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I feel like this recipe is so fitting for today.
Watch the How To Video Here:
It’s the perfect hangover food… or maybe I should say, the best possible food to eat after a really fun St. Patrick’s Day?
I really would not know though since one, I have never been hung over (wow, I am one seriously boring person) and two, I spent my St. Patrick’s day photographing spring veggies and tons of mangos. Which, dorky me of course thought was so much fun. Yep, I live for COLOR these days!
On a random note, my oldest brother Creighton text me on Monday asking where the heck all the corn beef was. Corn beef is probably one of Creighton’s favorite foods. The kid loves it, and I sadly had to respond and say that I made ZERO corned beef this year. He was obviously appalled. He also thought my use of Guinness this March was a little obsessive. UGH.
I totally disagree with him on the whole too much Guinness thing though (I mean, it makes for such good chocolate… and cheese sauce.), but now I am regretting not making any corned beef. Thinking I may just need to run to the store today and buy whatever is left over. Then I can make up for my lack of the sacred “March Meat” with a nice corned beef dinner. Too bad Creigh lives in Cleveland…while, I guess that’s what he gets for dissing my recipes….he should have seen what I made today. He would have DIED. No meat and all colorful things – AKA his most hated foods.
So anyway, let’s move onto another brother. The brother who inspired me to make this poutine. A dish that I will not lie, I never thought I’d make or that he would eat, but I guess there are new surprises every day. Cool!
So the brother just below me, Kai, took a month-long road trip with a few friends to Ohio, Massachusetts, Vermont and Canada. Why? To snowboard and film of course. What else would they be doing? Looking at colleges? Right. My dad wishes SOwishes that were the case, but no, they where snowboarding and apparently eating the best poutine. EVER.
I remember the day I got the text saying, “you should really make some poutine” and texting back, “isn’t that gravy covered fries?”. Then thinking, how the hell am I supposed to take photos of that, poutine is quite possibly the ugliest food around! YEAH. Those were my thoughts, how do I take pictures of THAT?
Well, despite my scared thoughts of even attempting to photograph poutine, I of course said I’d make it when they all got home because basically, anything Kai asks for I agree too. He’s just about the only brother I can’t say no to, but then again, it seems he has this effect on most people. I blame it all on his blue eyes and dark hair, that I am beyond jealous of. I’m the girl, I should have gotten the prettiest eyes in the family.
It’s totally not fair. JUST SAYIN’.
Bottom line is I made the poutine, the pictures where actually not difficult at all, and the poutine was soo good. Kai said it was amazing, BUT, not quite as good as the Canadians make it. I think their’s just tasted better after a day out in the cold filming and snowboarding. A couple of beers may have may have added to the flavor as well, since Kai could legally drink there.
So here’s the deal with this recipe. It is really just real deal, fried french fries, some cheddar cheese curds (THE BEST PART) and piping hot gravy. You see, the best hangover food. Once the piping hot gravy hits those cheese curds, they start to melt just slightly and create the most amazing dish. It’s pure goodness and totally what you need today. DUH. It’s Wednesday. We all need something to get us through the hump.
Authentic Canadian Poutine.
Servings: 6 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 969 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds russet potatoes cut into 1/4 inch matchsticks
- 2 of your favorite beers I used a Canadian beer (can sub water)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup flour use a gluten free flour blend if needed
- 1 shallot finely minced
- 1 clove garlic minced or grated
- 3 1/2 cups low sodium beef stock*
- 1/2 cup stout beer or more beef stock
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- canola oil for frying
- 3 cups cheddar cheese curds
Instructions
- Place the cut potatoes in a large bowl, cover with beer (or cold water) , and refrigerate for 3 minutes to 2 hours, the longer the better.
- Meanwhile, make the gravy. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour, and cook, stirring, until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the shallot and garlic, and cook, until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the beef stock, ketchup, stout beer, balsamic vinegar, worcestershire, and a pinch of salt and pepper, and bring to a boil; cook, stirring, until thickened, about 6 minutes. Keep over the lowest setting while you fry the potatoes. You may need to add more beef stock to thin if the gravy gets too thick.
- Pour the canola into a 6-qt. Dutch oven, filling it about 3 inches up the sides. Heat over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer reads 375 degrees F. Drain potatoes, and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Working in small batches, add potatoes and fry, tossing occasionally, until tender and slightly crisp, about 4 minutes. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. Increase the temperature to high, and heat oil until thermometer reads 425 degrees F. Working in small batches, return potatoes to oil, and fry, tossing occasionally, until crisp and golden brown, about 2-4 minutes. Transfer fries to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle the fries with salt.
