Cretons de Quebec

Posted by on July 1, 2009 in Canadian recipes, COOK No comments

Another French Canadian specialty!  This is served as a spread for toast at breakfast.  Personally, I think it has an acquired taste and well, I never saw the need to acquire it, but I post this recipe here mainly for my sister who adores the stuff.  You can actually now buy this stuff in grocery stores even here in Ontario.  But, since I am pretty sure they don’t sell it at the local Kroger store in Arkansas, Barb, this recipe is for you and any other brave souls out there! Hey, it must have a lot of fans to be sold everywhere right?  I only remember seeing my sister eating the stuff plain on toast but when researching the recipe for it, I found that apparently a lot of people also throw some jam or mustard over it to make it even “tastier” (their word NOT mine). 

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound pork or turkey sausage
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 onion – finely diced
  • 1 clove garlic – minced
  • 1 pinch ground cloves
  • 1 pinch ground allspice
  • salt and pepper to taste

Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat until golden brown.  Drain off the fat (personal note here: from what I remember of the taste of Cretons, it tasted to me like they added fat, rather than drain it away but I consulted about 20 different Cretons recipes before posting this and they all had the same instructions).  Add the milk, onion, garlic, and spices and continue to simmer over a low to medium-low heat.  Stir frequently until the milk mostly evaporates and the mixture thickens.  This is served cool or even cold from the fridge (which is where it should be stored).  Ummm, enjoy?

Some hints I found in my research were to add about a quarter cup of bread crumbs to the mixture if you like a thicker spread and to use pumpkin pie spice as a substitute for the spices listed here.

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