I may be doing a road trip to Quebec, and I want to try some poutine while I’m there. From the pictures on Wikipedia, it looks like there’re enough fat and calories for a complete meal (or two). Do people normally eat that as a main course or just as a snack? The article claims that it can be served either way. I want to confirm that this is correct? It seems a little weird to serve only fries as a main course; but OTOH, this is more than just fries. Will I look like an idiot if I just order a poutine and nothing else for lunch? Also, is this something that you can eat at any time, or is this something that is traditionally served only at certain time of the day? And finally, what would be a good place if I want to try it? Thanks, and I hope I won’t get a heart attack.
When I’ve had it (admittedly not in Quebec but as close as you can get to the real stuff in Alberta…) it’s been as a side with my burger or donair or whatever. You can easily eat it by itself as a snack, and I really don’t think anyone would blink at that.
There’s no poutine etiquette for ordering at any time of day, though you might get a blink if you ordered it for breakfast IMO.
I’m sure some of the Quebec dopers will be around to tell you where a good place to order it is.
Poutine can be had at any time, as a side or a meal. You don’t specify where in Québec you’ll be visiting, but if it’s in Montreal then I recommend La Banquise (literally any time - it’s open 24/7). We can also get a fantastic poutine from our local pizza place, whose name I forget but my husband has the number in his cell phone! La Belle Province, Lafleur, or pretty much any other greasy spoon will likely have a decent poutine as well.
Next week is my office’s poutine festival…which is really just us heading out for poutine for lunch, but it sounds more fun if you call it a festival.
For my Twin Cities comrades, you can get poutine that has been approved as good by my Canadian friends at Duplex on Hennepin in Uptown. Highly recommended- it’s fabulous as, in my opinion, bar food with beers and cigarettes on the porch. Bliss.
Another good place to go for poutine is – believe it or not – the lunch counter at Costco.
Four bucks gets you a fantastic order of poutine, and for another three bucks you can get a huge hotdog and a large Coke.
For $7, more or less, you’ll leave stuffed.
Thanks for the responses! I’m currently thinking about just stopping by Montreal and Quebec City, but I could venture somewhere else if there’s time or the mood strikes.
I did a lot of research about where to get poutine before my trip to Montreal two years ago and I had it at a couple of places. The best by far was at La Banquise. It was better than NJ’s best disco fries.
There’s no real poutine etiquette. They come in various sizes and can be a meal on its own. I find a small filling. There’s some tasty variations as well. Italian poutine, smoke meat etc.
A real poutine is cheese curds and not shredded cheese. It comes down to that and a good gravy.
Sometimes I’ll throw ketchup on it when I’m nearly done to give it a kick.
If you’re going to Québec you should no problem in getting the real one. Considering it was created there. Actually the cook who created the poutine passed away not that long ago.
Call me a purist (or a snob), but I think the best poutines are found in the Eastern Townships or the Bois-Francs area.
I really have to find authentic poutine some time. I’ve made it myself, not having anywhere to buy it around here, but I’ve no clue how close I came.
Poutine MUST have cheese curds. Shredded cheese is an inferior and pathetic copy of this wonderful nirvana of food. Personally, I prefer a nice hearty steak fry as the base–the better to support the melty curds and gravy. I also prefer a nice thick beef gravy, as opposed to a lighter turkey gravy, both in flavour and texture.
La Banquise is quite good, but as a rule, the best poutine I’ve ever had usually comes from some shady chipwagon on the street.
Okay, stupid question about Poutine:
What are cheese curds? Is it like cottage cheese? I’ve never seen them for sale as such (in Los Angeles…)
Also, how do you pronounce it? From reading it, it looks like it should be pronounced po-TEEN.
Not like cottage cheese; there’s no liquid. Curds are small bite-sized pieces of cheese with a “squeeky” type of texture. The Wikiarticle does a good job explaining.
In Quebec and Eastern Ontario we say poo-TIN. In most of the rest of Canada they say poo-TEEN.
Quebecers make good use of the voiceless alveolar affricate*, and so the second syllable tends to come out more as “tsin” or “tzin”. So “poo-tzin” is a little closer to how the locals pronounce it, though saying it as Leaffan described is also commonly heard and perfectly acceptable.
Cheese curds: I was on the phone with my friend who lives in the UK last night, and my husband came home and brought me a beer and a bowl of curd cheese (yes, he is the most amazing man in the world!). I kept making her jealous by deliberately squeaking them near the phone! Love curd cheese!
*don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about?
I was once engaged to a French Canadian and she pronounced it the same way as this sound file. IIRC, that’s the way they pronounced it at La Banquise.
ETA: mnemosyne beat me to it.
poo-tin is exactly how it supposed to sound in french. As Leaffan stated anglophones usually pronounced it poo-teen.
But the proper pronounciation is poo-tin. Pou-Tine, the e is silent in french.
:smack: I drove through Wisconsin last week (literally - Superior to Beloit) and forgot to pick up some curds. I had some good Poutine in Ontario just before that, although it was made with shredded cheese. But beggars can’t be choosers – I won’t subject you to a description of the travesty I got at the only establishment in Nashville that has poutine on the menu.
It sounds like what happens if you order anything “Cajun” very far outside Louisiana, Skammer. shudder
Dammit, now I’m craving crawfish.
IME a popular and fun time of day/occasion to eat poutine is after 1:00 a.m., after a booze or six.