks, but it has to be make with proper cheese curds. Tourtière is a French Canadian dish that most of the country now enjoys. Restaurants tend to make it with beef pork or veal these days. The stuff you saw being rolled in the snow is another French Canadian invention. Maple syrup is drizzled onto snow which hardens it, it is then rolled up and eaten as a yummy sweet treat, it is mostly seen now at our French Canadian festivals. Beavertails are great, very similar as a donuts, ,u favourite is the original sugar and cinnamon. I make butter tarts all the time! They are amazing! Want the recipe? Nanaimo bars are amazing!! Montreal beet sandwiches are so good! We have Saskatoon bushed in our backyard and we make pies, tarts and jam every year. Sooo good! But they only mentioned the for Saskatchewan and Alberta but they are huge and grow everywhere in Manitoba as well, which is where I live. Canadian bacon is amazing! It makes the best bacon sandwiches!! Caesars are great drinks. Sugar pie is another French Canadian invention and is so good! You really need to visit Canada!!
A few points from an almost 55 year old Male born and raised in Southern Ontario. Poutine is probably my favourite. The simplest and best need fresh fries, great tasting gravy and the freshest cheese curds you can find. One of my Grandmother's made Nanaimo bars, usually as a treat around Christmas. They are so decadent and awesome! An old girlfriend introduced me to the Caesar drink. It feels like a meal in a glass. Very savoury and spicy. I had a few butter tarts when I was younger, not so many now, very, very good. I haven't picked up a bottle of maple syrup from one of the Mennonites who sell it. I'd be wary of some of the commercially produced variety's as they've been known to add additional sugars to a watered down syrup, not pure maple sap boiled down.
Hello, i am from Nanaimo, b.c. and we are very proud of our nanaimo bars. No one recipe is the same. Every family recipe is slightly different. It is a xmas treat as butter tarts are too. Personally we dont use canadian bacon, we use regular rashers of bacon. The price makes the decision.
About two blocks from where I live (I'm in Calgary) there is a restaurant that serves poutine with Montreal smoked meat on top. Heaven!!! One thing the video missed is a westernized oriental dish that originated in Calgary and that is ginger beef. Wikipedia describes it as: "generally consists of deep fried strips of beef coated in a dark sweet sauce that is reminiscent of other Asian sauces based on vinegar and sugar. It also contains flavors of ginger, garlic, and hot peppers, and is commonly served with a small amount of julienned carrots and onions in the sauce"
I live in Ottawa -- Beavertails are AMAZING. Ridiculously overpriced (because they're trademarked and only one place sells them), but anytime I'm downtown or skating on the canal I will absolutely shell out for one (or two).
There's one in French Canada called Tirer (French for pulled) and it's hot maple syrup poured over snow, which turns it into a taffy type dessert that everyone of all ages enjoy.
Pork chops boiled in pure Maple syrup ,lobster in garlic butter, rhubarb pie, Rappie pie(yeah its a thing)tuna steaks bacon wrapped scallops ,ice wine ,Great Canadian Bagels,and of the craft beers from Nova Scotia's Liquid Assets OMG
Omg, berry pies are my favorite. Strawberry rhubarb, blueberry, blueberry/peach, mixed berry pie, even a good cherry pie. All berries are good in pie, depending on what they're combined with. Lol better than any apple, in my humble opinion.
More maple: Maple whiskey drizzled over ice cream is simple but delicious. Right up there with it, there was a restaurant in town that served maple-bacon milkshakes: maple syrup mixed into ice cream and garnished with a couple crispy strips of bacon, whipped cream and topped with crumbled bacon. And finally, candied salmon is salmon that is smoked with salt and sugar and coated with maple syrup.
Canadian food is often a reflection of the different cultures of the people who have come to Canada to make it their home. Here in Edmonton, Alberta, you can find not only perogies of all different types of fillings, but something called a green onion cake often served with hot sauce. A staple across the prairies is ironically, Chinese food, which isn't food from China, but a collection of dishes that were invented by Asian immigrants who opened restaurants here almost a hundred years ago and tried making food that would appeal to "western" palates.
This is wonderful. I had no idea how many foods are distinctly Canadian. Like Poutine, there are now only countless variations. Greek poutine with a sprinkle of feta cheese on top, jerk chicken with jerk mayo on top, all to die for. Nanaimo bars! And let's not forget bannock, Saskatoon berries everywhere, and chokecherry syrup on pancakes over a dollop of sour cream.
@6:45 Maple syrup works really well with savory foods, especially meat because you get the contrast of sweet and savory, sugar/salty. So maple syrup drizzled on bacon or sausage or eggs or what have you go hand in hand together up here in Canada
Many of these things are regional, including tortierre (tor tee air, except the last two are one syllable) is from Quebec, and eaten especially there on Christmas Eve after midnight Mass. Canadians do eat meat pies, although we put gravy on them! Maple syrup only comes from the East, and I was pretty old when I first tried it. And, became a convert! It is used as a flavouring, especially in cookies. I have never seen a Beaver tail outside of Ottawa, where the people who invented them sell them. Elephant Ears are similar, except Beaver Tails have different toppings - I actually like the savoury one. Poutine is another Quebec food: double fried chips, cheddar cheese curds, and brown gravy is the magic recipe. There is a large Jewish community in Montreal, hence the bagels, and smoked meat. Other places make them in the Montreal style, but they seem so much better in that city. Coming from the West, Saskatoon berry pie was common. And, tasty! Nanaimo bars, and butter tarts are now everywhere in Canada. Butter tarts are a bit like a mini tarte sucre (sugar pie) in some ways. And, "Canadian bacon" is a term NEVER used in Canada. It is just back bacon, and as it is more expensive, not eaten all that often. There are other foods, like moose being a staple in the north, and natives adore the Scottish style of bannock. In fact, I have even seen bannock made with a bit of moosemeat in it. Delicious!
It's a good thing I had breakfast before I started watching this video, because it sure made me hungry. I've had a tourtiere and it was delicious, it's mostly served around the holidays. Poutine is delicious and yes very iconic, I've had regular poutine as well as poutine with pulled pork, both are yummy. One of my fav Canadian dishes is Newie Fries, they're sooo good, my son calls them Thanksgiving poutine because it's fries, gravy, cheese, stuffing and English peas, it's delicious. I love Maple Syrup and yes I've had snow sugar, it's delicious. I love maple syrup on chicken and waffles, it's yummy, yes I put a little bit of it on both. I love butter tarts as well, Ontario (where I live) has a butter tart trail, we also had beavertails, I've had both sweet and savory and they're delicious. Thanks for the great videos, keep them coming :D
The maple syrup bit you asked about happens in the SugarBush, while the syrup is still hot, it's drizzled on snow, and rolled onto a popsicle stick as it hardens into a maple taffy.
