Canadian Dishes for Your Wedding
There are quite the unique Canadian foods and you may some if not all of them. Whether you’re a foodie or not, one of the most fun and sometimes stressful parts of wedding planning is coming up with a menu. From the rehearsal dinner to the reception, the options are nearly endless for cuisine. When you’re celebrating upcoming nuptials in the Great White North, you may want to display some national pride when deciding what to eat. If so, here are some Canadian dishes for your consideration.
Canadian Go With a Poutine Routine
When it comes to Canadian cuisine, poutine reigns supreme. This classic comfort food dish combines crisp French fries, cheese curds and a rich savory gravy for a meal or snack that feels like home. This casual meal offers versatility for wedding-day eats. It can be served in classic form for a less formal, more homey celebration, or it can be jazzed up for a special occasion. Consider alternative toppings such as pulled pork, bacon or other types of grilled or smoked meat. French fries are available in various form factors, making poutine a dish that’s easy to rework for your menu.
Serve a Tourtière Premiere
When it comes to soul-affirming eats, you can’t go wrong with tourtière. This classic Canadian meat pie dish originates from Quebec. Traditionally, it’s filled with minced pork, veal or beef and potatoes. It’s a popular dish for the holidays up north. It can be a featured menu item at your rehearsal dinner or wedding reception. Although a classic tourtière is hard to beat, you can modify this dish with other proteins, including salmon and wild game. Individual pies make for a heartwarming second or third course, while pre-cut slices are easily retrieved from a buffet or family-style service.
Offer Donair With Flair
Doner, as in doner kebab, is a staple of various Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. This meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie has several descendants, including Arabic shawarma, Mexican al pastor, Greek gyros and Canadian donair. Since the early 1970s, donair has been a staple as street food in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A combination of spiced ground beef and sweet sauce served in Lebanese flatbread, this cousin of the gyro sandwich can be scaled down as a small bite for wedding eats. Guests can add their own toppings to suit their particular tastes with this ultra-casual snack.
Turn Tables With Bagels
While many people associate bagels with New York City, Canadians know that Montreal-style bagels are the culinary champs, especially when served as part of a post-wedding brunch or a wedding breakfast meal. These bagels are generally sweeter, denser and thinner than their New York cousins, but they are just as delicious with your favorite bagel toppings, including salmon, lox, cream cheese, capers, compound butters and fruit spreads. A food station that lets guests create the perfectly topped bagel is a great move.
Canadian bacon Take Stake in Bacon
“Canadian bacon” is an American term for a certain style of smoked bacon and has no origins here in the Great White North. Peameal bacon, on the other hand, is a type of unsmoked back bacon that originates in Southern Ontario. It is made from trimmed center-cut pork loin that is cured in a wet salt and sugar brine and rolled in cornmeal. Closer to fresh ham in taste than traditional bacon, peameal bacon has a mild salty and sweet flavor. This protein can be served any time of the day as individual slices in a charcuterie board or as part of a cooked dish.
Choosing the food for your big day or associated events should be part of the fun in getting married. Just as with other aspects of your wedding, it’s up to you and your partner to decide what everyone will eat. These classic Canadian dishes are comforting and can be worked into just about any menu in any format for fun, memorable eats.