Tinned Valentine poutine

Valentine's Day coincided with the most wintry weather we've had this year.


I received a variety of more-or-less typical Valentine gifts.


Among them was an unexpected surprise--a can of poutine sauce.


My mother made a chocolate truffle Valentine cake.

U.S. poutine dreams pierced

It began as a year of great promise for poutine.

Early in 2006, it seemed as if nothing—not even the North American Free Trade Agreement—would stand in the way of one man’s solitary battle to introduce Canadian poutine to the United States.


But as time passed, the dream of a licensed Birds 'n' Curds chain was shattered as riots erupted in protest against the restaurant in the upscale neighbourhood of Georgetown in Washington, D.C.

In September, my entrepreneurial friend confessed he was running into problems.

"There is a strong anti-Canadian undercurrent in leafy Georgetown," he said.

"They won't let me bring in Canadian chefs, who are the only ones who can do poutine the right way, and anti-Canadian groups are threatening to burn the place down if I go ahead with the opening. Frankly, I never realized how deeply unpopular Canadians were here."

The first Birds 'n' Curds restaurant was to open in the former Riggs Bank at the intersection of Wisconsin and M Streets in the heart of the Georgetown shopping area.

ORIGINS OF POUTINE

Poutine is a popular French-Canadian dish made of French fries, cheese curds and gravy.

The creator of the dish, which is sold in pubs and restaurants in eastern parts of Canada, Fernand Lachance (pictured below), died in 2004 at the age of 86 in Warwick, Quebec, a small town 138 kilometres (86 miles) northeast of Montreal.


Legend has it that Lachance first made poutine after a trucker came into his restaurant in September 1957 asking for a mixture of cheese curds, fries and gravy.

Poutine is also said to have evolved from pudding recipes of the French-speaking Acadians of Atlantic Canada.


Cheese curds are small, rubbery pieces of fresh cheddar that have not yet been pressed or aged. Poutine is French-Canadian slang for the word “mess.”

EARLY DAYS

The summer began on a high note for the Birds 'n' Curds project, with an elite crew of Georgetown residents gathering at the restaurant while it was still under construction to sip on poutinis—vodka and potato schnapps cocktails with cheese curds floating in them.


"Man, I got so hammered on poutinis last night . . . I hope I NEVER see any more beef vodka!" one resident proclaimed.

"Of course, I must say, poutinis rarely make people sick -- that's because the grease content of the gravy schnapps is so high that it coats your stomach, limiting the damage the alcohol can do."

GEORGETOWN RIOTS

Insurance companies have since frozen out the Birds 'n' Curds project. My friend speculates that they are afraid of taking a loss after the Georgetown riots revealed a strong anti-Canadian sentiment in Washington.

"The [renovation] work really slowed down when the anti-Canadian riots started," my friend said. “It's getting really ugly. Two nights ago, a big [red] maple leaf was painted on the door of my Georgetown home."


"It's kind of a stalemate," he said. "I remain stunned at the depth of feeling against that kind of food. On the positive side, I'm pleased with the interest and creativity sparked by the poutini recipes. I think that may be the best thing to come out of this."

He said he's not sure if he will produce Wisconsin-style cheese curd dishes instead.


"It's a question of whether I want to sell out a whole culture for a few dollars," he explained.

"I'm the one who wants to open a Canadian restaurant, and I've said openly that I thought Canadians aren't as bad as everybody thinks. That's just the kind of open-minded guy I am."

He says he hopes his work leads to a Nobel Peace Prize ~

Popularity of Poutini cocktail surges

A Poutini cocktail craze seems to be taking off amid buzz over the projected launch of a chain of poutine and chicken restaurants in the United States this fall.

Poutine Queen, a reader of this blog, submitted the photo of the Poutini shown above.

"I took Bob the Bartender’s advice and here is my latest version of the classic Poutini," she said, referring to an online chat with the bartender about the challenges she faced while mixing the drink, which is made of beef-flavoured vodka, gravy schnapps and Irish-potato liqueur.

