ça va faire une maudite poutine

December 9, 2004 9:30 PM

ça va faire une maudite poutine!In order to prepare yourself for the upcoming holiday gastronomical binge-fest, you may want to warm up with a few feeds of this winter-friendly, carb-loaded, heart-clogging goodness. That said, where the hell did disco fries come from? ("Oh Tony... I love to watch you dance, and eat poutine!")
posted by Darkman (27 comments total)

O how I miss getting Disco Fries from Odessa....
posted by interrobang at 9:31 PM on December 9, 2004

The Wiki forgets to mention that it must be made with chicken gravy. Anything else will get you sent to hell.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 9:42 PM on December 9, 2004

Here I was hoping for a devilish recipe to match my old favourite, the foie gras poutine. Alas, wikipedia entries do not a FPP make.
posted by mek at 9:43 PM on December 9, 2004

Poutine is so fattening and good, it's a wonder that America hasn't stolen it and made it it's own.

on preview: shut up, mek, any FPP with french fries is fine by me!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:44 PM on December 9, 2004 [1 favorite has favorites]

The Poutine, She's Delicious.
posted by rusty at 10:02 PM on December 9, 2004

I second the foie gras poutine! The next time any of you visit Montreal, stop by Pied de Cochon and have the foie gras hamburger with foie gras poutine. I promise delight!

Some young chemists at McGill once did a calorie analysis on a large serving of Poutine from Mama's, a greasy delivery service popular with McGill dorm life. The verdict: one order had as much fat as seven Big Macs.
posted by painquale at 10:04 PM on December 9, 2004

Société pour la Promotion de la Poutine (Society for the Promotion of Poutine). (run by a weird French Canadian online friend of mine)

I've had the stuff. It tastes a lot better than it looks.
posted by neckro23 at 10:13 PM on December 9, 2004

I love licking poitrine.
Isn't it served in pairs?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:29 PM on December 9, 2004

Previous mefi poutine discussion, heaped with anecdotes and preferences like gravy & cheese on those greasy fries.
posted by naxosaxur at 10:31 PM on December 9, 2004

Chicken gravy, eh, Dipsomaniac? Interesting, but hella greasy. I can almost taste it and I like it. And Québecers are very serious about their chickens, FWIW.

This is where to get the curds.

Too many - almost all - diners and take-outs in downtown Ottawa who claim to sell poutine use grated cheddar instead of cheese curds, and I assume that grated cheese (cheddar or mozarella) is what makes up the stringy aspect of so-called poutine for most of the rest of the world. That is sad and very, very wrong. Cheddar with gravy on french fries is a lie on a grand gastronomical scale: there is cheddar in poutine like there are WMD in Iraq.

True poutine (this recipe is workable ;) needs gravy from a fried beast and cheese curds from a company like St. Albert. You know you are eating from a fresh bag of cheese curds if they look like mutant popped corn and they squeak in your teeth.
posted by Cryptical Envelopment at 10:33 PM on December 9, 2004

I can't believe this thread hasn't included this: Torontonians, this Saturday at Dundas Square... World's Largest Poutine.
posted by bobo123 at 10:35 PM on December 9, 2004

Gravy is not greasy, unless you don't know how to make gravy.
posted by stbalbach at 10:46 PM on December 9, 2004

According to the "True Poutine" link, the authentic gravy is produced from a powder. Cryptical linked a curd supplier, so it should be easy to find someone to ship a powder mix. Where can you find a product that will faithfully communicates the essence of poutine?

This site sells St. Hubert poutine sauce and mix.
This site has St. Hubert poutine sauce and Club House mix.

Can I get the complete poutine experience from a can/powder? If so, will either of these brands do?
posted by stuart_s at 11:17 PM on December 9, 2004

I want to make sure that we remember the American cousin of the poutine, the squeeky Wisconsin deep-fried cheese curd. A good description is from the Chicago (boo hiss) Tribune review of O&H Bakery in Racine, Wisconsin. The best versions, of course, are at the Wisconsin State Fair.

