8.04.2019

Jultember: fête du homard...

Montrealers take their food very seriously—they are French, after all—and one of my favorite things to look forward to each year is what is referred to around here as the "fête du homard". yup... they have a festival to celebrate lobsters. you can see why i love this town.

lobster fishing season is limited to a couple-few months here in Quebec, and the entire place seems to go crazy for the stuff. and it is not just the fancy restaurants. during the Summer months, you can find lobster showing up on everything from pizza to poutine (the wholly ungodly combination of fries, gravy, and cheese curds that is Quebec's greatest contribution to the world... or, so they seem to think).

my absolute favorite format is still the humble lobster roll. for the uninitiated, you pick all of the meat out of a freshly-boiled lobster, toss it lightly with whatever is acceptable as a dressing in your region, then stuff it into a super-non-fancy hot-dog-type bun. and once the bun has reached capacity... you add a bit more. i ate a few chunks off the top before i thought to take a photo, but trust me... it was even-more-full.


we are not talking tiny shredded bits of lobster that are overworked into something resembling the tuna fish you had for lunch. these are big, plump chunks of super-fresh awesomeness. seriously... just look at it and drool.


we recently made a deliciously dangerous discovery. our local fishmonger makes a-maz-ing lobster rolls. it almost makes me feel sorry for the tank full of lobsters... almost. the sandwich is served up along with a few leaves of lettuce and a really tasty slaw-type salad that you can eat as a side or add to your lobster roll. i did a bit of both.


what is dangerous about that, you ask? they make them all year round. and just like that, i got a mental image of me pulling on my going-to-the-Arctic gear in mid-Winter and wading through waist-deep snow, just so i could savor that moment of bursting into the fish shop in mid-January and demanding a lobster roll. i just may learn to like Winter after all.

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