I love french fries. Not the garbage they serve today in their "special" oils that are TOTALLY tasteless, though. You know, there's a whole generation out there now, that has NO CLUE what a really good french fry/chip should taste like, because of the health police and their non-animal fat based oils? For shame!

Used to be, when you were bringing home some food to the family, that one needed to order an extra order of fries from McDonald's because there was NO WAY that one bag of fries was going to make it home intact. They were just that good--now? Tasteless rubbsih. That's what eating "healthy" does to you people: it turns you into cardboard eating robots.

Let's face it: people would eat their own poo, if the healthy nazi's said it would be good for them.

So, to compensate for being forced to eat cardboard fries, I get around it by adding stuff to them. There's Chili-cheese fries....french fries topped with chili con carne and melted cheddar cheese, cheese fries, french fries with gravy, french fries with ketchup, french fries with salt and vinegar and fries with mayonnaise (a habit I picked up in the Netherlands).

And then, there's that wonderful combination, one can ONLY find in the province of Quebec. I've only had it once--a classmate brought some into a club meeting once, at college a few years bac. Oh-my-god. Good doesn't even cover it. I'm talking about: Poutine.

Poutine is a French-Canadian dish. It's served at a few fast-food places in Montreal and Quebec City. Basically, it's thick cut french fries, layered with fresh cheese curds and a lovely rich beef gravy. OHHHH--a piece of heaven, it is. I've often longed to have some again...alas, the nearest poutine place is a good 3 or 4 hours away to the north of me.

Don't let the photo put you off--it really is marvelous!

But, recently I found a recipe for poutine on the web:

QUEBEC POUTINE:

4 large russet potatoes
oil for deep frying
salt
2 cups beef stock
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups cheese curds

1. Peel and slice the potatoes into thick fries (at least 1 cm thick).

2. Soak the potatoes in ice water for about 30 minutes. Remove and drain well.

3. Heat oil for frying to about 325F and deep fry potatoes for about 8 minutes.

4. Remove from oil and set on paper towel. Turn the oil up to 375F.

5. In a saucepan melt the butter and stir in the flour. Add the beef broth and stir over medium-high heat until thickened. Reduce heat and keep hot. (I use a tiny bit of gravy browning to get that nice dark colour).

6. Return the french fries to the oil and continue frying until golden and crispy. This should take about 5 more minutes. Remove fries to drain on paper towel and salt to taste.

7. Assemble the poutine quick while everything is still HOT. (Poutine is best made in a bowl or other container which will contain the heat and help melt the curds. Also, the curds should be at room temperature before assembling the Poutine). Start with a layer of fries. Put some cheese curds in the middle. Add more fries and top with more cheese curds.

8. Ladle gravy over the fries and cheese curds.