This felt worthy of a second post today:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012207220450
God bless Sylvia Rector for bringing the world this news!
Poutine has made its way into Michigan (finally), and hopefully decent gravy will be seen more often because of it.
For my readers who do not know what this lovely dish is, Poutine is cheese curds, french fries, and gravy. Now, let me break that down a bit more...
Cheese curds are cheese curds, not a bag of shredded cheeses. They should ideally be made of cheddar or something as close as possible, and they should be white or something off white, not yellow, not orange. This may seem to be fighting over minutiae and purely an aesthetic issue, but it is not. Trust me on this one. I'm Franco-Ontarian. Now this might sound nationalistic, but you Americans (outside of Wisconsin) do not know how to make these things. There are exceptions, sometimes even from chains like Culver's, a Mid/Nearwestern fast food place that serves them deep fried. I swear, Culver's must have been started by an Englishman... they deep fry things that should never be deep fried, and you know what? The world is a greater place because of them!
French Fries are french fries, made from scratch, not thawed out of a bag and certainly not anything other than good old fashioned french fries. Shoestrings, waffles, etc. need not apply. We are talking chips here, or frites, depending on the particular formula of Canadian you consist of. Again with the nationalism, you complain! Well, we are talking about a Canadian dish here. Anyway, think pub fries. McDonald's need not apply in this situation, as good as the little salty potato things are the rest of the time.
GRAVY! The United States of America is nearly incapable of making good gravy! Americans misidentify it all the time! You shudder when I mention that it could be good with french fries, and I know not why, because you like it with mashed potatoes (even if the kind you serve with it is tolerable at best). Gravy, from beef stock, needs to be reasonably thick when you pour it out, akin to the consistency of maple syrup (and don't even get me started on that topic). People who can do gravy right in the United States mainly live in Michigan's upper peninsula and often consume their version with their wonderful pasties.
Gross, you say? No more than Chili Fries and Coney Dogs. Again, trust me here, one bite and you will forget all about how it looks. Two bites and you might need a defibrillator, but one bite and you will have a nice preview of the heaven you will soon find yourself in. Yes, yes, it is exceptionally bad for you.
Where did it come from? As is the case with the origin of most cocktails and comfort foods, everyone claims to be the source of this amazing dish. What most can agree on with certainty is that Poutine is a French-Canadian thing. The Quebecois claim, along with most anything culturally French-Canadian, that it is theirs. I personally think that it developed over time, owing to the unique combination of ingredients that account for slightly different tastes, in the many domestic and restaurant kitchens of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa River valleys. It probably spread so well because it was served in little road side burger booths that catered to summer cottagers, and before then and during the winter, inns that wanted to present travelers with the comforting taste of home. It is a very powerful food for Franco-Ontarians, a remnant of a culture that has long been under a process of assimilation into the rest of Ontarian society. For a Franco-Ontarian living in the United States, it is like manna from heaven. Comfort food indeed.
Where can you get it? Tons of places over in Canada, and if my American readers are willing to brave the frontier, they can find it almost right off the bridge at Harvey's (note: Harvey's, not a misspelling of Hardee's). For a fast food chain, they make the stuff almost as if they invented it.
My favorite place in the world to get it, and a wonderful example of one of those roadside burger stands at that, is at Riverview Burgers in Mattawa, Ontario, at the corner of Valois drive (Highway 17) and Ottawa street, right on the Ottawa River. As if it were the cultural epicenter of the wonderful world of Poutine (and yes, I will always capitalize the word), you can enjoy it with a peameal bacon burger while you gaze across la fleuve to Quebec under the Canadian, Ontarian, Quebecois, and Franco-Ontarian flags which are lined along the road, and yes, they serve pink cream soda as well.
How about here? Well, check out the article for some ideas, but with the exception of the Brooklyn Street Local restaurant, most of the varieties on display are, well, varieties, and not the real deal. I know American cuisine basically transforms most cultural dishes into uniquely American versions, but there are also many of you that enjoy "authentic" tastes! I'm not saying don't touch the stuff, but at least start with the original. Sylvia Rector has excellent taste and sure knows food well, so actually, by all means, try the other kinds. Just... try the original first.
Where can you get the real deal then? Mikey's Burgers and Fries! Co-founded by a homesick Canadian, Mikey's offers a mozzarella-based Poutine as a side dish or single entree. I was told they use mozzarella curds because the regular stuff is hard to find south of the border here, and they want it fresh, not shipped from Wisconsin. To be honest, as this was the first place I found it in my current land of residence, that small deficiency did not matter, and I dug into it with passionate gusto. I have to say, between finding this place back two months ago and reading Sylvia's article tonight in the paper, well, I have hopes for the future of a blessed Detroit-Windsor hub of world culture.
Again, thanks to Sylvia Rector and the fine people at the Detroit Free Press.
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