The review gets one thing, wrong: a real deep-fried cheese curd is dipped in ranch dressing or mayo... ketchup is too healthy.
posted by blahblahblah at 11:50 PM on December 9, 2004

Also, if anyone wants to order fresh curds to make poutine, I suggest looking at Rock Cheese, which takes orders online.
posted by blahblahblah at 11:56 PM on December 9, 2004

I tried poutine for the first time whilst in Montreal , after a club, and loved it. Thought I would never find it in the UK but found it on a menu in Scotland/Aberdeen. Why does this not surprise me.
posted by dprs75 at 3:50 AM on December 10, 2004

Oh, poutine. I wish I were a poet so I could write an ode to its' artery-clogging salty goodness.

For my money, the best poutine in the known world is found at a chip wagon in St Catharines, ON. They take this big paper cup/bowl thing, and put in a layer of fries. Then curds, and homemade deep brown beef gravy. Then another layer, more curds & gravy. Then another... You end up with five layers of fires and gravy and such.

Heaven. Especially stoned.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 4:14 AM on December 10, 2004

Painquale: Ah, Mama's. I lived just down the street from them for years (St. Dominique and Pine), with predictable results. Folks, when the poutine shop starts recognizing your phone number, it's time to branch out.

Cryptical Environment: Elgin Street Diner and you're done.

stuart_s: St. Hubert poutine sauce is as correct as you'll get.
posted by mendel at 4:33 AM on December 10, 2004

But mendel, do you mean regular Elgin St. Diner poutine, four-cheese poutine or smoked meat poutine?

And a very important pronounciation note when ordering poutine: it's "poo-tin". If one orders "poo-tain" one will get something entirely different than fries with cheese curds and gravy :-)
posted by melimelo at 5:42 AM on December 10, 2004

Heathens all of you. Nothing beats the culinary treat served by the Village Grec in Lennoxville. Of course, for the absolute best quality, it must be ordered after 3am.

Oh and Melmelo, Mendel: Archie's Bunker on Cyrville did a decent version the last time I had it there.(about a year or two ago).

Man, I think I might dance with the devil for lunch today!!
posted by smcniven at 5:53 AM on December 10, 2004

other than dundas square this weekend, where can I get a decent poutine in Toronto? (preferably near the Annex)
I've been spoiled by a lifetime in Ottawa and Kingston...
posted by krunk at 7:05 AM on December 10, 2004

One drunken night after the bars as my buddies and I were scarfing down our large poutines we came up with a sure-fire can't-miss moneymaker of an idea: a special poutine consisting of orange cheese curds and black gravy to be served only on Halloween and called (drum roll, please)... Bootine.

It's gold, Jerry! Gold!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 8:21 AM on December 10, 2004

Just don't mispronounce poutine as pitoune.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 8:42 AM on December 10, 2004

I like me some poutine, but being a good Southern boy I can't let this discussion proceed too much further without hailing the genius of properly-prepared cheese fries (courtesy of Yesterday's):

Big ole steak fries crisped up to just golden point, then grated cheddar and mozzarella is liberally spread over the lot and it's into the oven for 10 minutes of bakey goodness until the cheese is of droopy liquid consistency. Served piping hot with homemade ranch dressing to dip in, and optional baco-bits to add that extra touch of je n'ais pas un coeur.... in the words of H. Simpson, "Gaahhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrr....."
posted by LondonYank at 9:51 AM on December 10, 2004

Maybe this is for ask mefi, but poutine is also slang for female genitlia? Or am I confusing myself?
posted by bardic at 2:57 PM on December 10, 2004

Having lived in Québec for four years and now living in Texas, I have come to think of Frito pie as "Texas poutine." Different ingredients, sure, but the spirit of the dish just seems so similar.
posted by ramakrishna at 8:32 PM on December 10, 2004

Cryptical Environment: Elgin Street Diner and you're done.

Seriously. just avoid the homefries poutine. Not so much a fan.

I don't know of any (beyond McD's etc) restaurants etc. in Ottawa that use shredded cheese. In fact, I remember ordering poutine from a chip stand once, and the very apologetically said "I'm sorry, we only have shredded cheese, is that ok?"
posted by aclevername at 9:21 PM on December 16, 2004