Poutine: the recipe for Canadian French fries with salsa and cheese

The poutine it’s a traditional Canadian disha tantalizing finger food originally from Québec. These are crisp, golden fried potatoes sprinkled with bits of cheese, called “cheese curds”, and gravy, the brown sauce typical of American cuisine made with roast cooking juices or with meat broth, to be mixed with butter and flour. A appetizing and rich recipeeven calories, but which you can indulge in for an evening with friends.

But when was the poutine? According to some, the dish was created by chance in Québec, in the 1957when, a customer of the restaurant Laughing Elf, he asked the owner to make him fried potato sticks with gravy and bites of cheese. To this request, the answer was: “Ça va faire une maudite poutine”, that is, “I’ll make a damn mess”. According to another version, however, the poutine was born in 1964 in the restaurant Le Roy Jucep. The owner, Jean Paul Roy, claims he was the first to prepare the gravy to put on fried potatoes and added the cheese bites later, following numerous requests from customers who wanted to make the dish even tastier. Here’s how to make poutine at home: once it’s ready it will be impossible to resist.

In the original poutine recipe, i cheese curds, small pieces of cheese with a chewy consistency that become crunchy after cooking, a type that we do not find in Italy. Among the most suitable cheeses for the preparation of poutine there are provolonethe smoked cheese or anyway soft and sweet cheeses. But you can also try the fontina or the cheddar if you want to give the dish a more intense flavor. The poutine can also be enriched with the addition of bacon cut into strips and passed in a pan.

How to make poutine

First, prepare the gravy, which will take about 20 minutes to cook. Make a meat broth, strain it well and always keep it warm 1.

In a saucepan, melt some butter 2.

Start adding the flour a little at a time 3. Always mix with a whisk to avoid the formation of lumps as much as possible.

Add hot broth and let it thicken, continuing to cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often 4.

Once ready, the gravy must be kept warm5.

Move on to preparing the potatoes. Wash them thoroughly by removing the dirt residues 6.

Remove the peel with the help of a knife or a potato peeler 7.

Cut it like a matchstick 8.

If you want super crunchy fries you can soak them in cold water for about 10 minutes, but dry them thoroughly before frying or the oil will splash. 9.

Heat the oil and bring it to a temperature of 170 ° C. Fry your potatoes until golden brown 10then place them on absorbent paper to remove excess oil.

Arrange them on a serving dish and add the gravy 11.

Finally, also arrange the small pieces of cheese that will melt slightly with the heat 12.

The poutine is ready to be enjoyed 13.

Advice

If you want to make crisper fries put them in cold water, after having cut them into sticks, dry them and fry them. You can also double-fry them so they will be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

You can also prepare gravy with chicken broth or roast gravy.

storage

The poutine should be consumed immediately after preparation. The gravy can be stored in the fridge for 1 day, well covered.