Sea Room
Nana's Chiard
Chiard (pronounced "shaw") also called
Pâte à la Râpure, is one of
the best Acadian dishes. Nana's
recipe comes from Prince Edward Island.
In other parts of Acadia, Chiard is more
like a stew.
Nana's recipe is like an enormous baked hash brown with
pork.
When Nana made it for big family
parties, she used 50 Lbs. of potatoes,
baking it in a deep-sided roasting
pan 18x12x4.
The Recipe below has been cut down to feed 4 people.
You still need
a deep loaf pan for the Chiard to turn out best.
Chiard or Râpure
Serves 4
Preheat oven to 350°F
I. Utensils needed
-Potato
peeler
-ACME safety grater (Nana called it a "potato scraper")
The Acme grates potatoes much finer than an ordinary grater will. Before
the scraper, Nana's family punched nail holes in a tin can and used that
to grate the potatoes. After
Nana's time, some
people use a food processor, but this gives a grainier texture than
with the Acme. ((Let us know
if you're looking for one.)
-2 Large bowls (large enough to soak 5 Lbs. of potatoes)
-Colander
-Sauce pan (large enough to hold 1+ Lbs. potatoes)
-Deep loaf pan: 10x5x3
II. Ingredients
- 5 Lbs. firm boiling potatoes
- 1/3 Lb. salt pork
- 1 Lb. pork chops with bones
- Salt
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder
- Shortening
III. Preparation & Cooking
- Fill one bowl with water.
- Fill sauce pan with water, set on high to boil.
- Peel potatoes.
- Take 1/4 of the peeled potatoes, quarter them and put them
into the boiling water.
- Boil those potatoes until soft.
- Place remaining peeled potatoes whole in the bowl of water as you
peel them.
- Cut pork off bones, leaving some
meat on & saving the bones.
- Dice pork and salt pork into about 3/4" squares, mix them together
&
put aside.
- Grate (scrape) the soaking potatoes into the
2nd large bowl.
- Put the potato ends left from grating into food processor & process
until they have a consistency similar to the grated potatoes.
- Add the processed potatoes to the grated potatoes.
- Drain grated potatoes in colander, over the emptied water bowl.
- Press grated potatoes lightly to get some of the starchy water out
(not too dry).
- Discard the starch left in the bowl down the toilet or into the yard. Don't put it
down your kitchen drain!
- When boiling potatoes are soft,
drain most of the water and mash the
potatoes.
- Put mashed potatoes into a large bowl with the drained grated
potatoes.
- Mix the two types of potatoes together well with a fork.
- Add salt to taste.
- Add baking powder.
- Mix salt and baking powder well into the potatoes.
- Grease the loaf pan liberally with shortening.
- Spread half of the potato mixture into the loaf pan.
- Sprinkle the pork/salt pork mixture evenly over the potatoes in the
pan.
- Spread the remaining potatoes over the pork layer.
- Place the pork chop bones on top of the potatoes.
- Bake in 350°F oven for 1 1/2 hours.
Start testing the mixture. Stick
a fork into the middle of the potatoes and taste to see whether they
are completely cooked. Different potatoes take different
amounts of
baking time.
- When potatoes are cooked, the top should be nicely browned.
- Slice loaf and serve, giving the
bones to the lucky people.
Note, in Acadian households, this is the whole meal.
(Good reheated. Melt some
cheddar cheese on top.)
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Nana's recipe index.
Send your
questions or comments about the recipe to 
.