Hawaiian Pizza Peanut Butter California Rolls All 'invented' in Canada. A super tasty west coast treat is bannock with craberries and smoked salmon. Nanaimo Bars and Buttertarts are to die for, but they're exceedingly sweet. Honestly, poutine is amazing and you can top it however you like.
If you're in Edmonton in the summer time, try green onion cakes. There's a food festival every July called A Taste of Edmonton where you can get really good green onion cakes. You can also get them from street vendors in August during the Edmonton Fringe Festival. They are delish! Perfect snack on a hot summer day. I think they're just an Edmonton thing, I don't think they are known in the rest of Canada.
Here in Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, we have a unique style of pizza, called (obviously Regina style pizza) developed by Greek Immigrants. Loads of toppings, similar to Chicago deep dish, but not in a deep crust. Ive had people visit and try it and end up taking them home even on planes.
I'm from Regina and live on the west coast. It's true, there is nothing like Regina pizza and I enjoy some Western, or Houston pizza every time I visit. There is actually someone who opened a Houston Pizza franchise in Kelowna, and they serve it Regina style.
@@SPAMDAGGER22 Houston is absolutely the best. Been going there since I was a kid, when they opened in the early 70s. Love Western 's breakfast pizza, I think the downtown one is the only location that makes it
@@margaretjames6494 Greek style isn't quite Regina style. I've had Olympia on Denman, it's not Regina style. Regina is the thickest, most piled high pie you will ever have, and must be cut into squares, not wedges. Something about the way it's layered, also. It truly is unique in Canada. I'm surprised the big chain places...Dominoes etc. actually exist there, as they are garbage in comparison.
As a Québécois a good Saturday night meal could be a marinated beef skewer and vegetables on a barbecue with a good glass of wine. And maybe a poutine the next day 🤣
The thing to remember about the sweetness and such, is that Canadian winters get really cold, so you want a lot of energy. Hence, stuff like butter tarts and the like which can give you a lot of energy quickly. Look up a "Lumberjack Breakfast" as another example. Also, the maple candy? Its made when you boil maple sap into syrup and then, while it is still steaming hot, pour it over fresh snow to cause it to congeal.
I did my MA at McGill in the 1990s and the walk from campus to my apartment covered a part of St Laurent, which meant Schwartz's Deli was en route. Which meant many smoked meat sandwiches. No trip back to Montreal is complete without it. Always get the extra meat.
Coming from a Mennonite family in southern Ontario, Sunday dinner would often be a mainly based on potatoes, corn and beans. Meat was normally pork, quite often pigtails cooked in sauerkraut. Dessert would be Dutch apple pie or homemade maple butter tarts. The sweet dessert balanced out the tartness of the sauerkraut in the main course. Quebec in general, and Montreal in particular, is in my opinion THE best overall food experience in Canada. The St. Lawrence River is fresh water from Ontario to Quebec City, then it mixes with brine from the ocean from Quebec City and east. The result is a huge mix of freshwater fish in the western section of the river, and saltwater fish and things like lobster and crab in the eastern portion. Add in the maple syrup and willow syrup nearby, the quintessential French pastries, and the access to farm fresh milk and cheeses, and you have everything for some of the best foods I have tried anywhere. The Yukon offers my favourite breakfast fare: sourdough pancakes topped with real maple syrup.
In Winnipeg, Manitoba we have the Schmoo Torte - legend has it was invented by a Winnipeg Woman in the 50's. It is made up of layers of angel food or chiffon cake mixed with pecans, whipped cream and drenched in caramel sauce - the sauce is incredible. Manitoba has large Francophone and Métis populations, so we enjoy sugar pie or tart au Sucre and Tourtière. The liquid being poured on snow was Maple Syrup - making maple syrup snow candy - very popular, especially during Festival du Voyageur in February. From First Nations and Métis communities we have Bannock or Frybread which can be baked or fried, plain or with honey and cinnamon. Nowadays it is being made with a lot of different additives.
Re maple syrup, where you saw a line of maple syrup poured on snow and being wrapped around a popsicle stick. That was done at sugaring off parties. They would bus a bunch of kids to a maple orchard for a school tip and they would pour fresh, warm syrup on the snow, where it would thicken into a taffy. One bit that wasn't in here was Montreal-style pizza. Small, mom-and-pop Greek Pizza restaurants always did it best.
Maple glazed salmon is the best combo. That frozen snow thing you saw is the "Cabin au Sucre" and its maple syrup dripped over snow to cool it and rolled onto a stick and eaten like a sucker.
Boy Mert, you've united us completely. It's all about sitting down to all the amazing tables in this country and enjoying everyone's food. And of course we have so much to talk about! Every part of the country has crazy good food. So let us know when you're coming. You have to walk to the next part of the country to work off all that food. (my brother-in-law is a Scot, loves haggis, plays the pipes while wearing a skeart, little glasses of amber drink neat, just saying)
You're going to love Cdn food if you have a sweet tooth. Is it any wonder a Cdn created insulin? There is some speculation the butter tart is related to a Scottish tart since many of our immigrants were from there. My favourite beavertail is just cinnamon and sugar, I find the other versions way too sweet. I can't speak for other Cdns but you are probably going to find either buttertarts or Nanaimo bars at family gatherings in Ontario. I love meat pies and a big fan of Jamaican patties or Tourtiere. I wouldn't say peameal bacon is the best in the world but I grew up on it and do enjoy it. I love poutine and from where I'm in Ontario it's the food of choice to help you with your hangovers.
Nanaimo bars! If you have a sweet tooth you would love them!! Also, the thing you asked ‘what is that’ during the maple syrup segment is a traditional sweet where you take maple syrup (or actually more molasses) and pour it over fresh snow then roll it around a wooden stick. The snow kind of freezes the syrup a bit and makes it chewy (just don’t leave it on the snow too long or it’ll be frozen solid 😂). It’s much more a traditional treat from the past, and we don’t really do it anymore, but most have tried it from some sort of winter festival or just for fun (or maybe it’s still popular up north not sure but not really done as much in the cities).
New favorite in my household, turkey stuffing poutine... done with shredded turkey, stuffing, onions, gravy and most places will serve them with packets of cranberry jelly you can shake up and drizzle over it! I've had a beaver tail before when I lived in Montreal, QC. Delicious but not something I'd have again, even just with the traditional style its so so sweet.
Maple syrup on french vanilla ice cream is the bomb. Sometimes with raspberry jam as well. My dad used to eat bread slices coated in maple syrup. Fast food poutine is a poor excuse. They use canned gravy! I love a variation called Butter Chicken Poutine. I have lived in Canada my whole life and never had a beavertail.
Yes!! I have been waiting for someone to mention smoked salmon :) Grew up on Vancouver Island and the smell of smoking salmon in the fall was a hall mark of my childhood.
I’m proposing we start a fund for this man to visit and travel every city in Canada and vlog it!
I'll pay for it, as long as he's coming to the french parts of
I'm from New Brunswick
I can show him around Montreal and Quebec City etc.
