Sourcing Supplies & Ingredients in Montreal

[wattacetti]

Gidney's is selling fresh crab right now (options are still moving or cooked). Feel like picking through some shells?

On a side-note, they also have soft-shell crab for $2.95 apiece. Decided to steal Rob Feenie's schtick from his Food Network commercial and made a sandwich with it.

[ademello]

Gidney's is selling fresh crab right now (options are still moving or cooked). Feel like picking through some shells?

Actually, no. That's why I wanted the picked crab in the first place.

On a side-note, they also have soft-shell crab for $2.95 apiece. Decided to steal Rob Feenie's schtick from his Food Network commercial and made a sandwich with it.

←

Am pretty sure that Rob is making a deep-fried calamari and sliced tomato with fresh tartar sauce sandwich in the TV commercial, but I'm sure your varitation is also very tasty.

Edited April 18, 2005 by ademello (log)

[oceanfish]

La Mer (Papineau/Rene Levesque) is currently selling fresh snow crab, both in the shell and as packaged meat, although the picked over version is much more costly.

[effrontery]

Hi all, just an interloper from Philadelphia coming by to say thanks for the market information. I went to Jean Talon this past weekend on the basis of some posts here, and had a wonderful experience (from olives to cheese to bread to tire-sur-neige).

Thanks again! Let me know if you're ever coming to Philadelphia and I'd be happy to return the favor, recommendation-wise. :)

[Pots]

The jumbo lumb crabmeat that you are speaking about,is the same one that Milos' makes his famous crabcake from.Shelf life is one-day at the most.It is sometimes available at Le Mer,but it a pasturized product,ussually cooked at the docks.Do not ever buy frozen crab at it retains water and deteriorates the product.

The fresh snow crab that Le Mer is selling is from the Gaspe and is about the best crab product on the present market.Buy the shelled version.

[blork]

Has anyone here ever seen bomba rice for sale anywhere in Montreal? That's the rice from Valencia that is supposed to be the best for making paella. It's quite similar to arborio.

I've used bomba maybe eight or nine times now, and I have to say, I really like the results. The problem is that I cannot find it anywhere in Montreal. I found a store in San Francisco that sells it (ironically, a store run by a Quebecker), so I've brought some back from my past couple of trips there. But surely there's someplace in town that sells it!

[Mr. Fagioli]

Has anyone here ever seen bomba rice for sale anywhere in Montreal? That's the rice from Valencia that is supposed to be the best for making paella. It's quite similar to arborio.

I've used bomba maybe eight or nine times now, and I have to say, I really like the results. The problem is that I cannot find it anywhere in Montreal. I found a store in San Francisco that sells it (ironically, a store run by a Quebecker), so I've brought some back from my past couple of trips there. But surely there's someplace in town that sells it!

←

I've seen Spanish paella rice for sale at Poissonnerie Antoine (Parc near St-Joseph, opposite the PA), though I can't guarantee it's the same variety. I'm also reasonably (though not completely) sure at least one of the high-end rices sold at Milano is a Spanish one. You should also try the Libreria Español, on St-Laurent above Roy, if you haven't already.

[Mr. Fagioli]

Update: no Spanish rice at Antoine right now, but Vieille Europe has <a href="http://www.matizespana.com/MatizEnglish/Products/MatizArroz.html">Matiz-brand Valenciano</a>. The Libreria also has a variety of rices, but apparently no Bomba. I'd ask them if I wanted to track down a specific Spanish product.

[carswell]

Sightings at Jean-Talon Market earlier today:

- First fiddleheads of the season (didn't ask whether they were local) at Chez Nino

- Gorgeous and pricey young rhubarb, the just unfurled leaves a pale yellow-green, at Chez Louis

- Bedding plants — including rue, lemon verbena and English lavender — at the garden store next to Première Moisson

- Awesome blood orange sherbet at Havre aux glaces. I asked if it was made from fresh oranges and the answer was yes; in fact they'd just finished squeezing a case's worth. Italian oranges? Yes, the California ones have great colour but taste terrible. The owner thinks the just-squeezed case may be their last of the season, so if you're interested, seize the day. It's like eating essence of blood orange. I initially wondered if it wasn't a little too sweet, but the looooong slightly bitter finish convinced me otherwise. My mouth was tingling for minutes after my last bite.

The winter enclosure is still up but the outdoor stalls are in various stages of completion and a couple were even occupied. Should all be open-air by next weekend.

