Québec food may have roots extending back to France, but it’s unlike anything on the European continent—or indeed, the world. The Québecois are fiercely proud of their own distinctive culture and traditions, which extends to the culinary sphere.
Many of the techniques that characterize cooking here are in line with Escoffier. Yet the recipes have often been adapted to incorporate North American ingredients like maple syrup and game meats.
Above all, food in Québec reflects the warmth and generous sense of hospitality of both the city and the province’s people. These are rich, sumptuous dishes meant to sustain locals on chilly evenings. They’re also often the kinds of dishes meant for sharing with friends and loved ones, as the Québecois love an opportunity to feast together.
Here are just a few of the dishes to try on your next visit to Québec.
Poutine
Poutine
Ask the average person to name one Québec food and it’s almost guaranteed that they’ll mention poutine. The dish has sometimes been referred to as the national dish that Canada is famous for, although its roots are squarely planted in Québec province.
As with so many iconic recipes, the exact origins are a subject of fierce debate. Many claim that the chef at the restaurant Le Lutin qui rit in Warwick first had the idea to combine cheese curds and French fries. Another, Le Roy Jucep in Drummondville, may have come up with the concept of throwing gravy into the mix and proudly claims to be the real inventor.
Poutine
Poutine is one of those dishes that is better experienced than described verbally. To the uninitiated, the idea of French fries drenched in brown gravy with cheese curds might not sound appetizing. Rest assured, though, that this is comfort food at its finest. As the gravy soaks in, the fries take on an appealing mix of crisp and soggy textures. Cheese curds add a rich, squeaky, salty layer of flavor.
While the traditional poutine recipes stick to those three ingredients, the variations are endless. Everything from pulled pork to smoked meats to bacon can easily be thrown into a dish. After all, the spirit of this dish is decidedly maximalist and the more salt, fat, and umami, the better.
Cretons
Cretons
While pâté for breakfast might sound indulgent to some, that’s exactly what this French-Canadian specialty is. Much like French rillettes, this charcuterie consists of fatty, spiced pork that goes marvelously on a toasted piece of crusty bread.
Typically, pork shoulder or another rich cut simmers for hours in whole milk. Cinnamon, ginger, bay leaf, nutmeg, allspice, and other aromatics give the dish its distinctive flavor. A close cousin is cretonnade, a similarly prepared spread made with chicken or veal in lieu of pork.
Tourtière
Tourtière
Christmas and the surrounding festive season simply wouldn’t be complete in Québec without tourtière, the province’s beloved meat pie. As some have pointed out, despite its French-Canadian status, this savory delicacy’s roots are more British than French.
The Brits famously love their Cornish pasties and meat pies. While tourtière differs from these pub staples, it’s easy to see how the one may have evolved into the other.
Tourtière
Tourtières vary quite a bit by region and by chef, although they’re always hearty, celebratory wintertime fare. Each consists of a savory, flaky crust—often made with lard, although butter may be used as well—and a filling, but after that point, recipes diverge wildly.
Ground pork or veal are common, as well as game such as rabbit or venison. Some cooks swap in salmon or even turkey.
Somewhat confusingly, Canadian meat pies may also be referred to simply as pâté à la viande, especially around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In Montreal, tourtière is all about ground pork perfumed with warm spices like cinnamon and cloves. Meanwhile, in eastern Québec, the iconic Tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean contains a melange of meats and game, plus potatoes.
Read: Best Things to Do in Québec City
Fèves au Lard
Fèves au lard
Think of this dish as the more luxurious northern cousin of New England’s baked beans. It’s most likely that the frugal Yankee staple inspired this French-Canadian sugar shack favorite. As with the Bostonian iteration, fèves au lard are seasoned with fatty, cured pork and a sweetener. Either salt pork or bacon are traditional, as is a combination of maple syrup and molasses.
Much like the British, French-Canadians often eat their beans as part of a larger breakfast. They’re just as good for lunch or dinner though, either as an accompaniment to meats or on their own. To try them, just look for the nearest binerie, a restaurant specializing in the dish, or sugar shack.
Soupe aux Pois
Soupe aux pois
Split pea soup is hardly unique to Québec, but it is particularly loved during the long, dark winter months here. This is thrifty, unpretentious fare, dreamed up by home cooks looking to fill bellies from nearly bare larders.
Traditionally, soupe aux pois derives much of its flavor from salt pork, although a ham hock or other cured pork cut works just as well. After hours of simmering, the legumes collapse into a thick, rib-sticking soup.
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup
Despite all the branding around “Vermont maple syrup,” Canada is by far the largest producer of the sweet stuff in the world. Much of that comes from Québec, which has the perfect climate for maple trees to thrive. In the case of much food in Québec, maple syrup is the starring ingredient.
Maple syrup is one of the most time- and labor-intensive sweeteners to produce in the world. It famously takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to produce a single gallon of this precious liquid. But to those who’ve had the real deal, no corn syrup knock-off will ever satisfy.
Maple syrup has its own peculiar grading system, which connotes flavor rather than quality. For years, grade A maple syrup was tapped earlier in the season, while grade B came later. Grade A had a lighter color and more delicate flavor, while grade B was more robust. Today’s grading system is done by color: amber, gold, dark, and very dark. No one grade is better than another; it’s all down to taste.
Tire sur la Neige
Tire sur la neige
Also known as maple taffy, this seemingly miraculous candy is made from only two ingredients: maple syrup and snow. To make it, confectioners simply boil maple syrup until slightly reduced, then pour it onto clean snow.