- Immediately divide the fries among serving bowls. Divide the cheese curds over the fries. Now make sure that your gravy is piping hot and pour the gravy over each serving of cheese fries. Dig in immediately... as if you could wait!
Notes
*Inspired by my younger brother's trip to Canada.
Authentic Canadian Poutine will do that for ya!
I have to tell you that this is not authentic poutine.
I live in Canada and for years have travelled through Quebec to go see my parents.
A different restaurant every time, and I have never had poutine with beer added to it.
They just don’t do it.
I know this because if it had a beer in it, I would definitely be in the hospital.
All the rest thought is bang on.
It looks so so good!
Love the size of those curds!
Sorry it’s not true Poutine! Hope you can still enjoy it though! 🙂
Beautiful post and recipe. I make my version of poutine here in Spain but now that I see your, I must make improvements. It’s also difficult to find cheese curds here too. I try to find substitutes. I accept suggestions for Europe. Great blog an great pictures. Thanks.
Thank you so much!
I am a Canadian and a Quebecer, the birthplace of poutine….it was a Quebec thing that other Canadians made fun of until recently. In Quebec, it was greasy Hangover food for sure! Now we have restaurants have poutine de foie gras, poutine au canard and other delectable treats! Great for -20 degree weather!!!
Hello Laura! I live in Montreal and poutine is all over the place in the province of Quebec! We have restaurants with an all poutine menu that are very creative: foie gras, Italian, sweet potatoes, etc. The traditional poutine is simple: French fries, cheese curds and gravy. Every poutine lover/expert/addict will tell you that the secret of a good poutine is in the sauce and here we use BBQ chicken sauce. That may be why your brother thought your recipe was different. Your pictures are fantastic as always. Keep cooking and clicking! 🙂
Great recipe, but where the fuck do you get off wasting our time scrolling down 80% of the page reading your lame ass story before we get the recipe? Only to be followed by an even longer chain of comments? You’re bad and you should feel bad. You’re the reason we deserve Trump as a president.
Show muito, deve ter ficado muito gostoso.
Brasil!
That delights , I try to do.
I’m with water in the mouth ‘m from Brazil
Thank you!
My family lived outside of Toronto on a hillside overlooking Lake Ontario. One of our favorite treats at the “beach” was fries and gravy. No curds. Those fries were crisp on the outside and creamy in the interior, served in a cone-shaped cup and buried under rich beef gravy. This combination created a flavor explosion in our mouths. We now live in South Carolina and adore crisp fries with a blanket of melted pimento cheese. Also mouth-watering. But I’ll put my money on the poutine, with or without the cheese curds. Thanks so much for this recipe … it will be our feast this weekend!!!
This poutine recipe looks amazing. Your pictures are fabulous.
Hi – yes, poutine is typically Quebecois. It comes from Centre-du-Quebec region, halfway between Montreal and Quebec City. The debate still rages as to whether it was first created in the town of Warwick or Drummondville. Who cares ? no one really, but poutine is truly part of Quebec folkore since the 1950s. It was adopted in other Canadian provinces only very recently. For a truly decadent version, try Poutine with Foie Gras at Le Pied de Cochon in Montreal (http://aupieddecochon.ca/?lang=en) but keep in mind you will need a week to digest….
Hi! Gorgeous photos, I just thought it was really important to point out that this dish is really Quebecois (French-Canadian). Yes, Quebec is in Canada, but even though you can find Poutine in other regions of Canada, it’s pretty specifically a Quebecois dish. Kind of like how you don’t usually call Cajun “American”, it’s Cajun. Thanks!
p.s. I love Poutine and this really looks so amazing. Great job. 🙂
THANKS!
First time hearing about poutine and I like what I see!
Love the pics/animation.
Will have to try this on a cool, rainy night.
Thanks! Hope you love it!!
Holy smokes, this looks good! Making a vegetarian version of this, probably with a super-rich mushroom stock. Love the idea!
In other slightly-related news, a poutinerie just opened up in my town (Berkeley, CA). I haven’t tried it yet, but I am so, so excited. The last time I had poutine was on a trip to Montreal maybe 4+ years ago.
YUM! A mushroom stock sounds awesome! 🙂
I live in Ontario, Canada and you can find poutine anywhere and everywhere 🙂 Even McDonald’s serves it! I’m originally from the east coast and my hubby is from Montreal and this recipe looks fantastic! We can buy cheese curds here at any grocery store. I am a big fan of your blog and was very excited to see some Canadian food here!
Yeah! That is awesome! Thank you so much for the kind words!!
I’ve never had poutine, but there’s nothing in it that doesn’t scream delicious, and since the first day of spring looks like the dead of winter today, I could really go for a bowl of this kind of yum!