Quick links
touton
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
Spelling variants:toutan, touten, toutin, towtent
1n. — Newfoundland, Food
a piece of bread dough that has been fried in fat (see Images 1 and 2).
Type: 5. Frequency — According to Clarke (2010b: 114), touton is a term native to Newfoundland, though its origin is unknown. As forms are listed in DAE that antedate Newfoundland evidence by several decades, we treat touton as Canadian by virtue of frequency. It is often hailed as one of the province's classic, must-try dishes in the travel sections of newspapers or guidebooks (see the 2009 quotation). Toutons can be compared to other North American varieties of fried bread, like dough cakes or doughnuts (Kirwin 2006: 28). "Damperdog" is another Newfoundland word for the same dish. Internet data shows that touton is most frequent in Canada, with results from other countries deriving from travel guides to Newfoundland (see Chart 1).
See also COD-2, s.v. "touton", which is marked "Cdn (Nfld)", DNE, s.v. "toutin".
See also COD-2, s.v. "touton", which is marked "Cdn (Nfld)", DNE, s.v. "toutin".
Quotations
1907
There was a strong smell of pork-fat up the "darmal" whenever the boat hove round, and all three were ready with an appetite to do justice to the toutins. The sails had scarcely dropped on deck, when Pat put his head through the "scuttle" and sang out, "Mug up."
1915
The old captain could not eat hard bread, so we would have toutons for breakfast, sweet pudding for dinner and toutons again for supper, and I got so fat, the Captain was afriad that I would become blind.
1984
The bread was leavened with home-grown hops, rather than yeast cakes and baked daily. It was but one of the half-dozen or so bread products produced by industrious housewives on a regular basis, such as buns, pork cakes, toutons, sweet bread and sour-milk buns.
2009
Stop for brunch or lunch in the airy cafe -- try toutons, Newfoundlanders' fried dough version of pancakes, or mussels steamed in a sauce of the local hooch, Screech.
2015
From Jigg's Dinner to lobster to bakeapples, Laura Spiller has made a point to sample signature Newfoundland fare in the eight months she's lived in St. John's. But it was the suggestion she try toutons that inspired an event celebrating diversity.
More than a just a tasty meal, Ms. Spiller recognized that the humble touton could be a good introduction to Newfoundland culture for students from around the globe. "It's fried bread dough... how can that be a bad thing?" said the Faculty of Business Administration student, originally from the United States. [...] Ms. Spiller organized the Rocking Toutons event earlier this summer.
2n. — Newfoundland, Food, rare
a bun made with flour, molasses, and pieces of pork.
Type: 5. Frequency — See meaning 1.
Quotations
1918
Of the other words to me of unknown origin I note the following: -- [...] towtents, pork cakes made of pork chopped fine and mixed with flour.
1946
I runned back to the house and went upstairs and lid down on the bed trying to keep from bustin out bawlin again. When Ma called me to supper I come down to the table but dident have much stummick, pork toutens or no.
1971
Trappers and Hunters, in years gone by, always carried pork buns for emergency rations. These they called "PORK TOUTENS". Toutens included enough pork and molasses to keep them from freezing and, according to the trappers, were suitable and adequate for quick 'boil-ups' on long trips.
References
- Clarke (2010b)
- COD-2
- Kirwin (2006)
- DNE
- DAE
Images
Image 1: Deep-fried toutons with molasses. Photo: B. Ford
Image 2: Homemade pan-fried toutons. Photo: B. Ford