The solid, sticky result can then be picked up with a fork and eaten right away. This seasonal treat is most commonly found at sugar shacks, where the maple syrup may have been just tapped and boiled.
Viande Fumée
Viande fumée
Wander into any kosher deli in Québec and you’ll inevitably find viande fumée, or “smoked meat.” Although this French-Canadian staple is most closely associated with Montreal, it can be found throughout the province, including Québec city. Think of this as the northern cousin to the pastrami commonly found throughout New York.
Although the inventor and precise origins of smoked meat are heavily debated, we do know that it was born in the region’s Ashkanazi Jewish community. This delicacy is made with beef brisket marinated with mustard seeds, cracked peppercorns, garlic, coriander, and other seasonings.
Each producer has their own recipe for making smoked meat and the details are often a closely guarded secret. Some employ a dry brine of nothing more than salt and spices, while others opt for a wet brine. Regardless of the exact smoking and curing techniques, everyone agrees that the beef must be sliced by hand and served on rye bread with plenty of mustard.
Pouding Chômeur
Pouding chômeur
For a dish that translates to “unemployed-person pudding,” this dessert is incredibly rich. During the worst years of the Great Depression, frugal factory workers invented this clever indulgence. Pouding chômeur was originally a way to use up stale bread by baking it with milk and brown sugar. As economic conditions improved, the ingredient list got more luxurious.
Today, this dessert is typically made with maple syrup, heavy cream, and a butter-rich batter in lieu of leftover bread. In these prosperous times, citrus zest, toasted walnuts, or even apples or other fruit may be added, depending on the cook. In English, it’s sometimes referred to as Québecois maple pudding.
Tête Fromagée
Tête fromagée, or “head cheese,” is very much a hallmark of nose-to-tail style cooking. Historically, farmers and butchers went to great lengths to ensure that no part of the animal was wasted. The French-Canadian style of head cheese is typically made by simmering a pig’s head for hours, until the collagen breaks down.
The whole mixture forms a kind of lightly gelatinous charcuterie. While it may not to everyone’s taste, those who enjoy it go the extra mile to seek it out. Tête fromagée is often served around the holidays, although it is available at any time of year.
Galettes de Sarrasin
Galettes de sarrasin
These thin, usually savory crepes are a northern French staple that migrated across the Atlantic. Buckwheat, or sarrasin, flour is the ingredient that gives them their earthy flavor and chestnut hue.
While regular pancakes or crepes tend to be sweet, these galettes tend to err on the savory side. Expect to find them folded over ham, cheese, spinach, or a fried egg, although plenty more creative interpretations can be found. These crepes are so popular throughout the region that there’s a festival to celebrate them each fall in Québec.
Pâté Chinois
Pâté chinois
Initially, the name of this dish, which literally translates as “Chinese pie,” might seem confusing. Neither the ingredients nor presentation have any relation to anything found in mainland China. Instead, this fortifying casserole of seasoned ground beef and canned corn topped with mashed potatoes bears a close resemblance to shepherd’s pie.
Supposedly, the name is a reference to the railway workers who immigrated from China in the 19th century. According to this explanation, cooks needed to find a way to feed a large number of hungry men on relatively meager rations of meat, potatoes, and canned goods. This simple, filling dish became so popular that it stuck around in the Québecois culinary repertoire.
There are a number of holes in this theory, however, most crucially that there are no written references to pâté chinois prior to the 1930s. Regardless of how it came to be and how it gots its name, it remains a staple in French-Canadian households to this day.
Cidre de Glace
Cidre de glace
French-Canadian ice cider has absolutely nothing to do with the cloyingly sweet commercial ciders sold throughout much of North America. Christian Barthomeuf invented Cidre de glace in Québec in 1989 by drawing on two much older European traditions.
For starters, there were the bone-dry, hard ciders beloved in Normandy and many parts of France. Then there were German ice wines, made using frozen grapes.
Since Québec isn’t prime grape-growing territory, Barthomeuf elected to ferment frozen apples. The natural freezing process concentrates the sugars of the fruit and makes for a nuanced apple wine.
Although cidre de glace is beloved here, it is relatively hard to find outside of the region, in large part because it’s so much harder to produce. It takes four to five times as many apples to produce ice cider as regular hard cider.
Tarte au Sucre
Tarte au sucre
Québec is known for its cuisine, and this quintessentially Québecois treat is a classic example of a dessert that is greater than the sum of its parts. Only a handful of ingredients go into this marvelously complex-tasting confection.
These “sugar pies” have their roots in northern French custard tarts made with sugar, heavy cream, butter, and eggs. Variations of the concept can be found throughout New England and even into Louisiana.
Once in Québec, French immigrants took advantage of what they had and added one key ingredient: maple syrup. They also relied more heavily on brown sugar, which was historically more affordable and easier to get. The combination of sweeteners caramelizes in the oven, creating a rich, nuanced, creamy filling.
Sucre à la Crème
Sucre à la crème
Maple fudge may be the ultimate French-Canadian holiday treat. It’s made with just four ingredients: brown sugar, white sugar, butter, and, of course, maple syrup.
With their intense caramel flavor, these little toffee-hued squares are hard to stop eating. For many Québecois, the festive season simply wouldn’t be complete without these sweets.
Read: Best Time to Visit Québec City
Quebec City
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