Smokie / Saucisse fumée de Montréal
Smoked sausage of beef and pork, introduced to Montreal and the Prairies by the Ashkenazi Jewish and Ukrainian immigrants of the early twentieth century. In Edmonton, the question of where to find the best smokie is debated as fiercely as the question of the best smoked meat in Montreal.
| Lean beef | 500 g |
| Lean pork | 300 g |
| Pork fat | 200 g |
| Curing salt | 20 g |
| Fresh garlic, crushed | 8 g |
| Ground black pepper | 3 g |
| Mustard powder | 2 g |
| Ground coriander | 1 g |
| Ice water | 80 ml |
| Sheep casing (Ø 22–26 mm) | — |
- Preparation: Cut the meats into cubes. Part-freeze at −3 °C.
- Mincing: Mince very finely in a bowl cutter, gradually incorporating the iced water to a smooth emulsion.
- Seasoning: Add the curing salt, the garlic and all the spices at the end of mixing.
- Stuffing: Stuff into the sheep casings. Form sausages 15 to 18 cm long. Twist into a chain.
- Resting: Refrigerate for 12 hours.
- Smoking: Hot-smoke (65–75 °C) over maple or apple wood for 2 to 3 hours.
- Poaching: Poach at 75 °C for 15 to 20 minutes until fully cooked.
- Serving: Reheat on the grill or in a pan. Serve in a hot dog bun with mustard, cabbage, and sauerkraut.
The Canadian smokie owes its existence to the Eastern European migration waves of the early twentieth century. Between 1891 and 1914, about 170,000 Ukrainians settled in the Canadian Prairies, where the federal government allotted them land. These immigrants brought the techniques for making Ukrainian kovbasa and Polish kielbasa, which they adapted to North American ingredients. The Ashkenazi Jewish communities that arrived in Montreal during the same period contributed a more finely emulsified variant, influenced by the Frankfurters' making techniques. The smokie is the product of this double influence, Ukrainian and Ashkenazi, evolved over a century of local adaptation.
Its name, an abbreviated form of ‘smoked sausage’, is a Canadian slang term designating a category rather than a single product: a smoked sausage cooked through, ready simply to be reheated. Maple and apple, woods abundant in Canada, give the smokie a sweet, fruity note that separates it from the beech- or oak-smoked sausages of Europe.
Edmonton (Alberta) is regarded as the Canadian capital of the smokie, owing to its strong Ukrainian community, which keeps artisanal production alive. Montreal produces a finer, more garlicky variant, influenced by the Ashkenazi charcuterie tradition of the historic Main district (Boulevard Saint-Laurent), where Jewish, Polish and Ukrainian butchers coexisted for decades.
It is served reheated on the grill or in a pan, in a hot dog bun with mustard, raw cabbage or sauerkraut, and sometimes with pierogies (potato-filled dumplings of Polish origin). At fairs and outdoor markets in western Canada, it is the most widely sold street food.
The book
All 144 recipes and their histories, gathered in a single volume.