Quebecois dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy
This article is about the dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy. For the Acadian dish of boiled potato dumplings, seePoutine râpée. For the president of Russia, seeVladimir Putin.
Poutine[a] is a dish offrench fries andcheese curds topped with a hot browngravy. It emerged in theCentre-du-Québec region ofQuebec in the late 1950s, though its exact origins are uncertain, and there are several competing claims regarding its invention. For many years, it was used by some to mockQuebec society.[1] Poutine later became celebrated as a symbol ofQuébécois culture and the province of Quebec. It has long been associated withQuebec cuisine, and its rise in prominence has led to its growing popularity throughout the rest ofCanada.
The dish was created in theCentre-du-Québec area in the late 1950s.[1][3]: 12–31 Several restaurants in the area claim to be the originators of the dish, but no consensus exists.[3]: 12–31 [4][5]
Le Lutin qui rit,Warwick – Restaurateur Fernand Lachance of Le Café Idéal (later Le Lutin qui rit[6]), is said to have exclaimed in 1957, "ça va faire une maudite poutine!" (English:"It will make a damn mess!") when asked by a regular to put a handful of cheese curds in a take-out bag of french fries.[7][8][9][10] The dish "poutine" appears on the establishment's 1957 menu.[11] Lachance served this on a plate, and beginning in 1962 added hot gravy to keep it warm.[10][4]
Le Roy Jucep in 2018 Le Roy Jucep,Drummondville – This drive-in restaurant served french fries with gravy, to which some customers would add a side order of cheese curds.[4] Owner Jean-Paul Roy began serving the combination in 1958 and added it to the menu in 1964 as "fromage-patate-sauce".[4][6] Felt to be too long a name, this was later changed topoutine for a cook nicknamed "Ti-Pout" and a slang word for "pudding".[b][4][5][11] The restaurant displays a copyright registration certificate, issued by theCanadian Intellectual Property Office, which alludes to Roy having invented poutine.[11]
La Petite Vache,Princeville – Customers would mix cheese curds with their fries, a combination which was added to the menu. One option included gravy and was called the "Mixte".[4]
According to Canadian food researcherSylvain Charlebois, whileWarwick is the birthplace of poutine,Drummondville's Jean-Paul Roy is the true inventor since Le Roy Jucep was the first to sell poutine with three combined ingredients, in 1964.[12]The Oxford Companion to Cheese takes a different perspective, stating that the inventors were not chefs but the customers who chose to add cheese curds to their fries.[6]
Poutine was consumed in small "greasy spoon"diners (commonly known in Quebec ascantines orcasse-croûtes),pubs, at roadside chip wagons (commonly known ascabanes à patates, literally "potato shacks"), and in ice hockey arenas.[1] For decades, it remained a country snack food in Quebec's dairy region, due to the narrow freshness window ofcheddar cheese curds.[10][13] In 1969, poutine was brought to Quebec City in Ashton Leblond'sfood truck (a business which grew into theChez Ashton fast-food chain).[14] In the early 1970s,La Banquise began serving poutine in Montreal,[15] followed by theBurger King chain in 1983. Others that followed used inferior cheese and the dish's reputation declined. Poutine was largely perceived as an unsophisticated backwoods creation or unhealthyjunk food[16][10] to be consumed after a night of drinking.[17]
Montreal chefs would make poutine to feed their staff but had not dared to put it on their menus. In the 1990s, attempts were made to elevate the dish by usingbaked potatoes and duckstock. In November 2001,Martin Picard of bistroAu Pied de Cochon began serving afoie gras poutine which was praised by customers and food critics.[18] This influenced chefs in Toronto and Vancouver to feature poutine on upscale menus.[19] ChefMark McEwan served lobster poutine at his Bymark eatery, and chefJamie Kennedy servedbraised beef poutine at his eponymous restaurant.[20] Over the next decade, poutine gained acceptance and popularity in all types of restaurants, fromhaute cuisine to fast food, and spread across Canada and internationally.[1] Poutine became extremely trendy in the early 2010s, with an explosion of poutineries in cities like Toronto, leading to stories about poutine's association with romance[21] and events like theIBM Watson Cognitive Cooking Poutine Event, where the computer generated unique poutine recipes based on the demographics of Toronto and Montreal.[22]
TheDictionnaire historique du français québécois lists 15 meanings ofpoutine inQuébécois andAcadian French, most of which are for kinds of food; the wordpoutine in the meaning "fries with cheese and gravy" is dated to 1982 in English.[23] Other senses of the word have been in use since at least 1810.[24]
