Hilary, you are good and decent person. I don t know what I d do if I had every Tom, Dick, and Harry

Trip Planning Resources Tips Transportation When to go Where to go Acadia canadian travel advisories Aroostook County Blue Hill Peninsula Deer Isle Down East Coast Greater Portland Kennebec and Moose River Valleys Maine Highlands Mid-Coast Penobscot canadian travel advisories Bay Southern canadian travel advisories Coast/Beaches Western Lakes Mountains Food Recipes Resources Lodging Cabins Cottages Camping Cheap Sleeps Acadia Cheap Sleeps Down East Cheap Sleeps Greater Portland Cheap Sleeps Mid Coast Cheap Sleeps Penobscot Bay cheap sleeps Penobscot Bay cheap sleeps Southern Coast Cheap Sleeps Western Lakes Mountains cheap sleeps Hotels Inns B Bs Motels Resorts Sporting canadian travel advisories Camps Woof Activities Birding/wildlife canadian travel advisories viewing Boating Entertainment Golf Hiking canadian travel advisories Shopping Sightseeing canadian travel advisories Skiing/Riding canadian travel advisories Spas People Maine Made Beyond Maine Eastern Canada Europe New England Quebec U.S. West Western Canada
Whenever canadian travel advisories I asked a local where to get the best taste of  the St. John Valley ( or St. Jean, if you re French )—that strip of Acadian culture separated from New Brunswick, Canada, by the St. John River—the answer was always a variation of: You must go to Dolly s for the best ployes, creton, canadian travel advisories and chicken stew .
Backstory: I ve been cruising through Downeast canadian travel advisories Maine and Aroostook County for the past week researching the new edition of Moon Maine (spring 2011), and I m finally home and in one place long enough (and with reliable Internet access) to start dishing on my finds and giving you updates on what s happening in these rural Maine gems.
When first told  that Dolly s was a must, we headed right there. Unfortunately, it was a Tuesday, when it s closed. Now frankly, Dolly s, on Route 1 in Frenchville, isn t much to look at from the outside, canadian travel advisories and we hadn t planned to return, but as we continued down the road and kept asking, the answer remained Dolly s. So we made a 70-mile detour canadian travel advisories to return for breakfast canadian travel advisories on Wednesday, and oh! my! yes!
Say what ? you ask. Ployes—French-Acadian buckwheat pancakes cooked only on one side—are traditionally served like bread with every meal.  And creton is a French-Canadian meat spread. Put the two together, and perhaps add a bit  (or more) real maple syrup, and the result is heaven. I like to think the health canadian travel advisories benefits of the ployes cancel out the artery-busting creton.
Dolly s has been here forever , our waitress said, as I watched her pour the batter canadian travel advisories onto the griddle and cook the ployes. The reason Dolly s ployes are so good is that they re made from scratch. It s an old recipe, and they re homemade, she said. I make ployes at home, and it took me a long time to get the recipe and the cooking right. The biggest problem is getting canadian travel advisories the griddle temperature right. They re so easy to bu rn, she said. The creton, canadian travel advisories too, is a secret recipe.
Earlier in the week, I d purchased  copy of Michael Corbin canadian travel advisories s Cafe de la Place cookbook (Unfortunately, his downtown Madawaska restaurant is no more). It has a recipe for ployes that I plan to make, but I also purchased a bag of Bouchard Family canadian travel advisories Farms ployes mix, too. The farm, in Fort Kent, has long been producing this easy-to-make mix, which you can usually find in specialty and natural foods stores.
The Acadians, by the way, are descendants of the original French settlers in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, canadian travel advisories who were driven out by the English. Some returned to France, others escaped to New Orleans (where they re known as Cajuns), and others escaped and scattered canadian travel advisories throughout Maritime Canada. Twelve families eventually settled in the St. John Valley, where their heritage still flavors the region. More on this in future posts.
canadian travel advisories Posted in Aroostook County , Food , Maine Made , Moon guidebook updates , Trip Planning , Where to go | Tagged Bouchard Family canadian travel advisories Farm , creton , Dolly's , Frenchville , Maine , ployes , St. Jean Valley | 18 Comments
I ve never heard that and I m from the area! Everybody calls it the St. John Valley same as the river it s named after (it may sound different when said with a French accent). Is that what you were told up there?