[oceanfish]

Carswell, regarding one of your latest sightings, rue; what can it be used for? I confess to having planting some a few years back because I liked the leaf and use it pressed for artwork, but the taste I find odd. I like bitter things, bitter beer, black coffee, etc. but rue? My research has told me that it is an herb used to scare away cats. What are its culinary uses?

[carswell]

Good question, oceanfish. And I don't have an answer, other than I know it's an ingredient in some Italian bitter wines and spirits. I've never grown it and only noticed it today because the leaves were attractive and unusual. At first I thought it might be fenugrek, which I'd just bought seeds for (have been using the dired leaves in Indian cooking and want to try the fresh). Resource: Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages site has a typcially informative rue page. Also, consider posting a query on the Cooking or General Food forum; there are bound to be eGulleters who know.

[skunkbunny]

3 questions:

1) quebec smoked mackrel?

2) blue shelled eggs (I could dye them myself, but why not let God do the work) ?

3) eggs with intensly yellow yolks (free range I would guess) ?

The smoked mackrel I had recently at O 'Thym on Maisonneuve and it was spectacular, very buttery with a beautiful texture. Havn't asked around for any of these, thought I'd give the master sourcers on the eG board first crack. :)

[sf&m]

I have seen the smoked mackerel at the Gaspesie store at JTM. Have NOT tasted them though.

They were fillets and encrusted with pepper(?!), so questionable from a Swedish standpoint. I have purchased whole smoked mackerel at Loblaws of all places - ok, but not anything to write home about. It would be interesting to taste the O'Thyme verision to see if its anywere near Scandinavian quality. Frankly, over many years I have yet to find a North American source that rivals Scandinavian Smoked fish. It's either influenced by British or Continental Jewish tastes, both of course inferior.

I would also like to know where I can get the very best quality eggs. I got a flat last Sunday from the old guy at JTM that also sells honey and wraps the flats in newspaper. They were good.

[skunkbunny]

I am an absolute sucker for cured fish. The O'Thym version was, I reckon, cold smoked. It had quite a high proportion of fat, which added to the buttery mouthfeel. No pepper crust in evidence.

Why does pepper crusting make them questionable from a swedish standpoint, too overpowering?

I am still looking for Boquerones anchovies.

BTW , good call on the blood orange sorbet at JTM.. was delicious.. whoever called that one.

Edited April 26, 2005 by skunkbunny (log)

[sf&m]

Re: pepper on smoked mackerel..... just trying to be tounge in cheek there, since I have not tried it :). I will. But traditionally, you would not find that in Swedish Smoked mackerel that uses large fat fish caught on a line and then smoked in Juniper and Alder smoke, to a golden brown. The fish are smoked whole. Belly cleaned but with head on. And yes a buttery mouthfeel - oh, my! When I go back there I can eat a whole mackerel in day. So O'Thym's should be worth a try.

Also, just fried myself a passel of the ol' guys eggs and checked the color. Yolks are bright neon yellow and have a rich smooth taste. Recommended.

And another new taste at Havre aux glace - cassis - intense! That blood orange does raise the bar, for sure. We're going to have to start a Havre aux Glace reporting thread not to miss anything they put out.

[carswell]

Spent a wet afternoon prowling around the Jean-Talon Market and environs. Although the winter enclosure is gone, the place is a construction zone. Only a few stands were selling produce today but the allées should be humming by the weekend.

sf&m's right: Havre aux glaces's cassis sherbet is profound, intense and, like all their other products, just sweet enough. The guy behind the counter mentioned that the red currants come from North Hatley and claimed that, in large part due to agricultural practices used, they are superior to European fruit. He also insisted I try the sherbet with some vanilla ice cream; the combination is indeed a winner.

Lunch, by the way, was at Le Petit Alep, where I hadn't been in a while. High quality ingredients, great flavours, efficient service and adept handling of two youngsters. Recommended.

On the way home, I stopped by Boucher Alkahair, corner of Jean-Talon and Henri-Julien (a half block north of the new extension) to check out their tagnes, which I'd noticed in the window last weekend. Am now the owner of an unglazed 12" rifi tagine, which set me back $35 taxes included. (The 12" rifi on sale at tagines.com runs US$40 plus US$6 shipping.) Alkahair also has glazed and partiallly glazed cooking and serving tagines in various sizes (the rifi only in 12"), but this is the first unglazed tagine I've seen in the city.

Edited April 28, 2005 by carswell (log)

[ItalianFoodJunkie]

I am an absolute sucker for cured fish. The O'Thym version was, I reckon, cold smoked. It had quite a high proportion of fat, which added to the buttery mouthfeel. No pepper crust in evidence.

