Fries, Cheese Curds, Gravy, Pork Meatloaf, Fresh Herbs
Served at Forager Brewing
1005 6th Street NW
Rochester Minnesota
Poutine is a dish, originating from Quebec the predominantly French-speaking province of Canada, made with French fries and cheese curds topped with a light brown gravy. This fast-food dish is typically found across Canada and in some places in the northern United States. In Canada it is sold in small "greasy spoon" type diners (commonly known as cantines or casse-croûtes in Quebec) and pubs, as well as by roadside chip wagons (commonly known as cabanes à patates, literally "potato shacks") and in hockey arenas.
National and international chains such as Smoke's Poutinerie, New York Fries, McDonald's, Wendy's, A&W, KFC, Burger King, Harvey's and Wahlburgers restaurants also sell mass-market poutine in Canada (although not always country-wide).
The dish is thought to have originated in rural Quebec in the late 1950s, and several provincial communities claim to be the birthplace of poutine, including Drummondville (by Jean-Paul Roy in 1964) Princeville and Victoriaville.
One often-cited tale is that of Warwick restaurateur Fernand Lachance of Le Café Ideal, who is said in 1957 to have exclaimed, "ça va faire une maudite poutine!" ("It will make a damn mess!") when asked by restaurant regular Eddy Lainesse to put a handful of cheese curds on some french fries, hence the name.[The sauce was allegedly added later, to keep the fries warm longer. Over time, the dish's popularity spread across the province (and later throughout Canada), being served in small-town restaurants and bars, as well as becoming quite popular in ski resorts and sports arenas.
The Dictionnaire historique du français québécois lists 15 different meanings of poutine in Quebec and Acadian French, most of which are for kinds of food; the word poutine in the meaning "fries with cheese and gravy" is dated to 1982.
Other senses of the word have been in use at least since 1810. While the exact provenance of the word "poutine" is uncertain, some attribute it to the English word pudding.
Among its various culinary senses, that of "a dessert made from flour or bread crumbs" most clearly shows this influence; the word pouding, borrowed from the English pudding, is in fact a synonym in this sense. The pejorative meaning "fat person" of poutine (used especially in speaking of a woman) is believed to derive from the English pudding "a person or thing resembling a pudding" or "stout, thick-set person".
In other meanings of poutine, the existence of a relation to the English word pudding is uncertain. One of these additional meanings — the one from which the name of the dish with fries is thought to derive — is "unappetizing mixture of various foods, usually leftovers". This sense may also have given rise to the meaning "complicated business, complex organization; set of operations whose management is difficult or problematic".
The Dictionnaire historique mentions the possibility that the form poutine is simply a gallicization of the word pudding. However, it considers it more likely that it was inherited from regional languages spoken in France, and that some of its meanings resulted from the later influence of the similar-sounding English word pudding. It cites the Provençal forms poutingo "bad stew" and poutité "hodgepodge" or "crushed fruit or foods"; poutringo "mixture of various things" in Languedocien; and poutringue, potringa "bad stew" in Franche-Comté as possibly related to poutine. The meaning "fries with cheese and gravy" of poutine is among those held as probably unrelated to pudding provided the latter view is correct.
La Banquise in Montreal serves twenty-five different varieties of poutine. In the basic recipe for poutine, French fries are covered with fresh cheese curds, and topped with brown gravy.In a traditional Quebec poutine.
French fries: Usually of medium thickness, and fried (sometimes twice) such that the inside stays soft, while the outside is crispy.
Cheese curds: Fresh cheese curds are used to give the desired texture. The curd size may vary but is usually slightly smaller than bite-sized. Poutine cheese curds are different from regular ones in that they are not produced by cheddaring (weighting and pressing to squeeze out whey and to firm them). Instead, poutine's "squeaky" cheese curds are cooked, then allowed to cure to develop tanginess.
Brown gravy: Traditionally a light and thin chicken, veal, or turkey gravy, somewhat salty and mildly spiced with a hint of pepper, or a sauce brune which is a combination of beef and chicken stock, a variant originating in Quebec. The gravy should be substantial, but still thin enough to easily filter down into the mass of fries and cheese curds.]These sauces typically also contain vinegar or a sour flavouring to balance the richness of the cheese and fries. Traditional poutine sauces (mélange à sauce poutine) are sold in Quebec, Ontario, and Maritime grocery stores in jars or cans and in powdered mix packets; some grocery chains like Sobeys even offer their own house brand versions. Many places also offer vegetarian gravy as an option to cater to vegetarians.
Heavy beef- or pork-based brown gravies are rarely used. To maintain the texture of the fries, the cheese curd and gravy are added immediately prior to serving the dish. The hot gravy is usually poured over the room-temperature cheese curds, so that the cheese is warmed without completely melting. It is important to control the temperature, timing and the order in which the ingredients are added, so as to obtain the right food textures which is an essential part of the experience of eating poutine.
Variations
Poutine made with thick beef gravy on French fried potatoes with fresh cheese curds. A style commonly found outside Quebec.
There are many variations of poutine. Some restaurants offer poutine with such toppings as sausage, chicken, bacon, or Montreal-style smoked meat. Some poutineries even boast dozens of variations of poutine. More upscale poutine with three-pepper sauce, merguez sausage, foie gras or even caviar and truffle can be found, a pre-Millennium trend that is credited to David MacMillan of 'Joe Beef' and 'Globe' restaurants fame. Some variations eliminate the cheese, but most Québécois would call such a dish a frite sauce ("french fries with sauce") rather than poutine. Shawinigan and some other regions have patate-sauce-choux where shredded raw cabbage replaces cheese. Fast food combination meals in Canada often have the option of getting french fries "poutinized" by adding cheese curds (or shredded cheese in the Prairies and Western Canada) and gravy.
Sweet potato has been used to be a healthy alternative to french fries. The idea of adding dietary fiber and vitamins to this classic dish is widely endorsed by the public. Crinkle-cut fries may be used as well.
Outside Canada, poutine is found in northern border regions of the United States such as New England, the Pacific Northwest and the Upper Midwest. These regions offer further variations of the basic dish, commonly referred to as Disco Fries. Cheeses other than fresh curds are commonly used (most commonly mozzarella cheese), along with beef, brown or turkey gravy. Disco Fries were popularized in New Jersey in the 1940s but gained their name in the 1970s for being a favorite of late-night diners, who often came from dancing at a discotheque. In the country culture, a mixed fry can also come with cooked ground beef on top and is referred to as a hamburger mix, though this is less popular than a regular mix.
