As it’s Canada Day weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to prepare one of Canada’s favourite dishes. It’s the dish that originated in Quebec, is beloved by pub-goers all across Canada, and reviled by cardiologists everywhere. The dish is the magnificent poutine.
Poutine is beautiful in its simplicity. Dump some crispy fries on a plate, top them with cheese curds, and pour gravy or other sauce over top. What it lacks in beauty, it makes up for in flavour. And grease. And salt. And arterial blockages.
To construct this cheesy concoction, I enlisted one of Canada’s leading experts on poutine, Chef Stacie Bee. I checked her credentials, and she has, in fact, not only been to Montréal, but has also actually eaten poutine. Furthermore, Stacie is an expert not only in poutine, but also in bacon, which became a small but vital component in our construction.
As culinary experts agree, any food is made better by putting it on a stick: pizza on a stick; fries and bacon on a stick; spaghetti and meatballs on a stick; scorpion, seahorse, and silkworm larvae on sticks; and more! As chef and author, Anthony Bourdain, is fond of saying, everything tastes better on a stick.
And this is how Chef Stacie and I decided to prepare… poutine-on-a-stick.
Ingredients:
- Crispy french fries
- Cheese curds
- Gravy or poutine sauce (fresh is best, but we used powder)
- Delicious, crispy bacon
Preparation:
- Put fries and curds on the stick.
- Put sauce on the stick.
- Sprinkle bacon bits on the stick.
The finished product:
