Newfoundland Cuisine

A staple of Newfoundland cuisine is salt fish. It was the only preservation technique for harvested codfish before refrigeration became cheap and commonplace. A fresh cod is filleted, then covered with salt for some time, then left in the sun to dry.
What you need for the salt fish:
- 1 salt fish, cut into pieces
-6 to 8 potatoes

For the drawn butter:
-2 chopped onions
-1/4 cup of butter or margarine
-2 cups of water
-1 tablespoon of cornstarch or all-purpose flour

First, soak the salt fish in water for a full 24 hours. Make sure that you change the water for fresh water at least twice in this time.
Then, boil the fish for about 15 minutes. In a separate pot, boil your potatoes.
For the drawn butter, cook your chopped onions in the butter until softened, then stir in the cornstarch/flour. Gradually add the water, and keep stirring until it's thick.

The bakeapple, or cloudberry, is a herb which grows in boreal forest. It has a tart taste, somewhat similar to a raspberry or blackberry.
For the dressing, you need:
-4 tablespoons of olive oil
-2 tablespoons of white vinegar
-4 tablespoons of bakeapple syrup
-1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
-1/8 teaspoon of black pepper

It's very easy to make. Just whisk all of the ingredients together, then stick it in the fridge until you want to use it.

This is a magnificent recipe, and a favorite with the older generation of Newfoundlanders.
What you need:
-1 to 2 cups of all-purpose flour
-as many cod tongues as you want
-a few pinches of salt
-pepper to taste
-salt pork, or shortening

What you need to do:
Wash the tongues, and pat them dry. Mix the salt, pepper, and flour. Coat the tongues with this mixture. Place them in a hot pan, and cook until they're golden brown on both sides.
The traditional side is mashed potatoes.

Dogberry wine serves one purpose - to get you very drunk. It isn't very tasty (I won't lie to you). But there's something special about it that just makes you wanna keel over after a few shots. Dogberries are known as the fruit of the mountain ash, or rowan.
Here it is!
You need:
-1 quart of dogberries
-1 gallon of boiling water
-4 pounds (plus a cup) of sugar
-2 lemons, sliced
-2 oranges, sliced
-1 package of yeast

You need to:
Put the berries in a jar, and add the boiling water, then the sugar, then the fruit. Let it cool.
Then stir the yeast in very well! Poke it away in your pantry for three weeks, then strain the mix and bottle it.
Give it to friends!

A jam jam is heavenly. I would make some if I were you.
Here's what you need:
-1 cup of margarine
-1 cup of sugar
-2 eggs
-8 tablespoons of molasses
-1 teaspoon of vanilla
-2 teaspoons of baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon of salt
-4 cups of flour
-bottle of jam (strawberry and raspberry are the usual flavours)

What you need to do:
Cream the margarine and sugar. Add the egss, one at a time, then add the molasses and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl. Fold this into the creamed mixture. Roll it out to quarter-inch thickness on a floured surface, and cut out with a circular cookie cutter. Place on a greased cookie sheet, and bake in the oven (set to 350 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 10 minutes. Stick two cookies together with jam (thus the name!).
Tip: Usually, a hole is cut into the cookie on top, so one can see the jam in the cookie.

Fish and brewis is a staple food throughout Newfoundland. Basically, it's a combination of salt fish, hard tack, onions, and scrunchions. I have a feeling that two of these ingredients are a complete mystery to you. Hard tack is extremely hard bread. I'm fairly sure you could snap a tooth off trying to eat it. The main producer of this bread is Purity, an all-Newfoundland brand with the only factory in St.John's. The other is a scrunchion. A scrunchion is just a piece of pork rind fried until it's crispy and crunchy. Anywho, onto the recipe!


You need:

4 pieces of hard tack
2 lbs of salt cod
1 cup of salt pork, finely diced


First, break up the pieces of tack into smaller portions, then put them in a bowl of water to soak for 6 to 8 hours (or overnight) in plenty of cold water. Soak the salt fish in a separate bowl of water for the same amount of time, but changing the water once or twice during that time. In the morning, change the water on the cod one more time, then simmer it until it's cooked. Remove any bones and skin, and break the flesh into flakes. Place the soaked hard bread in a saucepan (it's easiest to use the water it was soaked in. Only use enough to just cover the bread) and heat it slowly until it comes to a boil. Remove it from the heat and drain it right away. Keeping everything hot, mix the flaked cod into the bread. Fry the pork until it's crispy. You can either mix the scrunchions into the bread and fish mixture, or pour them (and their rendered fat - no one said this was heart healthy) onto the mix. Whatever you want!