Or we mail him a bunch of Canadian things to try. Might be hard for him to bring his whole family to Canada haha
Start up a go fund me page?
Dipping your breakfast sausage into your maple syrup is criminally underrated.
For me, it’s sausages and apple sauce...any sausage, even mergez or Toulouse, Franks or Bratwurst...they all taste that little better with apple sauce!
I dip my bacon in it too
I was just talking about trying tourtiere with maple syrup
@@johnr797 nooo...I really wouldn’t.
With tourtière, really you want homemade fruit or tomato ketchup.
And a side of peas.
You mean others don't do that?
Rhubarb strawberry pie is also a favorite. I think the influence of eastern European immigrants has also made perogies a Canadian staple. Love butter tarts and saskatoon pie is amazing 😋
My foodie friend once made strawberry rhubarb pie and on a whim he served it with a side of bacon! It was so good I now won't eat this pie without bacon. Highly recommend!
My favourite too. ❤
Yes to all those Ukrainians, my people! Mom made the best kutya, (secret recipe) Sour cherry, or plum pirohi, sour cream dill, mushroom sauce, Pompushki. Our aunt had an "opium garden" of poppy. Best lemon, poppy seed cake on earth. 1000 borsch!
@Anna Lefsrud ooh, that all sounds so yummy!!! Borscht is definitely at the top of my cold weather go to foods 👍
Vareniky are the staff of life! I lived outside Canada for years and thought of vareniky and smetanya every day. When I returned I decided to eat nothing else and after about six months I started to find them monotonous and had to take a break. .The worst slavic food is cirnik. Even the Rusyn version is bad.
Ok, everyone - who wants Mert to set up a PO Box in Malaysia so we can send him Canadian snacks? Who's onboard with me?????
Absolutely!
Yep, I'm in!
I'm in
I’m in
Im in!
Well I didn't see the "Hawaiian pizza " and I know there are people don't like ham and pineapple on their pizza but YUMMY 🍍🍕😊 Also a Canadian invention 🇨🇦✌❤
ADORE Hawaiian, in my top 3. Another favourite is an obscure Italian version of goat cheese, walnuts and carmelized onion. Add the walnuts after about 10 minutes and the onions after you're taken it out of the oven.
I like cheese & pineapple, but hold the ham. Having pizza without pineapple is just wrong though. I'd rather have no pizza, than pizza without pineapple.
@@loriburnip SACRELIGE!!!!
Pizza is my favorite dish but I'll never understand the pineapple/ham mix!
OOF, the shame of Canada!
A good butter tart actually isn’t too sweet; it’s the supermarket versions that are way too sweet
Yes, both the butter tarts and the nanaimo bars are incredibly rich! You would want to limit yourself to only one at a time. However, they are both very delicious! Saskatoon berry pie is also very good, and not just available in Saskatoon.
Yeah, we had a really nice Saskatoon berry pie here in Ontario. We look for it every year now for our Thanksgiving dessert.
@@TheCanadiangirl4 I grew up on a farm in Alberta and we had many different wild berries on our land. My mother made some of the very best fruit/berry pies!
I hate Nanaimo bars, funny since I live 40 mins from Nanaimo, but you cannot leave me alone with my Mums butter tarts. They will dissapear so fast!
A Canadian irony "pinky".
Caesar cocktails are absolutely delicious and put a Bloody Mary to shame. In Canada we can find Caesar juice in several flavours depending on how spicy you want. It’s a mix of clam juice and tomato juice plus spices. Nanaimo Bars are spectacular as is sugar pie. 😋
There is also a wealth of Indigenous cuisine (three sisters soup, bannock, Indian tacos, etc.) not touched on in this list. The appetite for Indigenous foods in Canada is definitely growing.
I looove a good butter tart that's been warmed in the microwave for just a few seconds for the inside to become warm and gooey. Seriously nothing better.
In Ontario, Muskoka Coffee does a maple coffee that is amazing. The soft sweetness mellows out the bitterness of the coffee and it is so smooth.
Now I'm hungry.
I love fiddleheads. They’re a vegetable that grows in the wild in eastern Canada (I’m from western New Brunswick and they grow in my area). The First Nations native to New Brunswick traditionally use them as medicine. For me, they’re my favourite vegetable as long as they’re cooked long enough.
Cream of potato soup and bannock is the best!!! The indigenous food is absolutely delicious!! I make a mean bannock.. lol ❤
Love fiddleheads. Have to nab them when they come in to the stores. Was wondering if I could grow them in southern Ontario.
Totally with you on the three sisters soup. But I don't think indigenous food is a new thing - we still have primarily the same kind of crops in our area,native dishes may be a little more obscure. If I don't see some kind of squash or corn recipe in a Canadian food or recipe section, I really wonder. Grilled zucchini and corn ,with beans along side BBQ, Pumpkin soup for Thanksgiving, butternut squash summer salad , anyone?
I'm currious if we can grow the correct variety of fern here on Vancouver Island. We have LOTS of ferns. But I have to assume that if they would grow here they would definitly be grown here. And yes to squash soup and bannock. Yum. All the squashes in all their diversity actually.@@ingridpear1882
Montreal is famous for its food. I lived there for 2 years and Fairmount Bagel just 3 blocks away. Open 24 hours/day, we'd make a weekly pilgrimage to get out bagels straight out of the oven. They're so good they didn't need any toppings. Montreal bagels are available nationwide as is Montreal smoked meat and Montreal steak spice. Due to a huge collision of cultures, Vancouver and Toronto have fantastic food scenes as well: high quality, impressive variety, and an ability to create new things.
Yeah Montreal is probably the best food city in North America. Depends on your taste I guess.
As someone who comes from BC, which is known for good restaurants and produce, I agree with this.
As one Montreal taxideiver told me: Montreal is known for its churches and restaurants... only the churches are empty of anyone form Montreal.
@@errollleggo447 Montréal & Québec City, best food in the country. 🏅🏅
Toronto is certainly also one of the great food cities in North America. Just the fact that it is arguably the most diverse city on the planet means that you can literally travel the world in a day just through its food scene. You can find cuisine from practically every country on Earth. This has only become more of a fact over the years as the city has changed and grown at a frantic pace. It is also one of the only places in Canada to host restaurants the have been awarded Michelin stars. Some of my personal favourite restaurants in Toronto are Pai (fantastic and super authentic Thai food on Duncan street in a really cool, funky setting), House of Gourmet (again, very authentic Hong Kong style Chinese food on Spadina Ave. with over 800 menu items), Lalibela (really great Ethiopian food on Bloor St. and on the Danforth), Gusto (mouthwatering Italian food on King St. West with a great wine list, if a little pricey), Planta (eclectic plant based vegetarian fare, multiple locations, I like the one in Yorkville), and Benares (traditional Indian food from every part of the subcontinent that is literally to die for, in a fine dining setting right by St. Lawrence Market).
