Mouth-watering Poutine Recipes For A Piece of Canada At Home
These days you can get poutine across Canada and some of the Northern United States, having taken on local tastes for some wild combinations of flavor. We present you with our three favorite Poutine recipes — classic, Foie Gras Poutine and Nova Scotia lobster poutine so that you can try a couple of pieces of Canada at home!
The Classic Canadian Poutine
Craving a taste of the classic? Head to historic Quebec city! Locally-loved chain Chez Ashton serves up the best poutine around. Best time to visit? Once the temperatures drop. Quebec City can go as low as −22 °F in the winter on the regular but Chez Ashton offers a brilliant scheme for these arctic days: their prices drop with the temperature so if it’s a cool −30 °C (−22 °F), you get 30% off! Sweeten the deal with a stay at the nearby Manoir Victoria, so any late night poutine cravings will be nearly at your doorstep.
Can’t make it to Quebec City? Whip up some at home:
The key ingredients to make a delicious poutine are the cheese curds and the gravy. We can’t stress enough just how much more delicious a poutine is with real Quebec cheesecurds. If these are unavailable where you live, shredded mozzarella is also a good second option. We love gravy from scratch in a poutine but you can also use the canned variety in a pinch. Alternatively, you can also make mushroom gravy for any vegetarians!
Ingredients
- 1 quart vegetable oil (for frying)
- 10 1/4 ounces of beef gravy
- 5 medium potatoes, cut into fries
- 2 cups cheese curds
Directions
- Heat oil in a deep fryer or deep heavy skillet to 365°F (185°C).
- Warm your gravy in saucepan or the microwave.
- Place the fries into the hot oil, and cook until light brown, roughly 5 minutes.
- Place fries on a paper towel lined plate to drain.
- Portion out the fries and sprinkle the cheese over them.
- Ladle gravy over the fries and cheese, and serve immediately!
The Wild Chef’s Foie Gras Poutine
Any trip to Montreal wouldn’t be complete without a sampling of real Quebecois poutine. Canadian celebrity chef of Au Pied Du Cochon Martin Picard takes a very decadent spin on the classic by introducing foie gras into the recipe. Just steps away from this oozing plate of gourmand decadence as well as all the other thrills of Montreal is the Hyatt Regency Montreal where you can spend your vacation feasting at Au Pied Du Cochon.
If you can’t visit the city but you’re craving its deliciously fatty flavor, you can make it at home with a trip to any gourmet grocery store with the original Martin Picard recipe.
Foie Gras Sauce Ingredients
- 7 oz fresh foie gras
- 6 egg yolks
- 2 ½ cup Pied de cochon poutine sauce (or store-bought poutine sauce)
- ¼ cup 35% M.F. cream
Foie Gras Sauce Directions
- In a saucepan, bring the poutine sauce to a boil. Set aside ½ cup (100 mL) of sauce to pour over when the poutine is finished.
- Combine the egg yolks, foie gras and cream in a food processor at high speed until it’s well blended.
- Slowly add the 2 cups (500 mL) hot poutine sauce to the mixture.
- Pour into a saucepan and heat slowly, stirring constantly, until the sauce reaches 175F degrees.
- Remove sauce from heat. Stir for 30 seconds. Keep warm.
Further Poutine Ingredients
- 4 slices fresh foie gras, 3 ½ oz (100 g) each, 1-inch (2 ½ cm) thick
- 14 oz cheese curds
- 4 white-fleshed potatoes (cut into French fries)
- Oil for frying (2/3 tallow and 1/3 peanut oil)
Further Poutine Directions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (230C).
- In a very hot pan, sear the foie gras slices until they are golden brown.
- Transfer the slices to a baking sheet ands finish cooking in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Cook the fries in the oil until crisp and place them on top of a mound of cheese curds in the middle of the plate.
- Place a slice of seared foie gras on the fries and smother in the foie gras sauce.
- Decorate with a few dabs of regular poutine sauce and serve immediately.
Nova Scotia Lobster Poutine by Chef Dennis Johnson
How do you make a Maritime poutine? Add a little lobster of course! Stay at the Courtyard Marriott hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia, you don’t even have to take your foot off hotel property to enjoy a lobster poutine at the Grill at CUT Steakhouse. The mouthwatering and luxurious take on poutine is one of their menu favorites.
Can’t sail the seas to Halifax? This lobster poutine which skips almost all the traditional ingredients, other than cheese curds, in favor of some very interesting flavors that melt in your mouth. This poutine recipe from Dennis Johnson was a local favorite at the now-closed Halifax restaurant Fid. You can re-create it easily at home and it’s well worth the effort!
Ingredients
- 2 oz fresh Nova Scotia lobster tail cut into bite sized chunks
- ½ Cheese Curds
- 1 oz socca fries
4 oz chickpea flour
2 cups water
Salt to taste - 2 tbsp Beurre montée
1/3 cup water
10 oz unsalted butter
Salt to taste
Process
- For the Socca Fries, heat water in a pot. Thicken the water with the sifted chickpea flour.
- Season when it has become quite thick. Pour the mixture into a container and let cool.
- Cut the cooled socca into French fry shapes.
- Deep fry the “fries” in canola oil until they are crisp on the outside and molten on the inside.
- For the Beurre montée, heat the water and the salt in a pot. Gradually incorporate the butter whisking as you add.
- Once you have an emulsion you are ready to go. Do not overheat as this will break the emulsion.
Directions for the poutine
- Then turn your broiler on.
- Heat the lobster in the beurre montée. Place some of the curds in the bottom of a small bowl.
- Place the “fries” on top of the curds. Spoon the lobster over the fries and place the rest of the curds on top of the lobster.
- Spoon the 2 tablespoons of beurre montée over the lobster and heat under the broiler until the curds on top have melted a bit.
- Garnish and serve. Bon appétit !