Gastronomical Adventures in the Maritimes

We’ve eaten well and a lot since arriving. Because we are staying in Bed and Breakfasts, we start each day with more food than I’d normally eat all day! Stacks of pancakes are the favourite but the condiments change according to the place: partridgeberry sauce in Newfoundland, local maple syrup in Nova Scotia, and fresh blueberries everywhere.
Our lunches and dinners are where the fun starts.
We tried fish cakes more than once. In Nfld, these are made of salt cod and potato and are fried a deep golden brown. Fish cakes and Baked Beans can be served with a Mug-up – thick home-made bread served with molasses (and partridgeberry sauce).
Cod tongues are on virtually every menu we saw. They are either lightly fried or deep-fried and often served with scrunchions (small little morsels of salt-pork). Texture is like that of oysters – a bit firmer.
Fish and chips have been fabulous every time we’ve tried them – the fish is always fresh. It was cod in Nfld and haddock in Nova Scotia. The chips are home-made fries and much too good!
Seafood chowder also features the freshest seafood available and whether in a thick or thin sauce, is full of tasty chunks – cold water shrimp, haddock, scallops and clams.
And then there was Coquilles St. Jacques - tasty morsels of fresh scallops in a delectable wine sauce and Seafood platters with lobster, scallops and shrimp.
We stopped at a Lobster pound in Nova Scotia where fresh lobster were brought off the boats and served right there. We chose our healthy, active lobster but I drew the line at naming him and carrying him in a triumphant march to the kitchen. So the woman taking our order agreed to take the unfortunate lobster in the back way and presumably straight into the pot. $38.00 and five minutes later, he reappeared, very red and slightly cracked (for ease of eating). Lobster bib and melted butter at hand, we managed to work our way through every crack and crevice – pretty tasty.
When we travelled on the Evangeline Trail through Acadian villages, we ordered a famous Acadian dish – rappie pie. Huge plates of wallpaper paste coated with a dark brown crust appeared in front of us. When disturbed, chunks of chicken were found hidden in the grayish gelatinous potatoes. It was served with butter which we assumed to be intended to be added as with mashed potatoes. It tasted okay but the quantity was enough that Bill walked around feeling like he had swallowed one of the canon balls from the garrison we had visited earlier.
We may try salads for a while…..