Submitted by LaVieilleBranche on January 3, 2005 - 4:08pm.
donerail: Yes, you can get French artisinal cheeses made in Quebec! The most unusual I"ve seen is a type of harder, low fat cheese that is meant to be roasted (roti). It is uniquely Quebecois. It doesn't melt when cooked. I had several decent pieces for degustation, and I found it quite delicious.
At the Quebec market, they had FREE unlimited tasting (degustation) and you can be sure I degusted A LOT In fact, I had a nice lunch based on all the individual tastings here and there. The Quebecois are French first, Canadian second. Thus, all their foods are French based. I brought back foie gras de Perigord, made in Quebec, but using Perigord recipies. I also brought back other Quebecois meats and delices. It's not so illegal to bring back Quebecois meats, because they are made/grown in Canada. It would be a different situation should they have been made in France. However, I know well how to hide such products in my suitcase, in certain angles that defy the x-ray machines
I also brought back maple sugar and maple butter. I brought back 7 bottles of locally produced creme de cassis, eau de vie, hydromel and fruit wines. Of course I tasted them all before i decided to buy them
One of the best meals I had started out with a terrine of rabbit and noisettes, then a vegetable soup, then a Lac St.Jean meat pie with a side of caribou meat, then a piece of maple sugar pie. The beverage of choice was a nice Quebecois red wine, a half liter. The portions were huge, the food was delicious and it took 3 hours to consume all of that. However, it was worth every excess calorie!
Because many places are closed on New Years Eve and New Years Day, I stocked up on fresh sausages and fish, to cook dinner for these 2 days. I made an Alsacian choucroute using freshly made Quebecois sausages. The sausages impart a sweetness to the choucroute that is missing from the traditional Alsacian choucroute (my cousins live in Alsace).
Of course, my French boyfriend was with me, as he LOVES Quebec(he's Parisien, so too bad donerail, LOL ) and his declaration that something was as good as France or better meant a lot to me. When a Frenchman can declare that the Quebecois tradition is delicious, then you KNOW it's ok
At the Quebec market, they had FREE unlimited tasting (degustation) and you can be sure I degusted A LOT
I also brought back maple sugar and maple butter. I brought back 7 bottles of locally produced creme de cassis, eau de vie, hydromel and fruit wines. Of course I tasted them all before i decided to buy them
One of the best meals I had started out with a terrine of rabbit and noisettes, then a vegetable soup, then a Lac St.Jean meat pie with a side of caribou meat, then a piece of maple sugar pie. The beverage of choice was a nice Quebecois red wine, a half liter. The portions were huge, the food was delicious and it took 3 hours to consume all of that. However, it was worth every excess calorie!
Because many places are closed on New Years Eve and New Years Day, I stocked up on fresh sausages and fish, to cook dinner for these 2 days. I made an Alsacian choucroute using freshly made Quebecois sausages. The sausages impart a sweetness to the choucroute that is missing from the traditional Alsacian choucroute (my cousins live in Alsace).
Of course, my French boyfriend was with me, as he LOVES Quebec(he's Parisien, so too bad donerail, LOL ) and his declaration that something was as good as France or better meant a lot to me. When a Frenchman can declare that the Quebecois tradition is delicious, then you KNOW it's ok