Favorite British Columbia Desserts
Apr. 23rd, 2009 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snousleIt's hard to pin down what British Columbia cuisine is all about, but while in Vancouver I noticed that there are pastries there that I've never seen anywhere else. Some, I think, are imported from the UK, but as far as I know the Nanaimo Bar is unique to BC. Wikipedia says it's "popular across North America" but that hasn't been my experience.
If I were to generalize quite a lot, I'd say BC cooking takes traditional concepts and makes them more calorie-dense and intensely flavored, though not usually "goopy" or full of inexpensive "filler" ingredients as similar American adaptations. On the higher end there are lots of "inappropriate" flavor combinations, such as Dungeness crab with Parmesan, that taste really good after it's been raining for several weeks without interruption.
The particular shop where I took these pictures - on Bute St. just off of Davie - had good looking pastries that unfortunately tasted like crap. Oh well. Regardless, these are flavors that are prominent in my memory and are one of the few things that still make me pine for the fjords.
These particular Nanaimo bars are ridiculously huge, you'd have to cut them in four to make a reasonable serving. They're usually VERY rich. Nanaimo is (was?) a very pretty town on the east coast of Vancouver island known for incredible salmon fishing. I haven't really been there in 20 years but my impression is that it's grown a lot.
Butter tarts - I'm pretty sure these are eaten across Canada and the UK. A friend of the family is a bit of an aficionado of these and has transformed the recipe into something more like a pillowy cloud of pastry with a little glop of filling in the middle. Hers are divine - these were leaden and flavorless. But you get the idea.
Sausage rolls! The ultimate cholesterol lunch. Not large, but one is enough. They are always dreadful, and always delicious.
The Copenhagen, a little swirl on top of custard, supported by (ideally) flaky puff pastry. I've eaten hundreds of these.
Not pictured: Eccles cakes, which are rounds of firm flaky pastry with currants. Crunchy and usually not very sweet. These were my favorite, I'd buy them from a small pastry shop near my high school in Kerrisdale, but I haven't seen them in a long time.
If I were to generalize quite a lot, I'd say BC cooking takes traditional concepts and makes them more calorie-dense and intensely flavored, though not usually "goopy" or full of inexpensive "filler" ingredients as similar American adaptations. On the higher end there are lots of "inappropriate" flavor combinations, such as Dungeness crab with Parmesan, that taste really good after it's been raining for several weeks without interruption.
The particular shop where I took these pictures - on Bute St. just off of Davie - had good looking pastries that unfortunately tasted like crap. Oh well. Regardless, these are flavors that are prominent in my memory and are one of the few things that still make me pine for the fjords.
These particular Nanaimo bars are ridiculously huge, you'd have to cut them in four to make a reasonable serving. They're usually VERY rich. Nanaimo is (was?) a very pretty town on the east coast of Vancouver island known for incredible salmon fishing. I haven't really been there in 20 years but my impression is that it's grown a lot.
Butter tarts - I'm pretty sure these are eaten across Canada and the UK. A friend of the family is a bit of an aficionado of these and has transformed the recipe into something more like a pillowy cloud of pastry with a little glop of filling in the middle. Hers are divine - these were leaden and flavorless. But you get the idea.
Sausage rolls! The ultimate cholesterol lunch. Not large, but one is enough. They are always dreadful, and always delicious.
The Copenhagen, a little swirl on top of custard, supported by (ideally) flaky puff pastry. I've eaten hundreds of these.
Not pictured: Eccles cakes, which are rounds of firm flaky pastry with currants. Crunchy and usually not very sweet. These were my favorite, I'd buy them from a small pastry shop near my high school in Kerrisdale, but I haven't seen them in a long time.
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Date: 2009-04-24 04:46 am (UTC)