@kiddcanuck they just awarded a number of Michelin stars to restaurants in Vancouver, including one to Published, voted the best restaurant in the country by food critics. (Have a reservation there in June, cant wait.)
Can’t forget about our Indigenous goodies either. Smoked salmon or BBQ Cedar wood salmon, bannock and Indian tacos!!! Yum!!! So much awesome food in Canada! From every ethnic group!
We’re SO LUCKY!!! 🇨🇦
I'm in New Brunswick, where one of our favourites (in the spring) is fiddleheads, a green vegetable with a shape that perfectly mimics the end of a violin. They're a sort of baby fern, and BOY are they delicious! One has to cook them - they can't be eaten raw, but they are a superb green vegetable to accompany a meal.
Peameal bacon is a bit of a pet peeve for me. What Americans know as Canadian Bacon and peameal bacon really aren’t the same. The “Canadian Bacon” that I’ve had is a thinly sliced smoked product very much like ham. Peameal bacon is never smoked and is usually sliced a little bit thicker. It’s great as a breakfast food but for me the best way to eat it is on a soft kaiser roll with butter and Dijon mustard, although many people like to add more toppings like lettuce and tomato.
Peameal bacon is much closer to British bacon than it is to what Americans call "Canadian bacon"
What you are describing is something similar to what Mert would call a bacon butty. And yes, it is best served on a kaiser -- without all the rest of the toppings.
To me it always tastes best with a properly fermented dill pickle, whole or sliced.
My friend, if you've never had the pleasure of eating breakfast sausages with maple syrup in them, that is completely next level. By far my favourite sweet but savoury breakfast food.
I'm sure there are some Canadians who call it "Pea-meal bacon", but I've never heard anyone call it that. We always called it "back bacon".
I think I just heard another French Canadian mention Pea-Meal Bacon not long ago, and it has definetely popped up over the years from the older generation.
French Canadian here. Our family tortière recipe uses a combination of beef and pork as well as the spices your video mentioned. Served with homemade cranberry sauce. Yum.
This spring I once again tapped 10 sugar maples on my property. It wasn't a great year - weird temperatures. However, I was able to boil down 14 liters of syrup. Thats about 500 liters of sap collected from the trees. It is actually this year cost effective what with inflationary pressures. Lot of work though, but worth it when I use it in cooking, baking, breakfasts, and know that it came from the stand of threes I can see from the window.
Wonderful though that you have sugar maples.
A line or two of warm maple syrup poured on snow and then swirled onto a twig is a Canadian rite of passage. So so so many of us have happy memories of a school trip to a sugar-bush and making this treat.
I’m from NS and Donairs are the best! And yes, even as Donair poutine. I have eaten everything in your list- all very Canadian. I am a French Acadian and our traditional dish is called “rapure” or rappie pie which is grated potato baked with chicken or even wild game. Usually served during holidays with large family groups as it’s baked in a huge pan. Caesar drinks are so good- but usually most refreshing in the summer - sometimes a drop of tobasco sauce is added to it to make them a “dirty Caesar” lol.
I thought a dirty Caesar was just adding extra Worchestershire sauce, two dashes of tobacsco are standard in Alberta
@@casualcausalityy lol, well that could be! Two shots of Tabasco!? Maybe you like things hotter in Alberta!
I grew up in Nova Scotia and I can confirm that you need to have a Donair if you visit Nova Scotia. I would say have them at least twice if you get to come here. The first time have an original. The second time get it with cheese, then get the onions, tomato, and sauce on the side. Well that is just a thought anyway.
Best donair ever.....Vegas pizza in Grande Cache Alberta Canada also the best pizza 🍕
I grew up in Antigonish in the late 70's early 80's The wheel Pizza had the best donairs in Canada, fight me. lol
Fiddleheads. A type of fern cultivated only in the maritime provinces in late spring for about two weeks. Once they unfurl, they're not for eating anymore. Usually steamed or boiled and served with salt and either butter or vinegar
So two items that weren't mentioned here are the Donair (from Halifax) and lesser-known 'Blueberry Grunt' from Nova Scotia. The grunt is a blueberry pudding cake that is cooked in a pot and is so named for the sound it makes while cooking. It's a real down home recipe (I am natively from Nova Scotia but have lived in many Canadian cities across the country).
Look up the Donair and blueberry grunt. Quite delicious.
I’m a little disappointed that no east coast dishes were mentioned. We have incredible seafood here, plus tons of traditional dishes. I need a Newfoundlander to chime in here, but things like Jiggs Dinner, Toutons and bread pudding are worthy of this list.
Mert, would love to see you make some Beavertails! Make sure you have some Nutella on hand as a spread 🙌!
Its a crime not to mention cod tongues. Deep fried gelatinous heaven.
I once had a Newfoundland dish called 'Briches ' (?) Cod roe little sausages, really like them! The guys that fed it to me though I would be grossed out then the told me. I wasn't 😊
Did we forget Schreech?
In Newfoundland we make pies, muffins, tarts from Partridgeberries (also known as Lingonberries). It is a dark red berry, not very sweet and makes wonderful pies. I use them to make a sauce for roasted beef tenderloin. I make it with the berries, shallots and balsamic vinegar reduced until it is thick and delicious.
This sounds wonderful! When you invite Mert, invite me too please🥂
This video has shown a lot of our favourites : Bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, Montreal smoked meat or pastrami on rye bread, steak and mushroom or steak and blue cheese meat pies, peameal bacon, maple syrup on vanilla ice cream. The maple syrup scene that you asked 'what's that' was maple syrup being rolled through snow to partially harden it and then it is rolled onto a stick - all ready to eat. Buttertarts are amazing. Bloody caesars made wih Mott's clamato juice - yumm.
When the first part of the food is pooh and the 2nd part is teen, I'll pass.....
Walter's Caesar Mix is even tastier IMHO, and the answer for those who can't handle all the MSG in the Motts.
@@Jadey7799 I have tried it and am not a fan though others in my family enjoy it a lot.
@@LastLetterisZed702it’s a French word 😂 no English translation
Your loss it’s poutine not Pooh teen
If you have a sweet tooth, butter tarts are like angels and choir music and pure bliss in your mouth. Small crumbly pastry, a gooey filling of sugar and raisins and butter, and after your eyes close ecstatically after the first bite, your throat almost closes from the intense sweetness. It's not to be missed.
He said 350,000,000 Ceasars were bought a year which is about 10/person. It's also a very common cocktail to make at home. It's really easy to buy Clamato juice in Canada.
As a Lifelong Canadian senior from Southern Ontario I can express a few points.
Poutine. I like it but it’s only really been a thing in this area for the past couple of decades.
Butter Tarts. Loved them all of my life and you would too. Plain, with raisins, currants, or nuts, they’re all good.
Beaver Tails. Not sure where they’re really popular but I’ve never had one in my area and the only time I ever did was on a trip to Ottawa.
