Citizenship Party - Food Suggestions

[SomberCat 0]

My husband will be attending his oath ceremony on October 19th, and we will be having an open house to celebrate in early November. Although there isn't a huge difference between the two countries regarding food, I would like to include some more Canadian-type foods at the party. My step-daughters will be bringing some of the usual things - dill pickle chips, smarties, nanaimo bars, butter tarts, etc. - but I am looking for some things to cook as well.

My first thought was poutine, but I'm still considering ways to cook it and keep it fresh since this is an open house. I was thinking of making the fries and cheese in a casserole dish and putting the gravy on the side (with a sign that tells what to do with it because none of our American cohorts will know ), but I'm not sure how that will work. If you have any ideas, or can tell me exactly what kind of gravy to use, that would be great.

My husband spent roughly 20 years in Nova Scotia before living in Ontario for 30 years, so if you can think of anything more east coast, that would be terrific too. He's very little help. I'm going to make a lobster dip and maybe order some dulse (sp?) online.

Any ideas you have are GREATLY appreciated.

[pocheros 101]

Here is a list of Canadian dishes on wikipedia. Perhaps you'd like to make some of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_cuisine#List_of_Canadian_foods

[Kathryn41 3,205]

What a lovely idea! There are some heritage Nova Scotia desserts you might want to try: Fungy and Grunt - even if it is only for their names .

Fungy is basically a deep dish blueberry pie. When the blueberries bubble while they cook, the moisture enters the pie dough which then gets little bubbles in it so that it looks spongy - and in the Maritimes bread that was full of holes from lots of yeast was said to be spongy from the fungus (yeast) or fungy. The word transferred to the baking of the deep dish blueberry pie so it became known as fungy.

Grunt, also known as slump, is a steamed pudding or dumpling made traditionally with blueberries or huckleberries. Nowadays all sorts of other fruits are used, especially rhubarb. It is kind of like a cobbler. The heritage recipe involves putting the berries in a pot, covering well with water and cooking them, then letting them cool, adding sugar, then dropping baking powder biscuit dough on top in glops and steaming the whole. The name comes from the sounds made during baking as the heated water from the cooking berries drives out pockets of air and it sort of 'grunts'.

A lot of people today confuse grunt and fungy and say they are the same, but they are not. The fungy is definitely a pie, and sometimes was even a layered pie with a pie shell on the bottom, blueberries, another layer of pie dough, then more blue berries on top. A grunt was definitely a base of berries with the baking powder biscuit or short bread dough plopped on top of the cooking berries and then steamed - or as is more common today, baked.

Regardless, they both 'sound' delicious in spite of their names.

Here are some actual recipe you could try: http://www.jamieoliv...dessert%29/1879

http://highway7.com/...ry-recipes.html

Edited October 7, 2012 by Kathryn41

[warlord 73]

Here is a list of Canadian dishes on wikipedia. Perhaps you'd like to make some of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_cuisine#List_of_Canadian_foods

Except on that list they have Pierogi which is not Canadian but Eastern European...

[The Mean Lady 604]

Except on that list they have Pierogi which is not Canadian but Eastern European...

I would still consider it heavily canadian in the style of food they consistently eat.

While you can find pierogies in the US, you don't find 8 different fillings of them in every freezer and bin you walk by.

[warlord 73]

I would still consider it heavily canadian in the style of food they consistently eat.

While you can find pierogies in the US, you don't find 8 different fillings of them in every freezer and bin you walk by.

They don't have the variety here, but every restaurant I've been to in East Europe has them. They are big with the Ukrainian and Polish in Canada that's for sure. Here they just make their own and don't bother with the pre-processed types...

[SomberCat 0]

What a lovely idea! There are some heritage Nova Scotia desserts you might want to try: Fungy and Grunt - even if it is only for their names .

Fungy is basically a deep dish blueberry pie. When the blueberries bubble while they cook, the moisture enters the pie dough which then gets little bubbles in it so that it looks spongy - and in the Maritimes bread that was full of holes from lots of yeast was said to be spongy from the fungus (yeast) or fungy. The word transferred to the baking of the deep dish blueberry pie so it became known as fungy.

Grunt, also known as slump, is a steamed pudding or dumpling made traditionally with blueberries or huckleberries. Nowadays all sorts of other fruits are used, especially rhubarb. It is kind of like a cobbler. The heritage recipe involves putting the berries in a pot, covering well with water and cooking them, then letting them cool, adding sugar, then dropping baking powder biscuit dough on top in glops and steaming the whole. The name comes from the sounds made during baking as the heated water from the cooking berries drives out pockets of air and it sort of 'grunts'.

A lot of people today confuse grunt and fungy and say they are the same, but they are not. The fungy is definitely a pie, and sometimes was even a layered pie with a pie shell on the bottom, blueberries, another layer of pie dough, then more blue berries on top. A grunt was definitely a base of berries with the baking powder biscuit or short bread dough plopped on top of the cooking berries and then steamed - or as is more common today, baked.

Regardless, they both 'sound' delicious in spite of their names.

Here are some actual recipe you could try: http://www.jamieoliv...dessert%29/1879

http://highway7.com/...ry-recipes.html

Thanks so much, Kathryn! I can't believe I didn't think of something blueberry (or him either since he's the Blue Nose ) since it's the darn blueberry capital for pete's sake. Duhhh. I will definitely check that out.

[SomberCat 0]

They don't have the variety here, but every restaurant I've been to in East Europe has them. They are big with the Ukrainian and Polish in Canada that's for sure. Here they just make their own and don't bother with the pre-processed types...

I'm with you, Warlord. Pierogies are all over the place and already popular in our area of the US, so our American guests wouldn't think they are special. I was hoping for ideas that might bring a little more Canadian flair to the party.

[Cara Mia 1]

Chicken Fricot is a very Acadian dish, which is really more New Brunswick than Nova Scotia area, but still close enough that your husband probably had it quite a bit. It's yuumy and would work for a buffet type dinner. Gravy for poutine is usually a brown beef gravy, unless you are doing a chicken poutine, then you would usually use a chicken gravy.

[moemac59 192]

Chicken Fricot is a very Acadian dish, which is really more New Brunswick than Nova Scotia area, but still close enough that your husband probably had it quite a bit. It's yuumy and would work for a buffet type dinner. Gravy for poutine is usually a brown beef gravy, unless you are doing a chicken poutine, then you would usually use a chicken gravy.

Ooooh yummy...I miss poutine and Montreal smoked meat sandwich's as well as peal meal bacon.