Why does pepper crusting make them questionable from a swedish standpoint, too overpowering?

I am still looking for Boquerones anchovies.

BTW , good call on the blood orange sorbet at JTM.. was delicious.. whoever called that one.

←

Hey, If you're a sucker for preserved fish, in my opinion the ultimate delicacy is the Italian "Stocco Fisso" . It is Air Dried Herring or in some cases Cod from Norway, (worked in Italy.)

The air drying cases the flavoures of the fish to become more concentrated. It is served as a spread on toast (cracker) with a drop of olive oil, preferably less perfumy.

It has a similar textured to boiled baccala' (salted cod salad) but has little or no salt, preserving much more the taste of the fish. I don't know where you can buy it. The only place I have eaten it in Canada, was Latini, but Moreno, doesn't give information on his pushers very easily.

[carswell]

Hey, If you're a sucker for preserved fish, in my opinion the ultimate delicacy is the Italian "Stocco Fisso" . It is Air Dried Herring or in some cases Cod from Norway, (worked in Italy.)

←

While I'm only an Italian food lover, not an authority (and as I recently complained on the Italy board, there's no Larousse gastronomico we can check), my impression is that stoccafisso is always air-dried unsalted cod. See here for example. Are you sure about the herring? If so, it must be some kind of new wave stoccafisso.

[ItalianFoodJunkie]

Hey, If you're a sucker for preserved fish, in my opinion the ultimate delicacy is the Italian "Stocco Fisso" . It is Air Dried Herring or in some cases Cod from Norway, (worked in Italy.)

←

While I'm only an Italian food lover, not an authority (and as I recently complained on the Italy board, there's no Larousse gastronomico we can check), my impression is that stoccafisso is always air-dried unsalted cod. See here for example. Are you sure about the herring? If so, it must be some kind of new wave stoccafisso.

←

I was quite confident with the fact that stoccafisso is most commonly herring and least commonly cod fish, but after your comment i took a deeper look and it seems cod is as common as herring. unfortunately i couldn t find an English website explaining this, but here is one in Italian that explains the different ways herring and cod are air dried and smoked in Norway.

http://www.stellafoods.com/i/info/conf.html

[carswell]

I was quite confident with the fact that stoccafisso is most commonly herring and least commonly cod fish, but after your comment i took a deeper look and it seems cod is as common as herring. unfortunately i couldn t find an English website explaining this, but here is one in Italian that explains the different ways herring and cod are air dried and smoked in Norway.

http://www.stellafoods.com/i/info/conf.html

←

Thanks for the link, IFJ. After hauling out my Collins-Sansoni and plodding through half the page, I noticed there's a link at the top to an English-language version...

http://www.stellafoods.com/e/set.html

As I read it, the site indicates that stoccafissa is only cod (which, by the way, jibes with what Norweigans mean by stokkfisk):

The first products of this series certainly were the most problematic, namely cod (Gadus Morhua for the Stella line) in its two typical Norwegian preservation formats: salted and dried (stockfish).

The herring seems to be a separate product.

Whole Norwegian herring is another product in this line. The arrival at our factory of a suitable size of this fish allows us, after the usual quality control, to create vacuum packages of each single whole fish, therefore often containing the excellent eggs. Herring is supplied either natural or smoked, in such a way as not to alter in the least the original flavour of this tasty fish.

Have to admit this is the first time I've ever heard of herring in connection with Italian food. Any ideas about how Italians use it?

[ItalianFoodJunkie]

I was quite confident with the fact that stoccafisso is most commonly herring and least commonly cod fish, but after your comment i took a deeper look and it seems cod is as common as herring. unfortunately i couldn t find an English website explaining this, but here is one in Italian that explains the different ways herring and cod are air dried and smoked in Norway.

http://www.stellafoods.com/i/info/conf.html

←

Thanks for the link, IFJ. After hauling out my Collins-Sansoni and plodding through half the page, I noticed there's a link at the top to an English-language version...

http://www.stellafoods.com/e/set.html

As I read it, the site indicates that stoccafissa is only cod (which, by the way, jibes with what Norweigans mean by stokkfisk):

The first products of this series certainly were the most problematic, namely cod (Gadus Morhua for the Stella line) in its two typical Norwegian preservation formats: salted and dried (stockfish).

The herring seems to be a separate product.

Whole Norwegian herring is another product in this line. The arrival at our factory of a suitable size of this fish allows us, after the usual quality control, to create vacuum packages of each single whole fish, therefore often containing the excellent eggs. Herring is supplied either natural or smoked, in such a way as not to alter in the least the original flavour of this tasty fish.

