Watch: S1E4 “Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown: Quebec”
This post is part of the RWG Bundle for Louise Penny’s novel ‘Bury Your Dead’ set in Quebec, Canada
Anthony Bourdain, Parts Unknown Season 1 Episode 4: Quebec
After I finished reading ‘Bury Your Dead’, I wanted to immediately start researching the history of Quebec. I wanted to know more about Samuel de Champlain and all of the mystery that still surrounds him. I wanted to learn more about the Battle of Quebec and how the outcome still to this day affects the relationships between the Quebecois and the Anglos. I wanted to know more about the Government, the architecture, the Canoe races and Winter Carnival. So I did do the research and I did go to Quebec in the dead of winter. And after eating some of the very finest casual as well as high-end cuisine, I thought it would be fun to focus on the food from Quebec for the 'Watch' portion of ‘Bury Your Dead’.
A bit of a warning - Bourdain & friends can be crude occasionally, but most of the documentary is visually spectacular and mouthwatering to the nth degree! (You can't really be vegan or vegetarian to sample most of the food showcased, though you can appreciate the over-the-top excess!)
Bourdain begins by telling the viewers you have to be a special breed to live in a province like Quebec which is crazy cold in the winter, and the winters are long. Frozen rivers, icy windswept streets, and seemingly endless forests are the norm, he tells us. He goes on to say "these hearty culinarians of the north like to frolic in the snow and ice. More accurately, they like to obey their genetic Québécois imperative to risk dental and maxillofacial injury, by skating around, slapping at a hard disk, trying to drive it in each other’s general direction. I believe they call this sport hockey."
He begins his culinary journey ice fishing with Fred Moririn and Dave Macmillan (chef and owner of Montreal's legendary restaurant in Montreal, Joe Beef. In a tiny ice fishing cabin brought by sled to the frozen St Lawrence River, Morrin and Macmillan manage to prepare an insane five star experience with vintage cutlery, crisp white linens, and fine china. The entire meal was prepared using a wood burning stove and included oysters, consomme of oxtail and lobster aux parisienne.
Bourdain then travels with his two chef buddies by Canadian Railways to Quebec City and enjoys a beautiful meal on the train properly enhanced by truffle shavings. (Macmillan always carries a truffle shaver wherever he goes.)
Two restaurants of note that you should certainly try while in Quebec City featured in this docuseries are:
26 Rue Saint-Louis
Québec City, QC G1R 3Y9, Canada
418-694-9995
Bourdain ate: Beef tartare, Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, Dover sole
46 Rue Saint-Joseph Est
Quebec City, QC G1K 3A6
418-529-9020
Bourdain ate: Razor clams with burned noisette, cream of haddock roe, coquille St. Jacques (creamy seafood dish served in scallop shell), terrine of foie gras, head cheese with cassis mustard, truffled sweetbreads, goose hearts persillade, salt cod
Outside of Quebec City on a 130 acre Maple Syrup Farm you will have the opportunity to have a meal like none other if you plan your travels during maple syrup season (Mid March to the end of April. This farm has been handed down from generation to generation and produces 132,000 gallons of maple syrup each year.
Cabane à Sucre Au Pied de Cochon
11382 Rang de la Fresnière
St-Benoît de Mirabel, QC J7N 2R9
450-258-1732
Bourdain ate: Tower of maple desserts (Sponge maple toffee, maple doughnuts, beaver tails, maple cotton candy, almond croissants, whip-it biscuits, nougat); lobe of foie gras with baked beans on a pancake cooked in duck fat, cottage cheese and eggs cooked in maple syrup; salad with sautéed duck hearts, gizzards, and pig’s ear, topped with a heaping pile of fried pork rinds; calf brain and maple bacon omelet; panko-covered drumsticks with shrimp and salmon mousse and maple barbecue sauce; Tourtière du Shack (meat pie with cheese, foie gras, calf brain, sweetbreads, bacon, arugula and black truffles); local ham with pineapple and green beans amandine; chicken with foie gras pumped with lobster bisque; tire d’érable (maple taffy); maple meringue cake and maple ice cream with chocolate shards.
Image Credit: Eater
In this docuseries, Bourdain does briefly touch on the history of the french and english tensions between one another through the years. Although Bourdain is against the persecution of the Quebecois, he questioned the actions taken in 2013 in an incident named 'Pastagate.' Québécois language authorities notified Buonanotte, an upscale Montreal Italian restaurant, that they were in violation of French-language laws because they used Italian words like “pasta.” The incident prompted an outcry against officials, as well as a discussion on bureaucracy and the province’s Francophone identity.
Bourdain sat down with an adamant "separatist" who agreed Pastagate carried things too far, but said separatism is far from dead. In 1995, he said the separatists were within inches of breaking free. He is sure it will finally happen.
But all in all, this episode is a celebration of gastronomy at its finest. So for your viewing pleasure- Watch Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: Season 1: Episode 4 Quebec. Enjoy!!!!!
5 cups of tea (although I might have to take a half-point off for some crude language - and I'll add a trigger warning that there is a beaver being taken from a trap shown).
