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Canada: Recipes and Cuisine

Country | Canada | Banff Lake

O, Canada! Keep your food glorious and tasty! While Canadian cuisine tends follow two major lines of influence — English and French — this larger divide can overshadow a multitude of culinary influences, both native and from afar.

Image Creative Commons by antkriz

The original population of Canada contributed to an emphasis in Canadian cooking on wild ingredients, including game, salmon, berries, wild rice and maple syrup. Slavic and Scandinavian immigrants brought their warming dishes to the Canadian heartland. Asian immigrants carried their style of cooking to the coastal cities.

Canadian Recipes

Cedar Plank Salmon

Fish | Cedar Plank Salmon

(Canadian salmon grill-roasted on aromatic wood)

Cedar planking is a unique way of cooking fish used by countless generations of Indians in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Roasting wild salmon on aromatic cedar gives it a rich flavor redolent of the deep woods and crystal clear streams. Read more »

Ginger Beef

Meats | Ginger Beef

(Canadian ginger and crispy beef stir fry)

Ginger beef is a Candianized version of an old beef stir fry standard from northeast China. In the 1970s, restauranteurs in Calgary altered the dish to suit Canadian tastes, making it sweeter and coating the beef with a crunchy, deep-fried batter. The popularity of ginger beef has been spreading to other areas of Canada in recent years. Read more »

Jigg's Dinner

(Canadian braised brisket with vegetables and pease pudding; see Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe variations)

Maple-Baked Beans

(Canadian white beans baked with maple syrup; see Boston Baked Beans recipe variations)

Nanaimo Bars

Desserts | Nanaimo Bars

(Canadian layered chocolate and custard bars)

These rich, sweet, chocolatey confections are named for a town on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. As far as anyone can tell, the recipe by a local woman named Mabel Jenkins first appeared in a cookbook in the 1950s. Her easy, no-bake recipe for bars with a layers of graham cracker crumbs, creamy custard and sweet chocolate is now popular all over Canada and in the American Pacific Northwest. Read more »

Pogos

(Canadian hot dog and cornbread on a stick; see Corn Dogs recipe)

Poutine

Vegetables | Poutine Recipe

(Canadian fried potatoes with gravy and cheese curds)

Poutine (poo-TEEN, or puh-TSIN) is a popular fast food in the French-speaking Canadian province of Québec. The name means "mess" in French, and that it is. Poutine's popularity has spread throughout Canada since the dish first appeared in the 1950s. Read more »

Tire sur la Neige

Desserts | Tire sur la Neige Image

(Canadian maple syrup taffy)

Tire sur la neige (draw on the snow) is an old-fashioned treat in Québec, also known as tire d'érable or la tire. It is made in the late winter and early spring as the maple syrup harvest begins and snow is still on the ground. Read more »

Tourtière

Meats | Tourtiere

(French Canadian pork pie)

When the French migrated to the wilderness of Quebec, they brought with them their favorite recipes from home. Tourtière was one of those recipes. These savory meat pies are traditionally served at Christmastime accompanied by homemade tomato ketchup and pickled beets. There is no one true recipe. Each family has its own version passed down over time. Read more »

Wild Rice Pilaf

Grains | Wild Rice Pilaf

(Canadian-American wild grain pilaf)

Wild rice is not a true rice, rather a type of grass seed that grows wild in the upper midwestern section of the United States and central Canada. Native Americans would harvest the grains from lakes and streams where the aquatic grass grew. Wild rice pilaf is the perfect accompaniment to duck, goose, and game meats. It is also an ideal addition to a Thanksgiving meal. Read more »