In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mostly on the run, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
A well-known sausage maker decided to “sausage” what had never before been “sausageed”: the famous baked beans from Binerie Mont-Royal, one of the last restaurants, if not the very last, in Montreal, in offer a typically French-Canadian menu from the 1930s-1940s.
My soles mark a thin layer of flour which covers the staircase where Jocelyne, the owner of La Binerie, in Saint-Denis, climbs with the ingredients for her tourtières and pâtés, which she has been producing continuously for several weeks.
For over 90 years, La Binerie has served small breakfast sausages, as well as bines.
For the first time in its history, artisanal sausages will be produced WITH the typical bines of the restaurant that inspired Yves Beauchemin’s novel The Tomcat.
They will be sold throughout Quebec by the company Ils en fument du bon.
Equipped with his mechanical stuffer and three kilos of minced pork shoulder, sausage maker Félipé St-Laurent, founder of the sausage factory, came to La Binerie to design his recipe alongside the owners.
“I want to make a sausage that conveys the taste of La Binerie, and the most recognizable thing about this restaurant is its baked beans… which even gave it its name!” explains Mr. St-Laurent.
Not candy
How to describe the bins of La Binerie?
They do without syrup and are good on their own.
Each batch cooks for nine hours (and owner Philippe starts them at 3 a.m.).
They are a little salty and rather firm.
We are far from the ultra-friable and almost liquid canned beans or the maple baked beans which are thought to be sweets.
“I want to eat bines, not candy,” my father said,” says Philippe.
The maple syrup which, in the initial plan, was to sweeten the sausage is abandoned. It would have masked the taste and it would have been like a “sugar shack”.
Given the relative firmness of Binerie-style baked beans, they remain intact while the sausage maker mixes them with his ground pork shoulder.
The relatively firm bones do not crush in the sausage mixture.
Louis-Philippe Messier
Even though we waited until La Binerie closed to carry out this culinary laboratory, there is regularly someone knocking on the window to ask to buy something.
When they recognize a regular, the owners open the door and sell them pâtés or bines.
“We close the restaurant in the middle of the afternoon on Wednesdays because that allows us to concentrate on production,” explains Jocelyne.
Comforting gluttony
Visibly delighted to see their flagship product combined with the sausage medium, Philippe and Jocelne have fun turning the portions in the pork casing trying to respect the 124 g format, but she makes them too big and he too small.
Philippe Brunet and Jocelyne Gingras try rolling sausages… he too small, they too big.
Louis-Philippe Messier
When it comes out of the oven, it’s time to taste it. My professional demeanor is deserting me. I ended up eating probably the equivalent of four whole sausages. I find the taste of bines there, but more comforting, because embedded in a tender, satisfying meat.
The first IFB/Binerie Mont-Royal sausages.
Louis-Philippe Messier
“I had imagined sweeter bines and I had planned the salt accordingly, but since we didn’t add any syrup, I would say that it’s a little too salty!” judge Mr. St-Laurent… who left La Binerie ordering no less than 60 kilos of baked beans for the day after tomorrow.
He anticipates that his Binerie sausages will arrive in his Ils en fument du bon stores on Wednesday, December 27.
“It’s a holiday special, but if it’s very successful, we could consider a more regular collaboration.”
Louis-Philippe Messier