Author Topic: A gift from Canada. (Read 13810 times)

SLVR · « **on:** August 21, 2014, 05:38:44 AM »

tkmedia · « **Reply #1 on:** August 21, 2014, 05:42:34 AM »

no surprise from the home of instant mac n cheese!

Francois · « **Reply #2 on:** August 21, 2014, 02:11:15 PM »

Funny... I go to a store supply warehouse where they sell some bulk items. One of them is Poutine sauce in powdered form... that comes in a 5 gallon bucket!
It's also friggin expensive in that volume.

gsgary · « **Reply #3 on:** August 21, 2014, 03:20:27 PM »

What is it ?

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #4 on:** August 21, 2014, 04:07:14 PM »

Poutine sauce? It is gravy - the quality & ingredients can vary widely. There's variations of course but at its simplest poutine is a serving of french fries covered in cheese curds and then covered with some kind of gravy. Where I grew up the word "poutine" referred to either dumplings (like dumplings in a chicken stew) or sometimes a kind of bread pudding which led to some pretty confusing conversations when I first lived in Quebec in the 80's as a young teenager.

Indofunk · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2014, 04:18:04 PM »

I was only recently (in the last year or so) introduced to the concept of poutine. In fact, I came at it in reverse, through the concept of this stuff called "disco fries" apparently served as a hangover cure in Jersey shore New Jersey. Then I had a Canadian houseguest and as I was talking to her about disco fries she said "oh, you mean poutine!" I guess I do mean poutine...

gsgary · « **Reply #6 on:** August 21, 2014, 04:25:14 PM »

That sounds awful

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #7 on:** August 21, 2014, 04:34:45 PM »

It is all dependent on the ingredients so the quality can vary but if it helps to clarify it is something, at least from my experience, you eat when you're drunk or when you are a student. I believe it originated in diners and small roadside food shacks but in recent years, its been rediscovered by young chefs here in Canada and abroad. They've made variations of poutine that are pretty ridiculous. For instance, Au Pied de Cochon's Foie Gras Poutine http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/the-wild-chefs-foie-gras-poutine/9695/. Even the New Yorker, talked about it http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/11/23/funny-food.

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disco fries

I believe the difference is that disco fries uses mozzarella rather than cheese curds. But yeah same thing essentially.

SLVR · « **Reply #8 on:** August 21, 2014, 04:55:37 PM »

Yes poutine! I find it amusing that outside of canada poutine isn't widely known.

I have to say my favourite variant is pulled pork poutine. Fries, curds, gravy, pulled pork, bbq sauce, bacon. Heart attack in a box.

gsgary · « **Reply #9 on:** August 21, 2014, 05:01:04 PM »

Over here we eat Dona kebab when we are drunk or a curry

gsgary · « **Reply #10 on:** August 21, 2014, 05:02:10 PM »

I like the sound of mozzarella on chips

jharr · « **Reply #11 on:** August 21, 2014, 05:27:16 PM »

Down here we have carne asada fries (poutine is mentioned as a similar dish in the wiki article). A big bed of fries - add carne asada (grilled marinated beef) - add cheese generously - add guacamole and sour cream - schedule an appointment with your cardiologist.

Indofunk · « **Reply #12 on:** August 21, 2014, 05:34:05 PM »

That sounds like "nachos" with fries instead of tortilla chips.

jharr · « **Reply #13 on:** August 21, 2014, 05:39:15 PM »

Nachos usually don't have meat (here in SD). If they do it would be seasoned ground beef. They usually just have beans, cheese, guac and sour cream. I prefer nachos, but my youngest son goes crazy for the carne asada fries. I will pick up a french fry once in a while, but when it gets about 3 inches from my mouth I start sweating and lose sensation in my left arm, so I put it down.

Indofunk · « **Reply #14 on:** August 21, 2014, 05:49:26 PM »

Sorry, I'm a vegan, I don't understand the fine distinctions between meats

SLVR · « **Reply #15 on:** August 21, 2014, 05:55:19 PM »

We have all sorts of variations of poutine and nachos. Even mcdonalds serves poutine I think now. However that sounds unappetizing.

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #16 on:** August 21, 2014, 06:08:06 PM »

I think traditionally it is chicken gravy on poutine but usually the gravy at cheap places is vegetarian based. Usually soy I believe. So it can be vegetarian friendly.

Indofunk · « **Reply #17 on:** August 21, 2014, 07:13:55 PM »

A friend of mine in Montreal says she knows a vegan poutine place that she promises to take me to if/when I visit her. Of course, that would mean it has no cheese either, so I don't know if that can technically qualify as poutine. And don't talk to me about the abomination that is "vegan ""cheese"""

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #18 on:** August 21, 2014, 07:32:47 PM »

Ugh Vegan cheese... Western vegan is the worst (no offence to vegans but come on up your game). I'd be a vegan if I could eat South Indian food every day.