Nanaimo Bars. Little squares of heaven IMHO.
Pretty true. A lot more agriculture, field crop type foods would showcase southern Ontario more. I never heard of poutine til I was in my teens, heard of beaver tails on utube (the simple one sounds nice,and savory ones,but nothing candy loaded) ,have never been fortunate enough to try Montreal bagels,only recently had Nanaimo bars - although I've had similar things , was fascinated by the idea of maple syrup mousse,basil salmon, blueberry sauce with roast, and have been trying to find a Nova Scotia sea kelp because it makes sense to look for our own,rather than a foreign import. Honestly,beef stew comes to mind with Alberta,and venison stew or smoked fish for Northern Ontario. I've only heard that Saskatchewan grows lentils and chickpeas - so I guess lentil loaf is fairly Canadian, although I have no idea who invented the dish. I can just drool over Saskatoon berries, think of cranberries as Canadian (can't stand when Americans call them craisins,like,grapes again? And what,apraisins,cherrsins? Everything dried is not a grape.) ,enjoyed the chesnut "tourtiere " I tried . Ask me,and Canadian food is maple baked beans,corn, grilled zucchini, pumpkin soup and garden veggies.
There are a lots of food not in this. There are different foods and meals all across Canada and many are regional.
How this video didn't have donair from Nova Scotia, is wild. Donair pizza, donair poutine.... so good!
You could probably make a video like this for every province in Canada.
A good butter tart is awesome. I used to work at a bakery that made them fresh and they made the best butter tarts.
You can get Montreal Smoked Meat in most deli's in Canada, at least the ones I've been to.
Peameal/Cornmeal bacon is tasty as hell.
Beaver tails are fantastic! They can be very sweet, but still feel light because the dough is nice and thin. Nanaimo Bars and Poutine are my favourites, and I also love maple taffy cooled on snow. Not too fond of tourtiere myself.
what you were wondering about with the maple syrup, it's when you pour the syrup on snow and wrap it around a popsicle stick. Usually done at "sugaring offs" at the "cabane a sucre". Tasty. The syrup gets to a thick consistency and is sweet n cool.
Every large city has exquisite cuisine. They say Canada doesn’t have a food culture but in fact we have the world most culture when it come to food because we are so multicultural. Fusion is insane here.
Here on the prairies, (Saskatchewan) we like bison burgers, Indian taco ( they use bannock or fry bread instead of taco shells), butter tarts and saskatoon berries , which we use in jam, jelly, and pie….So delicious. But one of my favourites is flapper pie, made with a buttery graham crust and vanilla custard topped with toasted meringue. When I was a kid, my mom would make flapper pie occasionally, and it was always a special treat.
That sounds so tummy!! ❤from Manitoba 🇨🇦
Yummy autocorrect
My home town in Alberta makes a buffalo burger laced with pork for flavour and some fat. The best wieners and honey products from all those bees feeding on crops like peas is coming onto the market.
@@beastoned8596 Tummy says it all 😎
Donairs, (similar to a greek gyro, just with different spices, invented in Halifax Nova Scotia, not really available outside of Atlantic Canada), with a side of a properly made poutine. My absolute favourite heart attack meal. Lol
Somebody else mentioned butter tarts, about the only sweet I like, my late grandmother made the best ones. No raisins, just pecans and the filling.
Donairs are sold here in BC, love them 😋😋
@Christine Pierce do they have the obligatory donair sauce as well? I've not yet travled to BC, but I do have friends there, eventually I'll find the time and money to go see them. Lol
Lot of places here in Ottawa sell donairs but there’s one place called Halifax Donair that had the real thing and there amazing. The other donairs are really good, but nothing compared to the genuine article.
@Colin MacVicar that's what im talking about. I'm 2.5 hours drive from halifax. So i grew up with that original recipe from halifax donair. It is very similar to a gyro, but at the same time much different. Nice to hear they're expanding, 20-25 years ago we had to send donair meat and sauce to my uncle posted in petewawa (i hope i spelled that correctly) because he missed the donair meat from here.
@@ryanwilson_canada that awesome I’m sure he really appreciated that.
From the East Coast, I like lobster rolls. From Central Canada, I like poutine and tourtier. From Manitoba, I like perogies. From the West Coast, I like salmon, done almost any way!
We had to bake a sugar pie for French class in highscool after translating the recipe. The one my friend and I made got the highest grade, even though it was the messiest, it was so good.
As I see in this video, lots come from Quebec: poutine, tourtiere, sugar pie, smoked meat, bagels, maple syrup which makes me so very proud of my home province.
Here in Quebec, tourtiere components are highly disputed. I come from a region with its own version of tourtiere (Lac-St-Jean) that is thicker, includes cubes potatos and chunks of meat instead of grounded meat. What the rest of quebec call tourtiere, we call pate a la viande )meat pie). There is also the six-pates that is layered dough_mix of meat and potatoes-dough-meat/potatos-dough-meat/potatos-dough.
We also have pouding chomeur (unemplued puding) which is a cake over a brown sugar syrup.
Oh and let's not forget the pate chinois which is layers of grounded meat, corn and mashed potatos. A recent trend have people add grated cheese in the mashed potatos which makes it even better.
Heaven!!!
Nanaimo Bars, and Butter Tarts are typically both staples on a 'dainties' tray (along with shortbread, and butter cookies, and other such rich desserts) typically served in Canada at a tea service, holiday party, or as refreshment at a formal gathering. (like the formal version of a box of donuts)
Absolutely love butter tart regular or with pecans so delicious
Canadian here. My favourite foods are Poutine, Nanaimo Bars, Butter Tarts, Perogies and Saskatoon Pie.
Perogies! How could they forget them?!
You would love a butter tart. The inside is like caramel. ❤️😋😋Some people put raisins or nuts(pecans), in them. I like them plain.
Visiting Newfoundland, I was offered fries with gravey and stuffing....oh, delicious.
In Newfoundland we make poutine that has home fries, stove top stuffing (which we call dressing), and gravy, and mah gawd it's friggin amazeballs. 🤤
Btw, a Nanaimo bar is way sweeter than a butter tart.
The more you know. 🌈😂
One of my favourite savory uses for maple syrup is to combine it with yellow mustard and miracle whip used to help stick panko bread crumbs on top of salmon.
For me? Maple syrup and ham. Prefect combo. Literally.
When i make apple crisp I put a little bit of maple syrup it makes it taste so good
The origins of tourtiere was cipaille, pretty much a lasagna layered meat pie. Mainly game meats back then, but has evolved into what it is today. My family all gets together to make them every year usually, chicken, minced beef, pork, veal and potato. Hearty eating!
That's not true actually, cipaille comes frome ''six-pâte''(six-layer-pie), and indeed consist of many layers of thinly sliced potatoes, ground meat, and sometimes other garnish (my grandmother always did around 40-50 layers, for a 4-5 inches thick pie). Tourtière comes from Québec, more specifically Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean, and was traditionally made from Tourtre, however the Tourtre was hunted to extinction in 1914 and is now made from varied meats. (funny detail, the Canadian Government is currently funding a project to bring it back using ''latest technologies'' whatever that means).