According toMerriam-Webster, a popular etymology is thatpoutine is from a Québécois slang word meaning "mess", and that others attribute it to the English wordpudding. The exact provenance of the wordpoutine is uncertain.[23]
TheDictionnaire historique mentions the possibility that the formpoutine is simply agallicization of the wordpudding. However, it considers it more likely that the term was inherited from regional languages in France, with some meanings shaped later by the influence of the similarly sounding English wordpudding. It cites theProvençal formspoutingo "bad stew" andpoutité "hodgepodge" or "crushed fruit or foods";poutringo "mixture of various things" inLanguedocien; andpoutringue orpotringa "bad stew" inFranche-Comté as possibly related topoutine. The meaning "fries with cheese and gravy" ofpoutine is among those held as probably unrelated topudding, provided the latter view is correct.[24]
La Banquise, a poutinerie in Montreal, serves more than thirty varieties of poutine.[15]
The traditional recipe for poutine consists of:
French fries: These are usually of medium thickness and fried (sometimes twice) such that the inside stays soft, while the outside is crispy.[25]
Cheese curds: Fresh cheese curds are used to give the desired texture. The curd size varies, as does the amount used.[26]
Browngravy: Traditionally, it is a light and thin beef or chicken gravy,[25][6] somewhat salty and mildly spiced with a hint of pepper;[15] or asauce brune,[13] which is a combination of chicken and beef stock.[25][8] Poutine sauces (French:mélange à sauce poutine) are sold in Quebec, Ontario, andMaritime grocery stores in jars or cans and in powdered mix packets; some grocery chains offer their own house-brand versions. Many stores and restaurants also offer vegetarian gravy.[27][c]
To maintain the texture of the fries, the cheese curds and gravy are added immediately before serving the dish. The hot gravy is usually poured over room-temperature cheese curds, so they are warmed without melting completely.[15] The thin gravy allows all the fries to be coated.[25] The serving dish typically has some depth to act as a basket for the fries so that they retain their heat.[29]: 195 It is important to control the temperature, timing, and the order in which the ingredients are added to obtain the rightfood textures—an essential part of the experience of eating poutine.[1]
Freshness and juiciness of the curds is essential. Air and moisture seep out of the curds over time, altering their acidity level. This causes proteins to lose their elasticity, and the curds to lose their complex texture and characteristic squeaky[d] sound when chewed.[26] The curds should be less than a day old, which requires proximity to a dairy.[13] While Montreal is 60 kilometres (37 mi) from a cheese plant inMirabel, restaurants and specialty cheese shops outside of dairy regions may be unable to sell enough curds to justify the expense of daily deliveries. Furthermore, Canadian food safety practices require curds to be refrigerated within 24 hours, which suppresses the properties of their texture.[26] This has resulted inpoutineries which specialize in the dish; busy poutineries may use 100 kilograms (220 lb) of curds per day.[15] Poutineries which are too distant from dairies may make their own cheese curds on site, in batches every few hours, to ensure a fresh and steady supply.[10]
Poutine made with thick beef gravy on french-fried potatoes with fresh cheese curds is a style commonly found outside Quebec.Polish-inspired poutine withpierogi instead of French friesLobster poutine inDartmouth, Nova Scotia
The texture, temperature and viscosity of poutine's ingredients differ and continuously change as the food is consumed, making it a dish of highly dynamic contrasts. Strengthening these contrasts, superior poutines are identified by the crispiness of the fries, freshness of the curds, and a unifying gravy.[1] Even small variations in ingredients or preparation—the oil used for frying, the origin of the curds, or spices in the gravy—can result in a distinctly different experience of eating the poutine.[1]
Some recipes eliminate the cheese, but mostQuébécois would call such a dish afrite sauce (English:french fries with gravy), not poutine. When curds are unavailable,mozzarella cheese may be an acceptable alternative.[25] Shredded mozzarella is commonly used in Saskatchewan.[30] Sweet potato may be used as a healthier alternative to french fries, adding more dietary fibre and vitamins.[31]
Poutineries, like Montreal's La Banquise, which is credited for much of the innovation and popularization of poutine, have dozens of varieties of poutine on their menus.[15] Many of these are based on the traditional recipe with an added meat topping such as sausage, chicken,bacon,brisket, orMontreal-style smoked meat, with the gravy adjusted for balance.[32] TheQuebec City-based chainChez Ashton is known for its poutine Galvaude (topped with chicken and green peas) and Dulton (with ground beef).[33] New variations are frequently introduced. Pulled pork was popular around 2013, followed a couple years later by Asian-fusion poutines.[34]
