I kept seeing the bottle every time I opened my mother's spice cabinet. "Montreal Steak Seasoning," the label read. As if that meant something very specific. And I just couldn't figure it out. Was Montreal famous for its steaks? Does the sheer mention of a Francophone city, even one that's famous for its food, guarantee a spice blend of exceptional deliciousness? How did I miss the craze?

Soon, I started noticing Montreal Steak Seasoning everywhere. In the supermarket spice aisle. In countless cooks' cabinets. Online, the reviews couldn't have been more frenzied. Montreal Steak Seasoning was the #1 most popular "meat seasoning" on Amazon. It somehow captured the #2 and #3 slots, too.

Clearly, America is hungry for steak that tastes like Canada. But why? McCormick, a popular producer of the stuff, didn't really clear things up with the origin story on its website:

"It comes from a place of narrow alleyways and cobblestone streets lined with artists, jewelry makers, street performers, fruit and flower stands. The place is Old Montreal. Where centuries-old fieldstone homes and hotels live on as quaint bistros and fine restaurants. And where, one day, thick steaks were served with a rousing new combination of seasonings that quickly became a huge favorite with steak lovers from near and far."

This sounded more like a bland bedtime story than anything else. In fact, it seemed doubtful that the stuff even came from Montreal at all. Just who created this "rousing new combination of spices"? A quick taste of the blend confused things further. Instead of a suave, French-style blend of, say, thyme, shallots, and bay leaf, Montreal Steak Seasoning was a gutsy, brash blend of dried garlic, mustard seeds, cracked coriander, chile flakes, and dill seeds. It certainly didn't taste French.

Instead, it tasted...familiar. Almost like I'd tasted that flavor somewhere before, in a basement-level restaurant with a schmaltzy Bar Mitzvah-style soundtrack. There had to be more to this story than this spice-company propaganda, I thought.

Montreal Steak Seasoning, performing its true function. Photo courtesy of Schwartz's Hebrew Delicatessan

A quick search revealed a Montreal Gazette article that laid out the truth. The story of Montreal Steak Seasoning had nothing to do with cobblestone streets, fruit stands, or fieldstone homes. The faceless person that decided to "serve" thick steaks with the spice mix was actually a man named "The Shadow." Morris "The Shadow" Sherman, to be exact. He was a broilerman who worked at Schwartz's, a legendary Montreal restaurant devoted to the Canadian cousin of pastrami called smoked meat. The famously pungent spice blend was used to cure the beef brisket before it was smoked and steamed. One day, Sherman sprinkled some of that smoked-meat blend over the liver he was broiling for his lunch. Customers clamored for the same spices on their steaks, and the Canadian Steak Invasion was underway.