What food is served at a cabane a sucre?

It’s Spring which means it’s Cabane à Sucre time here in Québec, the season in which maple syrup and maple-infused food abound. 

Due to the pandemic this year we could not go to the Sugar Shack last year, nor this year so I decided to make my own Cabane à Sucre event at home to recreate the experience! This post will tell you what foods you need but also how to get the perfect atmosphere right in your own dining room.

During March and April, the maple trees are tapped for their sweet sugar water which later becomes maple syrup, butter, candy, and more! 

So during this period, the Sugar Shack opens up to the public while the meal is the most important aspect of the Cabane a Sucre there also other things to do. 

A visit to the Sugar Shack entails petting farm animals, listening to folk music, and a walk in the woods where maple water is gathered.  Sometimes you can even witness the intense and long process in which maple water/sap becomes maple syrup.

Overall it’s a very Québécoise activity that is fun to do and a very memorable experience!

As mentioned, this year all Sugar Shacks were closed and so I sought to recreate the experience at home, and although I do not have farm animals nor snow to do maple pull/taffy I still tried my best to get all of the required foods!

If you want to also have your own Cabane a Sucre experience at home, then keep on reading!

How To Have a Cabane à Sucre At Home 

But besides the food, the atmosphere is an important aspect of going to the Sugar Shack and so I wanted to recreate that experience. It can be done through decor, music, lighting and so much more. 

But first the meal!

the menu

Maple is, obviously, the most important part of the Sugar Shack and so most of the foods served will be sweetened in one way or another with it. 

Because there are half a dozen dishes, I decided to buy some pre-cooked foods to make the process less stressful and easier.

To make the delicious food found at the Cabane à Sucre, you’ll need:

Maple Broiled Ham

This was the piece de resistance of the meal and I kinda cheated a bit because I bought a pre-cooked ham that was smaller which made the whole cooking process easier, and cheaper. It came out better than expected (you know I keep my expectations low) and was surprised by how good it smelled!

I used this recipe by Maple From Canada and added most of the ingredients minus the beer and chicken broth using instead 1.25 cups of wine. Also, because my ham was on the smaller side I cut the recipe in half. 

Pea Soup

Pea soup is a very French Canadien food for it was the staple meal of early Quebec settlers due to its nutritious nature and therefore it’s a traditional entree in the Sugar Shack meal. Therefore it is one of the few savory (non-sweet) dishes, plus one of my favorite soups!

For this dish, I bought two cans of Habitant pea soup and all I had to do was warm it up and serve.

Maple Glazed Breakfast Sausages

This was one of my favorite dishes to both make and eat. It smells amazing and it tastes even better, the only downside is that they are all gone in a jiffy!

To make the maple glazed sausages, I used this recipe by The Kitchen Magpie and was surprised by how simple it is to make and I will certainly be trying this recipe again and again.

Sweet Beans with Maple Syrup

One of my favorite canned foods/dishes is sweet beans baked in maple syrup. They just taste so good!  For the Cabane a Sucre meal I warmed up a can of sweet beans and added about 1/3 cup of maple syrup to give it that extra umph!

Scrambled Eggs

This dish, along with the pea soup, was made sans maple syrup. Super simple to make and as it was savory it aided in balancing the overall sweetness of the meal. 

For the dessert I made a classic sugar pie made with, you guessed it, Canadian maple syrup which I, unfortunately, forgot to photograph 🙁 The tarte a sucre with homemade whipping cream was the perfect ending to this traditional meal. 

Not made: 

The cabane á sucre meal usually has about 10 or so dishes but in my recreation, a couple of those dishes were missing mainly because some I knew my family would not eat and others were difficult to find. 

–  Pork rinds are salty and crunchy which contrasts greatly with all the sweet food, unfortunately, it was near impossible to find. 

– Maple taffy. The snow started to melt early this year so when we had our Sugar Shack meal the snow was all gone and so was not able to eat or make taffy.

– Pouding Chomeur was also MIA this year. This pudding cake is absolutely delicious and simple to make but unfortunately, it is super sweet so I decided that having one dessert (the sugar pie) was enough. 

All in all, this meal took me about 3.5 hours to make, the whole morning. Although I did have to adapt the recipes to the amount of ham or sausages I had on hand, I still ended up using about 1.5 540ml cans of maple syrup. Which is a lot of sugar for one meal!

But since its a once a year meal, it’s not that big of a problem. 

the decor

While the meal is important the atmosphere of the feeling of the Sugar Shack is what makes the experience much more memorable. And so decorating is a must!

This is what the inside of the Cabane á Sucre looks like. Lots of plaids, wooden interior, and hanging lanterns. Overall a very rustic and wintery look. 

Photo by Auberge Handfield

To recreate this look I used a red/black Buffalo plaid that my mom found at Fabricland and while it was originally bought for Christmas decor, it worked out amazingly as a tablecloth for our little event!

So if you can, using a buffalo plaid tablecloth will make the meal much more authentic along with…

…. lanterns!

Lighting is also an important factor in getting the perfect atmosphere 

Since I love lanterns, fun to decorate with, and very useful, I decorated the table with one that would go along with the decor. Along with a galvanized jug filled with faux tulips, because a) I feared that without it the table would look very Christmas-y and b) make it more spring-y.

Also, the galvanized jug acts as a tribute to the cans used in collecting maple sap at the Shack.

Maple sap farm found on Pixabay

Another thing to get the right atmosphere or look is white or simply decorated dishes. It will not only pop on the red tablecloth but it will also give it that traditional, folksy aesthetic. 

Metal skillets remind one of the olden days when everything was cooked over the fire, along with…

…wood items. 

Wooden cutting boards, cutlery, or even random wood items such as sticks or pot-holders can also aid in getting the country, traditional feeling. Unfortunately, I had no wood items at hand but I did have some blue + white china dishes which while it is not “country” did give it that old-timey vibe. 

and of course, maple syrup!

Also placing bottles of maple syrup on the table allows a person to easily add more syrup to their food if they wish. plus it also looks cute and traditional!

To summarize you will need:

• Lots of plaids

• Lanterns 

• Wood items (sticks, cutting boards, etc)

• Metal skillets 

• And country, or folk, music

closing thoughts 

To my surprise, this was a fun and simple-to-plan experience that I will definitely be recreating next year. 

Another thing that surprised me was that even though I ended up cutting some of the recipes in half there was still enough food for supper and lunch the next day! So it is worth all the trouble.

I definitely recommend making your own cabane a sucre at home, it is a thrilling and memorable experience. Plus everything tastes so good!

Although word of advice, it is best to do this during late winter early spring because of the competitive prices concerning all things maple. I bought all food items for under $35 for 4 people which is about half of what we’d pay and got cans of maple syrup for $4.80 each (an amazing deal, usually it’s around $7!)

As for decor, it is best to play around with what you have it doesn’t have to perfect it just needs to be different from your usual dining room decor!

If you do recreate or make your own Cabane á Sucre event at home please let me know so I can gush at it like a proud mother hen lol!

If you’re looking for other delicious dessers that fit the experience check out this creamy roasted pepper and tomato soup or this deep dish sugar cookie recipe for dessert.

Have you ever gone to a Sugar Shack before? Do you like maple syrup?