Martin Picard's Au Pied De Cochon Cabane A Sucre

Last weekend Ian and I had the quintessential Quebecer outing... we went to the Caban au Sucre, or Sugar Shack. Growing up in Toronto, I had never heard of these magical places filled with maple syrup and childhood memories, but Ian was all too familiar with the mounds of food and sticky tire d'erable (frozen maple syrup on a stick).

Last year we went to an extremely large Cabane with my family because we didn’t really know what to expect from the experience. But of course this year we had to go all out, and with the help of the Montreal Food Bloggers, we enjoyed the true Quebecois brunch in style!

We all decided on Martin Picard’s Au Pied De Cochon Cabane a Sucre in the early summer of 2009, but even that early the sugar shack was sold out. Luckily the clouds parted and we were able to secure 25 highly coveted seats at the sugar shack, and boy it didn’t disappoint!

Pea soup usually starts off a sugar shack meal, but of course it wouldn’t be Martin Picard’s without large cubes of foie gras in the traditional winter soup! Then came the creton, a traditional slow cooked ground pork butt terrine. Then foie gras pancakes, gravlax, Oreilles de Christ salad, and maple syrup chickens feet.



For the second course a traditional puffy omelette was served but of course, it had the wild chef’s flair! Baked into the omelette was smoked sturgeon and slow roasted pork. It was an incredible addition. For the third course we had a pork and lobster stuffed cabbage dish with lentils that Ian just called a "freak of delicious", because really, there isn’t any other way to describe it. Also accompanying the "freak" was cow tongue and a wonderful maple syrup roasted chicken with baked beans. And finally, of course we had to order the famous Québec Tortiere that bore the most delicious crust I have ever had.



And then... then there was dessert. It started off with pancakes fried in duck fat, Ian couldn’t get enough of them, then tire d'erable, the crispiest and creamiest maple milles foulle, and finally maple ice-cream topped with homemade maple marshmallows, cashew brittle, chocolate, bananas, and maple sugar cotton candy!



This was truly an experience that I will never forget, especially sharing it with people as passionate about food and photography as Ian and I are. Remind me to call tomorrow for 2011 reservations!