"I garnished mine with crispy fries instead of a cheese curd. You can see that I did NOT overblend," Poutine Queen said.

Their conversation is documented in comments below the blog entry titled "Recipe reveals secrets of the Poutini."

Poutine Queen did not stop with the Classic Poutini, but also created a more tropical variation of the cocktail.

"We were finding that the poutini was a bit heavy in this hot weather so we developed a summer version," she said.


"We replaced the beef-flavoured vodka with a more refreshing Stolichnaya potato-lemon vodka, the gravy schnapps with Crème Hollandaise and the potato liqueur with the D’Abruzzo Bocconcini liqueur.

"We’ve garnished the drink with small bocconcini, a variety of summer berries and floated the traditional cheese curds on top."

CURDS 'N' BIRDS

A friend in Washington, D.C. says the first Curds 'n' Birds restaurant is set to open at the intersection of Wisconsin and M Streets in the upscale neighbourhood of Georgetown.

"We’re trying to get Celine Dion and William Shatner to come for the grand opening," he said in an instant message this week. "We’re after people who can eat a bite of poutine."

Rumour has it that former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien may cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.



POUTINE PITFALLS

In 2000, George W. Bush, at the time a U.S. presidential candidate, was duped into answering questions on camera about Prime Minister "Jean Poutine" by Rick Mercer, a Canadian comedian.

Mercer used the footage for the weekly "Talking to Americans" segment of his program "This Hour Has 22 Minutes." The segment mocked Americans by making them look ignorant about Canada.

Bush was asked by Mercer to comment on an endorsement by Canadian Prime Minister "Jean Poutine," as well as the "traditional visit to the U.S." of the "King of Canada," Lucien Bonhomme (a.k.a Lucien Bouchard, former premier of Quebec), according to Wikipedia.

Bush told Mercer that he looked forward to working with Chrétien and to the king's visit, the online encyclopedia says.

On his first official visit to Canada in 2004, Bush quipped: "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."


As he plans the opening festivities, my friend is also mulling over the feasibility of opening a small offshoot Birds 'n' Curds poutine stand where Avon Place and Cambridge Place meet near the intersection of 30th and R Streets in leafy Georgetown.

"You could get carry-out and take it over to eat at the Oak Hill Cemetery on a nice afternoon," he said ~

Recipe reveals secrets of the Poutini

Today my entrepreneurial friend in Washington, D.C. sent me the following Poutini cocktail recipe in an email message.

He tells me he's starting up a poutine and chicken restaurant called Curds 'n' Birds at the intersection of Wisconsin and M Streets in the upscale neighbourhood of leafy Georgetown.

"I had the bartender at Curds 'n' Birds whip up his signature drink--the Poutini--for your blog readers," he said of the photo of the muddy concoction, which is shown above.

Poutini Recipe

4 oz (118 ml) Smirnoff's beef-flavoured vodka
2 oz (60 ml) DeKuyper Gravy Schnapps
1/2 oz (15 ml) Bailey's Irish Potato Liqueur

Mix well in shaker, pour into a chilled Martini glass, and garnish with a generous cheese curd.

"Of course, the real purists put in a generous amount of shredded beef, firmly believing that it's not really a Poutini unless you need to chew it," he explained.

"And I'm sure you're aware that for drinkers who prefer seafood to beef, we offer the Sardiney Poutini -- uses a fish-flavoured liqueur."

He promises to share the bartender's recipe for the Vegan Poutini at a later date ~

Curds 'n' Birds & Byzantine poutine

Construction of a specialty poutine and chicken restaurant in Washington D.C. called Curds 'n' Birds is well underway, witness reports indicate.

The brains behind the operation gave me a recent update about what's going on at the site, which is in upscale Georgetown at the intersection of M and Wisconsin Streets.

"Off to meet the decorator," he said in an instant message on Saturday. "Today we choose the colour scheme for the restaurant. Very important. Colour-wise, we're going with something called 'poutine green' with highlights and trim in 'gravy brown'."

