Poutine

Ingredients

• Potatoes — floury variety1.2 kg
• Cheddar cheese curds300 g
• Butter40 g
• Flour40 g
• Beef stock400 ml
• Chicken stock200 ml
• Worcestershire sauce1 tbsp
• Cider vinegar1 tsp
• Oil for frying1.5 l
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Cut the potatoes into one-centimetre batons and soak them twenty minutes in cold water to lose the surface starch.

   25 min

2. 2

   Dry the batons thoroughly. Wet potato spits in the fryer and never crusts.

   8 min

3. 3

   Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook the roux to a nutty brown, four minutes.

   6 min

4. 4

   Add both stocks, the Worcestershire sauce and the vinegar and simmer the gravy fifteen minutes, until thick.

   17 min

5. 5

   Fry the potatoes at 150 °C for six minutes, until soft, and drain them on a rack.

   15 min

6. 6

   Bring the oil to 190 °C and fry them a second time for three minutes, to a crisp shell. Salt them.

   10 min

7. 7

   Pile the chips into a bowl, scatter the curds over them and pour on the boiling gravy. Serve at once.

   4 min

About the dish

The cheese has to be fresh cheddar curds, no more than a day old. Those squeak against the teeth, and in Québec the squeak is how a poutine is judged.

The curds are not melted to liquid: the hot gravy softens them outside while they stay springy inside. Grated cheese gives an entirely different texture.

The potatoes are fried twice: first at 150 °C to soften, then at 190 °C for the crust. A single fry gives chips that go soggy under gravy within a minute.

Worth knowing

• — The gravy has to be genuinely boiling; only then do the curds soften in the right few seconds. Warm gravy leaves them cold and rubbery.
• — Do not keep the curds in the fridge until serving: cold, they will not soften. Take them out an hour ahead.
• — Assemble at the last moment and eat immediately. Five minutes later it is a different dish.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

780 kcal

Protein

26 g

Fat

42 g

Carbs

74 g

More from Canada

• Tourtière — A double-crust pie of spiced pork and potato. The Québec Christmas table.