Last Sunday I visited a gourmet sugar shack in Quebec. To celebrate sugaring season, Montreal Chef Martin Picard (star of Wild Chef on the Food Network) has opened a shack to produce syrup for his restaurant and to raise pigs, which he'll eventually feature on his menus. The shack's only open for the month of April, and service has been sold out for weeks.
The cabin itself is in Mirabel, about an hour outside of Montreal. After a what seemed like a ridiculously long drive through every butt ugly town in Quebec, we eventually found the place, and were surprised to see the parking lot jammed full of Jags, BMWs and other pricey drives. My mud-spattered Mazda fit right in!
The cabin itself is in Mirabel, about an hour outside of Montreal. After a what seemed like a ridiculously long drive through every butt ugly town in Quebec, we eventually found the place, and were surprised to see the parking lot jammed full of Jags, BMWs and other pricey drives. My mud-spattered Mazda fit right in!
The inside of the shack is typical of other sugar cabins, with a rustic interior and family-style seating at long tables and benches. The upscale element of this particular shack included a bar, complete with $200 bottles of champagne!
The menu was an hommage to syrup and pig, and the service is dim sum style. We started with great pea soup, boasting large chunks of ham and what we thought might have been foie gras. Next came a salad course, lightly dressed with more ham and pork scratchings on top. This service also included a plate of tiny pancakes that were insanely good, and some creton and smoked salmon.
Up next was a smoked haddock omlette and lobster roll, cooked tempura style, and filled with rice and beets. Delicious!
Despite the fact that we were already filling up, the next course was the "main" and it was a carnivore's delight. In this dish alone were rabbit, quail, chicken and duck breast -- all served with beans, polenta and turnip.
After gorging ourselves on various bits of animal, out rolled a sugar-fest of dessert. The star was an amazing banana split, served with maple ice cream, sugared nuts, candied pineapple, some kind of Quebecois dulce de leche, homemade marshmallows and maple spun sugar. It was heavenly!
Also on the dessert menu were two maple doughnuts, fried in duck fat, (not our favourites) and a plate of snow, on which was poured some maple syrup, which you then rolled up on a popsicle stick -- just like when you were a kid!
We really didn't need to eat for the rest of the day after this. Yum, yum good!
Two happy diners at the bar.
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