So which would you rather have: poutine, or poteen?
Please, please, please, get it right. True poutine is made of cheese curds, with a brown gravy on top. If there has been some ordinary melty cheese just chucked on top, you’re being had.
The best poutine comes out of a chipwagon on the street. You know it’ll be really good if the night before you see the chipwagon owner out on the street, hosing and scrubbing down a huge sack of potatoes that will subsequently be chopped and fried and eaten as poutine base the following day. It can be a hearty snack, or a meal in itself. If one cannot hie oneself immediately to a slightly shady chipwagon, good substitutes can often be found in downscale bars and diners. For some reason, I’ve found that the higher in price and classiness one goes, the worse the poutine gets. If it has like, four different cheeses involved? Skip it.
There is almost nothing better than sharing poutine with a friend on a cold day. The fries should be hearty steak-cut fries, the better to hoist with fingers or fork. They should be piping hot on the inside and crispy on the outside. The gravy should be hot and fresh, steam rising off of it. The cheese curds should be just beginning to melt, so when you spear a fry or pick one up, the gravy drips off it and the melting cheese curds leave long strings attaching themselves to the plate. For best results, eat huddled with a friend standing on the street just out of the window and lick your fingers clean of gravy and salt before replacing your mittens. If you’re in a bar, pair poutine with an ice-cold pint of your favourite beer–I’ll have a pint of Keith’s if you’re buying.
Thus can a reasonable approximation of heaven be obtained.
This post nearly made me cry, it’s just that beautiful!
Dammit, now I’m hungry! I suddenly feel the tug of La Banquise…it’s just a short walk across the park…
I’m not a big fan of brown gravy. I’ve had poutine and I thought it was fine. I wonder what it would be like with white sausage gravy like bisquets and gravy.
I hate poutine with a passion. I think it’s one of the grossest combinations ever dreamed up.
Does that make me a bad Canadian-- or worse, a bad Québécoise?
Jesus H. Christ! You’re lucky you lived to tell the tale! I had BC Ferries gravy recently and it tasted like it had been stirred with a freshly used penis. The cheese is probably scrapings off the bottom of the boat.
In Nanaimo, your best bet would either be Pirate Chips (greasy spoon type place- their specialty aside from poutine is the fried chocolate bar) or New York Fries at Woodgrove mall. Pass by all others, particularly BC Ferries!
Tried it only the once - in the Canoe brewpub in Victoria, Vancouver Island. Wonderful stuff.
Yes it does, but don’t worry about it - being a bad Canadian is part of being Canadian.
Yikes, all these Nanaimo people - I feel like you’re closing in on me! I generally go for the New York Fries poutine myself - avoid the KFC poutine.
It seems like there might be some misunderstanding about poutine, though - it isn’t fancy cuisine, it’s just fast food. I don’t think upscale places would have it at all. If they do, it would be like gourmet cheeseburgers; not the real thing.
Okay, I know this is an old thread but I have a question. I want to try poutine but there are two problems: I’m not close to Canada and I have Celiac Disease (no gluten).
At home, if I took fries, covered them with a mushroom gravy (gluten free, made with cornstarch) and topped it with feta cheese crumbles (no curds in the local stores) would it even be close to poutine? Would another, widely available cheese help?
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before, but here in NJ we have their cousin, disco fries. For me it’s all about the gravy - bad gravy will make it very disappointing.
Feta would not be similar to curds. (Although I love feta and it would be interesting to try it.)
The closest you could approximate would be mozzarella.
Trader Joe’s has cheese curds. Personally I think they taste like rubber and would substitute a good sharp cheddar instead.
I agree. Poutine is served hot and the heat from the fries and gravy makes the curds a bit melty. Yum! I don’t think feta would have the same effect. I know I’ve seen small, marble sized, balls of mozzarella. Those would be a good choice.
Yeah, I would get mozzarella pearls if I wanted to make it and didn’t have curds available.
Thanks - there is a trader joes nearby. If I can’t get curds there I’ll try mozzarella. My Saturday dinner is planned.
I’d like to try it, and I bet somewhere around here I could get it.
I’ll have to look. Or take a couple hour drive north…
Trader Joe’s sells frozen poutine! I have a box in my freezer, but haven’t tried it yet. It consists of separate pouches of fries, gravy, and cheese curds, with instructions for heating & assembling.
Has anyone tried it? I’d love to know if what I’m about to experience is anywhere near the bliss that poutine has been described as.
Poutine is OK. It’s not the ambrosia that some people make it out to be. I like it just fine, but I also like a lot of other simple dishes just fine. I mean it’s only fries, gravy and stringy melted cheese after all.
I was just about to ask about TJ’s Frozen Poutine. I think I’ll run down tomorrow and pick up a package. It seems like an item that might get discontinued pretty quickly…especially if it turns out that I like the stuff.