Have to admit this is the first time I've ever heard of herring in connection with Italian food. Any ideas about how Italians use it?

←

The first time I ate stoccafisso was in Calabria, boiled, cooled and served on a cracker with mint, parsley (very little) olive oil

THe link you showed me earler mentionned stoccafisso alla ligure, which means ligurian style, meaning olives and pine nuts.

i have had it baked and fried with chilli oil as well, but i find stoccafisso is the best on a cracker with olive oil, and nothing else.

When I ate stoccafisso in montreal, it was served to me on a toast with olive oil, and was herring stoccafisso.... but i am starting to have doubts about whether it was really herring.

When it comes to salted cod i have tonnes of recipies.

My favorite, with salt dried black olives( Calabria), orange zests, pine nuts and fresh chillies baked in the oven.

Or shredded in a tomato sauce (NO ONIONS!) with basil, parsley and the non perfumy type of olive oil (like the greek or calabria, molise.)

I think i am gonna eat now~!!!!

[ItalianFoodJunkie]

I was quite confident with the fact that stoccafisso is most commonly herring and least commonly cod fish, but after your comment i took a deeper look and it seems cod is as common as herring. unfortunately i couldn t find an English website explaining this, but here is one in Italian that explains the different ways herring and cod are air dried and smoked in Norway.

http://www.stellafoods.com/i/info/conf.html

←

Thanks for the link, IFJ. After hauling out my Collins-Sansoni and plodding through half the page, I noticed there's a link at the top to an English-language version...

http://www.stellafoods.com/e/set.html

As I read it, the site indicates that stoccafissa is only cod (which, by the way, jibes with what Norweigans mean by stokkfisk):

The first products of this series certainly were the most problematic, namely cod (Gadus Morhua for the Stella line) in its two typical Norwegian preservation formats: salted and dried (stockfish).

The herring seems to be a separate product.

Whole Norwegian herring is another product in this line. The arrival at our factory of a suitable size of this fish allows us, after the usual quality control, to create vacuum packages of each single whole fish, therefore often containing the excellent eggs. Herring is supplied either natural or smoked, in such a way as not to alter in the least the original flavour of this tasty fish.

Have to admit this is the first time I've ever heard of herring in connection with Italian food. Any ideas about how Italians use it?

←

Sorry i noticed now that you were inquiring about herring and not stoccafisso.

Herring I hae never seen in Italy , except in the super market in the section where the sell smoked salmon, you may sometimes find norwegian smoked herring.

In Tirrenian you will find a lot of family memebers of cod (Merlluzzo) my favourites being rosamarina and merluzzetti. Rosamarina is a school of baby whiting, fried in egg batter, or preserved in chillies and olive oil. i believe merluzzetti are whiting in english, we eat them fried, like greeks and andalucians.

[docsconz]

I was back at the Jean Talon Market yesterday after a year and a half. I am amazed at the changes. I didn't have enough time to do a thorough inspection or really check prices, but it seemed to have great selection and quality. I did manage to taste the blood orange sorbet. It was excellent. I wish I was in a position to bring some back with me.

[poutine]

What a refreshing change for JT with the whole "indoor" market all open-air (despite the weekend rain). Much different atmosphere with all the facades open, very bright & much more spacious. Also nice to see the fresh herb plants & tomato plants on display. Noticed fiddleheads & thin young asparagus in various establishments. And how smart for several vendors to still be offering tire a l'erable; saw quite a few people (mostly kids) lining up for their maple sugar fix. Spring has definitely sprung at JTM.

[Mr. Fagioli]

Tire is now over, unless it's hiding in an obscure corner somewhere.

My latest JTM rave is the traiteur/fast food joint with the sandwiches, burgers, soups, and selection of daily dishes (I forget the name; it's the big place just south of the Charlevoix veal & lamb people). The lunch you get for $10 or less is really quite wonderful for the price. In most towns, there's be a golden arches or equivalent in that spot, so I feel very lucky. The carré de porc was quite nice yesterday.

There are some hydroponic sweet peppers being sold in one of the allées. $3 for two reds and a yellow, bagged together. The samples I tried sent me straight to my wallet. Very sweet and flavourful. (What happened to the days when "hydroponic" invariably meant "pretty but bland"? It's a good thing they're over.)

Also noted: Capitol and Shamrock now have their outdoor grills and fryers, respectively, in operation. Capitol has boosted the number of tables, and Shamrock also seems to be providing more seating.

Edited May 8, 2005 by Mr. Fagioli (log)