Butter tarts can be very sweet. And addictive. Just had one before watching this video!! LOL Love butter tarts with pecans. I'm okay with raisins as well, but lean more toward the pecans. There are only two on that list that I haven't had: Saskatchewan berry pie and tarte au sucre. One day. Love your reactions!
Saskatoon berries are like blueberries with a tougher skin and uniquely pleasant taste, they grow in Eastern Alberta too
You are missing out on the Tarte au Sucre! It's right there with butter tarts! So sweet and amazing....if you like it sweet.
@@casualcausalityy I lived in Alberta for three years and didn't find out about this pie until I left. Strange, but true.
Oh man, being Ontarian, I recognized that maple-y goodness on the snow immediately! Going to the sugar bush on a class trip is one of my favorite memories from primary school, the sap was running, and they were cooking up a fresh batch of syrup. Pouring it on the snow cools it and makes it solid enough that you can twist it around the stick so you can eat it like a lollipop. Fresh warm, gooey, sugary maple syrup on a stick, I can still taste it 40 years later!
We have a regional food item here in Sudbury in Northern Ontario, we've taken the italian pork roast porchetta and turned it into a staple food and a game! A big part of Sudbury style porketta seasoning is dill, along with garlic, fennel, salt and lots of black pepper. The whole house fills with the most delicious savoury smell as it cooks. On the weekend, one can find a game of Porketta Bingo at local restaurants and pubs. Similar to the number calling game, you're given three playing cards, and the 'caller' goes through a full deck one by one. Once all three of your cards have been called, you yell, "Porketta!". Your winnings are a pound of hot fresh porketta ready to eat, often with a bread roll as a porketta sandwich is a thing of beauty. We love our porketta here in the gritty nickel city!
That sounds so tasty!! ❤🇨🇦
@@beastoned8596 Tire sur la neige! (pulled through the snow, literally lol) Haven't had that in forever!
I have no idea how I lucked into his comments on all things Canadian… but I’m absolutely enjoying all the info he is putting out there about our glorious country! I especially love the look on his face!
Maple syrup is actually the best you can get when it comes to sweeteners. You should look at all of the natural advantages that maple syrup has over manufactured sugar, you would be chocked and probably will replace your sugar with maple syrup. Cheers!
It also contains lots of micronutrients. It puts American "pancake syrup" (basically sugar water) to shame.
Some other Canadian foods not mentioned...
You reacted recently to Ketchup Chips. They're a popular snack food and a staple flavour available across the country. "All Dressed" chips are also popular, with a flavouring made by combining a variety of other 'classic' flavours ( ketchup, barbecue sauce, sour cream and onion and salt & vinegar)
Our chocolate bars tend to be a mix of US and European flavours (mainly US ones) but Coffee Crisp is a popular Canadian only flavour. It's a bar made from alternating wafers and a soft foamy coffee flavouring sweet filling. Crispy Crunch is another Canadian bar, made of peanut brittle covered in chocolate. Turtles are also popular up here. They are caramel and pecan clusters, covered in milk chocolate.
Every reactor I've seen (including you) has been surprised at the clip saying "Lobster is available at McDonalds". Well it's true. It's a seasonal item that McDs bring back every summer/fall (The McLobster). It's only in Atlantic Canada mainly (and New England states in the US) since that's where the Lobster fishery is, and lobster fresh off the boat can be cheap. Unlike Poutine (which all the fast food chains have adopted), it is only really a McD's thing and a Subway thing. Subway restaurants will also have a Lobster sandwich available. McLobster has been a thing since the 90's, though most agree that it isn't as good as it used to be.
For chocolate bars, there's also Mr. Big and cherry blossoms.
Lobster is best enjoyed outside a shack on the shore in the maritimes sharing with a friend. I will never have Mclobster or subway lobster again after that.
Im friends with a lot of newfoundlanders and they love their jiggs dinner and salted beef.
As a child, it's traditional to go on a family or school trip to a Maple Sugar Farm/Sugar Shack to learn about the process of gathering sap and boiling it down to the sweet goodness of maple syrup, maple sugar or maple butter. Usually taken through the bush on a horse drawn cart to the various stations that explain each step of the process. There is often a pancake breakfast on site as part of the tradition.....pancakes with pure maple syrup with bacon or sausage enjoyed in a chilly cabin is what I remember. The climax of the trip for me was always the warm syrup poured over cold snow to wrap up on a stick and eat like a lollipop. Maple syrup over ice cream is great. Great memories.
My Grandad would make me pancakes every Sunday in summers, when I'd stay with him. Instead of butter, he put a thin layer of peanut butter, then maple syrup. Delicious!!
Canadian sweet tooth. With winters like ours, we need all the calories we can get.
Alternate fried eggs and bacon between three pancakes and then cover with Maple Syrup. Absolutely incredible !!
Never even heard of a tourtiere before and i was born and raised in Nova Scotia Canada. I eat beef pot pie or chicken pot pie
Toasted Montreal Bagel, Cream Cheese, Capers... Simply wonderful!
Butter tarts are sweet but taste amazing especially with pecans. Pineapple pizza was invented about an hours drive from where I live. Yum!
Poutine rocks, but it has to be make with proper cheese curds. Tourtière is a French Canadian dish that most of the country now enjoys. Restaurants tend to make it with beef pork or veal these days. The stuff you saw being rolled in the snow is another French Canadian invention. Maple syrup is drizzled onto snow which hardens it, it is then rolled up and eaten as a yummy sweet treat, it is mostly seen now at our French Canadian festivals. Beavertails are great, very similar as a donuts, ,u favourite is the original sugar and cinnamon. I make butter tarts all the time! They are amazing! Want the recipe? Nanaimo bars are amazing!! Montreal beet sandwiches are so good! We have Saskatoon bushed in our backyard and we make pies, tarts and jam every year. Sooo good! But they only mentioned the for Saskatchewan and Alberta but they are huge and grow everywhere in Manitoba as well, which is where I live. Canadian bacon is amazing! It makes the best bacon sandwiches!! Caesars are great drinks. Sugar pie is another French Canadian invention and is so good! You really need to visit Canada!!
A few points from an almost 55 year old Male born and raised in Southern Ontario. Poutine is probably my favourite. The simplest and best need fresh fries, great tasting gravy and the freshest cheese curds you can find. One of my Grandmother's made Nanaimo bars, usually as a treat around Christmas. They are so decadent and awesome! An old girlfriend introduced me to the Caesar drink. It feels like a meal in a glass. Very savoury and spicy. I had a few butter tarts when I was younger, not so many now, very, very good. I haven't picked up a bottle of maple syrup from one of the Mennonites who sell it. I'd be wary of some of the commercially produced variety's as they've been known to add additional sugars to a watered down syrup, not pure maple sap boiled down.
