Day: October 11, 2014
Destination #4 / Niagara Falls, Canada
Poutine
Poutine is another of those dishes that is uniquely Canadian in origin. We Brits might call it cheesey chips and gravy, but that sounds decidedly less concise, wouldn’t you say? As a dish, Poutine is said to have originated in rural Quebec, some time in the late 1950s. The story goes, that a classically trained chef was asked to add cheese curds to a side of French fries by one of his customers. He called the dish Poutine as it is a Quebecois slang term for “mess”. Allegedly the addition of the gravy came later and was added simply to help keep the chips warmer for longer and assist in melting the cheesey topping.
Okay, so the chef may have been right in thinking that the dish is not particularly elegant in appearance, but it is without doubt a grand and flavourful meal-in-itself when cooked correctly. The gravy is the main event here, it should be made glossy with butter and thick enough to not only coat the chips, but to cling to them. It should be delicately flavoured with an assortment of store cupboard ingredients and condiments. Of those I tried the best had the faintest hint of garlic, accented with black pepper and the merest hint of rosemary. In this recipe I will talk you through how to make the chips and the customary sauce. The cheese curds themselves are a little more tricky…
For you see, raw cheeses like paneer, can easily be made at home by souring warm milk with citric acid, causing the milk to separate out into curds and whey. But cheeses made in this way are not fully denatured and will not melt, nor will they have the customary tang associated with young cheeses. So unless you can get hold of the requisite rennet and calcium chloride needed to make curds at home, we best look for an alternative. Having conversed with cheesemongers and the internet community at large there seems to be two suitable alternatives that are readily available in the UK. First you could use block Mozzarella – the stuff that so many of us avoid in the supermarkets – which will add a fresh flavour and the necessary stringy properties. Do not use the type packed in liquid and shaped into delicately pale balls, the flavour will not hold up. Even better perhaps is a young, very mild Cheddar which lends a little more bite, whilst still melting in a satisfactory manner.
Level: medium
Methods: roux
Skills: deep frying, reducing
Time: 1 1/2 hours
Makes: 4 servings
Ingredients
6 to 8 large Yukon gold potatoes (though maris piper work as well)
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 shallot, very finely diced
1 small clove garlic, crushed
350ml chicken stock
350ml beef stock
2tbsp ketchup
1tbsp cider vinegar
1tbsp whole peppercorns
1/2tsp Worcestershire sauce
2tbsp butter
2tbsp flour
1 level tsp chopped fresh rosemary
225g mild Cheddar cheese, roughly cubed or cumbled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Vegetable oil, for frying
Method
1. Clean and peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes lengthways into 1cm thick slices. Then stack the slices and cut into thick chips.
2. Place the chips in a large bowl filled with cold water and let sit for as long as possible (an hour or two is ideal.)
3. In a saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over a medium heat and saute the shallots and garlic until translucent.
4. Add both stocks, the ketchup, cider vinegar, peppercorns, and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil.
5. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan on medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, making a roux. Allow to brown slightly.
6. Whisk the roux mixture into the stock, then add the rosemary and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, until reduced by half and thickened. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
7. Remove the chips from their water and drain on kitchen towel. Pat them down thoroughly.
8. Preheat a deep-fryer to 150C, then blanch the chips in batches for about two minutes. Remove each batch and allow to drain on more kitchen towel.
9. Raise the temperature to around 180-190C, before frying the chips again for a further two minutes or until golden brown. Drain.
10. Remove the sauce from the stovetop and strain through a sieve.
11. Plate the chips in a shallow bowl, top with cheese and pour over the sauce.
NOTE: To be honest this combo is so deliciously decadent, that the type of chips used is of very little importance. Oven chips, French fries or crinkle cut all work. If you don’t want to go to the bother of frying your own chips then my preference would be for thick cut chips from the local chippy, liberally soused in vinegar – yes, vinegar. The mouth puckering acidity tempers the salty flavour wonderfully. But please, for the sake of your blood pressure, forego the traditional sprinkling of salt.
Mastication / Destination 