Salamanders

Salamanders cooks “from scratch”. We have been told that our kitchen is the “toughest to work in” because all our dishes are prepared “from scratch”. To create a dish from scratch is defined as making it without any ingredients or materials prepared ahead of time; but what does this mean, practically speaking? Some restaurants cook “in a bag”, meaning that they get their materials prepared elsewhere and they either drop it in the deep fryer or stick it in the microwave. There are literally thousands of restaurants across Canada serving the same dishes that were prepared elsewhere. Restaurants go out of their way to give these pre-cooked meals sexy names,…

Being of Acadian descent, our family is very interested in all things related to our ancestry and our people. I’m sure you remember reading that the Acadians were folks who came over from France and settled in what is now known as Nova Scotia, in the general vicinity of the Gaspereau Valley. They were kicked out in 1755 by the British who demanded that the population swear allegiance to the English King. The Acadians refused; but, then again, they also had refused to swear allegiance to the French King. So, as made famous in Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the Acadians were deported from their homes.…

Salamanders of Kemptville prides itself in its 5C cooking: Cajun, Creole and Low Country Cooking with a Canadian Twist. This results from our family’s history and travels over the years. First of all, our Cormier name and family originated in Acadia, the 18th century French colony established just North of Halifax, Nova Scotia. So, Salamanders has a number of Acadian-inspired family dishes, which tend to be more French Canadian. Meanwhile, of course, the Acadians were expelled from Nova Scotia in 1755 and some 165 families ended up in the French colony of Louisiana. Over time, Acadians became Cajuns, with typical dishes from that region, involving a fair amount of fish…