If you are not Quebecois, try not to beat yourself up too badly for not knowing what poutine is. First of all, the word literally means " A MESS" in French-Canadian slang. And no better word could describe what this after-drinking-too-much binge food really is.
You start with steak fries. You know, the extra thick, wide cut french fries. But you cook them extra long so they are almost starting to turn brown. You see, you need them seriously crisp for what you are about to do.
Now plate (or bowl) the fries, dash a tiny bit of salt on them, very little. Toss in a double handful of white cheddar cheese curds. Here is where the argument starts: Drown in either "sauce brune" or chicken gravy. The purists scream for sauce brune, which is a brown gravy, but not necessarily a beef gravy. I guess I am a purist, because I have never had it made with chicken gravy.
Got it? A heart attack, I mean. Cuz that is what this stuff leads to....heart attacks. It's all fat and cholesterol and salt.
It starts out hot and the crispness of the fries is wonderful even as the the nuggets of cold cheese curds squeek against your teeth. It is a textural things as much as flavour! But you gotta scarf it down fast as the gravy softens the fries and melts the cheese. Eventually, it devolves into "le poutine", a mess, on your plate and you toss aside the fork and take up the spoon so you don't leave behind a single morsel or drip of gravy.
The fresher the cheese curds, the better. You Wisconsinites have an edge on most of us, blast you