Montreal's high immigrant population[35] has led to many takes on the dish inspired by other cuisines, such as Haitian, Mexican, Portuguese,[34] Indian, Japanese,[13] Greek, Italian[36] and Lebanese.[37] These poutines may bear little resemblance to the traditional recipe. They replace some or all of the ingredients but maintain the dynamic contrasts of textures and temperatures with a crispy element, a dairy or dairy-like element, and a unifying sauce.[1] Many variations on the original recipe are popular, leading some to suggest that poutine has emerged as a new dish classification in its own right, as withsandwiches,dumplings,soups, andflatbreads.[1]
Poutineries will frequently offer limited-time promotional specials, such as a Thanksgiving poutine with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce.[38] In anticipation of the legalization of cannabis in Canada, Montreal's Le Gras Dur served a "pot poutine" with a gravy that included hemp protein, hemp seeds and hemp oil, offered with a joint-like roll of turkey, wild mushrooms and arugula.[39]
Gourmet poutine with three-pepper sauce,merguez sausage,foie gras[40] orcaviar andtruffle can be found. This is a trend that began in the 1990s and is credited to David McMillan of Montreal'sJoe Beef and Globe restaurants.[41][18] Savoury sauces like Moroccan harissa, lobster sauce, and red-wine vealjus have been used to complement artisanal cheeses and rich ingredients.[33]
Poutine is found in the northern border regions of the United States, includingNew England and the largerNortheast, thePacific Northwest, and theUpper Midwest.[59] These regions offer further variations of the basic dish, usually by utilizing cheeses other than fresh curds, which are not widely available in the US. In the country culture, a mixed fry can also come with cookedground beef on top and is referred to as a hamburger mix, though this is less popular than a regular mix.[60][25] In the Pacific Northwest, one variation replaces the gravy withchowder featuring local seafood.[61][62]
Disco fries, french fries typically covered inmozzarella cheese and brown gravy, were popularized in New Jersey in the 1990s.[63] They gained their name in the 1970s for being a favourite of late-night diners, who often came from dancing atdisco clubs.[64] The dish is also popular inNew Orleans[65] including variations called Cajun poutine.
Poutine spread to the United Kingdom, Korea and Russia, where it has been referred to as "Raspoutine".[14] The first poutinerie in Paris, La Maison de la Poutine, opened in 2017 and quickly gained attention from mainstream media and gastronomers.[35]
A similar dish known as chips, cheese and gravy, consisting of thick-cut chips covered in shredded ManxCheddar cheese and topped with a thick beef gravy, is popular in theIsle of Man.[66][67]
A cultural marker, poutine had long been Quebec's adored junk food before spreading across the rest of Canada and the United States.[1][68][69] It had by then made inroads with food critics and established culinary circles, challenging its junk food status.[1] Food criticJacob Richler noted in 2012 that Canadian dishes are too similar to their European roots to be considered original, with the exception of poutine, which he credited as the country's most famous culinary creation.[70] In May 2014, the word "poutine" was added to theMerriam-Webster Dictionary of the English language.[8]
The first poutine festival was held in Warwick, Quebec, in 1993. This annual event expanded to become the largest cheese festival in Canada.[11] In 2014, it was moved to the larger town ofVictoriaville.[79] Montreal has hostedLa Poutine Week, an annual festival, food tour, and competition held 1–7 February, since 2013.[80][81][34] It spread across Canada and internationally, and by 2021 had become the largest poutine festival in the world, with over 700 restaurants serving more than 350,000 poutines.[82][83][84] Le Grand Poutinefest is a poutine festival founded in 2015 which tours cities and towns in Quebec, operating most weekends from April to September.[85][86][87] Poutine festivals are also held in Drummondville (since 2008),[88][89][90] Ottawa-Gatineau,[1] Toronto,[72] Calgary,[91] Vancouver,[92] Moncton,[93] Quebec City and Sherbrooke.[94] In the US, major festivals have been held in Chicago, Illinois,[13][95] Manchester, New Hampshire,[96] Knoxville, Tennessee, Portland, Maine,[97] Burlington, Vermont,[98] and in Rhode Island.[8][99][100]
Joey Chestnut holds the trophy at the 2012 World Poutine Eating Championship in Toronto.