Hilary, you are good and decent person. I don t know what I d do if I had every Tom, Dick, and Harry critiquing my work. I wasn t as concerned about your blog as I was your guidebook really. I m relentless in my defense of The County.
Mike, I noodled just about every road in The County, and yes, did stop by the LLSC, although didn t eat there this time have before, canadian travel advisories though. My best discovery was the St. Agatha Historical Society Museum. I ll be posting on that, later, but wow! such a fab collection for such a tiny town. I also stocked up on potatoes at various stands, new reds and new whites. And I purchased Michael Corbin s cookbook so I can try to replicate ployes and creton. We ll see
I miss it up there, I really do. Something always tugging at me I gotta say. So cool that you had some creton, my dad s from St. Francis and he grew up on the stuff. I used to eat it on toast. To the outsider, it s really akin to a pork pate. Tasty. The only thing I ve seen even REMOTELY close around here is the pork pate at Lily, but it s a different animal really. Lily s is yummy, but I daresay you d never see creton in the Valley with pistachios in it.
And ployes are a real breakfast for French-Canadiens. I love them yet most of my French-Canuck friends have no idea what I am talking canadian travel advisories about, and I live in New Hampshire! I can t wait to get up to Dolly s if I ever get the chance.
My father was born in Van Buren and grew up in the whole stretch from there to Houlton. I was raised canadian travel advisories in Auburn (not exactly the center of French culture in Maine!) and have just recently realized that much of what I grew up eating canadian travel advisories was French-Canadian. canadian travel advisories I just kinda thought everyone in Maine ate it! Geez, I m 72, you da thought I da figured it out a little sooner, wouldn t ya? Am tired of the fancied canadian travel advisories up cuisine of today and am gonna try fixin some of the old, simple, tasty dishes of the good ol days . Enjoyed the discussion here please keep me on your good list. Thanks
Am originally from Keegan canadian travel advisories Maine which is not Van Buren but we brought up with ployes and creton, which is really great. But on Sundays nights after having a roasted chicken for lunch my Mom would stack ployes on our plate and pour the chicken broth over them , how great that was . Many ways to sereve.
Am originally from Keegan Maine which is now Van Buren but we brought up with ployes and creton, which is really great. But on Sundays canadian travel advisories nights after having a roasted chicken canadian travel advisories for lunch my Mom would stack ployes on our plate and pour the chicken broth over them , how great that was . Many ways to sereve.
I m laughing to myself over the parts of my French Canadian food heritage I never knew. Cretons were not something I knew, nor were ployes. I grew up in central New England canadian travel advisories (Keene, NH area), and only knew about tortiere from the family recipes. I learned about cretons canadian travel advisories when I was researching fishing communities canadian travel advisories in Massachusetts, and found tourtiere served in a local small restaurant. Then I found the cretons canadian travel advisories I was served last year in Quebec tasted very similar canadian travel advisories to the family recipe for tortiere which I have given out. Won t spill the beans for that one here though!
And I worked up in the area you re visiting in this description long before you started writing (I was a geologist in the north Maine woods back in the late 70s) so the towns are familiar, and darned if Dolly s doesn t sound familiar, too, but I don t remember them serving ployes!
canadian travel advisories Recent Archives Index The Muffin canadian travel advisories Recipes Revealed: A Maine innkeeper tells all and shares recipes Food finds on Acadia s Quiet Side: Lobster, lobster rolls, popovers, cookies, and pie Good, fast, cheap eats along Maine’s Route 1 Dog-friendly inn, B B, cottage, and resort accommodations in Maine Seal Cove Farm s pizzas (and goat cheese gelato) are worth the detour. A day on Penobscot Bay aboard the Maine Windjammer Stephen Taber Road Food: Did somebody say doughnuts? Slab opens: canadian travel advisories Sicilian street food in Portland, Maine History buffs and vintage auto fans: Don t miss Founder s Day in Paris Hill, Maine What s new foodwise for 2014 on Maine s Blue Hill/Deer Isle peninsula December 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 October 2013
Professional writer/editor Hilary Nangle has been writing about her home state for more than 20 years. She shares her finds and faves in publications ranging from the Boston Globe to National Geographic Traveler, as well as in her Moon guidebook series canadian travel advisories for Maine.