Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

Preserving Food   by   Dolorès Robillard Benoit

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Preserving food

From the time of the first colonists, the main method of preserving food was by "salting". As the first ships of the King often transported salt, this ingredient was plentiful in the colony. The inhabitants often put most of the butchered porc in the "salting tub".

The Indians, on their part, used the "braising" method, and most curiously, there are no indications that our ancestors used this method to preserve food. The "braising" method consisted of burning and carbonizing a huge piece of meat in order to seal all surrounding air to preserve it for a long period of time.

There was also the "smokehouse" used for curing. A rudimentary shelter was built with a hearth in which wood was burned. The smoke would be released giving a different taste to the food according to the different species of wood used. Pieces of meat were hung on the interior ceiling beams of the shelter and, an important fact, "curing" was never carried out at night for fear of a fire. It took about 4 to 15 days of smoking based on the size of the piece of meat for a good curing.

"Marinating" was also another way of preserving food which was used, but rarely for fish except for salmon.

When preserving food, one had to take into account the severe Québecois winters. One had also to remember about the thaw, especially in early spring. One also had to have the necessary foods at hand for the severe climate and the big families to be fed.

Slaughter

Autumn for the "habitants" was the time for butchering. As they needed to be very economical, they had to make sure that they used every part of the animal to be butchered. Bleeding the animal would appear to us today to be cruelty to animals. While this animal was slowly dying, its blood was drained into a container to be used for the "boudin" - blood sausage or blood pudding.  According to writings of that era, a hog would give about two pounds of blood for this purpose.

On the morning of the appointed day, the pig, which had been fattened during the preceeding year, was hung from one of the beams above the barn door, bled and then butchered. Every part of the pig was preserved either by salting or by curing. Even the bladder of the pig was preserved for a tobacco pouch.

This day, when relatives and neighbors were invited, ended late in the night with a great feast where the fiddlers played to their hearts content by inviting the young and old to danse and do the jig. For the folks of that era, everything became an occasion to get together and to have a feast.

Reference: Extracts from "Recettes traditionnelles du Québec" of Hélène Boisvenue.

Copyright © 2003-2008 Norm Léveillée

Created 1 Feb 2003