Fries – Part Two

Those who know me know that I have a deep love for the city of Montréal. I love its buildings, its culture, its nightlife, its hockey and its plethora of endless diversions. But I must say, what I really love is that little dish of calorie-packed street food Montréal is known for called poutine. That shit is messy as all hell to eat, but damn is it good, especially after a night of drinking.

The three main components of poutine are thick-cut French fries, fresh cheese curds, and browned chicken gravy. Fresh cheese curds are nearly impossible to come by in California. The only nearby farm that sells curds (that I’ve found) is Spring Hill in Petaluma. There is absolutely no substitution for curds in the making of this dish. Might as well go out and get Animal Style fries at In-N-Out.

It’s kind of a pain in the ass to make, and the short life-span of fries means that making it skews the labour/pleasure ratio a bit. However, it’s totally worth it. The gravy is the most time-consuming part of the dish, but it’s what really makes the poutine; it’s absolutely imperative making this the focus of the dish.

The recipe’s actually pretty simple:

3 Large Russet potatoes, cut thick, soaked in ice water.

Half pound of fresh cheese curds, left out to warm 30 minutes prior to serving.

2 oz. butter

2 oz. flour

20 oz. chicken stock

Seasoning

For my recipe I diced a boiling onion and browned it in a pad of butter. Once the onion was browned I added the rest of the butter and the flour, making a dark roux with the caramelized onions. I added .5 tsp of salt, some cracked black pepper, a pinch of Fines Herbes, and another of Herbes de Provençe. Once the roux was fully incorporated, I added the stock, stirring it for 20 minutes until it was reduced to the correct thickness.

While the gravy was halfway done, I started frying the potatoes. It’s important to have the potatoes and the gravy ready to mix together immediately once they are done. Once the fries were golden, I placed a layer in a paper bowl (gotta keep that shit real), followed by a layer of curds, topped it off with more fries, and finally, poured a nice helping of hot gravy over the mixture. Oh, arteries!