You asked what that was during syrup. Taking a popsicle stick adding syrup and rolling it in snow is a classic Canadian treat.
Hello, i am from Nanaimo, b.c. and we are very proud of our nanaimo bars. No one recipe is the same. Every family recipe is slightly different. It is a xmas treat as butter tarts are too. Personally we dont use canadian bacon, we use regular rashers of bacon. The price makes the decision.
😂 I love how you looked at your camera when they showed all the different beaver tails.
5:53 lol, his confusion at seeing Tire on snow LOL :) cute
About two blocks from where I live (I'm in Calgary) there is a restaurant that serves poutine with Montreal smoked meat on top. Heaven!!!
One thing the video missed is a westernized oriental dish that originated in Calgary and that is ginger beef. Wikipedia describes it as: "generally consists of deep fried strips of beef coated in a dark sweet sauce that is reminiscent of other Asian sauces based on vinegar and sugar. It also contains flavors of ginger, garlic, and hot peppers, and is commonly served with a small amount of julienned carrots and onions in the sauce"
Agreed, ginger beef is a huge miss I was expecting it to pop up after the Caesar.
Oh man this is my heart. Cant be Christmas without Butter Tart
I live in Ottawa -- Beavertails are AMAZING. Ridiculously overpriced (because they're trademarked and only one place sells them), but anytime I'm downtown or skating on the canal I will absolutely shell out for one (or two).
There's one in French Canada called Tirer (French for pulled) and it's hot maple syrup poured over snow, which turns it into a taffy type dessert that everyone of all ages enjoy.
Pork chops boiled in pure Maple syrup ,lobster in garlic butter, rhubarb pie, Rappie pie(yeah its a thing)tuna steaks bacon wrapped scallops ,ice wine ,Great Canadian Bagels,and of the craft beers from Nova Scotia's Liquid Assets OMG
Born and raised in Montreal!! My favourite is poutine, a totierre made by my mother every Christmas , and Montreal smoked meat! All are delicious
Omg, berry pies are my favorite.
Strawberry rhubarb, blueberry, blueberry/peach, mixed berry pie, even a good cherry pie. All berries are good in pie, depending on what they're combined with. Lol better than any apple, in my humble opinion.
More maple: Maple whiskey drizzled over ice cream is simple but delicious. Right up there with it, there was a restaurant in town that served maple-bacon milkshakes: maple syrup mixed into ice cream and garnished with a couple crispy strips of bacon, whipped cream and topped with crumbled bacon. And finally, candied salmon is salmon that is smoked with salt and sugar and coated with maple syrup.
Canadian food is often a reflection of the different cultures of the people who have come to Canada to make it their home. Here in Edmonton, Alberta, you can find not only perogies of all different types of fillings, but something called a green onion cake often served with hot sauce. A staple across the prairies is ironically, Chinese food, which isn't food from China, but a collection of dishes that were invented by Asian immigrants who opened restaurants here almost a hundred years ago and tried making food that would appeal to "western" palates.
This is wonderful. I had no idea how many foods are distinctly Canadian. Like Poutine, there are now only countless variations. Greek poutine with a sprinkle of feta cheese on top, jerk chicken with jerk mayo on top, all to die for. Nanaimo bars! And let's not forget bannock, Saskatoon berries everywhere, and chokecherry syrup on pancakes over a dollop of sour cream.
Hodge Podge is a spring favorite in Nova Scotia. New potatoes, carrots, string beans, peas, butter, and cream all mixed. So good.
@6:45 Maple syrup works really well with savory foods, especially meat because you get the contrast of sweet and savory, sugar/salty. So maple syrup drizzled on bacon or sausage or eggs or what have you go hand in hand together up here in Canada
Many of these things are regional, including tortierre (tor tee air, except the last two are one syllable) is from Quebec, and eaten especially there on Christmas Eve after midnight Mass. Canadians do eat meat pies, although we put gravy on them! Maple syrup only comes from the East, and I was pretty old when I first tried it. And, became a convert! It is used as a flavouring, especially in cookies. I have never seen a Beaver tail outside of Ottawa, where the people who invented them sell them. Elephant Ears are similar, except Beaver Tails have different toppings - I actually like the savoury one. Poutine is another Quebec food: double fried chips, cheddar cheese curds, and brown gravy is the magic recipe. There is a large Jewish community in Montreal, hence the bagels, and smoked meat. Other places make them in the Montreal style, but they seem so much better in that city. Coming from the West, Saskatoon berry pie was common. And, tasty! Nanaimo bars, and butter tarts are now everywhere in Canada. Butter tarts are a bit like a mini tarte sucre (sugar pie) in some ways. And, "Canadian bacon" is a term NEVER used in Canada. It is just back bacon, and as it is more expensive, not eaten all that often. There are other foods, like moose being a staple in the north, and natives adore the Scottish style of bannock. In fact, I have even seen bannock made with a bit of moosemeat in it. Delicious!
Vancouver is a city well-known for its cuisine. Amazing seafood and a thriving Asian influence.
It's a good thing I had breakfast before I started watching this video, because it sure made me hungry. I've had a tourtiere and it was delicious, it's mostly served around the holidays. Poutine is delicious and yes very iconic, I've had regular poutine as well as poutine with pulled pork, both are yummy. One of my fav Canadian dishes is Newie Fries, they're sooo good, my son calls them Thanksgiving poutine because it's fries, gravy, cheese, stuffing and English peas, it's delicious. I love Maple Syrup and yes I've had snow sugar, it's delicious. I love maple syrup on chicken and waffles, it's yummy, yes I put a little bit of it on both. I love butter tarts as well, Ontario (where I live) has a butter tart trail, we also had beavertails, I've had both sweet and savory and they're delicious. Thanks for the great videos, keep them coming :D
The maple syrup bit you asked about happens in the SugarBush, while the syrup is still hot, it's drizzled on snow, and rolled onto a popsicle stick as it hardens into a maple taffy.
Maple Baked Beans are fantastic and the Maple Butter tart is to die for
Hawaiian Pizza
Peanut Butter
California Rolls
All 'invented' in Canada. A super tasty west coast treat is bannock with craberries and smoked salmon.
Nanaimo Bars and Buttertarts are to die for, but they're exceedingly sweet. Honestly, poutine is amazing and you can top it however you like.
The Pizza Pop was invented in Winnipeg... then Pillsbury bought the recipe
I forgot Hawaiian pizza was invented here! I love it.
If you're in Edmonton in the summer time, try green onion cakes. There's a food festival every July called A Taste of Edmonton where you can get really good green onion cakes. You can also get them from street vendors in August during the Edmonton Fringe Festival. They are delish! Perfect snack on a hot summer day. I think they're just an Edmonton thing, I don't think they are known in the rest of Canada.
