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Poutine (pronunciation in IPA as heard in Quebec French — listen to it in .wav format) is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered with hot gravy (usually brown gravy) and sometimes other additional ingredients. The curds' freshness is important as it makes them soft in the warm fries, without completely melting. It is a quintessential Canadian comfort food, especially but not exclusively among Québécois.

Poutine is a fast food staple in Canada; it is sold by many fast food chains (such as New York Fries and Harvey's) in the provinces, in small diners and pubs, as well as by roadside "poutine trucks" and "fries stands". International chains like McDonalds, A&W, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King also sell mass-produced poutine across Canada, especially in Quebec. Popular Quebec restaurants that serve poutine include Chez Ashton, Lafleur Restaurants, La Belle Province and Dic Ann's Hamburgers. Along with fries and pizza, poutine is a very common dish sold and eaten in high school cafeterias in southern Ontario. It's also a very popular meal at ski resorts.

Origins

The dish originated in rural Quebec, Canada in the late 1950s and is now popular in parts of the country. Several Québécois communities claim to be the origin of poutine, including Drummondville (by Jean-Paul Roy), Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Victoriaville. The most popular tale is the one of Fernand Lachance, from Warwick, Quebec, which claims that poutine was invented in 1957, when a customer ordered fries while waiting for his cheese curds from the Kingsey cheese factory in Kingsey Falls (now in Warwick and bought by Saputo). Lachance is said to have exclaimed ça va faire une maudite poutine ("it will make a hell of a mess"), hence the name. The gravy was allegedly added later, to keep the fries warm longer. Linguists have found no occurrence of the word poutine with this meaning earlier than 1978.

Variations

There are many variations of poutine. A common variation, Italian poutine, substitutes gravy with "spaghetti sauce" (a thick tomato and ground beef sauce, roughly analogous to Bolognese sauce), while another variation includes sausage slices. Greek poutine consists of shoestring fries topped with feta cheese and a warm Mediterranean vinaigrette or fries, gravy and feta cheese. Some restaurants in Montreal offer poutine with such additions as bacon, or smoked meat, although these are not as common.

Some restaurants boast a dozen or more variations of poutine. For instance, more upscale poutine with three-pepper sauce, Merguez sausage, foie gras or even caviar and truffle can be found. Another variation, poutine Galvaude, includes shredded chicken and green peas, often eliminating the cheese -- this mimics the typical Québécois preparation of a hot chicken sandwich. When ordering a fast food combination meal in Canada, you can pay extra to get your french fries replaced with a poutine.

In the United States, mostly in the state of Maine, poutine is referred to as "mixed fries", "mix fry", or simply "mix" , although the term "poutine" has been gaining in popularity in recent years, especially in Aroostook County. It is very similar, but shredded mozzarella cheese is the most popular topping, along with beef or brown gravy (although turkey gravy is also used in some places). It is a popular item among small, privately-owned restaurants. Mostly part of the culture of The County, a mixed fry can also come with cooked ground beef on top, and is referred to as a hamburger mix. The latter is less popular than a regular mix. In diners in New Jersey and New York City, a similar dish is available, except it is called disco fries. Slices of American, Mozzarella or Swiss can be used instead of curds.

In the Northeast Kingdom region of Vermont, which borders Quebec, poutine is generally served at restaurants. It is served the same way that it was originally created, using large steak fries, beef gravy and cheese curds. Residents sometimes pronounce it "poo-tine", but most pronounce it "poot-tsien".

In fact, it is quite popular almost anywhere in the U.S. bordering Canada, notably Sault Ste. Marie, MI. While it is possible to get gravy with one's fries in many locations, only rarely is it served with cheese. It is also not often sold on its own--it is usually used as a side dish.

Outside of Quebec, poutine is sometimes served with regular cheese (usually mozzarella cheese) rather than curds.

Etymology

The etymology of the word is a subject of much debate in Quebec. Many believe that it may be an adaptation of the English word pudding, the word being attested from the end of the 19th century in Oscar Dunn's Canadian French dictionary with the meaning of pudding, and with similar meanings in Acadian French and Cajun French. Some Quebec linguists think that the word evolved from Provençal poutingo, which means bad stew, under the phonetic influence of English pudding (if so, this would possibly be the only Provençal word to have penetrated the modern Quebec French lexicon). The Office québécois de la langue française rejects this theory.

Poutine in politics

In a segment on the television series This Hour Has 22 Minutes during the 2000 American election, Rick Mercer convinced then-Governor of Texas George W. Bush that Canada's Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien, was named Jean Poutine and that he was supporting Bush's candidacy. A few years later when Bush made his first official visit to Canada, he joked during a speech, "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him for that endorsement. I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine." The remark was met with laughter and applause.

"Poutine", pronounced identically, also happens to be the French spelling of Russian president Vladimir Putin's surname, which has given rise to some jokes and wordplay.

Related dishes

While at first glance the dish may seem similar to American 'disco fries', poutine with melted cheese, shredded cheese, or cheese slices is not regarded as "genuine" poutine, which is served with curd cheese.

In New Brunswick, there is an earlier traditional Acadian dish known as poutine râpée, which is completely different from the "poutine québécoise". The Acadian poutine is a ball of grated and mashed potato, salted, filled with chicken or pork in the centre, and boiled. The result is a moist greyish ball about the size of a baseball. It is commonly eaten with salt and pepper or brown sugar. It is believed to have originated from the German Klöße, prepared by early German settlers who lived among the Acadians. Many other dishes, similar or not, are known by the same name.

Acadians of Western Nova Scotia feast on a similar dish which is called râpure, or rappie pie in English. The difference with the New Brunswick poutine râpée is that it is served flat, rather than in the shape of a ball.

Chips and Gravy is a staple of the cheaper bistro style menus, in such places as Royal Canadian Legion and Workers Clubs, where the food offered would not be considered "fast food" but is still cheap and filling, especially for children. (The word “chips”, commonly referring in the United States to flat, crunchy slices of potato, can also be a synonym for “french fries”.)

References

1. http://www.cbc.ca/inventions/inventions.html
2. Lonely Planet: Canada, any edition
3. Krauss, Clifford (2004-04-26), "Quebec Finds Pride in a Greasy Favorite", New York Times, retrieved 2007-04-24 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/12/20041201-4.html

External links

• Food Tangent: The Majesty of Poutine BrightestYoungThings.com overview of poutine and Chez Vachon in Manchester, NH
• The Poutine, She's Delicious, a brief irreverent history of the food
• Montrealpoutine.com, a poutine website with poutine restaurant ratings, recipes.
• Poutine Page A poutine enthusiast's webpage, including pictures and an overview of the poutine making process.
• Poutine on The News (1991), CBC News Report on Poutine
• montrealfood.com
• A Staple From Quebec, Embarrassing but Adored, New York Times Article on Poutine coming to New York City

• Acadian cuisine
• Canadian cuisine
• Fast food
• Potato dishes
• Quebecois cuisine