Indofunk · « **Reply #19 on:** August 21, 2014, 07:40:20 PM »

Funny, I *do* eat South Indian food every day

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #20 on:** August 21, 2014, 08:18:59 PM »

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Funny, I *do* eat South Indian food every day

Ha! I was never a big fan of Indian Restaurant food (maybe because there's so much poorly made stuff I guess) so when I first travelled to the subcontinent and ate South Indian food it blew my mind. Hakka food or Indian Chinese food was another discovery that I couldn't eat enough of. I've never been able to replicate the South Indian food I ate quite right but I keep trying! True to my name, I am always hungry.

Francois · « **Reply #21 on:** August 21, 2014, 09:23:03 PM »

Well, living in Quebec probably means I should appoint myself as a fine Poutine connoisseur...

Poutine was definitely invented here and there is a bit of a debate of where it originated. Some people point to the rural city of Sainte-Hyacinthe while others point to the industrial city of Drummondville (the later being the laughing stock in cheap jokes for at least 30 years and also the site of the Poutine Festival... and yes there is such a thing).

In a good poutine, the ingredients are of the utmost importance. While McDonalds might sell it's interpretation of poutine, it will never be the same as the original simply because they don't respect the important ingredients.

First, there are the fries. They need to be about 1/2 inch squares. Anything smaller would be sacrilege. They also need to be deep-fried, not oven baked.
Second the curds need to be fresh and made from white cheddar that isn't aged. These go on top of the fries as serving order is very important.
Third comes the gravy. Some might use chicken based stock but in reality the real stuff should be served with beef gravy. The sauce must flow nicely yet not be too liquid. It gets generously draped over the cheese in order to make everything soft and gooey.

This must be served in a large aluminum tray. You don't make your own poutine, you get it from a fast food snack bar that isn't part of a big chain. You also need to squish as much as possible in the container, a fluffy "decorator" poutine doesn't really exist.

Usually, it tastes rather salty and fatty. A "dry" or crunchy poutine doesn't exist.

While some have invented variants on the theme, I don't feel like they are the same thing.

The poutine myth says that its inventor ate some everyday while he was working at his restaurant and subsequently died of a heart attack... very telling.

SLVR · « **Reply #22 on:** August 21, 2014, 09:43:22 PM »

all hail francois, the poutine jesus!

SLVR · « **Reply #23 on:** August 21, 2014, 09:45:42 PM »

also another french canadian food I really like is tourtiere. yum.

Francois · « **Reply #24 on:** August 21, 2014, 10:30:30 PM »

Now I must admit that this is really good in every way.

For those not in the know, it's a meat pie made usually from ground beef and ground pork. My secret ingredient to make it not crumble is to add some dehydrated mashed potatoes to the meat mix. It somehow doesn't work with the real stuff which makes me wonder what the heck do they put in powdered potatoes?

Now, this is super tasty with a generous covering of ketchup.

Indofunk · « **Reply #25 on:** August 22, 2014, 12:25:05 AM »

Quote from: Hungry Mike on August 21, 2014, 08:18:59 PM

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Funny, I *do* eat South Indian food every day
Ha! I was never a big fan of Indian Restaurant food (maybe because there's so much poorly made stuff I guess) so when I first travelled to the subcontinent and ate South Indian food it blew my mind. Hakka food or Indian Chinese food was another discovery that I couldn't eat enough of. I've never been able to replicate the South Indian food I ate quite right but I keep trying! True to my name, I am always hungry.

Well if Francois just crowned himself King of Poutine, I will be the official forum South Indian expert!

Indian Chinese is seriously the BEST food in the world, better even than South Indian food (which I learned from the world's leading expert on South Indian cooking, my Mom

and which I cook 99% as well as her). I also pretty much make the world's best gobi Manchurian. It takes well over an hour to make and lays my kitchen to utter waste, but the end product is well worth it.

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #26 on:** August 22, 2014, 12:25:34 AM »

Tourtière, now that is a culinary export I am actually proud to have passed to rest of the world. Every family has a variation but it's always meat with a savory pie crust on the top and bottom. Often the meat is spiced and is usually some combination of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and pepper. Sometimes none of those, sometimes one of those, sometimes with other herbs & spices. We always used very fatty pork (this was critical), beef and a little veal (but not milk fed veal as that was too tender). Christmas is not Christmas without at least one pie - which I eat for breakfast, lunch and supper over the holidays.

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My secret ingredient to make it not crumble is to add some dehydrated mashed potatoes

I have heard of that. I've seen soda crackers, dry bread crumbs, bread crumbs mixed with milk, very dry mashed potatoes... but my secret, which is a nod to my Scottish war bride grandmother, is oatmeal. Once I add it in I braise the meat in St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout.

