Heh, I was talking to my wife about it today, and it seems that yucca fries could hold up to the wetness of chili or gravy. I may have to try that soon.
Pastrami chili cheese fries.
As a Canadian, I can say it’s not something I would worship, but it’s nice to have from time to time. But I would stick to the basic version: fries, gravy sauce, and cheese curds. Nothing else. And I wouldn’t eat it often. It’s tasty, but can be heavy on the stomach.
Had it twice, seven years apart, once in QC and once in Montreal. Both times with our hosts who took us to a neighborhood “family” restaurant.
Seems like in each case it was something you did as part of the Visit Canada experience. Not something they really wanted to do, or would do regularly.
We didn’t like it either time, and indeed both times it was hot and fresh and the whole table shared it. Just too much going on.
Maybe it’s one of those tastes that you have acquired as a young adult or kid, e.g. root beer. We grew up on “disco fries” as our local diners, so poutine was a natural transition for me. Although to be honest, I cannot understand how someone doesn’t at least like the concept. Yes, if the quality of any of the ingredients is off; e.g. fries too soft or fat, flavorless or poor textures gravy, curds too hard or old, then it can’t be salvaged. I have no problem making poutine the only thing I eat for a dinner. It definitely can be a main course for me, although it’s usually a side most of the time.
This. Except I’ve had poutine once or twice, hot and fresh from a food truck in Toronto. And once at a cafeteria skiing. I’ve also tried a couple of a friend’s cheesy fries. I don’t think I’ve had chili fries, but I won’t unless it’s hard to avoid.
The poutine wasn’t horrible, but it was so much less than the sum of its parts. After the first 2 or 3 fries, it’s all soggy. And fries don’t need gravy. And gravy is better on meat, or rice. And cheese curds are best as a salty snack. So I just don’t think it’s for me.
Yeah, I mean, it’s just potatoes, gravy, and cheese, not a crazy or even really unusual combination, and none of those flavors clash. If anything, they’re all pretty middle-of-the-road. They just get heavy and tiresome real quick. I think I like the chili fries concept a little better, with a bit more protein in them. I don’t mind as much if the fries get mushy there, but it’s still a little goes a long way.
In my opinion, most sauces are over-used in cooking. I like a bit of sauce to add flavor, but the food shouldn’t be drenched most of the time*. Particularly with something like fries, which are normally supposed to be crisp. A side of gravy that I can dunk one end of the fry in is good, but just pouring a gallon of gravy over everything? No.
*About the only exception to this is ribs, and even there, I usually prefer a bit less than most people.
See, for me this is one of the biggest offenders of over-saucing. For barbecue ribs, it’s usually “sauce on the side” for me. I want to taste the smoked meat, not a pile of gloppy sauce. If sauced, very sparingly. Ribs should never swim in sauce (for me, and a lot of barbecuers for that matter.)
Heh. I guess i almost never eat ribs, and read that as rib steak/roast with gravy, not BBQ ribs with sauce. In my defense, my household rarely eats pork and my husband doesn’t like fatty cuts. So i don’t cook ribs except when attached to a lot of meat, like a rib steak or rack of lamb.
I’m also on the “less sauce” side with BBQ ribs, and often scrape off the gloppy sauce before eating ribs, when i do eat them.
I think my fondness for poutine is, in part, because I like soggy / undercooked fries. Yellow rather than golden-brown. Crispy fries are a pass, and I simply won’t eat fries at places that serve the coated ones (guaranteed crispy texture! But at the expense of potato taste). British fish-and-chips fries are perfect, and I don’t know why they are so rare in North America. They’d make great poutine.
But if you unaccountably like fries the way most people do, I can see where that would be an issue.
Preach it, brother, and ditto for brisket.
However, for a lot of haute cuisine the sauce is the point. That’s why there were so many veal with [sauce] dishes. Veal doesn’t taste like much of anything so the sauce is the star.
Gravy, however is not a sauce in this sense and fried potatoes are not veal.
When poutine is fresh, and made with good ingredients, it’s heavenly.
We had some in Epcot in le Cellier, and it was heavenly.
I have also had “normal poutine” and it is okay.
Same with Chili-Cheese fries.