What is Poutine? 6 Curious Facts

Poutine is a classic Canadian dish that has its origins in the city of Quebec. This dish originated late in the year 1950s around the region known Centre-du-Quebec.

Well, the question around this dish arises what is Poutine? Poutine is a dish of potatoes, popularly known as French fries, topped with hot gravy and cheese curds.

This dish started as a local snack being eaten in the Quebec snack bars, which got popularized later on as Poutine and is a top-selling dish on restaurant menus in Canada. Poutine has taken the sort of label of Canada’s national dish.

The dish is so popular that annual poutine celebrations are carried out in the cities of Montreal, Toronto, Quebec, Drummondville, Ottawa, New Hampshire, and Chicago.

1. Interesting Facts About the Dish of Poutine

1.1. History

Its history begins from being a completely unknown dish in the 20th century to being the most popular dish in Canada found at every fast food chain. The exact origin of the dish still needs to be determined, but it became quite like the city of Quebec.

The word Poutine originated from the English word pudding which is used to depict a mixture and essentially means a mess of ingredients together. In Quebec, the word poutine is a slang word that means a damn mess.

The dish just started with the classic French fries topped with cheese curds which gradually got evolved with time since the year of origin 1950. The fromageries in the city of Quebec were known for producing the key ingredient of the poutine dish. It is the place where you buy cheese curds for the dish Poutine. Many people in the city try to take credit for creating the dish poutine.

Fernand Lachance of Cafe Ideal in the city of Warwick was the first one to put cheese curds to fries at the request of a regular customer to his Cafe in 1957. The cafe owner Lachance replied that the dish would become a damn mess (ca va faire une maudite poutine in French) in the paper bag. But the dish kept evolving, and even the people kept customizing with the side options like vinegar or tomato sauce.

By the year 1963, The dish got popularized and was served with typical cheese curds as a mess up on the plate. To this mess, his customers complained that the fries got completely cold when served. 

Jean-Paul Roy wanted to take the credit for the dish that he invented, Poutine, at his drive-in restaurant Le Roy Julep in the city of Drummondville in 1965. He has been serving hot fries with his special sauce since 1958, which was called the patate-sauce on his menu.

Sooner the trend of adding cheese curds came in, and he noticed customers eating with them. Roy also started serving them and renamed the dish in his restaurant as Fromage-patate-sauce.

1.2. Evolution of Poutine

The mass popularization of the dish Poutine originated from the small town of south-eastern Quebec to the city of Quebec to the whole of Canada. It arrived in Quebec City in 1969 and Montreal in 1983 through the snack bar food trucks and was the most popular offering on the menu.

Many variations of the dish started appearing as it got popularization. The dishes were:

• Veggie poutine – a serving of mushroom sauce and vegetables, 
• Italian Poutine – a serving of spaghetti sauce instead of gravy or a sausage, 
• Irish Poutine- a serving of Lardons.

Variations in the dish of Poutine came out according to the region, like Montreal-style Poutine; served with smoked meat, and La Galvanche from Gaspesie; served with green peas and chicken.

Another variation came from New York and New Jersey City and was called the disco fries. The fries were served with some shredded mozzarella cheese instead of the traditional cheese curd that is made with cheddar cheese.

1.3. Popularization of Poutine

The dish Poutine was first sold in the fast food chain outlet called Frits in Quebec City, which got closed sooner. This dish got many popularizations in the year 1987 when the Quebec-based franchise outlet Burger King got it on its menu. The dish got appreciated by the masses and was soon to be seen in all the outlets of Burger King in Quebec City and Ontario.

Soon the dish poutine was introduced into the menu of the famous outlet known as McDonald’s. It was introduced into Quebec city’s menu in 1990 before travelling to other Canadian locations.

After this, the famous Canadian chain Harvey’s placed it on its menu in the year 1992. Specifically, led poutine chains and restaurants began to open, like Smoke’s Poutinerie and Poutini’s House of Poutine, in the years 008 and 2009, respectively.

The dish Poutine was famous in North America and kept on gaining more popularity in the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia. The equation of Poutine was beginning to change with its popularity.

1.4. Introduction of Gourmet Poutine

The dish of Poutine is typically a delicious mess on the plate, so it was a little difficult to put it on the menus of fine dining restaurants.

As time evolved and in the 2000s, the dish gained attention during the comfort food revolution. Many classic dishes like hamburgers, Poutine, and mac and cheese were given fusions twists and scaled their levels high by the chefs during the back-to-basics food movement in Canada.

Chef Martin Picard of Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal was the first to elevate the classic dish of Poutine to a high-end level. He introduced his very famous foie gras poutine, which is often imitated by many and is one of the best-selling dishes in restaurants.

As the trend evolved with the dish and among the chefs of restaurants, many versions of Poutine came out on the fine dining menus of the city of Toronto. Braised beef poutine was seen at Chef Jamie Kennedy’s namesake restaurant. Chef Mark introduced lobster Poutine at McEwan’s Bymark restaurant.

