This week, in honor of Canada Day (July 1), we're presenting our much-anticipated show on poutine, the beloved French Canadian creation that consists of french fries topped with cheese curds, gravy, and often (but not always) some kind of meat. The timing couldn't be better, because I just spent six days in Quebec, where I ate poutine five different times. (Yes, dear Sporkful fans, my commitment to you is indeed that ironclad.) Here's a photo essay on the experience, captions below:
1. Poutine at Chez Ashton in Quebec City, a local fast food joint. Decent, but I found the gravy a bit sour and the fries just average.
2. Poutine at a place on Petit Champlain in Quebec City's Lower Town. Better gravy, cheese curds good, but fries subpar.
3. The same poutine towards the end. I found that many poutines had too high of a gravy-to-fry ratio, and gravy too often overpowered (and made soggy) everything else on the plate. After this experience I began ordering with the gravy on the side sometimes. (This issues is debated in depth in this week's episode.)
4. Poutine topped with smoked duck at Chez Victor in Quebec City. This was the best one I had in Canada, the duck was perfect, and the sauce on the side allowed me to maintain fry crispiness, and enjoy bits of unmitigated smoked duck. They served theirs with a choice of gravy or bbq sauce, I tried both but prefered gravy.
5. Three hours north of Quebec City, on the outskirts of a small town called Tadoussac, we found the Casse-Croute du Connaisseur (Connoisseur's Snack Bar).
6. They serve poutine, hot dogs, and burgers out of the side of a beautifully dilapidated van.
7. Poutine with ground beef and peas from the Casse Croute du Connaisseur. Fries were the best I had in Canada, beef and peas were a nice combo, although I found the gravy a bit salty, and ran into the same aforementioned issues with sogginess and cheese curd overpowerification.
8. Poutine with hot dog on Ile d'Orleans (Orleans Island), with a view of the St. Lawrence River.
9. Close up of that poutine, which was very nice, good cheese curds, decent fries, the whole thing made better by the sauce on the side approach.
/dan
