Poutine

The Great Canadian Gift to Cuisine

[grelmar]

In the copyright case thread there's been a sidebar on (IMHO) the greatest gift Canada has given to international cuisine.

We are, of course, talking about Poutine.

What's Poutine, you ask? Quite simply, in its traditional form, its french fries, smothered in cheese curds, with a few ladels of good thick gravy (usually chicken gravy, though beef gravy is also acceptable).

I bet you're all saying, "My gosh, I can almost HEAR my arteries hardening just at the thought of it." Well, then, you're just not eating it right.

To properly enjoy poutine, it should be had in a low-ceiling pub (the kind with poor ventilation, so the ciggy smoke just hangs in a solid cloud from hip level up), and is best complimented with a heavy ale or lager with an alcohol content of 7 - 9%

Now you can DEFINITELY hear your arteries hardening at the thought of it.

So, to turn this into a thread, I'm just curious if those of you outside the Great White North have heard of and/or tried poutine in your area. I know its available in Soeul, Korea, and in some of the more Cajun areas of Louisianna.

[encyclo]

Try [en.wikipedia.org...] for more information (and a photo!). The word "Poutine" translates as "a mess" in English. Note also that the cheese curds are usually referred to as "crottes de fromage" (cheese turds). Truly haute cuisine...! My local casse-croute 20 metres from my front door does some of the best poutine ever, but it is only open in the summer - and the snow still hasn't melted here, so I've still got a bit of a wait!

Last week the local paper here suggested that, in order to market poutine to the French, it should be described as un dauphinois gratiné nappé d'un coulis camaïeu. Very good with a glass of Beaujolais...

[pmac]

Nothing, and I mean nothng, beats a good poutine after a night out.

[Josefu]

Well, Poutine has a great secondary use: plugging volcanoes. That and Jack Lord's hair : )

Dauphinois? What is there 'dauphinois' about poutine? Dauphinois is in the creme - and the completeted recipe is much like scalloped potatoes : P Perhaps "Pommes chasseur au sauce fromagère" or something... 'crottes de fromage" LOL

[edit_g]

Nothing, and I mean nothng, beats a good poutine after a night out.

Not even a kebab? ;)

[TheDoctor]

Nothing, and I mean nothng, beats a good poutine after a night out.

What about this [webmasterworld.com]?

[Sinner_G]

... if those of you outside the Great White North have heard of and/or tried poutine in your area

Only Poutine I had ever heard of (before reading that copyright thread) is president of Russia and be sure I haven't tried him (and never will).

As far as the Canuck version goes, the description sounds real good, but the pic on Wikipedia is not that very engaging.

[HelenDev]

So if I want to try Poutine at home, what kind of cheese should I use?

And should the chips be fat chips or those salty skinny things that you Americans and Canadians call fries?

[pmac]

I like my poutine with hand cut medium size fries topped with St. Albert cheese curds [curds.com]

[Macguru]

Hi HelenDev,

Cheese curds is basically cheddar that has not been molded yet. It's very popular here, morning fresh and never refrigerated.

The french fries we use around here are very fat and do not ressemble in any way what they serve at McDo. They ressemble Belgian fries.

[HelenDev]

St. Albert cheese curds

That sounds filthy! Sorry, perhaps it's just me... ;)

I'm not sure we have anything like this in the UK, I've never seen 'cheese curds' in the supermarket - what would be the equivalent?

[Herenvardo]

Nothing, and I mean nothng, beats a good poutine after a night out.

I have not tried poutine, so I can't judge, but I'll tell you a recipe that could be a good rival ;):
Potion of Ressurrection

Ingredients (for 5 people):
- 1 litter of milk
- some coffee
- 60g of sugar
- 120g of soluble chocolate (minimum!;))
How to do it:
1) Prepare the coffee the way wou like it (soluble, express, etc).
2) Mix all teh sugar and the chocolate in a glass(250cc). Add some milk to fill the glass and mix all until it is homogeneus.
3) Warm up the remaining milk (5' in a 850W microwave)
4) Mix the hot milk with the coffee and the "chocolate paste" made on step 2. Keep moving it with a spoon until the entire liquid has the same color. Serve it in five 250cc glasses and drink it. In 15' ~ 20' you'll feel as good as when the night began ;)

Greetings,
Herenvardö the Alchemist

PS: Important note: do not consume alcoholic drinks during the next hour after taking this potion. Undetermined chemic reactions migth occur in the stomach.

[edited by: Herenvardo at 3:45 pm (utc) on April 7, 2004]

[Macguru]

>>what would be the equivalent?

Mild cheddar.

[Fiver]

One thing I will miss about Canada, is the fact that there are five places I could get a decent poutine within five walking minutes of my apartment.

but damn, that stuff'll kill ya.

[Macguru]

I know of about 50 variants of the basic recipe. The most popular is Italian Poutine where the gravy is replaced with Bolognese spaghetti sauce.

Another one is with shrimps:
Fries, shrimps, cheese curds and bechamel sauce to replace the brown gravy.

>>but damn, that stuff'll kill ya.

I agree. It the worst food one can imagine. I still have some about once a year. It's a sin.

<off topic>
Seems like one of our good cheeses needs a little SEO [google.com].
</off topic>

[Chndru]

Never had it. It looks very good here [images.google.com]

[grelmar]

You gotta remember, Poutine is one of those cases where "joie de vivre" outweights thge importance of "l'endurence de la vie."

[fashezee]

Poutine

Whats this? Did someone say poutine!?

Well folks, for those you like a good poutine, you better make your way to Montreal cause the poutines
here are to die for, it's tru!

Maybe I can convince BT to through the next webmasterworld conference here based on this fact!

[jatar_k]

Strangely I can get an awesome poutine here in vancouver at a place called fritz a couple blocks from my office. Though it took me forever to find a place.

mmmmmmmmmmmm.........poutine

could be the greatest invention of all time

[Fiver]

Maybe I can convince BT to through the next webmasterworld conference here based on this fact!

I think Montreal would be the perfect place for a WebmasterWorld pub con. It's one of the nicest cities in North America.

Then again, I don't know if I can picture 300 webmasters with laptops looking for a wireless connection at tam tams... I kind of like to leave the digital brain behind when I'm in Montreal. It's just too relaxing a spot.