1.5. Types of Poutine

1.5.1 Classic Poutine

Poutine is the most basic version of the dish of Poutine with hot gravy. The classic poutine recipe is a simple dish of extra-crispy fries with easy-to-make beef gravy.

To elevate the flavour profile of the beef broth, one can add some onion powder, garlic, beef stock, ketchup, some peppercorns, apple cider vinegar, and other ingredients to enhance the complexity of the gravy. 

1.5.2. Chicken Poutine

The classic Poutine can be eaten with chicken as well. For the dish of chicken poutine, some potatoes are cut into fries and baked till golden brown. These fries are served with a poutine gravy made with some chicken stock.

The chicken broth is prepared with spring onions, chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce, chicken, and peas. Over the freshly baked fries, shredded cheese, mozzarella, or fresh cheese curds, and topped with spring onions.

1.5.3. Seafood Poutine

Chef Jason McLeod introduced the dish of seafood poutine. His idea behind this dish was to honour his motherland, the local produce of California, and its sustainable seafood, which is fish. He runs a lot of restaurants in San Diego by the name Ironside Fish and Oyster.

Generally, the combination of fish and cheese could go better, but the preparation is made palatable by using some goat’s milk cheese curd, freshly cut fries, and Hawaiian Opah gravy.

The Hawaiian Opah is a taste similar to that of beef, whose scraps can also be used. We get to eat delicious seafood poutine without wasting any of the delicious meat of the sustainable fish of California.

The recipe of this Poutine is made with some prawn gravy which requires medium-sized prawns, prawn stock, dry sherry, unsalted butter, heavy cream, and some tomato paste. The hot gravy can be eaten with some homemade fries and some fresh cheese curds on top.

1.5.4. Sweet Potato Poutine

The sweet potato poutine is a dish which uses sweet potato fries with some poutine gravy in the dish. Sweet potatoes are a great substitute for potatoes and taste equally delicious. It can be eaten with any gravy, be it vegetarian, chicken, or beef gravy. Sweet potatoes tend to balance out the salt very well in the poutine dish, and some cheese curds as a topping. It is the dish that Chef Matsumoto develops at the Matsumoto’s restaurant in Los Angeles, California.

1.5.5. Canadian Poutine

The traditional dish of Canadian Poutine is a different version of the classic dish of Poutine. This recipe has a little variation from the authentic version recipe of Canada.

The fries made in this poutine dish are dipped in beer first and then soaked in water before frying as compared to the other dishes of Poutine. The gravy, which is prepared for the authentic version of Canadian Poutine, also contains beer as one of the ingredients. The dish is offered at Tieghan Gerard at Half baked Harvest.

1.5.6. Mash Up Poutine

Some mixed versions of the poutine dishes are famous among people. One of them is the chorizo poutine, which uses sweet potato waffle fries that uses some form of gravy and the topping of cheese curds with it. This poutine gravy is made with chorizo mixed with cream cheese, sour cream, chicken stock, hot sauce, and some pickled jalapenos mixed with some cheddar cheese.

Another version of it uses french fries with a steak base with BBQ spiced beef, baked beans, crispy onion rings, and smoked Gouda cheese.

1.5.7. Maple Bacon poutine

The maple bacon poutine is a famous dish in restaurants in Toronto. It is a dish of fries with poutine gravy made with bacon, maple syrup, bourbon, and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper on it. This dish is on the menu of the restaurant at Wayne Gretsky’s restaurant in Toronto, invented by Chef Charlene Rowland.

1.5.8. Cheese Avocado Bacon Poutine

The cheesy avocado bacon poutine is a flair to the poutine dish with the use of some great California Avocados. The poutine dish consists of French fries topped with squeaky cheese, bacon, onions, and a salsa made with tomatoes and avocadoes. Gaby Dalkin develops this dish at What’s Gaby Cooking Lays.

1.5.9. Oven Fry poutine with mushroom gravy

It is the great fattier version of the Poutine for the people who are less conscious of the healthier ones. The deep-fried version of the fries uses mushrooms as the ingredients for the poutine gravy topped with fresh cheese curds. There is also another version of the oven fry poutine dish with mushroom gravy that doesn’t utilize the technique of deep frying and even uses ingredients with low sodium content.

1.5.10. Vegetarian Poutine

This poutine dish from Canada is a healthier version of the poutine recipe and differs from the basic version. The fries used in this dish are baked with olive oil instead of deep frying. The gravy used in this dish is made from the stock of vegetables and the topping of cheese curds. This dish is available with Heather Hands at Flourishing Foodie.

