Poutine!

Poutine
Ah yes, I am Canadian. You can tell by the fact that I had poutine for breakfast. Three kinds, even.

In honour of Canada Day – which is, impossibly, coming right up – I give you poutine you can make at home. I know you’ll need a day to locate cheese curds – you can find some at Springbank Cheese (which has no connection with the Springbank outside Calgary, I’m afraid – it was named after a cow. Sorry. They are in Ontario though.) or at Say Cheese! at the Crossroads Market (both sell packets of St Hubert’s poutine mix too), or really any good cheese dealer. It must be curds though – don’t go grating mozzarella on top and defacing a Canadian icon.


I used that new French fry technique I told you about – and as they simmered themselves to golden perfection on the stovetop (pure poetry, that) I went about assembling toppings – I made some topped with pulled pork and barbecue sauce, and another topped with mushroom and Guinness gravy. A third had Montreal smoked meat hacked apart and added along with the curds. You could do a beef bourguignon poutine, or make it Italian style with marinara sauce. You could top yours with a fried egg, or a chunk of foie gras. I think a baked bean poutine is in order next – not only because I think beans are great, but because I like saying bean poutine.

So really, all you do to make your poutine is have the sauce and curds ready as your fries come out of their oil; drain them on paper towels, salt them and top right away with curds and sauce (or gravy, or whatever) so that the curds melt ever so slightly, and serve to deserving recipients. How to win friends and influence people, the Canadian way.

One Year Ago: Waffled French Toast
At the Family Kitchen: Maple Bran Waffles

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34 comments on “Poutine!

  1. Mason
    June 29, 2010 at 11:16 pm

    Don’t forget my favourite: drizzled with truffle oil.

  2. Dana McCauley
    June 29, 2010 at 11:17 pm

    I love you. I love Canada. I do not like poutine. Even for breakfast.

  3. Marisa
    June 30, 2010 at 12:15 am

    I so want to try poutine!

  4. bellini valli
    June 30, 2010 at 5:37 am

    I think that poutine is my guilty pleasure. To make my own I usually get fries and gravy from The Shady Rest and buy curds from The Cheese Co. and I am in heaven.

  5. Aimee
    June 30, 2010 at 5:47 am

    Poutine is so my guilty indulgence.

    Happy Canada Day!

  6. Julie
    June 30, 2010 at 5:49 am

    This makes me so nostalgic! Most of my poutine memories are of the high school-cafeteria variety, which is it’s own kind of weird grossness/deliciousness. I’ll have to try the real thing at some point!

  7. H.Peter
    June 30, 2010 at 6:11 am

    Happy Canada Day, everyone.

  8. Erin B
    June 30, 2010 at 7:33 am

    Poutine is something I’ve never tried because I know I’ll love it and crave it. I’d rather not know what I’m missing.

  9. vt kitchen ninja
    June 30, 2010 at 7:39 am

    We took a trip from the US to Halifax last week and I *finally* got to try poutine — I loved it! And I never knew it existed before reading your blog. Now I’m excited to try making it at home. Thanks!

  10. Manon from Ontario
    June 30, 2010 at 7:55 am

    In my hometown here our favorite family restaurant makes Italian poutine with traditional spaghetti meat sauce covered with St-Albert cheese curds ;p When I was pregnant with my first, I had it once a week…hmmm I wonder if that is how I gain 45 pounds during my pregnancy? LOL!

    We are very lucky to have a cheese factory right in the next town.

    Happy Canada day guys 🙂

    MFO

  11. Erin M
    June 30, 2010 at 8:58 am

    Oh my…I admit I like a bite or two of poutine but thats about all I can handle. Me or my waistline. Cheese curds though I love! I mean they squeak when you eat them…how cool is that! Anyone on Vancouver island and possibly further I dont know how far they have expanded their sales but try http://www.naturalpastures.com/ awesome cheesecurds. All their cheeses are fantastic actually, if your in Courtenay stop by the cheese factory for samples 🙂

  12. Shannon
    June 30, 2010 at 9:50 am

    Did you know Canmore has a poutine restaurant that sells (obviously) only poutine. And it’s very Montreal authentic.

  13. Erica B.
    June 30, 2010 at 10:08 am

    Love/hate Poutine…my weakness for it was part of the reason for my frosh 15. There was a restaurant in Lennoxville who’d deliver a poutine and a small pizza for $5.

    Manon you’re making me homesick! I miss St-Albert cheese curds! 🙂

  14. Manon from Ontario
    June 30, 2010 at 10:31 am

    Erica B. how cool, you know St-Albert cheese!!!
    Where are you from?

