I am still high.
High on what? you ask. What else? I say. I am high on poutine. Not just any poutine, but one I ate on Monday.
(Not the poutine I ate, but a picture I'm linking from Wikipedia. Note the incorrect presentation---proper poutine is to be served in a styrofoam cup.)
My American readers in particular may wonder what this heavenly delight is. Put simply, it is a french fry/cheese curd/gravy parfait. It originates, as most interesting fatty food in Canada does, from Quebec, though it is now available all over Canada, apparently. It is most properly bought from a truck or kiosk at the side of the street. In correct poutine (ie, not MacDonald's poutine, which exists in parts of Canada), the fries are real think potato fries, deepfried until very crispy in days-old oil.
First a layer of fries is placed in a cup and tamped down. Then some CHEESE CURDS are placed on top, and some boiling hot beef gravy. Then the process is repeated---the parfait effect. Optional is a sprinkling of pepper on top.
It is the cheese curds that make poutine what it is. Heated by the boiling gravy, they melt and drip into the crispy think potato fries. This makes one big sticky mass of cheesy gravy goodness of which the potatoes are merely the most appropriate texturizing and transmission medium. And it must be cheese curds, not just any cheese. The strange sticky irregular softness is perfectly correct for emulsion with the gravy.
And so we have it. My ode to the wonderfulness of the humble cheese curd, without which orthodox poutine would not be possible. A treat I have about once or twice a year, because it is deliciously toxic. When Canadians do deadly junk food, we do it in style, not like sissy "cheese fries" like they have in the US.
What dairy produced the curd?
Posted by: Craig | January 12, 2006 at 11:27 PM
No idea. It was at a kiosk in downtown and it's not like they have a sign that tells me that.
Posted by: Mandos | January 13, 2006 at 12:01 AM
Well, what good is that?!
Posted by: Craig | January 13, 2006 at 12:22 AM
The curds tasted good so they must have come from a good dairy.
Posted by: Mandos | January 13, 2006 at 01:26 AM
"Note the incorrect presentation---proper poutine is to be served in a styrofoam cup."
*Sniff*
Anyone who knows anything about poutine - including, apparently, the Wikipedia poster - that the best poutine in the world is made by Ashton. And that's because Ashton uses metal plates.
;)
Posted by: Stephen Gordon | January 13, 2006 at 08:00 PM
It may taste better, but it's the wrong gestalt.
Posted by: Mandos | January 13, 2006 at 08:11 PM