He expects a poutine craze to take off and balloon into a chain of restaurants across the United States.

There's already buzz in the U.S. midwest over the prospect of ready-to-go poutine.

"Why is poutine not available in Wisconsin?" queried a resident of the Cheese State. "Given the standard Wisconsin diet is french fries and cheese curds, you'd figure they would have adopted poutine by now! Idiots. Tell your friend to open up his first stand in Racine. He'll make millions."


Research into the history of poutine in Canada shows that there is a wide variety of recipes beyond the standard medley of fries, gravy and cheese curds served up in restaurants of such urban centres as Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.

Some poutine recipes are said to have originated among French-speaking Acadians of Atlantic Canada. Acadia was first settled as a French colonial territory in the 1600s on the east coast of Canada and the United States.

For example, poutine râpée is a ball made of a mixture of grated raw and mashed potatoes.

Sometimes poutines râpées, which are boiled in water or stewed for a few hours before being squeezed dry in a cloth bag, are stuffed with chopped salt pork.

An online source describes a variation known as poutine en sac as an “old European pudding steamed in a cloth bag.”

Poutine à la vapeur is made of lard, sugar, eggs, flour, milk and baking powder. Dried or fresh fruit is added to the mixture and it is made into a large ball, placed in a cotton bag and steamed for a couple of hours. It can be served with cream, brown sugar, or slices of fried pork. This variation is also known as son-of-a-bitch-in-a-sack, bugger-in-a-bag, cloutie and figgy duff.

Poutine à la mélasse is a pie and poutine au pain is bread pudding.

Then there is the American Poutini, the vodka and potato schnapps cocktail with cheese curds floating in it created by my friend in leafy Georgetown especially for his Birds 'n' Curds chain.

"Those drinks are wicked," he said. "The gravy and frying oil help carry the alcohol right to the bloodstream." ~


For more about poutine, please click on the blog entry entitled "An obsession with poutine cuisine."

An obsession with poutine cuisine

It seems that poutine, a popular French-Canadian dish made of French fries, cheese curds and gravy, may soon be available throughout the United States.

A friend told me last week that he intends to sink his life savings into starting a chain of American poutine restaurants. If the plan comes to fruition, he expects the first location to be at the intersection of Wisconsin and M Streets in the heart of Georgetown, an upscale Washington, D.C. neighbourhood.

“We’re working on a marketing plan now,” he said in an instant message on Wednesday. “It looks like we’ll be serving fried chicken and poutine and calling the place Curds ’n’ Birds.”

Although the mere thought of poutine triggers the gag reflex in some people, my friend, a resident of leafy Georgetown, became fixated on the idea of profiting from mass sales of the dish after he found out that in eastern parts of Canada it is as popular as hockey and beer.

Cheese curds are small, rubbery pieces of fresh cheddar that have not yet been pressed or aged. Poutine is French-Canadian slang for the word “mess.”

The creator of the dish, Fernand Lachance (above), died in 2004 at the age of 86 in Warwick, Quebec, a small town 138 kilometres (86 miles) northeast of Montreal.

Legend has it that Lachance first made poutine after a trucker named Eddy Lanaisse came into his restaurant, Lutin Qui Rit, in September 1957 asking for a mixture of cheese curds, fries and gravy.

The food is now standard fare throughout much of eastern Canada and is sold in pubs, diners and fast-food chains. Some restaurants serve up such variations as “Italian poutine” with meat and tomato sauce, or “Chinese poutine” with meat and barbecue sauce.

At Birds ’n’ Curds, the signature dish of curds, fries and gravy will be called “Routine Poutine.” The chain will also serve heath conscious variations on traditional poutine with such dishes as the low calorie “Lean Poutine” and the “Green Poutine” salad.

Diners will be able to wash down their poutine with the “Poutini” a vodka and potato schnapps cocktail with cheese curds floating in it ~