A uniquely Canadian dish…
Somewhere alongside hockey, lumberjacks, and Mounties maybe you’ve heard a funny sounding word in reference to Canada and Canadians: “poutine”. It’s a Canadian dish originating in rural Quebec (or French-Canada) of French fires, cheese curds, and gravy. Poutine arrived on the scene in the 1950’s and is generally attributed to a restaurant in Warwick, which lies between Montreal and Quebec City in southeastern Quebec (i.e., north of Vermont and west of Maine). According to legend, a customer of the restaurant Le Lutin qui rit ordered cheese curds mixed with fries generating the concept of poutine. Though perhaps other French-Canadians were at the same time inspired to comingle French fries and gravy with cheese curds giving rise to the idea of poutine all across the region. Later, in 1964, “poutine” was trademarked by the owner of another French-Canadian restaurant formally establishing the dish which is eaten and loved all throughout Canada.
The word “poutine” has many possible roots. Sources associate the word with the English word “pudding”, usually adding that poutine is slang in Quebec for mess which may have either followed from or perpetuated the name. Other sources connect the word poutine to potato, pâté, and poutitè. Regardless of the actual etymology, you get the idea, it’s a pudding-like messy potato yummy cheesy gravy dish of fries.
A cozy winter food…
Poutine has everything you could want in good winter food. It’s hot and says hot because of the gravy. It’s a little fatty and gives you those long-lasting fueling calories to carry you through the freezing cold days and nights. And it doesn’t forget the carbs that satisfy and send quicker energy surging through your body. Like shepherd’s pie, or pot roast, or mac and cheese, poutine makes you feel warm and satisfied. Your tastebuds will delight at the savory creamy gravy that soaks into the French fries while the cheese curds add a squeaky chewy texture keeps the dish interesting and pleasurable to eat.
Adventures in poutine…
Several years ago a friend and I took it upon ourselves to discover the best poutine where we live in Canada, which is about as far from Quebec as you can get, on the west coast of British Columbia. Though we’re well distant from the home of poutine, poutine has found its way to us. The dish is so widely popular in Canada that you can find versions of it in most chain restaurants, including fast food. Canada, like the United States, is a country of many immigrants from cultures across the globe which boast their own delectable cuisines. When travelling to the more remote communities in Canada you will nearly always find a Chinese restaurant and a Greek restaurant. In urban areas, you name it, you’ll find it, but the immigration trends have yielded greater numbers of specific types of regional fare, like Indian restaurants, than exist in other immigrant dominant nations. Poutine has been adopted and adapted by Canadian immigrant restaurant owners to include their variations on the dish. It’s not uncommon to find a butter chicken poutine, BBQ-style poutine, or Korean-style poutine. I don’t know how varied the poutine gets in Quebec, but in BC it can be a challenge to find an original-style recipe.
The variations, while delicious, often bury the core goodness and sensuality of traditional poutine with layers of meats, sauces, and seasonings. Our quest (my friend and I) was to seek out the best traditional style poutine in our small city. We started an Instagram account to track our progress and review the poutine dishes we sampled. Ultimately we found one bright star that rose above the rest, La Belle Patate. Their technique for making French fries (soaked overnight) and superb cheese curd and gravy combination made this location particularly outstanding for their poutine. To be fair to the other establishments we tried, most did not focus exclusively on poutine, like La Belle Patate, and none but La Belle Patate could boast an owner from the French-Canadian region. While the Instagram account sharing our poutine reviews has not been abandoned, our project was wrapped up once we discovered La Belle Patate. It’s hard to indulge in poutine made elsewhere when you’ve already found the best. If we do venture out to try other poutine we’ll update the reviews with our new discoveries.
La Belle Patate…
Last night my friend and I returned to La Belle Patate for a cozy winter treat. La Belle Patate could be fondly described as a hole in the wall type of establishment. It has a rough charm, which is perfectly fitting for a joint that serves northern wintery food. It’s filled with Canadiana like flags and hockey player figurines. I’ve never seen fewer than three staff around or behind the counter, and they are always friendly and considerate. It’s a place where you can feel like you belong no matter who you are. Their menu boasts steamers for under two bucks. The seating is a window-side counter with Pepsi branded stools. It’s an honest place. It’s real. It isn’t trying to tell you that the food is good because it looks good. In fact, the food is great despite the outward appearance of the restaurant.
I ordered the regular classic poutine and a spruce beer – like a ginger beer, but flavored with spruce. Check out the photos below. The proprietor brews and batches his own spruce beer which is unique and special to this particular place. Both spruce beer and poutine lived up to all their prior glory. Hearty, sultry, and satisfying. A perfect meal to eat on a December night with the wind howling and sea sprays blasting across the vigilantly glowing street lamps.
Source links…
https://labanquise.com/en/poutine-history.php
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/history-of-poutine
La Belle Patate poutine photo album…
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