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super tasty with a generous covering of ketchup

We grew up eating it with ketchup or ketchup aux fruits (my favorite - sort of like a sweet / savory chutney). However, I was in Winnipeg a few years ago for their Festival du Voyageur and they had all manner of French & Métis foods to try. Tourtière was served but NOT with ketchup but with gravy. Its strange when something so familiar becomes so different with a change in condiments.

Tintin, I'll have to invite you over at Christmas for a pie!

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #27 on:** August 22, 2014, 12:33:19 AM »

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I also pretty much make the world's best gobi Manchurian.

Ok, I'll have to trade you for that recipe - I probably have some slide film you can Xpro somewhere!

Indofunk · « **Reply #28 on:** August 22, 2014, 12:35:20 AM »

Quote from: Hungry Mike on August 22, 2014, 12:33:19 AM

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I also pretty much make the world's best gobi Manchurian.
Ok, I'll have to trade you for that recipe - I probably have some slide film you can Xpro somewhere!

I'm told I write the worst recipes. I am very much a "pinch of this, dash of that, use whatever ingredients you feel like on a certain day" kind of cook. But it always comes out perfectly. You'll have to come here to try it. Along with a bunch of slide film

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #29 on:** August 22, 2014, 01:09:03 AM »

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I'm told I write the worst recipes.

Ha! Yes, I figured it was something like that. You should film yourself making it on Youtube!

Indofunk · « **Reply #30 on:** August 22, 2014, 01:25:00 AM »

Quote from: Hungry Mike on August 22, 2014, 01:09:03 AM

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I'm told I write the worst recipes.
Ha! Yes, I figured it was something like that. You should film yourself making it on Youtube!

Honestly, I've considered starting a cooking vlog, using a GoPro (which I do not yet own) strapped to my head. But it always seems like too much work. Relatedly, I've wanted to start a vlog using that same nonexistent helmet-GoPro where I keep the camera on during my morning bike into work (25 minutes from Queens into midtown Manhattan, with all the corresponding traffic and near-miss death experiences you'd imagine) while talking about a completely random and banal subject (eg, the benefits of coldbrewing coffee). I have many ideas, but little motivation

Paul Mitchell · « **Reply #31 on:** August 22, 2014, 10:09:12 AM »

More importantly... can it be used to develop film or tone prints??

Francois · « **Reply #32 on:** August 22, 2014, 02:46:08 PM »

Quote from: Indofunk on August 22, 2014, 12:25:05 AM

Well if Francois just crowned himself King of Poutine,

It's actually pretty funny to read that since I haven't had poutine in over a decade!
But one thing's for sure, I know two things about it: What's a good one and that it fills your daily allowance in both fat and salt.

Terry · « **Reply #33 on:** August 22, 2014, 03:25:35 PM »

Don't you mean lifetime allowance?

Paul: 'poutinol' has a nice ring

Indofunk · « **Reply #34 on:** August 22, 2014, 04:08:19 PM »

Quote from: Terry on August 22, 2014, 03:25:35 PM

Don't you mean lifetime allowance?

Paul: 'poutinol' has a nice ring

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #35 on:** August 22, 2014, 06:21:16 PM »

Poutinol might remove remjet better than an alkaline solution.

Terry · « **Reply #36 on:** August 22, 2014, 06:42:13 PM »

It would probably remove the emulsion too

limr · « **Reply #37 on:** August 22, 2014, 08:47:41 PM »

Is it just me, or does the word "poutine" sound like it should refer to something more salacious?

Francois · « **Reply #38 on:** August 22, 2014, 08:56:23 PM »

Well, it does sound like another french word that usually gets men slapped in the face when they call a woman like that

limr · « **Reply #39 on:** August 22, 2014, 09:55:26 PM »

Quote from: Francois on August 22, 2014, 08:56:23 PM

Well, it does sound like another french word that usually gets men slapped in the face when they call a woman like that

Yup, and it's hard to hear "poutine" without hearing that other word in my head. They need to be used in a tongue-twister somehow!

tkmedia · « **Reply #40 on:** August 22, 2014, 11:22:32 PM »

Food again...

first baking bread, tea, varied snacks, beer, poutine, indian cuisine, meat pies, and cold brewed coffee. It's foodwasters again.

tkmedia · « **Reply #41 on:** August 22, 2014, 11:24:49 PM »

There are other decent alternatives to the gopro. You can always have other chinese action cams, or maybe a spy eyeglasses.

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #42 on:** August 23, 2014, 03:55:28 AM »

Looking at Tintin's picture again... (I'm guessing Francois will be the only one able to answer this so others feel free to ignore my comment) is that packet labelled ragoût for ragoût de boulettes (a pork meatball stew - yet another culinary gift from French Canada to the world)? It must as it has meatballs on the cover. It's funny, as I tend to use the word ragoût for anything stew-like (even pasta sauce) not just de boulettes, a habit I picked up from my great grandmother. Is that a Quebec thing to call ragoût de boulettes simply ragoût?