Here in Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, we have a unique style of pizza, called (obviously Regina style pizza) developed by Greek Immigrants. Loads of toppings, similar to Chicago deep dish, but not in a deep crust. Ive had people visit and try it and end up taking them home even on planes.
I'm from Regina and live on the west coast. It's true, there is nothing like Regina pizza and I enjoy some Western, or Houston pizza every time I visit. There is actually someone who opened a Houston Pizza franchise in Kelowna, and they serve it Regina style.
@@SPAMDAGGER22 Houston is absolutely the best. Been going there since I was a kid, when they opened in the early 70s. Love Western 's breakfast pizza, I think the downtown one is the only location that makes it
@@margaretjames6494 Greek style isn't quite Regina style. I've had Olympia on Denman, it's not Regina style. Regina is the thickest, most piled high pie you will ever have, and must be cut into squares, not wedges. Something about the way it's layered, also. It truly is unique in Canada. I'm surprised the big chain places...Dominoes etc. actually exist there, as they are garbage in comparison.
As a Québécois a good Saturday night meal could be a marinated beef skewer and vegetables on a barbecue with a good glass of wine.
And maybe a poutine the next day 🤣
The thing to remember about the sweetness and such, is that Canadian winters get really cold, so you want a lot of energy. Hence, stuff like butter tarts and the like which can give you a lot of energy quickly. Look up a "Lumberjack Breakfast" as another example.
Also, the maple candy? Its made when you boil maple sap into syrup and then, while it is still steaming hot, pour it over fresh snow to cause it to congeal.
I did my MA at McGill in the 1990s and the walk from campus to my apartment covered a part of St Laurent, which meant Schwartz's Deli was en route. Which meant many smoked meat sandwiches. No trip back to Montreal is complete without it. Always get the extra meat.
Coming from a Mennonite family in southern Ontario, Sunday dinner would often be a mainly based on potatoes, corn and beans. Meat was normally pork, quite often pigtails cooked in sauerkraut. Dessert would be Dutch apple pie or homemade maple butter tarts. The sweet dessert balanced out the tartness of the sauerkraut in the main course.
Quebec in general, and Montreal in particular, is in my opinion THE best overall food experience in Canada. The St. Lawrence River is fresh water from Ontario to Quebec City, then it mixes with brine from the ocean from Quebec City and east. The result is a huge mix of freshwater fish in the western section of the river, and saltwater fish and things like lobster and crab in the eastern portion. Add in the maple syrup and willow syrup nearby, the quintessential French pastries, and the access to farm fresh milk and cheeses, and you have everything for some of the best foods I have tried anywhere.
The Yukon offers my favourite breakfast fare: sourdough pancakes topped with real maple syrup.
In Winnipeg, Manitoba we have the Schmoo Torte - legend has it was invented by a Winnipeg Woman in the 50's. It is made up of layers of angel food or chiffon cake mixed with pecans, whipped cream and drenched in caramel sauce - the sauce is incredible.
Manitoba has large Francophone and Métis populations, so we enjoy sugar pie or tart au Sucre and Tourtière. The liquid being poured on snow was Maple Syrup - making maple syrup snow candy - very popular, especially during Festival du Voyageur in February.
From First Nations and Métis communities we have Bannock or Frybread which can be baked or fried, plain or with honey and cinnamon. Nowadays it is being made with a lot of different additives.
Re maple syrup, where you saw a line of maple syrup poured on snow and being wrapped around a popsicle stick. That was done at sugaring off parties. They would bus a bunch of kids to a maple orchard for a school tip and they would pour fresh, warm syrup on the snow, where it would thicken into a taffy. One bit that wasn't in here was Montreal-style pizza. Small, mom-and-pop Greek Pizza restaurants always did it best.
Maple glazed salmon is the best combo. That frozen snow thing you saw is the "Cabin au Sucre" and its maple syrup dripped over snow to cool it and rolled onto a stick and eaten like a sucker.
Boy Mert, you've united us completely. It's all about sitting down to all the amazing tables in this country and enjoying everyone's food. And of course we have so much to talk about! Every part of the country has crazy good food. So let us know when you're coming. You have to walk to the next part of the country to work off all that food. (my brother-in-law is a Scot, loves haggis, plays the pipes while wearing a skeart, little glasses of amber drink neat, just saying)
Canada also has 'maple butter' or maple spread' maple sugar spread derived from the syrup made to be spread on bread or toast.
You're going to love Cdn food if you have a sweet tooth. Is it any wonder a Cdn created insulin? There is some speculation the butter tart is related to a Scottish tart since many of our immigrants were from there. My favourite beavertail is just cinnamon and sugar, I find the other versions way too sweet. I can't speak for other Cdns but you are probably going to find either buttertarts or Nanaimo bars at family gatherings in Ontario. I love meat pies and a big fan of Jamaican patties or Tourtiere. I wouldn't say peameal bacon is the best in the world but I grew up on it and do enjoy it. I love poutine and from where I'm in Ontario it's the food of choice to help you with your hangovers.
The first 2 sentences cracked me me up! Never made the link...🤣
Nanaimo bars! If you have a sweet tooth you would love them!!
Also, the thing you asked ‘what is that’ during the maple syrup segment is a traditional sweet where you take maple syrup (or actually more molasses) and pour it over fresh snow then roll it around a wooden stick. The snow kind of freezes the syrup a bit and makes it chewy (just don’t leave it on the snow too long or it’ll be frozen solid 😂). It’s much more a traditional treat from the past, and we don’t really do it anymore, but most have tried it from some sort of winter festival or just for fun (or maybe it’s still popular up north not sure but not really done as much in the cities).
New favorite in my household, turkey stuffing poutine... done with shredded turkey, stuffing, onions, gravy and most places will serve them with packets of cranberry jelly you can shake up and drizzle over it! I've had a beaver tail before when I lived in Montreal, QC. Delicious but not something I'd have again, even just with the traditional style its so so sweet.
Where we are we have Newfie fries with stuffing, fried onions, peas and gravy. They are very good.
The turkey stuffing poutine is a great idea
that sounds really good! just straight up peas or like the whole nice pea puddin type of pea?
@@awildmeggyappears Just the peas.
Maple syrup on french vanilla ice cream is the bomb. Sometimes with raspberry jam as well. My dad used to eat bread slices coated in maple syrup.
Fast food poutine is a poor excuse. They use canned gravy! I love a variation called Butter Chicken Poutine.
I have lived in Canada my whole life and never had a beavertail.
I'm from Vancouver and one local thing I love is candied salmon. It is smoked salmon with a maple coating. I also like Nanaimo bars. Nanaimo is in BC
Yes!! I have been waiting for someone to mention smoked salmon :) Grew up on Vancouver Island and the smell of smoking salmon in the fall was a hall mark of my childhood.
Can get candied salmon here in Toronto, although the best I had was in central BC in road stops. Incredibly good. Excellent on salads.