Since 2010, theInternational Federation of Competitive Eating (IFCE) has held a world poutine-eating championship sponsored by Toronto-based chainSmoke's Poutinerie. There was criticism that the inaugural contest was held outside of Quebec and excluded Québécois. The IFCE stated that Montreal poutineries had not expressed any interest in holding the competition. Regulations for contests in Quebec make it difficult to include the province, which is often absent from national contests.[101] Smoke's has since sponsored a cross-Canada poutine eating tour.[102] In 2011, chefChuck Hughes won onIron Chef America (episode 2 ofseason 9) by beatingBobby Flay with a plate of lobster poutine.[103]
Jones Soda Co., an originally Canadian company now based in the US, created a poutine-flavoured limited-edition soft drink in 2013, which received internationalpop culture attention.[104] Bacon-poutine was one of four flavours selected as a finalist in the 2014Lay's Canada Do Us A Flavour potato chip contest.[105] Though it did not win,[106] Lay's later added a bacon-poutine variety in its Canada entry for the World Flavourites.[107] Loblaws'President's Choice andRuffles brands also offer poutine-flavoured potato chips in Canada.[108]Giapos Ice Cream of New Zealand has served a "poutine ice cream" ofoolongmatcha tea, ice cream and caramel sauce over hand-cut fries since 2017.[109] In a 2018 promotional campaign for the filmCrazy Rich Asians, "the world's richest poutine" was created withwagyu steak, lobster, truffles, shiitake and chanterelle mushrooms, edible orchids, and gold flakes, priced just under $450.[110]
Health advocates have been critical of poutine since the 1980s.[10] In a 2013 study of Canadian restaurants, poutine was found to have the second-highestsodium (1547 mg average and as high as 2227 mg) among single meal items, after stir-fry entrées.[115]
The social status of poutine has evolved dramatically since its origins in rural Quebec in the 1950s. The dish was long mocked as a culinary invention and used as a means of stigmatization by non-Québécois against Quebec society to reduce its legitimacy.[3]: 74–109 [1] While the first generations that suffered from the poutine stigma opted to disidentify from the dish, younger people in Quebec began to reappropriate poutine as a symbol of Quebecois cultural pride.[1][3]: 74–109 Today, the dish is celebrated in many annual poutine festivals in Quebec,[116][117] the rest of Canada,[118][119] and in the United States.[120][95]
The evolution of the different symbols associated with poutine was first studied inMaudite Poutine! by Charles-Alexandre Théorêt.[3] Théorêt revisited many of these stigmas in an interview given atTout le monde en parle on 11 November 2007.[121]
As poutine gained popularity beyond the provincial borders of Quebec in the mid-2000s, the dish gradually stopped being mocked and was eventually introduced into the popular discourse as a symbol of Canadian identity.[1] Today, the dish is often presented as being a part of Canadian cuisine, even as Canada's national dish.[1] Nicolas Fabien-Ouellet suggested in the peer-reviewed journalCuiZine that this "Canadization" of poutine constitutescultural appropriation.[1][122][123][16][e] This appropriation is not linked to its preparation or consumption outside Quebec, but strictly to its presentation as a Canadian dish instead of a Québécois dish.[1][136][36][2] Fabien-Ouellet explains:
as soon as a Quebec cultural trait begins to be appreciated internationally, it begins to be identified as typically Canadian, this prevents Quebec culture from shining, and becomes part of absorption and assimilation processes. All this is reminiscent of the reasons whyCajun cuisine is differentiated in the US context.[137]
In aTalking to Americans segment on the Canadian mock television news showThis Hour Has 22 Minutes, during the2000 US election, comedianRick Mercer posed as a reporter and asked US politicians what they thought of "Prime Minister Jean Poutine" and his endorsement ofGeorge W. Bush for president. (The Prime Minister of Canada at the time wasJean Chrétien.) None of the interviewees noticed the insertion of "Poutine" and Bush pledged to "work closely" with Mr. Poutine.[71][138][139] A few years later, when Bush made his first official visit to Canada as president, he joked in a speech, "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him [...] I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine." The remark was met with laughter and applause.[140]
Signage outside Montreal's Vladimir Poutine restaurant
In French, Russian presidentVladimir Putin's surname is spelled "Poutine", with the two having identical pronunciation.[141][142] The similarity has been a source of confusion; in commenting on theTalking to Americans prank on Bush,Washington Post columnist Al Kamen mistakenly believed that Mercer's fictional Jean Poutine was a reference to Putin.[139] In 2017, Russian-themed poutinerie Vladimir Poutine opened in Montreal, with dishes named for political figures from Rasputin to Donald Trump.[143] In the week following the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, frequent insults and threats were received by the three Maison de la Poutine restaurants in Paris, some stating a belief that they worked for the Russian state. Another poutinerie in Lyon changed the name of its 20-year signature dish, Vladimir poutine, stating that it "was no longer funny". In Quebec, Le Roy Jucep announced that it was retiring the wordpoutine in support of Ukraine and reverted to "fromage-patate-sauce" on its menus and branding.[144][145][142]
Belgian Prime MinisterCharles Michel had a Canadian lunch with counterpart Justin Trudeau on 16 June 2017, during which they ate hotdogs and poutine. Michel tweeted later that this was "A great way to meet a dear friend though our fries are better", referring to the popular claim that fries were originally invented in Belgium.[150] In 2019, Canada attempted to garner support for its campaign for a non-permanent United Nations Security Council seat inthe following year's election by serving poutine to UN diplomats.[151]
^The dish was originally calledfromage-patate-sauce (cheese-fries-gravy) but this proved too long to put on the menu.[4][11] According to Renée Brousseau, the general manager of Le Roy Jucep, the drive-in's servers demanded a name for the popular dish to facilitate taking orders from curbside to kitchen. They said "Ti-Pout makes the pudding", using the nickname of a cook andpouding, the slang word they used for strange combinations of food. Brousseau stated that this was how they came up with 'poutine'.[10][4]
^Brown gravy, as Americans use the term – consisting of flour, butter, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and beef broth[28][failed verification] – is not an appropriate substitute for propersauce brune.
