I’m one of those weird people that likes cafeteria food; always have and I think I always will. So this means that I love taking a lunch break and getting cafeteria food on top of a mountain. I was at Whistler north of Vancouver this past weekend and discovered the greatest Canadian invention yet…poutine. Now we all know what the classic chili cheese fries are and I must say they are pretty much awesome and I couldn’t have imagined it getting better than that but it does. Poutine is French fries with cheese curds smothered in brown gravy, so basically Canadian chili cheese fries and I must say they do it better.
What makes this dish so delicious I think has to be the cheese curds. Since the cheese curds are different sizes they melt at different rates underneath the hot gravy. Some bites are a huge bite of ooey gooey melted cheese and some are more gravy dominated. It is literally delicious.
This dish originated in Quebec and poutine translates to mean mess. When invented it was said that it will “ça va faire une maudite poutine” which means, “it will make a damn mess” hence how it got its name. The gravy was not an original idea but was added to keep the fries warm and I am so glad they did because it would not be the same without it. Poutine is such a staple food in Canada that even places like McDonald’s and KFC carry it. Gravy and cheese curds are the classic, but you can come across different versions that have things like beef, pork or even lobster meat in it.
Poutine is delicious but I would warn you that it might not be the smartest idea to eat for lunch when you are headed back out to the cold slopes. I was struggling to brave the cold again after it warmed me up. So I would say just share because you can’t not get it.
Follow me on Twitter @Coltkels