1.5.11 Greek-Style poutine

This type of Greek-style Poutine is a classic variation of a poutine dish with French fries and cheese. The cheese used in this Poutine is a sheep’s milk cheese which is called the Greek Kasseri cheese, with two different varieties of sausages and Kalamata olives. The only thing that differs in this dish is the variation in the variety of cheese.

1.5.12. Duck Poutine

This is the classic recipe for Quebec Duck Poutine which is served at the Edible Canada Bistro. It is a poutine dish with duck as the main ingredient. The gravy that is made for the duck poutine consists of duck bones and a couple of sunny-side-up eggs added on top.

1.5.13. Poutine pizza

The poutine pizza is a twisted version of the Poutine dish of Canada. The utilization of Poutine as a pizza topping represents fusion dining on a plate. This dish can be made with roasted beef and some low-moisture mozzarella cheese for pizzas. This version of pizza can be customized with your own choice of ingredients, with the classic poutine topping of French fries, cheese curds, and an optional gravy.

1.5.14. Dessert Poutine

Nothing tempts better to a person than some desserts. The dish of Poutine is twisted and evolved with the use of some sweet ingredients. This dish uses churros or sweet fries with some marshmallows serving as cheese curds with a drizzling of hot caramel sauce over the top. The dish may be high in calorie count but tempting on the menu. This dish is available at the Riccardo Italian restaurant in Canada.

1.6. The Controversy Regarding the Dish of Poutine

From the origins of the dish of Poutine until its invention, development, and evolution, it has had a lot of controversies. The dish’s birthplace undeniably is unknown to all, but the dish for sure belongs to the city of Quebec, Canada.

It is often called Quebec in a bowl and is a part of many imitations and mimics like comics, cartoons, magazines, and newspapers of the city. Many politicians used political spin over the dish of Poutine with their gimmicks. The name of Prime minister Jean Chretien was changed to Jean Poutine during the presidential elections. None of the interviewers noticed the use of the wrong name, nor did Governor George W Bush during the campaign endorsement. Well, this remark was met with laughter and humour later on.

Some Canadian people question the nutritional and calorific value of the dish. As the dish typically means a mess with cheese curds, gravies are getting readily available at every snack bar, food truck, and eaterie. This dish is considered a small-town indulgence than a great dish on the menu.

The dish of Poutine again came into controversy in the year 2003. The question was raised of its high calorific value and should be banned from the school cafeterias and menus in Toronto. The dish was removed and replaced with healthier options. The proposal even came to ban the dish from Quebec school cafeterias, which was later rejected.

2. Recipe of Poutine

Let’s look at the ingredients and recipe for Poutine:

Ingredients: a packet of frozen fries

For the poutine gravy:

Butter (2 tablespoons), Flour (2 tablespoons), Black pepper, Beef stock (2 cups)

Fresh cheese curds (2 cups). 

Cheese curds are small-sized lumps of freshly made young cheese. These curds contain a high amount of air as they may squeak when touched by so-called squeaky cheese. This type of mixture is formed when cream in milk separates from the whey in water and settles down as a solid mass.

Directions for cooking:

• Cook the frozen packet of French fries according to the instructions written on the packet.
• Heat a saucepan on medium flame and put flour and butter together. Keep on stirring the ingredients together until it turns brown for a time of about 15 minutes.
• Put some stock inside the pan and stir it well. Add some pepper to the mixture as per the taste.
• Bring all the contents of the mixture to a boil and then reduce the flame of the heat to low. Allow the gravy to simmer for approximately 15 minutes.
• When the French fries are ready to serve, pour this hot beef gravy with some squeaky cheese curds or use room-temperature cheese curds. (It’s purely optional)
• The dish can be served with toppings like bacon, spring onions, crispy onion rings, or some hot peppers if required.
• If cheese curds are unavailable, they can even be substituted with diced mozzarella.

Homemade cheese curds can also be made using fresh milk, mesophilic culture, liquid rennet in filtered water, calcium chloride, and some iodized salt.

Good food in life is always the top priority of any individual. Canada is one of the major countries where there has been tremendous growth in many different areas and industries. The field of education, sports, real estate, employment, or the food industry.

Poutine is a very simple dish of all with simple and classic all-time favourite ingredients of everyone. A simple dish of potatoes is made in a variety of ways and variations.

With the advancement in the food industry and its menus, Poutine has surely topped the list. It is the national dish of Canada, and every year April 11 is even celebrated as National Poutine Day. This day was recognized in the year 2008 as a promotion of the dish poutine in Canada.

Although it is the specialty of the province of Quebec, it is the hot favourite among the continent of Canada and as far as known in North American regions.

The recipe that started as small, from what is Poutine to figuring in the gourmet restaurants to the poutine-themed restaurants opening up, is a remarkable achievement on its own.

Well, the twist and fusions of this dish have made it come a long way. Every variation has something new to offer with its idea, ingredients, and taste. Once and for all, it is a dish to be tasted once and devoured in its deliciousness of it.