^Cheese curds are also known assqueaky cheese.[4] The fresher the curds, the louder they squeak when chewed.[1][26] InThe Wall Street Journal, Adam Leith Gollner described chewing fresh curds as "like a rusty doorhinge swinging open between your teeth".[13] Those from the Centre-du-Québec region do not consider a poutine authentic if it does not squeak.[25]
^abDeSoucey, Michaela (November 2020). "Reviewed Work(s): The Emergence of National Food: The Dynamics of Food and Nationalism".Contemporary Sociology.49 (6). American Sociological Association:517–518.doi:10.1177/0094306120963121l.JSTOR26985023.S2CID226239110.
^abKane, Marion (8 November 2008)."The war of the curds".Toronto Star. Toronto: Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved2 January 2019.
^Kates, Joanne (28 February 2009). "Restaurant Review: If poutine's your thing, get thee to Smoke's".The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ontario.ProQuest1412736257.
^Pelley, Lauren (2 February 2015). "Poutine inventions offer new wheys to eat your curds".Toronto Star. Toronto, Ontario. pp. E1, E8.ProQuest1650084755.
^ab"poutine - \poo-TEEN\".Merriam-Webster. 15 June 2014.Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved15 June 2014.Although the earliest evidence of the word "poutine" in an English publication is from 1982, historical accounts of the dish itself date to several decades earlier ... Some assert that "poutine" is related to the English word "pudding," but a more popular etymology is that it's from a Québécois slang word meaning "mess."
^abChavich, Cinda (18 April 2018)."Haute poutine".The Globe and Mail. Toronto: The Globe and Mail Inc.Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved2 January 2019.
^Watson, Amie (10 April 2012)."Poutine for the rest of Canada".Regina Leader-Post. Postmedia Network Inc. Postmedia News.Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved2 January 2019.
^abSekules, Kate (23 May 2007)."A Staple From Quebec, Embarrassing but Adored".The New York Times.Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved2 January 2019.Granted, poutine came in only at No. 10. But it beat, among other things, the electron microscope, the BlackBerry, the paint roller and the caulking gun, lacrosse, plexiglass, radio voice transmission and basketball.
^Perreaux, Les (5 May 2013)."Canada Day heads to the Big Apple".The Globe and Mail. Toronto: The Globe and Mail Inc.Archived from the original on 18 November 2016. Retrieved2 January 2019.
^Niester, Alan (7 April 2000)."A night for the Groucho glasses".The Globe and Mail. Toronto: The Globe and Mail Inc.Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved23 May 2018.
^"Poutine Week Montreal".Montreal Gazette. Postmedia Network Inc. 21 January 2013.Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved2 January 2019.
^Trillin, Calvin (15 November 2009)."Funny Food".The New Yorker. Toronto: Conde Nast.Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved3 June 2019.I appreciate his strong statement [...] He understands I believe in free trade. He understands I want to make sure our relations with our most important neighbor to the north of us is strong. And we'll work closely together.
^"President Discusses Strong Relationship with Canada".whitehouse.archives.gov (Press release).Office of the Press Secretary (United States), The White House. 1 December 2004.Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved2 January 2019.I told Paul that I really have only one regret about this visit to Canada. 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.
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