Francois · « **Reply #43 on:** August 23, 2014, 03:10:29 PM »

Ragoût usually stands for ragoût de boulettes and not much else... though there is ragoût de porc... and that's about it.

Quote from: tkmedia on August 22, 2014, 11:24:49 PM

There are other decent alternatives to the gopro. You can always have other chinese action cams, or maybe a spy eyeglasses.

Or check out the new Polaroid action cam on the photojojo store. It's cute as can be and has a neodymium magnet on its base so that you can attach it to a ton of things really easily.

Indofunk · « **Reply #44 on:** August 23, 2014, 03:26:11 PM »

Quote from: Francois on August 23, 2014, 03:10:29 PM

Ragoût usually stands for ragoût de boulettes and not much else... though there is ragoût de porc... and that's about it.

Quote from: tkmedia on August 22, 2014, 11:24:49 PM
There are other decent alternatives to the gopro. You can always have other chinese action cams, or maybe a spy eyeglasses.
Or check out the new Polaroid action cam on the photojojo store. It's cute as can be and has a neodymium magnet on its base so that you can attach it to a ton of things really easily.

Yeah I saw that. Read a not-very-flattering review of it. Can't remember what the reviewer said the main downfall is, but it was enough to make me put off buying it.

Francois · « **Reply #45 on:** August 24, 2014, 03:04:46 PM »

I was thinking about other typical Quebec meals last night and there's the ever popular Pâté Chinois (which I don't like much but everybody knows how to make)

Terry · « **Reply #46 on:** August 24, 2014, 03:17:51 PM »

Let me guess--it starts with a cup of water from the Lachine Canal....

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #47 on:** August 24, 2014, 05:24:30 PM »

Pâté Chinois is pretty pan-French Canadian - that's Chinese Pie in English - and is more or less the same thing as Shepherd's Pie. And is usually eaten with ketchup (noticing a theme?)

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Ragoût usually stands for ragoût de boulettes and not much else...

Having a number of farmers in my family, we also ate ragoût de pattes, ham hock stew. Pasta sauce was always ragoût de spaghet for my grandmother. Funny how though we spoke French we had slightly different takes on the same words.

So is the packet labeled BBQ, an approximation of St. Hubert's (a fast food chain in Quebec) dipping sauce?

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cup of water from the Lachine Canal

I recall in high school, I lived on the South Shore of Montreal, a science teacher showed us how to light the local tap water on fire.

Francois · « **Reply #48 on:** August 24, 2014, 08:52:22 PM »

I guess the BBQ sauce is spicy chicken sauce... not unlike hot chicken sauce which you can also find in some Guédille...

As for lighting the tap water on fire, the school was probably using water from a well which went through some shale... the combustible was probably shale gas.

Quote from: Terry on August 24, 2014, 03:17:51 PM

Let me guess--it starts with a cup of water from the Lachine Canal....

Well, not really. It's a bit like Shepperd's Pie but not the same.
You take a shallow oven pan (usually the Pyrex ones) and put some cooked ground beef to cover the bottom.
Then comes cream of corn. This provides additional moisture to the meat.
Then comes mashed potatoes.

You send it all in the oven until the potatoes are slightly browned.

But to make it really good, you have to use my grandma's recipe and use her special ingredient

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #49 on:** August 25, 2014, 02:07:48 AM »

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the combustible was probably shale gas.

Not sure about that as the school definitely didn't get the water from a well. His explanation was that there was an additive that helped keep the water from freezing in the winter. I always suspected that he was pulling our leg and had added something to the water when we weren't looking to get us to pay attention (which we rarely did as we were hormone crazed teens). It worked as it was one of the few things that we took away from that class. For what it is worth, he was definitely a teacher that if someone told me that he went down the same path as Walter White in Breaking Bad I wouldn't be shocked.

Our secret with Pâté Chinois was to reverse the order - potatoes on the bottom, tinned creamed corn in the middle and meat on the top. Kind of weird but the potatoes end up soaking up the juices from the corn and meat. A trade off I guess as you miss out on the crust on the potatoes. Depending on who made it that day often cooked the meat in lard and/or butter or worse, margarine. We also had, because half our family were Acadians, some of the Acadian foods like Rappie Pie & Fricot. As a result sometimes our Pâté Chinois would kind of weirdly merge with Rappie Pie. Looking back on it now it was no wonder I stopped eating potatoes for years when I left home. How about cipaille (sea pie)? The only one who made this in our family was my great grandmother. After she died no one made it for some reason. I never made it but I assume it was labour intensive.

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Guédille

Now that is something that I associate with Quebec. The closest I've seen to it elsewhere is the Maritime version of the Lobster Roll.