Top of the Pots : Poutine

24th March 2021

Last week we heard from some of the Lee Greens Packing Team, on their favourite potato recipes. Marie-Claire told us about her favourite Canadian dish - Poutine. Marie-Claire was so enthusaistic about Poutine we decided to do a special post all about it, and had the idea for a Top of the Pots series. Where would you rate Poutine on your own Top of the Pops? Over to Marie-Claire;

One of my favourite Canadian delicacies is the glorious poutine - a sublime combination of herby gravy, cheese curds (essentially curdled milk) and potato.

Each of these ingredients has to be impressive in its own right so that when they come together it’s hard to only just eat a little. My favourite is a chunky chip, cheese curds (which you can only get in a few spots in London - Mouse Tail in Deptford Market offer a good UK version) and St Hubert’s gravy which I always bring back from a visit to Canada. The idea is to get the gravy nice and hot so it melts the cheese curds into a gooey, stringy yet squeaky mess over the fries.

You can get poutine virtually anywhere in Canada, with a chain of poutinieres specialising in all types of poutine flavours. It’s such a quintessential part of Canadiana that you’ll find a poutiniere with a queue down the road at the end of a Saturday night out - something no kebab shop would see!

Lastly, and somewhat controversially, is whether you have it on its own or with ketchup. That choice divides people like Marmite or pineapple on a pizza. The original and best cheese curds come from a small rural town in Quebec. People buy them by the bag and will eat them straight as a snack.

This Christmas myself and another Canadian friend who couldn’t go home spent the day together and one of the highlights was the authentic poutine we made as a snack that day. It was a little bit of home on a day when we couldn’t be in our “other” homes.

Marie-Claire, Lee Greens Packing Team

Header Photo by Francisca Alvarez on Unsplash
Body photo by Marie-Claire