Josiane Caillet

Having covered the traditional cuisine of Quebec's Mauricie, Charlevoix, and Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean regions, Micheline Mongrain-Dontigny, the current President of the Association canadienne de la presse gastronomique et hôtelière, next traveled to the Eastern Townships to research her new book, Eastern Townships Traditional Cooking.

Eastern Townships Traditional Cooking contains over a hundred recipes contributed by cooks in Valcourt, Sherbrooke, Weedon, Potton, Stanstead, and elsewhere.

Let yourself be tempted by this culinary adventure. Rediscover the produce of the maple tree, or apples, vegetables, rhubarb, or honey prepared the Eastern Townships way. Celebrate the holidays by starting your day with a country-style breakfast of oatmeal pancakes, rhubarb muffins, and grape jam. For lunch, try a comforting bowl of corn chowder, with steamed brown bread, raspberry perfumed duck breast salad, and some delicious, locally produced cheeses, topped off with a yummy glazed apple cake.

In the evening, treat your friends to a tomato fish chowder, a rabbit civet with ice cider and cranberries, served with a potato and onion casserole, vegetable turnovers, green lettuce with salad dressing, and maple sugar peppered pie for dessert.

Great cooking ideas are not lacking in this book, and a number of dessert recipes cry out to be tested! Bon appétit!

The Eastern Townships are characterized by their cultural diversity, so it should not be surprising to discover in this book the influences of many cultures: Native Canadian, French Canadian, English Canadian, American, British, Scottish, Irish, and European.

Micheline Mongrain-Dontigny's book not only covers the art of preparing the variety of local produce that is available to us and that is listed in a special section. It also contains a chapter on the culinary history of the Eastern Townships. It even talks about hunting. Eastern Townships Traditional Cooking, which is illustrated with vintage photographs, contains an index, a bibliography, and a list of contributors.

The book is available in English or French. To order a copy, click here, or check with your local bookstore.

Micheline Mongrain-Dontigny. Eastern Townships Traditional Cooking, Les Éditions La Bonne Recette, 2002. Spiral bound, 188 pages, black & white illustrations. Price: $14.95.