Poutine

My family recently traveled to Toronto to attend Pam’s cousin Mike’s wedding. It was a blast, however the traveling time in the car was not all of that. Thirteen hours to Toronto, and 9.5 hours back. Go figure. A recent conversation with my colleague Ryan Rau triggered a dish that he was really excited about, poutine. I felt like a clown not knowing what poutine was, as he stated it was served at most restaurants! We had no clue, as most of our dining was Thai takeout, home meals, and an authentic Chinese buffet.

Ryan informed me that poutine was simply french fries with gravy and cheese. Well, when someone mention s something like that, I cannot get it off my mind. Tonight was poutine night. I loved it, however I am a true fan of fries with cheddar, bacon, and chives, alongside sour cream. Go figure. I love junk food like that.

Ingredients:

• Yukon Gold Potatoes, or frozen fries
• Cheddar or any other mild cheese
• Package of Brown Gravy
• Salt and Pepper
• Cooking Oil (optional)

If you are using frozen fries, go at it, follow the directions, and depending on how you like your tenderness in your fries, layer the cheese on top about three minutes before you would normally take them out. Use as much cheese as you like. 🙂

On the other hand, if you are wanting the real deal fries, then clean them. That’s right, get the dirt off the skin. I like the skin on. That is where the nutrients are right? Cut the potato in half, then determine the cut of your fry. Depending on the width, continue to cut the potato down. Then, arrange them, and cut them lengthwise again. Once you get as many fries cut as you want, soak them in water for nearly 45 minutes. After the soaking period, drain, arrange them on a baking tray (spray with pam or lightly grease) and place in the oven at 350 degrees for roughly 15 minutes. This process begins to eliminate the moisture, as well as cooks the french fry. During the last five minutes or so of this process, heat the oil, enough to cook the fries. Once the oil is heated, roughly seven minutes or so, on medium-to-high heat, add the fries in batches. Cook until golden brown, remove and let them drain in a strainer lined with paper towel. Salt them at this time. Continue with the remaining batches, and continue with the process of draining and salting.

The next step is to place them back on the baking tray, top with cheese, and on 400 degrees cook until the cheese is melted.

While the fries are in the oven, add your cup of water to your gravy pack, and cook. This only takes a few minutes. Remove the fries, place on a plate, and add the gravy. Add pepper at this time, and get ready to rumble. They were good. Something that you definitely do not want to consume every night, but enjoyable as a snack or after a few beers.