The Real Poutine
Source: By JENNIFER KENT
Posted: 09/03/09 2:39PM
Filed Under: Canada Travel Guide
There is poutine...and then there is poutine.
The Quebec version is simply an order of French fries, slathered with gravy and cheese curds.
Meh.
If you’re looking for authentic Acadian fare, you need to sample the poutine rappé.
I have vivid memories of my mother and grandmother sighing rapturously over what looked to me like an enormous snowball plopped in the middle of a plate. Poutines involve a lot of work and are typically made in enormous batches by fast-talking, loud-laughing, bright-eyed Acadian women who still know a hundred and one ways to prepare potatoes. Like my Aunt Anita.
Large, jovial and generous to the nth degree, Anita would always bring over some of the fruits of her labours to share with us whenever she made poutines.
Poutine rappés are essentially large dumplings made with a mixture of grated and mashed potatoes with a morsel of salt-pork (or beef. But really, it should be pork) hidden at their centres, like a tiny piece of treasure. Once they have been boiled to perfection, the poutine may be eaten just as is...although some may find the potato-dumpling a tad bland on its own.
Most add some sort of topping. My mother likes to sprinkle hers with brown sugar. Others douse their poutine in maple syrup. The younger generation tends to slather on the ketchup. However they like their poutines, those who like them, like them a lot. Vive l’Acadie!
Probably the most stereotypically Canadian food, poutine is a combination of french fries, cheese curds and poutine sauce (or gravy).
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