{"id":279533,"date":"2020-12-23T04:20:03","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T09:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=279533"},"modified":"2020-12-23T04:20:03","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T09:20:03","slug":"poutine-in-a-pie-would-you-eat-a-tourtine-this-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/23\/poutine-in-a-pie-would-you-eat-a-tourtine-this-holiday-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Poutine in a pie: Would you eat a ‘tourtine’ this holiday season?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The dish, offered just in time for the Christmas season, seems to reinvent two of Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s culinary classics. (File photo: Francisca Alvarez\/Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I recently saw a culinary invention \u2014 \u201ctourtine<\/a>\u201d \u2014 that left me thinking. The dish, as its name suggests, is a hybrid of tourti\u00e8re and poutine. Poutine cheese curds and sauce are added to the tourti\u00e8re\u2019s pie filling, along with festive ingredients such as shredded meat and the inevitable foie gras.<\/p>\n

The tourtine is so successful that its creators, the owners of the Baron BBQ restaurant in Saint-Ambroise in Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s Saguenay region, were overwhelmed by the demand. They had to redirect all their production and double their staff<\/a> just to keep up.<\/p>\n

The dish, offered just in time for the Christmas season, seems to reinvent two of Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s culinary classics. But beyond the buzz marketing (which we wish for all restaurant owners during these times), what relationship does it have to Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s gastronomic heritage?<\/p>\n

My research revolves around the cultural representations of food and cuisine, particularly how gastronomic imagination resonates with our individual and collective identities, with our aspirations and quests for meaning.<\/p>\n

Not the first culinary crossroads<\/h2>\n

The reinvented pie is not the first example of a dish that combines existing recipes. Pizzaghetti<\/a> had its heyday in popular culture a few decades ago in restaurants with \u201cItalian and Canadian\u201d kitchens. This Qu\u00e9bec invention is still offered by many establishments and is even found in the frozen food section of supermarkets.<\/p>\n

Another inventive crossbreed, the cronut<\/a>, has been an undeniable success since 2013. It\u2019s a delicacy whose croissant-like puff pastry is filled and fried like a doughnut. The cronut is in fact not unlike its creator, Dominique Ansel, a Frenchman living in the United States who has opted for the blending of traditions.<\/p>\n

The crossing of distinct culinary recipes is always revealing. Pizzaghetti undoubtedly suggests a naive enthusiasm for Italian gastronomic traditions that we didn\u2019t hesitate to throw onto the same plate. The cronut, on the other hand, presents the meeting of France and the New World, of long history and innovation, of the artisanal bakery and the snack.<\/p>\n

A traditional dish<\/h2>\n

But what does the combination produced by the tourtine say? To understand it, we must examine the two dishes which compose it. Both the tourti\u00e8re and poutine are emblematic of Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s culinary tradition and are even seen as national dishes. However, they have very distinct meanings.<\/p>\n

Tourti\u00e8re<\/a> is one of the pi\u00e8ces de r\u00e9sistance of Christmas and New Year\u2019s tables in Qu\u00e9bec. It is based on local ingredients and, depending on the region, it can be prepared with farmed meat, game or even fish.<\/p>\n

In addition, the dish provokes debate \u2014 another sign of its cultural importance. Does its name really come from the now-extinct birds called tourtes (or tourte voyageuse, known in English as the passenger pigeon<\/a>) that were supposedly used to make it? Is its origin French or British? Is the real tourti\u00e8re the one from Lac-Saint-Jean, which contains potatoes, the one containing only pork and minced veal (sometimes called \u201cp\u00e2t\u00e9 \u00e0 la viande\u201d), or the cip\u00e2te (a layered meat pie) from the Bas-du-Fleuve (the lower Saint Lawrence area)? The number of variations of the tourti\u00e8re indicate that it occupies a true place in Qu\u00e9bec gastronomy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is also a dish that \u2014 although seldom cooked in homes now \u2014 is still very much loved by consumers, especially during the holidays. The seasonal market for ready-to-eat tourti\u00e8re (fresh or frozen) crosses categories, bringing together artisanal producers, intermediate players such as niche grocery stores, and of course mass distributors. It\u2019s simply a must on the menu and can certainly be considered Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s national dish.<\/p>\n

A scoundrel dish<\/h2>\n

Poutine<\/a> is quite different and its history is much more recent.<\/p>\n

It was born at the end of the 1950s in the agricultural region of Centre-du-Qu\u00e9bec, the cradle of the cheese curds that are its indispensable ingredient. It only became popular in the 1980s, thanks to urban distribution that also changed the conditions of consumption. At that time, it acquired the iconic status of an unpretentious fast food and even a bit of a scoundrel, a beer sponge that we like to swallow after a night of drinking before going to sleep.<\/p>\n

The meanings carried by poutine are very different from those of tourti\u00e8re. It is imbued with a certain rural vintage imagination, but also with values such as brash Americanism, joyful excess and a love of nightlife. It may be relatively new when compared to tourti\u00e8re, but poutine is now part of Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s culinary heritage.<\/p>\n

When modernity meets tradition<\/h2>\n

What happens when you mix tourti\u00e8re and poutine? This gesture may offend purists and I am not convinced that it is gastronomically pleasing. But it is nevertheless interesting to combine the various backgrounds linked to each of the dishes \u2014 history meets modernity, the family meal meets the nightly snack taken between friends. The tourtine modernizes the tourti\u00e8re, or traditionalizes the poutine.<\/p>\n

The tourtine, and its success with consumers, perhaps reveals that in this pandemic year, we feel the need to rethink the traditional dishes of the holiday season. There won\u2019t be big family dinners and endless feasts. Our meals will be more modest. For some, the holidays will be marked by difficult personal and professional conditions, even by illness or mourning.<\/p>\n

In this context, we want to keep the tradition that binds us to the past, so precious and reassuring in uncertain times. But why not add something playful, a bit of humour and invention, joyful excess and the memory of friendly repasts taken outside? This is what the tourtine offers.<\/p>\n

I would be surprised if it becomes our new national dish, but for now, it meets a need. I almost want to say that it gives you something to dream about.\"The<\/p>\n

Genevi\u00e8ve Sicotte<\/a>, Professeure, \u00c9tudes fran\u00e7aises, Concordia University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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