The Year In Books: August with Made in Quebec by Julian Armstrong

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Made In Quebec: A Culinary Journey by Julian Armstrong is about the rich food, recipes, and agriculture of la belle province. Unlike some regions of Canada, Quebec has a strong culinary history, with quintessential Quebecois dishes like poutine, tourtiere, and tarte au sucre. Tomiko and I went on a little food tour of Quebec, and used Armstrong’s suggestions from Made In Quebec to help plan our route and tastings.

Julian Armstrong, born in Toronto but a longtime resident of Quebec, has been a food writer at The Gazette of Montreal, in addition to having been the food editor at the Montreal Star and The Gazette. Her five decades of work have covered food safety, gastronomy, nutrition, the founding of various associations, and even judging chefs’ contests.

So of course, Armstrong’s most recent book was a jumping-off point for us. Based on Julian Armstrong’s recommendations, we tried the caramel brûlé d’érable (burnt maple caramel) ice cream at Havre-aux-Glaces at the Marché Jean-Talon. It was stupendous – sweet and full of maple flavour, yet tempered with the slight bitterness of the dark caramel.

Armstrong also helped us narrow down our cheese choices. Quebec produces a lot of cheese, and not all of them are available in Ontario. So we purchased Charlevoix 1608 and Le Paillasson from the Ile d’Orléans, the first cheese made in North America and is best eaten when fried.

Made In Quebec listed and described some of Quebec’s own liqueurs, made from Canadian ingredients like cloudberry, blackcurrant, and maple syrup. I searched a couple Montreal SAQs (the province’s liquor store) for some of these liqueurs, but ended up not finding what I was looking for. Luckily, back in Ontario I found a bottle of Sortilège Original, a liqueur of Canadian whisky and maple syrup. I hope to also get a bottle of Sortilège maple cream, which is available in Ontario. I also recently bought a bottle of Neige, a sweet ice cider – similar to ice wine but made from apples instead of grapes. Unfortunately, the Coureur des Bois, also a Canadian whiskey and maple syrup liqueur, is only available in Quebec. Chicoutai is a Quebecois cloudberry liqueur that is also only available in Quebec. And these are just the sweet liqueurs! We are well aware that Quebec brasseries make excellent beers, but the Quebecois keep a lot of these beers to themselves. We Ontarians are really missing out on good Quebecois liquor!