Cabane a sucre

Last weekend we went out to St-Eustache, QC with friends to a Cabane a Sucre. Before going, I pictured us driving into the hills and through a forest of maple trees arriving at a little cabin in the woods. Unfortunately, this was not the scene that we drove up to. Despite being slightly disappointed, I was excited to experience a true Quebecois tradition. To my surprise there were maple trees on the property and we saw how they are tapped today with a network of tubes connecting the trees to a reservoir down hill. 

The menu: part one of the meal included pea soup, cabbage salad, bread, and cretons (some sort of pate).

The main course included an omelette, ham, sausage, potatoes, brown beans, and oreilles de crisse (fried pork rinds). This is all smothered in maple syrup. Dessert was a choice of pancakes with ice cream, pudding chomeur (like bread pudding), tarte au sucre (maple sugar pie), or eggs cooked in maple syrup. The last choice defines you as a true Quebecer. I had one nibble. It was ok, but more than one bite might have been upsetting to my stomach. I had the tarte au sucre with ice cream and it was delicious. To round off the whole experience, we ate maple taffy cooled on snow. Sweet, but satisfying!

Overall, I enjoyed the experience, all the same I am not sure that it is a tradition that I would embrace. C'est la vie. We'll see how I feel about it this time next year.