Search
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
French Guiana
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Finland
France
Greece
the Netherlands
Hungary
Ireland
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
Poland
Portugal
the United Kingdom
the Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
BermudaCanada
the United States
Mexico
the Dominican RepublicTurkey
South Africa
Egypt
Australia
Fiji
New Zealand
Papua New GuineaFlavors · Yukon
Pancakes made with sourdough starter, the prospectors’ recipe from the Klondike Gold Rush. In the Yukon they are a breakfast tied to the territory’s history and to Whitehorse’s winter festival.
Traditional dish from Yukon
Also known as: sourdough flapjacks, Yukon sourdough pancakes
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Sourdough pancakes — Yukon, Canada
Sourdough pancakes come from the Klondike Gold Rush, between 1896 and 1899, when tens of thousands of prospectors arrived in the Yukon. With little cooking equipment, they carried a live starter of flour and water, which they fed every day and used to make bread and pancakes on a skillet.
In winter the starter had to be protected from the cold so it wouldn’t die, and accounts say the prospectors kept it close to their bodies. That’s where the nickname sourdough came from, still used today for anyone who spends an entire winter in the Yukon, and which the poet Robert Service used in the title of his book of verses about the territory.
The batter includes the sourdough starter, eggs, a little fat, milk, sugar, salt and baking soda. The pancakes come out tender, with a slightly tangy flavor, and are served with butter and maple syrup or wild berry jam.
In February, the Yukon Rendezvous festival in Whitehorse features a community sourdough pancake breakfast.
Sourdough starter (flour and water), flour, eggs, oil or melted butter, milk, sugar, salt, baking soda; butter, maple syrup or jam for serving.
Hot, at breakfast, with butter and maple syrup or wild berry jam.
All year round; in February at the Yukon Rendezvous pancake breakfast in Whitehorse.
Your questions
Because they were the food of the prospectors in the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century, who carried the live starter to make bread and pancakes.
Besides the starter, it’s the nickname for someone who spends an entire winter in the territory, a legacy from the Gold Rush era.
During the festival in February in Whitehorse; check the dates for each year before you go.
Flavors of Canada
Vodka cocktail with tomato and clam juices, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, served in a tall glass with a celery salt rim, a celery stalk and lemon. It was created in Calgary in 1969 and is considered Canada’s national cocktail.
Strips of breaded beef fried until crispy, tossed in a sweet-and-spicy sauce with ginger, garlic and chili, served with sautéed vegetables and rice. Created in Calgary in the 1970s at a Chinese-Canadian restaurant, it spread across the Prairies and the country.
Beef seasoned and roasted on a vertical spit, thinly sliced and served in a pita with tomato, onion and a sweet sauce of condensed milk, vinegar and garlic. Created in Halifax in the 1970s, it is the city’s official food.
Soft bread filled with pieces of cooked lobster mixed with mayonnaise, celery, and a little lemon, served cold. It’s a traditional way to eat Prince Edward Island lobster.
Smaller, more compact and slightly sweet, hand-rolled, dipped in boiling water with honey and baked in a wood-fired oven. It arrived in Montreal with Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century and became one of the city’s signatures.
Beef brisket cured with salt and spices, smoked and cooked, served in thick slices on rye bread with mustard. Brought to Montreal by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is one of the dishes most associated with the city.
Sweet in three layers that doesn’t go in the oven: cookie base with cocoa, coconut and almonds, a yellow vanilla cream in the middle, and chocolate on top. It’s named for the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, which selected an official recipe in the 1980s.
Dessert wine made from grapes that freeze naturally on the vine and are harvested and pressed frozen, which concentrates sugar and acidity. In Niagara-on-the-Lake, on the Niagara Peninsula, wineries produce it and the town hosts a winter festival dedicated to it.
Blueberries cooked with sugar in a covered pan, with steamed dough dumplings on top. It’s a traditional dessert from Nova Scotia, linked to the blueberry harvest in August and September.
Large dumpling made from grated raw potato and mashed cooked potato, filled with salted pork and boiled in water. It is an Acadian dish from southeastern New Brunswick.
Individual tart made with pie crust filled with butter, sugar, syrup and egg; creamy inside and firmer on top. The earliest known printed recipe dates from 1900 in Barrie, and the tart features on bakery and festival trails in Ontario.
Sweet cider distilled only from Quebec apples, whose sugar is concentrated by the natural cold of winter. Protected as a geographical indication, it has aromas of fresh and baked apple, honey and dried fruit.
French fries topped with fresh cheese curds that squeak between your teeth, and a hot gravy. It originated in roadside eateries in rural Quebec in the late 1950s and became one of the province’s culinary symbols.
Buttery shortcrust pastry pie filled with saskatoon berries, small purple prairie fruits similar to blueberries with an almond-like flavor. It’s a traditional pie from Saskatchewan.
Salted beef cooked with cabbage, potato, carrot and rutabaga, served with pea pudding and gravy. It is the traditional Sunday dinner in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Pieces of bread dough fried in pork lard until golden, served hot with molasses. They are the traditional breakfast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Sweet roll of fried dough, similar to a flattened cinnamon bun, covered with a pink red-fruit glaze. It’s the sweet most associated with Thunder Bay, in northern Ontario.
Sandwich of cured, unsmoked pork loin, coated in cornmeal, grilled and served hot on a soft roll, usually with mustard. Linked to Toronto’s pork history, it was declared the city’s signature dish in 2016.
Beef hamburger topped with a chili-style meat sauce, long-sliced dill pickles, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and mustard. It’s the drive-in sandwich of Winnipeg.
Tall angel food-style sponge cake made with egg whites and pecan halves, filled and covered with whipped cream and drizzled with caramel sauce. It’s a celebratory dessert associated with Winnipeg.
