As Canadian as ... poutine!

TJ's Fries' poutine

I'm an American living in Canada. I've been here for over two-thirds of my life. When I first started my monthly visits to Toronto in 1970 to be with my now-husband I heard about a uniquely Canadian fast food - poutine. (Pictured to the right is the first poutine I ever ate, from TJ's stand on the Trent River.)

It was about the same time I found out that "fish 'n' chips" was simply battered, fried fish and good old french fries. Prior to that realization I envisioned a British delicacy
wrapped in newspaper, not quite sure at which stage between potato chip and french fry the neat-sounding "chip" was!

Poutine posed a similar problem. I had not yet seen any poutine, only heard that it had to do with said chips, gravy, and some kind of cheese called "curds". (I never understood "curds and whey" either, in the nursery rhyme about Little Miss Muffet.) I've eaten curds for nearly forty years, introduced to them by hubby, and they're really, really tasty, but never went all the way and had them in their natural environment as part of poutine.

Mike's French Fries 

In four decades, I've rarely seen poutine anywhere but on a fast food menu. I have not noticed it being dished up, have not noticed anyone eating it, have not seen many pictures of it. But I knew one thing - it's very popular!

Today I had my very first poutine at one of my favourite chip stands, TJ's (see first post of blog). I arrived at the riverside stand hungry - on purpose. :)

It was divine! Poutine is fast comfort food. The gravy was delicious, the cheese curds were just the right consistency - squeaky! Cheese curds and gravy are the perfect combo! Who knew? The chips were their usual outstanding (as described in my first post), so I won't go on about them.

I can't have this heart-stopping meal every day, or even every week, but once a month? Sounds good to me!

Mike's poutine (great curds and fries, but the gravy is not completely homemade; he says they - his wife does the cooking while he takes the orders -  use Campbell's beef gravy as a base.)