Wednesday, July 24th

Canada? Oh Yeah!

Last week, I had the incredible good fortune to be in Quebec City, Quebec, staying at the lovely Chateau Frontenac and participating in a Smithsonian-sponsored study tour. The subject of said tour: the cuisines of Quebec. If you are as poorly educated about Quebec as I was prior to going there, you might be wondering what exactly one would do on such a tour; I mean, let's face it, they might speak French, but it's not exactly France!

Oh, how wrong I was.

No, Quebec is not exactly France. Therefore, the cuisine of Quebec is not precisely French. What the people of Quebec have done is taken French methods and applied them to New World ingredients. In a word: yummy!

Take, for example, last Thursday. Usually, on Thursday I am excited for the weekend coming up. I go to work, I eat a sandwich at lunch, I go home and have some dinner I've managed to rustle up. This past Thursday, however, was unusual in that I ate the following:

Breakfast: fresh, teeny strawberries (I mean, about half the size of the "small" California strawberries), red through their hearts, astoundingly fragrant and incredibly juicy. To these, I applied no sugar and a liberal amount of fresh cream.

Midmorning "snacks" (remember, I was touring small purveyors of local products): maple taffy, maple butter on a baguette, maple jelly also on a baguette, strong dark coffee with maple sugar, maple candy in the shape of a maple leaf. Duck confit, duck pate, various homemade mustards on crackers, six different kinds of jelly on crackers, hard apple cider, and apple cider eiswein. Aperitif wine made with black currants, black currant wine in the style of Port, creme de cassis.

Lunch: Grilled salmon served with semolina flavored with chervil and tomato, rare roasted breast of duck served with caramelized parsnips, creamy mashed potatoes, and fresh asparagus, and bergamot creme brulee served atop a round of nut cake with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.

Midafternoon snack: chocolates made before my eyes by a French patissier/chocolatier/boulanger, who taught me some new tricks for birthday cakes as well.

You can see why we were stuffed by 11 AM!

However, dinner was by far the most special meal of that particular Thursday. That evening, we were invited into the catering kitchen of the Chateau Frontenac by the executive chef of the hotel, Jean Soulard. Sixteen of us were ushered into the kitchen, which was noticeably bigger than my kitchen at home, and split into teams of four. Each team "prepared" a course in the vast kitchen, with the considerable and charming help of Chef Soulard and his staff. The staff was invisible but highly noticeable, since they had done considerable prep before we arrived.

The menu was: "Fun Salad" with poultry livers, chevre and grapefruit vinaigrette; lobster lasagna with poppy seeds and brandy cream sauce; golden crusted lamb filet with prosciutto and baby vegetables; and crisp raspberry bonbons with Grand Marnier sauce. In order to earn my dinner, I made chevre croutons by spreading soft goat cheese on baguette slices and broiling them in the oven, and by slicing tiny quail eggs in half to garnish the salad.

The dinner was delicious. All of the vegetables and fruit were freshly picked that morning at a local farm. The lobster had been recently plucked from the St. Lawrence. The cheese was made by one of Quebec's many local fromagers. The wine flowed, and the conversation - which had been a bit stilted among this group of strangers - followed suit. Everyone relaxed in their aprons, and enjoyed themselves considerably. And much of the talk centered on the many passionate, committed, charming "foodies" we'd all met at the various producers we'd visited that day.

I cannot cover all of my Quebec experiences in one column (nor probably in ten), but I can say that I've never met so many people dedicated to using fresh, local products whenever and however possible. Hospitable, friendly, and eager to share, each of the producers we visited and the chefs that we met exhibited immense love for their products and their native cuisine.

To your right, you will see the recipe for the hors d'oeuvre that Chef Soulard served the first night of the trip. In its simplicity and freshness, it represents everything I found to be true about the cuisines of Quebec. To be honest, I would be happy to go back tomorrow! (After all, as our guide said: "We do have a winter season, you know!")