    They also have a store in Orleans Ontario now, and recently purchased the Mirabel Quebec cheese factory, so they are expanding 🙂

    They have a great big festival every year in August…we always attend.

  15. Beverley M
    June 30, 2010 at 10:49 am

    “Bean poutine” is fun to say

    Maybe that can be the title for your book, just slap in that recipe real quick 🙂

    Bean poutine and other things? (would be better if it rhymed more)

    Or did you name the book already?

  16. Vivian
    June 30, 2010 at 11:30 am

    Yes, happy Canada Day! Just wish it didn’t sound so much like machine gun fire to roll it off your tongue. Costco sells a big bag of “cheese curds” but they are orange, not like in your pictures, Julie. Will they work? The only time I have had poutine was in a swank Toronto restaurant (“Patriot” perhaps?), a smallish dish but devine! I have yet to try your new fry method (always been a two-step kinda gal) but this may get me experimenting.

  17. Lana in South Mountain (ON)
    June 30, 2010 at 11:36 am

    My husband works in a Dairy Plant and brings home curds the odd time, that are still warm. I kid you not. Talk about squeak.
    And if you like poutine, Julie, some day I will make, for you, fried cheese curds.
    Don’t laugh. That is how said husband, won my heart.

  18. Vivian
    June 30, 2010 at 11:36 am

    One more quick thought…would that “cold start fry method” work with sweet potatoes too do you think?

  19. Vivian
    June 30, 2010 at 11:40 am

    Darn, another question to throw out there…if I’m going to make real poutine, what is the traditional sauce (gravy, whatever) that should go with them?

  20. Laurie from Burnaby
    June 30, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    oh, heavenly! 🙂

    The only food that looks like someone already ate it.

    I will have poutine for Canada Day, and the heck with my waist line! 😉

  21. Vincci
    June 30, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    Shannon – OMG, please elaborate on this poutine restaurant in Canmore!

    Vivian – That sweet potatoes idea sounds genius! Must try… And I’m pretty sure the traditional sauce is gravy!

  22. Erica B.
    June 30, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    Manon: I’m from the Cornwall area with family all over SD&G counties – but haven’t lived there since 1992. My folks still live out there though so we get our St-Albert fix when we visit.

  23. Brigitte
    June 30, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    I love your recipes and many are now family favorites but I can’t do poutine…and we are from La Belle Province! Must be something wrong with me 🙂
    Happy Canada Day!

  24. Jan (Family Bites)
    June 30, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    Ah, poutine. One of my weaknesses. Happy Canada Day!

  25. Jody
    June 30, 2010 at 6:12 pm

    Great website and thanks so much for the information on where to get cheese curds! LOVE poutine.

  26. How I miss a cheese shop out here in Swift Current! I can taste this…so just as good as eating it, right? I made your rhubarb ice cream and loved it. Should have saved some of the rhubarb to mix in after making the ice cream so I could have some nice big pieces. So good. Thanks.

  27. Barb
    July 1, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    I haven’t found the appetite for poutine yet. (Probably scared I’ll like it too much) I was thinking along the lines of Nanaimo bars for Canada Day myself.

  28. Cathy
    July 2, 2010 at 7:17 pm

    PLEASE put a healthy meal picture up!!
    The sight of that poutine is making my arteries clog!!!!

    Happy Canada Day AND also my birthday. So glad the country has fireworks for me.

  29. The Hungry Teacher
    July 4, 2010 at 10:59 am

    Does it get any better than poutine? A few years ago, I had some while sitting in Quebec City. Amazing.

  30. Robyn in Mountain (Ontario that is)
    July 4, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    Mmmm . . . Poutine! With St. Albert cheese curds. The best! I guess I’ll have to try and whip up a batch. Thanks for keeping it real, Julie!

  31. Evelyn in Canada
    July 6, 2010 at 1:36 am

    I finally tried making your fries and they were awesome! The poutine itself wasn’t award-winning because I didn’t have curds (just chunks of cheese from a block) and used chicken gravy where beef would have been better. But on the whole, a dish everyone goggled up with no complaints. I’ll have to serve more veggies tomorrow.

  32. Ashley
    July 7, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    Haha I love the sound of bean poutine too and love your way of winning friends and influencing people. I’m disappointed you didn’t share the recipe for the mushroom and Guinness gravy though! Sounds amazing.

  33. Bing
    May 27, 2014 at 3:45 am

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    ? Dinner With Julie is a little vanilla. You might glance at Yahoo’s front page and see how they create post
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